Finals are Here!

Dear Readers, I can't believe first semester is almost over. What I really can't believe is that it is almost time to take final exams. The good thing is I only have one this semester, so instead of my drowning tons of times into my books I only have to dedicate half of my time to that and the other half to the fun stuff. Recently I have found just how inexpensive activities are in Cedar Rapids, for instance if I want to go bowling, I can spend $4 and get shoes and play three games. Oh and also throw a couple of strike.

Sometimes it is nice to be able to go out and just relax other times especially during this time of year its nice to embrace the holiday spirit. I got the chance to do a short reading in this years Christmas Convocation at Coe. This was an awesome event where people gather to hear and feel the cheer of Christmas this year!

No better reward after reading in the Christmas Convocation then getting to see the big guy himself! Whats up Santa!

I even got to tell Santa all I wanted for Christmas was an A on my final. I think he might be able to work that out. Either way I am happy to be able to bring in the holidays at Coe and prepare for my final at the same time. I look forward to that early gift from Santa, we will see what happens. Once again thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Enjoying it All

Dear Readers, I would just like to say have a great day, enjoy the little things, the big things, the things of your past, and the things of your future. Just scrolling through my facebook and sitting in meetings on campus this past week I noticed how beautiful life can be and I guess I can say that being at Coe is and has been a beautiful experience. I remember going canoeing with several other Coe students a while back and was able to pull up a few pictures from our little adventure. I was just talking with the students I shared my miniature ship with and we were talking about how much fun we had. I hope that we can return to these "deep" waters to conquer the lands that we have yet to explore. We would paddle and beach the ship along little "islands" it was a fun little game and was an opportunity that Coe provided through our multicultural department. It was nice to get away on a Sunday morning and just relax.

So grab a paddle and come on down to Coe to share the adventures of many, and hear of the adventures of the few!

Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Campus Visit Day!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Readers, This has been a great week although nothing unusual happened. I didn’t do anything extremely fun just hung out with friends and completed my homework. That is what got my thinking; this weekend is a Campus Visit Day here at Coe and is an awesome opportunity for prospective students to come check out Coe for the first time. A visit to Coe is something I strongly recommend, that is how I found out Coe was the right place for me. I would never want anyone to miss out on some of the great opportunities and memories they provide for students here; whether its helping first year students move in on move-in day.

or watching students play ultimate freebie on the quad,

or if it's that one time you got to take a picture in the water fountain and not get in trouble for it,

or being able to sit and talk about the awesome time you are having at Coe on the radio,

or being able to network with a wonderful group of alumni who just want to share their experiences with you and see you succeed,

or maybe its when you get to watch the trees turn into your school colors,

or maybe it was just that random guy who cut a kohawk in his hair and it made you smile,

or being selected by your fellow students to be on homecoming court,

or maybe it when you watch the football team destroy their opponents,

or it could have possibly been something a lot different like watching everyone cheer on our current president as he moves forward next year retiring from Coe,

or maybe the excitement came with the welcoming of the new president for 2013-2014 school year,

or maybe it was just walking across campus and seeing tons of students sleeping out in boxes overnight to support homelessness and raise money for habitat for humanity,

or maybe, just maybe it was seeing 300+ of your friends walk across a stage on graduation day, knowing that next year they would be pursing their passions.

Whatever memory or opportunity it is, they all remind me of how thankful I am I came to a school that I enjoy everyday, and I know every morning I can wake up and say that I'm Proud to be a Kohawk! All in all just think about it. Think about possibly making that visit to Coe this weekend and just look on the bright side, all of your favorite Coe Bloggers will be there.

Once again thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

What does a Day Bring

Dear Readers, I have spent a lot of time this past week doing a lot of different things; from carving pumpkins, glazing some ceramics pieces, going to the discount movie theater in Cedar Rapids for the first time, and also going to Bloomsbury Farm. I am constantly amazed by all the different things Cedar Rapids has to offer, I often find myself somewhat taken back. It was awesome to be able to go see a newer movie for $5 dollars. Spending that type of money on a movie is right up my alley. Speaking of alley's I also went bowling on Monday. At westdale bowl you can bowl for a $1, that was something else that worked very well into my budget and was a great time. It was nice taking part in those activities but what I really enjoyed was going to BloomsBury Farm and riding around on a hay rack ride, going into haunted houses and picking out a pumpkin to carve. Overall I must say it has been an awesome week and I look forward to what next week brings. Hopefully I will finally be able to make it to the Cedar Rapids Theater downtown and check out a play. I can't wait to let you all know about it! Thank you once again for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Mid Terms!!!!!!!!!

Dear Readers, Mid Term season has arrived. What that means is a lot of people on campus are sitting somewhere studying or they are finishing projects and etc. It is hard to believe we are about half way done with first semester already. It feels like just yesterday all the new first year students were unloading their stuff. Well lucky for me I only had one mid term and that was in my ceramics class. I was able to make it through the week stress free. Along with the stress free week we also had a exciting week here on campus. Coe College announced the new president for next school year and we also had a fair share of alumni back as well as a ton of trustee members. After watching this week develop and then heading to Des Moines this weekend to attend a wedding of two recent Coe graduates, I realized that my first year on campus was forever ago. I now start to look at my future based on the memories and rewards of these past few years. I can't wait until graduation even though I know it is a ways away, it will be nice to have another memory to share with Coe College class of 2013! Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Looking Forward

Dear Readers, I have had one crazy week, but crazy in a good way. I got my independent study project back and now I am starting the second portion of that. I was also able to help admissions out this weekend with a Campus Visit Day for high school student interested in coming to Coe. I met a lot of nice people who I feel would make an awesome addition to the Coe family. Before I move on if anyone one is interested in coming to visit for a Campus Visit Day or something and you have any questions feel free to send me an email I would be more than happy to help you out (cecotton@coe.edu). Other than helping admissions, this week I have also got to take all of my ceramics pieces out after glazing them. I am happy with the way they turned out and I will try to get some pictures posted by next week. I really enjoy that class and look forward to taking ceramics two in the spring. Finally,we are approaching a break here at Coe. This upcoming Friday is the start of fall break and it should be a good time. I plan to stick around campus for the most part and it seems like a lot of people will be doing the same. Other than that I may make a trip to an outlet mall not to far from here at all and pick up some shoes or something who knows. Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Homecoming

Dear Readers, Homecoming week has passed and what a good time I had. This past week was full of awesome activities. I got to participate in the homecoming parade by riding around in a corvette, I was able to perform a skit in front of the entire student body, but most of all I got to enjoy time with African American Alumni. This year was the largest return of Black Alums at Coe since the beginning of time and it was great to be here for that. Besides enjoying the game and dance I don't think homecoming would be special without having students and faculty of the past returning to see what their school is up to. Other than homecoming this past week has been pretty typical. I have been working on my new ceramics project and I am happy to say it is almost complete. I have also been able to come up with some pretty neat poems. The most exciting part about my academic week was the fact I was able to get my independent study paper all wrapped up and sent in to my professor. With the whole paper thing sort of behind me I am now once again looking forward at graduate school. I have been checking and rechecking deadlines to make sure I can get all my paperwork in on time. This has been a pretty good week and I look forward to what the rest of this week has in store for me. Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Homecoming Week!

Dear Readers, It is now homecoming week at Coe College. This is always an exciting time for everyone. Students are looking forward to the events later in the week, like the pep rally, the Football game, the dance and etc. This year homecoming is a little more special for me, not only will it be my last homecoming but I also got selected to be on Homecoming Court this year. I know it shocked me too. I don't know how much more excited I could be about this week, I am starting a new ceramics project, gave out bids to students who my chapter thought would be a good addition to our fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, I have stayed on top of all my poetry assignments and also I am in the final stages of my independent study project. On top of all that we will be having a very huge Alumni gathering this year at homecoming and I will be in attendance at many of those events as well. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings. As far as other things go, as soon as this week wraps up I will be back on the graduate school train, filling out applications and writing personal statements. I am happy to say that I feel very prepared for the future. Thank you Coe College! Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Another Day, Another Story to Tell

