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Danielle Dabrio-Carroll

Interviewing yourself in the future

What it would be like to talk your past self or future self

Have you ever thought about interviewing yourself in the future? Did it all turn out okay? What would you say if you could talk to yourself from 10 years ago? What about you 20 years from now, do you have anything you want to ask? I know I would tell 14 year old me to pay better attention, take AP classes, and move to New York sooner. As for 20 years from now, I think we all have the same question… How did our life turn out?

Wondering about your future is a common thought when you’re 18, graduating from college, and have your whole life ahead of you. The world is your oyster, the sky’s the limit, your future is so bright you gotta wear shades, and all that jazz. At 18 Peter “Stoney” Emshwiller was no different and had this thought as well and decided he was going to ask himself these questions so he could get some answers. So with a video camera his film maker father had on loan from PBS, four hours worth of questions and responses, Peter asked his future self-everything about the life they had lived… and then he waited… and waited.

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Peter told Today News about the experience saying “I’d planned to do it every 10, 15 years, make it an ongoing project… Maybe have five of me onstage talking to one another at some point. But every time I got older I kept thinking, ‘I don’t have anything to say to that 18-year-old.”

It wasn’t until recently after a nonemergency health scare was he prompted to finally face the younger him and look back on his life. Even though he is quite a success being a novelist, artist, magazine editor, filmmaker, actor, and happily married husband, Peter can’t help but still feel remorse. Also telling Today how “I’ve let him down in just about everything… He had such high hopes. He was the star in high school, in all the plays, winning all the awards and I thought back then it was going to go on like that. Like I would be George Clooney.”

Still with these thoughts daunting him occasionally, he is still hoping to turn his 38 years in the making interview into a film titled “Later That Same Life”. There’s a “sizzle reel” that he created in order to try and help to continue to raise funds for the project through crowdfunding. He is also now a finalist in a contest sponsored by Ovation TV.

Speaking to your younger self is a brave thing. When you start out in the world thinking that you’re going to do everything, you soon realize how easy it is to get taken off course. Sometimes things don’t go as planned and looking back at the younger you may leave you feeling like you failed. Reality check though, even if you’re not the absolute bomb.com that you had expected, if you’re satisfied and happy with your life (good job, health, and friends) then there is no room for disappointment.

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UC Merced stabbing spree suspect identified

The incident on the campus was not related to terrorism

The UC Merced stabbing spree suspect has been identified. Early Wednesday morning a stabbing that resulted in the injury of four victims and the fatal shooting of the suspect occurred on the University of California’s Merced campus before 8 am. The suspect who has now been identified as 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad came into a second floor classroom of one of the buildings and stabbed a student.  Upon hearing the commotion construction worker Byron Price tried to stop the suspect, resulting in him also being stabbed. Mohammad then fled the classroom down a flight of stairs where he again stabbed another student and a student advisor, before he was confronted by the responding police officers. The event ended in a police shooting when Mohammad turned to the officers and he died due to his injuries.

Faisal Mohammad was a Computer Science and Engineering major and a freshman from Santa Clara in the Bay Area. It was his first year at the college after graduating from Wilcox High School this past June. After speaking with one of his former classmates a student from the school spoke of Mohammad to NBC news as being “quiet, smart and did not bother anyone. He showed no signs of mental illness or aggression.”

All four victims of the stabbing are expected to make a full recovery, one student and the construction worker were treated and released Wednesday. While one student remained hospitalized Thursday morning and the student advisor had undergone surgery after suffering a collapse lung, both are expected to recover. The latest update from the Merced Police Department say that preliminary evidence of the stabbing suggest that this was an act of personal animosity and there is no reason to believe this had a political agenda or was related to terrorism. They went on to say in the statement that it would be irresponsible to come to that conclusion based on the suspect’s ethnicity alone.

Read More HERE

College Fatty: Kitchen Essentials

Here are some essential food items every college student should have in their refrigerator

In college, food essentials are important. One of the many things we must battle being on a college campus all day is the urge to eat all the amazing fast food goodies that seem to be in the most convenient areas. Like on your path to class, where your study group is meeting, and all the best activities seem to be in the center of it. There’s sometimes even a coffee and bagel shop in the library that’s open basically 24 hours (like on my campus). This can cause unnecessary eating, overeating, and wasting money, all of these things are what packs on weights and lightens up already low wallets. So we’re going to talk about one of the ways we can combat this and win the battle against outside eating. One way of doing this is not being hungry of course. How will you not be hungry? Sorry to say this but you’re going to have to cook, blasphemy I know. I’m sure this is something you want to do though right? You just don’t know where to start right? Of course! So I’m going to help you by living you this list of things you should always have in your kitchen for when you come home and want to whip something up and avoid running to the grocery store for every little thing. Some of these may sound like no brainers, but stick with me, they get overlooked on the grocery list more times than you think.

Also read: Guilt-free baked penne recipe

Dairy

Butter

Cheese

Eggs

Milk or Almond Milk

Mayonnaise

 

Grains

Sliced Bread

Tortillas-This is a more versatile grain than sliced bread. They can be used for quesadillas, tacos, and wraps. They have a long shelf life in the fridge, just toss them in the oven for few minutes if you want them soften up.

Pasta

 

 Meats

Frozen Chicken

Rotisserie Chicken

 

Basic Pantry Items

Needs no explaining

Flour

Sugar

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Olive Oil

Canola Oil

Vanilla Extract

White Wine (for sauces)

Vinegar

Hot Sauce

Soy Sauce

Baking Soda

Garlic

Onions

Potatoes

Popcorn

Canned Diced Tomatoes

Canned Tomato Sauce

Canned Soups

*Anything canned is usually good to keep on hand, just avoid anything with MSG

*Avoid ramen! It’s cheap I know, but remember, you get what you pay fo. /km.

Ketchup/Mustard/BBQ Sauce (If you’ll use them…)

 

Sweets (Don’t go overboard)

Chocolate Chips(for when your cookies, cakes, or brownies need a little extra flare)

Cake/Brownie Mix

Chips Ahoy Cookies/Oreos

Ice Cream (try to get ice cream bars or the small single servings to avoid binging)

READ: College Fatty Summer Edition: Gluten-Free, No-Bake Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwich Recipes

ALSO READ: Baby steps to healthy eating: Minimize snacks

College Fatty Summer Edition: Gluten-Free, No-Bake Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwich Recipes

This recipe is a perfect summer treat to keep fit

Summer is finally here! What does that mean? Well that summer bod and diet you’ve been working on all winter is about to go through the ultimate test. Barbeque days, bonfire nights, and lazy I don’t want to work out or do anything, but still eat all the treats moments. So how do you stay strong during these trying times? To start would be a heathy alternative to your treat cravings, that’s where I’m here to help. We’re going to get through this summer together and keep ourselves on track into the next semester. These gluten-free popcorn ice cream sandwiches are a delicious way to satisfy your sweet tooth without all your hard work going to waste.

You should also read: Guilt-free baked penne recipe

Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwich

Prep Time: 5 minutes, Cook Time: 5 minutes, Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 bag (227 g) G.H. Cretors Just the Caramel Corn

3 tbsp. salted butter

6 oz. marshmallows (about 3 cups)

1 cup salted, roasted peanuts

2 cups vanilla ice cream

Preparation:

1.     Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray; set aside. Melt butter in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium-low heat. Add marshmallows; stir until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in popcorn and peanuts until well coated; cool slightly.

2.     With slightly damp hands, shape about 1/3 cup of popcorn mixture into a ball. Place on prepared pan, pressing gently to form a cookie shape. Repeat with remaining mixture to make 12 cookies. Freeze for 15 to 20 minutes or until set.

3.      Sandwich a 1/3 cup scoop of ice cream between 2 cookies. Freeze until ice cream is firm. Store in freezer in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Get more diet tips at: Don’t Let Your Diet Eat Your Wallet

Check out some more recipes at: Quick and Yummy Recipes

Attention Incoming Freshman!

It’s your first semester of college, you’re pulling up to campus with your life packed away in boxes and bags, bracing yourself for the goodbye you’re about to have with your parents. Then you get out the car and realize you’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. Your first year of college can be exciting and scary all at the same time, and full of mistakes that you’re going to make, guaranteed. Still, the whole year doesn’t have to be trial and error. With it getting closer to your first semester of your first year of the next four years of your life, here are a few things that every freshman should know going down the rabbit hole.

1.     Don’t Pack your Life

I know it seems like you need to bring every article of clothing you own and all your favorite books and video games, because you can’t choose between them and love them all, but be realistic about it. You’re moving into a smaller space that you’re going to be sharing with one, two, or even three other people sometimes. Instead of trying to find a spot for all of them and cluttering your space, bring less, bring only essential staple items, and invest in storage units that you can keep in under your bed or in your closet.

2.     Get to Know the Ones You’re Living With

This doesn’t just mean your roommates, you’ll be seeing everyone in your residence hall a lot, so get to know them. This creates a sense of community, and you can’t get through this experience alone. Having people around you who you can go for various reasons no matter how small is extremely helpful. Whether it’s venting time about your classes and professors or even just needing someone to be in the library with, being surrounded by familiarity is better than feeling like you’re in a sea of strangers.

3.     Don’t Buy the Textbook Right Away

Yes you’re professor did post the syllabus online. Yes they did include a textbook in the required materials section…. No, this does not mean you buy everything they included before the class has even started. Each professor is different, some pull exam questions straight from the textbook study guide, and others may never use the book at all and have discussion classes and create questions based off that. It’s usually best to wait till the first day of class and let them tell you how often it will be used before you go off and spend a ton of money on something that will just collect dust in the corner (I actually had one professor straight up tell us that the text was garbage and not to buy it).

4.     Don’t Spend Your College Savings on Textbooks

Every college upperclassmen you speak to will probably tell you the same thing. If you can, avoid the college bookstore, and avoid actually purchasing your textbooks. If you have to or prefer to buy them, you can get them from cheaper sources than your college bookstore, like Amazon or Half.com. Another option is sites like Chegg or textbookrenter.com, where you can buy or rent your textbooks. Of the three renting is usually the best option. You get the book up to 80% cheaper, have it for the entire semester, and retur it when you’re done without having to deal with the hassle trying to get the school to buy it back. Only thing is that you have to remember to send it back, but they send you a post label in your email to tape to the box your textbook was sent in and it’s free to return.

5.     Take the Max Amount of Classes

This may not seem like a good idea at first because it does come with a lot of work and a little less free time, but it’s worth it. You should do this for two good reasons, one, if you’re doing poorly in one of the classes you can drop it without disrupting your fulltime student status and getting a call from the financial aid office about it. Two, if you can keep up with all the work and do well then you can knock out more classes sooner and have time later to contribute more on campus and participate in an internship. You will also get to graduate sooner, and though leaving can be hard it cuts cost also.

6.     Take Summer Courses!

You have the rest of your life to go to DisneyLand/World, the beach, music festivals, and whatever else seems like the most important thing in the world right now. Taking a 3 credit course in 6 weeks and knocking it off your required degree class list is something that you should much rather want to take advantage of though. Yes once again its adding more work and taking away from your free time, but yes again, it’s worth it. You get more done in a shorter amount of time, you can use it to make up for the classes you didn’t do well in the semester before and apply grade forgiveness, and if your GPA dropped a little bit, you can use it as a booster so you go into the next semester without fear of going on probation.

7.     Don’t Take Out More Student Loans Than You Need

I know refund time is the best and buys you amazing things and you feel rich for a few weeks, but if you don’t need it don’t take out excessive loans. If you can get the majority of your tuition paid through grants and loans then take advantage of that and supplement what’s left with a loan. A loan is not free money and if you can make it that you get everything perfectly paid for then do it. You’ll be sacrificing that refund check, but you’ll also have thousands and thousands of dollars less in student loans when you graduate. In addition to taking out loans, while you’re still in school pay the interest! Doing this saves you from dealing with it accumulating and having to pay that on top of the principle.

8.     Get a Part-time Job

Not only does it get you extra money to spend, save, burn, do whatever you want with, and etc. it will also help you develop time management skills. Balancing school and work is tough, but if you stick with it, it’s an invaluable life skill. Being able to multitask and handle numerous projects at one time is useful in any career.

9.     Be Involved on Campus

Whether it’s joining Greek Life, the SGA, peer counseling, a club, or some other type of organization, get involved! Open yourself up to the different experiences you can have, friends you can make, and skills you can develop. Being a part of an organization on campus looks good on your resume (especially if you held a leadership position in that organization), gets you out your dorm and out your head about classes, makes you socialize, and will have you trying new things. Even if you join multiple ones or jump from club to club, that’s okay, it’s all about finding where you fit and what will be best for you.

10.  You Have Technology, Use it!

With all of this going on, school, work, clubs, and campus life, you need to keep your life in order and you have a million different apps that can help you do this. First you’ll need a calendar do keep track of important dates to start hands down, Google Calendar is a good one to use. Blackboard also has an app that you can download to your phone and tablet to keep track of your classes and use to download the syllabus and study guides. There are also a lot more that you can search for and take advantage of to make the next four years as simple as possible.

*Bonus: Use RateMyProfessor.com

This site is one of the best ideas for college students. 

ALSO READ: Surviving Freshman Year: THE COLLEGE CHRONICLES: FRESHMAN MILESTONES by Kelly Owen

CHECK OUT: How to ace your finals

Jason Derulo Delivers Funky Future Hit!

Jason Derulo is joining the list of unexpected but welcomed collaborations, and I’m not upset. Joining the list with Run DMC/Aerosmith, Nelly/Tim McGraw, Jack White/Alicia Keys, and recently Kanye West Rihanna/Paul McCarthy he’s making musical magic. Released on Tuesday (May 19th) Derulo created a funky upbeat style song titled “Broke” with Stevie Wonder giving a harmonic contribution (literally on a harmonica) and occasionally lending his melodic vocals while Country star Keith Urban does one of the many things he does best, jamming on his guitar and possibly a banjo. The song sounds to be an anthem about a woman who was a gold digger. So what does Derulo say to this woman who is only into a man for financial gain? He’d rather be broke. Other artists said to also be doing collaborations and having cameos on his new album “Everything is 4” that’s due to be released on June 2, are ones such as Jennifer Lopez and Meghan Trainor. With “Want to Want Me” steadily climbing the Billboard Hot 100 list since its release and “Broke” being everything right now. “Everything is 4” is well on its way to being the summer jam album of the season. Everything is 4 is available for pre-order on iTunes here.

 

Student Dies After Taking Lethal Dose of Diet Pills She Bought Online

You don’t think of overdose when diet pills come to mind, but that’s what happened to 21 year old Eloise Parry. The Glyndwr University student admitted herself to the hospital on April 12th after feeling unwell but did not get the chance to leave and passed away. Her death which her mother described to BBC news as “an awful way to die” and she was “burning from within”. Parry’s death was caused by diet pills she had taken that she bought online. The name of the pills have not been released and West Mercia police are investigating who made the pills and where she had bought them. It is believed that they contained dinitrophenol, also known as DNP, an industrial drug. It is used as a metabolism booster and fat burning drug, but as Parry’s mother Fiona adds “It doesn’t just burn fat; it destroys your muscles. It turns bodily fluids yellow”. She has been speaking out and trying to warn people about the dangers of this drug that have claimed many lives already.

It only takes two pills to become a lethal dose, Eloise Parry had taken eight. The Food Standards Agency have spoken against the use of diet pills containing DNP stating “We advise the public not to take any tablets or powders containing DNP, as it is an industrial chemical and not fit for human consumption.” Fiona Parry has also issued a plea and warning of her own after experiencing her daughter’s death.

“They never stood a chance of saving her. She burned and crashed.”

“[Eloise] just never really understood how dangerous the tablets that she took were,” she said. “Most of us don’t believe that a slimming tablet could possibly kill us.
“DNP is not a miracle slimming pill. It is a deadly toxin,”

Information on DNP
 2,4-dinitrophenol or DNP is highly toxic and is not intended for human consumption
 An industrial chemical, it is sold illegally in diet pills as a fat-burning substance
 Users experience a metabolism boost, leading to weight loss, but taking even a few tablets can be fatal
 Signs of acute poisoning include nausea, vomiting, restlessness, flushed skin, sweating, dizziness, headaches, rapid respiration and irregular heartbeat
 Consuming lower amounts over longer periods could lead to cataracts and skin lesions and impact on the heart, blood and nervous system
 Experts say buying drugs online is risky, as medicines may be fake, out of date or extremely harmful

Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness!

Worldwide everything and everyone is covered in a brilliant shade of blue and there’s only one reason, autism awareness. It’s the eighth annual World Autism Awareness Day! Every year on April 2, autism organizations all over the world hold fundraisers and different events for the purpose of raising awareness and help create a better understanding. World Autism Awareness Day is an official day adopted by the United Nations as a way to “shine a bright light” on autism as being a growing global health crisis. You can go to the Autism Speaks website to learn more and donate. So help make a difference and use the hashtag #LIUB to share your photos across social media and check out which major global landmarks have Lit It Up Blue, including China’s Oriental Pearl Tower, Niagara Falls, Egypt’s Great Pyramid, The Empire State Building, and more!

Ted Cruz to Announce Presidential Candidacy

According to The New York Times and first reported in The Houston Chronicle yesterday (March 21st). Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz plans to announce on Monday March 23rd that he will be running for the Presidency in the 2016 Presidential race. He is expected to make the announcement during his speech as speaker during the convocation center at Liberty University in Virginia. This would make Cruz the first GOP and first major candidate to formally enter the race. Cruz had trouble when the idea first came to surface and his eligibility was being questioned and may be questioned again during the election campaigning. Eligibility that has to do with his citizenship status, him being born in Canada has repeatedly brought up whether he is actually a “natural born citizen.” Which is one of the eligibility requirements for becoming President. This rule has never been officially addressed and voted on so it is still questionable, the same as it was during the last Presidential Election for both party candidates. Cruz has been working hard to recruit backers and donors for his campaigning, giving reasons why he is the best choice among others, but many still seem unsure of his qualifications.

Possible Lawsuit Against University by OU SAE Chapter

Ties have been cut for the University of Oklahoma Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, by both their National Organization that ordered them disbanded and by their University that expelled two of their members who were said to be leading the chant. This Chapter of SAE has been the center of news for some days now after a video went viral of them singing a racist chant that included “There will never be a n****r in SAE, and making jokes bout lynching black men while on a bus during a Fraternity event. While much cannot be said of Nationals disbanding the Chapter, the Attorney representing them does not believe that the University has the right to expel the students over the chant. According to Huffington Post, Stephen Jones who is representing the students spoke at a press conference on Friday saying that a lawsuit based on the school’s eviction of the fraternity members is not the “first choice” of the SAE chapter, but is on the table.

Jones has since requested a meeting with the University administrative members for reasons that have not been stated, it is also unclear as to what the Chapter’s executive board wishes to happen between their Chapter and the University. Though Jones is not representing the two students who are facing expulsion for leading the chant, he did imply that it would run contrary to due process saying, “It would be difficult to say a university has a right to censor speech, no matter how distasteful it is.” One of the students caught in the video has since apologized claiming they were taught the chant, while other members from different chapters say they have heard different versions of the same song. Members of the Chapter have been dealing with death threats and getting into physical fights and problems due to the high popularity and knowledge of the case and some fear going to their classes on campus.