Ok, you’ve done some research? And? Research can be flawed, but you never hear people say, “what does it mean to be a woman?” that alone is a double standard, but let’s seriously have a conversation because how this theory or notion is addressed is important for societal reflection. Look, there is no secret we live in a society where gender roles have become normalized and they are expected. If you look like a male, you are expected to act like one. If you look like a woman you are expected to act like one.

These norms have followed us since the dawn of time, and that is where the danger really comes into play that not many people understand or fathom. Yes, we had the MeToo moment which was great because it took a hammer to the male dominated Entertainment industry that abused its power to get the things they wanted. In the midst of that, many people argued that society killed the idea of what it meant to be a man.

Look, there is nothing wrong with a guy going up to a girl and asking her out. The problem is when the guy is creepy or weird about it. That is different. Then we have that issue of toxic masculinity, which does exist and it is indeed a discussion that has to be had. How would I best describe it? Making it appear that all manly things matter, and the male has to exert his authority and dominance at all time. A lot of people argue this with a ton of the male podcasts that are out there, where issues of the male role in the household, the workforce and relationships tend to be front-and-center.

There are situations where you have the male being misogynist, locker room chatter and adhering to social norms. I know plenty of men who do NOT partake in sports. They don’t care to watch and it’s just not their thing. That DOES NOT make them less of a man because of that. All males are not made the same and that is the problem with societal norms. They need to be challenged more.

This issue is so potent with men and emotions. We’re told as kids, to man up and to not cry, but the moment you do you’re labeled a sissy and less of a man as a result. I recall this year several months ago, I broke down in tears in the worst way possible. I’m not a crier, never have been, but the pressures of life, dealing with a sick parent, just broke me. I balled and I had to let it out, and I did it with my mom of all people. Did I feel embarrassed absolutely, but she reassured me there was nothing to be ashamed of, but the question to ask is why was I even embarrassed to cry in the first-place people?

Think about that. The world of social media and the internet have made things worse because we’re spending too much time online and not as much time ACTUALLY interacting with people face-to-face, as a result many men are losing social skills, so they don’t know how to interact with the opposite sex. We constantly say we have to challenge the norms of what we claim or not to claim that defines a man. The labeling element has to stop and that is something that many people have still reframed from embracing.

I think the key is to stop thinking what society defines a man to be and utilize your definition of a man. You don’t have to adhere to the norms that society believes everyone should agree to. There is not a single man that is exactly like the other. We are all different and how we define that term should be up to us, not the rest of the world.

The post What Does It ‘Mean’ To Be A Man? appeared first on Canyon News.

I never thought it was so much about the deal, it was the element, the people that made it special. That has all changed. In the year 2025, you still have Black Friday, but its more like an entire month thing now than a single day or two. To be honest, I enjoy it. Why? It prevents you from having to deal with the massive crowds.

When I was a teen and in my early 20s, I could handle the crowds. I braved them; I relished in them. Today, not so much. My patience has waned thin and perhaps that is a problem I have to work on or it could be the people in our society who are just assholes nowadays. You cannot bring 20 items to the register and ask the cashier to check all of them before you decide if you want to purchase them or not. Really NOT a wise thing to do when you have 50 people in line waiting to check out.

I also find it baffling when people are trying to return items at retailers during the Black Friday weekend. You know, you absolutely know people are shopping like a frenzy to get deals. Why not wait till Monday or the following week when everyone is back to work and the chaos has calmed down significantly? I mean it makes logical sense, wouldn’t you argue, or no? The problem with trying to get a great deal for the holiday is those so called ‘deals’ are not really deals.

LOOK at the regular price compared to the sale price. If you’re saving $2 to $3 off the regular price, you’re not saving anything. I have a saving that if it’s not 50 percent or more off, it’s not a deal. I would even argue 50 percent is not really a deal in my opinion. However, to each is their own. The goal of a deal is to save so much money that what you save purchasing one item, allows you to purchase 2-3 more additional items.

The frustration with shopping is you have too many people casual about it. Yes, it is expected to be fun, by why go to the mall if you’re just going to walk around, be in people’s way and not purchase anything? I see way too much of that in recent years. Stay home, shop online, utilize Amazon as so many people do. The kids let’s not even go there. LEAVE YOUR KIDS AT HOME DURING BLACK FRIDAY! So many parents just allow their kids to run amuck without a care in the world and if they get lost people: did you think about that?

Its utter mayhem at some malls or retailers and the parking situation let’s not even discuss that headache. One local mall it’s so bad, I can’t even use words to explain it, even if I wanted to. I know I’m sounding like a cranky old man, but the truth of the situation is, the shopping experience has changed, and it feels like it will continue to evolve.

The frustration might be because I waited too late to start or perhaps my desire to deal with people in person has slowly waned more and more as I have aged. Maybe I need to take a breather, reflect and take a new approach to holiday shopping because whatever I’m doing it is not working.

The post The Shopping Frustration Begins appeared first on Canyon News.

The year 2025 feels a bit different than previous years because so many families have been impacted by the economy and inflation. The cost of food is very high; let’s call a spade a spade, and with that knowledge people are cutting a bit back. You’re purchasing the essentials and everything else, if the budget allows it, you purchase it.

I have to agree with that. I helped with Thanksgiving cooking the last 3 years, and for 2025, I just don’t think I want to deal with that headache. Why? It’s a lot of work, much more work than most people realize. Not only do you have to go to the grocery store to shop, you have to plan a menu, and you also have to work around your busy schedule to prep food, a guest look, cook and clean the home if you’re serving as host.

