A Montanan's Outlook

Mountain Girl in a Midwest Cornfield

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News Comment #9

I chose to write my news comment on an article from the New York Times titled “Inside a Secretive Group Where Women are Branded.” This article details an inside story about a secret sorority based from a company named Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um). This group was made up of a woman, known as “Master,” and six of her “slaves.” To be able to join the group, each “slave” was required to give collateral to the group to be used as blackmail if need be. The group was run as a secret organization in order to uplift women and potentially swing election results, but in actuality was only used to promote obedience in women.

This piece connects back to our Journalism class by being classified under the News Value of bizarre/oddity. This story details a secret society where women are branded against their own will. In a world filled with many things women fear, this organization adds to it. Nxivm is a company that uses fear and control to make men and women alike obey the founder, while also exposing them of their indiscretions. This is news because this company is dangerous, and gets people’s attention.

Broadcast #1

 

Psychology Today, June 2016

“An Element of Protection”

 

Studies have begun to show that stardust could be the ticket to Alzheimer’s research.

This stardust, more commonly known as magnesium, is essential to the body’s functions.

Scientists are finding that magnesium is more important to the body than originally thought. It is important in protecting the brain and preventing the loss of connections between nerve cells.

Scientists in the United States and China are researching the effects magnesium has on the typical disorder. It has the ability to prevent the loss of nerve connections.

In studies on both young and old animals, injections of magnesium have shown promising effects. Magnesium has the ability to rescue transmission signals.

These lost signals are what cause the traditional effect of short-term memory loss. Magnesium can potentially repair the signals between nerve cells and slow or stop memory loss.

 

Article #2 w/ 3 Interviews Final

Student, peer, and family attendance of sporting events have been declining over the past five years. Audience members have been showing up to fewer games and tournaments and leaving earlier.

Athletes get thrills out of audience cheers. They perform their best when they have people to support them, whether it be their families or friends. According to the North American Journal of Psychology, Volume 13 Issue 2, “audiences or fans can impact performance” based mainly on the type of behavior they show.

Cheers, jeers, and silence can all help and hurt athletic performance.

Football, basketball, and volleyball are considered “mainstream” sports that have greater attendance than most. Tessa Renze, a freshman swimmer at Morningside College, said that swimming is less attended than many sports, and usually attended only by family.

Larger swim meets are usually attended by both parents and another family member or friend for each athlete, but many smaller meets aren’t even attended by parents.

When asked what having audience members cheer for her felt like she responded, “having them there is the best feeling. They’re supporting me. They know I can do this” and they are what push her to perform her best.

Haley Mathes, a third-year bowler at Morningside College, agreed with Renze. She said that having personal support “makes me feel like I need to try more.” Not to impress, but to make people proud.

Cassy Huiras, a freshman bowler at Morningside College, had a different outlook. She said that support “does make a difference but it isn’t always positive,” especially when spectators don’t understand the rules. Even with this outlook, she still believes that audience attendance pushes her to excel.

Renze also said that audience support helps “release a competitive side” of her swimming spirit. But these sports, bowling and swimming, are one of many competitive sports offered by colleges that don’t receive much attendance.

Without consistent audiences, these athletes have had to learn that “the audience doesn’t necessarily make the player,” as said by Renze, but that it does boost their morale.

Huiras said that “getting and having people there pushes me harder to perform my best,” but getting the audience is the difficult part.

Relaying accomplishments only goes so far. Spectators can live the moment with the player, both at the competition and after. It creates a bond and an impact. It allows players, such as Mathes, to “showcase my talents for the people that know me.”

Audiences, though they are leaving earlier and supporting less, change the way players perform.

Without an audience, a player has to find an inner reason to perform to their best ability. With an audience, a player performs for themselves and for those watching.

An audience is an integral part of sports performance for college athletes.

