Quotable quote…
So my weekend was too uneventful…and I had too many drinks, to remember any quotable quotes. But there was a good quote today when I walked in with.
On Friday, I made a true effort to look better than I usually do. I usually wear sweat pants, and a sweater. But I dressed up on Friday. Today, I was right back to wearing sweats.
“Wow, how you look today is a total contrast to how you looked on Friday,” said Gustav Hollnagel, a fellow student.
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Rewrite assignment
One person is dead and three others are injured after a car crash yesterday morning.
Moyer Quick, age 65 of South Sioux City was killed after his car struck another vehicle approximately tho miles east of Sioux City. The driver of the other vehicle, Randy Radin, 17, was taken to Marian Health Center and is listed as being in critical condition. He suffered a skull fracture and internal injuries.
Dorothy Quick, 61, and Maxine Steuerwald, 43, were also taken to Marian Health Center. Mrs. Quick is in good condition, while Steuerwald is in fair condition.
Both vehicles were traveling west when Quick tried to pass a truck driven by Radin. The impact sent both vehicles into the ditch and caused Quick’s car to roll. The accident is still under investigation.
Paper 1 First Draft
Aloise Ferris sets the table in her quiet house. She sets out two plates, two forks, two knives, two glasses, and two napkins. Her husband, Keith, is very quiet today. Dinner is almost ready, fried chicken, bread and butter, and leftover steamed broccoli. She dishes up both plates, sits down, and looks at the chair where Keith sits. No one is there. Aloise quietly sighs and gets up to put the contents of the other plate in a container.
Keith has been gone for several years now, ten this coming February. And Aloise still finds herself sometimes setting the extra plate at her kitchen table. That happens less now than it did at first though because Aloise has begun to make friends in the community. Female friends.
“When my husband first passed away,” Aloise says, “I often found myself sitting around the house. Five of my eighteen grandchildren lived right down the street, so I didn’t want to miss a visit from them.”
Several years ago, though, her daughter and their family moved a mile away. That mile was all it took for Aloise to turn into a social butterfly.
“Well, I joined the Red Hats, the Senior Sues, and I started playing cards with four other ladies in the neighborhood,” Aloise says, patting her cropped white hair.
Alosie says that when she would go out before the women would either talk badly about their husbands, or about other women. And Aloise says, she hated that.
“I never had anything to add,” she says. “I had a wonderful husband.”
Women tend to do that. One study found that women are more likely to agree with one another than they are with men. Furthermore, women also use more intense language than men do, making everything they say seem more dramatic. Also, if a woman is more “nuturant”, their behavior is reinforced by that of the other women. That means that if a woman is talking badly about her husband, the women around her are more likely to say similar things and make it seem worse than it actually is. (Turner, p. 92)
Virginia Horner, unlike the Aloise and her friends, still has her husband. She doesn’t leave the house much on account of that fact.
“Well, Dad is 90-years-old now,” she says. “So it’s hard for him to get around.”
She says her life is very different from ladies that have lost their husbands. Those that are left, anyway. She’s not sure if she would go out with friends, even if there were.
“I’m 82-years-old,” she says with a phlegmy smokers cough. “So a lot of the ladies we were friends with are gone, not that I think I would go out anyway. The roads are always so busy, I don’t go anywhere unless I have to.”
It may not just be the fact that many people in that age group have passed away. Another study found that in some groups, age is negatively correlated to the interdependence of female friendships. So, the fact that Virginia is 82-years-old may also affect her friendships with women. (Zhang, p. 2)
Another impact on adult female friendships is often the presence of children.
“My kids are involved in sports, plays, and other activities, so a lot of my female friends are mothers of other students in the same activities,” says Claudia Horner, a mother of five children. “But even then, our conversations are limited to the scope of our kids’ activities.”
This is increasingly common. A study found that Americans correlate friendships with common interests. So Claudia isn’t completely off base in her feelings that her friends are the parents of her children’s teammates aren’t wrong. In fact, those parents probably have the same feelings.
“We don’t spend any time together outside of games or events,” Claudia adds. “But we may talk on the phone after discussing something in relation to the activities.”
Female to female friendships are increasingly uncommon as women age, but the loss of a spouse may encourage friendships. Common interests may fuel many adult female friendships, as do conversation in many forms. Regardless, the importance of these bonds is not lost.
“Sure, the ladies get catty if they lose their pennies in poker,” says Aloise. “But going to cards gets me out of the house. It’s fun to go out sometimes.”
Chen, Y., & Nakazawa, M. (2009). Influences of Culture on Self-Disclosure as Relationally Situated in Intercultural
and Interracial Friendships from a Social Penetration Perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 38(2), 77-98. doi:10.1080/17475750903395408.
