Late summer reflections

It’s hard to believe that in a little over a month, I’ll be beginning my senior year at IU South Bend!

It hasn’t been just the summer that’s flown by fast. I can hardly believe that my days in college have slipped by as fast as they have. Sometimes, I feel like I should still be a freshman.

I remember my back-to-school shopping excursion as a freshman. I bought a plethora of cute and trendy matching notebooks, note-cards, pens, pencils, staplers, paper clips and stick-it notes, among others. This year, I bought one 5-subject notebook and pencils. It’s funny how things change over the years.

I’ll be lucky enough to also attend school this year with my younger sister, Helen, one of my closest friends and confidants. It’ll be nice to chat and hang out with her on campus in between our classes.

This year, I’m also editor-in-chief for The Preface. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit intimidated, but I’m also very excited. I have high hopes for what the newspaper can accomplish. I have a lot of ideas and plans I wan to implement, and we have a great experienced staff this year, despite losing a lot of seniors.

I have a lot to do before the school year starts (including a move and purchasing a new car!) but I’m excited to see what the fall brings.

Peace!

Playing with Vine

Six seconds isn’t very long for a movie, much less impart a message. But for Vine users, this is just the right amount of time to create compelling and unique commentary on life, culture, and the world around us.

Founded in 2012, and quickly acquired by Twitter, Vine remains a popular mobile app that enables users to take looping videos up to six seconds long. The simple interface encourages creative ingenuity and clever methods of storytelling.

I had to create my own Vine for a class project, and I found the greatest challenge was coming up with a clever idea, not the actual filming. While my first take ultimately failed to upload, I found the interface for taking the video very easy to use.

So take a look, let me know what you think!

Discovering new multimedia #j410cyberculture https://t.co/lueTVPawgh

— Cecelia Roeder (@Cici_Roeder) April 2, 2014

The Amendments that never were

We always talk about making new laws. We talk about the Supreme Court changing rules, Congress getting their act together, or how the president oughta sign this one bill.

Sometimes you don’t get to hear about some of the laws that never made it. So this one’s for the proposed amendments to the Constitution that never made it. A few of these may surprise you. It appears the 1800’s were not a good century for the atheists.

Some of these are obviously ridiculous, while some are quite interesting.

 

1876: an attempt to abolish the United States Senate

1876: the forbidding of religious leaders from occupying a governmental office or receiving federal funding

1878: an Executive Council of Three should replace the office of President

1893: renaming this nation the “United States of the Earth”

1893: abolishing the United States Army and Navy

1894: acknowledging that the Constitution recognizes God and Jesus Christ as the supreme authorities in human affairs.

1912: making marriage between races illegal

1914: finding divorce to be illegal

1916: all acts of war should be put to a national vote. Anyone voting yes had to register as a volunteer for service in the United States Army

1933: an attempt to limit the personal wealth to $1 million

1936: an attempt to allow the American people to vote on whether or not the United States should go to war

1938: the forbidding of drunkenness in the United States and all of its territories

1947: the income tax maximum for an individual should not exceed 25%

1948: the right of citizens to segregate themselves from others

1971: American citizens should have the alienable right to an environment free of pollution.

I’m Back!

It has been far too long since I’ve written. I’ve been quite busy with work and school starting up, but I intend to continue writing! My life always seems better when I can write and create!

I’m taking 17 credit hours this semester, which includes two 400 level classes. It’s not going to be easy, but I fully intend to live up to the challenge.

One class in particular I’m excited for is an in-depth reporting class. My professor told the class if we successfully sold a story to a publication, we’d be raised half a letter grade! This is my one of many short term goals for the semester!

Now all I have to do is figure out what to write! I have many interests and passions, but choosing the right topic, and the right publication will be key!

If anybody has any good ideas, let me know!

Photography at IUSB: Wiekamp Hall Edition

I’ve always thought this was one of the most modernly designed buildings on campus

I did a little bit of photography on campus today because why not.

I’m assuming Dorothy and Darwin gave us a lot of money at one point in time.

I loved how the branches looked.

I love the balconies on Wiekamp

 

I love how crisp the snow looked in this light

 

Photography at IUSB: Northside Hall edition

This is a door in Northside Hall. One joke lead to another, apparently

This is in one of my classrooms in Northside. Apparently generations of students sitting in the back row had the most boring classes in the world

As my grandpa or dad might say: THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS