sjh008's blog

In 1989 an off-duty police officer was shot and killed in Georgia.  Today at 11:08 p.m. Troy Davis was given the lethal injection for the murder of Mark MacPhail.  After many new trials, the Supreme Court finally decided that he would get the death penalty.  Troy Davis said that he was innocent and even 7 of the 9 witnesses that said that he killed the police officer recanted their stories.  Many protested saying that there was not enough evidence for a death penalty to take place.  For 22 years Davis pleaded guilty and many people believed it.  It was a very controversial case.  Davis refused the meal and prayer before he was injected.  Before he was injected, Davis told the family, “it’s not my fault; I did not have a gun,”  according to witness Rhonda Cook of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I did not personally kill your son, father, brother,” he said.  After that, he looked at the at the prison officials and said “may god have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls.”

This is definitely news because of the amount of people it affected.  There were people protesting outside the prison because they believed that Davis did not commit the murder he was being punished for.  They did not think there was enough evidence for such a harsh punishment.  There were even people in London protesting Davis’s death penalty.  People put together petitions which one had over 240,ooo signatures against the execution.  This is also news because this trial took so long since the murder was committed in 1989.  The case was appealed one hour before the injection was scheduled and they decided to go forward with it.  Also, the fact that the recant of 7 of the 9 witnesses did not have any impact on the decision is very odd.  They went ahead with the execution and made of a lot of people throughout the world have different feelings about the case.

Morningside College is a private liberal arts school in Sioux City, Ia. It is a four-year college, founded in 1894. Since Morningside is a private college it is pretty small. The college spans out across 68 acres and has 21 buildings on campus. One of the 21 buildings houses most of the college’s freshman as well as other students. That building is called Dimmitt Hall. Dimmitt Hall is the third oldest building on campus. Because Dimmitt Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus, it doesn’t have any air conditioning. This makes the beginning and the end of the school year quite miserable for many students living there.

I used to live in Dimmitt for my freshman and sophomore years of college. I am now a junior and decided to move off campus. I do miss living on campus, but don’t really miss living in Dimmitt. The cold long walks up the hill to class in the winter were not very splendid, especially since all my classes were in the building on the other side of campus. Another student at Morningside agrees. Kendra Timmerman, a sophomore at Morningside has been living in Dimmitt since she came to college. “I don’t like it because it’s such a long walk to the science center where most of my classes are. I decided to live in Dimmitt because I figured it’d be more social. I feel like Roadman is more social now because most people move there after their freshman year because they don’t want to walk up the huge hill. The reason why I stay in Dimmitt is because it’s a very social place and everybody is friendly there.” One of the nice things about Dimmitt is that there are a lot of people that live there. There is always something going on at night downstairs in the informal lounge.

The informal lounge is basically a game room. It has a pool table, a foosball table, and a ping pong table. There are also couches and TVs for people that just want to hang out. The floor above that has another lounge called the formal. This area has a lot of couches and chairs and students mainly use this for doing homework or working on group projects. During the days, Dimmitt Hall is a pretty quiet place. People are usually in class, at practice, or studying in their rooms.  It’s so quiet that people can hear the washers and dryers running in the next room.  The smell of laundry detergent fills the air, especially on Sunday nights.   At night, things get a little more rowdy.

On Friday and Saturday nights students are getting ready to go out for the night.   On the girls floor, the smell of perfume and hairspray is very potent.  Some rooms in Dimmitt turn into party places and you sometimes see drunk people running around and can smell the alcohol.  It’s funny to see what some girls wear.  Even when it’s freezing outside, girls will wear tight, low-cut tops and short skirts.  When Sunday comes, the quiet comes back and so do the sweatpants as everybody is rushing to get done homework they put off all weekend before class Monday morning. Dimmitt is always changing depending on what time you decide to visit.

Dimmitt may not be the most pleasurable place to live on the hot summer days or may not be the most fun place to walk from on your way to class. Although these things are true, there is always something to do for the residents living there. Every day students make the long jaunt up the hill to class and enjoy their time studying in the formal lounge. After all, Dimmitt is a place that many students on campus call home.