For as long as I can remember I have ALWAYS worked Thanksgiving Day. I think there has ONLY been 1 year in the past 20 plus years, where I did NOT work on Thanksgiving Day. It has always been the norm for me, and it will be the norm in 2025. I have to work, and I do plan to do a small amount of cooking to ensure my mother and father-in-law have a meal and alleviate that stress on her.

The prep has started this week. Why? I did some grocery shopping, but the grocery store didn’t have a lot of the items that I needed. To my surprise, now the store that I shopped has the items I purchased at a much cheaper rate. Ugh. I’m trying to save money America, and every single buck, matters to my pocketbook, it really does. Nothing makes me annoyed when you want to do grocery shopping and every single thing you need or want to purchase, you cannot find or they’re out of stock.

No to mention with some items being more expensive in 2025 than in 2024, you have to decide if that is a dish you want to craft or perhaps leave off the list this year. you can’t always spend more, sometimes you have to cut back because let’s face money has to be reserved for actual emergencies. We just binge a bit more on Thanksgiving than most days.

Take this advice from someone who has worked at a grocery store, you don’t want to visit the store the week of Thanksgiving, especially on the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It will be beyond a madhouse; it will be chaos that you cannot even imagine. In addition, you will NOT find what you need, and you will be stressed senseless.

Start prepping those dishes Sunday before Thanksgiving. You might think, of course, I have plenty of time, the reality of the matter is you do NOT. You do not have as much time as you think you do. Every day and every minute counts. The last thing you want to do is place yourself in a pickle where you’re doing so much the day before and the day of Thanksgiving that you don’t get to rest or relax as you had hoped to.

With that said, if you’re hosting, the house has to be cleaned, and you want it to be pristine. Why? You might have family members staying at your home, and you always have that family member that is extra perceptive about what you have done and what you haven’t done to your home. It can indeed be annoying but prevent the chatter or ignore it the best you can, and if you don’t want to deal with the cleaning yourself, you can always hire someone to do it for you.

The worst thing you can do when it comes to the Thanksgiving holiday is procrastinate. It tends to sneak up on you in ways that you never imagined. You wait too late and its Thanksgiving Day and you’re slaving in the kitchen for hours and hours. Why is that bad? By the time dinner gets flowing, you’re exhausted and completely checked out. Where is the fun in that?

The post The Thanksgiving Prep Mayhem appeared first on Canyon News.

I do not have the greatest relationship with my youngest brother. He is a bit of an a**hole. So much to the point that I limit interaction with him, whenever possible. The stories I can tell, they are horrifying, but I will give you slices of that mayhem so you can understand where I am coming from. I am someone who has six siblings.

We are all different in our own types and we all sort of have an archetype. One that defines you as a kid, and one that defines you to some degree as an adult. It is weird because sometimes the scars you earn as a kid, do follow you into your adulthood. My brother refuses to acknowledge his bad behavior, and when you call him out on it, he refuses to address it. I’ve never seen someone so unmotivated to do anything when it comes to life I cannot explain.

We cannot have a conversation without things getting heated because he’s either drunk or high most of the time. I used to engage in the arguments, but then I realized that was something he wanted. Misery loves company, but I have since learned to stop. DO NOT ENGAGE! DO NOT GIVE THEM WHAT THEY want. It raises that question why do siblings tend to have rivalries? Is it just common practice? Is it jealously? Personality clashes? Who is the superior sibling? Who is the most respected sibling?

Truth be told it can be a ton of things to say a least, but there is always a rivalry. I know some of my siblings are jealous of me. Why? I guess because I’m not like them. I don’t drink for starters. It is something I have never been accustomed to doing and it is something I have no interest in doing. Alcoholism is prevalent on both sides of my family, so could that be a reason why? Maybe, maybe not, but I just don’t care to have a hangover or a meddling headache like some who indulge in alcohol a little too much.

There has been peer pressure to indulge, but I’m strong enough to hold my own. Perhaps the one troupe that annoys me to death, is the ‘Golden Child’ comparison. I would NOT consider myself a ‘Golden Child;’ being this person who is so polished and perfect mistakes never happen. I just believe in following a straight line and doing what you’re supposed to do, so if that makes me a ‘Black Sheep’ compared to my other siblings so be it.

It used to annoy me dearly, but I’ve learned to embrace it. My siblings are going to poke, and at times I do poke back when I get annoyed. However, at the same time, the reality of the situation is some siblings have rivalries that are just wickedly cruel and nasty. Has it gotten to that degree with my siblings? Not really, but there have been some situations that have made me say, “Enough is enough.”

I gotta take a break from some siblings; the dynamic and nastiness is just way too much for my mental state. Why? Siblings can indeed break you in the worst way possible, and you can’t just sever it. Its blood, and that’s the thing about blood relatives especially siblings; they will cut you deep and you’ll have to grapple with rather to forgive them or cut them off completely.

Not easy to cut people off, because while you’ll sever ties for a while, you will always come back to some middle ground. However, the moment you physically attack me or utilize words that cut so deep you cannot take back, we’re done people. I’ve lost a level of respect for you and even if you’re a sibling, we might not get over that. If we do it is indeed going to take some time to put perspective back into place to understand what would warrant that level of rage from my own brother or sister.

The post The Sibling Rivalry appeared first on Canyon News.

Now the bad side of social media, everyone wants to be a star. I hate saying that, but it feels that way, especially in 2025. Why? Everyone has a phone, and everything just has to be captured; everything they are doing and posting it on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter aka X (it will always be Twitter for me), and so many other platforms. People who are easily influenced by social media and influencers in particular suspect what they ‘SEE’ is the real thing.

