Pet Guardians keep cold dogs warm in East St. Louis

Ashley Hinkle, Alestle Photo Editor

by Ashley Hinkle, Alestle Photo Editor

Brrr…

When it’s this cold outside, you’ve heard on the news countless of times to bring your pets inside. But what about those animals, particularly dogs, that have no place to go? What do they do? I took a drive around East St. Louis around 8 a.m. in the morning with PJ Hightower, with Gateway Pet Guardians, to find out.

The stray dogs hide in abandoned houses and burrow into the ground to stay warm. This isn’t the lifestyle of a king; it’s barely and barely a lifestyle to survive.  And how do they get food? Well thanks to PJ, Thanks to Hightower and the Gateway Pet Guardians, the dogs are fed every morning with food donations from various organizations and individuals from the area.

I rode along with Hightower and Jamie Case on a Saturday morning and took photos of all the dogs they fed.  We loaded Hightower’s car with three bags of dog food and a bag of treats. It was a very cold morning, so cold that we whisted for the dogs from the heat of the car.

Hightower knows everything about these dogs in East St. Louis. She knows where they live, who mates with who, and even when the females menstrual cycles are. She goes out every morning to feed the dogs that are still on the street because they don’t have foster homes to go to, so they have to wait a little while longer.  Most of the dogs we fed would not get close enough for us to pet them. They are very skeptical of interacting with people. We would lay out a pile of food and be on our way. Although they were wary, the dogs weren’t vicious.  Some were even gracious enough to let the birds eat, too. 

I wanted to take every single one of them home with me. I am a huge animal lover and have been wanting a new dog for some time. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be getting a rescue dog after my experience. These dogs need warm homes and individuals to accept them into their hearts and show them the meaning of love. After all dog is man’s–or woman’s–best friend.

Gateway Pet Guardians are always looking for foster parents to house dogs while they await a more permanent home. Fostering is the first step to getting the dogs off of the streets.

While on my ride Case told me about a girl who, on her twelfth birthday, called Case to let her know that instead of her friends bringing her gifts that year, she asked them to bring doggie gifts for her to donate. If only all of us were so thoughtful.

Coming up for Gateway Guardians:

Gateway Pet Guardians’ Mixed Breed Art Auction, 4 to 8 p.m., Feb. 28 at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood

Digital memories can’t compare with ‘good ol’ days’

by Liz Spihlman, Alestle Copy Editor

In the back of the basement, in what we call the “junk room,” there are a few boxes full of letters that my great-grandfather sent to my great-grandmother while he was in Germany with the U.S. Army. I have read a select few of them just out of curiosity, and, in doing so, I have experienced a part of his personality I would have never otherwise known.

Grandma kept all of Grandpa’s letters, and I understand why. They signify the strength of their love, and the growth of their relationship. These letters are an everlasting reminder of how things used to be. Grandpa passed away on Dec. 28, and his letters are one of the things we have left to hold onto.

However, my generation doesn’t have such a way to keep memories. Sure, we have photos, but more often than not everything we do is only viewed on a computer. There is no physical evidence of the things that have happened in our lives. When I have children and grandchildren someday, they aren’t going to be able to open up a file and see my meaningful or funny conversations with friends or a significant other. There will be no such “letters” because everything we say nowadays is done so quickly, ineloquently and absentmindedly that it’s not worth saving.

I fear that when I am old I won’t have any physical keepsakes, save a few photos, to remind me of the “good ol’ days.” I love to write and would love to have a box of letters of my own someday, but it seems like a strange dream to have these days. I have tried keeping a memoir, but it gets lost in the shuffle, and I lose days and weeks, and then it seems incomplete.

I understand you can e-mail the same words that you can write on a piece of paper, but there is something about holding that handwritten letter in your hand that is much more satisfying than reading an e-mail. It is a fragile, physical object that you can stash away, post on the fridge or put in a scrapbook; and it will always bring a feeling of nostalgia to whomever stumbles across it.

How will you record your memories – the ones that can’t be photographed?

‘Unbelievable’ iPad unbelievably overrated

Sean Roberts, Alestle Photographer

by Sean Roberts, Alestle Photographer

In a video that resembled something you would expect from a proponent of Jonestown, a glossy-eyed Apple employee announced… the highly anticipated, highly hyped iPad. It is being hailed as a revolutionary new “magical” device, and at an “unbelievable” price.

What’s really unbelievable is that anyone would actually spend up to $829 on this. In what amounts to a mix of total arrogance and complete unoriginality, the iPad looks like a giant iTouch, and with huge oversights in software, this will likely a big bust for Apple.

While Apple is clearly targeting the ‘Average Joe’ consumer rather than the most technical of users, the average consumer doesn’t have much to look forward to either. If you’re thinking of getting a new portable computer for light activities, just get a netbook. Here are six things I can do on a netbook that you cannot do on a iPad.

