Hoss' Blog

Claire Russo always wanted to be a Marine, so she became one. But in 2004, she was sexually assaulted  while serving her country by a fellow Marine named Danny Dowson. Russo attended a party and was hanging a drink by Dowson. Russo felt like she was drugged, and the next thing she knew, she was on the bathroom floor. The marines shut down her case, so Russo took her case to the local police.

As it turns out, Dowson has a history of repetitively raping women who are incapacitated, and there’s proof. After a search warrant was obtained for Downson’s house, police found “hidden cameras and hundreds of hours of video of Dowson having sex with seemingly incapacitated women.” Another woman, an aviator, has a similar experience like Russo, and both of them felt the pressure to not file the assault.  Dowson was charged with the rape of Russo.

After reading this article, I’m not entirely sure if it’s news worthy. This happened many years ago, so it’s not current. It’s not a human interest piece, as it is rather depressing. It doesn’t effect anyone who has not been raped by Dowson. However, I did find it to be an interesting read. It is rare, however, for a soldier to report the acts of sexual assault and seek justice- both women when were raped by Russo also admitted to feeling the pressure to not file it as a report, or seek anything further. Perhaps the rarity and the act of injustice to the women is enough to make it news worthy and an interesting read.

Read the full article at NBCNews.

Jackson Ripley, only twelve years old from Colorado, recently wrote the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, a letter, voicing his options on different policies. In his letter, he wrote that Romney should have stayed in Massachusetts, and America doesn’t need him as a leader. He also wrote on topics such as gay marriage, birth control, and Obamacare.

The article feature in the Good News section of the Huffington Post, does a good job of portraying Ripley correctly, and providing background information. One of the first things I looked for after reading the letter was his parent’s political ideas. His parents are strong Obama supporters, and his sister benefited from Obamacare. Ripley wrote, over the topic of Romney repealing the new healthcare system, “Because of Obama care my little sister was able to have the several surgeries she needed that helped save her life… Why do you think she doesn’t deserve health care?” Lindsey Ripley, Jackson’s mother, also commented on the benefits their family had due to Obamacare.

This background information provides a lot of understanding to why Ripley wrote this article.

However, does this qualify as news? I think because it is a rare fact- a twelve year old speaking out against Romney and sending the letter, it can be considered news. It is interesting, rare, and although the letter is biased, the article is not. The article writer does not show a political opinion and simply states the facts with accurate background information. If they writer had no included the parents’ political affiliation or the fact that his sister was denied healthcare before Obamacare was introduced, it would not have been such a credible source of information.

Read this article and the letter at the Huffington Post.

Students around Morningside campus today are all wearing jackets, as the weather at 10 in the morning hasn’t gone past 60 degrees. The wind, lightly blowing the crisp air through the middle of campus, is tolerable and provides a crispness to the weather. The overcast sky isn’t exceptionally dreary. Leaves already falling from some of the trees in the center of campus.

Outside Older Student Center, I find Dominic Means, a student at Morningside. As he approaches the doorways, I ask him if I can interview him for a short few minutes about the weather, and he nods in agreement. He’s wearing a light, cream colored jacket with his hand in the pockets, and jeans. Looking warm out, I ask him how he likes the weather today. He looks to the sky and back around campus and says easily, “It’s brisk and cloudy, not very much win, so it’s nice. It’s not too hot and not too cold!”

The classrooms may be a bit warm on campus today, but walking outside feels fresh. The weather is turning from the summer heat to the windy autumn at Morningside College this September, and students are enjoying it.

Hiking in Stone State Park.

While walking the miles of footpaths in Stone State Park, you can’t help but be in awe that Sioux City has such a magnificent area. Stone State park is full of activities for people who are adventurous, and those who would rather stick for not getting lost. That parks’ trees have leaves that are already falling, some trees turning golden, and the warm air blowing through the trees.

First inhabited by the Dakota Sioux, the land has plenty of history. After the Native Americans left the land, a man named Daniel Talbot started buying it piece by piece. The land was turned over the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in 1925 and now totals 1,242 acres.  This land expands through Iowa and South Dakota, running along the Missouri River in North Sioux City.

Although it’s a bit of a drive from the Morningside campus, it’s worth it. My friend Madison and I make the trip together, her with a camera around her neck and me with a backpack with pen, paper, and water. Arriving at Stone State Park, you come to a fork in the road- you go up the hill or you go down the hill. The roads are narrow and steep, winding around the hills. Signs point in all directions. We drive all the way down to Turtle Lake, park the car, and start hiking. It’s a ten-minute walk to reach the lake on dirt paths that go through the forest. As Madison and I reach the lake, we notice that the path is worn and uneven, as if water used to travel over it. The rust colored path is as hard as stone, like the dried up rivers around the Mid-West due to the drought. The area to the left ad right of that dried up path is given life from the lake nearby.

The main portion of Turtle Lake sits up on a hill. The grassy area has trees that shade it, letting the warm sunshine seep through the branches and leaves, casting shadows on the green floor. The wind carries the smell of rotting leaves, moist dirt, and a slight swamp smell. Heading down the hill, the wind picks up and causes the lake to ripple with waves. The floating dock tilts slightly as I step on it. The water is murky, but still, I see the bluegills swimming happily along the seaweed. Across the water, the sunlight hits a tree that hangs out over the lake, illuminating the leaves and turning the tree golden. It’s beautiful.

We hike for another hour, going along the trails exploring and trying not to get lost. In the expansive forest area, the trails travel far. There are trees that have fallen in past storms, trees that are rotting away, and trees that are hundreds of years old. Somewhere near us, a woodpecker drills a hole into a tree trunk, the noise echoing through the quiet space. Rabbits run across the trail when they hear my footsteps and hop into hiding.

After an hour and a half of hiking, Madison and I decide to leave- it’s getting warm out in Sioux City as we reach the peak of the afternoon. We loved being out there. As Madison put it, “Stone State park has a lot of horse and hiking trails. It’s a great place for families to visit.”

Stone State Park brings visitors to the area. If you want to hike, run, ride horses, fish, camp, or go sight seeing, Stone State Park has it all. It’s great for people to get out of their comfort area, for the adventurous to explore, and for families to have picnics and go fishing. Stone State Park is a magnificent area in Siouxland to visit.

To view all the available activities, go to the DNR website.

(Photos courtesy of Madison Fisher.)

Turtle Lake in Stone Stone Park.

One thing that I have struggled with in writing is portraying my ideas clearly and keeping the same idea throughout. I may start with a certain thesis, and change it by the end of the paper. I noticed last year in my research paper on political campaigns, I wrote my introduction first, but ended up changing it five or six times as my paper changed. It was a seven page paper, and after I found new information, the entire idea of my paper changed. It took a lot of work to go back and fix each paragraph to suit the paper’s new topic, but it was worth the extra effort.

I know I need to improve on organizing my papers in ways that make it easier to write and easier to understand for the readers. I could do this by writing out my outline on paper, creating ideas before writing, and allowing myself more time to get a good start on the paper.

Sometimes I don’t catch my grammar or spelling mistakes- it’s hard to reread my own writing and catch all of the mistakes. I know I need to have another person proofread the papers more often before the due date.

When you find out your ex-boyfriend from twelve years ago, who was just released from prison, has been living in your attic for over two weeks, how would you react?

A woman in South Carolina started seeing nails coming out of her ceiling, along with her and her children hearing things from the attic. FEeling that something just wasn’t right, the family travelled into the attic where they found her ex-boyfriend sleeping in the corner. They also found Sonic cups filed with feces and urine.

Even creepier yet, her ex had opened all of the vents so that he could look down on the family during the day.

Once being found out, he escaped by foot. Police are still searching for him.

Is this news? It definitely falls under the unusual or rare category. Things like this don’t happen often, and although it’s not a feel-good story (rather, sends some chills down your spine!) I think it can be considered news. It’s not the kind of article you’ run in a newspaper, but on online sites like the Huffington Post, I think it’s acceptable.

Read the article here at the Huffington Post.

Hiking in Stone State Park.

While walking the miles of footpaths in Stone State Park, you can’t help but be in awe that Sioux City has such a magnificent area. Fall is arriving early throughout the park, with leaves already falling, some trees turning golden, and the crisp air coming through the trees. Those who love fall would be excited to visit Stone State Park in the next few weeks of hot summer air.

First inhabited by the Dakota Sioux, the land has plenty of history. After the Native Americans left the land, a man named Daniel Talbot started buying it piece by piece. The land was turned over the the Iowa DEpartment of Natural Resources in 1925 and now totals 1,242 acres.  This land expands through Iowa and South Dakota, running along the Missouri River in North Sioux City.

Although it’s a bit of a drive from the Morningside campus, it’s worth it. My friend Madison and I make the trip together, her with a camera around her neck and me with a backpack with pen and paper and water. Arriving at Stone State Park, you come to a fork in the road- you go up the hill or you go down the hill. The roads are narrow and steep. Signs point in all directions. I go all the way down to Turtle Lake, park the car, and start hiking. It’s a five minute walk to reach the lake on dirt paths that go through the forest. As my friend, Madison, and I reach the lake, we notice that the path is worn and uneven, as if water used to travel over it. The rust colored path is as hard as stone, like the dried up rivers around the Mid-West due to the drought.

