Paws With Claus Pt. 2

As I mentioned in my last post, it's important to recognize our local animal shelters and all they do for us. I had never really given shelters much thought until last summer when my mom finally told me I could get a kitten if I wanted, and of course I wanted to! I went to my local shelter one day just to scope it out to see what was there. I walked into a room full of cats and kittens of all ages, genders and types. I fell in love with probably every cat there but knew I could only pick one. Then the more I thought about it I realized I should get two so they could keep each other company. So I did and I got Bates and Ivy.

Bates is on top and Ivy is on the bottom.

After writing my paper for this event, I came across some startling facts from the Humane Society of the United States. The HSUS said that 6 million to 8 million cats and dogs are cared for in shelters each year. Out of those animals, 4 million are euthanized every year. While the numbers of animals ending up in shelters is declining, it still makes me sad to think there's so many animals in shelters that need a good home.

So now you're probably asking yourself what you can do to help, right? Well, there's many options. You could adopt from a shelter if you're considering bringing a pet into your home. If you already have pets and don't want any more, or you can't have any right now, you can always donate to shelters. Or if you want to donate some of your spare time to volunteering, the shelter has many different volunteer options you could try.  So please go out there and make a difference.  I promise you won't regret it!

Paws With Claus Pt. 1

On Saturday, Dec. 4 I went to AnnaBelle's Pet Station in Lansing to attend the fundraiser Paws With Claus. This event was sponsored by MSU's PRSSA to help them raise money for their chapter, as well as money for the Ingham County Animal Control and Shelter.

The event allowed families and owners to bring in their dogs to get their picture taken with Santa Claus. People that brought in pets were asked to give a $10 donation to help raise money. The event raised a total of $680 and PRSSA split the money up so $340 went towards their chapter and the other $340 went to the shelter.

I thought this was an awesome event and I had a lot of fun attending and meeting other pet fanatics. I know if it were allowed and I hadn't of gone here to work on my project, I most definitely would have brought my cats in to get their picture taken. I then would have printed off the picture, framed it and would have given it to my mom for Christmas. She would have loved it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do so, but I did learn a lot about why donating to our local shelter is important and why everyone should try and donate something.

Video from the event:

Richard Sweeney

I recently watched the movie/musical Sweeney Todd and I instantly fell in love with the dark tragedy of it. For my last News Tip assignment I decided to do it on a guest lecturer, Richard Sweeney, that is an artist of design, photography, and sculptures. At first the last name attracted me because I had just watched this movie, but the only thing the two really have in common is the name and they're both from England. Sweeney Todd makes human pies while Richard Sweeney makes a different sort of art.

Some of his work includes origami with paper, and others are sculptures that he first crafts on the computer before he does so with his hands. This is an interesting concept to think that sculptors long ago could only sketch on paper and make their sculptures, but today an artist can plan everything out how he wants on a 3D computer graphic so they can perfect their work. 

As an artist, Sweeney also has a blog to document his work. I love that he has a blog because as we learn that blogging is important for future professions, Sweeney perfectly displays how a blog works to his advantage so he can showcase his works in many different ways. 

I'm writing this blog two days ahead of when his lecture is, so in a few days I'll update on what he discussed. If anyone wants to attend the lecture it will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 1 from 7-8 p.m. in room 107 in South Kedzie Hall.

Potter Park Zoo Millage Pt. 2

As touched upon in the last post, the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing recently received a millage of $.41 mill after the elections held on Nov. 2. The money that the zoo has received will go towards building new animal exhibits (such as the Rhino exhibit they're currently working on) as well as repairing some of the deteriorating infrastructure on the old buildings, seeing as how this is the zoo's 90th anniversary. It's important to realize how much  the rebuilding of the zoo will help out Lansing's economy. Not only will a better zoo attract more people visiting in the area, but it will just look better overall. The zoo lags in the "beautiful" department, so hopefully this will help that problem. Plus, Lansing is the capitol city of our state and we don't want that represented by a zoo that is old and falling apart with hardly any exotic animals. Here's a link to a video I posted on YouTube about the construction going on at the zoo and what a visitor and student felt about the reconstruction going on.
Also, here's a link to a YouTube video a professor at MSU, Bonnie Bucqueroux, posted about a year ago about the zoo and the good and bad things she thought about it, just to get a different side of view.

Potter Park Zoo Millage Pt. 1

The Potter Park Zoo is an attraction and learning environment that I've grown up with. Going to school only 15 minutes away from Michigan's capitol city, it was hard to avoid taking field trips to the zoo when growing up. I remember going there at a very young age in elementary school, going there randomly with family and friends, going my senior year of high school for my zoology class, and then again for my latest story I wrote. My memories of the Potter Park Zoo as a kid are grand and filled with all sorts of exciting memories from zoo visits. It wasn't until I recently visited the zoo in Washington D.C. and then came back to the Potter Park Zoo and realized how different they were. I know Washington D.C. is the capitol of our nation is therefore very important, but Lansing is also important as the capitol of Michigan. The Potter Park Zoo was much smaller than I remember it, the animals were few and small-numbered, and there was hardly ever anyone there (minus school groups) the three different times I went in the past week. This depressed me to see the zoo going downhill, but I was striked with a little bit of hope when I saw the Rhino exhibit under construction and being totally redone. This made me happy to see, as it excited me to see they were finally doing something to the zoo to help repair it, thanks to the recent $.41 millage the zoo received.

Ram at the Potter Park Zoo

Cheetah at the Smithsonian National Zoo in D.C.

Baby Wants Candy Pt. 2

So like I said in my last post, the UAB here at MSU had the improv group Baby Wants Candy at the International Center last night (11/13/10). Over 400 people showed up and laughed the night away. They first started out the show by asking a random member of the audience to come up and just tell them about her day. After she sat back down they acted out her whole day through improv. I was amazed at how they could take all this information that none of them had heard before and remember all of it and just work together to create this scene.
After that they had to pick the actual title for their show. The UAB has been collecting titles from people that submit them all week and the one they picked out of the box was "How the Backstreet Boys Won the Civil War". This is obviously a hilarious title in itself because you first of all have the late '90's/early 2000's pop boy band Backstreet Boys (who are known for their frosted tips, choreographed dance moves and pleather clothing) supposedly winning the Civil War. Two totally different things. How they incorporated things related to the band and the war was very impressive and they did most of it through song all off the top of their heads.
If you ever have the chance to see Baby Wants Candy (hometown is Chicago), I highly suggest it. The way they're able to work together and make everything up as they go is a true talent that I'm sure many people can't just do; it's a skill that has to be practiced over many years.

Baby Wants Candy Pt.1

Stand-Up comedy and improv comedy are two things that I have never really had much experience with. I don't want it online or T.V. and I've never been to a comedy show before. The closest thing I have to relate to is Whose Line is it Anyways the few times I've watched it on television. And while I must say I throughly enjoyed that show every time I watched it, I never really thought about seeking out other improv groups to see how good they were. That is until I saw Baby Wants Candy last night and was completely blown out of my chair. These actors made up everything off the top of their head in a matter of seconds and I couldn't have been more impressed. I find people that can stand on stage in front of a large audience (UAB said over 400 people attended the show last night) with no rehearsed script and do a whole show off the top of their heads extremely talented. And not only do they have to make everything up right away, but they also have to work with the other actors who are doing the same thing and put all their ideas together. Impressed? I say yes.

Extra: Here's a link to a clip that's one of my favorites from a Whose Line is it Anyways skit. If this doesn't make you laugh, then I don't know what will.