Inside of Rocky's Grill and Den

A look at some of the selections offered at Rocky's Grill, in the SRU University Union.


Off to the side of Rocky's Grill is Rocky's Den, a lounge area where students can relax and hang out.


Student Lauren Faulkner shares her thoughts about the atmosphere in Rocky's.


Student Jesse Funk expresses his opinion about the food served at Rocky's.

Reaching the inner child

Every day, journalists from all forms of the media are always searching for things of interest that may potentially lead to a good story. We're taught to look at our surroundings and look even more closely for the unusual. Without having to look closely, I can tell you for a fact that in terms of my current surroundings – being the living room of my apartment – I can tell you that right away, I spotted five Nerf darts strewn across the top of my coffee table. With that observation fresh in mind, I could come up with an unusual concept for a story about, say, college students fighting with Nerf guns on campus, and the various types of games involved. But I digress.

Whenever driving along William Flynn Highway/Route 8 between Slippery Rock and Butler, I always pass a building that is designed much like a spaceship. This building alongside the road is the home to Playthings Etc., a family-owned and family-operated toy store – that much I already knew. But finally, curiosity got the best of me. I parked my car in the small parking lot out front, and made my way inside . . .

Upon setting foot inside, the atmosphere of Playthings Etc. blew me away. It was as if I stepped on board to a spaceship – a kind of spaceship that happened to be fitted with aisle after aisle of toys instead of computers and equipment, and occupied by scurrying, giggling children instead of crew members.

Playthings Etc. owner Nadine Shingleton said the store's inventory is meant to appeal to people of all ages. The inventory of the store includes items such as building blocks, collectibles, crafts and equipment for recreational sports.

According to Shingleton, advertising is done through the media from time to time, but their most successful form of advertising has been word of mouth.

It's not hard to see why, either. Between the store's whimsical atmosphere, their friendly and accommodating staff, and their wide selection, I entered and left the store with a smile on my face, and feeling like I was a kid again. Oh, and I left with a set of building blocks.

Playthings Etc. is open Mondays through Saturdays except holidays from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Two sides to every story

When writing an article or a column that explores a potentially heated subject, it's almost always a good idea to read into the ideologies of the opposing perspectives – that is, the backing arguments behind those who support the subject, and those who oppose the topic of discussion.

Take the salaries of professional sports players and actors, for instance. When writing an opinion piece on this subject matter (that is if you find yourself in this position), ask yourself, "Do I feel that professional sports players and actors are overpaid? Why or why not?"

On one end of the court (couldn't resist the pun, so deal with it), there are those who argue that these athletes and actors are paid too much, based on ethical reasoning and economic importance of their occupations. The collective argument on this side, is that salaries and contract earnings of sports players are far too high, because of reasons including intense personal greed on the part of the athletes, and legal action taken by their agents.

On the other hand, some argue that the amount actors and professional athletes are paid is perfectly justified, due to the difficulty of reaching the professional level in sports and Hollywood. People on this side of the argument would raise the points that these professionals are an asset in making money for an entire business and local economy, not just a team. Additionally, this side of the argument raises points about athletes being paid high amounts because their names sell tickets, and because overpayment is only possible when a particular market cannot support those who are involved without losing money.


As it stands, this debate seems as though it will only continue to persist without progressive action on either side. Until then, however, movies will still be made for the big screen, and tickets will continue to be sold for ball games.

To interview a medical genius

Picture yourself as a journalist for a couple of minutes.

You show up to the office for work one morning, and upon punching in at the time clock, your editor approaches you and tells you that you're going to be writing a profile piece about a highly-acclaimed medical expert – an extremely intelligent specialist, who just so happened to make several groundbreaking discoveries throughout his/her career. As you head to your desk, the editor stops you once more to tell you that you have an interview with said medical expert in two hours.

With time ticking away, what's the first thing you do in order to prepare for the interview?

If your answer didn't have anything to do with researching the background of the interviewee, I'd be highly surprised. After all, one primary responsibility one would hold as a journalist is that one must always conduct extensive and thorough research, in order to obtain and report accurate facts for your story.

For example, let's pretend I have an upcoming interview with highly-respected neurologist, Dr. V.S. Ramachandran. Before I continue with my example, let's take a look at his background . . .

This is Dr. Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran – the "Marco Polo of neuroscience"

One of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2011, and a writer of over 180 scholarly journals and articles, Dr. V.S. Ramachandran has changed the way we perceive the human brain. Shortly after receiving his M.D. from Stanley Medical College in Madras, India, Dr. Ramachandran moved to the University of Cambridge to study human psychophysics and neurophysiology, and received his Ph.D. in 1978. While known throughout the scientific community for his various works and studies in neuroscience and visual perception, his most famous accomplishment was his discovery that the source of "phantom limb pain" does not emanate from the peripheral nerves near the amputated limb, but from changes in the brain itself. To alleviate and, in some cases, even cure the pain from phantom limbs, Dr. Ramachandran would place a mirror to reflect a patient's existing limb in such a manner that would make it appear as the missing limb. As the patient rearranges his/her limb into a more comfortable position, the reflected limb appears to move along at the same time. In turn, this would change the brain's skewed image of the phantom limb, and in most cases, the patient's pain would cease.

 An example of what is known as "mirror therapy"

To prepare for my interview with Dr. Ramachandran, I would conduct some background research on him and his accomplishments with the use of websites, such as:

1) Time – A highly-recognized and reputable magazine in the industry, Time is an excellent news agency with published articles that are highly informative and well-written, yet relatively easy to read and understand.

2) University of California, San Diego's Center for Brain and Cognition – As this is where he is employed, this website for UCSD's Center for Brain and Cognition has his summarized biography, as well as a list of his scholarly works.

3) University of California, Los Angeles – In some instances, one has to dig over a broad range to find more details regarding the subject. In this case, I was able to find some more details on where and when Dr. Ramachandran went to school, from an old university website for a colloquium held at UCLA in 1998.

4) National Public Radio – For many years, NPR has offered its listeners various radio programs of all sorts of topics. In this instance, I chose to use NPR as a source, so I would know what to expect in terms of how he handles himself in interviews (i.e. how loud/quiet he talks, how talkative he is in conversation).

5) Mirror Box Therapy – This is a website dedicated to mirror box therapy, a form of mirror therapy, and has various posts for browsers to learn more about how it works. As Dr. Ramachandran pioneered mirror therapy to treat pain from phantom limbs, I decided to do more research on the form of therapy, itself.

Now that I've done some basic background research on Dr. Ramachandran, I would then have my questions and be ready for the big interview. But with so much ground to cover, and so many questions to ask, I might wonder to myself – "What should I ask him first? Where do I begin?"

To stick with the example, in which I was assigned to write a profile piece on Dr. Ramachandran, I think the first question I would ask him would be something to the effect of, "How did your interest in researching the effects of phantom limb pain and how it can be treated come about?" As the profile piece's angle would be more focused toward his accomplishments in this particular sect of neuroscience, I would ask this question first to get more information about how he got interested in this phenomena, and how he came about the discovery of mirror therapy.

All in all, it takes a significant amount of work to prepare yourself for an interview with a medical expert, especially if the story is about the expert and his/her accomplishments in their field. But with the proper level of background research from the proper sources, one could pass through the interview with ease and put together an impressive story for the readers.