Final Four Videos

1. Mormon Mommy Bloggers 

2.  King Henry Apartments 

3. BYU Rotary Club Food Drive 

4. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Utah.  Snow covers the ground, Christmas trees are up and people are beginning to shop for Christmas gifts.

Families across Utah County gather together for this Christmas season to celebrate traditions.  Some families drive around neighbors to look at lights.  Others attend Temple Square to view the lights and visit the Christus.  While some go out in the wilderness to find the perfect family Christmas tree.  

Brooke Holt, a senior studying advertising, enjoys the holiday season to be with her family.  Holt enjoys being with her family to celebrate established traditions. She plans after finals to drive home to California to visit her family.

"Christmas means to me the birth of our Savior.  Then when I think about it also it's gifts, family and skiing for two weeks," she said. 

Many would agree that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ.  With the demands of consumerism, however, many forget what the season is about.   

From Debate.org an anonymous writer wrote that consumerism is beginning to take over family values.  

"This concept has been a steady deterioration by our country. The spiritual aspects of our core and traditions are slowly being eroded away."  

Some families to combat this new trend try to avoid making gifts the focal point of the holiday.  They do this by reading the scriptures, attending church and spending quality time together. 

Fighting Hunger One Can at a Time

BYU Rotary Club and the YSA 82nd ward teamed up to fight hunger by collecting cans in the Provo Community in behalf of the Utah Valley Food Bank.

Carson Ralphs, future Rotary Club president helped recruit the YSA 82nd ward to help.  With the extra help of the YSA ward the Rotary Club was successful in collecting enough food to feed over 20 families in Utah County.

Ralphs who will become president in April has enjoyed being apart of the Rotary Club and serving the Provo community.

"The mission of BYU Rotary Club is to serve the local community, I hope in the future that our club can serve those locally and internationally," Ralphs said.

Students who participated in the event traveled to homes surrounding BYU and knocked on countless doors and introducing themselves, the club and the purpose of collecting cans.

Some homes made interesting contributions according to students who participated.  One couple donated bottles of Mountain Dew and a box of cereal to the event.

Cynthia Jijon, Rotary Club Marketing Supervisor, had a great time meeting new people and serving the community.

"Going door to door brought back great memories from my mission," Jijon said. "I was able to talk with others who I was with collecting cans about their missions and share experiences from mine."

After the event, bishop of the YSA 82nd ward bought KFC to celebrate the success of the food they raised for Utah Valley Food Bank.

"It was a wonderful experience and I've enjoyed today and being a member of the Rotary Club," Jijon said.

Mormon Mommy Bloggers

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• Having a baby changes life dramatically. From dirty diapers, waking up at 3 a.m, getting spit up all over you and having no time to take a shower many moms and dads have to say goodbye to their former carefree baby life.  
• In the Mormon culture and in recent years many Mormon mother's have resorted to blogging as a stress reliever or way to communicate with other mother's.
• Olivia Gunnell a new mother enjoys sharing her stories of being a mom.
• "I love motherhood and want other women to know the joys of it and have a desire to experience it themselves," Gunnell said. "There are too many women choosing not to have families today and I don't think they realize the happiness they are missing out on."
• Gunnell hopes that her stories will inspire other women and give them hope to have kids someday.
• "I want women to not be so scared about the experience or the changes motherhood brings because since I've become a mother I don't know if I've ever been happier (besides meeting and marrying my husband)," Gunnell said. "It's a different kind of happiness that is impossible to fully understand until you're experiencing it yourself."
• Blogging in recent months has helped Gunnell to see her potential as a mother and has inspired her to be her best self.
• "Blogging has helped me have a perspective on motherhood," Gunnell said. "It has helped me separate the good from the bad and realize there is much more good. It helps me to not take any time with my daughter for granted. Reading other mommy blogs helps me feel like I'm not alone in this crazy journey."
• Hillary Dobbins who recently had her first baby in August loves being a mom. She has recently become a blogger and posts weekly to her blog.
• Dobbins finds blogging to be a stress reliever and looks at it as her new hobby.
• "I feel that blogging is a personal outlet and I believe that mom's need to make time for themselves," Dobbins said.
• Finding time to blog can be difficult between her daily activities. When Dobbins finds the time to blog she usually spends a couple minutes to an hour typing what inspires her. She recommends that all moms find something personal they like doing to prevent losing their personal identity.
• "Find one thing that you like," Dobbins said. "It makes a big difference in your ability to care for your baby since you still feel like you have your own identity."

