The Richards Report

“The Simple Life” is Simply Too Scripted. “The Simple Life” is a reality television show starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie that aired on December 2, 2003. Paris Hilton is the heiress of the Hilton hotel fortune, and Nicole Richie, the daughter of Lionel Richie. Both girls are spoiled rotten and have absolutely no idea what living as an average American is like. The girls are transported from their lavish lifestyles in Los Angeles to a little town in Altus, Arkansas. I will be reviewing the first season of the show, because the first season is simply the best one. In the first episode of the first season, Paris and Nicole are boarded onto a private jet with absolutely no idea where they are going. The only information they have is that they will be living with a family in a small town for a month. They have no cell phones, no credit cards, and no idea where they are going. They land in Arkansas and see nothing but an empty tarmac and a busted pickup truck. They load up their Lo...

Semester Retrospective - Sophia Richards My first assignments of the year were definitely not my best work. The only writing I had done before this was high school English assignments, scholarship essays, and a few odd assignments in the first semester of college. I had never really thought about my voice as a writer until this class, because had I never really needed to. Book reports and one-page papers never really needed a unique or interesting voice. Well, maybe they did, and I just didn’t do it. Either way, I did not have any idea what my voice as a writer was at the beginning of this semester. At the start of the class, my assignments were just barely scraping by. I would not give myself very good grades on these assignments. They weren’t terrible per se, but they just weren’t my best work. The one on one meeting helped me realize this. After the meeting, I really tried to incorporate the criticisms I received into my work. Looking back on my earlier assignments on my blog, I ...

How designers took cues from fashion in the past to create their Fall 2020 collections.  https://www.vogue.com/article/fall-2020-ready-to-wear-now-and-then?utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned&utm_brand=vogue&mbid=social_twitter&utm_medium=social How Liquid Vitamins are more easily absorbed than traditional pill vitamins.    https://poosh.com/benefits-of-taking-liquid-vitamins/ How airlines are responding to consumer concerns about flight cancellations due to the Coronavirus.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/travel/coronavirus-travel-trip-refunds.html In a world of ever-changing health-food fads, Cabbage is taking its turn in the spotlight…but it’s not the first time.  https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-cabbage-is-making-a-comebackagain-11586441245 This assignment was a lot more difficult than I had expected. Oftentimes, I think of assignments with higher word counts are more difficult or more work than shorter ones, but s...

CBS Newscast March 16, 2020 “America Shut Down” President trump issues new guidelines for Americans in efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus. Across the United States, streets are vacant, restaurants and bars are shut down as a result of the efforts by Americans to self-quarantine and social distance themselves from others. The city of San Franscisco has ordered it’s residents to “shelter in place.” There are 36 million elementary, middle, and high school-aged children at home after schools have shut down as a result of the virus. The stock market suffered major losses, and fears of widespread job losses grip the nation.  “President Trump Issues New Guidelines in Hopes of Slowing the Coronavirus.” In a press conference on March 16, 2020, President Donald Trump calls for Americans to do their part in helping slow the spread of novel coronavirus in the United States. The president has changed his view on the virus and covered many preventative and preparative guidelines ...

I never really thought about my voice as a writer until I took this class. The most writing I had ever done was two-page book reports for English 12 in high school. My English teacher didn’t mess around and disapproved of chattiness in student’s assignments, so I kept my reports rather straightforward. I would say my journalistic style has been influenced by my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis and Victor Hugo, as well as the journalists featured in the magazine I grew up reading, American Vogue. Although my beloved C.S. Lewis and Victor Hugo are not nearly journalists, (Hugo is more of a poet than Lewis, a novelist,) their writing styles are very clean, elegant, and are very easily recognizable. I would like to think that one could pick my pieces out of a stack if they had read some of my work, but this is just what I would like to think and has yet to be either confirmed or denied. My other great influencers are the contributors of Vogue in nearly every issue for the past ten years. Be...

Week 11 Journal- Media Writing- Women’s Fashion 1.       Marilyn Elezabeth of Marilyn Elezabth Photography, one of the founders of the Fargo-Moorhead Fashion Fashion Collaboration, email  marilynelezabth@gmail.com I would reach out to Marilyn because she has a lot of experience in the local fashion industry and a lot of collections to local designers through the Fargo -Moorhead Fashion Collaboration.  2.       Nels Hunstad of Lost in Fargo, a local fashion brand. Phone number 701-367-1016 I would reach out to Nels because he built his fashion brand from the ground up and has a lot of experience finding out what is marketable to the local community. He designs all of his own merchandise and would be a great connection to have or a good subject to reach out to for insight or comments about local fashion.  3.       Caitlin Day, owner of Willow District, a local women’s clothing store. Phone...