Month: November 2016

Twitter week 10

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Politics

People have been donating to Planned Parenthood to show their support for the organization and to annoy Pence. So far, 200,000 donations have been made to Planned Parenthood since Donald Trump was elected as POTUS. At least 46,000 of these donations have been made in the name of Mike Pence.

Hillary Clinton apologizes in her concession speech-the first candidate to ever do so.  “I’m sorry,” she said. “This is not the outcome that we wanted and we worked so hard for, and I am sorry that we did not win this election.”

22 Million people get their health insurance through Obamacare.  They rely on it for basic health coverage.  Under Obamacare unhealthy individuals are not charged more just because they have health problems.  Under Paul Ryan’s plan, that changes. Insurance companies will be allowed to charge sick people more if they let their coverage lapse.

 

 

Weather

By the end of the century sea level will have risen by at least 1 meter.  Small islands are especially at risk because the majority of their infrastructure is focused on the coasts like their airports and their tourist resorts.  These islands rely heavily on tourism so rising sea levels will be detrimental to their survival.

Local 

The University of Denver’s Daniel’s College of Business ranks #87 according to Bloomberg Businessweek.  The report determines the score by taking into account an employer survey, an alumni survey, a student survey, and the job placement rate three months from graduation.

Denver is the first city in the U.S to allow public usage of marijuana.  Proposition 300 was declared victorious after last week’s election.  The prop now leaves it up to the bar and restaurant owners to decide whether or not to let their patrons use (not smoke) weed indoors.

Travel

A man from Oregon dies in Yellowstone National Park when he fell into boiling, acidic water.  He was reaching down to test the temperature of a hot spring when he slipped and fell.

Entertainment

Frank Ocean chose not to submit his newest album ‘Blonde’ to be considered for a Grammy this year.  Ocean says it was his “Colin Kapernick” moment and that he decided not to submit it for consideration since the Grammy’s have failed to properly acknowledge black artists in the past.

 

 

Around the Corner-DU’s 6 Week Winter Break Approaches

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Winter break is right around the corner and with finals in the impending future, students are already counting down the days and looking forward to the break.   The University of Denver’s winter break officially starts November 23rd and goes until January 3rd.  The whole break encompasses Thanksgiving until new year’s day, which is very convenient for students who have to fly home.  Instead of taking four flights, they only need to take two.  

With 6 consecutive weeks at their disposal, students can either take time to relax and unwind from a hectic first quarter and stressful finals, or they can choose to be more productive.  

Senior Gretchen Bahr is using her winter break to further her professional work experience.  “For this winter break I have an internship for Exposure Labs in Boulder so I’ll be going home for thanksgiving then coming back here to work.”  While her winter break this year is more structured and focuses less on relaxing, Gretchen touches on the fact that it wasn’t always like that.  “Sophomore and Junior year I just stayed home and didn’t really do anything productive that year.”

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Gretchen will be continuing her summer internship for Exposure Labs in Boulder this winter break as a Production Assistant.  Exposure Labs focuses on making conservations documentaries for National Geographic.

Just like Gretchen, many students at the University of Denver have seen their priorities shift away from relaxing and travelling all break, to getting jobs and internships since post graduation life creeps up on them.  

Sophomores have a slightly more stressful winter break than freshman as well because they have to focus on completing a variety of different and time consuming study abroad applications. Juniors are just coming back from abroad so they have to deal with reverse culture shock and assimilating back into their lives in America.

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Where Elli is planning on studying abroad

Elli, a Sophomore, plans to be spending a lot of time on her study abroad location.  “I Plan to write all the wonderful essays i need to complete in order to study abroad in Ireland.” The winter break is a time to be able to focus on other things outside of school work, and a great time to fully invest one’s energy into filling out applications in preparation for studying abroad as a junior.  

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Kevin is currently in Amsterdam, planning on traveling around before finals and returning to the U.S

Junior, Kevin, is currently abroad in Europe and plans to travel around with a bunch of his friends before taking finals December 10th and then flying back home to the U.S.  

How students spend the six week break tends to break down differently by class.  With freshman facing less pressure to gain work experience and look for a job, they can spend time at home, skiing, or travelling.  Sophomores are focusing on filling out study abroad applications, and the Juniors are all returning home at different times depending on when their abroad institutions finish with exams.  Most seniors have picked up jobs and internships and will be seeing less down time compared to their previous years.  The duration of 6 weeks allows students to both recharge for the upcoming quarter, and to also spend it wisely if needed.  

(This article was able to be written with help from my group member Sasha)