casey's (not the gas station)

Target’s 2022 Annual Report begins with a message to shareholders, reminding them of Target’s past successes, current challenges, and future goals. CEO Brian Cornell also mentions the key metrics that Target has been doing well in, like consumer traffic and overall company evaluation.

In the next paragraph, Brian Cornell mentioned that while inflation rises and consumers turn to the basics, they are still choosing Target for their essential AND discretionary needs. Cornell also touches on the need to keep up with trends and changing needs:

“Regardless of era or environment, our team takes a lot of pride in being able to flex into the merchandise categories and channels that are most relevant to guests—and then being able to flex again when things change.”

Moving on from trust, Target now looks ahead to various projects. One of which is the increase in efficiency that is supposed to “result in $2 to $3 billion in savings.”

Cornell says, “…with the new scale of our business and the continuing maturation of capabilities that barely existed three years ago, we see tremendous opportunities to streamline and simplify how we run Target.”

The next section is similar to the last, highlighting things they have done well and will continue to do. Some examples listed are supporting workplace culture, investing in remodeling, and adding new national brands.

Finally, their closing statement voices Target’s commitment to resilience in 2023 and their appreciation to shareholders, consumers, and employees alike.

The article I wrote about was about a game, Cocoon, being released this Friday by Jeppe Carlsen, lead programmer of other hit games like Limbo and Inside. He began creating a puzzle-solving game that had to do with the idea that each level is interconnected with the next and that it was sort of a maze that had to be escaped from. The author did a good job of explaining the background because I have never heard of any of these games before. He had one example where he compared the logic of it to Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which I thought was a good example to use as a comparison.

The article was objective, but it also was primarily written to draw attention to the game, so the purpose was not as objective. They used good quotes from the team to support their analysis of the game as a whole, not only evaluating the overall concept for the game but highlighting sound design and scrapped concepts as well. Knowing that the game is a product of many different versions and tests helps consumers identify value when deciding whether the game is good enough to look into.

Link:

The prompt I received for the interview was a positive work experience. I interviewed Else Dirkx, who chose to talk about a Bible Camp that she worked at over the summer.

Elsie said her main job at the camp was teaching children how to ride and interact with horses. She helped give ground and arena lessons to these children. Elsie said,

“We normally had around 30-32 students each week.”

She mentioned that at the end of the camp each week, they gave a presentation to the parents and other staff members to show off the skills that the children had learned. She said she looked forward to watching the presentations each week and that it built resilience within herself as well as the learning children.

“It’s just the value of doing a hard thing each week,” said Dirkx.

This article was written in the wake of Biden’s student debt reform plan being struck down. The story highlights multiple people and their experiences with paying off their student debt, and why the workers are unforgiving of the steep loans being lifted. The article is clearly an opinion piece, but it still does well to highlight the issue from many perspectives. One example cites someone picking a different job path due to less debt. Many others share the same feelings and say that they don’t want their specific budgeting plans to go to waste because of the forgiveness plan. The author even includes a person who changed their beliefs a bit, due to his wife incurring some debt and he was able to empathize with the other side a bit better.

That being said, this article was still far from being great. The quotes chosen are good, but I’m left asking what the connection is behind them or why the specific people were chosen in the first place. While the last person did represent an opposing viewpoint, I don’t think it did it well enough to be considered a rebuttal or anything. Besides that, this article was well-supported, well-written, and it kept my interest and attention overall

Link:

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/nobody-at-work-wants-to-hear-about-your-student-loan-payments-46dbc532?mod=lifestyle_lead_pos4

Two men wearing ski masks robbed BJ’s Drug last night at approximately 8:30 p.m.

The 43-year-old owner, Barney Joseph Jr., was working when the men entered, held a gun to his head, and stole $382.65 from the cash register. The men left in a car parked at the curb in front of the store with its motor still running. Joseph told police that the robbery was over in less than a minute.

While Joseph kept a pistol under the counter of the store, he told police it “felt unwise” to use it. Joseph’s father was involved in a similar incident around 25 years ago. Joseph recalled,

“Yes, Dad resisted, I guess. Anyway, they found him shot to death, his own gun in his hand, and a bullet in the store’s ceiling. I’d rather part with my money than my life.”

The first person I interviewed was a student working at the front desk at the HYPR building on Campus. Her name was Monica Olson and she seemed to be hard at work on some assignment.

I initially approached her because I saw a Post-It note on her laptop. Upon further examination, it ended up just being words and not a picture. But luckily she happily made a drawing for me once I explained my assignment to her.

When I asked her what inspired her to draw a flower, she responded with,

“I guess I’m just trying to blossom into a nice flower like that”

I also asked her if it was a creative decision to draw it upside down. To that, she said,

“Well, it must be because my life is just upside down”

In response, I asked her how long she was on her shift. She had been working for about an hour and a half, so I suppose she just seemed to be mentally done with her shift.

My next target was another student I found in the HYPR, this time in my track coach’s office. I asked Rod Smith if he had an academic success story that he could tell, and he was happy to oblige. He told me about his struggle with academic success last year, and how this year he feels like he is on top of things.