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Thanksgiving Holiday Threatened by Shopping

It's Thanksgiving time which means being with loved ones enjoying a bountiful feast.  It's a day of relaxing and enjoying time to reminiscence with family and friends.  The fun is quickly cut short when a cell phone rings dreadfully reminding you that you have to be in at work right away.  

Employees across the country may face the fate of having to go into work on Thanksgiving, especially employees working in retail or in restaurants.  

According to an article on USA Today it expects shoppers to spend 3.9% more this year. The article also mentions how some stores like K-Mart plan to open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving day.   

"Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has traditionally represented the start of the holiday shopping period. Over the past few years, a kind of arms race has developed among retailers, and stores have opened their doors earlier and earlier each Friday," (USA Today). 

Gene Harris a Maintenance Supervisor at King Henry Apartments in Provo dislikes the idea of stores forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving.

"Black Friday is always crazy where people are grabbing items left and right,"  Harris said. "One year I went to Home Depot and wanted to get out of there right away because I couldn't stand how people were acting. Thanksgiving is a time to be with friends and family and not out in the Black Friday crowds."  

King Henry Office Assistant, Melissa Hill who has been working at the apartment complex for one in a half years has been forced in the past to work on Thanksgiving."

"This year and last year I was able to stay home and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family," Hill said.  

This year King Henry wanted to give it's employees time by closing early on Wednesday and closed on Thanksgiving.  

Music Video

Better clip on You Tube!!!

Discussion on Mobile News

What can news organizations do to keep up with mobile demand and prevent massive problems that happened when people started going online to read news stories rather than looking at papers? Also come up with a plan on how your newspaper can do a better job making your content available to mobile devices.

1.  The first thing that came to my mind about keeping up with mobile demand is to hire people who specialize in phone apps.  Find ways to make the app accessible to people and user friendly.  Also, make sure that the app is free to download or inexpensive.

2.  The second thing I would do as a news organization is to advertise their app via the Internet and printed newspapers.  That way people know about it.  

3.  Once the app is published make sure that someone is constantly adding news stories.   From what I have seen news organizations that publish on a regular basis are read more than papers that don't.

4.  News organizations need to put a heavy emphasis on phone apps rather than desktops.  News organizations that ignore this will have the same fate as news papers that refused to go online right away.

5.  To help make content available to mobile devices I would create an app that is compatible with Apple, Android and Windows phones.  That way no one is limited on what they can receive based on what type of phone they have.

6.  I would also make buttons on phone apps easier to read and click on.  So many times I have been lead to the wrong thing by clicking on the wrong button because I couldn't see it.

Spooky Skating Night

What are the chances of seeing brave characters such as Iron Man, Spider-man, Batman and Superman skating side by side especially in Orem,Utah?  The chances are pretty slim unless if you are a resident at one of the most social apartment complex in Provo, King Henry Apartments.

Every year King Henry Apartments in Provo gives it's residents a reason to dress up to celebrate the spookiest holiday of the year.

For one night, King Henry Apartments rents out an entire skating rink for the night and inviting all residents and office staff to participate and dress up.

King Henry resident, Pari Canning who came dressed up as Wendy from Peter Pan loved having the chance to dress up and hangout with her friends.

"Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year," said Canning.  "I especially love going trick or treating even though I'm all grown up."

Genna Cowley a King Henry resident dressed up for the skating event as a Sonic waitress had fun participating in the best dress costume contest.

