Category: Miscellaneous

Random sh*t we don’t know where else to put

Seasonal Affective Disorder: A SAD Feeling

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date November 9, 2025

A pensive Autumnal scene. Image licensed CC0 1.0 Public Domain Universal.

Daylight savings time has come to its timely close, on Halloweekend no less. While I’m sure many of us enjoyed and appreciated that extra hour Saturday night, there are many more changes still to come.

The days are colder and the nights are longer. The sun is setting earlier and earlier every day and with that comes many an annual affliction. Aside from the flu and getting paler, seasonal depression comes a-knockin’.

Officially referred to as seasonal affective disorder, this silent criminal of good feelings is not an all or nothing affair. There are many ways to combat the seasonal sadness most tend to feel around this time of year and so I have decided to compile a list for anyone in need.

What is SAD?

First and foremost, seasonal affective disorder is, as the name implies, a seasonal depression that afflicts many during the colder, darker months. Despite what many may think, sunlight serves a very important purpose to us as humans. Not only does the sun play a vital role in our very existence with its warmth and light, but the sun serves as our main source of vitamin D.

Vitamin D is extremely important, despite what little it is talked about. Vitamin D is responsible for keeping our bones strong as well as our immune system. It also tends to affect our emotional dispositions. No one’s happy when they’re sick and I have seen many more people sporting a smile on a 70 degree, sunny day in September than a cold, drizzly day in February.

Pushing our day an hour later reduces our waking sunshine time. Additionally, walking around in more clothing and staying indoors even more so reduces our time in the sun.

What can you do?

That being said, here are some tips I would recommend to those who are either already feeling the SAD hit, or know that they get it bad every year.

Eat vitamin D rich foods
- Eggs
- Cheeses
- Cultured and fortified dairy products
- Fortified plant based milks
- Mushrooms
Try getting some sunshine time every day
Vitamin D supplements
Exercise
Spend time with a support system
Find and appreciate your favorite pastimes
Avoid listening to melancholic music
- Try listening to something more upbeat or higher BPM
Try not to let the SADness take over. It’s temporary.

I hope that this helps someone out this Fall and Winter, especially with the inevitable final exams and holiday stressors.

— dj dragonfly

Tags dj dragonfly, mental health, Sad, Seasonal Affective Disorder, WKNC

Miscellaneous

This Charming CHASS

Post author By esdallma
Post date November 7, 2025

Quote from Crito, the Death of Socrates

I googled something once

The value of the humanities can be described in a multitude of ways, one in which I’ve adopted is the notion that engaging with culture, communities and the arts, interrogating their forms, can help us better interrogate our own lives in this same manner as the classics and the acclaimed.

So I was crying over the death of Socrates studying for my ancient Mediterranean history class and something stood out to me.

“this charming man”, this charming man you say…

Acclaimed artistry, The Smiths. As I grow up I move from listening to them in nostalgia for my mother’s taste and her adolescent soundscape and now nuzzle my way into the songs.

It’s quite odd to grow with a song, to fit yourself, your narrative and snapshots slot into anothers lyrics, someone else’s life.

Well isn’t this the point of the arts, to find ones own universal truth and experiences as a mortal reflected back to them.

I think in this way it’s when I began hypothesizing The Smith’s discography adapts these narratives I find myself further encountering through courses like Classical Mythology which highlight to me themes such as the Greek god Dionysus having parallels with Jesus as the twice born god, paralles between Gilgamesh and the Egyptians and flooding stories and creation stories and ways we fill the time but in the end its all the same.

So basically I googled (which is synonymous with asking a language learning model to guzzle natural resources at unaccounted for rates), “This Charming Man”.

I mean this feels like the equivalent of needing help, knowing 911 and calling them to discuss community resources and options for your particular situation–as its a coagulate of resources– and instead you get a cop at your door.

So in a way I was glad to see this as I was worried I was drawing an obvious parallel, and then you read the lyrics.

Who knows so much about these things? If you said Socrates, its up for debate have fun.

I think its beautiful, the A. plot is yes of course, he cannot afford the love of this man embellished in life’s class memento moris; leather a nod to our agricultural past and the industrialization of our relations with the land and its occupants and of course our own mortality.

