HearingItFromHollander

I travel quite frequently. Credit where credit is due, I would not travel as much if not for my parents. They feel the necessity for their kids to learn, explore and see the world. Most of our travel was within the U.S. and mostly along the West Coast, going up to Alaska where I have a lot of family, or traveling long road trips to national parks. They do it not only for me and my sister to learn, but also for some quality family bonding time. Summer of 2024 was an incredible change. We would be traveling to Europe. This wasn’t much of a shock, my parents had been discussing it for a while, but to actually know it would be happening was an exciting change.  My parents planned for each of us to choose a place to visit. My mom opted for Barcelona, where she had gone before and wanted to go back. My dad went with Scotland, where he found out most of his ancestry was from. My sister chose Northern Ireland because of the show Derry Girls . I struggled initially, as there were many place...

  A rooftop showdown as the Shadow Collective (a group of outlaw mercenaries) is surrounded by local law enforcement after a heist. All hope seems to be lost for them as the officer in charge calls to tell them to stand down. As the Shadow Collective seems to give up, the scene cuts to a ship behind the law enforcement officers with steam pouring out, creating an ominous picture.  Lucasfilm Ltd. / Via Lucasfilm Ltd.      Dramatic choral music plays as a cloaked figure steps out of the ship and faces the law enforcement. It’s then that the lightsaber ignites a red blade springing forth. Only then do we see Maul’s face as he takes out the law enforcement officers with ease. In the final shot of this battle we see him jump towards the camera swinging his lightsaber in a wide arc as the title card takes over: Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord . Currently the No. 1 show streaming on Disney+, Maul has taken the stage as one of the best Star Wars shows ever. While not...

When I was a senior in high school I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I only applied to one college — Oregon State University. I dual-enrolled at LBCC and then I felt I was ready. I would go to college for four years, major in fisheries and wildlife and then get a job with ODFW or the National Park Service. That would be my future. That is not what happened.  As I would find out, this is the case for a lot of people. When I started college I quickly realized I didn’t have things quite as figured out as I thought I did. I struggled. A lot.  For the first time in my life I had true, absolute freedom. My parents had always given me quite a bit of leeway, but they were always watching over my shoulder, helping me stay focused like a guiding light. They were still there, asking me how I was doing, if my classes were going well, how my grades were.  I lied. I told them it was fine, I told them I was passing. On the exterior I managed to put up a front, but inte...

       Howdy y'all. It has been a while but wow,  a lot has changed. My last introductory blog was exactly 6 months ago on October 5th. As I write this now it is April 5th. Having originally been dual enrolled at LBCC and OSU I can confirm I have plans to do so again. I changed my major from fisheries and wildlife to secondary education and will likely end up double majoring in english or journalism.       Last October was my first time taking classes after a long break as I was trying to figure out what it was I wanted to do with my life. After about a term I realized I did want to change my major, and when reflecting on where I saw myself in the future, strangely enough it was teaching. Teaching was something I hadn't really considered before but something I could see myself being good at.  Old Photo of a squirrel I took while on a walk.      I have continued to read, and hike, though I unfortunately haven't made the tim...

My grandfather wrote for The Register Guard for thirty-nine years. He retired well before I was born but I can remember countless classes in which my teachers would bring him up and ask if we had any relation. At the time I didn’t really care, I was in grade school and I didn’t read the newspaper—aside from the comics of course. Even though this was the case, I found some pride in knowing my grandfather was a local celebrity—you can even find a cutout of him displayed at the Eugene Airport. It wasn’t really until recently, early this year when helping move my grandparents into a retirement home that I really started to care and put much thought into it as I came across some of his old stuff. As I dug deeper and looked into The Register Guard and newspapers in general, I began to notice the vast changes to newspaper stories and quality. This is in part due to two major reasons. The first of these has to do with progressing technology. Many people now get their news online, be it...