Colsch has been an R.A.  for three years,  working in Currier Hall and now Mayflower.   After three years on the frontline, Colsch is full of stories.  One of the more ridiculous experiences he has had to tolerate involved a case of oranges.

“I was compacting trash, and some f***er-resident decided to take out their screen and throw oranges at me.  It’s January.  I saw this orange crushed.  They were throwing oranges from their window,” says Colsch.

Colsch notices a difference in the atmosphere between residence halls.  “In Currier the demographic is radically different than Mayflower.  A lot of kids often sign up for Currier and Hillcrest largely because of the quiet atmosphere.  It’s more of a studying environment.  Mayflower is the last kids to register.  We have a large number of international students.  It’s a zoo more than a residence hall.”

Both residence halls were searched back in April, and at least 13 students from both Currier and Mayflower were found to be in possession of marijuana.  This doesn’t come as any surprise to Nick, who as an R.A. has had to intervene in rooms where students have drugs and alcohol against dorm rules.  “[The] discipline level is a lot worse out in Mayflower, partly because they have kitchens, and can hide stuff.  They want to seem older, so alcohol appeals to them.”

Colsch says the R.A. program has changed since he started working severak years ago.  Instead of being focused on programs or activities for students living in the halls for participation, he says the training relies more on instructing R.A.s how to be more sociable, and have a hospitable presence when talking to students.

However, R.A.s can still use programs if they’d like. “It really depends on your style as an R.A.  Some R.A.’s kind of program like crazy, and the residents like it, and that just works for that floor,” says John Komdat, an R.A. on Currier’s second floor.  Komdat has worked with Colsch before in R.A. training, and says Nick’s style wouldn’t work for everyone. “The way that he makes the job work for him takes intelligence, and intentionality.  He’s a character.  I think most people would agree.”

Favorite movie:

-Joe Dirt

Favorite book:

-Lamb by Christopher Moore

Favorite music:

I’ve been getting into really old Motown.  The Four Tops and the Spinners, the Supremes

Favorite activities:

“I’ve been running a lot.”

Favorite food:

Coffee (if you call that a food)

Nick has a wicked sense of humor that gets him through most on-the-job challenges.  He thinks with a little more practice, those irritating residents in Mayflower hurling oranges out the window at him could become “bombers.”  Still, while Nick has a personality that almost any resident can get along with, there is a stereotype that he knows makes him stand out.  Being an R.A., says Nick, “pulls you out of a normal life for a year, because you’re looked at like a fish.  You’re introduced first as an R.A. rather than by your name.”

While Nick says he has enjoyed the experience of being an R.A. he says he feels burned out from the experience and plans to get an apartment next year.  After that, Nick plans to graduate and is optimistic he will find a job in his major:  Accounting.  At least as an accountant, no one should be throwing oranges at him.

Most Iowa City neighborhoods have been recycling for years, but there has been one big exception.  University of Iowa residence halls are just now “going green,” implementing a new program that encourages students to recycle at every dorm across campus.  Most students see it as a welcome and overdue change.

Currently, west side neighborhood residence halls Quadrangle, Rienow, Slater, and Hillcrest all have blue bins located throughout the buildings for students to dispose of their plastic, paper, and bottle waste.  So far students in this neighborhood are very appreciative of the blue bins, and don’t find separating their trash to be an extra chore.

“It was more annoying not to have one, bottles aren’t filling up your garbage.  We had a bag for water bottles anyway,” said freshman Delanie McAndrews, who lives in Rienow Hall.

While students are enjoying this program on the west side of campus, students on the other side of the river are still throwing out their trash the old-fashioned way.  Recycling bins are noticeably absent from the east side residence halls of Currier, Burge, Stanley, and Daum.  However, there is a plan to implement the new recycling program beginning in the Fall 2010 semester.

The Roadblocks

Students on the East side of campus have wanted a recycling program just as much as the students on the West side, but their frustration will last a few more months.  It has left students like Currier resident Jim Duff asking, ‘what’s the holdup?’

“I don’t recycle anything right now because I don’t have the option,” says  Duff.  “I don’t think it would cost that much.”

But according to the University, a full-scale recycling program is expensive and complex.  “While it may seem pretty simple to offer these receptacles throughout the residence halls, it’s more difficult than it may seem,” says  Dr. Von Stange, the director of University of Iowa residence services.  He wanted to implement a recycling program as a small test in order to gauge the resources necessary to successfully move to a full-scale recycling program for thousands of students.  Stange said, “We needed to make sure we were doing it well, and that our vendor, City Carton and their collectors could handle the recycling going on.  It could mean adding additional routes.”

