Global Posts

My name is Sadie Cohen, and I am a freshman at Longwood University and also play field hockey there. I am curious to learn more about digital writing. I want to learn more about it and look at it differently than I do now. I enjoy studying about teaching not only myself but the next generation. I love to learn all the knowledge I can so I can use it to teach myself and others around me. My major here at Longwood is Criminal Justice and my minor is Psychology. I am aspiring to be a Criminal Psychologist. I aspire to work in the FBI or one of those fields and use my degree to better those around me. My mother is a Psychotherapist so I know some about the field of psychology and cannot wait to learn more. My mom also used her degrees to work in law enforcement for 14 years so I hope to make her proud by working in a similar field as her. By being around someone my whole life who has worked with some of the people I hope to work with someday, it helps me see first hand at what my career is going to look like. I see this class helping me with my writing and understand technology better, because I know I will be using both of those a lot in my future career. 

As the beginning of the semester approaches, the campus still showing signs of the blanket of snow that fell earlier in the week, Longwood administrators are keeping a close eye on Covid-19 developments and formulating a plan that takes both public health and your students’ educational needs into consideration.

The email below was shared with students Wednesday, Jan. 5, by Matthew McWilliams, assistant vice president for communications.

One important piece of information is that classes will start as scheduled and in person on Wednesday, Jan. 12. Among the additional topics discussed below are
—The impact of the Omicron variant and how Longwood is responding to it
—Guidelines students should follow before returning to campus
—Campus policy for wearing masks

Another source of information is an updated FAQ list at www.longwood.edu/covid19. If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to email questions@longwood.edu.

—Sabrina Brown

________________________________________________

Here’s the text of the email sent to students on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022

Dear Students,

As President Reveley shared with you last week, Longwood plans to start the semester in-person and on-time, with undergraduate classes beginning next Wednesday, January 12. It will once again take a commitment by everyone in our community to ensure a successful semester. Please read this email carefully so you know what to expect.

The current situation with Covid-19 is different from what we’ve faced in the past. It’s increasingly clear the omicron variant is milder for most individuals, and vaccines offer significant protection against serious illness. However, omicron is also clearly more transmissible. That means we may face, at least over the next few weeks, a large number of cases simultaneously – and we need to prepare for that.

On our campus and across the country, this change means we’ll have to shift away from certain broadly deployed tools, and in the direction of more customized ones, reflecting individual responsibility, risk and circumstances. It also means that, for the next few weeks, we may well see a temporary impact on services like dining or facilities. We will continue to communicate with campus by email.

Faculty and staff may be out more than usual, caring for themselves or impacted family, so individual classes may need to make adjustments or meet temporarily online. In such instances, faculty will be in touch with students. Getting through these weeks will require some patience and goodwill – but we are confident we can do so, just as we have in the past.

Longwood’s Covid response team has been monitoring developments carefully, in close consultation with the Virginia Department of Health, other universities and public officials. Here is an outline of our Covid protocols and what to expect.

STUDENTS RETURNING TO CAMPUS

As with previous semesters, do not return to Farmville if you have possible Covid symptoms such as sore throat, coughing, fever or congestion, or are awaiting Covid test results. Even if you are asymptomatic, we encourage you to get a Covid test before coming to campus – but we also recognize tests for the general public are in short supply, and that public officials are trying to prioritize availability for the symptomatic and vulnerable populations. Also, remember a test is only valid for the moment taken, so continue to show care in traveling to campus and once you arrive.

If you have tested positive, or are experiencing symptoms and may be arriving late, contact the University Health Center at 434-395-2102 and email your professors to let them know you won’t be in class. If you are in day 6-10 of a Covid isolation/quarantine, be sure to contact the Health Center to discuss your situation. When you can return to campus under CDC masking protocols may depend on your housing situation.

VACCINATIONS

Longwood strongly encourages you to get a booster if you are eligible (six months past your second dose of a Moderna vaccine, five months past your second dose of Pfizer, or or two months after one dose of J&J).

The first reason is boosters offer significant added protection against severe symptoms from omicron. The second is that under recently updated public health guidance, those who are boosted are less likely to have to quarantine if contact-exposed. Getting boosted if eligible means you are less likely to see your semester disrupted by having to isolate or quarantine.

We recognize a number of students are not yet eligible for boosters, and that some may have medical concerns, so we are not requiring them at this time. However, please update the vaccination status form we asked all students to fill out before last semester to let us know if you’ve had your booster (or any other status update) at https://www.longwood.edu/covid19/vaccinestatus/ . Again, this will help keep you healthy – and also avoid disruptions to the semester.

Moderna vaccinations and boosters are available at the Health Center, as well as area drug stores, all free of charge.

 IF YOU EXPERIENCE SYMPTOMS ON CAMPUS

As with past semesters, if you experience symptoms such as sore throat, fever or coughing after you return to campus, please isolate and call the University Health Center at 434-395-2102. Let your professors know you are isolating and – this is important – that you have contacted the the University Health Center. If our testing capacity becomes temporarily strained, we may work with you on finding alternative ways to get a test. We are also working with the Virginia Department of Health to potentially provide some additional testing capacity if needed.

If you test positive for Covid, under updated CDC guidelines you must isolate for five days (down from 10), followed by five additional days of mask wearing whenever around others. Again this semester, we have some isolation housing available in Cox and ARC halls. However, depending on the prevalence on campus and their housing situation, students may be required to isolate or quarantine in their residence halls or at home.

MASKING

Masking requirements for classrooms and any indoor public areas will continue as we begin the semester. There is new CDC guidance that asks those who have tested positive to continue masking around others even outside for an additional five days after at least five days of isolation. Under CDC guidance, masks should have two layers and completely cover your mouth and nose. We encourage the use of masks such as N95s, and have on hand a substantial supply which we will be making available on campus early in the semester to students, faculty and staff.

DINING

Dining services will continue as last semester, including grab-and-go options for those who cannot or do not wish to eat in the Dining Hall.

You can find an updated FAQ list at www.longwood.edu/covid19. If you have further questions, please email questions@longwood.edu.

I will continue to be in touch over the course of the semester with updates. Please stay safe and continue to do your part to ensure a successful semester.

Adidas has been one of the most well-known brands in the entire world. They launched this advertisement for the new colorways of their different soccer cleat silhouettes and it remains one of their most interesting commercials.

The signifier in this advertisement is the creative imagery as well as the words from some of the most popular soccer players in the world. The commercial does a great job of constantly grabbing the attention because of all the colors and moving images they use to represent the play styles of the Adidas athletes. The signified is the athletes they show representing Adidas, they are meant to represent the creative visuals as well as the words they are saying about what it means to wear Adidas cleats. The sign is the cleats themselves, or boots as they call them in the commercial. All the Adidas athletes are speaking about playing a different way if you want the cleats they wear, essentially playing like the professionals if you want to wear the cleats they do. The goal of Adidas here is to make younger players want to get their cleats in order to play like the professionals. A lot of those players are some of the best in the world so if a kid that follows soccer sees what type of cleats their favorite players wear they will want to wear them as well. It seems as if Adidas is trying to create an identity for the players who wear their cleats. They want players firstly to buy the cleats, and ultimately try to emulate the professional athletes on the field. However, Adidas isn’t necessarily trying to say for the customer to become the same as for professionals, they are just getting the athletes to creatively talk about what players who want these cleats must do on the field. They use more abstract phrases that are open to interpretation which is the premise so the players who buy the cleats can interpret what the professionals mean, on the field. Thus, the consumer creates their own identity while still following guidelines from the professionals.

I think Adidas does a good job trying to sell their product while remaining creative. They show athletes that are popular in the sport of soccer speaking about how they play in Adidas cleats so we, the consumer must do the same. This tactic is common in advertising athletic footwear, but I feel as if Adidas did something different by creating so many visuals that represent how you should play with the cleats on. The product looks visually appealing as well because the colors used in the advertisement are the same as the colors of the cleats. A lot of them are bright and stand out and I think standing out on the field is what Adidas hopes to accomplish for the customer.

When you think of painting with oil it could sound really intimidating at first. Oil paints provide deeper colors and are thicker than acrylic paints. They do take longer to dry but they are overall better quality and blend a lot better than cheaper paints. What first comes to mind for me when I first started to paint with oils I thought of beautiful masterpieces that are in art museums. I have been doing art for as long as I can remember and painting used to not be my strong suit. I started out doing pencil drawings and I started exploring the world of paint. These are a few tips I have learned from doing art over the years.

