This year the Morningside Theatre department is stepping outside of the box and putting on a student produced play. The show “Blink of an Eye” was written by senior Theatre and Mass Communication, Engels Perez.

The show will run November 14^th through November 17^th. The reason this show is different than all the other shows Morningside has put on in the past is that the playwright, Perez, is very much involved in the entire process.

The director, Taylor Clemens, who is also the head of the Theatre Department, said, “Usually there are old productions that students and myself can pull from to get a sense of what the play is about and how it should run. The reason this one is so special is because it is the first time it is being performed, and we get to work side by side with Engels to make it come to life”

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Perez started writing the script a couple years ago, and has been continuously working on getting it to performance ready. The end of his sophomore year, Perez, put on a table reading of the play, and then presented it to Clemens as something he would like to eventually put on.  

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[add paragraph with cast member’s perspective]

This script is very dark, and has a lot of interesting technical elements that is going to make this experience entirely new and different from an audiences perspective.

[cast list]

Morningside College graduate, Alex Watters, is continuously making a difference in the Siouxland Community.

When Watters isn’t impacting students as a Career Developmental Specialist in the Krone Advising Center on Morningside’s campus, he is heavily involved in politics both locally and nationally.

Coming out of graduate school Watters moved to Washington D.C. to work for the American Association with Disabilities. This led him to work directly under Michelle Obama and the United States Department of Education with an internship program connected with Lets Read, Lets Move. This was a program getting kids more active and and eating healthier across the country to fight childhood obesity.

Since then Watters has worked as a campaign manager for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in Sioux City in 2012, and was appointed to the Sioux City City Council in 2017.

When asked about the direction politics are going today Watters said,

“Many people are letting the misdirection of politics influence them today. That’s why I wanted to get more involved. Who am I to just sit on the side lines and not get involved? Politics are still so important and relevant, and I want to educate people on that.”

This heavy political background has helped Watters impact the students he works with at Morningside. Since becoming an established political figure and inspirational person in Sioux City he has the ear of multiple different corporations, job opportunities, and political figures that opens doors for his students at the college. 

Watters said, “The most fulfilling part of my job is being able to see students succeed and come to the realization of knowing what they want to do with their life.”

This week with new allegations against the Trump administration, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced on Tuesday that she will officially initiate a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump.

Seeing that this is front page news, the New York Times, has done a good job in covering the ongoing actions of the Democrats and the impeachment process. For my news comment this week I read a NY Times article called, “Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump”.

This is a very information based article that talks about the long process that has gotten Nancy to this point, and what impeachment means to the way Americans view their lives. Considering this is the highest level of action congress can take against a sitting president this is not something Americans should take lightly. I thought the New York Times did a good job in informing their readers what impeachment means for the nation, and why it is necessary after the presidents actions, all while remaining as objective to the topic as possible.

Overall, I enjoyed reading through the article, and it definitely helped me educate myself on the process with an unbiased ear.

Biting into a Hostess Snowball is like biting into a creamy delicious ball of diabetes. This sweet treat has a good balance of textures. The first bite your taste buds feel the crisp coating of the sugary coconut sprinkles before indulging into the sticky, rich, marshmallow shell. Once you break through these barriers you’re rewarded with a cream filled cupcake that leaves your taste buds satisfied.

After reflecting over our first article in Fundamentals of Journalism, the thing I put the most effort in was researching to make sure I had the best supporting content. From Google Scholar, to credible news sources I really wanted to make sure I had a solid case built up to support my claim that social media causes increases in mental illnesses.

One thing that I wish I would have spent more time on is structuring the article better. After looking it over I feel like it is kind of scattered and I wish I would have put more thought into what information is the most important and layer it down from there.

Furthermore, the most difficult part of Article #1 was finding a topic to write about, and then not make it sound like a research paper. I have written several research papers, and only a handful of good research articles so it was hard to not blur the structure of them.

The previous paragraph builds on the biggest problem I had while writing this article. I struggle with getting to the point, my sentences are typically longer than they should be, and I overuse commas. These are things that I would really like to build on and get better at as the course continues.

Overall, I enjoyed the assignment. I haven’t written an article in a few years and I really missed it. I look forward to gaining knowledge in becoming a better journalist as the year goes on.

According to an article from TV Line the infamous Smallville star, Tom Welling, will be suiting up again as Superman in a crossover on the hit television series Arrow. I am a huge fan of Smallville so this sparked my attention.

The article talks about the episode he will be starring in and gives a few details that it will be about multiple different “universes” where other actors that have put on the tights and cape and called themselves Superman will also be reviving their roles for this special episode.

This article was very informational, it talked about how the hit T.V. series, Smallville, paved the ways for shows like Arrow to exists and prosper. This episode is new to air the first week of December.

In my Fundamentals of Journalism class, I was assigned to collect quotes and ask questions about two objects. My first object was to spark up a conversation about the weather with someone. I headed over to the admissions office and spoke with Admissions Coordinator, Char Jorgensen. Jorgensen was very opinionated when it came to the weather we are experiencing today. She said,

“My least favorite weather is when it is hot and humid because it is hard for me to breathe, so I am ready for sweatshirt weather.”