Dr. Stange said he isn’t trying to delay a move to go green on campus, and he understands the desire of students to do their part to recycle.  Stange said he also sees the environmental need to implement recycling at University residence halls.   While all those are good goals, he said, diverting tons of potential trash to a separate stream of recyclables has to be accomplished so it’s effective, economical and so the program can be managed by current staff.   Stange says that’s no easy task – and it’s taken a long time to get this far.

When Dr.  Stange started his job of Director of Residence Services six years ago one of the first issues he was confronted with concerned a recycling program.  He says at that time there wasn’t a recycling system good enough to handle all the residence hall garbage.  Not only that, there was no idea how much a recycling program would cost to put in place.   “We needed to know what it was going to take to establish this financially,” said Stange.  Dr. Stange estimates it may cost $3,000 to implement the program, but ultimately, it’s too soon to say how much it will cost altogether.

Putting a Plan into Action

It takes more than money to make a recycling program work.  Dr.  Stange says he understood from the beginning that the program was going to need the cooperation of the people who have been asking for it: the students living in residence halls.

Rather than raise room and board fees for students by $50 a semester to pay for recycling, Stange came up with the idea of employing students as  workers in the new recycling program.  While some students were recruited for part-time recycling jobs, there are also additional temporary positions in place to make sure things run smoothly during the test period.   By being a little creative in shuffling the staff to meet the demands of the new recycling plan, Stange says the University may be able to avoid raising room and board fees at the residence halls.

However, there may still be a fee to pay at the end of the year.  No one knows exactly how much money it’s going to cost to collect and process the recyclable waste generated by the dorms.  The worst case scenario, says Stange, is that students might have to pay an additional fee to keep the program up and running, but he expects it would be less than $50 a year.

So, why did it take so long to get recycling going in the first place?  “The hold up was making sure we had the facilities, the staffing, and the vendors to help do this,” said Stange.

Looking to the Future

Now that the pilot recycling program is operating in the west side dorms, Stange says it also uncovered a few other snags.  Students had to be trained and reminded how to properly recycle.   Some residence hall staff were very conscientious, said Stange, and others were “hit and miss” when it came to enforcing new recycling rules and reminding students.  Developing the recycling habit will be a constant effort because each year there is a new crop of dorm residents who must learn the system.

Nonetheless, Dr. Stange still plans to move forward, and put the program in the east side residence halls next year, and the larger apartment based halls, Parklawn and Mayflower, too.   The program will remain labor intensive, and it could even spawn some new jobs as recycling is extended across campus.  “One of the things we’re looking at is the student labor at this point, and hiring full time custodial staff to increase management,” said Dr. Stange.

Still, it’s anyone’s guess as to exactly how much this could all add up to by the end of 2010 when the recycling program becomes more widespread, and more management jobs are added to keep it running smoothly.  Students, however, seem to think it is money well spent.  They see the benefit of recycling versus throwing everything in the trash.

“It’s interesting to see it change form then to now.  I’m glad its there, cause it is something I use,” said Bret Scofeild, a resident living in Quadrangle.

The easiest solution, says Stange, may not be the best solution in the end.  The simplest and cheapest thing to do was to ignore recycling.  “Financially we found we could throw our trash away instead of recycling.  But as an institution of higher learning it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s the most financially prudent model.  I think we’ll find a program down the road that is strong, but not without some bumps in the road first.”

Now, the city also uses these unmarked cars, like this red Jeep to sit against the side of the road and secretly take peoples plate numbers, and mail tickets to Mario Andrettis they see driving by.  I was visiting my family in Cedar Rapids this weekend, and this car may have been on the interstate at the time I was driving back to Iowa City today.  There is a good chance I may have received my first speeding ticket in my life.  However, I won’t know until I check my mail.  Here’s to hoping I don’t see a $50 ticket staring back at me when I open my mailbox next time.  ugh.

Anyway, this graphic seems to suggest we Americans consume gas like I do with liquor at the end of finals week.  For those of you reading my blog, Iowa is pretty high chuggin’ 13 barrels per capita.  ugh.

According to the report, there are at least 3,500 oil rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico, and President Obama intends to open up more rigs along the East Coast.  Now, this is considered a very rare accident, and President Obama, despite being aware of the issue still plans to go forward with opening more rigs along the East coast.

Now, I love driving my car as much as the next person, but I’m also somewhat envrionmentally aware, and don’t endorse Obama’s course of action on this issue.

