Paper 3 News Package

This is later than even I expected it to be. I am an irresponsible student, that’s all I can say. Some friends wanted to hang after supper, and I was dumb enough to say yes. Regardless, I’ve gotten it typed out. I will come back with the audio of this and the last broadcast assignment tomorrow, after I have at least rested. Also, I must get up at 6 for work, so at least 4 hours of sleep would be helpful. My apologies for all the late work.

In today’s media scene, one might ask whether or not hard copies are still relevant. With Netflix for movies and TV shows and iTunes for music and games, it’s easy to get a media fix without leaving the house. But does that mean everyone is doing it that way?

It may vary from person to person. Take Mel Kiser, for example. Mel is a freshman at Morningside College. She’s an average girl who loves to cheer and loves music even more.  “… Like, a 10, on a scale of one to ten.” For the most part, Kiser uses iTunes to get music, but sometimes, other sources work just as well. “I like to listen to music on YouTube a lot too.” In spite of this easy access to music, Kiser remains faithful to hard copies of music. “If I like ‘em, or if they’re like older artists, then I’ll try to get their cd’s online.”

But music isn’t the only thing that Kiser has a passion for. “I love movies too- I like action movies, so… every action movie comes out, I try to watch it.” Not just movies, but TV shows too. “I actually buy all the seasons of TV series on DVD…” Unlike music, though, she prefers hard copies over digital files. “I do not, because they’re usually crappy quality, so I’d rather just buy it so I can have it at all time.”

Are you on the same pages as Mel Kiser? Feel free to tell us at our E-mail. Or if your prefer hard copies, we still accept snail mail.

In the meantime, experience another way to get songs…

Learning music just became a little bit cheaper. The Academy of Fine Music, in North Sioux City, opened up this past September. “My mom wanted to make it more affordable, because a lot of kids are in a lot. If its over-priced people just aren’t gonna do it. And so she just wanted to make it affordable and allow for everyone to learn music…” explains Jenna Likness.

The Academy of Fine Music is a low price music studio that allows children aged K-12 to learn piano, voice, violin, or guitar. It’s a modest business, sharing a building with two other local businesses. Owned and operated by Brenda Likness, she also receives some administrative help from her daughter, Jenna.

But that’s not the only thing that makes the Academy unique. Most of the teachers there are Morningside students. “She submitted a brochure to the music department and they knew a few students and those students knew a few students and it just grew from those few students.” Though, there are a couple of Dakota Valley students working for the Academy.

Despite most of the teachers being students themselves, the results of the lessons have been quite productive.  “My mom’s gotten E-mails from parents saying, ‘my child’s learned so much in these couple weeks than they’ve learned in a different place and we’re just really happy with what they’ve learned and they just like coming every week.”

Perhaps it’s the method of teaching that makes the Academy of Fine Music so effective.  “They’re one-on-one, thirty minutes, just you and the teacher, which allows you to learn a lot more [than] when it’s a big class.” Likness also went on to explain how different books are given to students so that they may learn a larger variety of styles of their instrument.

Soon enough, the Academy of Fine Music might have to move to its own building. “It’s already growing out of space right now.” When asked about whether her mom would get a new place, Jenna answered, “I’m sure she’d like to open up her own, that way she wouldn’t have to worry about noise from the dance studio.” Maybe they’ll get enough money to have their own building.

Speaking of construction…

With a growing student body and academics, Morningside campus is expanding and constructing new buildings. For the most part, the construction has been fairly easy. “So far, smooth sailing… No mistakes there. Everything’s happenin’ so fast that they ain’t keepin’ up with us. We’re waitin’ on red iron. Particular pieces, ‘cause you can’t build without ‘em.” I managed to get ahold of Marc Curl, the General Formen of the project.

According to Curl, the crew is working very hard on the project. “Usually, if it’s an 8 hour day, we do what we need to do in 8 hours.” That’s including weekends. “Just to get ahead of winter, you know?” With winter approaching, the crew is buckling down on getting things done. “… when winter comes, we usually turn on the hours because it’s going to get cold…”

This is all in an effort to get it done by deadline. According to Curl, that would be, “… a year from now. There’s a lot of steps to get to that point.” Despite the heavy load up ahead, Curl and his team are optimistic about this project. “So, we got a lot of work here… It’s an awesome project to be part of.”

This has been “Ramblings” with Ben Catus.

Interviews to whet your apetite.

Mel Kiser Jenna Likness Interview with Marc Curl



0 comments ↓

There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below..

You must log in to post a comment.