Analyzing my writing

13 09 2012

The place I need to improve my writing the most is reading my articles a loud before submitting them. I find that my fingers don’t go as fast as my mind. A lot of the time, when I go to reread something it just don’t make sense.

I could also work on the way I describe things. I took a writing class last semester where we wrote stories all the time and the main objective of that class was to get the students to show things in their writing, not just tell.  I have had some practice with that a little bit but that skill isn’t great yet. I think if I keep practicing that skill will become even better.




What do you know about Dimmitt? (Final draft story #1)

13 09 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dimmitt Hall, on the campus of Morningside College, is located at 3318 Vine Avenue between Rosen Verdoorn Sport Center and Elwood Stadium.  This residence hall can house up to 384 students and appears as a big brick building from the outside. On the inside it’s social with very outgoing students who like to have fun whatever it is they are doing.

Walking up the ancient, antique looking staircases on either of the main entrances you are welcomed by hot, muggy air and depending the time of day, either a very engaged lobby or a dead lobby.   Between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm Dimmitt is normally a pretty quiet place. When students begin coming back from classes and sports practices, Dimmitt is a social place and doesn’t die down until around one or two am on weekdays. Most students are very friendly always smiling, laughing with one another, and very talkative with anyone they meet in the hallways.

Dimmitt is made of fifteen different halls. Traditional, wellness, freshman, sorority, and fraternity make up the halls.  If you are a resident of a different building or just someone visiting, Dimmitt may seem as if it could consume you and get you lost in all the winding halls.  However when someone breaks it down for you, it’s not so confusing.  The building is broke up into east and west and new and old. To put it simply, anyone who lives on east is a boy and anyone who lives on west is a girl.  Facing the building, the “new” wings go east and west. Both “old” wings face south.

Within some of the halls, they have their own themes such as the Jungle, the Dungeon, and Sunset Strip.  The Residence Life staff tries to spice up the halls each year and naming or giving a theme to a hall is just another way to do so.

Residence Halls, especially Dimmitt, has changed a lot over the years.  Dimmitt Hall was built in 1926 and was named after Lilian E. Dimmitt. She was the Dean of Women at Morningside for 26 years.  It use to be an all woman’s dorm and today is a guys and girls dorm.  To learn about the founder of this building, the formal lounge, on the main floor, has pictures of her and information about who she was.

The formal lounge is one of the most unique places in the whole building of Dimmitt.  It’s one of the places you see when you tour Morningside before even deciding where you’ll go to college. If you live in Dimmitt, the formal lounge is the place you come when you check in to get your keys.  Some times the formal lounge is a place you can come to find a quiet place to study.  Sophomore, Dimmitt resident, Colleen Murray says, “Dimmitt is a great place to live. It’s got places to go when you want to be social and it’s also got places to go when you need a quiet place.  The history of the building is pretty neat too.”

From the history of the building, to the staircases and rooms that make it look historic, Dimmitt is an interesting place to be.  Come check it out!




New Comment #3

13 09 2012

In the article, “Blood on our hands,” it discusses how 23 years ago a tragedy took place in the UK and many people died in the Sheffield stadium on April 15, 1989.  The families of the people that lost their lives that day had no answers for what happened to the members of their families that day.

Today, reports came out that days following that tragedy, police lied about not having anything to do with the reports that were being turned in.  This article states, “Up to 164 statements from officers were falsified or amended to shift blame from the police on to innocent supporters, with 116 having potentially damaging comments deleted.”

The rest of this article talks about how the families are relived to finally have answered to what happened to their loved ones on that day.

This article is news because I’m sure they are following up on something that was reported for days or maybe even months after the incident happened. I am curious however what actually happened. I thought if the author of this piece would have even given a summary of what happened 23 years ago, it would have made things a lot more clear for the reader. Even though this isn’t something that happened in the United States, I think it still interreges people due to the fact that law enforcement messed with evidence to a tragedy.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hillsborough-cover-up—how-1322011




What do you know about Dimmitt Hall?

10 09 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dimmitt Hall, on the campus of Morningside College, is located at 3318 Vine Avenue between Rosen Verdoorn Sport Center and Elwood Stadium.  To anyone that isn’t a resident of Dimmitt Hall, it’s probably just an old brick building.  The person who thinks it’s just an old brick building probably doesn’t know how historic Dimmitt really is.

Walking up the ancient, antique looking staircases on either of the main entrances you are welcomed by hot, muggy air and depending the time of day, either a very engaged lobby or a dead lobby.   Between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm Dimmitt is normally a pretty quiet place. Students will come to and from class and during the day not many students are around.  When students begin coming back from classes and sports practice, Dimmitt’s a social place and doesn’t die down until around one or two am on weekdays.  Dimmitt is also mainly a freshman hall and at night tends to be very social.  Most students are very friendly always smiling, laughing with one another, and very talkative with anyone they meet in the hallways.

Dimmitt is made of fifteen different halls. Traditional, wellness, freshman, sorority, and fraternity make up the halls.  If you are a resident of a different building or just someone visiting, Dimmitt may seem as if it could consume you and get you lost in all the winding halls.  However when someone breaks it down for you, it’s not so confusing.  The building is broke up into east and west and new and old. To put it simply, anyone who lives on east is a boy and anyone who lives on west is a girl.  Facing the building, the “new” wings go east and west. Both “old” wings face south.

Within some of the halls, they have their own themes such as the Jungle, the Dungeon, and Sunset Strip.  The Residents Life staff tries to spice up the halls each year and naming or giving a hall a theme is just another way to do so.

Residence Halls, especially Dimmitt, has changed a lot over the years.  Dimmitt Hall was built in 1926 and was named after Lilian E. Dimmitt, the Dean of Women at Morningside for 26 years.  It use to be an all woman’s dorm and today is a guys and girls dorm.  To learn about the founder of this building, the formal lounge, on the main floor, has pictures of her and information about who she was.

The formal lounge is one of the most unique places in the whole building of Dimmitt.  It’s one of the places you see when you tour Morningside before even deciding where you’ll go to college. If you live in Dimmitt, the formal lounge is the place you come when you check in to get your keys.  Some times the formal lounge is a place you can come to find a quiet place to study.  Sophomore, Dimmitt resident, Colleen Murray says, “Dimmitt is a great place to live. It’s got places to go when you want to be social and it’s also got places to go when you need a quiet place.  The history of the building is pretty neat too.”

From the history of the building, to the staircases and rooms that make it look historic, Dimmitt is an interesting place to be.  Come check it out!




News Comment #2

5 09 2012

As the Democratic convention began on Tuesday some news that will affect both candidates, and the whole nation for that matter, also became public. For the first time ever the nation’s debt has now reached $16 trillion.  Some news that could affect President Obama not only is the $16 trillion of debt we sit in but his “unfavorable” ratings are higher than his “favorable” ones, according to The Washington Post.

This article brings up a good point as to whether either Presidential candidate will bring to voters’ attention how much work it will take to see a decrease in debt, the spending our country does, and the worries of the global markets.

The economic problems the United States is facing are not easy matters.  With it being an election year the voting citizens will look at the leader of this country to make it better, who can make the better decisions.  With being this far in debt, which many Americans are very concerned about, it’s not like it will be fixed within a year or even two.

Because the debt of the nation is so high and the Democratic convention just staring and it’s an upcoming election, this is news for anyone who can vote or anyone who cares about the current situation the U.S. is in.  This is something current and happening right now so it’s very much considered news.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/analysis-both-obama-romney-unready-to-confront-voters-with-harsh-truths-about-debt-taxes/2012/09/05/7405340e-f796-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html




President Obama’s visit to Morningside College

5 09 2012


The cheering of hundreds of people and chanting of “4 more years!” as President Obama made  his way to stage on Saturday, September 1, 2012, was a feeling I will never forget.  Over the past 4 days, all the Morningside students had seen the preparation taking place for the President to speak, and now it was actually happening.

Arriving at 1:30 on Saturday just to make sure I had a good seat was well worth it.  I sat at the top of the bleachers right under the campaign slogan sign reading, “Forward.”

I anxiously sat through the reading of the Pledge of Allegiance, the singing of The National Anthem, the short speech the secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack gave, and the introduction of the President given by Rob Hach.  As the crowd grew quiet again, everyone’s attention was drawn across the street, to the parade of police and security vehicles.  President Obama was here! I never thought I would be waiting to see a current President speak.

As the line of vehicles pulled into the parking lot, the crowd began cheering and clapping.  As I caught the first glimpse of Obama, I felt overwhelmed and emotional. Over the past four years, I had heard this man speak numerous times on television.  The first time I heard him speak I remember saying to my mom, “He is such a natural speaker.”  That is one thing that hasn’t changed about him.

Through President Obama’s speech, I tried paying close attention but at the same time, I wanted to take everything in. It was hard to give Obama one hundred percent of my attention considering the amount of people in attendance, the media that was there, and the handful of Secret Service agents that I saw in every direction that I looked. I can honestly say that this is an experience I will never forget.




Hannah Hecht

5 09 2012

When Hannah Hecht isn’t busy with school, you can find her in a pool, working at the writing center, which is a newly acquainted job, hanging out with friends, playing board games, or watching sitcoms.

Ms. Hecht, a sophomore English major and journalism minor at Morningside College is from Lansing, Kansas.  She chose Morningside because it’s a small liberal arts college that also offers swimming.  Where Hecht comes from in Kansas, there isn’t a big selection of liberal arts colleges that has swimming available as well.

With one reason Hannah picking Morningside being swimming, when their coach, Steve Mohs, left to go to another school to coach, it wasn’t easy for her or her other teammates.  Hecht stated,

“He was the best coach I’d never had. At meets he’d be jumping up and down the whole time.”

She went on to say she’s excited for what the future holds with a new coach and the season ahead.  With everything the team has faced this off season, Hannah, along with her teammates are eager to get back in the water.

Hecht has many other interesting stories, including getting to see the swimming Olympic trials this summer and many other swimming stories.  The most recent and exciting story she has was getting to see President Obama this past Saturday on campus.

If you don’t know Hannah and would like it, she’s a very energetic, fun girl who would give you an interesting story or an ear to listen to if needed. She may even just be able to edit your next paper with her new job!




Tasty Ice Cream Treats!

30 08 2012

Blue Bunny ice cream treats are a way to get any hungry person’s attention that likes ice cream.  Ice cream treats can be messy, tasty, a surprise, and a good treat all at the same time.  As Ross came into class today, he had our attention with boxes of ice cream. No one knew for sure why he had ice cream but we didn’t turn it down. I choose a blue bunny’s ice cream treat to fulfill my hunger.

As I began to open the ice cream treat the wrapper was cold and made crinkly noises. With the treat being cold and me opening it at the wrong it, it was hard to hold onto the treat.  Once I got the treat out of the package my mouth started watering in anticipation of eating the tasty ice cream treat.

I took the first bite and the outer cover crumbled and made a huge mess.  As I finished the rest of the treat, it was very tasty and left my hunger satisfied.  I was then left with just sticky hands and a wrapper to throw away.




News Comment #1

29 08 2012

Today Hurricane Isaac made contact with land in Louisiana after making his way through the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the past few days.  Louisiana officials told 3000 people they needed to evacuate their homes in the New Orleans area.  Hurricane Isaac is creeping up to the levees only getting strong due to the fact it’s just sitting there.  One of the levees this morning couldn’t handle the pressure when a 12-foot wave barreled over the 8-foot levee.  This flooding left over 100 people stranded and many more still left to be rescued from their rooftops and attics.

Right now the hurricane is waiting along the shorelines maintaining a speed of only 6 miles per hour.  Officials tracking the storm don’t anticipate the it exceeding speeds of over 80 miles per hour only to slow down more once the storm finally hits land.  Luckily for the state of Louisiana, Hurricane Isaac isn’t supposed to be as strong as Hurricane Katrina.

This is the first test for Louisiana after spending $14.5 billion in levees, floodwalls, gates, and pumps to protect the cities.  Hopefully the money the state invested into protecting the land will be beneficial.

With this being a natural disaster that affects a lot of people, I think this is definitely considered news. Some people may not even care about this kind of news, especially when it doesn’t affect them or the area they live in.  Natural disasters are a big deal though and always draw attention so therefore this is considered news.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/us/hurricane-isaac-makes-landfall.html?pagewanted=all