Here is the problem; it is not. More than 75 percent of the things you see on social media is presenting a false pretense. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) being put into the mix, you really have to question everything that you are witnessing. The thing I hate the most about social media is the amount of vitriol so many people spew. It’s like the level of hate, rage, abhorrent rhetoric, racism, sexism, homophobia is just beyond disturbing.

I have said this before, and I will say it again; most people ONLY say this stuff on social media because they are behind a computer screen. If they were forced to say some of the things they say on social media in front of people live, it would NEVER happen, I mean never. Why? People don’t have the actual guts to stand in their truth and I’m starting to see why more and more people are checking out on social media platforms.

It is not great for your mental health to indulge in such depravity at times, and it feels like some people love to spew the negativity because they want to get a reaction with others. Hate to say it, that is just sad, and I mean sad if that is what motivates you each and every day when you get up in the morning.

Could the day arrive where social media becomes a thing of the past? I don’t think so, but I would love to see improvements where behavior becomes a bit more positive. It’s a cesspool and when you have people being bullied online so much to the point that they commit suicide, that is NOT good.

We need to really need to find a way to reinvent social media so it’s not just a lifestyle platform, or a place to voice toxicity, but something used to communicate and make more positivity evident in the world.

The post Social Media Blues appeared first on Canyon News.

I don’t know, that is a question I would love to answer, but I just can’t because that is something that gives me the utter chills more than anything. Shows like “20/20,” “Unsolved Mysteries,” and a host of others, would give me nightmares. Until this day, you will never see me watch such shows, because they would give me nightmares that last for days.

It has never intrigued me to figure out the motive behind some of the most notorious serial killers in this country, but I have friends and family who think otherwise. Why? They want to understand those intricacies and understand why notorious killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson and so many others did what they did and how they alluded authorities for such a significant time frame.

That would not intrigue my mind, if anything it would madden it because it scares you to high heaven, realizing such horrific and violent things transpired in this country at the hands of a crazed individual. I think the fascination with true crime is a direct result of Americans becoming desensitized to violence. We see it all around us, we hear about it all the time, so it feels like it’s not such a big deal, which is beyond scary to say the least.

You see it in movies and TV, and you know its fake for the most part, but when you hear about it in the real world, it should terrify us, but in some sick and twisted way it doesn’t. We become more invested in these tales of macabre and depravity.

I heard so many people talking about that Netflix series involving Jeffrey Dahmer and how disturbing it was, but people couldn’t turn away; they had to know how it ended. Remember a lot of things when it comes to television and movies are sensationalized. I mean the goal is to make money, so you elaborate a bit on things, but in doing so society becomes giddy about it.

I don’t even want to get into the realm of podcasts because if you have a microphone everyone has a podcasts nowadays and you have plenty who LOVE to talk about true crime and all the fascination that comes with these high-profile serial killers that some of us have placed on pedestals, we have become obsessed with, when we should be repelled and disgusted by.

The scary thing about true crime is I don’t think it is going anywhere. You have cable channels and networks completely dedicated to all thing’s true crime. If anything, it is just getting bigger in scope. It is scary because what does our obsession/fascination with true crime say about us as a society? I would love to give you that answer, but I don’t have one. I would make the argument it makes us have to look in the mirror and question who we are.

The post What Is The Fascination With True Crime? appeared first on Canyon News.

Sleep is the most crucial thing that most Americans lack. It is the thing we must get more of to function on a daily basis without crashing and burning. That is the absolute worst, it hasn’t happened to me often, but when it does unfold it is not a pleasant feeling to say the least. The body does not just bounce back as fast as you’d like it to.

With that said, I try to go to sleep at a decent time each night, no later than 11 p.m. or 12 a.m. depending on how late I have to work. If I have to work late, there is not much I can do beyond come straight home and go right to sleep. I cannot sleep with my bedroom door open; it must be closed. I know it sounds crazy, but it has always been a rule of thumb for me. I think it has to deal with the notion of someone watching me when I sleep that scares the living hell out of me.

With that said, the TV must be off, the blinds or curtains have to be closed. I cannot sleep with any sort of light piercing into my room. The phone can be a major issue because whenever an email comes through, or a message is sent, my phone flashes. I have to flip my phone with the screen facing down so I don’t see the light.

Hate to do it, but sometimes I turn the phone off. I fear missing a call in case of an emergency, but I sometimes have to disconnect or it’s an issue. Even those blue or red lights that appear on many of your electronic devices are a problem. I’ve come to the solution to cover them up. The bedroom has to have a decent temperature. I can’t sleep if the room is overtly hot or humid, but weirdly enough I always sleep well when I have a fan going.

I think I’ve really started to realize that I am a very light sleeper. The most minute sound or thing can wake me up and once I’m up that’s it. I can’t get back to sleep; it because near impossible for one-two hours, and by the time I FINALLY do fall to sleep, it’s time for me to get up and start the day. I’m a morning bird I think I have been since I was a kid. If I sleep past 8 a.m. you should be worried because that means I’m exhausted or I’ve had a crash and burn which is never a good thing.

I have truly considered purchasing black-out curtains because I think ensuring my bedroom is COMPLETELY DARK that might help my sleep even more. I tell people after a certain time, don’t even bother calling me. If it’s NOT an emergency, there is no reason to call me after 10 p.m. in most cases, cause you’re likely not getting a response.

I know not sticking to my sleep pattern only makes things worse, so if you have a routine in place, you need to do everything in your power to keep it consistent. The moment it begins to fluctuate you have a problem and without sleep, oh, you’re in trouble.

The post What Can Yield Better Sleep? appeared first on Canyon News.

Let me give you a prime example: cucumbers. I love cucumbers, but I hate them at the same time because I feel like I’m always having to toss them out because I don’t use them up in time. I used to only utilize cucumbers for a salad, but that has since changed with me utilizing them to juice and make smoothies. A refreshing drink is satisfying, but it’s not food. That is where taking some cucumbers and tomatoes and making a cucumber/tomato salad.

