Ashley Explores The Arts

Steven Postolka, a Morningside College graduate, decided to talk with Ross Fuglsang’s Newswriting class about being a lawyer. In his discussion he mentions often the difference between private law practice and non-private law practice.

Postolka is a Sioux Rapids native who graduated from Morningside in 2011 with a degree in mass communication and political science. After graduation he went to the University of Iowa to pursue law school, graduating in 2014 with a law degree. With his law degree, Postolka is currently working with the Sioux City government, but before that he worked in Spencer, Iowa, doing private practice for four years.

Private practice can be more difficult than working for the government for a few reasons. Postolka mentioned that in private practice a person has to represent their clients and that can be difficult. Sometimes a client will really want to do something, but the lawyer has to step in and tell them no. “It is a difficult balance to make sure money is coming into the firm, but [also] doing justice for the client.”

Working for the government tends to be a little easier because there is no need to chase clients. Currently, Postolka is in charge of representing the council of Sioux City, which has five members. Representing the council or a client in general is one of the most difficult parts of being a lawyer. The client or council always have the final decision in their law suit. As Postolka states, “[It’s] always the client’s case, never your case.” No matter if it is for the government or for private practice, the client always gets the final say. All a lawyer can do is educate and guide their client to hopefully a win in the law suit.

For this week I chose the article “Pandemic overwhelms Trump’s message in critical N. Carolina” written by Steven Peoples. In this article it mentions how Trump is trying to fill a supreme court vacancy, but also how he is trying to win North Carolina in election. North Carolina is a swing state and a lot of people are not happy with how Trump is handling the pandemic, especially suburban women. The article also mentions how Trumps daughter, Lara, and Mike Pence have both been down to North Carolina multiple times to talk to the people and pull them to their side.

This article relates to what we discuss in class because it is not written the best. The very first paragraph talks about the supreme court vacancy after Ginsberg’s death. Why is that the first paragraph if that has nothing to do with the rest of the article? It just confused and then the second paragraph also gave me almost no information about the article. I almost didn’t want to continue because of that second paragraph, made it sound like we were going into a story with how descriptive it was. Overall, I just think the structure of this article is not great for giving information, which is also really poor because the article was written by a “National Political Writer.”

The article I chose for this week is “Trump questions Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s wish not to be replaced” written by Maura Hohman. In the article, Trump states that he believes the quote that Ginsberg said before dying, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” was not actually said by her. Trump believes it was written by one of his three democrat opposers. Since he doesn’t believe it actually came from Ginsburg, Trump says he already won the election, therefore he is going to appoint a new justice before the election.

This article relates to our class readings this week because it is about our president saying a quote is a lie and also giving out false information. The quote Ginsburg stated was actually only heard by her niece. Her niece then made sure it was known, but Trump believes it is false. It is only word of mouth, so it could or couldn’t be false. Good chance it is a true statement, but we don’t have physical proof. Trump is also giving out false information to the public, stating he has already won the election, when the election hasn’t happened. He can’t be spreading that information because the public will believe him.

Rena Ketelsen, an international sophomore soccer player at Morningside College, shares her thoughts on COVID-19 on campus. She describes COVID, in general, as annoying and that students are selfish in how they handle it. “Students are really reckless and selfish.”

What she means by, “reckless and selfish” is that a lot of students don’t wear their masks or don’t follow the guidelines for COVID, especially with quarantine. If the college were to go into lockdown, international students can’t just go home quickly. Rena also mentioned how the college isn’t handling the structure of COVID very good.

She talked about how before every soccer game students have to be screened for COVID or COVID related symptoms. They also have to be tested before practice every once in a while. During one practice, she mentioned, a few soccer players weren’t feeling the best. They were told to go back to their dorms and quarantine and that the nurse would call them. Rena stated that the nurse never called the students and the students roommates had no idea what to do because they were in close contact, but didn’t have symptoms.

Colleges are handling COVID in unique ways, some ideas work and some ideas don’t. Rena mentioned that if one college is fairing better than others, maybe the other colleges should adapt to ideas like the one college doing better.

For this week I chose the article “Trump in California amid devastating fires, as governors put focus on climate change” written by Jordyn Phelps. In this article it discusses how Trump visits California just to declare that climate change is not a thing and the fire is the states fault. Basically, he stated that if the state doesn’t clean up all forests floors of leaves and tree branches, he is going to cut funding. The article also includes a few different interviews Trump had with different people.

I chose this article for class because of how our president is spreading false news to the public, how this article sites many different news reports, and how some interviews were conducted. People follow and believe what our president states, even if it is false and could endanger peoples lives. How is that acceptable when reporters get huge back lash if they give out false information? This article also sites other news reports showing, as we had discussed in class, a lot of the information isn’t theirs. A lot of different places do that, they site newspapers, news stations, or other public figures. It is just interesting to see an article about the president has to be a collaboration of multiple different sources.

