Typing with Taryn

“The latest drone strike hits an air base 80 miles from the Ukrainian border.”

A drone attack struck near an air base in Russia on Tuesday only a day after Ukraine had used drones to hit two military bases inside the country.

I liked how the authors of this article used quotes for accurate sourcing. The authors used a retired Australian Army officer’s blogging platform for a quote. It said, “It is not, as some are sure to claim, an escalation. But it is a necessary political and military measure for Ukraine to limit the humanitarian harm of Russia’s brutal drone and missile attacks.”

I feel like this is a good quote to use because it has an outsider’s point of view but it’s also someone who has great knowledge in the field and isn’t spreading false information.

I think it would have been nice, if the information is given, to know what people who live near the bombing are doing to protect themselves. Are there any forms of protection? Do they need to evacuate the area? Etc.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/06/world/russia-ukraine-war-news

Homer, a 16 year old polar bear at Midland Zoo, passed away around 7am this morning. Homer was the oldest bear of the zoo and lived a long life.

Zoo Director, Chris P. Bacon, released a statement to the public regarding Homer’s death. Bacon told the press, “We will do everything in our power to determine how this bear died. Animal welfare and the preservation of species are our primary goals here at the zoo.”

The two polar bears who lived with Homer in the polar bear habitat have been removed from the exhibit to be carefully monitored by the veterinary staff. Midland Zoo would like to reassure the public in knowing that they are doing everything they can to preserve the lives of all animals.

Midland Zoo’s exhibits allow their polar bears to thrive in a unique habitat filled with manufactured snow, gravel, and a chilled pool filled with trout. This fun environment allows the polar bears to live their lives as they would in the original home.

Dr. Shanda Lear, the zoo’s senior staff veterinarian, told the press the necropsy to find out Homer’s cause of death will not be available for several weeks. More information to be released soon.

Picture a nine year old girl, hesitant and a little upset, packing up her belongings to move to a new country with her parents. 

Kirstin Verplanke is a native of Swindon, England and now resides in Arizona. Her unique childhood has allowed her a special perspective on life in America. Throughout her years in Arizona, she has been able to experience things her nine year old self could never imagine.

Schooling in Arizona has much more opportunities compared to Kirstin’s homeland. Kirstin explained how in England, school is considered a full time job. Her school day would be filled with walking to school since driving in England is very uncommon, going to classes from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon, walking home, and immediately starting house chores and school work. 

Even as a nine year old, Kirstin understood the adult feeling of responsibilities. On her days off of school, Kirstin enjoyed spending the typical rainy day in England playing with her friends. The soft sound of rain falling on the window resonated with her while she was inside playing with barbies.

Kirstin had a new definition of “home.” To her, home is people rather than a place. Since she spent much of her childhood traveling from England to Arizona, the one thing that stayed consistent was her relationship with her mother, Helen.

In Kirstin’s eyes, Helen is an understanding, selfless, humble mother who would do anything for her daughter. Their friendship has always come easy and moving to Arizona played a big part in this. Kirstin said, “Moving to Arizona at a young age was difficult since I had to leave all of my friends in England. Being able to rely on my mom as someone who I could go to about anything was really helpful.”

Helen believed this to be true as well. Helen said, “She’s always been my baby girl and I had to look after her. I was just lucky that the move brought us closer together.”

This wholesome mother/daughter friendship continued all throughout high school and is still as prominent now being thousands of miles away from each other as it was living under the same roof.

Sydney Lueth, Kirstin’s roommate and teammate, can proudly attest to this. Sydney and Kirstin have been a part of the Morningside swim team for two years together and have lived together for one year. During this time, Sydney has been able to witness not only Kirstin’s relationship with her mom, but to also see how Kirstin’s culture differs from the “typical” Americans.

When asked about what Sydney initially noticed about Kirstin’s lifestyle, she said, “In the United Kingdom, people don’t really go out to eat a lot so Kirstin typically makes all of her meals here. She doesn’t prefer to go out as much as other people do.”

Sydney continued by saying, “Her mannerisms are also different compared to mine. I feel like she speaks in a much more proper way and is very exact with her wording.”

Little things such as these show Kirstin still has a piece of her original home with her years later. Kirstin is able to make anywhere feel like home with her caring heart and pure soul.

The story I chose is “Ace Hardware Sees 33% Online Sales Increase for Cyber 5 Weekend in 2022”

The first audience members I think of would be stockholders for Ace Hardware. The stockholders would most likely want to see these numbers since they are investing in the company.

The main benefit to the reader would be gaining knowledge about future sales Ace Hardware may be having. With the boom in business from Black Friday, Ace Hardware might be more inclined to have more deals like this.

The company is gaining more exposure by releasing this press conference statement. It shows Ace Hardware has had great success with their products and will continue to do so. It also shows transparency and honesty to stockholders, which might make them want to invest even more into the company.

Most stories I have read for this class don’t usually talk about great success companies have had. They usually are about something plummeting whether it’s in the numbers or otherwise.

ELON MUSK IS FINDING OUT THAT FREE SPEECH ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE

This article is talking about Elon Musk and his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. Musk believes that free speech is lost in America, and only tyranny lies ahead.