It is indeed refreshing, and if you want to make it tastier, throw in some diced watermelon and perhaps a few pieces of crumbled feta cheese. Cucumbers are from the melon family, so it’s easy to mesh the two into something sweet, savory and healthy at the same time that is not processed. For example, this week I knew I wanted to cook something satiating for the start of the week. I had an ear of corn that I needed to use, I had two red skin potatoes, and I had some ground chuck that needed to be cooked.

At first, I thought about doing a meatloaf, but I didn’t want something too heavy. So, I switched to making meatballs. I utilized a white onion I had, some garlic, breadcrumbs in the cabinet and a few spices. I didn’t cook them with gravy I did my meatballs with a tomato sauce with crushed tomatoes. I’m not a fan of gravy. I do not like it, and not it’s not because I don’t know how to cook it. Gravy is just yucky to me, and I’d rather not utilize tons of butter and flour. So fresh tomatoes, cooked down with some herbs and spices, partially cook the meatballs and then finish them off in the tomato sauce.

Diced the red skin potatoes and then I utilized them to make mashed potatoes, with a sampling of pepper, butter, and 1/2 percent milk. I know what many of you are thinking, what about your vegetable? I split up that ear of corn, and it became three small portions, and I just ate a third of the corn. I was satisfied with what I ate, and I was full with a little bit of everything. So much to the point that I had leftovers, which is always a plus people.

I’m starting to learn you don’t have to go overboard at the grocery store getting what you think are top tier ingredients to craft a delicious meal. Sometimes the cheaper or off-brand items work just as well. It is all about how you flavor things. I’m not a big salt person; I actually do my best to limit any salt that I place on food. I’m more about herbs and spices, substituting the salt that so many Americans adore for better substitutes.

I hate wasting food, and the older I get the more frugal I have become with my dollars doing my best to not waste my money and utilize the ingredients that I am purchasing to craft not just a single dish, but multiple dishes.

The post Cooking On A Budget appeared first on Canyon News.

While the picnic is a one-day event, in recent years it has indeed grown. There are more and more people who have showed up to the picnic each year and I actually love it. Why? I’m meeting members of my family that I didn’t even know were family members. I sometimes laugh about the fact that my grandparents had so many kids because they had a lot of kids who had kids. So, the big family element comes full circle.

These are family members that I honestly only see once a year, so when I get the opportunity to see them it is indeed fantastic. We get to chat about our lives, while reminiscing about how things used to be when we were growing up. Realizing that many of us now have families and responsibilities we didn’t have 20 years ago. That is life; you live and you grow up. At the same time, what bonds family more than food.

We had food alright, but when you’re planning a gathering for family that includes over 100 people, you have a lot of food to prepare and that can cause some serious chaos. People were preparing food, dishes were tasty, things were late, things were not as tasty, and gosh I prayed we didn’t have any leftovers.

That was my biggest concern because the past two years, we have so much leftover, there were things we had to unfortunately throw out. Not in 2025, seems people were hungry, and everyone was taking a plate home and hopefully savoring the good cooking that was done. I’ll be honest, a few things weren’t as tasty as I had hoped, but that is another conversation.

While enjoying each other’s company, the kids had fun on the playground, slides and swings at the park, while the adults chatted and talked about memories from the past that delivered so many laughs. Not to mention there was a bit of old-school music, plenty of refreshments and dodging a bevy of bees. Ugh, what the heck with all these bees in the fall versus during the summer months? They were literally everywhere, and we were all battling dodging bees, while trying to eat our food.

I will admit I hated the cleanup element of having to destroy all of the aluminum pans and emptying trash. It is a lot more work than we expected, as we start to consider forming new and additional committee members. The way I see it, the more the better. You want to help, come join the fray. I am indeed hoping for our next outing we have a destination outside of our hometown. Why? It gives us something different to enjoy, a new place, new people, new opportunities, but at the end of the day it’s all about family people.

The post Time With Family Matters appeared first on Canyon News.

Why might this matter? There are a ton of holidays coming up. Two of the big ones being Christmas and the other being Halloween. Which is the bigger? I’m inclined to argue Halloween, because as big as Christmas is, you see a slew of Spirit Halloween stores pop up every Halloween season at strip malls and local businesses that may have been vacant for months.

I know for my personal preference, I love Halloween. It is indeed my favorite holiday of the year. You get the opportunity to dress up and be someone else for a day. Not to mention it is the season that ushers in all things spooky, scary movies, costumes, candy, parties and just fun. It is a holiday to me that ushers in the thrill of having fun. As much as I love the holiday, I sometimes question retailers pushing out the merchandise at such an early time frame.

I started seeing Halloween merchandise at some of the big box stores near the end of August. I’m like where are the back-to-school supplies? I mean I have to think about Halloween at least two to three months before the actual holiday is upon us. I don’t like it, but it feels like this has become the norm in the retail arena. Get the product in the faces of the consumer as soon as possible, so they can start spending money weeks in advance of the big holiday. It truly is a smart tactic, but it all depends on whether your budget can handle that additional spending.

I recall in 2024, I purchased my Halloween costume at a Spirit Halloween establishment around a week before the holiday. Why? I expected things to be discounted a bit more, but that wasn’t the case. A lot of the items were still full-priced, which got me thinking. Perhaps it’s better to by early instead of waiting till the last minute. Why? I was in a situation where; I was stuck with what I purchased. There were no refunds being offered after I bought what I bought. Had I purchased the costume or items I needed back in September, I probably could have returned them if it was something I didn’t want.

