Month: September 2020

Being a lawyer for the city council in times of Covid-19 seems very simple. Almost no cases but still a high salary. Steven Postolka who graduated from Morningside in 2011 said, “I never worked less, for my money.” 

After Mr. Postolka graduated from Morningside College, he decided to attend law school at the university of Iowa. Three years later, he started working in private practice where he could serve justice for private people. Seven years into his career he decided to switch fields and work as a city council lawyer in 2020, right when the pandemic started. 

The pandemic has a big impact on his work he says. “Through Covid-19 there are almost no cases to prepare for. I currently do a lot of briefs and go through old cases.” Being a city council lawyer basically just means that Sioux City is his client. If they sue somebody or if they get sued, he represents them in court. Most of his work still happens out of the court room. Researching similar cases or flying in witnesses makes around 90% of his work and it all happens outside of the court. 

Working for the city gives him a feeling of stability he says. He is finally at a point in his career where he enjoys the workload and they also pay him really good. That was not always the case, late shifts during law school or tough private clients made being a lawyer very hard and not always enjoyable.

Noah Aniser

Our Bodies, Their Battlefields

War Through the Lives of Women

The article is about the book “OUR BODIES, THEIR BATTLEFIELDS” written by Christina Lamb. The book is about war crimes but not the typical war crimes everybody thinks of. It’s about the war crimes that are always denied to have ever happened. It’s about rape and how it was and still is such a common thing. 

The author starts the article with a shocking story of a raped baby. Afterwards the author talks more in depth about what the book is about. 

Through her book, Lamb forces us to look and see that rape is common crime, rarely written about. Usually war books deal with topics such as Soldiers, male heroism or strategies used in the war. They never mention women. 

While writing her book, lamb travels back in time and researches various examples where women were sexually abused and raped. After talking about past crimes, she focuses and portraits survivors. Most of the women can’t find peace she says. 

People just don’t or don’t want to see how much damage rape causes and that it still happens. The author mentions an example of the book that is about a tribunal where a defense lawyer expressed doubt that a woman could have been raped 16 times, because “she had not bathed and smelled.”

Stories like that are what make the book so shocking. 

The author ends the article with the conclusion of Lamb’s book itself. Lamb writes, “Every time I walk past a war memorial, I wonder why women’s names aren’t on it.”

I personally think that the article is news because it is about a really important topic and an awesome book. People avoid the past, but Lamb’s book and that article forces us to look and see what we did and still do. Usually book reviews are boring and not really informative, but that article gives me all the necessary information and reaches the goal of making people think about rape as a war crime and a big issue. 

The author does a good job by using quotes of victims and Lamb. It makes the article seem not just like a book review. It seems that the topic and the book actually matter to him. 

The most important information can be picked up in the beginning which is good and by using the headline of the book he gets the attention of readers that might have already heard about the book but have never actually read it.

Overall, it is a great article that deserves attention. 

Noah Aniser

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2020/09/22/is-covid-19-making-college-towns-unsafe-to-retire-in/#1281157d19d5

Is Covid-19 Making College Towns Unsafe To Retire In?

College towns are a great place to retire because they “are not just good for your mind and your sense of well-being, they’re also good for your health,” says the Center’s chairman Paul Irving. They offer diversity and an economically vibrant community but through Covid-19 that’s in danger. The pandemic forces college-town retirement developments to keep their doors closed. Concerns about the public health are just to strong. Since the pandemic started, 2.000 colleges had already approximately 90.000 cases according to a study of the New York Times. 

The author mentions the destinies of several retired people and how it affects their life. Taking part in campus activities just doesn’t feel comfortable for them anymore. 

Another problem is that through the virus a lot of jobs or possible part-time job opportunities connected to the college are reduced. The increasing unemployment rate and decreasing possibilities for part-time jobs is hurting the people living in college-towns. 

Colleges actively try to prevent the virus from spreading by limiting or cancelling concerts or sport events. That increases the safety but takes away the social advantages of retiring in a college-town. Making new friends and interacting with other alumni seems like an impossible task but not for Blue and Bill Reeves. The couple is seeing the restrictions just as a minor inconvenience and is making the best out of their already existing network. They stay connected and even find new ways to support their college without being in the stadium. Tailgating on a big screen is just one example. 

I think the article is news because it is happening at the moment and it matters to a lot of people. If I would know old people living in a college-town, I would be very concerned about their safety. The author does a good job and explaining the facts and the current situation, but he also gives a positive outlook in the end which rounds up the story quite well. 

He also includes the main information in the upper part so that you don’t have to read the whole story which is good. 

The headline is also well chosen because it rises a question that the reader wants an answer to. He gives the answer but also talks about an alternative answer. 

Overall, I think it is an informative and newsworthy article which is easy to understand and also well-written. 

Noah Aniser

New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/world/covid-19-coronavirus.html

The drugmaker Moderna spells out how it is conducting the late-stage trial of its coronavirus vaccine.

The article is about the biotech company Moderna and how they released a 135-page document about the late-stage trial of their vaccine. Moderna’s documents suggest that the first trial data will probably not be conducted until late December and might not even include enough information to determine whether the vaccine works or not. It’s more likely that the complete analysis will be conducted in March and May.

Even though May sounds really late, Moderna is one the front runners in the race for a vaccine against Covid-19. Moderna’s vaccine uses genetic material from the virus itself to prompt cells in the body to make a fragment of the virus that will train the immune system to fight off an infection. 

They already enrolled more than 25,000 people with about 28 percent of the participants being Black, Latino or from other minority groups that have been heavily affected. The diversity is essential and necessary because everybody is affected, no matter what your ethnicity or age is. 

After giving some main information, the author continues with an explanation of how they will test the vaccine. So, half of the participants will receive the vaccine and the other half gets a placebo shot. After receiving two shots, four weeks apart, the participants will get monitored to see if they develop symptoms. 

In order to prevent possible side effects, the participants track their temperatures and have clinic visits on a regular basis. 

So, far the vaccine has a 60 percent success rate which is 10 percent higher than the Food and Drug Administration has set the bar. 

The article is well written because it’s quite short but still includes all the necessary information. Even though I have no idea about drugs and vaccines, the author gave me a pretty good understanding of how it works. 

The headline is well chosen and attracts the reader because it gives a promising outlook for the fight against Covid-19.

I think the article is newsworthy because we are all affected by the pandemic and news about a possible vaccine are interesting to all of us. 

Nathanael is a sophomore at Morningside College and he is concerned about Covid-19. He still believes that the college is ” doing a better job than other colleges but they have definitely room to improve.”

Some methods are questionable and doesn’t really make sense he says. Putting two possibly affected students in one room isn’t smart because if one tests positive, then the other one probably got it from the new roommate.

Nathanael suggests that the college does a better job in preventing students from partying because the main outbreaks were a result of sports teams having parties. Students that are gathering in big groups should be smarter and realize that they endanger the semester.

He believes in a full semester in person but also wouldn’t be surprised if the college goes online any time soon.

After attending last weeks football game, Nathanael thinks that the college needs to pick up how strict they are with face coverings. The game showed that students are not conscious enough about how important social distancing and face coverings are. He explains that “it’s a different thing if people sit in a classroom or if they are yelling at a football game.”

 

Noah Aniser

Sources:

•  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/sports/sports-coronavirus-impact.html
• https://fortune.com/2020/04/02/college-football-coronavirus-ncaa-d1-sports/
• https://www.voanews.com/student-union/desperate-play-coronavirus-impact-college-sports
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/27/fearing-cuts-non-revenue-college-sports-look-ways-to-weather-this-storm/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/25/colleges-dropping-non-revenue-sports-jeopardizes-us-olympic-model/

How do colleges react to the lack of revenue through Covid-19?

The dominance of America in sports might find an end because of colleges cutting non-revenue sports.