Rod explained that he had a rough patch after December because his basketball coach wasn’t on him anymore about his grades. Being a business administration major, Rod took some challenging courses like Accounting and Principles of Management. He explained,

“I had some slight depression and no motivation to go to class or really do anything at all”

Despite the struggle last semester, Rod recovered eventually and said,

“Track helped me get back on track, no pun intended”

He explained that Coach Wallace, the head track coach, helped encourage him to get his grades up and stay motivated for class. Rod also mentions that the fear of not returning next year also pushed him to work harder at academic success.

This article was written about a man named Said Ismahilov and his experience of the ongoing Ukrainian War as a frontline medic. From Kyiv to Bucha, Ismahilov has been on the run from Russians since he was practically born, in the Soviet era, that is. Being a frontline medic has forced him to witness the worst of the worst that war has to offer. The feeling of seeing neighbors he used to know dead on the street when he returned to Bucha was a key point in the story. This article was very thorough and complete, and it shed background on the necessary elements of the Ukrainian War as well as personal recounts from Ismahilov. There were many great quotes featured in this article, covering many things like grief, regret, and war.

The objectivity of this story was pretty good for an article focused on one person. The story featured him and his stories but wasn’t necessarily exclusive to him. It talked about the overall sentiment in cities nearby and events outside of Ismahilov’s perspective. The story is obviously political in nature, but this was obviously a well-written news story.

Link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/world/europe/ukraine-russia-muslims.html

19-year-old Coco Gauff won the 2023 U.S. Open, beating out Aryna Sabalenka, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Gauff has seen professional success in major tournaments since she was 15, but nothing like how she played this weekend.

Time Magazine highlights Coco’s initial stardom and how she first emerged onto the tennis scene:

“Ever since Gauff burst onto the sports scene at Wimbledon four years ago, she’s struggled with expectations thrust upon her. When she was just 15 that summer of 2019, Gauff defeated her idol, Venus Williams, and became the youngest woman to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991.”

The Time’s article goes on to highlight the imposter syndrome that Gauff has felt since then. She talks about struggling with the pressure to win a major after her initial run at Wimbledon, especially at 15 years old. She mentions that the journey to winning a major tournament was longer than she had expected, but that the strenuous path has helped her deal with the pressure of everything.

Even in the tournament’s final round, Gauff was reading online comments that said she would never make it further than she already had. Gauff told ESPN,

“’I’ve tried my best to carry this with grace and I’ve been doing my best. So honestly, to those who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it. And now I’m really burning so bright right now.’”

The ESPN article drives home Gauff’s hard work, humbleness, and appreciation. She honors famous tennis icons like Venus and Serena Williams, who paved the way for her success as a black American tennis player. She undeniably receives many comparisons to the two, but still rejects the idea that she is the ‘next Serena’.

Similarly, Gauff acknowledged another tennis icon at the tournament.  The NY Times reported:

“After accepting her check for $3 million, Gauff casually thanked Billie Jean King, who was also on the stage, for fighting for equal pay for women, a gesture showcasing her perspective, humor, and charm, all in one.”

Billie Jean King was another famous American tennis player who is most well-known for closing the pay gap between men’s and women’s major champions. Gauff’s act of thanking her is another gesture of humbleness that she demonstrates throughout her entire run.

Deadly Plane Crash Kills 5, Two Backwater State Professors Live

Earlier this week, two professors from Backwater State University were returning Thursday night from separate conferences in New York City and boarded the same TWA jet on their returning flight.

Along with forty-three other passengers and crew members, the plane crashed on takeoff at Kennedy National Airport. Five people were killed in total, but the two professors miraculously survived.

University President Announces Upcoming Curriculum Changes

Backwater State University President, David French, decided to change the requirement for graduation to include more math and foreign language courses.

Students entering next fall (2023) must take one math, computer science, and foreign language course. French says,

“We feel that these new course requirements will allow us to turn out better–educated persons.”

This comes after a recent study that showed only 15 percent of students took a foreign language course and only 20 percent took a math course while at Backwater State University.

Daughter of Jim Wensen receives 3^rd DUI in 6 Months

Last night, 22-year-old senior Cathy Wensen was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, the third time in six months.

The teen’s father is Jim Wensen, a prominent attorney in the area. Her mother, Sharon Wensen, lives in Ontario, Canada.

Cathy was this year’s homecoming queen and was a cheerleader and straight–A Student. She was planning on going to Vanderbilt University for graduate study in biology.

On September 6th, a state-wide ban on radar guns was issued due to concerns from troopers that the devices could cause cancer from long-term exposure to the radiation waves. This ban was ordered by Adam Smith, the spokesman for Highway Patrol, and affects 70 different guns, excluding transmitters mounted on vehicles.

The ban comes three months after three officers in Central City filed workman’s compensation claims, blaming the hand-held units for cancer development. It was considered a first of its kind for the police department. Smith mentions, “The feeling here is to err on the side of caution until more is known about the issue. The whole situation is under review.”

The police department also claims that the ban is just a temporary precaution while research still takes place into the link between the devices and cancer development.