The Blog of Derrick James Freese

I read an old, but relevant article about how starting in 2012 the Bank of America charging $5 a month to use a debit card. The charge will only be applied if the card is used to make a purchase and one can still use an ATM without being charged. Premium account holders won’t be affected by this charge. Banks have been “flirting” with the idea of adding a charge to using debit cards, but the Bank of America is the first major institution to announce the change. The change comes because there is a cap being placed on fees a bank can charge retailers when people use their cards at their stores.

I chose this article because it affects a large amount of peoples lives. I also chose the article because it interested me that a bank would start charging to use your own money to pay for something. I could see this with a credit card where you have to pay that money back anyway, but it seems harsh to make someone pay for debit card use. The article also has a nice structure to it and flows well with good transitions between paragraphs. There were also quotes and statistics in the article to make it more objective.

Link to article: http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/29/pf/bank_of_america_debit_fee/

The flooding along the Missouri River has been terrible, and traveling to or from Omaha has been quite the annoyance. The Interstate was closed from Council Bluffs up to the I 680 interchange to Loveland due to this flooding. Now what used to take about an hour and a half now takes over two hours. Without access to I 29 one must take alternate back roads to travel to Missouri Valley, IA or take I 80 up to I 680, then get on I 29.

The Interstate was reopened last Friday. In a story on the KWQC News website officials say the debris has been cleared, the roads washed, and the ground tested to hold traveling vehicles.

I feel this is news to be because I have to take I 29 to get to Sioux City from my home in Treynor. Having to take back roads was a terrible inconvenience, but I guess I got to see some pleasant scenery.

I-29 North from Council Bluffs to Reopen

There are many people who have the need for some change. No, I’m not talking about change in our country, I am talking about coin change. The annoying flat circular things you get when you break a bill. The things that nearly no college student carries around when walking on campus. While on my adventure I didn’t want to just stop someone and ask them to trade me money, so I went somewhere that I could bother people and they wouldn’t care.

After walking around campus for a bit I decided to go to MacCollin and see if I could find one in the classrooms. When I walked in I was greeted by John Kolbo who asked what I was doing there. I explained that I had to find a nickel from someone I did not know. He told me to go ahead and ask the class if anyone had a nickel. I walked in the classroom and I could instantly feel the many eyes burning on me. I asked, “Does anyone in here happen to have a nickel I could trade?” After a moment of awkward silence one boy with a red shirt and dirty blonde hair responded, “I have a nickel.” I walked over and sat down by him and learned his name was Dan Ostendorf. I explained to him that I had to search for someone with a nickel and trade it with them for my assignment and then write about it. He was very understanding of the situation as I thanked him for the nickel and went on my way.

For my third critique I read an article posted on Kotaku about how the big game developing company Bethesda suing the small Indie game developer Markus “Notch” Persson. Bethesda makes the popular game series The Elder Scrolls as Notch made the popular game Minecraft. Recently Notch’s company, Mojang,  has been designing a game called Scrolls. However since Bethesda has a copyright on The Elder Scrolls, they think Scrolls is too close in name to The Elder Scrolls and want Mojang to change the name of their game. Bethesda has now decided to take the case to court.

I chose this article because it suits the conflict aspect of news. The most interesting thing that I found about this article was that Notch’s idea to solve the conflict over the name was to play a game of Quake, and the winner decided the fate of the game. Unfortunately Bethesda did not find this solution as epic and awesome many others did.

Link to the article

Presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich stopped at Morningside College on Tuesday to talk about his campaign. He met with a room filled with over 100 people mixed with college students and older citizens of the community. This stop on Gingrich’s campaign brought many camera crews and the Morningside radio station KMSC-FM 92.9 that broadcast the event in it’s entirety.

In his stance to replace food stamps with paychecks Gingrich says, “America doesn’t work when Americans aren’t working.” For immigration, Gingrich wants to strengthen border control and make it harder to get in the country illegal than legally. He has a strong stance against abortion.

Gingrich is the the only candidate that has helped balance a budget on a national level. He helped supply side regulations and add new jobs with President Reagen in 1980.

Afterwards, I asked fellow student Chad Morehead what he thought about Gingrich. Morehead, stated that Gingrich has had experience and has a set of plans to follow and that he also wants to implement his plans and not fight over policies.

In Sioux City, Iowa there is a college that was founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Morningside College is a private, four-year, liberal arts college. Morningside has 21 buildings on a 68-acre campus, all with distinct looks. Two of my favorite buildings are the Eugene C. Eppley building and the MacCollin Memorial Classroom building.

The Eugene C. Eppley building was constructed in 1966, and thought to be one of the best music and art facilities in the Midwest. The massive auditorium can seat 1,400 with a beautiful Sanford Memorial Organ that reaches to the as high as the ceiling. W.L. Beutler and Son designed the architectural structure and the elegant and colorful mosaic designs above the entrances. I have spent a bit of time in the Eppley lobby for some classes.