I know we do have the technology to make cars with alternative fuel sources, but why aren’t we working on making those?  I suppose we’ll just have to wait for a cataclysmic event before we start looking into a new alternative that becomes a mainstay in regards to energy.

So, do you have helpful, chronic reminder in your ride, or a Bitch in the Trunk?

“People are quick to criticize what they see, but they have no clue about how difficult it is to get this whole thing running,” was what one of the production assistants said when I worked at KGAN/KFXA last year, and I agree completely with that statement as well.

I guess I’m writing this in response to all of the people rolling their eyes claiming journalism is dying, journalists are completely flawed in how they produce their stories, and corporate business and journalism are a match made in Hell.

First off, journalism IS NOT DYING!  The institute, is simply reforming.  True, newspapers are shrinking in certain locations, but according to a report from “The State of The Media,” it wasn’t that many papers that got the ax.  The printed word isn’t going to simply vanish from the face of the Earth.  Where would you clever bloggers get all of your information you need to make fun of us anyway?   Television is not in any sad state right now either.  As a matter of fact, Broadcast journalism did pretty well last year.  (http://tinyurl.com/ylzym3h), And guess what?  Election year is here, so if the whole nation will be glued to CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC watching coverage and commentary.

True, jobs in journalism aren’t being handed out like candy anymore, but the industry understands it must work smarter, not harder.  As a news director or broadcast company, why should I have to pay the salaries of a team of people to set up a camera, shoot footage, report, and edit the video together, when this can all be done by a single person?  Consolidation may seem like a scary word in a business sense, but it isn’t the kiss of death here.

The discussion in one of my classes today shifted to the media, and their portrayal of an event that occurred during the Civil Rights.  The professor proceeded to compliment the efforts made by the media to expose the “other side” of the story regarding the killings of the Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton.  For those of you not familiar with Hampton, he was a leading member of the Black Panthers during the late 60s in Chicago, IL.  The Panthers were perceived as a threat by the government at the time, and police raided his apartment, and shot him to death.  Law enforcement officials did a smear job on their report of what happened, claiming Hampton shot first, when really, almost every shot fired in the apartment was directed at Hampton’s room.  This was exposed by investigative reporting.

After discussing this atrocity, my professor proceeded to compliment the investigative efforts of journalists on the story.  He then proceeded to critique the Daily Iowan on their coverage of political issues.

Now, what happened next is probably what lead me to write this note.  As a disclaimer, I’m doing this on a moderate amount of sleep, little food, and a boat load of caffeine.  Thus I might be overreacting slightly but, here it goes.

The professor critiqued the Daily Iowan for “often times” taking an official’s perspective or word on a topic, and simply sticking with it, and not offering the other perspective against an “official’s” word.  (I.E. The Provost speaking out about something.)  Alright, I don’t work at the Daily Iowan, but come on.  That’s a basic rule to journalism in how you even tell a story.  I was borderline insulted, and started to just sit there, and think about this even more during class.  I couldn’t care less what the discussion topic was, and just sat there in disbelief.  The second professor that is typically there in class, tried to soften the blow being aware there could be Journalism majors in the room. (See Andrew Altenbern issues a death glare.)

They concluded their issue telling the class, or prospective political figures or journalists to “think about someone’s life before acting.”

Alright, let me just clear things up for you.  I know sometimes, more often than I’m sure I’d like to think, we journalists look like heartless bastards who want to catch people red-handed in a sex scandal, and we just need to get the story to the presses, on the rundown for tonight’s broadcast, or linked on a trashy blog site.  As journalists we do have, get this, ethical issues we talk about before we publish anything.  Sometimes, people will have a full staff meeting in a news room to decide whether or not we should run with a story, or if the story is really all that necessary if it’s going to have a severe effect on someone.  The rules are not black and white.

Finally, the argument that big business is bad for any news organizations, and journalists shouldn’t really have anything to do with the other side of the wall that deals with number crunching and sales is fallacious thinking.  While journalists are responsible for delivering the news in an accurate, timely fashion.  They should also be aware of what the sales department is doing as well.  It’s understandable that the news room is wary of the people in suits upstairs, but those people in suits are also giving the reporters the money to be able to produce multi-media oriented information. It’s possible for news agencies to slip into lazy, sensationalized reporting, but if the journalists can stand their ground, both the marketing and reporting aspects of journalism can work together, and make money.

I frankly don’t care if anyone reads this, or understands it.  I understand there are flaws in my own argument, but I just needed to lay some things to rest, even if it is just to a nebulous void on the net.

