This week I decided to do my news comment on “Inside the Brilliant Minds Behind the New Season of ‘Stranger Things’” by Charles Moss on Vice. The story is newsworthy because of timeliness and currency. Because the highly anticipated Stranger Things 2 is set to premire on Netflix tomorrow this story is relevant especially to fans of the first installment of the series it is a newsworthy story to cover. It also becomes newsworthy because Stranger Things is trending again because of the next installment.
Probiotics may be the answer to improving mental health.
In Psychology Today’s June 2017 issue they say that researchers have discovered that gut bacteria could be linked to psychiatric disorders. Scientists find that bacteria in the gut sends neural signals to the brain that have effects on mood and cognition.
Antibiotics, a bad diet, and stress has been shown to disrupt the composition of the bacteria in the gut and change the function of the gut. Gut-bacteria shifts activate immune cells which cause inflammation in the brain that leads to psychiatric symptoms.
Regular use of probiotics restores the bacterial balance of the gut and boosts learning and memory fucntions in the brain. Researchers have been studying the use of probiotics to improve psychiatric disorders.
This week I’m doing my news comment on a story called “After Harvey Weinstein allegations, psychologists explain why men protect abusive men” by Chris Caesar on Mic. This story is newsworthy because the prominence of the recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein for sexual assault allows for people to speak on the bigger issue of sexual assault and the many people that it impacts. The story captures interest with the term bro code which is something well known, and that people could relate to the subject of the article being why men protect other men who commit things like sexual assault.
Charismatic and optimistic are two words that describe Morningside’s own Alex Watters very well. His positive attitude is enough to put anyone in a better mood just from talking to him. Even after the accident, Alex stays positive with an “attitude of gratitude” in which he focuses on things he should feel lucky for.
It is important, according to Alex, to think about the things you should feel thankful for as opposed to focusing on what is going wrong. He could have easily focused on the downsides to the diving accident that put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life back in 2004 as opposed to feeling lucky for what he has now.
As of now, Alex is one of three first year advisors. His job is to help students through their first year of college in terms of adjusting and getting everything sorted out with their classes. Alex feels good being able to influence these students in a positive way.
Although there is “not a chance in hell” Alex would have been an advisor had it not been for the accident, he feels good about how his life has changed since the accident. Alex truly appreciates being able to help students to succeed. He is greatly inspired by his own student’s success especially when it comes to the tougher cases.
Alex supports his students by going to their games or other events, and tries to make it to at least one of each sporting event and other events in the community. On some level he feels as though they are his own kids, and sometimes even cries at their games when they get put in. Happy tears of course.
He encourages other students to make changes in the community or even in their day to day routine. He tells them, “Your ability to influence others is more than you know.” It can be as simple as a smile and a hello to staring up a conversation with someone new because you never know what that person is going through and you could make their day.