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Articles by Sophia Koch
Here's what's new at the True/False Film Fest
As the Ragtag Film Society prepares for its 22nd True/False Film Fest from Feb. 27 to March 2, it’s doing so without Executive Director Arin Liberman. Liberman stepped down last May after almost 14 years with the organization. Instead, a trio of existing staff is serving as an interim executive leadership team: Artistic Director Chloé Trayner, Operations Director Grace Piontek and Marketing and Communications Director Emily Edwards.
Smells like home: Columbians share their favorite holiday family recipes
As families gather for the holidays, the excitement and feeling of nostalgia flourish. Food is more than likely involved in holidays — usually a family recipe of a childhood favorite. Valerie J. Frey, author of “Preserving Family Recipes: How to Save and Celebrate Your Food Traditions” explained in a lecture that every recipe has a story: the origin, how to serve it and how it has changed over time.
Resist the urge to splurge: How dopamine forces spending habits
The Chicago Tribune published an article on Christmas Eve 1986 that coined the term “retail therapy.” Journalist Mary T. Schmich wrote, “We’ve become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic ills through retail therapy.” Fast forward to the social media age and we can see such excess in haul videos, in which people unbox large online orders or show what they’ve purchased.
These businesses will repair your busted electronics, shoes, clothing and jewelry
One way to stop stacking up stuff is to give more life to the things you already own. Columbia has multiple repair shops and businesses to meet your specific needs. Here are a few repair shops for shoes, jewelry, clothing and technology that prove you won’t need to go far to get something fixed. Scroll to the end for a map of business locations. SHOES Dawson’s Shoe Repair 212 S.
Late night at After Bite: Inside CoMo's new after-hours restaurant
If You Go After Bite Open 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., Wednesday through Saturday 2900 Trimble Road, Suite 105 After Bite also offers catering services, depending on the size of orders. Bite Open 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Friday In most restaurants, 6 p.m. is the rush hour. Servers move rapidly as they enter orders. The printer explodes with drink tickets as the kitchen staff works to perfect each meal. But at After Bite? That’s just the start of prep time for the staff’s long night ahead.
Feels like home: Delia's Mexican Grill opens up second location
For the past 11 years, David and Delia Lopez have made Columbia their home. But it truly became their second home when they decided to open a restaurant. They opened their first restaurant, Delia's Mexican Grill, in December 2020. It was a hit right away. Not even three years later, David and Delia took a chance and opened a second location, Delia's on Stadium, Aug. 9. The building used to be the sports bar Cheerleader Pub & Grill, and is attached to the Holiday Inn near Stadium Boulevard and US 63.
Feels like home: Delia's Mexican Grill opens up second location on Stadium
For the past 11 years, David and Delia Lopez have made Columbia their home. But it truly became their second home when they decided to open a restaurant. David and Delia have been loved by Columbia for years. That’s why, when they opened up their first restaurant downtown, Delia's Mexican Grill, in December 2020, it was a hit right off the bat. Not even three years later, David and Delia took a big chance and opened a second location on Stadium Boulevard on Aug. 9.
Here's everything you need to know to make the perfect summer mocktail
There are over 5.5 billion views of the #sober hashtag on TikTok. Scrolling through the videos, you’ll see tons of young adults preaching the benefits of going sober or at least opting for a nonalcoholic drink every once in a while. Luckily, there are far more options out there than plain sodas and juices — mocktails to the rescue.
Missouri Women’s Business Center helps women have a seat at the table
Over the last several years, there has been a significant increase in women entrepreneurs. As of 2022, women own about 43% of small businesses in Missouri, according to the last year's U.S Small Business Administration Small Business Profile report. Historically, it has been difficult for women entrepreneurs to receive funding, mentorship and support compared to their male counterparts. From 2011 until about 2021, women-led startups received about 2% of venture capital, according to Pitchbook.
MU names new nursing school dean
Lori Popejoy will become the dean of MU's Sinclair School of Nursing on May 1, university administration announced Monday in a news release. Popejoy has been with the nursing school since 2007, working as an associate dean and an associate professor. She has been the nursing school's dean in an interim capacity since July.
