Caitlin Casey's blog

Does marriage have a future?  According to Psychology Today marriage is in sharp decline in most developed countries.  As divorce rates continue to increase, most people are choosing to live together without getting married. Children in the U.S. are greatly affected by this kind of relationship.

Without the commitment of marriage the number of single mothers has seen a significant increase.  When it comes to raising a child this can have an effect on social and educational skills.

In Europe however, this is not the case.  Many people there are also choosing not to get married.  Other are choosing to raise a child on their own and the affect on the children is rarely seen.  Psychology Today believes that soon this style will make its way to the U.S. and child poverty will diminish.

So next time you hear marriage is “just a piece of paper” think about the effect it will have on the children.

Science Story

A couple said ‘I do’, and then things took a turn for the worst.  Hospital officials say Laurette Brunson is in satisfactory condition today after being shot in the abdomen yesterday by her new husband, Richard Brunson.  Richard and Laurette Brunson got married on the front porch of their home Saturday with 30 friends and relatives in attendance.  Everything was going smoothly until Laurette threw a plate of macaroni salad at her new husband for unknown reasons.  In response he shot her with a .22-calibre handgun in the abdomen.  A neighbor called the police, but by the time they arrived on the scene Mr. Brunson was gone.  His whereabouts are still unknown.

Laurette Brunson didn’t have much to say about the incident.  Laurette

The couple had been living together for four or five months before they were married.  Laurette Brunson had 3 children who were present at the time of the incident.  Richard Brunson worked for a construction company.  Laurette had recently quit working for a government housing program and was hoping to open her own daycare center.

A family friend gave her opinion on the affect this will have on Laurette’s children. MCorse

We started out the morning handing out t-shirts and getting our picture taken.  Then we were separated into groups and dismissed to get donuts and juice.  My group didn’t have to be anywhere until 10am so we decided to go to Kum and Go to pick up more food.  Even with this little side trip and all the construction we arrived at our destination by 9:30am.

The Sergeant Floyd Welcome Center is located on a boat right by the Missouri River.  We spent all morning raking the area around the Welcome Center and by noon we had 20 huge sacks filled with leaves, sticks, and dead grass.  It was quite a workout, even for us track athletes.  The woman in charge of the Welcome Center even provided cookies and lemonade and later on even bought us pizza.  “It was hard work, but the food made it totally worth it,” Tyler Figge, a junior at Morningside, said.  Overall it was a very nice day and it was fun going out and helping in the community.

I walked in to Lewis Hall and saw many other students from class on the hunt to find their object.  Cassie Burnside was searching for her nickel when I spotted her talking to the work study student in the lobby.  From the frustrated look on her face I could tell that he didn’t have what she was looking for.  When I walked over, she introduced me to him.  His name was Colin Higgins.  I had never met Colin before but I found out from Cassie that he dates a girl that I know who also goes to Morningside.  So I took the opportunity to ask him about the weather.

“What do you think about the weather today?” I asked. He said in a tone that implied distaste, “The weather is cold.”  Pretty short, sweet, and to the point.  I then proceeded to ask him what his favorite season was.  From his previous answer the next response I got was the last one I expected: Winter.  According to Colin this type of cold weather that we are experiencing today isn’t very fun.  “There needs to be snow.  I like to go snowmobiling, sledding, and skiing.”  When he fully explained his reasoning I began to agree with him.  My favorite season is Fall, but I also enjoy going snowmobiling and sledding.  The cold weather seems to be a lot more bearable when there are fun things to do outside.

New Lead: A Stanton, Nebraska native describes herself as a triple threat here at Morningside College.

I had the pleasure of meeting Nancy Seeman in our very first weeks of school our freshman year of college.  We’ve been friends ever since and this semester we have every single class together.  Nancy is a Junior here at Morningside.  Her major is Corporate Communications and Marketing with a minor in Advertising.   She is originally from Stanton, Nebraska and, like myself, a huge Husker fan.

In Nancy’s words she is a “triple threat”, being involved in dance, theater, and music.  She is one of the captains of the dance team and in her free time she also teaches dance and works at Journeys.  When I asked Nancy why she choose to come to Morningside she replied “This is going to sound kind of cheesy, but it just felt right.”  By far her favorite part about going to school here is the people.  Nancy loves her roommates and her dance team and has made some amazing new friendships that she knows will last a lifetime.

The paper was white with blue bunnies.  As I tore it back to reach the treat inside it made a slight ripping noise.  I folded the paper down and took the first bite.  As I bit into the chocolate shell it made a crunching sound.  After my teeth broke through the hard outer shell and the ice cream hit my tongue the hairs on my arms instantly raised.  The very first words out of my mouth were “cold, cold, cold!” because my teeth are sensitive when it comes to eating ice cream.  My second thought: yum.  As I continued to eat and type at the same time my ice cream began to melt and made a bit of a mess.  After the first initial shock of the cold on my tongue wore off I was able to actually taste the ice cream.  Chocolate on vanilla is probably one of my favorite combinations of flavor.  The hard chocolate shell is very sweet but the vanilla ice cream evens out the taste to make for a very delicious treat.  The ice cream continued to disappear and I received another slight surprise when I reached the stick.  This is always my least favorite part about treats like this because it adds a new taste to the mix that gives it a little wood flavor.  After I got used to that I proceeded with devouring the ice cream, and yes, even licking off my fingers when I was finished.