Frosting:

2 sticks softened butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup caramel sauce (Trader Joe’s has a great one)
2 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
Whip together butter and cream cheese in medium bowl with a hand-held mixer. Sift in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating until combined in between each addition. Add the caramel sauce and sea salt.

No Filling

Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes (Garnish with Chocolate Chips or Chocolate Shavings)

Frosting:

2 sticks softened butter, room temperature
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons milk
Beat butter in a medium bowl with mixer until it loses it’s shape and is fluffy. Sift in powdered sugar and cocoa powder in 3 additions, mixing until ingredients are absorbed in between each addition. Add vanilla, salt and milk, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. All of the milk might not be needed. The desired consistency is one that you can pipe (with an icing bag) or spread the frosting easily onto the cupcakes with a knife.

Filling:

5 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped (a big Hershey’s bar works fine)
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (DO NOT use chocolate chips, buy baking chocolate. Chocolate chips won’t melt correctly.)
½ cup heavy whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla

Put chopped chocolate in medium sized heat-proof bowl. Over medium heat, bring heavy whipping cream and vanilla to a boil. Immediately pour hot heavy whipping cream mixture over chocolate. Whisk until all chocolate is melted, and then chill in refrigerature for approximately 2 hours, or until stiff and easy to handle. (It’s smart to do this before baking cupcakes, then let it chill while the cakes are baking and cooling.)

Strawberry Shortcake (Garnish with fresh strawberries)

Frosting:

4 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed to combine, then higher speed until stiff peaks form. When done, it’ll look like whipped cream. Be careful not to overmix! This recipe can be altered to make any amount. The formula is one part powdered sugar to two parts heavy whipping cream. Alter vanilla accordingly.

Filling:

15 Strawberries (thinly sliced)
2 ½ tablespoon granulated (table) sugar
Wash the outsides of strawberries, dry them on a paper towel, and cut out the green part.
Thinly slice each strawberry and put them in a bowl.
Sprinkle the sugar over the strawberries and toss with a large fork until the strawberries are coated in the sugar and produce a syrupy liquid.

   Former Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora may get pretty pissed off at me, but that is exactly what I am going to talk about.  Rest assured Jim, I’m not going to talk about the NFL playoffs like you seemed to have such as distaste to talk about because the NFL playoffs are perfectly fine just the way they are.  The NFL’s little brother, college football, however, needs a little talking to about playoffs.

   The discussion has come up over and over again about whether College Football should keep the BCS system it has or whether it should crossover to the more popular playoff format.  The debate has been intense over the past ten years so for the past ten years the BCS has survived, however, what happened Sunday night may very well be the death of the BCS.

   Here’s a recap of what happened leading up to Sunday night.  The previous week, the BCS standings came out with the top six including LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Virginia Tech and Houston in that order.  Of the six, experts agreed that only four of them had any chance whatsoever of making it to the championship game (LSU, Bama, Okie State and Houston).  Additionally, since Houston isn’t in a Big six conference, their only hope was for anarchy to ensue so we’ll cross them out.  Experts and fans across the nation also agreed that the only way for Okie State to make it to the Championship game was for them to convincingly beat Oklahoma in their final game.  The stage was set.

   Saturday came along, and as Bama lost its division race to LSU, they got to watch the games unfold from the comfort of their sofas.  The games started at noon, and by one o’clock it was already a foregone conclusion that Houston had blown its chance as it was already down 42-21 in the fourth quarter.  After Houston completes their disappointing loss to Southern Miss., they are officially out of the mix leaving it up to LSU, Bama and Okie State.  LSU is the next team to start its game, and it’s looking bad for the Tigers as they are losing in the SEC championship to Georgia.  Some people begin to ponder what would happen if LSU loses.  Would they still get to play in the National Championship game?  Spoiler alert, LSU scores 42 unanswered points to win the game 42-10 and complete its perfect season.  So there’s one ticket punched to the National Championship. 

   It all comes down to Okie State now, we should think.  If they do anything other than earn a convincing win against their rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners, they will not be going to the national Championship game.  Their season is on the line and…they play by far their best game of the year to dominate Oklahoma by the score of 44-10.  Alabama is already in the club house with a -12 score.  It’s as if Okie State just sunk a 70 foot Eagle putt to tie the tournament up at -12.  Who do you pick in that situation if there is no playoff?  The smart thing for the BCS to do would be to pick the team who had just sunk the metaphorical Eagle putt, right?

   Although, 80 percent of Sportsnation agrees with that statement, the BCS, for some reason didn’t.  They stupidly decided on a rematch of a 9-6 game that LSU won earlier in the season at Bama over an explosive team that did everything right and who, by the way, hadn’t already lost to LSU earlier this season.  Moreover, they chose a team who didn’t even play for its conference championship over a team who won its conference championship, a team who had went two and one versus the three ranked teams it played all year versus a team who went 5-0 versus ranked teams and a team that had just played in the National Championship two years ago over a team that had never played in a National Championship.  COME ON MAN!!!

All of this, and I haven’t even mentioned the even greater mistake that the BCS made Sunday night when it announced the bowl schedule.  Scanning down the BCS games, one sees LSU vs. Bama (terrible but not quite apocalyptic), Oklahoma State vs. Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl (Wow, this should be an amazing game), Oregon vs. Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl (Good, the classic Big 10 Pac 12 matchup), West Virginia vs. Clemson in the Orange Bowl (Well…the BCS was obligated to put these two teams in the BCS.  Someone from the Big East and ACC had to make it.) and Michigan vs. Virginia Tech??? What’s that?  Ah—Virginia Tech?  Don’t talk about—Virginia Tech?!  You kidding me?!  Virginia Tech?!  Do you mean that same Virginia Tech who played one ranked team all year, Clemson (twice) and got beaten down in both games similar to the 62-7 whooping New Orleans put on the Colts in the NFL earlier this year?  Oh, I think I see it better now, BCS.  You meant to pencil in a K-a-n-s-a-s  S-t-a-t-e  or a B-o-i-s-e  S-t-a-t-e  and you just accidentally spelled it V-i-r-g-i-n-i-a  T-e-c-h.  No, you’re seriously telling me you did not make a syntax error on that one?  Huhhhhh.

   If the BCS’ first mistake of the night was a stab in its back, its second mistake was surely attempted suicide and probably a legitimate suicide at that.  As a result of those two major gaffes, the BCS has put the final nails in its coffin.  It was a bad run, but yeah, as I was saying it was a bad run.  The BCS has screwed up College Football too many times in its fourteen year history, and enough is finally enough.  After the Big 12 threatens to sue the BCS this year for conference discrimination, as it rightfully should, (I mean it was only rated by none other than the BCS itself to be the best conference in the country.  Then the BCS goes ahead and screws the Big 12 over on the two accounts.  If I was the BCS and my system had chosen a specific conference as the best conference, I would certainly put a team from that conference in the National Championship or at the very least reward that conference by giving it two BCS teams like the BCS gave the inferior SEC, Pac 12, Big 10 and ACC.)  I’m just saying that that might have been the less suicidal option, but hey, I’m not complaining.  We’ve finally got ourselves a (Jim Mora in the background screaming at the top of his lungs, “Don’t say what I’m thinking you are going to say.”) playoff!!!

   To celebrate a much improved new system I’ll show you how a 12 team playoff system would have panned out had the BCS been ousted before this year like it should have been.  (Top four conference champions get a first round bye in this system, the other two don’t and the remaining six are the six highest ranked at large teams.  No conference can enter more than three teams.)

Week 1: LSU, OSU, Oregon and Wisconsin receive byes

Game 1: Boise State vs. Kansas State (two snubs)

Game 2: Alabama vs. West Virginia (Possible blow-out but still worth watching)

Game 3: Arkansas vs. Clemson (Which team is overrated?)

Game 4: Stanford vs. Baylor (Battle of the Heisman trophy finalists)

Week 2:

Game 1: LSU vs. Boise State/K-State (The snubs get their chance at the “best team in the country”)

Game 2: Wisconsin vs. Alabama/WVU (Assuming Bama beats WVU, what an amazing matchup)

Game 3: Oregon vs. Arkansas/Clemson (Oregon will finally get a shot to beat a great team that isn’t called Stanford)

Game 4: OSU vs. Stanford/Baylor (Another great quarterback matchup awaits no matter what)

 Week 3:

Game 1: LSU/BSU/K-State vs. Wisconsin/Alabama/WVU (There is a possibility that you would see the current National Championship game between LSU and Alabama, only this way it would be earned and wouldn’t guarantee the SEC a National Championship because this is only the Semi’s)

Game 2: Oregon/Arkansas/Clemson vs. OSU/Stanford/Baylor (This side is as wide open as it gets.  Any one of these teams has a shot to make it to the National Championship Game.)

Week 4: National Championship Game (For the first time ever, college football would have an undisputed National Championship.)

   With all the criticism that dance and electronic music receives, I always find it extremely catchy and fun to listen to them. I never heavily invested in it, but I do have quite a lot of Ke$ha and early Lady Gaga songs that just lighten up any mood. These princesses of dance pop need to keep their eyes peeled, however, because a new up-and-coming artist, Dev, might just give them a run for their money.

   Who is Dev exactly? Born Devin Star Tailes, this California native was discovered through Myspace when she was in high school by production and musical duo The Cataracts. The Cataracts took her under their wing and helped influence her style of fun, upbeat dance hits. The Cataracts helped get her music to the popularity it is at today by putting her name out into the music industry, where she made arguably the smartest decision of her career.

   Believe it or not, most people have probably heard Dev’s voice and lyrics already without realizing it. A part of one of her earlier songs, “Booty Bounce”, was sampled into the Cataracts produced song “Like a G6” by the Far East Movement, which became an overnight sensation. She sings the female vocal for that song, which is practically most of the chorus.

   I first discovered Dev in December 2010, when I was watching a YouTube video with her song “Booty Bounce” in the background. I had no idea who she was, but I found her extremely entertaining. I bought the song on iTunes, and I was hooked. Her upbeat lyrics with her eclectic background beats make for a great pairing. Her songs can range from anything as slow and endearing, such as her song “Fireball”, to dubstep inspired tracks such as “Bass Down Low”.

   In 2010, Dev signed with Universal Republic Records to finally make her first album, “The Night the Sun Came Up,” which is set to come out in January. Her first unofficial single was “Bass Down Low”, which became a pretty big hit for never getting radio play or being promoted. Currently, the music video on YouTube has roughly 30 million views. I remember actually hearing this song played at prom last year, and looking at people’s faces, I could see that people were vaguely familiar with the song and were happily dancing to it.

Custodian Paul Conley, 65, is a sturdy, gray-haired, bespectacled fellow with a strong chin. He arrives at school at 6:30 in the morning and leaves at 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. Conley is the kind of man who hardly ever sits down.

One morning this past month, though, he did sit down long enough to discuss  his faith, his family, his love of books and his appreciation of the natural world. He demonstrated, too, a passion for life: an infectious pleasure in and reverence for existence itself, which makes his story, for all its trials, ultimately one of joy.

“Not a fearful thing”

Conley said his relationship with his father growing up was important to him. He came from a military family.

“My father was a career army officer,” Conley said. “He’d sit and wonder what Walter Cronkite was getting at, and be angry at the TV. But he was very open-minded in many ways.”

Though his father has passed away, Conley said their connection has given him courage when facing his own mortality.

“When I think of joining…[my father] for a conversation, I am intrigued,” Conley said. “I really loved my dad. He was a great man. To be gathered to my father is not a fearful thing.”

A lot of reading to do

Conley suffered from a sense of confusion in college, which prompted his decision to drop out and join the Navy in 1967.

“I was struggling some with the 20th century Nihilism—the change of direction that became the ’60s. I had a lot of doubts and regrets and fears about life. I just left school, and I thought, ‘I can’t go home. There’s no way I’m taking up with my parents again.’ So I joined the Navy.”

Conley found the stability and structure of Navy service reassuring.

“[I liked] not having to be responsible for anything but what you were told to do. And in that environment you could explore your capabilities,” Conley said.  “Any of the armed forces takes care of your meals, your bed, your housekeeping. Basically all you have to do is learn to develop yourself personally,” Conley said. “I experienced some relationships and friendships that hadn’t been available before. I was just beginning, I think, to struggle with the intimacies of life. I needed to grow up in those ways.”

While Conley’s self-awareness increased during his time in the Navy, he said his political awareness remained insubstantial.

“I really didn’t know what Vietnam was about,” Conley said. “I went with the Marine Corps to float along the shores of the South China Sea, but I never went into combat.”

Conley’s education on the Vietnam War eventually occurred in large part because of a book.

“The book, ‘We Were Young and Soldiers’, exploded my impressions of what Vietnam was really about,” Conley said. “Mistakes were made. The U.S. was not up to the task of determining what our real goals were, and how to get the goals achieved, and still maintain a semblance of moral standing. It was a whirlwind that we were caught in.”

But Conley’s opinions on the conflict are not yet fully formed.

“I still have a lot of reading to do,” Conley said.

Coming of age

Conley’s love of books was born when he received “Demian”, a famous coming-of-age novel, as a gift from one of his college professors.

“During the World War II era, “Demian” was—and Hesse’s writings were—foundational for the German youth. They were caught by his imaginative writing and how he described the interface of our psyche and our experience,” Conley said.  “There have been many other books. But I would say that book…confronted me as I needed to be confronted.”

Since then, Conley’s taste in books has become diverse, ranging from scripture to science.

“My proverb is ‘scripture first,’ so I go to the Old and the New Testament as my base. But I like to read everything that has any meaning to it,” Conley said. “I like good history, theology and science. ”

Most recently, Conley has become fascinated with books about nature.

“The practical and experiential side of [studying the natural world] is being exposed to the elements and seeing nature in her raw beauty,” Conley said.  “I guess you could say [I’m] enjoying the fellowship of her company.”

Conley enjoys human company, too, especially that of young people and students at North. That sense of comradeship and community, he said, explains, in part, his committed involvement in school events: Conley attends every football game and school play that he can.

“I’m fairly young myself in my own experience and the way I approach things. I have a strong sense of community that I develop, so in part it’s like you all are my children,” Conley said.

Conley’s own children are both grown, and he went through a divorce in 2000. His empty nest leaves him more time to devote to school events.

“I don’t have a family at home, so I have some extra time that I devote to rooting for our team,” Conley said. “And you know, I need to do this. It suits me.”

Though Conley has found happiness here, he said that some of the existential questions of his youth remain unresolved.

“The natural state of life is doubt,” Conley said. “Each day you’re confronted with a new question. You’re constantly reaching for an answer that may elude you, but asking a question is a wonderful thing. It’s a human thing.”

To those experiencing feelings of uncertainty or restlessness similar to those he felt as a young man, Conley counsels the pursuit of friendship and perseverance.

“Friendship is very important,” Conley said.  “Catch your breath and tread water as best you can. If you get through that initial takeoff period, life will become more interesting. Not necessarily less difficult, but more interesting.”