Sitting out at the front desk in Dimmitt is very boring, but at the same time entertaining. A person walking through the formal could be heard from miles away. The echo of the empty hall and slap of the shoes against the marble floors, bring about an annoying noise. Staring off into space, at nothing because nobody wanders the halls until practices are over. When people do appear, the most random conversations happen, especially ones involving masks.

A group of students headed down the stairs when one abruptly stops, “I forgot my mask.” Her friend beside her also stops and glances to the rest of the friends down the stairs, “I’ll wait here for her.” As the first student runs back up the stairs to grab the most important item of the year. That was the first conversation in a long while and would be the only one until two resident assistances strolled by, their hands filled with pillows. As one prepares to go down the stairs, “Anything else [needed]?”

The one on the stairs pauses, “No, I’ll see you at 7:30”

“7:30. Oh wait, I might be a little late because of practice.”

With an exasperated sigh, the one on the stairs just stares at the other, “Timothy…”

“Let’s be honest, you need me for the zoom meeting.”

“I do,” Then the two part their separate ways, to meet up again, at hopefully 7:30. Sitting at the front desk can be boring, but there are moments that can be very entertaining when students do not expect you to be sitting there.

On the outskirts of town, a Texaco gasoline truck overturned, flooding sewer lines for two blocks with gas. 48th street and Correctionville Road were covered in gas, along with their ditches filled.

Four families had to be evacuated as their sewer-lines filled with gas. This lasted for two hours, rerouting cars to side streets as the gas was flushed away.

Fire Chief Charles Hochandel says: “The firemen followed catastrophe and hazmat procedures set up beforehand for just such an occurrence.”

On 102 11th Ave. a cat has been found stuck up a tree. The cat belonging to Suzanne and Samantha Decker was rescued by the local fire fighter.

Fire fighter, Bob Hardwood, climbed 50 feet to rescue the cat, only to fall out of the tree the last 15 feet due to a broken branch.

Hardwood broke his left leg, but is doing “just fine” at St. Lukes Hospital. The cat is also doing fine, as it had landed on Hardwood during the fall.

For this week I chose the article “US couple found dead in well in northern Mexico” written by The Associated Press. In the article it discusses how a couple from southern California were found in a well in Mexico. The cause of the death is unknown, but the two had been missing since September 2nd. There was also a mention of a completely unrelated death of another man in southern California who had been stabbed.

This article relates to a lot about what we had been discussing in class. It is written in small paragraphs, not too long to read. The first paragraph answers the ‘who, what, when, and where’ questions. Also, the mentioning of a completely random death that is not related to the story, has no point in being in this paper. Makes sense why it is at the end, but it just confuses the reader.

Cameron Peak in Northern Colorado erupted with flames on Tuesday August 13th. The fire grew in size by nearly 10,000 acres on Saturday, September 5th. The cause of the fire is unknown, but believed to be human created.

Officials say the biggest area of affect would be the Rocky Mountain National Park. The fires have reached the northern part of the park as they continue to spread southeast throughout the state. Many places have been put under evacuation orders as the fire rages on.

Evacuations have been under way since the start of the fire on the 13^th. No building structures have been damaged yet, but people’s safety comes first. Fires are highly unpredictable, especially if some places are seeing a rain of ash and smoke in their neighborhoods.

Over the weekend more locations were put in to voluntary and mandatory evacuations. The places added to the voluntary evacuations: Red Feather Lakes, Crystal Lakes, and Goodell Corner. The places added to the mandatory evacuation: Buckhorn Road from Pennock Pass to County Road 27.

Some of the evacuations are caused by the air quality because the smoke is becoming very thick. According to the Loveland Reporter-Herald, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality advisory for Larimer County through 9 a.m. Monday. In some places the smoke has caused such visibility issues that if a person cannot see past five miles, the air quality is unsafe. People with health conditions should stay inside or evacuate.

Along with the fire raging on an incoming snow storm is approaching northern Colorado as of Monday night. A cold front is on the way, bringing cold temps and snow in the upper terrains and mountains.

The Colorado Sun reports that the National Weather Service in Boulder says heavy snow is possible and that higher elevation areas could see up to 14 inches of accumulation. It is not strange for this time of year for the weather to get cold and snow, especially up in the mountains. However, due to the incoming snow and the evacuations, a lot of homeowners did not have time to winterize their homes.

However, due to the fires, people are not allowed back into their homes if they have a mandatory evacuation. If they have a voluntary evacuation, they can send in contractors to get the cabins and homes ready for the snow.

The [incoming] snow will help firefighters but will not put out the fire that CBS Denver stated as only 5% contained on Sunday. The fire is not expected to be fully contained until Oct. 31, fire officials said. Colorado is burning and not even frozen water can save it.