Sitting in the Eppley lobby with its large windows and many entrances that let sunlight reflect off the white tiles I saw its life wasn’t much different than the MacCollin hallways. There are far fewer people who venture the large balcony over looking the foyer. This balcony houses the print supplies as well as a nice place to take a nap with sofas circling a table. In the foyer there are many art pieces set up that are bursting with colorful designs. Hanging from the ceiling in the foyer are many lights that burn bright like stars when lit at night. I would soon come to learn that during the event nights the building was a bustling metropolis.

The Eppley building is home to many events that draw in enormous crowds. One of the most popular is the Christmas at Morningside, showcasing the amazing talents of the Morningside band and Choir. There are hundreds of sharped-dressed men accompanied by women who show up in beautiful flowing dress and jewelry that sparkles like the stars.

The Eugene C. Eppley building has become almost like a second home to me, as well as countless other students trying to finish a project for the next day. Working like slaves to the grade, we all strive forward and pull a masterpiece together. Many people find a place in the Eppley lobby to crash for a while so they can wake up in few hours and keep on working until the sun rises and it’s time to start the next day in the MacCollin building for classes.

The first time I entered the building complex was on the MacCollin classroom side. I came up for an interview for a grant with the head of the Graphic Design program. As I walked into the building I remember seeing on the second floor windows the shades were moved to form an arc in the very square window frames. I noticed the building wasn’t too busy at this time since it was late in the afternoon. Later as I would sit down for my class and draw what the halls looked like, I noticed that the halls of MacCollin were ghost towns with few people wondering the halls unless it was between classes.

In my Junior year of attending Morningside College I took a Journalism class. In this class I sit next to a girl, and her name is Samantha Hoffman. When I first started talking to Samantha she was quite at first. I learned some small things such as, her favorite color being blue, and her favorite food is spaghetti. Also I learned her favorite rock bands were Avenged Sevenfold and Godsmack, but once we got to talking more I learned some things about her.

Samantha grew up in Lake View, Iowa living on a cattle farm. During her high school years she was a cheerleader, played soccer and was part of her FFA sectional chapter for 2 years. At a college fair Samantha decided to go to Morningside. She chose Morningside because it was as she says, “Close, but not too close.” In addition to that, she also liked the tech refresh program Morningside offers.

Today Samantha is a Junior at Morningside College majoring in Psychology/Counseling. I never had good experiences with Psychology classes, so I wish her the best of luck in that. To get through college Samantha is working at Texas Roadhouse. Samantha lived on campus for her first two years of college, living in Dimmitt Hall. This year Samantha is living off campus with her boyfriend.

Knowing who I’m sitting next to during this class will definitely be better now.

Earlier I read an article on the WBUR Boston radio website about the Packers game tonight against the Saints. It was a kind of prediction and who to cheer for article. Basically the article had important points dealing with both teams, but the points didn’t deal too much with the players playing the game so much as it dealt with which team looks more interesting. The article talked about reasons to cheer for each team with statements like, “Do you prefer brats or gumbo?” and, “Which of these faces do you find more compelling?” (showing pictures of both Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees) Another reason to cheer for the Saints was about his post-game photo of Brees holding his son after winning the Super Bowl two seasons ago. Personally I chose the Packers because that’s how mamma raised me.

This article was interesting in the fact that it was different from other prediction analysts. One thing that i really dislike about sports analysts trying to predict who will win, is that there are so many variables that need to be considered that most of them will overlook. Variables such as unforeseen injuries during the game as well as players that would normally not be playing step up their game and play outstandingly making big plays when they need to. For the most part the article doesn’t go one way or the other, it seems very split in the middle between the two teams which is nice since usually most predictions are completely biased to one side even if the other team clearly looks better to win.

Since sitting outside felt like a sauna, I decided to sit next to the fountain on Morningside campus feeling the slight cool spray of the water against my face like the first cool rain shower in early spring. I wondered how the weather could still be this hot and humid at the beginning September. I was looking forward to the cool autumn days with the changing of the leaves from green to a variety of reds and oranges.

While I was sitting there enjoying the spray I was observing the Waitt and Poppen Apartment complexes. From across the lush green softball field, they looked like towering giants roaming the vast 68 acres of wilderness that is Morningside College. These giant buildings looked to be wearing burnt orange and maroon colors. I wondered if the white trim around the windows of the buildings would have been the trim on their colored robes. Then for a moment I thought, “this is silly,” so i went back to my room and typed about my experience.

In my Journalism class, my teacher gave the class ice cream and told us to write about eating it.  I took the ice cream he had placed on my table so generously and had immediate flashbacks to grade school ice cream snacks. When I first opened the ice cream I  saw the split between the white like snow vanilla and the what looked like dirt, root beer. I took my first scoop right down the middle of the two flavors as if I were a chemist and had to have the correct formula for an equal ratio of vanilla to root beer. The first bite was a mix of flavors of I couldn’t tell which side was better. As I progressed through the bowl and the ice cream began to liquify the flavors became mixed into a mostly root beer solution. I noticed the root beer part wasn’t relatively close to the taste of an actual root beer float with A&W Root Beer, which was actually quite the let down. Now I have the hankering for a delicious root beer float.