Turner, L., & Dindia, K. (1995). An Investigation of Female/Male Verbal Behaviors in Same-Sex and Mixed-Sex
Conversations. Communication Reports, 8(2), 86-96. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database
Zhang, Z., Li, H., & Bhatt, G. (2006). The Relational Self Defined: Comparing Canadians, Chinese, and Indians.
Conference Papers — International Communication Association, 1-23. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database.
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More lead exercises…
1. Gun
It’s said that lightening doesn’t strike twice in the same place. But apparently…robberies do.
Last night, BJ’s Drug was robbed for the second time in nearly 25 years. The owner of the store, Barney Joseph, Jr., 43, keeps a gun under the counter but he decided not to use it. Joseph told police that the robbery was over in less than a minute, and he thought it would be unwise to reach for the gun.
The robbery 25 years ago, was much more tramatic for the Joseph family. Joseph’s father, Barney Joseph, Sr., was in the store at the time of the robbery. The gunmen shot him when he reached for his gun.
“Dad resisted, I guess. Anyway, they found him shot to death, his own gun in his hand, and a bulet in the store’s ceiling. I’d rather part with my money than my life,” the younger Joseph said.
Two masked men entered the store at around 8:30 p.m. One man held a gun on the owner while the other removed cash from the register. Any information should be reported to the local police department.
2. Suffolk Downs
Fifteen horses are dead after a suspicious fire at Suffolk Downs Race Track this morning.
The stable that burned housed 25 horses in all. Ten escaped. Two of the horses stampeded through the barnyard with their backs on fire. Albert Ramos of Miami, FL, watched workers as they cleaned up the area.
“That’s my best friends,” he said, pointing to the surviving horses. “I love horses more than I do people. I feel like I want to cry.”
Arson is suspected as the cause of the fire.
“The fire exploded near the center of the barn,” said Jim Connery, fire cheif. “Flames were shooting out of the building when we got here. The fire is definitely suspicious.”
An arson squad has been called to the scene.
Weekly News Article
Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth, met with her alleged killer, Joran van der Sloot in a Peruvian prison this week. The man is being awaiting trial for the murder of another girl in Peru.
Personally, I’m a little sick of hearing about Natalee Holloway. Joran van der Sloot has been lying for five years about where she is and what happened to her, why do they think he’d tell the truth now? Especially, when it could result in a harsher sentence in Peru so that Natalee gets justice. I understand why this is news, do not get me wrong. Natalee Holloway was a beautiful girl at the start of her life, who everyone wants to see either get a proper burial or returned home safely. I get it. But what people don’t think about is that Natalee Holloway MADE A MISTAKE that probably cost her her life. That’s not to say she was asking for it or that Joran van der Sloot (allegedly) was in the right to kill her. I’ve said this before. If Natalee Holloway had just made a plan to meet with her friends before they left the bar, if they had checked in with each other, if Heaven forbid she had used her common sense and not left the bar with a stranger, she probably would be alive today. Women have to look out for themselves before they can expect someone else to do so.
Find an autographed doodle
What is art? In so many many classes, that question is asked. It’s asked for ethical reasons, it’s asked because the class is about art, or it’s asked simply because it always sparks a passionate discussion. I am not an artist, nor will I ever be called one. I don’t have any artistic talent. But I have an admiration for people that do…so maybe I can start with that.
This assignment was to find a Post-it note with an autographed doodle on it. First off, I don’t know of anyone that doodles. Nor do I go to the library to study. And I’m terribly antisocial and socially awkward. How am I ever going to complete this assignment? I got lucky. That’s how.
I walked into the office at work, and this young man named Austin was sitting at the desk. He was eating a bowl of soup on his break. I noticed that in his left hand was a pen. Oh, so Austin is left handed. He was doodling on a piece of yellow lined paper.
“Austin, what are you doing,” I casually asked.
“I’m trying to find a pen that works,” he replied.
However, his pen tests had made a magnificent pattern of curliques, lines, and circles. So after he left, I took the paper he had doodled on.
Lead Exercises 2
1. Suzanne and Samantha Decker were so distressed, they had to call the fire department. The twins’, whose parents are Charlie and Kim Decker, calico cat had climbed into a tree at 102 11th Avenue.
When the fire department arrived, fire fighter Bob Harwood climbed 50 feat into the tree to retrieve the cat. Once the cat was safely in his arms, Harwood began his decent, picking his way through the branches. Fifteen feet from the bottom, he stepped on a dead limb causing it to break. Harwood fell the remainder of the way, breaking his left leg.
A representative for the fire department said Harwood is at St. Lukes Hospital and doing “just fine.”
