If you are an avid flyer you may want to rethink getting on a plane to get to your next destination.

A recent study shows that Americans that travel six or more times in a year are responsible for two thirds of aviation emissions that are polluting the earth. If you are one of these frequent fliers, on average, you’ll emit more than 3 tons of carbon dioxide per year when choosing to fly.

Some things that you can do to minimize your aviation footprints, are to choose routes that fly newer aircrafts. Being more aware of how fuel efficient your aircraft is can help immensely.

So next time you’re planning a vacation or business trip ask yourself if it is entirely necessary to take to the air.

Senior Theatre and Communications major, Engels Perez, is getting his first break as a playwright thanks to Morningside College and Shot in The Dark Theatre Productions.  Perez is producing his play “Blink of an Eye” on campus for the first time November 14^th through November 17^th.

One thing that makes this experience special compared to other plays the Theatre Department usually puts on is that the director and actors get to work hand and hand with the playwright, and will be the first to perform the script in front of an audience.

Perez started writing this play about 3 years ago and it has been through countess work shops since then. When asked about the process Perez said, “It has been a long time coming, I started writing this play at the end of my freshman year at Morningside, so to see it all come together in my last year here is very special.”

Although, Perez finalized the script, the director, Taylor Clemens, is stil working directly with Perez as rehearsals start with changes necessary to the script and layout of the plot to make things more efficient and run smoothly. “The show brings in a lot of elements that you just don’t see in small theatre productions, hell you might not even see them in well established productions. Engels is taking risks and as the President of Shot in the Dark and head of the Theatre Department I am happy to take that risk with him.” Clemens stated.

Many individuals have been apart of the writing and preparing process apart from Perez and Clemens. Senior Theatre major, Madison Schueth, is on the Production Team for the play, and was one of the first people to do a read through of the rough draft. Schueth is also cast as one of the leads of the production now. When asked about the changes she has seen from day one to preparing it for an actual performance Schueth said, “The beginning was rough, there were scenes that we needed to cut, and then other places where things needed to be added, so it has been interesting seeing it come together with each read through we have done…Being apart of this has been different than anything else I have done with the Morningside Theatre Department so I am excited to see the reaction the audience has and see how successful we can make it.”

The play is a dark drama/comedy, and has vulgar language and some amounts of substance abuse, and physical violence. This should be considered when walking through the doors to watch the show.

This week one of the highlights in the news is that Ellen Degeneres and George Bush were seen hanging out in a luxury box seat at a Dallas Cowboys football game.

The reason people are freaking out about this is because Degeneres is part of the LGBTQ+ community, and Bush has been actively known to speak out against the gay community.

Degeneres, spoke out on her show after the incident speaking with grace and humor to shed light that people need to be nice to everyone, and that she does not just preach that to her audience she genuinely tries to live by that.

I read an article on Vox that shed light on the situation and covered what people needed to now about situation. I thought they did a good job on informing the readers about what happened, and why so many Ellen fans are upset with her due to Bush’s background. The article then talks about the different definition of “niceness” in the Trump era of media and the news and how that has to do with how people reacted to the encounter between the two. I enjoyed reading the article, and thought it was structured very well.

This week, at the Climate Action Summit of 2019, climate activist, Greta Thunberg spoke out to UN leaders about the failing attempts to save the planet from irreversible damage due to rising global temperatures.

When asked if she had anything to say to the leaders in attendance to the summit, Thunberg spoke out with passion and commanded the stage with her inspiring words,

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words…People are dying.  Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”

Thunberg went on to talk about the failing attempts and promises to cut emissions in half in the next 10 years, and how that number still will not be enough.

Thunberg continued to command the stage, giving statistics, and making statements about how it is not fair that her generation and the ones to come are responsible for cleaning up the mess of the generations before them.

“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.” Thunberg stated.

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”

[add paragraph about shot in the dark’s role]

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.  

[add quote]

[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.

<i>Smallville</i>'s Tom Welling to Reprise Superman Role for Arrowverse 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Crossover