1. The Lincoln Futura Batmobile-  This was the car Adam West and Burt Ward used in their comical crusade against their Villains in the 60s.  I don’t think the dynamic duo was going anywhere quickly in this car, it is a Lincoln after all, but Holy Hotrod Batman, was it cool.

2. The Tim Burton Batmobile-  Frankly, I think this thing is just awesome.  It’s one of my favorite iterations I’ve seen of the batmobile.  It looks like the deviant off-spring of a Ferrari and an H.R. Giger painting… Only Tim Burton.

3. 90s Cartoon Batmobile-  Alright, this, in my opinion, is by far, my favorite take on Batman’s iconic ride.  It has style cues taken from just about any car between the 1920s and the 1950s, but it also has the state of the art gadgets Batman needs when dealing with people like The Clown Prince of Crime.  Like the series it was featured in, this thing is timeless, and downright badass!

4.  The 90s Movies-  While Tim Burton got Batman started in the early 90s, the movies atrophied after he jumped off the project.  Batman’s ride did too.  It went from looking dark, sexy, and intense to Ostentatious, and uninspired.  Good thing the Bat kept this thing parked.

5.  The Tumbler-  Now, I know the new Batman series (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) is meant to be realistic, but I don’t see a Batmobile.  It’s more like a Humvee-Tank that compliments Christian Bale’s raspy, shouting Batman voice.  I personally am not a fan of this ride, and I really wasn’t to sad to see it morph into a motorcycle in the Dark Knight.  Call me a bronze-aged guy, but I prefer Batman’s ride to have style cues of a Bat, not the Terminator.

The 90s Cartoon with Kevin Conroy as Batman, and his Batmobile was hands down, my favorite one.  thoughts?

The ARH is looking for help from students for improvement, and positions for next semester.

They could be new lyrics to an old tune: “How you gonna keep ‘em down at the dorm after they’ve seen the bars?”

With one more reading, The Iowa City City Council is poised to pass the so-called 21-ordinance for Iowa City bars.  It would restrict people under 21 from being in downtown bars after 10 p.m.  The city council is under pressure to curb student binge drinking, and proponents of the ordinance say it’s a step in the right direction.

But it’s an unpopular idea with students under the age of 21 who frequently go out to the bars on Thursday nights or weekends to socialize.  Students have argued to the UI student council that preventing underage students from entering a bar after 10 p.m.  will simply make them go to house parties or other places in Iowa City to find alcohol and drink.

Enter the Associated Residence Halls

With thousands of under-aged drinkers under their roofs, campus dorms are ground zero for the movement opposing the 21 ordinance.  It’s not that the UI doesn’t try to keep dorm residents sober and out of trouble.  Activities sponsored by the University have always been in place around campus to offer alcohol free alternatives to hanging out at the bars.  The Associated Residence Halls group has sponsored events in the dorms to promote these alternatives.  While some students attend these events, many, like 19 year old sophomore Yani Anastis, are skeptical.

“Kids are definitely not going to do that,” said Anastis, who lives in the Currier residence hall.  He doesn’t believe there are many activities at the dorm that could compete with going downtown to hang out on the Ped-Mall with friends on a bar crawl.

“No one wants to stay in the dorms during a Friday night, and there’s not much to do around.  It’s just kinda hard,” said Anastis.  He said he goes out to bars at least once a week , usually on the weekend.  What non-alcoholic fun could the dorms offer to keep him entertained?  “I’m not too sure,” said Anastis.  “I can’t really think of much.”

The Associated Residence Hall organization admits that it struggles to keep students interested in their events, and they’ve recently begun talking about plans to beef up their programs to keep students coming back for more.  ARH member Mark Schwenker works with all the other members of ARH and the student governments in each residence hall.  He says ARH members have started to talk about the 21 ordinance, and they are trying to create a contingency plan if it passes next week.

“ARH is working with all of the individual hall governments on preparing for the 21 ordinance. Discussion with any others outside of residence hall government has not occurred,” said Schwenker.

The Next Course of Action

While the Associated Residence Halls hasn’t actually sought the advice of students outside their group, there are flyers being distributed at the residence halls’ dining facilities encouraging students to get involved in ARH, and to become members.  Students I talked to had ideas, but they were not positive these would make any sort of difference in terms of curbing the appeal of a house party with alcohol.  “Maybe more movies, cause back home we’d do that.  I don’t know – it’s Iowa -  so people are going to go around the rules,” says Samantha Nasca, an under-age student who lives in Rienow Hall.