Seven CPS teachers surprised with awards for outstanding work
Casey Cottrill was helping a group of her students Tuesday morning when she was surprised by administrators, coworkers and her family filing into her classroom to present her with the Outstanding Elementary Educator Award for pre-K through second grade. Cottrill, a first grade teacher at Battle Elementary, was one the teachers honored with a Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence award this year. When she received the award, her students were standing up cheering with proud smiles on their faces.
G&D Pizzaria enters third generation of ownership
More Information G&D Pizzaria 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Mon.-Sat., 2101 W. Broadway, 445-8336 G&D Steakhouse 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Mon.-Sun., 2001 W. Worley St., 445-3504 To find out what’s important to the owners of G&D Pizzaria, just look around their restaurant. The Terzopoulos family is well-represented in photos that hang on the walls, along with pictures of Greece and Missouri, two of the places this family has called home.
Columbia Art League hosts annual 'Let Them Eat Art" exhibit
The Columbia Art League hosted their annual ‘Let Them Eat Art’ exhibit Tuesday evening. The event featured local chefs who chose a piece of art from the gallery to use as inspiration to create a finger food dish. As people walked around talking to the chefs and gazing at the art, they were able to munch on a variety of pastries, BBQ, chili, and more while washing the food down with an assortment of cocktails.
Recreational marijuana sales begin in city limits following ordinance approval
Cannabis dispensaries in Columbia started selling recreational marijuana to people over the age of 21 Tuesday. The dispensaries within Columbia city limits were set back a few days because the City Council did not approve an ordinance allowing medical marijuana facilities to convert their licenses to also sell recreational marijuana until their regular meeting Feb. 6. Dispensaries outside of city limits could start as soon as Feb.
Exotic pet show brings snakes, hedgehogs, lizards to Columbia customers
On Sunday morning numerous vendors set up tables inside the Knights of Columbus Hall that featured an arrangement of reptiles, exotic mammals and amphibians. The room was filled with people walking around holding snakes, hedgehogs, geckos and more. Show Me Reptile Show is an exotic animal show where vendors can sell their animals and people can come to learn, experience, or possibly take home a new pet. Show Me Snakes is the company that sets up the events.
Years-long MU study on life-saving dermatology project published
A dermatology study at the MU School of Medicine published Jan. 24 but began in 2015 to help bring a correct diagnosis to patients who have been falsely diagnosed. The objective of the study was access to care and to provide support for physicians who are practicing in rural or isolated areas and unable to adequately access dermatologists, said Mirna Becevic, the lead project evaluator for the Show-Me ECHO project.
Traveling trunks, pallid sturgeon education returning to Columbia schools
Missouri River Relief is continuing its free traveling trunk program to teach students about pallid sturgeon. Columbia Public Schools will partner with the nonprofit again after last year's debut, which brought the trunks to 750 students, according to a news release. The trunks includes real fossils from the Missouri River area, dam-building materials, a model of a pallid sturgeon and more.
Ashland-band-returns-to -Chicago’s-Thanksgiving-Day-parade | K-12 Education | columbiamissourian.com
It is 37 degrees on a fall morning in Ashland. Trumpets are blaring, drums are booming and flags are waving. Forty-nine members of the Southern Boone High School marching band, bundled up in sweatshirts, are circling the track of their high school’s football field. There is no one in the stands except for one teacher. It’s a stark difference compared to what the performers will experience on Thursday.
Ashland-band-returns-to -Chicago’s-Thanksgiving-Day-parade | Mid-Missouri News | komu.com
It is 37 degrees on a fall morning in Ashland. Trumpets are blaring, drums are booming and flags are waving. Forty-nine members of the Southern Boone High School marching band, bundled up in sweatshirts, are circling the track of their high school’s football field. There is no one in the stands except for one teacher. It’s a stark difference compared to what the performers will experience on Thursday.
The Brim will host your wedding for free; expands into a larger event space
The holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means for happy couples: new engagements and the excitement of wedding planning. The Brim is a new low-cost wedding venue located at 14150 NW Walker Rd, Kansas City, MO 64163. Kelsie and her husband Aaron Kleinmeyer are the owners and dreamers behind it all. They believe weddings should be affordable, memorable, and that everyone behind the scenes should consider each one to be the most important knot-tying yet.
Notes on travel: why it’s worth the cost
After graduation this year, I’ll be heading out on what I’m calling the “trans-continental shuttle-run.” Basically, what I intend to do is load myself and my brother into a car, drive to the west coast, drive back, and then drop off my brother and drive to the east coast for an internship. The trip to the west coast is kind of a dumb move on many fronts.
Notes on travel: why it’s worth the cost
After graduation this year, I’ll be heading out on what I’m calling the “trans-continental shuttle-run.” Basically, what I intend to do is load myself and my brother into a car, drive to the west coast, drive back, and then drop off my brother and drive to the east coast for an internship. The trip to the west coast is kind of a dumb move on many fronts.
“Free range” kids learn independence, creativity
I’m pretty lucky to have grown up wild. Most of that has to do with my parents. Mom grew up on the edge of the Apple River, and she told me once that she “never really spent time in the house during the summer.” She learned how to light a campfire with just one match, catch panfish with a home-made rod, accumulated so many mosquito bites that she “looked like one big bug bite” and built a stone-walled fort out of cement, rocks, discarded barn materials and chunks of scrap metal.
Travel feature: The House on the Rock is a place where mystery and magic thrive
There are a lot of magical places left in the world. I could try to convince you by going on at length about the beautiful cities, forests and lakes that have persuaded me, but in the end, there’s really only one place that I need to tell you about to make my point: House on the Rock. I’ve taken several different angles in describing the House on the Rock.
Clubs and initiatives have stumbled, but sustainability still lives at UWRF
UW-River Falls has been working hard to put itself on the map in terms of sustainability for a number of years. In 2013, the Environmental Corps of Sustainability club was created for the purpose of pressuring the UWRF chancellor and board of directors to divest – or pull money and assets – from the fossil fuel industry. Last fall a new sustainable justice minor was launched on campus that exposes students to sustainability on a trans-disciplinary level.
Campus Bee Club seeks to revive membership, bring bees to campus
The Bee Club was in decline when Morgan Waste began attending UW-River Falls as a freshman in the biochemistry program this year. The students who made up the core of the club had recently either graduated or decided to step back, and the adviser for the club – Brad Mogen – had just retired. Enthusiasm and membership were down and the club had not been doing anything for a semester. Waste, however, was determined that UWRF would have a bee club.
Women in Hollywood are beginning to show what they’re capable of
I recently rewatched one of my favorite movies – “Mad Max: Fury Road” – with a friend. I’ve probably seen the film two or three dozen times, but it’s always interesting to watch it with new people. It’s a very detailed and nuanced story, and everyone takes away something unique after watching it. The 2015 film is set in a post-apocalyptic world and follows the viewpoint of Max Rockatansky – a former cop who is now little more than an animal struggling to survive.
How Francis Johnson affected his community one story at a time
Francis Johnson in his blaze orange jacket was a well-known figure across River Falls as he biked to and from work. He was a tall, strong man, and his friendly nature and easy ability to strike up a conversation allowed him to touch the lives of people all across town. Caryn Sande was in college when she met him 11 years ago. She was working at the Holiday gas station in River Falls at the time, and Johnson would come in, drink coffee and read the newspaper.
Meisterhafte 3D-Figuren: Dieser Hallenser macht Häkeln cool
Halle (Saale) - Er ist Hallenser, 52 Jahre alt, gelernter Informatikkaufmann, als Administrator tätig und hat, so sagt er selbst, „ein ungewöhnliches Hobby“. Die Rede ist von Ralph Tropartz. Er häkelt leidenschaftlich gerne 3D-Figuren und kommt sich dabei „wie ein antiker 3D-Drucker vor“, beschreibt Tropartz. „Gehäkelt habe ich schon als Kind, damals waren es noch einfache Arbeiten.“Danach legte er eine lange Pause ein und fing erst vor 3 Jahren wieder an zu häkeln.
Friseur Koegel in Halle (Saale) ist der beste Arbeitgeber Sachsen-Anhalts: Das ist das Erfolgsgeheimnis
Halle (Saale) - Qualität und Herzlichkeit, das sind zwei der Erfolgsgeheimnisse von Jens Koegel. Beides sind Bausteine für eine Auszeichnung, die der gebürtige Hallenser und Geschäftsführer von Koegel der Friseur jetzt erhalten hat: Er ist von der Handwerkskammer als bester Arbeitgeber Sachsen-Anhalts ausgezeichnet worden.Aber was sagt Koegel selbst - wie wird man bester Arbeitgeber? Unter anderem sind Zielstrebigkeit und Ehrgeiz das Geheimnis seines Erfolges.
‘Fullmetal Alchemist’: when characters write their own stories
The book and corresponding TV series “Fullmetal Alchemist” is probably pretty much unknown to the general populace. However, among the overwhelmingly nerdy fan base for anime (Japanese cartoons), Fullmetal has a cult following and is often used to lure hapless non-nerds into anime culture. Which then consumes them. That aside, “Fullmetal Alchemist” fully deserves its cult following, and there is a good reason it’s so effective at getting people hooked on anime.
Hoffnung im Doppelpack: Diese beiden Hallenserinnen wollen „Miss Germany“ werden
Rust/Halle (Saale) - Die letzten Proben stehen an, die Aufregung steigt, der Wille und Wunsch, neue Miss Germany zu werden, wird Stunden vor dem großen Finale immer größer. In diesem Jahr haben gleich zwei Hallenserinnen die Chance, den begehrten Titel zu gewinnen.Charlotte Grenzner arbeitet als Sozialversicherungsassistentin und geht als amtierende Miss Photogenic, zu deutsch Miss Photogen, ins Rennen um die Krone.
Fire in Kleinpell Fine Arts building causes minimal damage
A small fire started in the north stairwell of the Kleinpell Fine Arts building on Tuesday according to a press release from University Communications. The fire began when the motor inside a heating unit near the north stairwell shorted out. The surrounding area began to fill with smoke, and the building was evacuated. The River Falls Fire Department responded to the fire while students waited outside in the snow.
Fire in Kleinpell Fine Arts building causes minimal damage
A small fire started in the north stairwell of the Kleinpell Fine Arts building on Tuesday according to a press release from University Communications. The fire began when the motor inside a heating unit near the north stairwell shorted out. The surrounding area began to fill with smoke, and the building was evacuated. The River Falls Fire Department responded to the fire while students waited outside in the snow.
Research spotlight: how evolving studies can lead down unexpected paths
Sometimes projects turn out exactly how they were intended to from start to finish. The person running the project decides what they want to do or find out, goes about gathering materials and data and ultimately puts together a finished project that roughly matches the original goal. This isn’t the case for the work of Associate Professor Cheng-Chen Huang from the UW-River Falls biology department.
Learning to learn: the hidden value of dense books
Whenever I encounter a book that’s particularly dull, long or full of complicated words and concepts, I describe it as “dense.” A lot of textbooks fall under this category, as do most scholarly research articles and one or two sci-fi books (“Dune” by Frank Herbert is reminiscent of a college textbook on politics, and you run the risk of knocking the earth out of orbit if you drop a copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams).
For students in need, there’s no reason to be embarrassed
The River Falls Community Food Pantry offers its services to anyone in need living within the River Falls school district. It is located at 222 N. Main St. in downtown River Falls, and residents are encouraged to walk in whenever it is open. They can then present a photo ID and browse the shelves for what they need as if going through a grocery store. Students at UW-River Falls, so long as they present their student ID, have full access to these services.
In the search for student diversity, CAFES still has long way to go
Christian Sosa is one of three kids from a mixed-heritage family. His mother’s side of the family is from the U.S., his father’s is from Honduras, and Sosa was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He’s a native English-speaker, but while he was growing up, his parents tried to teach him Spanish with primer books. He learned some of the language, but it didn’t flow naturally at first. When he was in seventh grade, however, Sosa’s parents sent him to spend some time living with an aunt in Honduras.
Start applying: why internships are a valuable part of the college experience
In high school, I never heard much about internships. It was a word I heard from time to time, but I never quite bothered to find out exactly what they were, and it was never impressed on me just how important they are once you get to college. To all freshmen starting college: start looking for them now. I was told that you really don’t have to worry about them until your sophomore year.
Reading Vonnegut in the Trump era: how required reads can be relevant
I recently read my second ever Kurt Vonnegut book, the first being “Slaughterhouse Five,” which was a requirement when I went through high school. Vonnegut is one of those authors teachers try to push during high school, but I don’t think we are fully equipped to understand his work at that point in life.
UWRF Honors Program uses pennies to fight hunger in River Falls
A student approaches a table in the UWRF University Center and puts a handful of pennies in one jar, boosting her college’s chance of winning a competition. She then puts a handful of nickels, dimes and quarters in another college’s jar — increasing her own college’s odds even further. What’s going on here? Well, it’s a “penny war,” and in this case the real winners are the River Falls food pantry and its recipients.
In trout projects, ‘restoration’ and ‘natural’ may not mean what many think
When asked how restoration efforts along the Kinnickinnic River should be handled, students and residents in River Falls answered with roughly the same response: they want the river to be more “natural.” This response, however, leads to a different question: What do words such as “restoration” and “natural” really mean, and do definitions of the words match up with what is actually done to environments such as the Kinni?
Providing scientific context for human-caused climate change
In light of the column submitted to the Student Voice by Jack Romanik and his statements regarding the questionable validity of human-caused climate change, I would like to take some time to stop and look through a handful of Romanik’s claims and provide scientific context. I will mostly be focusing on the scientific side of the issue and use data provided by federal government organizations like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Timeless ‘Skin of Our Teeth’ play taught humanity, crises management
By day he is Nathan Brown, an elementary education major at UW-River Falls. By night he is Henry Antrobus, son of George and Maggie Antrobus who have been married only 5,000 years. His two personas could not be any more different, at least on the surface. Henry Antrobus is violent and short-tempered. Nathan Brown is well-mannered and polite. Playing the part of Henry Antrobus, Brown said, took a bit of a learning curve and required that he explore parts of himself that he had not considered before.
The little adventures are sometimes the best
I find great value in random, little adventures. Well thought out, carefully planned adventures are great in their own right. I went to Scotland last summer, and though the trip took a lot of planning and effort, it was one of the most fantastic trips I’ve had a chance to go on during my college career. Mini-adventures, however, have a special place in my heart. I have two friends that I consider to be my partners in crime when it comes to these ill-planned excursions.
Power of presence: how an active villain can create emotional attachment
A badly-done villain tends to be an extremely underwhelming experience in a movie or book. The protagonists’ victory feels hollow, and the viewer/reader is left to wander away from the experience feeling distinctly unfulfilled. Galbatorix from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini comes to mind. For the entirety of the book series, this man exists, for the most part, as merely a name.
From farm fields to Florida: UWRF students’ research yields valuable trip
Stella Pey is a senior in crop and soils who will be graduating in May. She spent this past summer doing research work for Holly Dolliver, associate professor of geology and soil science at UW-River Falls. The research involved testing crop land that had been taken out of use to see how well the soil had recovered. One field, Pey said, had been left unused for five years, another for 30.
‘Calvin and Hobbes’ reveals the good and the ugly sides of the ‘child within’
I love “Calvin and Hobbes.” I think I got my first book compilation of the comic sometime in the early 2000’s, when I was still in grade school. My parents ordered me four books from a Scholastic magazine, and I was almost immediately hooked. I still have photos of the “snowman house of horrors” that I made in my back yard after being inspired by the strip.
WinField United to offer expanded internship opportunities for UWRF students
Cody Guenther from UW-River Falls landed a highly competitive internship this past summer with a local agricultural chemical testing company called WinField United. His job involved dressing in a protective suit, donning an unwieldy backpack sprayer and meticulously spraying test plots of crops and weeds with herbicides, fungicides and pesticides to determine whether the chemicals were effective.
‘Green fund’ advocates planning new campaign to raise awareness and fees
The space in 14B North Hall is officially the custodial services office for UW-River Falls, but it makes for a decent meeting room in a pinch. A group of five committee members were gathered around a table in the smallish basement room Tuesday evening, surrounded by shelves filled with organizational binders and windowsills cluttered with potted plants. In the background is the desk area of Mark Klapatch, UWRF sustainability supervisor and leader of the committee.
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