The consumer is being placed in that tricky predicament, where buying early is not always an advantage. You purchase something months before a holiday, you find yourself stuck with those items because you can’t take them back. The early merchandise has started with Halloween, but before October arrives Christmas items will be in stores, soon followed by Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Back to School. It’s an ongoing cycle. It’s there today, and then gone tomorrow, but just sometimes let’s allow these holidays to slowly approach and not shove it down our throats.

The post Halloween Too Early? appeared first on Canyon News.

I happened to be near a beautiful park, one that I never heard of that is literally right next to a massive lake near beautiful lake front properties. The park had beautiful grass, BBQ grills, a splash pad and a beautiful trail to walk on if you choose. I’ve always been told that being by the water the weather is always cooler, and jeez can I finally agree to that claim. Yes, it can be hot, but when you’re by water you get that cool breeze, whether 5 to 10 degrees or more, it absolutely makes a difference.

What I didn’t love about being at the park was the number of geese and the amount of poop that was littered all over the park people. It was bad, so bad and I was like, “C’mon, can anyone clean this crap up literally?” It was like playing a videogame how much poop can you dodge.

A vast majority of parks in this county are free to visit, so there truly is no excuse as to why you can’t stroll through. It is a good form of exercise because you can walk leisurely. You get the opportunity to be in nature and take in the fresh air. I think the biggest luxury I discovered going to the park is the ability to rejuvenate the mind.

You get to have a bit of clarity, relaxation, a freshness, and a new opportunity to reflect on life. You get to speak to complete strangers and talk to people you would never chat with and learn about their life and you sharing your life with them.

We need more of this in the world: more conversations with complete strangers, we are so glued to our phones most of the time it’s a way that so many people avoid the notion of even having a conversation, but that is the problem. We are human beings. We need interaction with others; it helps build and continue the building of socialization skills.

The post Gorgeous Day At The Park appeared first on Canyon News.

News flash, your vote for President of the United States doesn’t matter as much as you think. They have some power, but a lot of that power comes from local representatives. Your mayor, city council, Congressional representatives, U.S. senators. You might say why that matters?

Well for your mayor and city council they determine a lot of the laws and ordinances that are passed in the city where you actually live. It impacts crime, schooling and education, mileage, judges and so much more.

The problem is that is not taught as much in schools or if it is people just don’t listen. Recently, we had local elections, and it was like a darn ghost town. Couldn’t believe it, but then again it truly didn’t surprise me that much. Why? It has always been this way where I live.

People are so focused on posting their entire life on social media, but you can’t take 10 minutes to go vote in an ACTUAL ELECTION that is going to impact your life as well as the lives of your children.

It just sickens me because when you have ancestors and relatives who didn’t have the privilege of casting a vote without being harassed, beaten or threatened with violence if they voted, you should appreciate that freedom that you actually have. By not voting, you’re not allowing your voice to be heard, so that means you have no reason to complain.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t even want to get out of bed and head to my polling location, but then I reminded myself, “If you don’t vote, the people who vote for you to have that right to vote was for nothing.”

I don’t vote just because I want to have an impact in local politics, I want to ensure my right to vote is actually ensured and there is not junk about some generations not understanding the importance of voting as much as older generations.

There needs to be more education about elections on the local, state and federal level. The focus on any news channel time and time again is always who is running for President of the United States, and you always get the same candidates who are all terrible, can give a rat’s you know what about YOU, and tend to be worried more about giving handouts to their pals than actually caring about the people who pay taxes, not the millionaires and billionaires who pay nothing.

This is not just something that needs to be approved upon in schools, but parents must take more actions to teach their children and young adults the importance to vote for their local politicians.

The post Local Elections Matter More appeared first on Canyon News.

Our company had our website hacked, and it immediately made me say, “What the hell?” What does someone truly get out of hacking someone else’s website. More disturbing, why do you spend your time causing stress and frustration for others, when you don’t have to. Why aren’t you taking your time that you have that is so precious and not being more useful with it.

How about actually doing something that can change the world or has a positive impact on someone else’s life? I guess that is the problem with free will, people choose to do bad, when they could actually be doing so much good. I’m a big proponent that when you have free time you try to make the best of it.

This doesn’t mean you can’t take time to relax and decompress but maximize your potential if you can. If you want to become good at something you have to perfect the skill but utilize your skills for good not evil. I guess that saying about “Why be good, when it’s so easy to be bad” really holds a lot of weight. It seems like the notion of doing the right thing, should be so easy, but I guess forces outside of our control sometimes push us into a direction that we think is the right choice, but it obviously is not.

Why rob and steal when you can earn an honest living? Why hack, when you can help design websites and improve security for businesses, so they have longevity? Hell, at the exact same time there is so much money in programming that you can sustain a pretty good life doing the right thing.

When I hear people have an abundance of free time, I just wonder precisely what they’re doing with it to make themselves productive. Jeez, if I had all the free time in the world, I would be doing whatever I could to develop more side hustles to bring in more income, in addition, to really taking my time to focus on crafting my writing skills so they become even sharper than what they already are. I couldn’t fathom just sitting around doing absolutely nothing, especially doing things that are going to cause stress for others.

Life is just way too short to be wasting it, why people in this world have failed to realize that I will never know. Perhaps they take a look in the mirror and ask themselves the question, “What can I do to change my life for the better?”

The post Some People Have Too Much Time On Their Hands appeared first on Canyon News.

At least that was the norm of the 50s, and while there have been great strides breaking traditional norms of men and women, some things still haven’t changed in the American society. I am bringing up this issue of traditional gender norms because there is this notion of men not showcasing their emotions, and recently I had mine on full display.