News Comment #8

I chose to do my news comment on a piece from the New York Times titled “California Fires Burn ‘Faster than Firefighters Can Run.‘” This article details the fires that have recently begun burning thousands of acres of across the state of California. After the beginning of major fires this weekend, they have begun sweeping across major areas of Califonia, including Sonoma Valley. Their “acres burned” content has exponentially increased. Many buildings and business (which are the last concern of fire crews at this point) have been burned down or are in danger. Thousands of people have been displaced by the fires as well.

This connects back to our class mainly with the attributions and quotes that are placed in the first few paragraphs. After the first paragraph, the writer inserted the quote “I wish I could say the Calvary is coming-it’s not” to show that these men that are fighting the fires are getting desperate and there is no help on the horizon. After this quote, it is followed with another that tells the firefighters to look to their left and rights because these are the “people [they] are responsible for right now.” They have no one, California is desperate for closure and the firefighters are desperate for this to end.

Article #2 w/ 3 Interviews

Student, peer, and family attendance of sporting events has been drastically declining over the past five years and does not seem to be changing anytime soon. Audience members have been showing up to fewer games and tournaments and leaving earlier.

Players on teams get thrills out of audience cheers. They perform their best when they have people to support them, whether it be their families or friends.

Football, basketball, and volleyball are considered “mainstream” sports that have a larger attendance than most. Tessa Renze, a freshman swimmer at Morningside College, said that swimming is less attended than many sports, and usually attended only by family.

When asked what having audience members cheer for her felt like she responded, “having them there is the best feeling. They’re supporting me. They know I can do this” and they are what push her.

Haley Mathes, a third-year bowler at Morningside College, agreed with Renze. She said that having personal support “makes me feel like I need to try more.” Not to impress, but to make people proud.

Cassy Huiras, a freshman bowler at Morningside College, had a different outlook saying that support “does make a difference but it isn’t always positive,” especially when spectators don’t understand the rules. Even with this outlook, she still believes that audience attendance pushes her to excel.

Renze also said that audience support helps “release a competitive side” of her swimming spirit. But these sports, bowling and swimming, are one of many competitive sports offered by colleges that don’t receive attendance.

Without consistent audiences, these athletes have had to learn that “the audience doesn’t necessarily make the player,” as said by Renze, but that it does boost their morale.

Huiras said that “getting and having people there pushes me harder to perform my best,” but getting the audience is the difficult part.

Relaying accomplishments only goes so far. Spectators can live the moment with the player, both at the competition and after. It creates a bond and an impact. It allows players, such as Mathes, to “showcase my talents for the people that know me.”

Audiences, though they are leaving earlier and supporting less, change the way players perform.

Without an audience, a player has to find an inner reason to perform to their best ability. With an audience, a player performs for themselves and for those watching.

An audience is an integral part of sports performance for college athletes.

News Comment #7/Broadcast Comparison

CNN Video Broadcast: The lead says “literally within the last 90 seconds the National Hurricane Center hoisting hurricane watches” makes the video grasp people’s attention by making it current. The pictures and video within the broadcast or simply showing the path of the potential Gulf Coast storm Nate. They aren’t incredibly unnerving or eye-catching, but they are informative. The reporter keeps using terms like “life-threatening,” “breaking,” and “at the very least” which seems to be subjective. He is telling the storm to entertain while informing them.

 

NBC Written Story: The lead for this piece says “Tropical Storm Nate is winding up to wallop the Gulf coast this weekend,” which creates almost the same urgency that the video broadcast’s lead does. Within this story, the reporters talk about the rains, while in the video the reporter talked about the winds. This is not the same content but is about the same storm. This story also places emphasis on the states of emergency other than the potential threat the storm is making to the Gulf Coast. This source also uses many quotes that are each attributed to their sources, where the video only used the National Hurricane Center as source and attribute. Though this piece used more quotes, each source attributed their sources within their stories.