When first starting out I suggest finding a photo for reference. For this piece, I wanted to do a gender-bend and put a man in a dress. Your art can have a meaning of you can paint simply to paint. Most of the art that I do has meaning in it. I wanted to question society’s restraints on the genders and show it is ok for a man to be more feminine presenting and vice versa for women. A lot of times I take many photos to put together. So I found a photo I liked and I wanted to make the background. I found a model in the position I wanted then I found another photo of someone wearing a dress. I mentally put it together of how I wanted everything to be placed. To create the picture I wanted on my phone I used the app Pic Collage. Below there will be a link to the app I used to stitch the photos together.

Then if you look at the photo above there is a grid drawn. I suggest making your grid off the dimensions of the painting. For this one, it was 7 inches by 9 inches. I took a ruler and measured out the inches to create the grid. Then I used an app on my phone called the Grid Drawing tool to map out the proportions of the model. You can change the settings on the app to fit the grid you are looking for. This app is available for ios and apple products. At the bottom of this post, I will have a link to the app I used and other links that should be helpful.

So this is where the fun part starts! Before you start to paint find a space with good ventilation. Oil paint can be toxic so you can get lightheaded in a small confined place with little ventilation. You can go ahead and erase the grid and what is left is what you will be painting. You don’t need too many supplies. On the left of the photo is a jar of terpenoid oil. This acts as a thinner if you want to thin out your paint. There are so many different types of oil paints you can use but for this painting, I used Castle Art oil paints. Then I have a simple palate but at the right top of the photo, I have a piece of glass. I prefer to use glass because it provides a bigger surface area to start mixing paints. Then you can use paintbrushes or a palate knife. For this painting, I used both a paintbrush and a palette knife

First, you need to do an underpainting. An underpainting is where you just pay down your general colors. For this, I thinned out my paints a lot with terpenoid oil. For this, I used my brushes. This helps a lot for beginners who are intimidated by canvas and is a good way to overcome the fear of messing up. As you can see the painting doesn’t start out all that pretty. Your goal for this step is to simply map out the colors.

Once you have your underpainting down you can start to lay down your colors. I suggest starting out with your shadows then going towards your lights. For this, you can use a brush but I decided to do a less controlled painting and used a palette knife. Palate knives are great if you have trouble when it comes to letting go of control and they will add movement throughout your work. It also will give your painting more dimension. Also, you don’t have to thin your paints out for this part. This is where you will start to really mix your colors and add your shadows. I suggest not being shy with color. worst-case scenario if you do not like how it looks you can scrape off the paint. That is why oil paint is so great they are thick and easier to simply wipe off.

Then you want to continue to layer your paint and experiment with color. Your painting doesn’t have to look perfect to be a good painting. As you can see in this painting there is not a lot of blending just a lot of layers of color. There are so many paintings in museums that are far from perfect. When painting the best tip I ever learned was beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

These are some links to other resources!

Grid Draw App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/grid-drawing-tool-for-artists/id1373800089

Pic Collage: https://piccollage.com/

Castle Art’s website, they offer a wide variety of art supplies: https://castlearts.com/gclid=Cj0KCQiAoNWOBhCwARIsAAiHnEjJUFCC716ngwqNq_euNHE4sp8KU0yCAjTVUjRqdXaMYKDD8tR_7AaAntUEALw_wcB

Here is another guide for beginning oil painters: https://drawpaintacademy.com/oil-painting/

A big part of everyones New year resolutions every year is to stay healthy whether that be to diet or workout. In reality you can’t have a good diet without working out and you can’t “look healthy” without a good diet. Diets these days can be ridiculous with calorie count and telling you what you can eat and cannot. Really a good diet is what makes you not only look good but feel good. Everyone know that you have to take in a good about of fruits, veggies, protein, grains and dairy daily to fuel your body but that is also different for everyone because no two people are the same. I recommend going to your doctor and asking them what they recommend for a diet, supplements, and etc to keep your body healthy. On the workout side, there are tons of workouts online and I mean tons. As an athlete it is very important to stay psychically fit and healthy but also eat the best foods to keep you fueled all throughout the day. A lot of people think that loosing weight is just loosing fat but there is a difference in loosing fat and loosing weight. LifeHacker says “Your body contains different tissues. Fat is one; muscle is another.” and that is completely true. You need stay active and workout to build muscle which helps loose weight and also give the visual of looking more fit. You also need to eat the food and drinks to keep your body healthy, I think that LifeHacker said it very well when they said “When you don’t eat enough food, your body uses its own tissues to fuel you.” Meaning that if you don’t eat enough food your body will fight against you and make you weak. Personally I believe that you need to eat 3 meals a day along with healthy snacks, which can include protein shakes or bars. While watching calories is a big part of loosing weight it also doesn’t mean that you need to cut calories and or keep count of the, in many cases doing so can lead to eating disorders. A really good way to start and remain eating healthy is to make a meal plan. Basically you make a bulk of a few meals that have all the necessities that you need to intake like vegetables, fruits, proteins, grains, and of course daily. This way you have meals planned out and they are so much easier and healthy. Another large part of eating healthy is to avoid sugary drinks and instead stick to water along with eating smaller meals more often. When eating smaller meals more often this makes sure that you don’t over eat and also give your body time to digest.