My father has recently been dealing with some serious health issues, and it has been a whirlwind of stress on top of more stress. The past two months feel like a blur. The day is starting before 6 a.m. and somewhere in the middle of the day I just seem to crash and have to take a 10–20-minute nap to be able to continue moving on before my body puts itself out of its misery by 11 p.m.

There is no point in sleeping if you’re not getting the quality sleep that you need to actually recover in a healthy manner. They say taking care of a parent is a lot of work, I’ve heard so many people say that, but you truly don’t understand the magnitude of that until you’re actually placed in the position of having to take care of a sick parent. There is this feeling that you have to be there all the time and if you take a moment for yourself, you feel guilty doing it.

Mentally, speaking your mind can be wrecked sometimes in the worst possible way and that happened to me recently. It led to me letting all my emotions out on the floor and it was nothing I ever expected. I bawled and I bawled my eyes out. I was just overcome with stress, anxiety, fear, frustration, anger, guilt; you name the emotion, I had experienced it. The one person I never expected to be crying to, my mother, was the one person who let me pour it all out.

Yes, I cried, and this wasn’t just some tears, this was a full-blown cryfest and gosh how much of a relief it was after it unfolded. Honestly, that had to be years of emotions build up inside of me because quite frankly I don’t show my emotions often, if ever.

I don’t know if it’s a man thing or just what I’ve witnessed around me growing up with older brothers, but no one really showed their emotions and if they did, it was always a conversation about “Man up and don’t cry.” However, at that moment, none of that mattered. I just unleashed the tears and how I was really feeling to my mom, who completely let me vent and get it out.

I felt embarrassed at first, but then it hit me, what am I embarrassed about? I’m human, I have emotions, I feel and at that point, I seriously had reached my limit; a limit that I didn’t even think was possible. So the emotional toll my body could take had peaked. That may have been only the second time in my entire life that I cried to that degree.

I know that is very difficult to hear, but that is the reality. I’m not that big of a crier and when I do cry it is full-blown water works, and it relieves an amount of pressure that I think many men sometimes allow to build up mentally and physically. Sometimes you just have to let it out, and when you do, it feels like an epic weight has been lifted off your shoulders, which is precisely how I felt afterwards. My anxiety had completely dissipated and that stress on top of stress ceased, giving a moment of peace and clarity.

This shame and guilt that society sometimes put on men for showing emotion or being ‘less manly’ than they expect has to stop. Not to mention, men need to stop pushing the mentality that you have to be this tough guy or present the aura of what it means to be a man 24/7.

This is not to say toxic masculinity is prevalent in society (it used to be that way), but things have been changing and still need to change. Unfortunately, we still have those gender norms that men and women are expected to abide by. Women do indeed cry, but men cry too America, and guess what, it’s not the end of the world if you do, if anything it might be the best thing for you.

The post Men Have A Good Cry Too America appeared first on Canyon News.

Just about the time Dud could make out The Lunker’s rock at the head of the hole, he had gotten a tiny midge tied on some leader and sent it on its way to the general vicinity of the rock.

It floated slowly downstream without being bothered by piscatorial pirates, and when the line told him he’d reached as far downstream as he could on this cast, he picked it up, waved it dry and cast back up at the rock.

Okay, now is a decent thinking time, so it was well to get started.

It’s the book, of course.

Why do I do it? He asked himself. It doesn’t make any sense. If I spent that time washing dishes down at the Mule Barn truck stop, I’d make more money. And the title? I like Murder in the Soggy Bottoms, but my friends keep calling it The Duchess and the Truck Driver. Maybe I should change it?

Okay, pick up the fly and send it back up to that rock again.

And the love stuff … the truck driver and the duchess are nuts about each other and have a kid in common from when he was in Europe on special assignment the last time. And the language problem. The duchess speaks a couple of European languages, and the truck driver is from the South. But if they are so different, how did they have a kid together?

Cast upstream again. Wait. False cast until the fly is dry then … yeah, like that.

You know, it doesn’t make any sense, but some people actually write more than one book!

They have to be cheating somehow… they’ve GOT to be cheating…

Brought to you by my books. I didn’t cheat, and there’s lots of words in each one. Most of them are spelled correctly, too.

By Slim Randles

The post The Duchess and the Truck Driver appeared first on Canyon News.

FYI, I had actually been vaccinated as well, so you would think it would’ve kept me safe from getting sick, but not the case. Do I think things would have been significantly worse if I was not vaccinated? Absolutely, but when I say it was the worst feeling in the world, I mean it.

One day I felt great, the next day I had a hoarse voice. Yeah, just like this ‘new’ variant they are talking about, my voice got hoarse and then all hell broke loose. How so? When I say I had the worst sore throat in my life I mean that. It was not like a razor cutting my throat, it was like glass was in my throat and it was slicing the hell out of it. Literally for three days, I did not eat or drink ANYTHING. The mere thought of just gulping my throat was horrendous.

If I drank fluids or even tried to eat anything, my throat was not numb, it felt like it was on fire, and I was being sliced every single time in excruciating pain. I didn’t get off the couch for days. I couldn’t even sleep for almost 48 hours because the pain was so unbearable. I didn’t find any comfort until I got some throat spray and throat lozenges gave me the slightest relief, but nothing explosive.

The one thing that helped after the first three days was hot tea. That was the only thing I could stomach with honey, and I drank so much tea that I haven’t had hot tea, but maybe two times in the last three years as a result. Not sure why all this talk of the new variant is being discussed now, but it’s not new America. It has been around, it was perhaps in hibernation, or I was one of the people who happened to catch it in January 2022, and no one else did.

