Adam's Multimedia Journalism stuff

WTAMU Students Search Campus Resources to Help Family Elton "Buck" Amburn was a student at West Texas State Teachers College from 1936-39. He returned to receive his masters degree from West Texas State University in 1949. The Search for Elton Amburn    One of the most valuable pieces of information we can ever be gifted with, is the history of our parents. On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 8, 2021, Elton Philip Amburn, of Tucson, AZ, had emailed The Prairie News, the West Texas A&M University online campus newspaper, located 660 miles east, in Canyon, TX. In the electronic message, Philip Amburn had written that he was looking for more information about his father, the late Elton “Buck” Amburn, who attended the Canyon, TX college in the late 1930’s.       “There were whole sections of my dad's life that I don't know a lot about,” said Philip. “I initially got in contact with [The Prairie] asking if there was any way I could look at some online records fro

     For Patrick Diepen, the Digitization Technician for the West Texas A&M University for the Cornette Library Special Archives, exploring history is a daily occurrence.      “I love museums, archives, special collections types of things,” said Diepen. “They are just an endless source of fun for me.”      After Diepen finished his undergraduate studies at WTAMU, he chose to continue working at the on-campus library as a library specialist II position.      “I had skill sets that would allow them to open a digitization lab,” said Diepen. That is where Diepen’s historical knowledge, mixed with his computer abilities, and photography skills came into play. With a continuous workload of converting books, newspapers, and other information into a digital versions, Diepen is not only kept mentally sharp with his current duties, but he is also kept engaged by requests from students.      “Occasionally…[students] will appear and say, ‘I have question, can you help us answer it,’” said Di

          Amarillo Solar is a local and relatively new business, but with lots of experience and vision that is also in line to their own passions.       David Nichols started the business in the late in the summer of 2021 after many people were upset with their energy bills from the local electric company.      “At one point, the electric company was not even reading their customers electric meters, they were guess-a-mating the usage, and then expecting the consumer to call with a correct reading,” said Nichols.       With some consumers costs reaching upwards over $300, Nichols started Amarillo Solar to help people get back to being in control of their own costs.       “When people use solar, they are essentially putting electricity back into the grid,” said Nichols. “Then they (consumers) get a credit for the amount of electricity that was added back into the grid.”       On this particular job shown, Nichols and his crew are taking down a set of solar panels so that the roof can be

 Campus Calorie Counting          There are different hypotheses about why people who quit smoking seem to gain weight. Since this writer has quit smoking, well at least cut back considerably, I have been on the search to keep away from the dreaded quick weight gain that many people who quit smoking seem to find out.         For the most part, research seem to determine that nicotine speeds up your metabolism. When you quit, that process actually slows down. Also, many people have increased hunger, or they replace smoking with comfort eating, or replacing the hand to mouth motion with another vice.           For this particular former smoker, I have noticed in the past that my weight gain was due to drinking sodas at lunch, during the afternoon, and also at night. Then I would wonder why I couldn’t sleep. Watching your sugar intake helps, but staying under the calorie allowance per day is the most effective way of keeping weight off, whether or not you are a smoker, non-smoker, or form

       For this map, Adam Jiwa has complied a list of his top 14 restaurants that enjoys to eat at when he does not feel like cooking.      The choices he made include Dinner, Lunch, and Breakfast or great weekend Brunch places to share company along with a mimosa or three. For breakfast and brunch places, a hidden gem starts the list off. El Manantial Restaurant is off Amarillo Blvd. Serving authentic Mexican Food with a menu that makes you wish you paid more attention in high school Spanish classes, El Manantial is hidden by a bridge, but remains a must go to.      Other places on his breakfast and brunch list include: Bagel Place, Drunken Oyster, Hud’s, Baby Crush. International House of Pancakes is also encompassed in this list because, "who doesn’t like pancakes?"      For the lunch time round up, Golden Light Café, Pondaseta Brewing Co., Joe Taco. A quick go to if you don’t have time to wait, is Chicken Express.      The dinner lineup does not disappoint either. La Fies

          On October 21st, 2021, Nellie Robbins Short will be 103 years old. She’s an important figure not only in the city of Canyon, but for me, Adam Jiwa, too. She was my mothers', Dr. Theresa Da Costa, 65, best friend before she passed away in December of 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic that was ravaging the world, they had not seen each other in the months before her passing. Even so, they had arranged to talk at least once a week. For me personally, she is a key person in remembering my mother.           Ms. Short was born in Arkansas, and moved back and forth from the Panhandle multiple times before she settled in Canyon.           “The first Robbins’ came from Georgia to Arkansas back in the early 1800, said Short. “The land that daddy had is still in the Robbins’ name. Dad kept buying land and he would tell us, ‘You can’t lose money on land.’”           Nell and her husband Lloyd Short, were married in 1935. They moved to the top of Texas just before World War II