February 2013
1 post
1 tag
A Midwest Girl's Guide to New York Winter
Yes, we did have winter in Missouri. No, it’s not the south. But our winter was sprinkled with random 50 and 70 degree days to get us through freezing rain and below 30 degree temperatures. When I left Albany for Kansas City at Christmas, I thought I was perfectly prepared to survive New York winter. I bought some sweaters, a scarf, and had multiple ice scrapers and a snow brush in my car.
...
November 2012
1 post
3 tags
My First Hurricane
I was born and raised in Missouri. We don’t have hurricanes. Our main weather threat is the tornado, they happen quickly. You hear the sirens, get in the basement and hope, hope, hope that nothing happens. There’s not days of knowing and waiting and wondering what everything will look and be like a week from now. The waiting was the strangest part of the hurricane/superstorm...
August 2012
3 posts
4 tags
Musings on Moving (Warning: Feelings Present!)
Warning: This post may contain a small dose of FEELINGS.
My move started about one year ago when I was researching graduate programs. During that process all I could think about was the chance to move out of Missouri and experience something new. Not that I was sick of my home state, I loved my undergrad experience at Missouri State and the friends and connections I made there. I figured that...
July 2012
2 posts
2 tags
Playing GM
It’s that time of the year…MLB’s trade deadline is approaching and all baseball fans with internet access are speculating about the deals that will help shape playoff runs and rebuilding efforts alike. At this time of year we can’t help but play GM, especially when our team is this close to being complete. If only we could add one reliever, a bat off the bench, or a solid...
2 tags
How Reality TV Brings Out My Inner Communication...
I admit it…I am in love with Bravo’s new reality show “Miss Advised.” My love for the show that follows three women through their quest to find “true love” may stem from too much time in front of my TV. However, the show also appeals to my inner communication scholar and my interest in how gender roles (particularly those prescribed for women) are treated in...
June 2012
3 posts
3 tags
4 tags
The Perks of Being a Post-Grad
If you’ve read my Twitter feed in recent weeks, you know that my life is in a sort of limbo. I’m in a very weird period between finishing my undergrad degree and beginning work on my master’s. My master’s will also involve moving 2,000 miles away and adjusting to a new coast, time zone, and college basketball conference. So in the meantime, instead of “moving home to...
2 tags
An Open Letter on Female Sports Fans
Dear Fellow Sports Fans,
It was so nice to spend the weekend with you taking in Springfield and St. Louis Cardinals games! However, there were several incidents that made me question how female sports fans are perceived.
First, most of us are not here to “get with” the players or to find our future husbands. We’re at the game because we love it, because we root just as hard for...
May 2012
3 posts
2 tags
Touring the Texas League
We’re not sure exactly how or why this was decided, but about a year ago my best friend @Kaylason and I decided that we were going to visit all eight Class AA Texas League cities. Living in Springfield, MO (home of the Texas League’s Springfield Cardinals) gave us a head start. Hammons Field is practically our second home during the summer.
The Texas League is divided into two...
2 tags
Open Letter to Missouri State on Wellness
Dear Missouri State,
I love you, you know that. I’ve learned a lot from you over my four years and devoted many a tweet/Facebook comment/blog post to defending your (primarily athletic) honor. One of the things I’ve developed in my time here is a passion for wellness and its promotion. In fact, that’s what I plan to study in graduate school!
Now, MSU, we’ve had our...
3 tags
Allison's Education Rants
Over the past month I’ve started to get really restless during some of my classes. It’s my last semester of undergrad and I’ve found myself getting more and more impatient with my classmates and the attitude that many of them adopt toward their education. I believe that education (specifically college) should be an interactive experience and that we get the most out of our...
March 2012
1 post
5 tags
Snub Solidarity
It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged. I’ll chalk it up to senioritis. Anyway, another Selection Sunday has come to pass and deserving teams were left out in the cold…sometimes referred to as “receiving a berth in the NIT.” As a Missouri State Bears fan, I’m no stranger to tournament snubs. Last year my team was left out of the Big Dance with a 25-8...
July 2011
3 posts
5 tags
Social Media Advice for College Interns →
A very informative Q&A on college students and social media from Jenna Johnson’s Campus Overload blog for the Washington Post.
Clearly, the Founding Fathers Needed a Social... →
This Mashable cartoon illustrates something that I have often thought about…how would history/books/old movies be different if the internet had been invented. Enjoy!
3 tags
Summer Blogroll
This summer I’m working on several social media projects for my internship. Part of that means monitoring our Twitter feed and looking for interesting articles to share with our followers via Twitter and Facebook. This means that I get to read a lot of really interesting articles. Here are links to two blogs that I’ve really enjoyed reading this summer:
The Baby Project: NPR
I love...
