Explore The Otherside

Examine what lies beneath or behind. For this assignment, I ventured into Joan’s office in the Mass Comm department and looked behind her door. Joan asked me what I was doing and I responded with an explanation of the assignment. I found first that the door creeks. It sounds similar to a dog crying or whimpering.

When looking behind the door I first found a thin nail stuck into the wall. The nail looked as though it had been painted around as it had a hint of white paint on it. On the ground sat a doorstop. it was made of metal but it had some blue on it. It looked like the color of the statue of liberty.

Hanging on the back of the wall was a metal coat hanger. Hanging on the coat hanger was three clothes hangers. two were plastic, one was black and one was white. The third hanger was made of metal. It was different from usual hangers as it had a loop in the piece that hangs on the hook. To the left and down from the hangers was a piece of paper taped to the door. In the blue marker were the words Zooming with a squiggly line. The last detail I realized was another nail stuck into the door. It looked as if it had been placed at the same as the nail in the wall as it was the same length and same width.

Pirouline

A Pirouline is a straw-like cylindrical cookie. It is a tan color with a brown swirl from top to bottom. It is a chocolatey version of a candy cane. The ends of both sides of the cookie have chocolate, there are crumbs from other cookies mashed into the chocolate coming from the ends of the cookie. When dropped the cookie sounds hollow. The outer shell of the cookie falls into flakey bits when bitten into. The chocolatey inside is thick and almost like a paste. You can eat a Pirouline cookie in three to four bites. They taste semi-sweet chocolate and a plain vanilla shell.

Article #2 Draft

What’s in the water at Morningside University.

Morningside swim coach and boys team captain talks about the upcoming 2021-2022 swim season.

The Morningside University men’s and woman’s swim team kicked off their 2021-2022 season this past weekend at the St. Ambrose University Quadrangular. With several swim meets to come the mustangs coach, Brian Farris, feels optimistic about the upcoming season.

“We have two solid teams with good depth and great talent” Farris states when asked about the team. 

The overall team consisting of forty-five athletes is scheduled to compete at eleven meets spanning from October to March. Including duels, Invitationals, the KCAC Conference Championships, and finally finishing out the season at the NAIA Championships. 

For athletes to compete at the NAIA Championships athletes must swim a qualifying time at some time during the season. Farris believes that he has several athletes this year who have the potential to qualify and compete at NAIA nationals including but not limited to Sophomore Willy Pinnow, Sophomore Joe Ciricao, Sophomore Josie Dike, and several members of the senior class that have qualified before. In the eyes of coach Farris “We’ve got the complete package.

During their last competition season, the Mustangs were unable to compete at nationals due to covid guidelines and restrictions. This year many institutions in the NAIA division have relaxed some of their restrictions for swim meets.

“We will still feel some backlash from the effects of covid,” Farris says that some of the team’s meet schedule is uncertain, finding busses and bus drivers have been more challenging. While the aftereffects of covid are still being felt there are many ways in which meets have gone back to normal. 

Spectators will be allowed back into the pool which Farris believes will help boost the morale of swimmers at meets. 

James Spicer, one of the 2021 boys team captains commented on how masks affected his performance during meets last year. “Luckily we won’t have to waterboard ourselves with we pieces of cloth after we get out of the pool” 

Morningside swim is attempting to return to normal function this year as much as possible. The team is excited to attend meets with spectators and a little bit more comradery across teams. 

Morningside University’s Professor Gonsler Tells All

In an interview with Mr. Fuglsang’s Introduction to Journalism class, Professor Gonsler tells all about his journey from student to professor.

Professor John Gonsler started his journey to higher education at Farris State University but transferred after one year to Michigan State University where he completed his bachelor’s degree. Soon after graduating, he moved back to his hometown of Flint, Michigan where he began his professional career as a public law enforcement officer for two years.

After two years in public law enforcement, he decided that this career wasn’t the place for him siting that public law enforcement was corrupt and his station was “Dirtier than a pig’s dick” Gonsler shared a story that the sheriff of his department had framed one of their sergeants that had been working for the department for 30 years. “I was still interested in criminals and crime, but I did not want to be a police officer.”

From that point, he worked for six months as a Corrections officer for a maximum-security prison. Gonsler went into detail describing the gruesome stories from his time at the prison. One prisoner had an affinity for collecting dead baby birds and keeping them as pets. This prisoner even went as far as putting them in a hot pot stating that they “needed a bath.”

Gonsler then decided to further his college education and went back to school to pursue a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. Before coming to Morningside, Gonsler taught as an associate instructor at Mott University.

At this point, Gonsler needed to decide what he wanted to do for a job from this point forward. When making this decision he asked himself a series of questions. “It was one of those what do I like? What do I want? And what do I not like?”

In 2011 he began thinking about becoming a college professor. Gonsler applied for two jobs. He stated that “Morningside was one of two colleges that were starting up a criminal justice department.” This made it an easy decision for him.

When asked about what his goals are for the students in his classes Gonsler stated that he simply wanted them to learn about what they liked and what they do not like “I teach them about themselves.” As a professor Gonsler hopes to be a culmination of all his favorite teachers and professors throughout his life.

After only three semesters here at Morningside University, Gonslers states that his favorite thing about being a professor is teaching the introduction classes and having the summers off. “I like that people are taking classes that they may not need to and yet still finding some value in it.”

Last Conversation

Last night at around 10 O’clock I had a conversation with a fellow resident’s assistant Anders Staxon. We were in my college Roadman residence dorm room at Morningside University, and we were talking about what a student’s dorm room should look like. 

I had stated that Answers room seemed very clean, organized, and tidy which made sense because that was the kind of vibe he gave off as a person. We then walked into my room. It was much less organized but still clean and tidy. I had many more decorative items that I think make the room homier. Staxon stated that he thought my room was very boring and needed a couch and a TV. 

We then laughed about the conversation and Staxon exited the room. Staxon is a blonde guy and was wearing a white t-shirt, black pants, and black shoes. 

News Comment #6

Hunter Injured in Grizzley Bear Attack near Cody.

Saturday, October 2nd a man was attacked by a Grizzley bear while on an elk hunt in the forest near Cody, Wyoming. The hunter who was attacked managed to make it back to the trailhead before being life-flighted to a nearby hospital with “non-life-threatening injuries.” The Grizzley was a female spotted with her two cubs, the female grizzly was killed in the altercation by a hunting partner of the injured man.

This article is very short and sweet. It gives you only the facts of the case and there aren’t too many to report. At the end of the article, the author talks about the protected status of the Grizzley bear in the state of Wyoming. The article ends with a link to resources regarding bear safety tips and tricks.

I believe this article was made to inform and warn people about bear safety and how to handle situations like this. Being from this area I know that bear attacks happen quite often and in my opinion, this situation was not all that out of the ordinary. If news stations covered every single bear situation there would be hundreds of articles just like these. There was a definite motive behind this article other than just reporting the news.

Situations like these are becoming more and more common in Wyoming because there are a lot of people moving in from states that may not have as much need for bear safety information. It is easy for someone inexperienced in wilderness survival to go out and get lost or have issues with wildlife.

News Comment #5

News Media Can’t Shake ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome,’ Critics Say

In this article, the author goes into detail about how the media fails to equally represent the hundreds of cases of missing colored women while simultaneously plastering the story of one single white woman across every news outlet. The article interviews two advocates for missing indigenous and black women. While they do agree that the tragic disappearance of women like Gabby Petitio is important, they are questioning why they are not getting the same amount of media attention for their stories?

I believe this is a very well-written article. They do a great job of interviewing people from both sides of the spectrum. They make a point to reach out to news outlets that put the Gabby Petito case on blast to ask them why they haven’t posted similar articles about the indigenous and black women who have gone missing in similar circumstances. 

This article focuses intently on only the facts they have and do not fabricate any to fit an agenda. The article goes on to talk about sensationalism in the media. News outlets print what they know will sell. One source even stated that sometimes race and gender have a lot to do with viral stories, and that’s the sad truth.

One Good Conversation

One student discusses her transition into college life with a pandemic looming overhead

Morningside University Sophomore, Josie Dike, discusses the difficulties she faced coming into college while balancing making friends and staying safe through the Covid-19 scare.

Wyoming was relatively unaffected by the worldwide panic that hit because of the spreading Covid-19 virus. Mask mandates were not followed and the residents of Riverton, Wyoming did not conform to the quarantines that many others were facing.  Dike went from a state of little to no restrictions to one that took the impending pandemic very seriously. 

Morningside University began the school year with a mask mandate and a request that all students stay within their “family units”. Of the restrictions, dike stated that “It was frustrating going to college and not getting the freedom I thought I’d Have. I didn’t have an issue with the masks, It was more about how distancing made it harder to, make friends and be a part of the Morningside community.”

Dike was quarantined within the first few months of the semester. College students are known to struggle with mental health during their first few months at college. Many express feelings of anxiety and depression.

Dike stated that her mental health really took a dive due to her time in the Quarantine halls at Morningside University. “It began to feel like things were really hopeless because no one really knew what would happen next. In the long run, it made me stronger.”

News Comment #4

Remains found Confirmed to be that of Prominent Social media influencer, Gabby Petito.

The remains found Sunday in Bridger-Teton National Forest have been confirmed to be those of social media influencer Gabby Petito who has been reported missing since September 11th.

This article details everything the police know about the disappearance and now confirmed the death of Gabby Petito. Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie had been road tripping together from New York to the western United states of the summer. 

The article goes into detail about how Petito who is normally in constant contact with her family, had been noticeably absent in the week leading up to her disappearance. After witnesses and bodycam footage became available to the public it became clear that Petito and Laundrie had become physical with each other several times during their travels together. Once police identified Petito’s body Laundrie consequently disappeared. The article states that police suspect foul play in Laundries’ part.

I think that this article does a good job of presenting the information in a clear and comprehensible way. In terms of objectivity, it would be particularly difficult to write about this case in a completely objective manner. This case has been so widely televised and publicized by not only the news but also social media. There are so many people voicing their opinion about this case that it would be nearly impossible to discern fact from opinion. 

This article gives a brief overview of what is been happening in this case. While I do not believe they withheld any information, it does not share the full story. In a situation like this is would be difficult to decide what information is imperative to the narrative and what can be left out without compromising the integrity of the information.

Overall, I think this article is well written and convenient enough for someone who wants a brief but accurate overview of the situation.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/21/us/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-update-tuesday/index.html

Scavenger Hunt

On September 21st at 10:15 am I walked into the Khrone Advising center and entered the office of one Ms. Kim Sangwin. Sangwin is the Director of web development and digital strategy for Morningside University. Sangwin had three Morningside University T-shirts sitting on her desk as I entered her office. When asked what her favorite part of her job was Sangwin said “Helping people, That’s the goal.”

Later that morning at around 10:20 I walked up the stairs to lewis Hall and approached one miss Cassie Bates sitting at the front desk. When asked what her favorite quote was she said “Nobody goes to target and buys sad, It just comes and goes as it pleases” Bates stated that she “wanted to make a sticker out of that quote”. Cassie has a boutique where she sells all her sticker designs, the link to her boutique is located on her Instagram bio.

Cassie is a sophomore from Northeast, Nebraska. “It’s so small it’s not even on the map,” Bates stated.