"I decided to dress up as a Sonic person because I worked there before and I already had the skates and the outfit," said Cowley.

King Henry apartments to keep the fun alive decided to create contests to hand out fun prizes. Some of the contests included a race between the girls and guys to see who was the fastest, best overall dressed and the most unique and funniest costume.

The grand prize a $25 gift card to Apple Bee's went to the best costume which the residents voted for Spider-man.

King Henry resident assistant, Emil Morco started working for King Henry in April of 2013.   He enjoyed taking pictures of the event and dressing up as a panda.

When asked what he enjoyed most about Halloween he kept his answers to how a panda would answer them.

"I enjoy the bamboo candy it's very good," Morco said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eneISEORn94&feature=youtu.be

Intramural Football Team Goes Undefeated

Shivering in the cold and wearing only sport shorts, cleats and a t-shirt it's clear that these boys will withstand any weather elements to play a sport they love. Football.

A team composed of ten guys who are all BYU students, signed up in September to play intramural football. The team composed of all married students decided to represent their ward and be known as the 39th ward.

Some of the players who joined the team played since they were five.  Others playing football for the very first time in their lives.

Steven Skovran, a senior about to graduate in exercise science never played football in his life.

"It's a fun sport to watch and I wanted to try something new this year for intramural's," said Skovran.

Similarly, senior Jordan Ashcroft never played football professionally in his entire life.  He decided to join football to try a new sport.

"I never once played football in my life on a team," Ashcroft said. "I enjoy watching football especially the BYU cougars play. I knew if I loved watching them that I might love playing it too."

The 39th ward has so far gone undefeated. If they continue to win their games they will be bumped up to a higher division.

Jacob Brock a senior studying accounting, is the 39th ward team captain.  Since it will be his last year of playing intramural's he desperately wants his team to win.  Winners of the championship earn bragging rights and the win a t-shirt.

Brock who has played football professionally since high school absolutely loves playing and watching football.

"I played football my first two years of high school," Brock said. "I did summer camp and just before my junior and senior year I quit."

Brock mentioned that there were a number of reasons why he quit football. One of them was so that he could focus more on school and wanted to try new hobbies.

"I realized that there were more important things than football," Brock said.

The 39th ward went on to win their game; 28 to 6.  The team looks forward to playing future games and hopes to win their upcoming championship.

Which semester is better?

By Kelsey Snowden

As your standing in line buying your semester textbooks one thought  may  cross your mind.  Summer just was not long enough.

Each semester brings new adventures.  Some students find one semester to be harder than others.  Sophomore Collin Wheeler enjoys winter semester better.

“Usually by winter semester it’s almost summer time and towards finals week it begins to warm up again,” Wheeler said. 

For others some find fall semester to be their better semester. Collin’s wife, Kaitlin Wheeler, a recent graduate of BYU-Idaho enjoyed fall semester in Rexburg, Idaho.

“I loved the fall time because of all the leave changes.” Wheeler said.  “I loved also all the fun activities that took place in the fall upon arriving to school from the summer.”

When asking students what semester they liked better they list pro’s and con’s of each semester.

The pro’s of fall semester for students at BYU is homecoming week, football, Thanksgiving, Christmas breaks, the fall colors and beautiful weather. Some con’s mentioned were harder classes, more studying; snow returning and transitioning from summer to school. 

Students liked winter because of the fun winter events that take place in Provo, celebrating holidays with friends and the sight of summer coming is nearer.  Students didn’t like winter mainly for the cold, snow and slippery places around campus. 

Kaitlin who recently moved to Provo to be with her husband enjoys living by BYU.  Because she is married to a BYU student she is able to be a part of the fun fall activities BYU has to offer to its students. 

“I enjoy being able to watch the BYU Football game and to see Y mountain lit up at night during homecoming week,” Wheeler said. “Though I’m not a student here I can see that students love the fall semester because they are returning to school, meeting friends and living in such a fun and safe environment.” 