Not sure if the talk is to scare people into getting a vaccination for COVID-19 or not, but for those who happen to become diagnosed with this new variant. Relax, breathe and prepare for a sore throat unlike anything you’ve seen because trust me you will not forget it, but you’ll survive it.

The post What New COVID-19 Variant? appeared first on Canyon News.

I was on my phone trying to check an important email when within seconds I was out cold. It was such a realization when I woke up like 30 minutes later I couldn’t even explain what happened or what I was doing. All I knew was that I was exhausted beyond being exhausted and my body told me enough. I hate to say it, but it feels like I must be burnt out to a degree that words cannot explain for me that I have to be exhausted to the point I have nothing left to give for me to get decent, interrupted sleep where I don’t dream.

That is the crazy aspect. Whenever I dream, I never sleep. There is this tossing and turning all night and I think the anxiety of whatever is going on in my head just limits my ability to actually sleep. I don’t want to dream at night and it’s not because I have bad nightmares (which happens from time to time), but because it feels like a nightmare rattles me to a point where it stuns me in a way I cannot explain. With that said, I’ve absolutely have cut off the use of technology when I get home from work.

If I start messing around with that mobile device, I’ll be on it for hours and I truly am a person who cannot sleep with any sort of light at night. If my phone dings or flashes because I have gotten an email or a message, I’m going to be up the rest of the night because I’m worried about what the email or message that was just sent pertains to.

I have blackout blinds in my bedroom because I need complete darkness when I sleep and I can’t have light piercing in the door or from the blinds. Call me weird, but we all have quirks when it comes to sleep. I can sleep with a fan on and I do daily. No, I don’t get cold, it is the sound that matters for me as it calms me to sleep.

If you ask me, do I have a decent timeframe for going to sleep? I cannot give you an answer, I can’t. I’m just in this orbit where I sleep when I can sleep. It could happen in the middle of the day where I steal a quick 20-minute nap if possible. I rarely sleep in the morning, it is like my brain knows when to wake me up and no matter what, I’m getting up. However, I’m starting to think I worry too much about stuff that should not be my worry.

I have to stop letting other people’s issues consume my life. That is an issue you must deal with. I can’t keep worrying because it’s putting me on empty so much to the point, when I get any time off, I don’t want to do anything but try to sleep. I don’t worry about oversleeping at work because it just is such a foreign thing for me. The brain clicks on when it clicks on. I am a morning person, and I think I have been for as long as I can fathom. Nights. Not so much.

I don’t operate well at night and yes, there are days where I must work long workdays and I don’t get home until the wee hours of the of the morning, but that is not something that is done all the time. Yes, I used to work midnights and pull all-nighters constantly while in college because of the busy schedule, but most Americans are adapted to work during the day and sleep at night; it just is what it is.

We keep being told time and time again that sleep is vital to our health, but we are ignoring the effectiveness of sleep on our bodies. Sleep matters and the more you ignore it, the more it will impact you and not in a great way.

The post Why Can’t I Sleep At Night? appeared first on Canyon News.

While I still think I love teaching, it waned a bit when you realize the different type of students you will have to deal with, and then my focus completely turned to attorney, particularly a district attorney/prosecutor. I felt by getting into law I could make a difference as it pertained to crime in the region where I grew up and perhaps make an amends to things that happen to me as it pertains to a crime that was never solved. In some odd sense, I was seeking justice.

However, there was an internal battle with the prosecutor and filmmaker as I was nearing the end of my high school career. That is where it totally hit me. What is the one job you could do the rest of your life, even if you didn’t get paid and you’d be happy no matter what? It was a film. I had the oddest fascination with cinema at an earlier age, particularly horror films. Like what four or five-year-old begs his mother to see a movie about a boogeyman wearing a mask that stalks babysitters at that age? Long story short, I got my wish, but my eyes were covered the entire time, so I don’t even recall watching that movie.

I think it was just a bond I had with my dad as a kid with those flicks, as much as my mom didn’t want me to watch. After my parents got divorced, there was a large chunk in my life that I didn’t watch them, at last five to six years or longer, by chance it came back to me and it just felt like the universe was telling me: this is your destiny, and I know it sounds cheesy, but you know when you’re good at something. I had a gift to write, and creative writing at that. The ideas would come in my head, and I placed them on paper, I wrote my first short story, and in the tenth grade I came up with an idea to reinterpret or reinvent, the 1984 classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Until this day I still have that idea as a guarded secret, and I knew going into college I wanted to be a filmmaker and that is what I studied as a minor with English as my major. It was me having the best of both worlds, writing and creative juices at the same time. I recall when I was writing my first script as challenging as it was the exhilaration I could not put into words. I had just saw “Batman Begins” and something clicked, and in like two to three days I completed my entire script because I had found my writing groove, and I refused to stop until I was finished.

I few years later I would write my second full-length script, and that one was more of a struggle because I had notions of the story, but it wasn’t as cohesive as I wanted it to be. I struggled with that one, but I’m glad I did because it opened my eyes to the fight I have when it is something I want. I haven’t written a script since because unfortunately life and the stressors that come with it just took over my life, but I told myself at the start of the New Year I wouldn’t make the excuse anymore, and I have made inroads to write more during my spare time.

Especially a drama that I think has slices of my life and feels like the drama of all dramas. It might be the most honest, realistic and devastating story that I have cooked up in my brain. I can never shake what my English teacher told me in high school. “You’re a good writer, but what you wrote is boring.” He shared I had to intertwine my real life with the story I was telling, and I have never forgotten that sense and I try to implement into my storytelling as much as I can.

People tell me I’m a great orator all the time and I hate it, because I don’t believe it, but apparently it’s true, and I have learned to hone into that skill and use it to my advantage.

The post What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up? appeared first on Canyon News.