My second objective was to find a piece of gum that was not the color pink. To do this I stopped a group of girls walking down the heart of campus, and I asked them for a piece of gum. Luckily, sophomore, Lauren Rohwer, had a stick of Extra Spearmint gum she was willing to part with. At first my question sparked confusion in the group of girls, but after describing the assignment they were intrigued and willing to help.

“My favorite gum is usually the brand 5 Gum, but I spiced things up and tried Extra this time around and I really like it”, Rohwer said.

Final

A new study suggests there is a direct correlation between social media usage and the spike in mental illnesses in the last two decades.

According to the Health Line article, “FOMO is Real: How Social Media Increases Depression and Loneliness”, the reason social media is becoming an issue is due to people developing the “fear of missing out”. This is a feeling of constantly needing to be connected with others through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

So how could these platforms that are used to connect people lead to feelings of depression, anxiety, and loneliness?

Health Line interviewed Oscar Ybarra, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, on his research regarding social media usage and mental illnesses, and Dr. Ybarra stated,

“What happens many times when they log on is that they kind of activate a lot of social comparison. People don’t necessarily have to be super aware that this is occurring, but it does. You log on, you’re generally dealing with very curated content on the other side.” 

A decade ago this was not as big of a problem, but now people are glued to their devices and are losing touch with the real world. This disconnection from society is one of the reasons there has been a significant increase in depression and anxiety the past several years.

NBC News interviewed Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, and she said,

“We found a substantial increase in major depression or suicidal thoughts, psychological distress, and more attempted suicides after 2010, versus the mid-2000s, and that increase was by far the largest in adolescents and young adults.”

This increase is further being researched with the increase of social media usage since 2010 connecting the impact both have.

With people using social media regularly not only are there mental issues that are arising, but physical effects are happening as well. With the over usage of social media people are becoming less active and are practicing poor sleeping habits. The physical aftermath of losing sleep or being inactive due to excessive screen time can correlate to heightened feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety.

NBC News also interviewed Aaron Fobian, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama, about the effects of not getting enough sleep due to over usage of devices.

 “Teenagers definitely use social media in a way that affects their sleep, they are exposed to light right before bed and that light exposure alone delays their sleep by 30 minutes. It also affects their social interactions with others”, said Fobain.

Although the increase in these mental illnesses is scary, one should not be discouraged in using social media because it can be seen as a very good thing. It allows people to share and connect with people all across the world, but like many other things too much of something can be considered a bad thing.

So how does one avoid feelings of depression, loneliness, and anxiety due to social media? Researchers from Better Help suggest limiting screen time, being physically healthy, manage better sleeping habits, and if one starts to feel symptoms of being depressed or anxious to reach out for help.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/social-media-linked-rise-mental-health-disorders-teens-survey-finds-n982526

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/social-media-use-increases-depression-and-loneliness

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/depression/the-link-between-social-media-and-depression/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=Search_PPC_c&utm_term=_b&utm_content=82966718848&network=g&placement=&target=&matchtype=b&utm_campaign=6459244691&ad_type=text&adposition=1t1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8NfrBRA7EiwAfiVJpSDZBnU8TWO_qdFkTO00m4PfJn08jmow8Y896RTRNG7O2WPIzQhc3xoC820QAvD_BwE

Over this weekend President Trump took to his twitter account and called out model Chrissy Teigen and her husband, John Legend. I read an article over the matter from the New York Times called, “Trump Insults Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, and They Fire Back”

The article was very informational giving all the major details of the feud between Trump and especially Teigen, showing how they have never seen eye to eye. The reason for the feud this time was because Teigen and Legend attended a criminal justice town hall meeting that was broadcasted over the air. Shortly after the airing of it Trump took to his twitter and said, ““Now that it is passed, people that had virtually nothing to do with it are taking the praise,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Guys like boring musician @johnlegend, and his filthy mouthed wife, are talking now about how great it is — but I didn’t see them around when we needed help getting it passed.” Trump was talking about a piece of legislation he passed last year regarding criminal justice reform.

Teigen then tweeted in response to the president’s tweet since she was not even mentioned by her name. John also had some input after the tweet was sent out. I think the Times did an excellent job in describing the situation and being able to hit the history between everyone involved, and was as objective as one can be which I appreciated. I hope that some day soon my news feed won’t have to deal with instances involving the president and his 280-character nonsense tweets. I applaud the times for covering this so objectively and sticking to the information.

An article from the New York Times, “Friends is Turning 25 Here is Why We Can’t Stop Watching”, talks about why the sitcom Friends is just as popular today as it was when it first came out 25 years ago. It is no secret that the way people consume their entertainment is different than 25 years ago. When the sitcom first came out if you missed an episode there was no real way to know if you would be able to watch it again. Now you have all seasons of friends at your finger tips with Netflix.

The reason the show is still so popular is because of it’s relatable characters and scenarios. The article continues on to talk about what makes the characters relatable, and how the show picked and chose different ways to go about the sitcom compared to other popular shows in the 80’s and 90’s, such as Seinfeld. I think that this article is subjective, you have to like Friends to really understand the main points, but it is something that sparked my interest. I think sometimes as a journalist it is okay to be subjective, if it correlates to what you are writing about.

Even if you aren’t a Friends fan the article at least describes why it is such a hit and why it still has such an impact on people today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/arts/television/friends-tv-show.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront