Typing with Taryn

St. Louis school gunman was armed with AR-15 style rifle and over 600 rounds of ammunition, officials say

The lead for the article written about this story was “The 19-year-old gunman who killed two people at a St. Louis high school Monday was armed with an AR-15 style rifle and over 600 rounds of ammunition, and left behind a note referencing mass shootings, police said.”

Whereas the lead for the video was “This morning, another community traumatized and heartbroken by a school shooting that killed a teacher and sophomore. A local news chopper capturing the terrifying scene as hundreds of students and staff scramble to safety.”

The biggest difference here falls in the fact that the video is telling us much more about the “what happened in that very moment” type of news and the article is stating more information after the fact, such as how many rounds the gun had.

Length wise, the video definitely has much more information. It took me about a minute to read the article, and the video was over 2 minutes long.

The video also had many more sources on the scene such as students, faculty, and parents. The article, on the other hand, uses sources such as the Police Chief.

I think seeing the footage on the video definitely made me more interested to keep watching. It allowed me to feel sympathy for those people in St. Louis because I was able to hear their voices and see their faces.

Overall, I think the video’s content was much better than the article’s.

Article:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/st-louis-school-gunman-was-armed-ar-15-style-rifle-600-rounds-ammuniti-rcna53938

Video:

https://www.today.com/video/teenage-gunman-kills-2-in-st-louis-high-school-shooting-151460933763

Why Are the Giants and Jets Still Considered Underdogs?

“Bookmakers aren’t yet sold on the teams, despite winning records and solid upsets. Their distrust comes down to close games and weak schedules.”

The article itself talks about the past of the Giants and the Jets history of winning/losing and what it means for fans this season. Most of the article is talking about the current season statistics for the two teams and how unimpressive it is.

The Lead: “It’s an exciting year to be a fan of New York metropolitan area pro football teams. The Jets and the Giants, long afterthoughts or even laughingstocks in the N.F.L., are riding high.”

This lead would indicate to the reader that the person who wrote this is going to talk about the team’s successes so far. However, this is not the case. Most of the middle of the article is talking about how poor the Giants’ and Jet’s stats are this year.

I didn’t really care for this part of the article (and that’s not because I’m a Giants fan… okay, maybe slightly) because of this. It doesn’t really make sense to start the article with hyping the teams up and then going to say these stats, in my opinion.

I did enjoy the end of the article, although. I like the way the author concluded everything by saying while a playoff is unrealistic (true) the Giants and Jets have still had an enormous amount of success thus far.

BATMAN CANDY

The batman candy had a combination of a tart taste and a minty taste. The candy itself was a medium shade of blue, was quite small, and had the batman emblem on it. When biting into the candy, it had a chalky texture and broke into many small pieces. There was no distinct scent to the piece of candy, although. It reminded me of a sweet tart combined with an altoid. I don’t care to try this candy again, and will probably never end up purchasing it on my own.

MONSTER ENERGY DRINK

The Monster Energy Zero Ultra is in a 16 ounce white can with metallic decals around it. When you open the tab, it makes a distinct clicking noise. The drink itself has a very sweet and carbonated taste to it. When drinking the Monster, it goes down very smoothly. I usually never have any trouble drinking this unless it is very cold and I’m chugging it. I recommend this drink to anyone and will definitely have it again… (I have one every day)

In recent years, Morningside University students have expressed major concern for the low-rate security systems among the campus.

Morningside University is located in Sioux City, Iowa and offers undergraduate students a small residential campus setting complete with immersive academic programs and more than 50 student organizations and clubs that span a wide range of interests. 

On Morningside’s public website, campus security says to have the following for security services – 24 hour escort to and from buildings, parking lots, or cars, vehicle assistance program, and transportation for those who have limited mobility. 

Morningside also offers programs including crime prevention, sexual assault awareness, self-defense classes, fire prevention, and alcohol and drug abuse prevention.

While there are a multitude of safety classes and precautions for the campus, many students continue to feel unsafe. The lack of security cameras around campus leave many students feeling concerned.

Kirstin VerPlanke is a sophomore at Morningside University who swims and lives in the apartment complexes. VerPlanke said, “Not having cameras around campus brings danger and discomfort to students, especially when living quarters are so close to major streets. Our safety and security should be a top priority to faculty and staff.”

Many incidents involving adults who do not live on campus have not only occurred in previous years, but this year as well. Students such as Kirstin express this feeling to others who live on campus, but rarely mention any of this to campus security.

Before school had started at Morningside in 2021, many car break-ins had occurred. Someone was shattering windows and stealing students and staff’s belongings including wallets, watches, and athletic equipment. 

Laken Harnly, a Junior at Morningside, was one of the students who had his car broken into. Harnly said, “Last year, I had my car window broken into and shattered before school started. I had my wallet, ray-ban’s, tools, and a basketball stolen from my car. I wish there would have been more cameras and lights in place to give more protection in our parking lots.” 

Maddy Slaughter also had car troubles last year. Slaughter’s car was involved in a hit and run in one of the Morningside parking lots. Slaughter told us, “Last year, my car got hit in the tennis court lot. Whoever hit me drove away and I was very upset to come out and see my car had been hit without any note left. I feel like if there would have been cameras, they would have been able to see who hit me so campus security could take care of the damages they caused.”

Recurring instances such as these are primary examples as to why Morningside would benefit in investing in security cameras for parking lots across campus.

Pastor Andy has been Morningside’s campus chaplain since 2017. He spends his time here with students, staff, and community members connect with their faith. 

Pastor Andy grew up in a small town in Southeastern Minnesota with about 15,000 people in the community. Faith has been a big part of his life from a young age. When asked if being a chaplain/pastor had always been a dream of his, he said, “I always got asked at my church if I had ever thought about becoming a pastor once I get older.”

Throughout college, Andy was back and forth in deciding if he wanted to be a chaplain upon graduation. 

He looked into a gap year as well. Looking back at his college years, he wished he would have taken the gap year to have a new experience with different communities and people.

What drew Pastor Andy into his final decision of becoming a chaplain was engaging with others. 

He told the class, “Being able to ask questions, to not only go along with what you’re saying, but engaging in an intellectual way… something about this I never lost and that’s part of what drew me to becoming a campus chaplain.”

The author Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a means of significance to Andy. Bonhoeffer’s theology stuck out the most to him.

This German author wrote about being in one’s community and what true faith looks like. Bonhoeffer’s writing sticks out to Andy because of his belief in acting within the world rather than retreating from it.

Before working at Morningside, Andy commuted from Sioux City to the University of South Dakota to be a campus chaplain there. Once the position here opened up, he applied and has been working here, along with his wife, since. 

At Morningside, Pastor Andy prioritizes each student’s faith, no matter what it may be. He also helps students get connected with worshiping communities. Andy’s open door policy allows students to openly discuss anything he or she may need to speak about.

While Pastor Andy’s faith has been a steady part of his life and he continues to share this love of the Word with staff, faculty, and community members.

Amazon Suspends Workers After Protest Over Warehouse Fire

“Several dozen night-shift employees at a Staten Island site that recently voted to unionize had refused to work amid safety concerns.”

Amazon suspended more than two dozen employees at a warehouse on Tuesday. The works who were fired had previously refused to work their shifts because a cardboard compactor had caught fire the previous evening.

The employees were concerned for the disregard of fire safety and didn’t feel safe working around the toxic fumes/smoke.

I think the lede of this story is solid. It gives the reader enough information to know what generally happened, but it also leaves the reader wanting to know more information.

I think the author covered a decent amount of what we should know at this moment. There’s still quite a bit of information not covered because it is so recent. We don’t know if/when these workers will join the Labor Union, so there’s only so much information to be told.

“For Weather Reporters, How Close to a Storm is Too Close?”