Dear Readers, As the weather changes so does my objectives. What remains consistent is my dedication to my school work and family. However what changes is some of my short term goals. What I mean by this is that it is time to look at the future by reflecting on the past. I have seen what I have done over the last 3 years and can say that I am truly proud of what I got out of my education. However looking at the future I see graduate school and now I must create a resume that places all these things I have accomplished and feel good about on 1 piece of paper. That is just plain crazy! Luckily for me here at Coe our Career Services provides resume writing assistance to anyone regardless of your year in school, so I can safely say I at least have my foundation in place however it is important that in the near future I revisit Career Services and formulate a plan of action for my "resume upgrade" as I would like to call it. Other than starting to look at the future I have gone about acting on my future in a proactive way. I have began making graduate school visits and thus far I am happy to say that my experiences here at Coe have worked to set me a part from several other students. I have been able to share experience that were unheard of for some of the people I talked with and all that does is reinforce why I am so happy to call myself a Kohawk! Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Guess School is Really Here!

Dear Readers, Do you ever have that feeling that after that first week of school that you are somehow not in school yet still? I am unsure if it is due to all of the syllabi that professors or teachers hand out or if it is somehow related to the fact that you don't receive much homework in that first week. Well I have went the majority of my life coasting through that first week of school with out learning much more than the names of my classmates and getting some sort of outline for when all of my assignments and projects will be due throughout the year. Well I am happy to inform you hear at Coe you don't typically have that problem, from day one my professors engaged the class with in-depth conversations about the subject material, I received homework which directly applied to class discussion. I knew that I was not just wasting a week of my life but that I would be learning and expanding my mind on different subject matter surrounding the world, and the greatest thing about it is that I didn't have to wait until after Labor Day. Other than that the semester is starting to roll along. The first year students seem to be very comfortable on campus and so does everyone else. I am looking forward to this fall weather that is soon to come and hope that the school year continues to be as wonderful as it has already been. Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Dear Readers, It has been a long time since we last spoke. I am happy to say that I have had a great summer. I spent the entire summer at Coe College working for Academic Computing. It was nice being around this summer since a lot of my close friends happened to be in town. Between finding time to grill out, head to the beach, work on my independent study project, and play some soccer I found that the summer was blazing by. It is now the second week of school and Labor Day just passed. I can't believe I just started my senior year of college. It still feels like I was just a first year student moving into Coe for the first time. Well other than that I am glad to say that I am enjoying the classes I signed up for. Other than that I am so excited for what this semester has in store. There is a new wave of first years on campus and I found myself surrounded by tons of energy and excitement everyday. I have to at some point find time to fill out graduate school applications and figure out my internship for Washington D.C. term through Coe next semester. One of the nice things about Coe is they offer more than just Study abroad opportunities but they also provide study domestic terms where students can go to places like Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, and others for a semester and gain a completely different experiences than they would have received staying on campus for that semester. All in all I am glad to be back and blogging and letting you all know about how my school year is going. I have long anticipated my senior year it is just so weird that it is now here. I look forward to letting you know what interesting and exciting things I encounter this semester. Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

To Much Fun in Cedar Rapids

Dear Readers,

I come to you today with tons of updates. First off, school is going well minus the fact I have two papers to work on this week that I am not looking forward to. Secondly I have found two new hobbies; Cedar Rapids hockey games and paintball. I had no clue that there are a few paintball courses in Cedar Rapids and after a little bit of research I was able to find a pretty sweet one that me and a few of my buddies went to check out this past weekend.

Besides getting all bruised up from paintball I was able to go to my first ever hockey game. Even though I am from right outside Detroit I have never been to a Red wings game so this was an experience to remember. The cool thing about it was that I got to go to the game with two of my bosses from academic computing on campus. We decide to start off the night with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings ( which happened to be a great idea) and devour as many wings as possible. After stuffing my face we headed to the Roughriders hockey game were I was given a free shirt and also got to sit 1st row!!! Not second or third but first row right next to the goalie.

