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By Hannah White Photo from Unsplash Hannah White's essay won first prize in the freshman writing essay contest held this fall. Essays were submitted by English 111 instructors and were judged by the students in the ENG 340 Fall Editing class, who chose the top three. Hannah was originally assigned to write an essay based on the "Letter of Recommendation" series in the New York Times. Congratulations, Hannah! Maybe it was the way the light peered through the leaves. The way the golden tendrils made some of the leaves an impossible shade of green, and left others to grow in shade and shadow. How the breeze would stir each leaf individually, and it would pick up my hair as well, pulling it to softly mingle in the branches. I adored the way the light would fall across the pages of a ...

By Ebrima Nije, contributing writer Photos from Google WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD With the pandemic having kept most people inside for much of the day, many of us have turned to streaming and binge-watching Netflix and Hulu. If you like crime and drama shows, then your next binge may be here. Snowfall, created by John Singleton, broadcasts on FX network and also streams on Hulu. Set in the 1980s in South Central, Los Angeles, and focused on the rise of a young kingpin, the show intersects the drug trade with politics and culture to create an exceptional watch for the viewer. Simply saying Snowfall is just a show about dealing drugs would be a severe understatement. The show follows a 20-year-old black male who dropped out of college due to a mistake made by the financial aid ...

By Victoria Sananikone, Editor In Chief Photo from Physical Living There will always be that coach who belittles their athlete(s). Athletes have been called every name under the sun along with nasty phrases barked at them in an attempt to dictate their submission. "You’re a slacker.” “That piece of sh*t over there…” “Idiot.” “You suck.” “You’ll never be good enough.” Even if these insults inspire a deeper work ethic or cure a mental block, they hurt to some degree. However, there is one word that stings worse than a slap across the face, a word that seems insignificant, but holds the greatest amount of disrespect in its letters: ‘quitter.’ In the realm of athletics, the word ‘quitter’ is always dripping with malice; one will say “they’re a quitter” or “she quit” as if they’re dr...

By Emily Lease, contributing writer Photos from Unsplash and Marketplace In March of 2020, Illinois decided to go on lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. One of the first things that closed during lockdown was school. The impact of schools closing was, in some ways, catastrophic. Students were forced to learn in a whole new way that they were not used to, and they couldn’t see their friends unless it was on Zoom. Teachers were also stressed with this new medium due to many of them never teaching online before. In a lot of ways, everyone is frustrated—especially educators and student teachers, who are trying their hardest to make sure people’s children are safe and continuing their education in the middle of a pandemic. Due to the pandemic forcing schools to close, many s...

By Lauren Wilk, contributing writer Photos by Lauren Wilk from Ameen Amzi's Twitch profile and Google College students often dedicate a substantial amount of their time to various obligations—whether it be the courses they are currently taking, the job they have, the sport they are in, or all three, students are often pressed for time. The opportunity for leisure activities tends to diminish further into the semester, and stress levels rise. Video games are a popular activity that many people of all ages enjoy, university students especially; but what happens when a leisure activity turns into a full-time commitment?  Ameen Azmi, a 20-year-old in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a first-year university student who plays video games as a full-time, competitive commitment with a r...

By Antonio Munoz, contributing writer Photos from ABC News and LA Times When the founding fathers penned the impeachment process in our Constitution, it was designed to hold the people in office accountable for their actions. Article 2 Section 4 of our constitution states that, “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” There has always been an on-going debate about what the framers meant when they said “High crimes and Misdemeanors” and how you apply it in an impeachment case, but you would think inciting the insurrection at our Capitol building on January 6th, 2021 would fit the idea of high crimes. House Democrats believ...

By Madelyn Tepe, contributing writer Photos by McKendree Sports Information The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) decided to move the majority of fall sports this year to the spring semester due to safety concerns for athletes, coaches, and officials relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross country, bass fishing, golf, and swimming and diving were the only sports able to compete before Thanksgiving this fall semester. This schedule change has forced new adaptations for behind-the-scenes actions that Sports Information provides for McKendree athletics. Sports Information is responsible for general publicity, website maintenance, game day program production, social media maintenance (including pre-and post-game graphics, special award/honor graphics, countdowns, etc.), in-game s...

By Isabella Strimling, contributing writer Photos by McKendree University, Isabella Strimling, and Zach Anderson Every athlete on campus can tell you: we’ve seen our fair share of weight coaches during our time in Bearcat Athletics. Ranging from Graduate Assistants to an assortment of head coaches, we have been rotated from person to person, program to program, trying to find a happy medium that benefits us most in our field. A sport like Water Polo can be fairly difficult with its uniquely required athleticism and specific muscle groups. These are often not targeted enough by traditional programs. Personally, the weight room at McKendree has always seemed like just another task on my to-do list for the day—something I didn’t necessarily look forward to, but rather a mandatory ho...

By Dr. Trask’s Fall 2020 COM 252 class Photo by The Guardian Interpersonal Communication is the ability to identify, connect with, and analyze interpersonal communication concepts by engaging in critical reflection, engaged discussion, and applied learning. To achieve this objective, over the course of several weeks, our COM 252 class will attempt to help our MCK students by providing advice and suggestions for creating and maintaining healthy relationships. The goal is to synthesize the content we have learned from this class, the class text, research, personal experiences, and write for public consumption. Dear Bogey, Recently I have gotten a new position as a server/cocktail waitress at a new restaurant in town. During my interview, my manager asked some strange questions ...

By Claire Jennings, Assistant editor Photos from Bustle and Google Matt James made history as the first bachelor to be a person of color, but his season of the show has been surrounded by controversy both from the women’s treatment of each other and their social media accounts. Fans of The Bachelor franchise know there hasn’t been a season without contestants at each other’s throats. In a typical season, 30 women fight for the heart of the attractive, intelligent, and often wealthy bachelor. Each episode, women are eliminated when they are not given a rose from the lead, indicating their journey to find love in the mansion (or in this case, the covid-free hotel) is over. The bachelor eventually chooses between the final two women remaining, proposing to the winner.  In a show...