For people that have ever flown on a plane, they probably realize how much of a hassle airport security is.  Loading all your luggage is just one burden.  After that you have to take off your shoes and get rid of all your metal belongings and put them into a tiny bin for it to go through an x-ray machine to make sure there aren’t any risky items on you.  The last thing you have to do is walk through a scanner.  This is where things get weird.  Since 2007, the scanners have looked at people a little too closely.  The Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) basically showed the naked body.  This is something that has been highly criticized.  However, the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security passed an amendment to eliminate the naked scanners out of airports.  This was a unanimous vote and they decided to go with a different type of software.  The new software only shows a stick figure and points out the parts of the body where there may be dangerous items.

This is definitely a better software being used by airports.  This way people don’t have to be insecure about walking through a scanner.  I didn’t even know that airports had scanners like this.  If I would have known, I definitely wouldn’t have gone to an airport in fear of being seen naked by strangers.

Morningside College is a private liberal arts school in Sioux City, Ia. It is a four-year college, founded in 1894. Since Morningside is a private college it is pretty small. The college spans out across 68 acres and has 21 buildings on campus. One of the 21 buildings houses most of the college’s freshman as well as other students. That building is called Dimmitt Hall. Dimmitt Hall is the third oldest building on campus. Because Dimmitt Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus, it doesn’t have any air conditioning. This makes the beginning and the end of the school year quite miserable for many students living there.

I used to live in Dimmitt for my freshman and sophomore years of college. I am now a junior and decided to move off campus. I do miss living on campus, but don’t really miss living in Dimmitt. The cold long walks up the hill to class in the winter were not very splendid, especially since all my classes were in the building on the other side of campus. Another student at Morningside agrees. Kendra Timmerman, a sophomore at Morningside has been living in Dimmitt since she came to college. “I don’t like it because it’s such a long walk to the science center where most of my classes are. I decided to live in Dimmitt because I figured it’d be more social. I feel like Roadman is more social now because most people move there after their freshman year because they don’t want to walk up the huge hill. The reason why I stay in Dimmitt is because it’s a very social place and everybody is friendly there.” One of the nice things about Dimmitt is that there are a lot of people that live there. There is always something going on at night downstairs in the informal lounge.

The informal lounge is basically a game room. It has a pool table, a foosball table, and a ping pong table. There are also couches and TVs for people that just want to hang out. The floor above that has another lounge called the formal. This area has a lot of couches and chairs and students mainly use this for doing homework or working on group projects. During the days, Dimmitt Hall is a pretty quiet place. People are usually in class, at practice, or studying in their rooms. At night, things get a little more rowdy. On Friday and Saturday nights students are getting ready to go out for the night. Some rooms in Dimmitt turn into party places and you sometimes see drunk people running around. When Sunday comes, the quiet comes back as everybody is rushing to get done homework they put off all weekend before class Monday morning. Dimmitt is always changing depending on what time you decide to visit.

Dimmitt may not be the most pleasurable place to live on the hot summer days or may not be the most fun place to walk from on your way to class. Although these things are true, there is always something to do for the residents living there. Every day students make the long jaunt up the hill to class and enjoy their time studying in the formal lounge. After all, Dimmitt is a place that many students on campus call home.

Everyday in Journalism class I sit in the same spot. There is a man to the right of me by the name of Derrick Freese. He has red hair and usually always wears a hat to class. Today, he was wearing jeans and a Packers t-shirt because the Packers is his favorite football team. Not only is Derrick into football, but he’s also into wrestling. He ran cross-country in high school and wrestled until he blew his knee out and needed to have surgery on it. This may explain why he doesn’t play wrestling in college like his brother did for Morningside College. In fact, the reason why he came to Morningside was because his older brother graduated from the same college.