There are a lot of ways to boost exercise motivation but a few that I really try to stick to are the following. Number 1 would be to lighten up your goals, this is very important because you don’t want to start with hard goals, you want to grow your goals after you’ve reached one and make the next harder this way you don’t burn yourself out fast. Number 2 would be to track your progress, this way you can check your improvements whether that be running faster, doing more reps, or just working out more often and by seeing the improvement it will make you want to keep going. Number 3 would be to only focus on yourself and not others, this is not in a selfish way, but everyone knows it is very easy to compare yourself to others but really try not to. It is very hard not to compare your working out really try not to look at the people around you because there will always be someone that is fitter, faster, and more flexible than you so by comparing yourself to them does you no justice. Focusing on you is the only way to make you feel better. Number 4 is to find fun in working out, by having more fun it will make you more motivated. Everyone loves to do things that you enjoy, so always keep it fun and change things up here and there. Number 5 would be to reward yourself. Give yourself a cheat meal, give yourself a day off here and there, give yourself time to rest but even actively rest, buy yourself those new gym clothes, literally anything that will bring you joy. A big part to want to keep staying healthy and active is to have fun. By having fun you will want to stay doing what your doing, so keep working out, keep eating good and keep pushing yourself to be a better version.

Skwarecki, Beth. “How to Lose Weight without Buying into Diet Culture.” Lifehacker, 5 Jan. 2022, https://lifehacker.com/how-to-lose-weight-without-buying-into-any-more-diet-bu-1847818364. g

There are countless places where I have gone to eat and sat there deciding if I would like to come back because of good service, good food, or just a great atmosphere. I could do multiple reviews on restaurants that I absolutely love, however I’m going to do this review where it hits right at home. Literally. Lovells Place in West Point, Virginia is a small bar and grill that was opened by Michelle Lovell in 2013 who used to own Damon’s Bar and Grill in Gloucester, Virginia. I have been going to Lovell’s since it opened because it is right down the street from my house and have loved it since. It is a very welcoming place and will always give entertainment with the dollar beer and karaoke on Thursdays. Many people that come through Lovell’s will be the usual crowd that you would see each time visiting since West Point is such a small town. 

Michelle is known to be the main cook of the restaurant and is one of the best in my opinion. They have a fantastic Bacon Cheese Burger, Memphis BBQ Pizza, Tsunami Shrimp, West Point Krabby Patty, and many more items on their menu. However, my go-to every time is the Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich with their homemade chips and ranch and also their Buffalo Wings. There are some restaurants where you could get the same meal and it would taste similar, but Lovells has their own taste since most foods are homemade with Michelle’s own recipes. You usually won’t hear any bad reviews from Lovell’s because of the friendly people that mostly know each other and great food that is served. Lovell’s also has their own Sunday brunch that they host with all homemade food. It may seem expensive when it comes to their breakfast food, but it has been one of the best breakfast experiences I have had with an amazing omelet, home fries, toast, and bacon.

Each time you go to the restaurant it fills you with happy bellies and emotions. Although, the food is not the only best thing at the restaurant. You can find many of the locals hanging out on the weekends drinking beer, playing cornhole and pool, dancing to great music and even having a birthday or party for a special occasion. The restaurant also has many bands, including my fathers, that play every once in a while. It has turned into the go-to place in West Point since it opened and has given everyone in this small town something to do for once. 

Lovells has always been a great place to get food and have a good time, especially when you are of age to have a drink. Something interesting will always happen on a weekend and will never be an upsetting experience. It has a great atmosphere and great food which is why I recommend visiting this small town restaurant that every West Point local will recommend to you.