The main portion of Turtle lake sits up on a hill. The grassy area has trees that shade it, letting the warm sunshine seep through the branches and leaves, casting shadows on the green floor. The wind carried the smell of rotting leaves, moist dirt, and a slight swamp smell. Heading down the hill, the wind picks up and causes the lake to ripple with waves. The floating down tilts slightly as I step on it. The water is murky, but still, I see the bluegills swimming happily along the seaweed. Across the water, the sunlight hits a tree that hangs out over the lake, illuminating the leaves and turning the tree golden. It’s beautiful.

We hike for another hour, going along the trails exploring and trying not to get lost. In the expansive forest area, the trails travel far. There are trees that have fallen in past storms, trees that are rotting away, and trees that are hundreds of years old. Somewhere near us, a woodpecker drills a hole into a tree trunk, the noise echoing through the quiet space. Rabbits run across the trail when they hear my footsteps and hop into hiding.

After an hour and a half of hiking, Madison and I decide to leave- it’s getting warm out in Sioux City as we reach the peak of the afternoon. We loved being out there. As Madison put it, “Stone STate park has a lot of horse and hiking trails. It’s a great place for families to visit.”.

Stone State Park brings visitors to the area. If you want to hike, run, ride horses, fish, camp, or go sight seeing, Stone State Park has it all.

To view all the available activities, go to the DNR website.

(Photos courtesy of Madison Fisher.)

Turtle Lake in Stone Stone Park.

This weekend, while doing IRIS, there was an article about Republicans being angry about Obama not visiting the Siouxland area during last year’s floods. This anger, a year late, took form in a protest a day or two before the President’s schedules arrival last Saturday.

However, MSNBC posted an article yesterday about Obama’s detour to Louisiana before continuing to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention, which takes place today until Thursday. Louisiana is enduring flooding form Hurricane Isaac, while came ashore on the seventh year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

I imagine that these Republicans who protested Obama last week were not happy about Obama visiting Louisiana and not visiting Siouxland when they were in need of help and support.

During his speech in Louisiana,  Obama talked  about the support of the communities he’s witnessing in Louisiana and about the effort to recovery. The article also states that it wans’t just a Democratic event for Obama- he was joined by Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana.

“When disasters like this happen we set aside whatever petty disagreements we might have,” Obama said. “Nobody’s a Democrat or a Republican” (MSNBC).

After hearing these stories, I don’t think that the Siouxland story is considered news, because of how delayed the protests are. However, because Obama’s visit to Louisiana is current, will help his campaign to reelection, and because he is the President right now, it is news.

I think the article included an unbiased view of the President’s visit and provided enough information for the  reader to understand what went on. However, I would have included quotes from the President’s speech to make it more informational to the reader.

I could not find the article that I mentioned from the Sioux City Journal. However, this is the link to the main article that I focused on from MSNBC: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/03/13643974-obama-detours-to-louisiana-to-discuss-hurricane-recovery?lite

New lede:  As a college junior, making routine trips to the University of South Dakota for ROTC, living in Europe as an elementary student, and having done many interesting activities in the past, makes Gage Thackston a well-experienced individual.

From Kansas to Germany to Morningside and London, Gage Thackson seems to have done more than your average college student. Gage, a mass communications major and a graphic design minor, is from Leavensworth, Kansas, but moved around quite a bit. When he was in first grade, he moved to Parsberg, a tiny town in south-eastern Germany. While living in Europe, he travelled around, including going to Paris, France. While living in Parsberg, Gage learned some German, but over the years has lost touch with most of it. Come fourth grade, he moved back to the United States.

Now enrolled at Morningside for his junior year, Gage plays soccer on campus and has already completed his May Term requirement by going to London this last May. Gage is also part of the ROTC and has been for the past three years. His plans for after college graduation is to be in the army and serve his country. Gage used to do mixed martial arts, or MMA, boxing. He didn’t have many injuries, aside from hurting his wrist and having a hairline fracture to his nose. When Gage was asked about one of his most memorable experiences, he couldn’t pick just one, but finally landed on his experience down in the ocean. “I went scuba diving to an old World War II battle ship,” he said.

If anything, this should should teach us all that we don’t know each other. There are people out there that we see everyday that have  amazing stories to tell, but we don’t take the time to seek those stories out. Gage has lived and will live an interesting life, and this assignment did show me that I need to open my eyes more- seek the stories that people don’t show on the outside.