The Decker’s cat is doing fine too, it landed on top of Harwood.
2. Three false alarms sounded last Wednesday at East High School, but it wasn’t a wiring problem that caused them.
Ten upperclassmen students sounded the alarms to protest the suspension of five students who were caught smoking marijuana in the school parking lot. The disgruntled students were suspended for one week.
There seems to be general unrest at the school, as a food fight closed the cafeteria the previous day – Tuesday.
“Not so much unrest because of the suspensions, but because of summer vacation being so near,” says Laura Vibelius, principal at East High School.
Vibelius says she sees no continuation of these “incidents” in the near future.
3. The Gulf Coast isn’t the only one dealing with an oil spill these days. Four Sioux City families were forced to evacuate their homes after a Texaco gasoline truck overturned in their neighborhood.
The truck overturned on the outskirts of town, at the intersection of 48th Street and Correctionville Road. This caused gas to flood sewer lines for two blocks in all directions. Gas also covered the streets and ditches, causing cars to be rerouted through side streets.
The fire department as on hand to help control the gas spill.
“The firemen followed catastrophe and hazmat procedures set up before hand for just such an occurence,” said Fire Chief Charles Hochandel.
The spill was considered seious for two hours until the gas was flushed away. All four families are now back in their homes.
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Paper 1
Walk into the lobby. Sign your name to the waiting list. Complete a test about your medical history. Let them take your blood pressure, check your protein, weigh you, and send you on your way. Walk into a room full of whirring machines, people in white coats, and stiff, brown recliners.
The worst part about this is you haven’t been committed, or come against your own will; you volunteered to be poked and prodded this way. As the nurse smiles at you and prepares to poke your arm with a needle that looks as big as your head, you remember why you’re doing this. And even though it’s not much, it’s a little reassuring. Donating plasma can do so much for other people, and you’re getting paid to donate.
“It’s kind of sad, actually,” says Matthew Weber, a phlebotomist at Octapharma Plasma, Inc. in Sioux City, Iowa. “For some people, donating plasma is the difference between having food on the table and going hungry. If they get turned away, that’s it.”
Since the recession hit, plasma donation statistics have skyrocketed. More and more plasma donation centers are opening. In just the past two year, two centers have opened in Sioux City. It’s one way for people to supplement their income when the company their working for has cut hours or they get laid off. Plasma donation can earn donors up to $200 per month.
Donors have many different reasons for donating plasma. Some people do it for the satisfaction of helping people who are suffering from diseases like hemophilia. A donor may simply be motivated by the money. But for Sommer Fults, the reason hits closer to home.
“My son, Braylon, needs medication that is plasma based. He’s only two, but he has to be poked with a needle twice a week for treatment,” says Fults. “I decided if he can do it, so can I.”
Donations are screened much the same way blood donations are. They are tested for HIV and hepatitis, and donors are screened periodically for syphilis. Upon their first donation, donors also undergo a physical and general health check.
And though it’s time consuming, Fults says, it’s worth it.
“The physical took a couple of hours. I was really nervous. It’s a little different when the needle is coming at you instead of someone else. But Braylon and his health are my first priority. I’d rather take the time to donate and know I’m helping my son,” Fults concludes.
Plasma donation creates treatments for hemophilia and immune deficiency disorders.
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In-class Leads
“Couch comfort” leads
While most people invest in pricey outdoor furniture or luxurious patio sets, the brothers at Sigma Chi fraternity took a more economical approach: they put couches on their front lawn.
A group of college kids are gathered on the lawn of the home next to yours. Its bad enough you have to live next to a frat house, but their getting drunk on the lawn in the middle of the day. And the most ridiculous part? Instead of lawn chairs…they’re sitting on a dirty, ratty old couch that has no place in a home or even on a lawn.
“Flamingo enjoys her freedom” leads
In a flutter of pink feathers, Pinky the flamingo escaped captivity during clipping time.
The other birds sat calmly as Gentle Mike trimmed their feathers, but a commotion caught their attention across the pond. Pinky the flamingo was making a daring escape into the clear blue sky.
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Lead Re-write
Rewrite of lead for “What a Big Mistake Can Teach You” by Stacey Colino in Cosmopolitan’s September 2010.
Making mistakes is a quintessential part of growing into the adult you will one day become. Many people often argue that a man’s mistake is not judged as harshly as that of a woman. If you get lucky, though, your mistake doesn’t cause you to suffer major consequences. That was not the case for the women profiled in this article. The mistakes described not only had consequences, in each case, the error in judgement sent her life into a tailspin. Each cautionary tale though has a happy ending. These women prove that it is possible to pick up the pieces of a shattered life and move on.