In order to get through college, Derrick works at Hy-Vee during the school year and works on a cattle farm during the summers in Treynor, Iowa. He is a Junior at Morningside majoring in Graphic Design and lives on the third floor of Roadman South. Derrick enjoys watching sports, playing video games, and listening to classical rock and country in his free time. Derrick seems like a pretty cool guy to sit next to during Journalism class.

A wildfire on Tuesday left 1,000 homes in Texas completely ruined.  The wildfire burned about 40 square miles and was due to Texas’s year long drought.  Not only did the drought make matters worse, but the strong winds from the tropical storm made the fire spread all around, completely devastating the Bastrop community.  Evacuation processes were initiated, yet four lives were taken by the blaze.  Commenters say that there are federal grants being given the the devastated Texas community, yet the emotional distress won’t be able to be reimbursed.  Homes and timber are ruined from the giant blaze as 11 other fires took out part of the county.

I consider this article good news because it happened in the United States, so it’s close to home for many people.  It is an emotional piece because of the detail as to how large the fires were and how many people were affected by this fire.  It gave reasons why the fire happened and told how the tropical storm accelerated the fire.  Along with the text, there were pictures provided for the reader to understand just exactly how big of a disaster the wildfire was.  The author gave good facts and implemented quotes well into the piece.

Morningside College has a lot of nice looking places on campus.  I walk by one place every day on my way to class, the fountain.  As I sit here I can’t help but notice how hot it is outside.  It is 91 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky.  The temperature makes me want to put my feet in the fountain while I write this description.  It is pretty windy outside, blowing the water out of the fountain, making me have to sit on the left side of the fountain in fear that I will get my computer wet.  The sound of water being dumped on top of other water is all I can really hear.  By looking out beyond the fountain, I can see the softball complex and the apartments.  Looking even further I can see the stadium lights at the football/soccer field.  The view here is actually pretty good.  The fountain seems like a relaxing place to sit on a not so hot summer day.  However, I would much rather be out here than in a class.

Ice cream in class? I think so! This ice cream is cold and tastes super delicious on a day like today.  Half of the ice cream I have is vanilla and the other half is chocolate, my favorite.  This ice cream has a little more texture than other ice creams I have eaten.  After awhile it starts to melt which makes it taste all the more delicious since the two flavors mix together.  When it melts, instead of scooping the ice cream, you can almost drink it.   This ice cream has a particular taste almost like frosting.  With the air conditioning in the classroom and me eating this ice cream, I am freezing right now.  It’s hard to get every last drop of ice cream out of the dish, yet I want every last little bit.

In my opinion, good news is something that shows some emotion and gives me the ability to have my own opinion on it.  In this article, it seemed that the reporter didn’t have any bias for either parties involved.  The article was about a “father” who supposedly  got angry at his 7-year-old son and threw him overboard a boat.  Many people saw the incident and of course called 911.

Now, the father said that he was doing it all in fun and told his crying son to toughen up or he was going to throw him overboard.  The father, who was an ex-marine, didn’t think there was anything wrong with his actions.  However, in today’s society child abuse is anything from spanking to actually striking your child.  The father was drunk and since the kid was only seven, I would agree that he was in the wrong.  Some  parents need to grow up themselves.  This article was good because it was factual and gave both sides of the story, giving the reader the freedom to evolve their own opinion.

High schools have been known to be very rough on a child.  People who are outcasts are often tormented and don’t get very much attention.  High school is all about looks and drama.  If you don’t have the looks and don’t participate in the drama, then you are a nobody.  All of the things that happen in high school is because the students are immature.  The author of this article is trying to say that high school should be abolished and students should graduate at age 16.  This is way too early.  One reason why 18 is the biological age for adulthood is because of their development.  Just because people are having sex sooner doesn’t make them mature sooner.  The human brain is fully developed by the age of 18 which makes it so they can make mature decisions.  Skipping a few years of high school isn’t going to do anything for these students.  They will still get picked on no matter what.  Throwing them into adulthood sooner will just make things worse.