Observation Exercise

HJF Learning Center at Morningside College is frequented by students for many different reasons. Some come to study, others come to game, and more come to hang out with friends. In the back of the library is a study area that is relatively disconnected from the rest.

Maroonish couches with white detailing and chairs are arranged in a circle with medium brown stained wood tables. To the left and the right of this circle are individual study desks, light brown stain in color. Each chair matches the color of the desks with straight backs and thin, red cushions that are rough to the touch.

On the back wall, directly behind the circles, are two four-person tables of the same wood as the individual desks. The chairs are also similar, though half are missing their fabric cushions.

There was a boy sitting in one of these tables, alone. He seemed tall because his legs were a bit compressed under the table. He had curly, brown hair that reached the nape of his neck. Covering that was a black and grey ballcap.

He wore a bright red shirt with grey shorts of a flowing, thicker material. His shorts came down to just below mid-thigh, ending right above the knee. He was wearing Dockers with white socks that came up about mid-calf. He had hair covering both his shins.

His shoes were only half on, the back bent into the interior of the shoe as if he always walked with them half on. He was staring intently at his phone, though he had a MacBook open. He had a red Gatorade to his left along with a blue folder.

He had three of four papers spread in front of him and a pen next to his left arm, but he didn’t seem to be working. He occasionally smiled or laughed (a brusk tone) otherwise his face was neutral.

Loungin on the red and white couch was a girl. Her front was not in line-of-sight but she had on a bright white pullover jacket. She had dark, straight brunette hair that reached the middle of her back.

She was originally laying on the couch where only her head was visible, but a second girl approached and sat in a chair diagonally from her, causing her to sit up straight.

She had dirty blonde hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. It reached her mid-shoulder blades. She was wearing a white headband the same color as the first girl’s pullover. She was wearing a maroon Morningside Mustangs sweatshirt. Her legs were unviewable.

This second girl was drinking a drink purchased from the Spoonholder. After her entrance, the girls began discussing together quietly, and the second girl said: “oh same, she emailed you?”

During their conversation, a second boy came in and occupied one of the individual desks. He was wearing grey joggers that ended right before his ankle and white socks. He had on tan moccasins.

He was also wearing a white and grey Morningside Mustangs t-shirt and had a grey cap on backward over his dark, brunette hair.

In front of the first buy was a whiteboard with someone’s twitter handle written in blue ink. Beside that was a cartoon looking dog. Throughout the entire space, some machine in the ceiling made a rattling noise. Conversations were difficult to hear because of this.

Alex Watters: Wheeling Through Adversity

Alex Watters is a First Year Advisor at Morningside College who, in a diving accident during his Freshman year in college, lost the ability to use his hands and legs. This hasn’t stopped his mind from churning or his wheels from turning. Literally.

Watters came to our interview relaxed, excited, and seated in an electric wheelchair. Losing the use of his legs and hands has not stopped him from becoming a large member of the city council or from pursuing a political and instructional career. In fact, it fueled his want to have “the ability to make a difference” in the lives of students and people like him.

As a First Year Advisor, Watters is tasked with helping new college students ease into the challenges of college life. He offers support, guidance, and inclusion to them, but this was not always his dream.

Watters had aspirations to one day be a golf pro and even own his own golf course and restaurant, but his golf career was put on hold with his accident. After, his mind changed to his studies and now his job.

Since his accident, Watters has become wrapped in the idea of making a difference. Yes, he wants to change every student’s life, but he also wants to change and even solve the obstacles facing those who are handicapped, starting with Morningside College.

After rehabilitating from his accident, Watters returned to Morningside to continue his college education but noticed that their accessibility for those in wheelchairs was limited. His accident began to promote push buttons for doors across campus and the acceptance of other handicapped people.

Handicap accessible dorms only existed in Roadman when he returned to the school, and to this day they are still the easiest to access. Dimmitt has since added accessibility to the back, but the hills still pose major problems.