Stereotypes of Married and Single Students

https://soundcloud.com/snow62/interview-with-katie

Walking around campus and overhearing a group of single students talk about their dating lives results in two choices: slow down to catch the interesting stories or walk faster because it’s painful to hear.  

For married students, overhearing single students talk about their dating lives can either bring back memories of their dating days or cause them to want to stop and give single people dating tips because, after all, they’ve been through the “dating game.”

Katie Skovran, a married student who recently graduated from BYU in English, recalls times when she overheard single people talk about their dating experiences.

“Sometimes I feel frustrated for them because I used to be analytical about dating and would over read into things when I was single,” Skovran said. “Now, I know that it can work out and everything doesn’t need to be perfect. It will end up right in the end, and people shouldn’t worry too much about dating.”

Katie’s husband, Steven Skovran, who is studying exercise science, also feels that single people over analyze dating and should take a less stressful approach.

“I wish guys and girls wouldn’t just play the game and be more honest with each other,” Steven Skovran said. “Understand what a first date is for, which is to get to know someone. Just because someone asks you on a date doesn’t mean that they want to marry you.”

For single people overhearing married people talk about their lives, responsibilities and routines, the subjects will either be interesting to them or just plain strange.

Everywhere in the world there are stereotypes about certain people — even at BYU.  Though there is a good mixture of married and single students, BYU freshman McCall Lewis, a nursing major, agrees that it’s easy for single and married people to place stereotypes on each other.  

“A stereotype that single people place on married people is that they are boring,” McCall said. “Also, I think a lot of single people think that some people are too young to be married.”

BYU professor Mark Ogletree teaches Living Prophets and Marriage Preparation and has noticed the change in responsibility for many married couples. He has seen these changes both through his personal experience in his marriage and through seeing married students at BYU go through the transition of single life to married life.   

“All of a sudden, when you get married it’s no longer about you,” Ogletree said. “Now you have someone you have to share your life with. Now it falls on you to really try to meet the needs of someone else.”

Single BYU students who have friends get married understand that their relationship with their friend will go through some changes.

BYU sophomore Jai Knighton, a dance major, also finds that married people’s outlook on life changes.

“Priorities change and dedication to work and school generally takes over, which leaves behind the social scene of young adults,” he said.

Carly Peterson, a BYU junior studying early childhood education, feels that being married doesn’t put her ahead of single people.

“…Being married doesn’t make me feel more mature,” Carly Peterson said. “I feel that rather I’ve been through different life experiences. I am still pretty young, and I look at older people who are still single as more mature than me … because they’re older and have had more life experiences.”

Tight end shot of the married person holding up her ring making an L signifying loser towards a single person.

Medium Shot of Taylor showing off her proud pride of being single.

Over the shoulder shot of a married person looking strangely at the single person.

Wide shot of married person ignoring single person as single person dances

Obscure shot of a wedding ring

Depression Puts Strain on Marriages

For many single individuals, the idea of marriage seems like the pinnacle of happiness. After all, what could be better than spending eternity with your best friend and love of your life?

For some people, however, depression can put a strain on marriage, making married life even more of a challenge than it usually is, and even pushing some couples to divorce.

John Livingston, an associate professor who teaches missionary preparation, introduction to the LDS Church and marriage and family classes, estimates that “Out of 100 marriages, maybe six ... marriages will have some form of depression.”

Tight end shot of the couple holding hands 

For these couples and their families, depression can be devastating.

“Families will sometimes overcompensate to make up for a messed-up family,” Livingston said. “Wives or husbands will make up excuses why significant others couldn't make it to events, and children will not invite friends to their home.”

BYU professor Mark Ogletree, who teaches living prophets and marriage preparation classees, has seen couples negatively affected by depression.

Medium shot of the wife crying as she talks with her husband about her struggles with depression

“Couples may resort to divorce over depression, depending on how serious it is,” Ogletree said.

Ogletree, who has owned and operated his own marriage and family therapy practice, has seen cases where depression changes a family’s dynamics.

“Depression can lead to all kinds of problems,” Ogletree said. “I've seen a marriage where a wife who had depression stayed in her room all day watching television while her husband worked, made meals, did all the laundry and took care of the kids while his wife was in this reclusive state.”

Ogletree pointed out that some husbands or wives will be in denial at first that their spouse even has depression.

“Depression can be hard for some couples to accept,” Ogletree said. “Some spouses will deny that their husband or wife has depression, which, in turn, can worsen the depression.”

An article from the New York Times, called “Personal Health: Trying to Cope When a Partner or Loved One Is Chronically Depressed," by Jane E. Brody, mentions that depression can be hard for spouses and children to face and handle.

Over the shoulder shot 

“It is a two-way problem," Brody wrote. "More than half of depressed adults report that their families and household members fail to understand their condition and do not help them cope with it.”

It’s important that when someone has a spouse with depression, he or she doesn't deny it. Instead he or she should learn to help their spouse fight depression.

“When a person denies that their spouse has depression, it can leave that person dealing with depression to become worse, since they don’t feel that the person they love so much doesn't care, comfort or want listen to them,” Ogletree said.

Ogletree mentioned that when a couple works together to overcome depression, it can be the most effective treatment.

Wide shot of the couple sitting in their apartment

BYU graduate Jenny (name changed) has faced many hardships and challenges battling depression.

With the help of her mother, Jenny realized she had depression and learned that her father struggled with it as well.

“My mom actually caught on that something wasn't right,” Jenny said. “She knew my dad struggled with it, and she was always telling me I needed to be happy."

Jenny has since found ways to be happy. She is now married and finds support and love from her husband.

Obscure shot of the couple holding hands.  

“One of the biggest ways my husband helps is he doesn't allow me to wallow in sadness,” Jenny said. “He's kind and will listen to me be upset, but after an appropriate amount of time he tells me ‘no more tears,’ and then usually does something a little on the ridiculous side to try to get me to laugh and be happy.”

While depression can be difficult, it is not a prison sentence. There are solutions particular to both the person with depression, and his or her spouse, that can address needs of each and enrich their relationship.

“Couples should take this opportunity to grow together,” Ogletree said. “Reading books together about depression, exercising together and doing fun things together can help a spouse with depression to become better.”

BYU Fans Throw Garbage at Refs

BYU Fans Throw Garbage at Refs

BYU Fans Throw Garbage at Refs

http://soundcloud.com/snow62/sound-from-tuesday-4

Sound from Tuesday

Sound from Tuesday

5 Sequence Shot: Target Dog

My husband interned as a manager at Target this summer.  He just recently accepted a job offer with them and we will be returning to California in May! I guess you can say we are now officially the "Target family." Jordan loves Target so much now that he kept his favorite stuffed animal! His precious Target dog.  

Jordan admiring his Target dog. The dog is in the center of the picture.  

Tight Shot 

You can tell Jordan's keeping himself entertained watching his Target toy.  Jordan is front and center in this picture. 

Medium Shot

Jordan is at the right of the shot and shows Jordan looking at the dog. The left of the shot shows the dog looking at Jordan. 

Over the Shoulder

Jordan still looking at his dog....

Wide Shot

He's so happy!

Obscure Shot 

THE END :) 

1.  There is still today an appetite for news.  I always believed that because the newspaper is dying it's a sign that nobody cares about the news. I was very mistaken.  During our in class reading I learned that we are besieged by information. All the information in today's society is gathered and collected through more innovative means such as cell phones, computers, etc. 

2.  The next most important thing I learned is that the career of journalism will always be needed.  As old models die that journalist have followed for centuries, better and new models will come forth.  

3.  I learned from the readings and my professor that we are becoming a "phone toting" generation.  This means that if journalist want to be successful they must post video and information on their cell phones to the web.

4.  Journalist must always have an open mind and be adaptable to change in the technology world. 

5.  The final thing I learned from today's readings is that quality journalism will end.  Now that everyone can post there will be far more information and spelling errors.