KATIE'S BLOG

The semifinals and finals of the  NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship  took place this week with the University of Nebraska emerging as the victor. Thursday nights' games eliminated Stanford and Penn State. The Nebraska Cornhuskers and Florida Gators battled it out Saturday night in a 4-set match. Nebraska boasts the two co-Most Outstanding Players of the Final Four, setter Kelly Hunter and outside hitter Mikaela Foecke, while Florida had the second-best hitting percentage in the country. No. 5 Nebraska was definitely the underdog in the match, being pitted against No. 2 Florida. The first set was very close, the score at 25-22 with Nebraska in the lead. The Cornhuskers dominated the second set, leading the Gators by 8 points. Florida, determined not to lose in a sweep, rallied to win the third set 18-25. However, they struggled in the fourth set as Nebraska edged them out 25-16. This glorious championship makes for Nebraska's second in three years, the fourth...

Southern California is currently being scorched by 225,000 acres of fire fueled by the Santa Ana winds. 9,000 firefighters are busy combating the blazes that have already consumed 800 structures. The ongoing blazes threaten 25,000 homes, and 98,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, according to Cal Fire. Upcoming harsh weather this week could increase the size of the 5 fires. The Thomas Fire (the largest one) spans 200,000 acres across the Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and containment could possibly drop below 15% overnight. Firefighters are also actively containing the Lilac Fire in San Diego County and the Creek and Rye fires in Los Angeles County. Along with the massive fire in Northern California's wine country in October, officials warn that fighting fires has become a year round struggle. Global Warming is exacerbating these wildfires, contributing to the "new normal" that is lives, property, wildlife, and billions of dollars in infrastructure being los...

If you have watched the hit comedy series "The Office", you may notice that when Jim and Pam are finally a couple, they drive a Subaru to their jobs at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch. The decision to have their characters own a silver 2010 Outback lies with the responsible family motif that Jim and Pam Halpert bring to the show. Their relationship is the main love story in "The Office", and they prove to be the most smart, sensible characters especially amid the chaotic Michael Scott and radical Dwight Schrute. The couple has 2 children in the length of the show, and deal with hectic schedules. Their Outback was even used to drive Pam to the hospital when she was about to deliver her first child. Subaru probably saw their car choice as a perfect opportunity to advertise their safe, family oriented vehicle, and thus created an excellent example of Madison and Vine. Subaru's catchphrase, "Love. It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru" is simply pu...

Social Media platforms go all out for the holiday season. Its very common to see Snapchat filters that make your face into a reindeer or give you a Santa hat, follow hashtags of relatable holiday experiences on Twitter, and find more and more Christmas and Hanukkah themed posts on Instagram as we near the 25th. Why is it that we are bombarded with references to sentimental holidays on the most robotic, unsentimental devices? Social Media see the time period between Thanksgiving and New Years as top marketing opportunities. People want to connect with their friends and even strangers using a common beloved time of the year as their context. Social Medias can make money from promotions and advertisements. They get away with this massive capitalism of the holidays because users are conditioned to watching the festivities of the season through their screen. We should be spending time with our families and interacting with our communities around the holidays, and Social Media Companies a...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-grammys-2018-nominations-live-how-the-recording-academy-has-evolved-1511921790-htmlstory.html http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/2018-grammy-nominations-5-things-we-learned-w512755 On Tuesday, the prospects for arguably the most coveted awards in the music industry were announced. The 2018 Grammy nominees were announced and people everywhere were surprised. Most notably: Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, Lorde, and Bruno Mars were nominated for album of the year,  “Despacito”,  “4:44”,  “1-800-273-8255”,  “That’s What I Like”, and "Issues" were nominated for song of the year, and  Alessia Cara,  Khalid,  Lil Uzi Vert,  Julia Michaels, and  SZA were nominated for best new artist.  News outlets like the LA times celebrated the refreshing diversity of the nominees this year with their headline " How the Recording Academy has evolved toward relevance with the 2018 Grammy nominations"....