June 2011
5 posts
6 tags
5 tags
Tuesday, Tuesday, New Music on Tuesday! →
Matt Nathanson’s “Modern Love” comes out on Tuesday (June 21). I have been purposely avoiding all previews of these songs so I can fully experience the album. I’m counting on Springfield traffic to give me lots of time to enjoy it before work/during lunch.
I really respect Matt Nathanson as a songwriter. He’s excellent at using imagery to evoke emotion. Oh, and...
4 tags
Be Steve Moakler's Parachute! Or Just Help Him...
One of my favorite artists, Steve Moakler, is giving YOU the chance to be a parachute. Metaphorically, of course. The parachute is his Kickstarter campaign and he’s asking fans to help finance the completion of his next album. His goal is $15,000 by June 23 and still needs about $2,000.
If you’re not already a Steve Moakler fan, you will be after you hear his straight-from-the-heart...
Taboo Topics in YA Lit: A Bookworm's Thoughts →
This NPR article is a response to a Wall Street Journal article that ran last week which asserted that the Young Adult (YA) fiction being published now is too graphic, and could have an effect on the teenagers development into happy, tasteful adults. These books have the power to take our innocence away at a younger and younger age. Linda Holmes, author of the NPR response, and I (and I’m...
3 tags
May 2011
6 posts
4 tags
“Everyone’s going crazy in his hometown! And apparently they’re going...”
– Cardinals Live. Pat Parris then proceeded to read my congratulatory Tweet in honor of Pete Kozma’s major-league debut.
Feelin' Old
I just completed the last two assignments of my junior year in college. Whoa. So, how is it possible that I’m already done with three years of higher education? I have no idea.
This year I’ve experienced a lot of firsts:
First year trying to balance schooling and working
First semester working constantly in groups (which was definitely a learning experience. To summarize: I need to...
3 tags
Showing You How Pretty My Blog Is
I set up this blog a while ago thinking that it would be a good idea for someone with an interest in journalism, a love of communication, a few opinions and as a person who might like a job sometime in the future. However, I had no idea what I was doing.
That changed when my multimedia journalism class started in the spring semester. While I was off learning things, this blog was largely ignored...
3 tags
Ozarks News Journal Portfolio
Throughout the past month I’ve been posting links to some of my best blogging for Ozarks News Journal. Now it’s time for everything to come together in the Final Portfolio assignment. Here’s 10 examples of my best work and a short description of why I chose them:
Podcast: Smoking Ban Will Have Implications For Local Businesses by AllieK445
This podcast was part of my...
4 tags
Everyone Loves the SGF
In my latest post for ONJ I reveal two unexpected connections between Springfield and the rest of the country. Even though not everyone realizes it, Springfield is a really unique place to live. As the Queen City of the Ozarks, Springfield is the point of connection for the smaller towns in Southwest Missouri (see: the variety of high school t-shirts worn by Battlefield Mall patrons).
Missouri is...
April 2011
4 posts
“No, I didn’t get flowers. Those are just for an event that’s later...”
– Story from the life of a PSU student employee. Who has also worked a billion events over the past three years.
3 tags
More ONJ Goodness
I’m almost done with a full semester of blogging and contributing to features for Ozarks News Journal. It’s been challenging at times. Sometimes when you’re swamped with other homework it’s really hard to come up with ideas for meaningful blog posts. It’s also been a great learning experience. I’ve learned a lot about creating journalistic content in general,...
4 tags
#MSUBears
Ok, so now that I’m addicted to blogging (thanks to Ozarks News Journal and JRN 378) I’ve decided that I need to update this blog. So, here are links to some of my Bears basketball blogs from Ozarks News Journal:
Mid-Majors Have No Margin For Error: A pre-March reflection on how the Bears’ status as a mid-major program would (and did) affect their chances for an NCAA at-large...
December 2010
3 posts
Nashvegas--Day 1
At long last finals were over and it was time to go to Nashvegas! My day started at 4:15 AM :( By 6 AM we were out of Springfield and on our way to Tennessee. Highlights of the first part of the trip included the following exchange while driving through Missouri’s bootheel:
Me: Are we in a forest?
Kaylason: How could we be in a forest? We’re on a four-lane highway!
I still...
David's First Flat
Is there a more annoying time for car issues than finals week? I don’t think so. Here’s what went down:
I’m on my way to the PSU to meet friends for lunch and decided to stop at Starbucks for a second coffee (as per finals week tradition, I only got 4 hours of sleep last night) and meter money. Regrettably, Starbucks messed up my coffee and then spilled it down the sleeve of my...
Bear Girl and Boomerson go to Nashvegas
Welcome to the official page that chronicles Bear Girl (aka Allison)’s adventures in (and around) Springfield, Missouri. Missouri (as a state-stress) touches eight other states, and my friends and I take advantage of the fact that we can drive to three different states, in three different directions, in about three hours. I know, everyone wishes they lived in the SGF.
Over Christmas break,...
