Archive for October, 2020

Oct 28 2020

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Story #3 – Cheapskate Hill’s Spot in Morningside Lore

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Morningside College’s culture is rooted in its historic locations on campus. From Allee Gym to Charles City Hall, and Dimmitt Hall to Roadman Hall, Morningside’s culture is in its locations. One location, however, is very rooted in the culture of Morningside, but will not be shown on campus pamphlets.

Cheapskate Hill was a place for Morningside football fans to gather and enjoy watching the football game from a higher location overlooking Elwood Olsen Stadium. Admission to the hill was free, and its possibilities were endless.

Up on the hill, fans enjoyed the ability to tailgate, play games, and consume adult beverages without any worry for repercussion. It was a place for fans of Morningside football to create a party-like atmosphere while being physically at the game. It was the perfect place to be if you were a Morningside football fan.

“I remember seeing some fans toss a beer can down the hill, and they would run to chase after it. It was just a great hangout spot if you were a football fan,” said Mustang football fan Nelson Wilson.

Alcohol is not allowed on Morningside College’s campus property unless you are of age and partaking inside an apartment building. This did not stop Mustang football fans from enjoying some adult beverages during games anyway.

“If the hill was not shining by the end of the game, something was wrong,” said Morningside College alum Nathan Hoogland. “I went to a couple of games on the hill, and learned that beer was the only beverage allowed up there.”

Cheapskate Hill is a part of many great memories of gathering and enjoying Mustang or Chief football contests. Drink in one hand, and football being enjoyed with friends, some of the best athletic moments at Morningside were enjoyed through the eyes of the cheapskate fans on Cheapskate Hill.

“From the old NCC days to the success of the program recently, I can’t think of a better place to enjoy football and life than up on Cheapskate Hill,” said longtime play-by-play broadcaster Curtis Anderson. “It became synonymous with Morningside football, and I think everyone will remember that.”

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Oct 21 2020

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Story #3 Draft – Cheapskate Hill

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Morningside College’s culture is rooted in its historic locations on campus. From Allee Gym to Charles City Hall, and Dimmit Hall to Roadman Hall, Morningside’s culture is in its locations. One location, however, is very rooted in the culture of Morningside, but will not be shown on campus pamphlets.

Cheapskate Hill was a place for Morningside football fans to gather and enjoy watching the football game from the higher location overlooking Elwood Olsen Stadium. Admission to the hill is free, and its possibilities are endless.

Up on the hill, fans enjoyed the ability to tailgate, play games, and consume adult beverages without any worry for repercussion. It was a place for fans of Morningside football to create a party-like atmosphere while being physically at the game. It was the perfect place to be if you were a Morningside football fan.

This, however, was not the perfect place for the administration of Morningside. Because it was Morningside’s property, it was supposed to play by Morningside’s rules. This supposedly meant there would be no alcohol allowed. Yet, from Homecoming 2017, I learned that there were 3 colors to the hill in the fall. There was green when the weather was nice and there was no football, white when there was snow on the ground, and a glistening silver from beer cans strewn over the hill during a football game.

Whether Morningside’s higher-ups liked it or not, Cheapskate Hill is a part of many great memories of gathering and enjoying Mustang or Chief football contests. Drink in one hand, and football being enjoyed with friends, some of the best athletic moments at Morningside were enjoyed through the eyes of the cheapskate fans on Cheapskate Hill.

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Oct 15 2020

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Story #3 – Sketch

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Every Morningsider knows there were 3 potential colors for Cheapskate’s Hill in the fall: green for the grass, white for the snow, or silver for the beer cans that would line it after a football game.

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Oct 13 2020

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Non-fiction Text Review #1 – Where Men Win Glory and Books Fall Short

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Jon Krakauer’s book “Where Men Win Glory” tells the incredible story of Pat Tillman and his ascension from NFL’s most feared safety to the Army’s most feared Ranger. This book will walk you through, in great detail, the entire life of Pat Tillman from early on to his trip to Afghanistan in 2004. This detail, however, hurts the book in some ways, in my opinion, and causes it to fall a little short of expectations.

Let me put this out there first, I am not a great reader, nor do I enjoy reading large books. This being said, if a story catches my attention, it is very tough for me to put the book down. That simply didn’t happen with “Where Men Win Glory” through the first 200 pages or so. Frankly, I think the book could have been told in about half the amount of time that it took Krakauer to write it. It felt, to me, like a student trying to get to the word count on an essay, and throwing in random facts and nuggets about Tillman to reach some kind of page count or word count. This would be the main criticism for the book.

Now, what does this book do well? Once you get to the good stuff, it does a lot of things very well. The retelling of Tillman’s story puts you right in the middle of the action. The detail that Krakauer uses to retell Tillman’s horrific and easily preventable death is something that is unrivaled by many, and paints a sad but detailed picture as to how his life came to an end.