To put a proper ending to my long and exciting weekend I decided to take some friends out to the movies to see Cabin in the Woods. Overall the movie was pretty funny and glad I was able to put aside a couple hours to go and check it out. Only bad decision of the night was purchasing the $12 drink and nachos combo (way to expensive). Is it just me or does nachos at the movie theater always taste good even though its nothing special about them besides the price? Well who knows but I do know the movie was great and so was my weekend.

I am looking forward to an exciting week as well that I can't wait to fill you all in on!

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

The Weekend is near and Easter is almost Here!

Dear Readers,

It comes a time in a students college experience when you begin to notice just how fast everything has went by. It is almost Easter weekend of my Junior year meaning I only have like 3 more weeks left before I'm a senior(Crazy I know)! I have already been working on my summer plans and have just finished filling out my application to study off-campus for next year second semester. Don't get me wrong it is very exciting know that I am only 8classes away from receiving that little piece of paper that will allow me to accomplish so many more things in life but at the same time I know it will be bitter sweet.

While at Coe I have had the opportunity to attend 2 graduations thus far and both of those were a great experience. Being able to see some of my good buddies graduate and head off into the workforce or graduate school was pretty cool. The one thing that I never really thought of until now is that this will be me someday walking across this stage shaking the hand of infamous President Phifer, looking off into the crowd attempting to find the familiar faces of my family and friends in attendance. It is sort of mind blowing, but enough of all the sad stuff, I got tons of good news as well. The weather has been great, my car comes down this weekend, I can feel a small roadtrip coming, and also I was selected for the lead role in a play this upcoming fall!

Along with all of this stuff intramural sports have kicked into high gear. I am on a competitive and non-competitive basketball team, and a co-ed soccer team. Hopefully we can follow up this year with another soccer championship accompanied by a basketball one as well. I will keep you all updated on how the season goes.

Other than that stuff this week has been a good one, pretty relaxing and full of poetry as well as interesting articles in my African American Studies class. I am looking forward to next week and I can't wait to give you all updates.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Just Another Week at Coe College

Dear Readers,

I would like to start off by saying that I have lived in Cedar Rapids for almost 3 years now and I am still finding new cool places to eat and hangout. For instance just this past Thursday I went out to a local hotel in town and had $3 all you can eat wings (+the cost of a soda)! Following that I decided to go to my show on KCOE radio with some of my buddies. The show didn't end until midnight and right after a few of us thought it would be a good idea to attempt to go see the movie hunger games. Best decision of the night! The movie was great and so was the late night Burger King run after. I also made some Tye die t-shirts earlier that day ha ha.

Following my successful Thursday came a tired Friday, I could not wait to take a nap. After accomplishing my napping goals I got ready to go to a Cedar Rapids Titans indoor football game. I never knew how much fun those were. Coming from Southfield Michigan just out side of Detroit I am use to big sports teams however I found myself having just as much fun if not more at the Titans game. Also on Friday I tried out a restaurant I had never been to with one of my fraternity brothers. The place was called Jersey's and it was located right in downtown Cedar Rapids in walking distance of Coe which was pretty cool I thought. While speaking of dinner however I did find myself making another Burger King run later that night after the Titans game.

All and all it was a fun and exciting week that was relaxing yet full of things to do. This upcoming weekend is admitted student weekend so hopefully some of you readers will be around campus this weekend. Who knows maybe I will even be your host!

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Oh What a Week Thus Far

Dear Readers,

The weather has been beautiful, everyone seems to be enjoying it so much so that I don't think I was able to go outside one day last week with out seeing a group of people either playing basketball, tanning, or participating in some other outdoor activity. Some people have even been camping out outside which I think is awesome.

I can say that I do not have a lot of homework from last week. I was able to get it all done early which was much needed seeing how busy this weekend got. Friday night I was invited to one of the sorority formal dances off campus, followed by Saturday which was St. Patrick's day and the weather was perfect. I woke up pretty early to go participate in the parade with the Coe College entry. I am glad I was selected to be in the parade seeing how it was something I have never did before.

