CHURCHILL REMEMBERED
Westminster prepares a celebration of the man and his infamous "Iron Curtain" speech

Winston Churchill is probably one of the names on the top of the list of the people, dead or alive, that I would most like to meet.
The Missourian articles "Reliving history" by Michelle Felter and "Westminster speech predicted Cold War" by Hugh Welsh report on former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his infamous "Iron Curtain" speech, which was given at Westminster College in Fulton on March 5, 1946.
Westminster houses a memorial to and museum about Churchill, in addition to part of the Berlin Wall on display outside. I have been there at least twice, and I find it very interesting. The museum is currently undergoing a $4 million renovation to add new interactive features. On March 3-5 next year, Westminster is planning to hold a celebration to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Churchill's speech.

Story Links: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=17115
http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=17122

CHORAL UNION PERFORMS MOZART
One way to celebrate the composer's 250th birthday

The University of Missouri-Columbia's Choral Union and the University Philharmonic joined forces tonight to perform Handel's "Zadok the Priest" and "The King Shall Rejoice," along with Mozart's "Requiem." It just so happens that today marks what would be Mozart's 250th birthday. With about 250 performers total, Missourian reporter Megan Schumacher used the headline "250 perform for Mozart's 250th" for her article previewing the concert.
I went to the concert tonight to support a friend of mine who is taking the Choral Union as a class. They had to practice every night this week from 7 to about 9:30 p.m., in addition to having class every Thursday so far this semester from 7 to 9 p.m. The concert showed that the group was well-prepared, as it was a good performance.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=17128

HOT TO COLD
Sudden temperature change inspires poetic article

The Missourian article "A walk on the wintry side" by J.T. Quin reports on the sudden change of warm, maybe even hot, weather to cold weather in the area. Last Tuesday, the high was 80 or 81 degrees. Yesterday, it was about 45 degrees, and today it is about 35. To me, this weather is very unusual and just plain old bizarre. I occasionally complain about the bitter cold, but if this suddenly cold weather means a good snow storm or two, I am all for it.
This particular article was very short, but it was a very well done story. It was very poetic, especially in the second paragraph. The story is not anything I would particularly expect to see in the Missourian, but it is always good to try something new, and I liked it at least.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=17094

WAIT... I KNOW THAT NAME
Scavenger hunt interviewee makes headline

Tuesday afternoon, we had to interview Lana Jacobs, who runs St. Francis House and Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, for our scavenger hunt assignment. She had told us about her going to court, but I didn't really think anything of it. Until this afternoon, when I noticed the story about her in the Missourian. In Holly Leach's article "War protester sentenced for digging graves at MU," Jacobs is the "war protester." Jacobs was arrested for digging fake graves to protest the war in Iraq at Crowder Hall, home of MU's ROTC.
According to the article, Jacobs was fined $500 and given two years of probation. When we talked to Jacobs, she said she would probably wind up in jail because she could not agree with probation terms that said she could not protest in this manner again.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=17011

WEIRD WEATHER
81 degrees on November 8!

This has to be some of the weirdest weather ever. It is not supposed to be 81 degrees on November 8. I should not have to worry about being to warm walking to class in November. Then it drops about 30 degrees today. Yesterday, I was hot in a tee, and today I am a little cold in a sweater. That is just plain old crazy.
The Missourian article "Heat has Columbia guessing" by Stephanie DeMello reports on yesterday's uncharacteristically warm weather. I had heard from someone that we were in for a harsh winter, very cold and lots of inclement weather. According to some of the sources in the story, however, this may indicate a warmer winter for Missouri. I hope this does not mean that we are not going to have any snow, because I love snow. Winter is my favorite season.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16976

NOT THERE ANYMORE
Church's youth center gets knocked down

When we were walking downtown to do an interview for our convergence project this afternoon, we noticed that the youth center next to the Missouri United Methodist Church was not there anymore. All that was there was a fenced-off area filled with gravel. I knew it was there Friday afternoon, and was curious as to what happened. A fire? Something planned? I had no idea.
When I got back to my room, I looked at the Missourian's website, and noticed the article "Church orders new youth center" by John Parks. The youth center was completely demolished in order to make room for a new one at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
On the website, there wasn't just a print story, but a video story as well, which showed the center being demolished. I thought it was interesting that they had this footage.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16937

CREATING CHRISTMAS
Already?

The Missourian article "Creating Christmas" by Melissa Dean details some local businesses' early plans for holiday shopping. While it's great that people are excited about the season and looking forward to it, isn't it a little premature to be having open houses for Christmas shopping at the beginning of November? I think it is, anyway. My brother works at Best Buy, and he had to work later this week because the store's already open one more hour for holiday shopping. It seems like everyone's going straight from Halloween to Christmas. What happened to Thanksgiving? Instead of giving thanks as a national tradition, it seems as if, as a nation, we're putting more emphasis on the consumer-happy holiday shopping season, which isn't necessarily a good thing. My iTunes automatically starts to play Christmas songs, and I skip over them just because it doesn't feel normal to be celebrating to Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving, not even a second earlier.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16910

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH
Who knew it existed?

November is National Novel Writing Month, or "NaNoWriMo," according to the Missourian article "Writers try for an entire novel in 30 days" by Selam Kidane.
During NaNoWriMo, writers who participate get the entire month of November to write a 50,000-word novel. This is a very cool idea. It promotes creativity and the artistic talent of any writer who feels the need to participate in the event. During the month, some people get together for "write-ins," where they usually just sit around and discuss the characters and plotlines of their novels, despite the fact that the write-ins were actually created for writing.
This adds to the theory that there's a month, a week or a day for everything imaginable. This month, however, I actually found to be interesting.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16889

FACEBOOK IS NOT THAT SERIOUS
What happened to good humor?

The Missourian article "MU examining Facebook use" by Michelle Felter details what some schools have done in response to some of the things that appear on the popular college network. The article details how some universities, including MU, are at least thinking about fining students for possible code of conduct violations visible on Facebook.
Facebook is supposed to be a fun outlet for college students, allowing them to catch up with old and new friends, join and create silly groups, post pictures, and let people know about who they are. I'm in Facebook groups called "Future Old People of America" and "Dawson's Creek Rocks My World." Which proves my point. Facebook was not created for employers to weed out who they should hire or not. That's ridiculous. Facebook is supposed to be a fun distraction for stressed college students.

Story link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16840