He would go out tonight but he has nothing to wear!! I get it!!

But B.

B plot..?

Well if we are to assume The Smiths are maybe well read, maybe are interested in catchy tunes–Whats a hook? What can someone say over and over and over with you, fit themselves in, relate to your situation.

The B. expands it to the larger ephemeral subjectivity of our lives, and as we age and we keep developing these complicated, intricate, stitched together relationships with the world and what it does to us, we find new meaning in those words.

Words echoed by archives of lives already lived.

Words uttered by Socrates on his deathbed about his guard who would not project the animosity of another group unto someone marginalized.

Words read and lectured on for X amount of years– I’m not googling it just trust me bro.

Words sprinkled throughout peoples engagement with the literature or anything it spurred beyond it.

And I think that’s beautiful and just an example of something a chatbot could never imagine, unprompted.

I urge you, ask your friends, your neighbor, the tutor center, the library the questions you plug to the bot, or at least think about doing it for it was Socrates who was interested in questioning our implicit lines of logic.

These microchoices of resources add up and when the water’s murky and the energy bills continue to climb, you might have to just read a book under candle light and think little silly thoughts about the characters and you, hopefully with a friend too.

Or analyze a song and post it to the web!

It pays to be media literate, to your soul, the eternal beat.

We are the archives and the algorithm,

act compassionately and creatively, xo.

Tags AI, critical thinking, literary analysis, logic, lyric analysis, socrates, WKNC, WKNC 88.1

Miscellaneous

Surviving Midterm Season

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date November 3, 2025

Exhaustion represented by Ng Wei Bunn, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Generic

** Image license **

We are officially in the middle of the fall semester. That can only mean one thing: midterms. I can’t speak for everyone, but most everyone I know, present company included, have been drowning in exams, projects, presentations and extracurricular activities. The most prevalent feelings I have observed in myself and others have been stress. That being said, I think it’s high time I did another mental health check in.

With it feeling like everything is happening all at the same time, I want to provide a guide for how to deal with the stress and how to get through this dreaded period of the semester.

First and foremost, I would recommend making a list of all the things that are due within the next week and have them written down in order of due date. This helps to better visualize what needs to be done by when. Outside of that, I like to do quick and easy tasks between larger ones as a form of procrastination. For example, if I have a big presentation due Wednesday, but I also have one simple assignment due Tuesday and two others on Thursday, instead of procrastinating by scrolling on my phone or something I will complete one of those assignments. It allows me to take a break from what I’m working on and still get something done.

I try to make as much progress during the day as possible with my work so that I can have the evening to unwind and use for myself. That is not always possible for everyone. It’s not always easy to find time for oneself. My suggestion is to make a to-do list for the day and get as much done as possible as early as possible. For me, the small tasks instead of procrastinating helps with that a lot.

That is not to say that you should never take breaks. Taking a break is healthy and a requirement to mental sanity. Please take breaks as needed. But there is a difference between taking a break and just procrastinating.

That being said, being brain fried doesn’t do anyone any good. I never ever encourage people to pull an all-nighter. It is better to do what you can and go to bed at a reasonable time. Getting a good night’s sleep and waking up a little earlier to keep working, is a much better way to make sure you can retain more information and do better on an exam or presentation.

I urge everyone to be gentle with yourselves during this time. Take things one step at a time and please take some time to keep yourselves sane. It’s okay to take a break. It’s okay to do what you need to do. Get enough sleep and nourish your bodies appropriately. Good luck to everyone with their exams and projects.

Tags dj dragonfly, mental health, Midterms, studying, WKNC

Miscellaneous

SCarowinds 2025 – An Honest Review

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date October 31, 2025

A scare actor, Halloween Horror Nights. Image by Inside the Magic, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Generic

** Image license **

Those who have lived in or near Charlotte, NC know that every fall, popular rollercoaster park Carowinds does their annual nighttime scare program. There’s haunted houses, performances, decorations and monsters everywhere, at least normally. I have personally been going almost every year, if not every year, since I moved to North Carolina. This year, I have been severely disappointed.

What Once Was

Let me explain. In the past, the park would close around 5 p.m. and reopen around 6 p.m. with the scare actors out and ready to play. The park wouldn’t close for the night until 1 a.m. I could leave my house at 5, which was about 45 minutes away, and get there in time for opening, get through ticketing lines and be ready to have fun within an hour. There were three or so haunted houses and mazes along with different parts of the park acting almost like boroughs with different themes. There were very few “safe” places where you couldn’t be scared. Additionally, there have been areas around the park with dancers and there was always a big performance in the front apex of the park where the Carolinas’ meet.

What is Now

This year, everything was different. To start, I am a season pass holder and that has always been enough to get me into the park for any of the events and enjoy all parts of it outside of line jumping etc. Apparently the system has changed this year. My pass was still enough to get me in the front gate but not enough to let me experience any haunted houses, so I had to purchase a separate pass for that. Additionally, there was a new attraction for “The Conjuring” which required a separate pass purchase, and it was definitely not cheap. We opted not to pay for this attraction.

Next, we left my house at quarter after 6 p.m. to get to the park at the current opening time of 7 p.m. We stopped to get gas and food which would conceivably add about half an hour to our trip. All this taken into account, we should have arrived at the park by 7:30 p.m. As I’m sure you can guess, that is not when we arrived. We finally parked around 8:30 p.m. This wasn’t ideal, but not a huge deal as we did anticipate some traffic.

The next step was to get through the admission line which shouldn’t have taken longer than 20 minutes. Boy were we sorely mistaken. About an hour later, we finally made it into the park. But that wasn’t the last line we had to stand in before we could finally go have fun. We had to mosey our way to the front apex where the big performance normally would be to get our haunted house passes. Luckily, this line wasn’t a long one and we were all squared away by 9:45 p.m.

Now, I was admittedly pretty upset by this point. My accompaniment had to help me regulate and try to see the bright side of everything and I appreciate their efforts but it wasn’t working. We wandered about the park and had kinda decided to focus on the seasonal attractions instead of waiting in line for the rollercoasters since we could go on those any time.

We went all the way around the circular park and only spotted about a dozen scare actors outside of performances total. I was personally shocked. There were no boroughs of Victorian ghosts or birdcages or pirate zombies or really any dolls and creepy clowns anywhere. There were two actors with the chainsaws and two or three actors with sliders (metal knee and arm pads that allow actors to slide across asphalt that spark and make very loud noises). I was only spooked by one of these actors throughout the whole park. As I stated before, there used to be countless of these actors, all with a variety of style and scare tactics. There wasn’t really a safe place to be in the park where one wouldn’t have the looming threat of an actor with tattered clothing and heavy SFX makeup.

We took a minute to look at a park map to see if there was something we were missing. As it turned out, there were only four “scare zones” throughout the park and we had completely walked through them all without realizing. There were also a couple new attractions that we had had a chance to sample. We decided we wanted to try to catch some of the other new things we hadn’t seen yet.

New Attractions

One of the new attractions was a “rave” area with a scheduled performance every hour or so. This was called “DepRAVEd” and consisted of a large space with lots of fog machines and lights. There were several dancers with the focus being on one with a white wig whose style was pretty limited to a pop and locking routine. All the dancers, with two exceptions, were exceptionally talented. They seemed to me like they were just a group of people with a mild sense of rhythm that had been packed together in a dance studio and given a routine to learn. It felt very unimpressive.

Another new attraction was a burlesque show called “The Bon Bons Burlesque Troupe” which was nothing like what I would have expected at SCarowinds. This dance group was three ladies in pastel color-coordinated costumes consisting of corsets and ruffle shorts and fans. Their performance spot was also located on the top of a drink kiosk. They, again, weren’t exceptionally impressive. Not only was the dance routine just kinda alright, but they weren’t scary. They looked like they were trying to be little candies or something but in my experience at this event every year indicates that the whole point is to be scary.

The last two attractions we were able to sample were actually pretty good. The first was a stage performance in the theatre called “Wake the Dead” which was an interactive musical-like performance. The actors all did an exceptional job with their vocals and the song choices were impeccable. Each of the suspects in this stories murder mystery had a version of a popular song attributed to them. One had a version of “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago” one had a version of “Tainted Love,” one had a version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and lastly, one did a version of “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” I think that this performance was likely the highlight of the evening for me.

Last but not least, we did manage to make use of our wristbands and go through one of the haunted houses. Sadly, that was all we had time for as the park closed promptly at 11:59 p.m. This haunted house was a new creation inspired by a doll workshop. The house was supposed to be a doll factory that has a gas leak and I was impressed with the set as well as the actors who did get me a couple times.

One other area I found that was new was a Sinner’s Lounge near the Fury. This space is supposed to have a speakeasy feel to it with fainting couches and fancy chairs as well as alcoholic beverages and a stage in the corner. We stayed for about 15 minutes or so and didn’t see any indication of a performance but I could be wrong about that one. I liked the idea behind this lounge but I think the execution could have been done better.

I wish I had had the chance to explore the rest of the attractions but alas I only had about two hours to do everything I wanted to and there wasn’t exactly a lack of lines. Overall, I had a very disappointing time this year and likely will not be returning until I receive indication that the park is returning to its past glory. I feel this attraction has gone down so much in quality, especially in the scaring and talent departments. I come to get spooked and hear my own heart pounding in my ears and I just didn’t get that. I can note that the quality of the attraction has been on the downhill for the last couple years, but this has to be the most dramatic plunge in quality I have yet to experience. If someone were to ask me if I thought paying the money for a regular entrance ticket and a haunted pass were worth it, I would have to give that a very hard no. I hope this helps anyone who didn’t get a chance to go this year and felt they were missing anything.

— dj dragonfly

Tags dj dragonfly, halloween, SCarowinds

Miscellaneous

Book Review: “Serenade to the Big Bird” is an Unfinished Tragedy

Post author By Killian Le
Post date October 28, 2025

"Serenade to the Big Bird" written in large text. Used according to Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal Deed.

Have you ever heard the saying, “the cameraman never dies?” The phrase is a viral internet meme that Reddit popularized in 2020.

The joke references survivorship bias, a logical error in studies where statisticians only collect data on entities who ‘survive’ their trials, while ignoring those who do not. But for internet-users who enjoy videos of daring stunts and perilous expeditions, “the cameraman never dies” is a comforting mantra to repeat as their favorite YouTubers barely finesse death on camera.

By nature, war memoirs are very similar. Only someone who survives a war can publish an account about it, no?

Background

“Serenade to the Big Bird” is an unfinished WWII memoir written by American author Bert Stiles through 1943 through 1944. He was a B-17 copilot, serving in the 401st Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group for the U.S. Airforce.

On November 26, 1944, he shot down a Luftwaffe Fw 190s before his plane careened into the ground in Hanover, Germany.

I had skimmed past this fact written on page nine. When I finished “Serenade to the Big Bird,” flipping to find more, a chill raced down my spine when I realized that there wouldn’t be.

At twenty-one, Stiles dropped out of college to work odd jobs and hitchhike across New York. At twenty-three, he was flying across England with a fleet of elite fighter pilots on the way to drop bombs atop Berlin. Strictly speaking, “Serenade to the Big Bird” is a chronological series of journal entries that cover those eight months of Stile’s military career.

But if I were to say what “Serenade to the Big Bird” is about, I would say this is a story about a great author who was never supposed to die a soldier.

The Book

With the theatrics of a writer and the honesty of an everyman, he records everything from his eccentric fleet mates and child-like infatuations to the sweaty boiling hell of a bomber plane’s cockpit from 30,000 feet above the ground. His account provides a shockingly grounded and relatable anti-war perspective of WWII. Stiles feels like he could have been saying as much, sitting right next to me scribbling poetry in a PHI class at NC State.

Above it all, however, “Serenade to the Big Bird” stands out among the rest because of Stile’s compassion. German, American, British or French–Stiles has a rare empathy for everyone, including the enemy. You wouldn’t normally associate that with a soldier, let alone a bomber pilot.

Instead of glorifying the atrocities of war or letting them send him into a nihilistic spiral, Stiles is painfully hopeful, right until the very end.

On page 216, Stiles writes in the final three paragraphs:

“In the end it is only people that count, all the people in the whole world. Any land is beautiful to someone. Any land is worth fighting for to someone. So it isn’t the land. It is the people.”

Conclusion

His memoir is only 216 pages. It’s barely even a novel. Yet, I found myself amazed by the depths of just a single life lost to time seventy-five years ago.

If you have an hour or two, check out “Serenade to the Big Bird.” Get to know Stiles–he was a nice guy. He would’ve gotten to know you too.

–Killian Le

Tags book review, Historical Fiction, NC State, War Memoir, WKNC, WKNC 88.1

Miscellaneous

Fun Fall Things to Do

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date October 20, 2025

Colorful mountain road near Grandfather Mountain and Linville. Image by Sophia Dutton-Rodkin

Pretty much from the middle of September until the middle of November, I have something going on every weekend. I have so many things I like to do in the Fall that I have to schedule it pretty far ahead of time. I thought it might be a good idea to share what I like to do in the Fall so that others might get some ideas.

Tags Activities, dj dragonfly, fall, north carolina

Miscellaneous

Movies’ Effect on Music

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date September 29, 2025

"Superman" (2025) movie poster

Some of the best movies have had the best soundtracks. Some of the worst movies have had the best soundtracks too. On the other side of it, there are many songs that I think didn’t have much of an impact and were generally good songs that were then used in a soundtrack. Once there is a visual, cinematic, and emotional context, the song changes completely.

Undoubtedly, many of my readers have likely seen the new “Superman” (2025) movie. I finally watched it the other night. Before I begin my spiel, I have to say I was delightfully surprised and felt a lot of kinship with some of the characters and an emotional connection to some of the scenes.

Tags dj dragonfly, movie, Punkrocker, Superman, WKNC

Miscellaneous

A Week in San Francisco

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date September 5, 2025

A street in San Francisco. Image licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.

I went to San Francisco this Summer. We were there for a week and spent most of our time at Fisherman’s Wharf, but we did explore other areas too.

Friday

We arrived at night, late, and made our way to a Victorian Queen Anne style Airbnb apartment with two cats, Charlotte and Hazel. We hadn’t eaten yet and were extremely exhausted. We didn’t get to bed until 3 or 4 a.m. Pacific Time.

Saturday

We allowed ourselves to sleep in, but ended up waking up around 8 a.m. Me and a couple members of my party decided to mosey down to one of the coffeeshops nearby for some breakfast and coffee. We found one called CoffeeShop about a block away from our apartment. Most of us got coffee or tea of some sort and we got four pastries to take home and share. We got a ham and cheese croissant, a charcoal salmon and cream cheese croissant, a pan au chocolate, and an amaretto apricot cruffin (croissant muffin). My personal favorites were the salmon croissant and the cruffin, both of which we would order again later in the week.

Tags dj dragonfly, San Francisco, WKNC

Miscellaneous

eXperimental pOp

Post author By esdallma
Post date August 25, 2025

Good Bad Happy Sad and found sound

The band Good Bad Happy Sad resembles a trance trip state in which sound merges behind found and curated, meshing conversations and tunes and timelines pulling on simultaneous explorations of different genre associated sounds.

Tags experimental sound, found sound, sound environments

Miscellaneous

Music’s Limitless Potential

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date August 17, 2025

Music production soundboard. Licensed CC0 1.0 Universal

Seriously, how cool is music?

There is so much history, variety and potential that it’s almost impossible to be familiar with everything about it.

Growing up, I honestly didn’t know that there was such a thing as new music. I grew up listening to the various eclectic collections of my family members and had no comprehension of the fact that people were making new music every single day. I thought Mozart, Alla Pugacheva and nursery rhymes were the cream of the crop.

I think I was in second grade when I realized that my friends were listening to and singing songs I have never heard before and finally realized that there was so much more to this hidden world.

Now as an adult, I love everything about music. I love that you can pick something for literally any mood. I love the variety that different cultures have to offer. I love seeing how music has evolved over time.

Tags covers, dj dragonfly, WKNC