Followed by a wonderful Saturday came a very productive Sunday. I for some reason decided to fully utilize my time to finish up a lot of homework for the upcoming week which I am happy to say was well planned because I woke up the next morning at 6AM to people running up and down the halls in excitement that Today, Monday March 19,2012 was the 101st Flunk Day at Coe College! If you are curious ass to what Flunk Day is I will be happy to tell you all about it. Flunk Day is an Unknown day on campus where all classes are cancelled and there is a big cook-out on the main quad hosted by our President. Everyone wakes up around 7am and begins to participate in Flunk Day breakfast and all the other events they have out on the quad like, face-painting, photo booth, Foam pit etc. If you want to see a few pictures from this years Flunk Day check out the Coe College Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/CoeCollege.

After Flunk Day came to a close everything returned back to normal around here. We got to rainy days which I am not the happiest about but I can see that the grass is because it is glowing a nice strong vibrant green haha. The temperature has been just fantastic though and I would have to say I am very excited to see what the rest of the week has to offer.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

What a Wonderful Break (Spring Break!!!)

Dear Readers,

I am happy to chat with you all again. I do not know if you all know this but we are just now returning to school from spring break. I actually started my break a little earlier than most people and left last Wednesday. I decided to go with a buddy of mine out to Wisconsin for a big job fair in Oshkosh. The sweet thing about this was that my professors were very understanding about me having to leave early and they allowed me to either finish and turn in homework or take test early or via email. That really helped out a lot or else I might have had a boat load of homework when I got back.

On our way up to Oshkosh we stopped in Milwaukee to visit a good friend of ours who lives up there now. He took us all around town and showed us a good time which was a nice little break from the road trip. After that we finished the drive into Oshkosh on Thursday morning and everything was history from there. I will say though that the conference/ job fair was a great networking and learning experience and I never really knew just how many people knew about Coe College and the people they have met from here.

The conference ended that Sunday which still left me with a full week of activities. We decided to drive back to good ole Iowa Sunday but first we stopped and had lunch and did some shopping with our old Student Activities coordinator who now lives in Wisconsin. It was great to do some catching up before hitting the road back to Coe for the week.

Once we returned we found Coe pretty empty. It wasn't until Monday morning I found out there were still a few people around to hangout with for the week which was nice. I also decided to work in academic computing the entire week so that I could pay for my little early spring break vacation. I really enjoy working with the people in that department, you never really know what to expect from some of the guys haha.

Besides that I just did a lot of gaming/ hanging out with friends, going out to eat and to the movies and etc. That being said I highly recommend going to see the movie project x it was a pretty good one.

Although I had a lot of fun somehow Sunday crept up on me faster then expected. I had to get a lot of laundry done and catch up on some homework last night before classes started back today. I am happy to say that I am all caught up and am looking forward to my first day of golf practice.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Have it your Way

Dear Readers,

This has been a pretty cool week. It was scholarship weekend here at Coe and I do not know why but I signed up to host Three prospective students on the same night.Lucky for me I got a group of some pretty sweet dudes. But before I continue with my Friday I guess I should back up a bit to how my week went.

This past week was a pretty solid one, as far as classes go I must say which much surprise I loved them( I am not typically the sort of guy to say something like that). Besides that the weather has been amazing out here and I have been hanging out with a few of my buddies a lot lately playing a lot of video games(I sort of go through fazes). Other then that I have been spending a lot of time in KCOE Radio airing my show that I do with three other students Tuesday-Thursday from 10-12am and Friday from 9-11pm. If you are intrested in checking out my show this week feel free to check it out by going to www.kcoe48.com

Now back to my weekend, I was fortunate enough to get granted a few prospective students who all happened to like Modern Warfare Three, Pizza, and the man cave I am lucky to call my room(this is all very shocking I know). We stayed up until around 3am which was probably not a good idea seeing how they had interviews in the morning but you only live once I guess and they refused to go to bed at a decent hour so we just continued of our having fun campaign.