The other important aspect that Krakauer dives into is the way that the Bush campaign used Tillman’s death in their own way to promote patriotism. Krakauer makes sure that all of his bases are covered when talking about Tillman’s death and the false narratives that were spread about how he died. It is an unfortunate, but important part of the story that Krakauer makes sure to cover so that the entire story of Tillman is told the way it really happened.

Overall, I would give “Where Men Win Glory” a 3 out of 5 stars. If the book were graded on the final 75-100 pages, it would get a much better rating. However, the fluff used at the beginning hurts the book’s ability to be a “page-turner.” This is a shame. The story of Tillman’s death should be something that is very widely known and Krakauer does a good job of telling the story. He just takes too long to get to the point which could keep some people from reaching the end to truly found out what happened to Tillman.

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Oct 08 2020

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Story #2 Final – The Polarization of Politics in America

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I think every American is guilty of something that, at some levels, seems very innocent. When you have a favorite sports team, it can be hard to accept anything that doesn’t reflect your favorite team in a positive light. When you have a favorite band, you are more likely to dismiss negative reviews or negative feelings about their songs and albums. If you have a favorite movie, anybody’s negative opinion of that movie is automatically discounted.

These examples are all innocent enough that you may have gotten a chuckle out of reading that because you realize that you do one of the things I listed above.

However, I am noticing a trend similar to this that is a danger to our discourse and something that is very troubling. Political tribalism is something that I have noticed becoming very prevalent in today’s society. I scroll sites like Twitter and Facebook on a regular basis and see statements like, “If you support Donald Trump you must be a racist and a sexist.” Similarly, if you support Joe Biden you want all babies to die, you want my taxes to go up by 500%, and issues like this.

These statements have me asking, “What happened to working together or seeing the other side?” Where is the civility when it comes to political discourse?

I ask this because I am concerned as to where this will lead, and where it has already led. I watch debates and discussions between our elected officials and candidates running for office and cringe with how bad the discourse has gotten. Debates have become shouting and screaming matches, name-calling festivals, and substance-less shitshows due to the crumbling of our political discourse.

The cause of this isn’t down to one concrete thing, but I think that the main driving force behind polarization on social media is partisanship in our politics. Politics today have become so far apart that getting any person to vote down the middle, or even consider the other side of an issue is next to impossible. PewResearch did a study on the partisan divide on political views and found that 44% of Democrats and 45% of Republicans had a very unfavorable opinion of the other party. In 1994, that number was fewer than 20% in each party.

How does this polarization and partisanship impact the public? How does it impact millennials and Generation Z? I’ve seen this have a negative impact on the people that participate in our voting process. My wife, Erika, is participating in her first Presidential election of her lifetime and, right now, she has no interest in voting for either candidate due to the polarization and partisanship she’s seen.

“The way I see it, Republicans and Democrats are on two opposite sides of the coin, and, frankly, I don’t want any part of the coin,” said Erika with a laugh.

This does reflect the feeling of many people, and it could be a major impact in our political election system in the future. Nobody wants any part of the coin if the two sides are not willing to come together and be united to make the country a better place for all to live.

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Oct 06 2020

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CD/Album Review – THE ALBUM by Blackpink

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THE ALBUM by Blackpink is an 8-song album that features prominent singers, Selena Gomez and Cardi B, along with the South Korean pop group. Released on June 26, this upbeat album will bring you to your feet to dance along with its infectious beat and contagious melody, and gets a strong 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Fans of a tech-style of pop music will appreciate this album’s beat that frequents many bass-boosted parts that will rattle your headphones or speakers. It attempts to mix pop music with EDM music and sprinkle in some hip-hop rap style to it as well. These combinations make for a very infectious beat and selection of songs that will have you dancing along while listening along.

Fans of songs with meaningful lyrics probably won’t find their cup of tea with these songs. There are no Pulitzer Prize winning stories being told through these songs. They feature pretty typical types of songs for female pop groups. Singles on the album such as “Ice Cream,” “Pretty Savage,” and “Bet You Wanna” are the typical songs that feature girls being “too good” for certain guys that want to be with them.

Another downside to this album is that it struggles to find its identity. At times it felt like a typical girl-group pop album that would be blasting on many Top-40 radio stations. At other times it felt like more of a hip-hop EDM album. This identity issue is a little jarring for people that wanted something specific, but if you just came looking for a dance-along album that you can play at your next party, then you have found it with this one.

Overall, THE ALBUM is worth a listen, and even a dance in your spare time and receives 3.5 out of 5 stars. You can find THE ALBUM on Spotify, and Amazon online. You can also pick up a physical CD copy from your local Target stores.

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