There are plenty who go to college, get to string out just a little longer that decision on what they want to actually do with their lives. I have always been a proponent that college opens the doors for you to experience and learn things that perhaps you wouldn’t know if you didn’t. Should the price of knowledge and information be so extreme to the point that it is today? No, but as much as I hate to say it, college is a business. If you can afford it, the better, if not it can be a struggle beyond struggle to achieve it at times.

With that said, I want to dive into the discussion as to WHY college is so expensive. Anyone who spent a semester in college, a year, or the entire four-five years to complete your degree can fully understand the costs that come with schooling. I’ll never forget my freshman year because the university was so adamant about me taking out loans to cover my tuition for the second half of the semester and I was adamantly against it. Why?

I had scholarship money at my fingertips, and I wanted those funds to be used. The university argued back and forth with me (in particular, the financial aid office) telling me that scholarship money couldn’t be used at my discretion. Thank God, I kept my letter with those details on the scholarship that I had earned because it revealed otherwise. It specifically noted that I could use those funds at my discretion whenever I choose. Thank God, I had that letter because it allowed me to focus my attention on my studies and not that worry about how I am going to pay for school or having to work a strenuous work schedule.

With that said, I did my absolute best to limit any loans that I took out as I focused on obtaining my degree. I had friends who were just taking out loans just for the sake of taking them out. Making the situation worse instead of using that money to pay for tuition, they were using it for shopping sprees and spring break travel. That was quite worrisome to say the least.

I was a struggling college student and for me achieving my degree meant a ton for me because I knew it was an opportunity to have a chance of furthering my goals of a successful career. However, as a liberal arts major it was no guarantee that I would have a job waiting for me upon graduation. I had earned an internship; it was an unpaid one at that. That ultimately turned into actual employment with a successful company, but that doesn’t happen to everyone.

I had plenty of pals who spent easily $40,000 to $50,000 for their college education and didn’t find a job for nearly a year after being out of school. They were taking part-time sales gigs in retail to keep afloat until they could find something.

It is just so bothersome that as a taxpayer, I can’t go to a public university that gets a portion of my tax dollars to operate because I applied, I didn’t get in. This notion of taking the ACT or SAT to determine one’s ‘ability’ to excel at the collegiate level is just stupid. A test is a test, it doesn’t predict success. And people can try to make that argument about diversity BS all they want, I’m not buying it, because yes, you do need more diversity at public universities across the country and when your university is not showing that, questions must be raised whether you want to believe it or not.

With that said, I had pals that got exceptional scores on the ACT and SAT exams, but didn’t last a semester or year in college. So that exam that gained them entry into the university didn’t prove anything when it came to success. The education system needs to be a bit savvier to find a way to not only make education fun, but ensure students are learning things of importance. You shouldn’t be taking classes just for the sake of taking them because the university or school deems them to be ‘important’ to making a well-rounded student.

Yeah, there were a lot of those classes during my first two years as an undergraduate. Like I’m paying thousands of dollars for these classes, and a lot of this knowledge is never going to be used my many people. I’d rather spend my money if I have to spend it, only classes in my profession obtaining knowledge that matters to me and will help me in my daily life. Of course, math and reading are vital, and there are a lot of students who don’t have those basic skills. Why? Might be more focused on advanced literature and advanced math that many people don’t use daily.

Let’s not just make money to make it in the educational system, let’s ensure it benefits the student because at the end of the day, isn’t that the goal of education? Perhaps some actual institutions need to think about that.

Written By Zoe Mitchell

The post The American Educational System appeared first on Canyon News.

How can I say this? I’ve seen it first-hand.  You go to any entertainment news site and just look at the comments after you read a story. Yes, I believe in the importance of the First Amendment which grants us the right to the Freedom of Speech, but you don’t have to be a jerk about it. Some people are just vicious, hateful, racist and so much more. They think the comments they write are cute and funny, but I disagree.

It says a lot about you as a person. I’m a firm believer if you’re going to say something about somebody online, have the guts to say that to their face. Guess what? Most Americans will not do that because they know there are consequences for your actions. The comments that people place onto Yelp with lies about companies are just sickening and Yelp is terrible about removing inaccurate reviews and lies. They just let people post whatever the hell they want, without any care about the impact that it has on people and their businesses.

I hate it when people lie in reviews and are just nasty for the sake of being nasty. If you have a valid claim that is one thing, lying because you just want to lie that is just wrong and so unforgiving that I cannot explain it in words, one single bit. Why is there not more accountability with what people do behind the keyboard. Hell, I’m in agreement with people who screenshot and release the email address, phone number, and even the mailing address of some people who are noting disgusting things online about others.

If you have the guts to be nasty online, you should not complain if someone decides to post your information for the public to view to see precisely what you’re doing and hint to your employer what is being done as well. We can’t just allow people to think hurtful, bullying and nasty behavior is ok in society. It sends a bad message to the next generation and that is something we must put a stop to immediately.

That is the crazy thing about anonymity, it gives people this notion that they are bulletproof, and they don’t have to suffer any consequences for their actions. When you don’t have to confront a person face-to-face and tell them precisely what you think about them, there might be more jitters; that confidence you have behind the keyboard where the person you’re chatting about doesn’t have to confront you isn’t going to protect you if the person retaliates with their own venom or in some cases physical reaction.

People are human, we have emotions, perhaps more people should think about that before posting the nasty comments that are put onto Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Yelp and the countless other social media platforms that exist out there. However, it goes with that notion that so many people say time and time again. Wicked people will do wicked things because they want people to feel just as bad as they do. That saying of “Misery loves company” does hold true in society.

Written By Jason Jones

The post The Keyboard Power appeared first on Canyon News.