Saturday was a long one for me, after getting everyone where they needed to be I attended some Diversity Leadership training things and gave some tours for Admission later on. Doing all that good stuff followed by a good meal caused me to fall asleep well before acceptable, I think I was out by around 7pm and had no motivation to get back up. That is what I call productive Saturday. Sunday was a typical one full of relaxation and homework which I was excited to work on since I knew I had some good poetry I could look forward to reading. Other then that I got to chat briefly with a good Coe College buddy of mine Ankit Rana who I will give you all more details on in a blog soon to Come.

Thank you for your time,

Charles E. Cotton III

Happy 2/14 Everybody

Dear Readers,

Life has been well. Classes have continued to be enjoyable and I am pretty sure this is the first semester where I have absolutely loved every single one of my classes. This past week was full of activities and so are the days ahead, on Tuesday I went out to lunch with a boss and Fraternity Brother Justin Nylin. We decided to go to the flying weenie which is a small little hotdog restaurant located in downtown Cedar Rapids not to far from Coe. I always enjoy trips there for some reason, I don't know if it is because of the people I am with or the wonderful little bright yellow airplane located on the roof that stretches over the parking lot just a bit but either way I always seem to have a good time there.

I was also privileged enough to be able to attend the English Senior Thesis Seminar
that took place on Tuesday where I got to here a few students prep the large crowd on what they should be looking forward to in the next few weeks. The nice thing about this event is I got to see two of my past professors who retired, both in which manage to still come out and support the students.

On Wednesday I found out that residents of Cedar Rapids have the opportunity to participate in one ride-a-long with the Cedar Rapids Police Department so i decided to take the city up on this offer and within the next couple of weeks I will be riding shot gun with one of Cedar Rapids finest(I am looking forward to this a lot!)

Thursday was another fun filled lunch trip, I got to go with a few of my bosses and a computer science professor out to lunch at the Great Dragon which is another nice restaurant located in downtown Cedar Rapids.The nice thing about the Great Dragon is it is all you can eat and located right next door to another one of my favoirtes Taj Mahal. We had a good time and stuffed our bellies which then caused me to take a nice 2 hour nap afterwards while everyone else had to go to work (I feel sorry for those guys).

Also on Thursday a good buddy of mine, John Sherrod who graduated from Coe last year and is now in Law School at Marquette University came to visit for the weekend which was a swell time to say the least.

Friday was another Coe College tradition,President's Ball, this started when our current President, Jim Phifer was entering and has continued ever since. Pres ball as it is called for short is always held second semester on campus and is a very formal event, I would even say it is more formal then our annual homecoming dance. A lot of student come out to this and overall I would say I had a great time.

For the most part I spent the rest of my weekend just hanging out and doing some cooking. Oh, and also finishing up some homework, however look forward to some updates on another fun filled week.

Once again happy 2/14 and thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

#whyd3?

Dear readers,

I have had an amazing week. I was on duty all week for residence life but that didn't slow me down one bit. Actually duty this week was pretty fun, I got to meet a few new people in my building which is always a fun thing. Other then that classes went very well, from working on some new short stories to analyzing film I felt as though I picked up a lot of new information.

Besides my typical weekly updates I wanted you all to hear a little more about my weekend.I never thought attending an Athletic leadership Conference could be so much fun. Lets be honest how often do you hear the word conference and thing "oh yeah this will be the time of my life?" Not very often at all. Well I have always been told go into things with an open mind and my athletic director really encouraged me to find someone to cover my weekend duties so that I could attend and so I did. Before I forget one of the key components to this story let me just tell you now. The conference took place in Cedar Rapids and was all weekend long, so if you want to know more about things to do in Cedar Rapids this is why I thought this would be a nice story to share.

Coe College is a part of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in short IIAC. This conference is Division III and really stresses the importance of being a student first. Being able to go to this conference with a few other Coe athletes was a great experience, from getting to meet people from other schools and the large amount of Coe alumni and presenters we got to meet and interact with I would say the trip was well worth it. The conference was at the Marriott hotel which is only like 5 minutes from campus which was nice because we were able to run back and forth if need be. Also late night food runs were not a problem at all and neither was my Laser Tag skills.

Not to brag or anything but the four Coe guys who went dominated in laser tag, I got a clean sheet to prove it

What a Wonderful World

Dear Readers,

This weather is crazy. I can not believe how warm it has been, I have seen students running around campus in everything from shorts and a t-shirt to big winter coats on the same day. I mean I'm not complaining or anything just thought I would let you know what warm weather at an unsuspected time does to college students.

Besides the crazy weather and etc,campus for the most part has still been very active. From all of the basketball games and wrestling matches, to the wide array of guest speakers appearing on campus, and the on campus entertainment provided by our Student Activities Committee, these things have overall in my opinion added to the excitement and liveliness of campus as of lately.

Other then that, the residence hall that I live in (Douglas Hall) has just been given a piano as a new addition to our lobby. Even though I do not really know how to play the piano I have still found myself hammering away at some keys for pure entertainment for myself and the not so lucky students in the lobby at the time.

The cooking rotation with me and some of my buddies have still been taking place. Just yesterday I prepared about 10 big bacon cheese burgers with some homemade barbeque sauce that I spent a hour mastering. For the most part I would say dinner was a success. It didn't take that long for the grocery shopping just walked down to the local hy-vee with my buddy Joel to pick up some stuff. That is one of the perks of going to Coe and living in Cedar Rapids, you never really have to go to far to get to the things you need, I really like that.

This past week for me has been pretty fun filled, from cleaning my room ( which is an uncompleted task and not really fun, to spending time working out with some friends at one of our two main workout complexes ( Eby Field house and Clark Racquet Center), to even just sitting back in the sauna for a bit and sharing conversation. There has been so many out of the box things to do which is always nice if you want to try something different.

I think my buddy Joel may be next in the group rotation for cooking, if so I will try to take some pictures so we can see if this guy can really cook.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Oh How Far the Squirrels Have Come

Dear Readers,
This past week has been eventful. From a lot of meetings regarding my fraternity and just getting settled back in I have found several ways to keep busy. Other than the small amount of homework I have received so far this semester I have spent a lot of time hanging out with friends. A group of buddies all decided that it would be fun to come together a few times a week and cook a nice dinner. This has been turning out great! Although I do enjoy the simplicity of going to the”U” (our main cafeteria) or going to Charlie’s PUB it is nice to spend some good old fashion time with buddies and just have a pig out.

Classes this semester seem to be going pretty well. I really enjoy all of the classes that I selected for this semester and I am actually looking forward to some of the homework in those classes. I think the main reason I am so excited for some homework projects is because I just bought this new speech to text software that works pretty well. Thus far it has been a productivity master. Maybe after a few more test runs I will recommend the product to you all, til then I will keep it to myself.

All in all everything has been swell this week. The weather hasn’t been too crazy although we did get a big snow a few days ago. I was able to just sit back and relax this weekend and just live the College life stress free, which is always a good thing. Hopefully all is well for you all and I look forward to sharing some pictures or videos with you next week. Right now I have a video of a squirrel that was running around campus which is strange seeing how all the other squirrels where doing there sleeping thing haha.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Welcome Back

Dear Readers,

It feels like I have not talked to you all in forever! Well I guess I owe you all a few updates. My winter break was pretty sweet. I got to go home for almost four weeks and had a new car awaiting my arrival. My parents bought me a black Camaro which I thought would just sit in the drive way over break due to snow. Lucky me we got hardly any snow in Michigan over break so that was pretty cool. Other then that I really enjoyed visiting with family and friends and everyone seemed to want to hear how I liked it out in good old Iowa.
Being home for that long was a great time but towards the end of break I was kind of looking forward to coming back to Coe. It was nice getting here and being welcomed by so many people. All of the students seemed to be excited to see each other again and that made for a nice welcome week back.
Other then that I will have a busy but fun semester filled with tons of classes I think I will enjoy. Stay tuned for updates on how all my first couple days of classes went.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III