Crop talks

At sixteen years old, Bryce Reynolds traveled to Chicago to play basketball. The 8-hour drive got him there to play with an AAU team. Things were smooth playing the game he loved until he dislocated his hip and had no idea of the six month recovery. The journey he was now on was “grueling and needed to be taken one, small step at a time.”

This was the summer before his sophomore year of high school at the beginning of July. Surgery was needed to reattach torn tendons, realign his hip, and shave off some bone to reduce further irritation. The six months started with surgery and two weeks at home in a wheelchair for his sixteen year old self.

Reynolds said, “I hated to talk about it so I never really brought it up and kept everything to myself.”

Four months of crutches and rehab was the next step, teaching his leg to walk again. Once he could walk again, it was all about strength and mobility in his core and hips.

A new study found that women who get less than five hours of sleep during menopause have an increased risk of osteoporosis. The report came from the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. It compared over 5,000 women. With bone scans, they found lower bone mineral density and higher odds of osteoporosis at the hip, spine and total body for those with less than five hours of sleep. They were compared to women with over seven hours of sleep. The study was controlled for age, menopausal symptoms, physical activity and were generally healthy. The author of the report notes that the study does not prove the link. The study says short sleep and osteoporosis are linked.

Nicholas Bakalar wrote this short article on November 20, 2019. He told the conclusion of the study right away and how many women in each sleep category. Bakalar explained the bone scan results and that the study was controlled with similar women. He included a quote from the lead author, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University at Buffalo. Bakalar included the note from the authors that the study shows a link, but it is possible for other conditions to influence sleep and bone health.

My last conversation was with Lindsay Williams at the Spoonholder Cafe. Lindsay is a girl with a tall, athletic build and curly brown hair and had her Sodexo polo on. She said “Hey Crop, what can I get for ya today?” in a raised voice to make sure I heard her over the counter. I told her my order and she asked if that was all I wanted. I said “Yeah, thanks.”

I then told her that my Snapchat memories this morning gave me a notification of a video from one year ago today. I said “It was when we saw a squirrel outside the caf one time.” She had a confused look on her face like she didn’t remember, so I showed her the video. It was a video of her trying to get as close as she could to a squirrel. After I showed her she said, “Oh my gosh, I forgot about that,” and laughed. I said, “Yeah, me too,” and walked to the other side of the counter to wait for my coffee from the other worker.

Black, a Florida rapper, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after a guilty plea on weapons charges. He admitted to lying on background check forms on a gun that was fired at another rapper. This gun had Black’s fingerprints and a live round in the chamber. His guilty plea went with this gun and multiple firearms at two different times this year. He also was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and criminal possession of a firearm in April.

Joe Coscarelli wrote this article about the Florida rapper Kodak Black on November 13^th. He started out with the recent news on the rapper and worked to his past criminal charges. He included the details of charges that lead to his sentence that got reduced from ten years. The rapper has had success and the charges have built up. Coscarelli explained his past charges from criminal sexual charges to marijuana possession.

The Popeyes fried chicken sandwich made its return after a 2-month shortage nationwide. The sandwich was back on November 3^rd after the company did not realize how high demand for it would be. Popeyes had estimated to be prepared for the demand for the sandwich through September, but ran out of inventory at the end of August. The company has stabilized the supply chain for the product and is confident they will meet the demand as a permanent menu item. The shortage of the sandwich also left Popeyes employees working tirelessly and dealing with threatening customers.

Terry Nguyen wrote this article on November 5^th and started by explaining the shortage. He mentioned how customers sometimes waited over an hour for their order. But, ordering off the Popeyes mobile app allowed customers to skip the lines. He told of incidents where customers fought over who cut in line and a man stabbed someone to death. Nguyen talked about the rivalry with Chik-fil-A and how Popeyes will keep up with demand. Nguyen covered how Popeyes will move on from the shortage and all the things surrounding it.

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/10/28/20936471/popeyes-fried-chicken-sandwich-returns-november-3

As a junior at Morningside, Barrus has found herself thriving in the theater instead of the softball field. She came to Morningside after high school to play softball, but quickly realized her passion was on the stage.

Since joining theater she is in the theater honor society and pursuing a major in mass communication and journalism. The major goes with her interest in the news and media, especially lifestyle, sports and fashion.

In her free time, she likes to hang out with friends and travel. She even spent her summer in California, away from home in Iowa, working at a wood-fire pizza company.