The article itself had much information. I thought there was too much information, though. Reading the article took me about 8 minutes. For something written about only one topic, it seemed unnecessary to have that much information. It was all well written, but also not needed.

The lead is a quote and is then followed by, “So says Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, which remains, for now, the go-to place for political obsessives to argue over polarizing topics like gender therapy, school vouchers and Covid-19 policy.”

I think starting with a quote isn’t wrong, but it always seems like there’s better options. If he would’ve found a way to make the sentence following the lead what he started with, that would’ve been much more “attention grabbing” to readers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/us/politics/elon-musk-free-speech.html

MORNINGSIDE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF AVIATION LAUNCHES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ORACLE AVIATION, NOW ENROLLING FOR FALL 2023

I would consider this story news. It is something new that the school will be offering that the general public may be interested to know and learn more about.

Potential audiences for this article would be high school seniors who are looking into an aviation profession.

The purpose of this story is to bring attention to this new school Morningside is offering. New schools of University’s don’t typically happen often so it is big news for Morningside.

The readers of the story will know more about the School of Aviation after reading this. They will also be able to find out what the school has to offer for its future students.

Morningside gains more exposure to the public by posting this. It also attracts more potential students which is always beneficial.

Wade not only shows his generosity on the field with his teammates, but off the field as well.

Monday night, Coach Boeve spontaneously asked the baseball team if any of them would be willing to volunteer for an event that would be happening the next night at the Orpheum. Out of 45 men, Wade was the first to volunteer.

The event itself was called “Is this Heaven?… An evening with Dwier Brown and Showing of Field of Dreams.”

Wade’s generosity was shown tremendously on Tuesday night. He allowed the event to run smoothly by guiding the audience through the Orpheum. By volunteering, he and the rest of the baseball team was able to help raise money for the Miracle League.

Gunman Charged with Killing Three Fellow Students at the University of Virginia

“The victims, all members of the football team, were remembered by classmates, coaches and teachers as affable students are dedicated activists.”

Three football players from University of Virginia – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr, and D’Sean Perry – were all shot and killed while returning from a class field trip.

The story itself, while tragic to read, was written very well. The author explained a lot of questions the common reader might have. The author talked about the news conference that was held, what President Biden had to say about gun safety on college campuses, and how the incident occured.

Since this is a rather recent story, it still is not public knowledge as to why the shooter did what he did; but I would have been interested to read that as well. It would definitely make me want to read a follow up article as well.

The lead was written well and grabs the reader’s attention.

“A 22-year-old student at the University of Virginia was charged with fatally shooting three members of the university’s football team and wounding two others as they returned from a class field trip on Sunday night, an attack that led to an overnight campuswide lockdown while the authorities searched for the gunman for roughly 12 hours.”

While other lead’s may not want to give this much information in just the lead, I feel like it is appropriate for this story. Reading this much information instantly leaves the reader with many unanswered thoughts – “Why did this happen?” “What is the campus doing about it?” “What repercussions will the shooter have?” “How are students on campus feeling about this?” etc.

This article from the New York Times talked about how it seems as if the United States has an unusually high number of elections. Most countries have voting every four to five years whereas America holds elections every two years.

I thought this article was well-written! I liked how the author had different sections of the article devoted to reasoning behind why he believes America votes too much.

The lead for the article is, “Americans casting their ballots in tomorrow’s midterm elections might be voting in their 30th or 40th contest in four years. In the same amount of time, a German citizen might vote in six to eight races.”

This lead is decent – it doesn’t specifically say what the article is about though. I think a lead more like “Is the consistency of American’s voting every two years truly beneficial?” or something of that sort.

Overall the article was good. It was well-informed and gave the reader many facts and reasoning behind why the United States votes as often as it does.

Stuart Scott, an ESPN anchor, moved the crowd at the ESPY’s last night with his insightful speech on living life to its fullest extent.

Stuart Scott was awarded the Jimmy V Award at the ESPY’s in honor of his perseverance and determination in his battle with cancer.

The award itself was presented to Scott by Jack Bauer, and Scott was more than honored to receive this award from him.

In Scott’s touching speech, he speaks on his current battle with cancer. Scott told the crowd, “When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.”

These powerful sentences left the crowd applauding in his name. Scott mentioned how he was hospitalized this past week as well.

“As of Sunday, I didn’t even know if I’d make it here. I couldn’t fight. But doctors and nurses could. The people that I love and my friends and family – they could fight.” In Scott’s speech, he says how he couldn’t fight this battle without his support system by his side.

He has an overwhelming amount of love in his corner, and he is beyond grateful for it.

To conclude his speech, he speaks on his daughters and how thankful he is for them. Scott said, “But Taelor and Sydni, I love you guys more than I will ever be able to express. You two are my heartbeat. I am standing on this stage here tonight because of you.”

His speech is concluded with one of his daughters, Sydni, coming on the stage to give her father a hug. This act of love moved the crowd greatly and was the cherry on top of a beautiful speech.

Stuart Scott is a humble, deserving man who has made an impact on many people. This speech and the crowd’s reaction shows this much to be true.