Many academic buildings on campus are older, so accommodations are needed for some classes to be placed on ground level floors. Lewis Hall and its Business, Registrar, and Admissions offices are still all inaccessible.

Buildings are still unequipped with elevators, and Lincoln Center still does not have push buttons for doors. Though Morningside has made many changes to its handicap accessibility, it still has many steps to take before being considered greatly accessible.

Though Watters does understand the extra cost it is to update systems, he is also disappointed in the steps Morningside hasn’t taken since he graduated. He said that he wants these changes “not in a selfish way, but in an inclusive way” for students like himself.

He hopes that Morningside will continue investing funds into accessibility in the future, even if he is no longer working on campus.

When asked what the future holds for him and what his goals to accomplish are he said he had no idea. He said that “goals and aspirations should adjust and change as you grow as an individual” so he expects that his goals will change.

Though he doesn’t exactly have a solid plan for the future, he does live in the idea that he is living the dream right now, literally “living the dream man.”  And that has no plans to change.

News Comment #6

I chose to write my news comment on an article from the New York Times titled “Julia Louis-Dreyfus Has Breast Cancer.” This article detailed the fact that Louis-Dreyfus announced her diagnosis on Thursday, September 28th. The actress, a six-time Emmy winner for her role on the show “Veep” stated that there are many women a day that find out they have breast cancer, but today it was her. It does not detail anything about the severity of the cancer itself or the treatment, but that she has a large group of support behind her.

I chose to write about this article because the lede is backed up in the beginning by some quotes from Louis-Dreyfus. The second paragraph ends with a quote from here that says “today, I am the one” that shows that today she was the one diagnosed with cancer. She is accepting her diagnosis and moving forward because it was her and not someone else. Whether the author placed this quote here to show that she is strong, or thankful that it wasn’t someone else, or for some other reason doesn’t matter because the quote itself is so powerful is showing acceptance, and also follows up the lede.

Strawberry Sensory Details

He is a Caucasian male that has dark colored brunette hair that forms a spiral in the back of his head and golden-brown eyes. We had been walking from the Caf to class and were talking about how many steps I have to take to his one. He is 5-foot-9-inches and has long legs. He asked to borrow my headphones, I lent them to him, and then he kissed me on the cheek and said “have the most wonderful day” and went to study. He wasn’t wearing any cologne this morning, but he was working on a computer science project and was coding. He planned to continue working on the project in the library. He has a sullen expression a lot of the time unless something makes him excited where he will them smile largely.

 

A strawberry is a well-known fruit and is eaten often in many places. A strawberry smells very sweet with a hint of tartness, very fresh as if it was just picked off the vine, and fruity. The outside is a deep, dark red dotted by black seeds. Where the seeds have been brushed off by hands or from shipment there are open, vacant spots of a lightish brown color. The interior fades from the inside edge of the exterior red to a light pink. There is a white ring about halfway into the interior that bleeds into the surrounding pink. The core of the strawberry is the same pink that covers the interior on the outside of the white ring. The shape of the entirety is similar to that of a heart drawn by a child, where the bottom forms a rounded point and the top sinks in the middle. The shape is not defined by sharp lines, but rather by rounded, fluid ones. The strawberry is cold to the touch, for both the fingers/hand and the tongue. The outside is rough and bumpy from both the seeds and the absence of the seeds. The interior of the strawberry is smooth and wet to the touch. It is also cold to both the fingers and the tongue. The entire fruit is firm until squished. When squeezed hard enough the fruit becomes mushy. While being squeezed it makes a fluid-like sound similar to water. When bit, the strawberry makes a crunchy sound mostly from biting through the softer exterior to the tougher interior. The first bite through is sweet but continued chewing creates a tarter flavoring. The taste lingers but is not overbearing. The top of the strawberry, where the top sinks in, is where the tartest taste comes from, while the bottom more rounded part is where the sweetness originates. Altogether, the strawberry is a decadent fruit that is enjoyed by many people.

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