1. Do two things at once. For some time, all commercially successful modern computers have allowed multitasking. It’s such an intuitive task that most consumers would not even think about. Though smartphones have been stuck with a lack of multitasking, those performance and stability issues resulted because of the complex tasks on something as small as a phone.

In what looks like a direct port from the iPod, Apple put the same lack of multitasking on their iPad as they did their iPhones. This is a huge mistake. Even Average Joe Consumer wants to do two things at once. Apple included a relatively fast processor in the new iPad, but unfortunately, we can’t use it.

2. Replace the battery. For anyone who has owned a laptop, you know that battery life is not forever. After two years, my laptop lasts a good 30 minutes without a charge. With a laptop, however, or almost any non Apple product, I can go out and buy a battery any time I want. Not so with an Apple product. I have to send it to them for THEM to replace — and it will cost me a lot more money.

3. Anything with a webcam.  One fun thing to do on a computer with a webcam is make goofy photos and videos of you and your friends. In fact, it’s become a very popular feature on most netbooks and portable devices. Most people expect at least the ability to video chat with friends and family on a webcam, especially Average Joe. Unfortunately, the iPad is lacking a front-facing camera, a back-facing camera or a camera at all.

4. Go out to eat. After spending up to $800 dollars on features I already have on my phone, I’m going to have to stick to the ramen for a while. If I wanted a portable device, I would buy a netbook and save on the budget. You can easily find a similar netbook for around $400. Why I or any average consumer would spend up to twice as much for half the functionality?

5. Air conditioning… or anything else with a USB hookup. With no USB ports — in fact, the only data input port is a proprietary Apple port — good luck attaching your camera, printer, or USB air conditioner to this media device,

6. Feel like a man. The feminine hygiene jokes will never leave the iPad. Personally, I’ve got no interest in carrying a pad around everywhere I go.

Special Mention: While the iPad and netbooks both share in the ability to read books, both of them do it poorly. Unfortunately, Apple is making the iPad out to be an eBook reader for the casual consumer. However, staring at a bright screen for hours causes eye strain, which was the same issue that prevented computers, notebooks, and netbooks from being popular eBook readers. This problem led to innovations like eInk found in Amazon’s Kindle, a far more popular eBook reader than any computer.

I was almost looking forward to Apple’s new netbook— it’s a great idea, in theory — the iPad was a huge disappointment. My recommendation: if you’re planning to buy an iPad, wait until more devices like it are release. Plenty are planned, and I’m willing to bet you won’t be nearly as disappointed.

If you didn’t vote, don’t complain

Rosie Githinji, Alestle Opinion Editor

by Rosie Githinji, Alestle Opinion Editor

With the primary elections going to the polls today, one may wonder why they should even bother to vote.

Most people don’t think they can make a difference in who may or may not be elected. But one of the problems with that school of thinking is that if you don’t vote then you have no right to complain about how you think the government could do better.

I have already voted, and it was weeks ago. But for those who do not choose to vote early, then the polls are usually open by 6 a.m. and close around 6 p.m.

Why not vote? If you are unhappy with anything from local government to your student body representatives then when you are given the chance to vote, do it.

If people continue to think they cannot do anything to change politics then nothing is ever going to happen to change it.

Voting does not take long, and then you will have free range to complain about what you don’t like about the state representatives or county reps. If you don’t care enough to voice your opinion through voting, then those of us who do take the time to vote shouldn’t have to listen when you are complaining about your political problems.

The Word of Obama and The Word of Bush

by Catherine Klene, Alestle Online Editor

President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union speech Tuesday, and moments after it was over, every news network from CNN to Fox News to the BBC had in-depth analysis… sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. (I don’t care how many magic boards or Twitter followers CNN has, I really don’t think they are relevant to explaining the speech.)

I’m not a political expert, and I won’t pretend to be one.  However, I am a writer, and it’s interesting to note which words are chosen and which audience is trying to be convinced.

Call what follows an amateur political experiment.  I created word clouds of Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech and President George W. Bush’s 2008 State of the Union speech.  (For those who don’t know, word clouds are a computer generated mashup of the most frequently used words in a block of text.  The bigger the word in the cloud, the more frequently it’s used.)

Again, not an expert, nor am I Wolf Blitzer, but feel free to drawn your own conclusions from the word clouds below.

President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address

Obama’s Top 10 Words:

1. American   25
2. You              25
3. Who             25
4. From           23
5. Know           22
6. Economy    22
7. We               22
8. Plan             21
9. Every           20
10. People         19

President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address

Bush’s Top 10 Words:

1. America     30
2. Must           29
3. Congress    27
4. You             26
5. Them          26
6. Year            24
7. New            24
8. Us               22
9. More          22
10. Iraq           21