The residence halls coordinators are well aware that students will still leave the dorms if the 21 ordinance is passed and find a way to party the night away with an alcoholic beverage in hand.  But with a “zero tolerance” of alcohol in dorm rooms, the ARH’s Schwenker says they will continue issuing fines to students who break the rules.  The dorms are committed to being “dry.”

The Plan So Far

While ARH is just beginning to consider what to do in order to offer alternative activities for students, it may be too early to say what will actually happen.  “One idea is to provide more late-night events for residents going from about 11pm-2am,” said Schwenker.  ARH believes that if students are able to have an enjoyable time at an event that goes later into the night, there won’t be as much interest in leaving the dorms to go looking for other activities in Iowa City.

However, students are doubtful about any plans the dorms come up with.  “Nothing’s going to top going out,” said freshman Hannah Thompson, who lives in Rienow.  When asked how to appeal to students like Hannah, who opt for Iowa City’s night life over the residence hall events, Schwenker said, “I ask how can we make it interesting.  ARH is asking itself, ‘what makes residents want to go downtown?’”

Looking Ahead

The ARH is also aware that it needs more money to sponsor events that are more frequent and consistently fun for students.  How to raise those funds is another problem.  Ideas include reallocating housing contract money, or even applying alcohol fines to sponsor “dry” social events.   However, students seem ambivalent towards the efforts made by ARH.

The Iowa City City council’s final reading of the 21 ordinance is scheduled for Thursday, April 6.  If it passes, it goes into effect June 1.  However, it could be repealed later next fall.   Dorm resident Samantha Nasca was clear.  “I hope it gets repealed in November,” she said.

Holly explains the experience.

Holly Hines is a senior at the University of Iowa, but her major in journalism is something she just picked up last semester.  Initially, Hines was going to school as an English and Art major, but last spring she applied for the Daily Iowan because she needed a job. “I was looking for a writing job, and a friend of mine suggested I get a job at the DI to learn how writing jobs work,” said Hines.  Initially Holly was not as confident as she is today because the writing style was so different from the poetry, short stories, and other prose she wrote as an English major.  However, once she got into the swing of reporting and doing interviews she fell in love with it.  “I continued doing the DI during the fall and winter semester, and I liked it more,” she said.

Holly’s enthusiasm, passion, and motivation to excel in journalism would pay off when she was assigned to handle the story that would win her a Hearst Award.  The story began as an idea being offered by the editors Holly worked closely with in the newsroom.  She found the story interesting because like the story’s subject, Ben Alexander, Hines took interest in internet addiction because she had a friend who played the popular online video game, “World of Warcraft.” But unlike her friend, Alexander’s gaming had become unhealthy.

Hines was fascinated by the subject.  “I’ve always had an interest in mental health stories.  I had done a few over the summer.”  Through the next months Hines would work alongside Daily Iowan Chief editor Kelsey Beltramea, and University of Iowa journalism professor Steve Berry in crafting her story.  “The best thing,” says Beltremea, “was she just joined in the Fall, and it was her first story of any significant length.”  These intimate meetings between Hines, Beltramea, and Professor Berry focused on the painstaking work of crafting the story so it could be the best possible.  “I gave her a few reporting and interviewing tips and made some writing suggestions after she wrote an opening and outline and then again after she wrote a draft. But her editors, primarily Kelsey, I believe, did the heavy lifting on the editing,” said Berry.

• Favorite Movie: K-Pax
• Favorite Food: Pancheros
• Favorite Book: “The Yiddish Policemen Union” by Michael Chibon
• Favorite Music: A toss up between The Beatles, The Dixie Chicks, and Paul Simon

The day Hines’ article was published it received a great deal of attention from people all across the internet.  The article was linked to news aggregator sites such as www.fark.com for people to read and discuss on the site’s forums.  The traffic on the Daily Iowan website jumped that day as well.  “Top stories tend to get three to seven thousand hits a day, but Holly’s had at least 11,000 hits that day,” said Beltremea.

Many “World of Warcraft” fans responded somewhat defensively to the article the day it was published, claiming they didn’t have an addiction problem. “We tried our best to make it come across as a story and not an attack,” said Hines.

As for the future, Holly still has another year at the University of Iowa to finish up the classes necessary to complete the journalism program, and she plans to get an internship at the Cedar RapidsGazette.  “Afterwards I’m not sure, we’ll see if any opportunity springs from The Gazette.  If I have the opportunity to stay with The Gazette I will,” she said.

Journalism has been a great outlet for Holly to utilize her enthusiasm and drive to produce a very thorough story.  “Holly, I believe, has a bright future in journalism,” said Berry.