Jim Cantore, a reporter, for The Weather Channel, was struck by flying debris during a live broadcast this week.

Hurricane Ian has been impacting citizens of Florida. Many news channels are reporting on this to keep everyone informed on the situation.

This article talks about one weather reporter, Jim Cantrore, and his experience with Hurricane Ian. He was reporting in 110 mile-per-hour winds when he was struck by a tree branch.

One thing which is questioned in this article is the morals and ethics that fall within the dangerous conditions we put reporters in.

I thought it was smart how the author related this situation to its social media presence. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook can help spread this information.

I think the article was well written, but had a few too many quotes for my liking. The information was given well, but the quotes seemed to have overtaken the important information at times.

I would have written more information about the other reporters who have to put their own lives at risk to deliver news to their channel.

The Target 2021 annual report was written directed towards shareholders of the company.

CEO, Brian Cornell, said to the shareholders, “But even as we celebrate extraordinary near-term progress, we remain much closer to the start of our growth than the end of it.”

Cornell is very confident in saying Target will continue to give tremendous value to all shareholders and stakeholders in the coming years. Much of this planned success will come from the after-tax return Target will receive, which is expected to be in the high 20-30% range.

In 2017, the total sales revenue (in millions) was $71,786. In comparison, the 2021 total sales revenue was $104,611. This tremendous increase is cohesive among every statistic given. The 2021 numbers are by far larger than the previous years.

With these statistics, Cornell can be confident to say Target’s profits will continue to increase in the following years. This will be achieved with the team, strategies, and capabilities the company has acquired.

Byanka Olivarez has undertaken quite a few hobbies while at Morningside University! When she is not working for the campus security, she enjoys reading, writing, and listening to music.

Byanka said, “Hobbies have almost always never been there for me. With college, it’s something I’ve recently chosen to do to keep me from burning out with homework.”

When listening to music, Byanka is open to any genre! She specifically enjoys old Spanish music, although. She often times opens Spotify and chooses a pre-made mix at random and listens to it.

Byanka is currently reading the Dreamland Billionaire series as well. She is also interested in romance and scientific fiction books.

When asking Byanka what about reading fascinates her, she said, “Once I pick up the book, I can’t put it down. I’ll go to bed at 2 AM because I don’t want to stop reading.”

Journaling has also become a recent hobby of Byanka! She used to bullet journal and write creatively, however now she writes more on the personal goal side. Byanka chooses to journal at the end of each day to reflect on what she did and how she felt.

Byanka enjoys journaling at the end of the day because, “Sometimes when I have a really bad day, I’ll write down something positive in my journal. That way I’m always ending the day reflecting on something good.”

In paper #1, I spoke about Queen Elizabeth’s death. I would say I put the most effort into the researching process as a whole. Knowing the Queen passed away was common knowledge, but learning more about her reign and the country as a whole was quite interesting. The paper only required three sources, but I ended up reading many more articles about the topic. By knowing more information, I feel as though I can give a proper opinion. 

I wish I had spent more time learning about the current effects on the nation. I was able to read a lot about her ruling and all of the impact she had, but was not successful in researching what will happen in the future. Since a lot of questions are in the air, it was difficult to find much information on what will definitely happen for the country’s future. I was able to ask my roommate, Kirstin, about the topic which helped greatly since she is from England. 

I would say the most difficult part about writing this paper was properly formatting it. I had so much information about the topic, I was not sure where to start and in which direction I wanted the paper to go. After my rough draft meeting, I was able to create an idea of what I wanted my final paper to look like. I decided to make a list of everything the paper talked about and write down what order the topics should be in. After doing this, I was able to format my paper in a way which I was content with.

The biggest problem I encountered was making sure my paper seemed like a “standard” newspaper article. I know in my previous News Comment assignments I had struggled with summarizing rather than stating my opinion, so I made sure to do both of these things in the paper. Making sure I was successful with this issue came after my Rough Draft meeting. I decided to look over my paper and ensure that it had all of the information I felt I needed.