The virus had an undeniable impact on sports in the United States and Colleges are facing a significant decrease of their annual revenue. 

Cutting non-revenue programs like soccer or water polo might have a bigger impact then most of the people think. However, according to the Washington Post, four of the of the last Gold Medals that the U.S. won at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were won by athletes from sports among the 11 programs that Stanford decided to cut. Overall, Twenty-nine U.S. athletes who had ties to Stanford won combined 27 medals for the United States, more than any other university’s contingent. 

The American system is different from the systems that countries like Germany have because in the U.S. model, sport is tied to school. The Washington post mentions that out of the 558 members of the 2016 Olympic team, nearly 80 percent participated and competed at a college level. The success of American athletes at big sport events is undeniable but the dominance might come to end. If more colleges like Stanford start cutting sport programs, the U.S. Olympic model is lost. 

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening the revenue streams that help athletics departments to survive. According to the Washington Post the revenue made through broadcast rights, ticket sales, donations and enrollment are declining. Some colleges like Morningside which are relatively small are missing out on payouts too, but they might survive through the funding of the students on campus. Schools like Stanford which are way bigger see no other option than cutting sports that are not always in the public eye or sports that have no revenue at all. That affects for example Soccer or Men’s volleyball. Even though some college sports don’t generate as much revenue as football, basketball or baseball, they are important and very much needed. 

Since the N.C.A.A. cancelled the Men’s Basketball National Tournament in March, coaches knew that it could affect their sport.

Basketball and Football are the two sports that usually receive the biggest amount of money. They spend the money on scholarships, gear, trainers and just other costs that come with competing at college level. But the basketball and football programs of the country are also the sports that generate the most profit. The revenue is generated through ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorships. That helps fund all the sports that are not able to finance themselves because they are just not as much in the public eye as basketball or football. 

David Ridpath, a professor of sports management at Ohio University told the New York Times that even before the pandemic “it was a very fragile system” and that he thinks “anybody like me who’s been around it for 30-plus years knew that a tipping point was going to come one day.”

I honestly put the most effort for this paper in the research. For me it was very important to get quality sources for my readers. I think I should have put more effort in the last few paragraphs of the story. After collecting all the research and trying to put all the necessary information in the beginning, I didn’t give the end part the attention it deserves.

The most difficult part of the writing was to get all the important information in the first paragraph. Using short but strong sentences.

The biggest problem was to find good words to correctly express what I wanted to say. I solved that problem by reading more and more articles to get different ideas of how to formulate sentences. I also checked google for synonyms.

I observed the living room of the Garretson house which is right across the campus. By sitting quietly in the kitchen, I could perfectly watch and listen to what they were saying and doing.

Two out of the four guys were playing the new NBA 2021 video game. It was a very heated game with a lot of swearing and screaming. Suddenly a controller was flying across the room and the game was over. One of the players quit because his team in the game didn’t do what they were supposed to do.

Another guy was sitting on the coach with his laptop and complained about how much he dislikes his new accounting class. The homework sucks and the professor only lectures he said.

The last guy occasionally responded to the statements of the person with the laptop but his main focus was on his smartphone. Still in his pajama he was sitting on the coach, scrolling through social media.

Overall it seemed like a typical morning for a house full of male college students.

A texaco gasoline truck overturned and gas flooded sewer lines for two blocks.

The accident happened on 48th Street and Correctionville Road. Cars had to reroute for approximately two hours through side streets until the gas was flushed away. Four Families need to get evacuated because of the sewer-line gas.

But Fire Chief Charles Hochandel said: “The firemen followed catastrophe and hazmat procedures set up beforehand for just such an occurrence.”

Fire Fighter breaks his left leg while rescuing a cat from a tree.

The cat which belongs to Charlie and Kim Decker was stuck in a tree at 102 11th Ave. To safe the cat, fire fighter Bob Harwood climbed the 50 feet oak tree. On the last 15 feet he dropped because one of a dead limb.

Both are doing “just fine” with Bob Harwood being admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital.