Her gaze rests intently on the two sharp needles dodging and weaving between her hands, the skilled tools of a craftsman working their magic on a thin strand of cloth.

For Rayelle Ulvog, knitting is one of the best activites in her life.

Ulvog, a sophmore business major from Groton, started knitting when she was 10 years old when her mother attempted to teach her how to knit.

“Back then I didn’t have the attention span for it,” she said.

She re-discovered knitting when she found an old unfinished high school project.

“I realized it was actually kind of fun,” she said, “I mostly do it for the fun.”

Now she spends a lot of her free time knitting. She knits while watching television, movies or even on break at work.

Her passion for knitting has even gotten her some extra money. Some of the things that she has knitted have been sold by her mother and grandmother at arts festivals and at their craft shop.

Ulvog sells regular hats for $18 and childrens hats for $15. She also commissions herself to her friends if they want to hire her to knit something for them.

Of the 15 hats and three scarves that she has knitted to sell, all of them have been purchased.

According to Ulvog, the thrill of knitting is making something with her own hands.

“The reason I like it in the first place is because I’m making it with my own hands. People paying money for it is just a bonus,” she said.

Her passion for knitting has also been infused into people around her.

“Three of my friends started after watching me do it all the time,” she said.

Ulvog has only knitted one item for herself in the year that she has been knitting, a sleeveless sweater.

She is also working on knitting a bikini, though it is still a work in progress, and a sweater with sleeves.

Ulvog uses only natural fibers when she is knitting, hailing back from her days on the family farm, when she would spin her own yarn out of the wool from the sheep that her family raised. Now she orders her yarn from a wholesale distributor.

She also surfs the net looking for new knitting patterns that she wants to try out.

Now planning a trip to Omaha to see a real knitting store, Ulvog admits how much of a passion knitting has become in her life.

“I’m obsessed.”

#1.887588:1989560041.jpg:knitting.jpg:Rayelle Ulvog, a sophmore business major, professes her love for all things knitting. Ulvog recently rediscovered her passion after giving it up during her childhood.:

Political aspirations have run high this year, as candidates campaigned in hotly contested races around South Dakota.

Kelly Bosma, a political science major from Aberdeen, has put her life into this year’s campaign, working for the South Dakota Democratic Party.

“I am currently working with some of the best people … in the country,” Bosma said.

A staunch supporter of the Democratic Party, Bosma spent the summer of 2001 working in Washington D.C. for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D.

Bosma once desired to become South Dakota’s governor herself, before unsuccessfully campaigning last spring for SA vice-president and working on this year’s election campaign. She said she realized that having a plan was not as important as having something to do.

“The plan is not necessarily as important as getting out there and enjoying it. I don’t need to have a plan. I’ve had a plan all my life,” Bosma said.

Bosma started her role in the campaign last summer, when she was offered a job working for the Johnson campaign. After training at Georgetown, Bosma found out that the position she had been hired for was not available and quickly rolled into a different job with the Democratic Party, working to get all the party candidates elected.

Bosma was hired as a field organizer for the Democratic Party’s efforts in Hamlin County, with her office located in Estelline.

Part of Bosma’s job as a field organizer was to make phone calls to voters and make candidate’s stances on the issues known as well as going door to door to meet with voters.

“Its more important to get the issues out. I feel strongly that people should know where candidates stand,” Bosma said.

Bosma met with mixed reaction when making phone calls and heading to people’s homes. Some people would talk to her for hours while others would call her nasty names and hang up the phone, or slam the door in her face or pretend they were not home.

Despite all of this, she retains an optimistic attitude.

“It’s a good thing we are getting out there, getting the issues out there,” she said.”I love every aspect of my job. There are not that many people who can say that.”

Another part of her job was to oversee all of the volunteers who were also working for the party.

“Sometimes they kept me sane or they drove me crazy,” she said.

Bosma said she had met all of the candidates, knew where they stood on all of the issues, knew who was running for what and who they were running against.

Once her job started, she found out that it was going to be five months long, instead of three, thus interfering with her fall course schedule.

“It was going to be very hard for me, with Senate, political science club. I was going to, in some sense, have to give those up completely,” Bosma said.

Bosma reworked her course schedule for the fall semester and ended up taking 12 internship credits instead of the course load she had planned.

She is still a member of the Students’ Association Senate, despite an unsuccessful attempt to impeach her.

“They didn’t understand why I was out doing an internship and not attending meetings,” Bosma said. “They were not at that level with me.”

Now that the election is over, Bosma intends to come back strong.

“Senate is very important to me. It’s something I took a lot of pride in,” she said.

After changing the courses she had planned for the fall semester, Bosma now has to take an additional semester to make up for her lost time. She plans to graduate in the summer of 2003.

With the added stress of still being a full-time student, Bosma suddenly found herself working 20 hour days in Estelline and commuting back and forth to Brookings.

Two weeks into her job in Hamlin county, Bosma said she did not think she was doing her job properly. One of the volunteers she was working with came up and gave her a hug.

“That person believed in me,” Bosma said. “I knew that I was in the right spot.”

Conceding last week that the race would be a close one, Bosma remained optimistic that her candidates will win the election.

“If I am out there at 6:55 (p.m.) pulling people to the polls, I will do it,” she said.

Ghost stories are a staple of the Halloween season. Scary movies abound in this season of horror.

People like to be scared. Luckily, there are many places here in the state of South Dakota where people can go to try to be scared, because according to local lore, they are haunted.

Tyndall-Legend has it that the old Security State Bank building is haunted.

Many tragic events have happened in the building, which include an alleged suicide of one of the bank’s presidents. Conspiracy theorists in the town say that he was murdered because the he cause financial trouble for the bank. People also died in the building when it was used as a doctor’s office.

Many who have felt the ghost’s presence believe it to be the spirit of the man who died in the bank’s vault, the supposed victim of a suicide.

People say that a chill can be felt in the building on the warmest days and that late at night the ghost can be heard passing back and forth in building and knocking things around.

Deadwood-A hot spot for paranormal activity, Deadwood has several haunted places.

Ghosts from ages past can be found at the Green Door Brothel in Deadwood.

Some claim to still hear the laughter of men and women in the rooms of the building. They think the girls who worked there have come back to hang out in the afterlife.

The Bullock Hotel, which is now a hotel and casino, is said to be haunted by its former owner, Seth Bullock.

Mount Mariah Cemetery, the final resting place for such legends as Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane, is said to be haunted as well.

Mitchell-Some people claim that a student who jumped to his death to escape a fire at Graham Hall on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University still haunts his former residence hall.

Sioux Falls-The Sioux Falls Community Playhouse is said to be haunted by a former janitor namedLarry who hung himself from the rafters. It is said he turns on faucets, flushes toilets and wanders around the building.

The Actor’s Studio is said to be haunted by a man who was killed by the husband of the woman he was dancing with. The ghost wanders around the studio whistling “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Pine Ridge-It is said that a boy who died of a heart attack in the Pine Ridge High School now haunts the building.

Mission-An American Indian woman and her children who were slain by pioneers as they fled for their lives are said to haunt a one-mile stretch of gravel road outside of Mission known as Rock Hill. Witnesses claim to hear screaming and shouts of warning.

Hill City-A poltergeist that throws silverware is said to haunt O’Brian’s Tavern.

Gregory-Ghosts and orbs of light have been seen wandering the town cemetery, scaring visitors away.

Ellsworth Air Force Base-The spirit of a helicopter pilot is said to be seen and heard in a missile silo located near where his helicopter crashed in the 1980s.

Rapid City-A storage closet at Stevens High School is said to be haunted by a ghost affectionately nicknamed “Sparky.”

The Alex Johnson Hotel is said to be haunted by its former owner who jumped to her death in the 1930s. Former employees have reported poltergeist activity, that is, having objects thrown at them.

The heater room in Dakota Junior High is said to be haunted by a football coach and team who died in a plane crash.

Hot Springs-A little girl named Giselle is said to haunt the Villa Theresa Guest House. Guests also claim to smell perfume in the upstairs rooms.

Belle Fouche-A janitor that fell to his death while fixing a light bulb in the gym is said to haunt Belle Fouche High School. It is said that the light he was fixing still flickers.

Custer-The Black Hills Playhouse is said to be haunted by a little girl who stayed there before it became a theater. People claim that the ghost will lay out costumes.

There are many more haunted places in South Dakota too numerous to mention here. These are just a few of the places.

The day starts out like any other, you get up, take a shower, go to class. Then you go to work.

For college students, work is another stress causing factor that adds to the already high amount in their lives.

According to the American Institute of Stress, work is the leading source of stress for Americans.

Accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, direct medical, legal and insurance costs, and workers’ compensation awards are all costs that companies have to endure as a result of rising job stress, according to the AIS.

Students have a harder time, balancing both classes and work.

Shantel Spielmann, a junior range management major, said that work is the most stressful part of her life.

“Definitely work. Work is like 60 percent of my life,” Spielmann said.

Spielmann works at a local retail store 30 hours per week and corrects papers for the math department on top of her full time course load.

Despite all of her stress, Spielmann said that work is not the reason for her stress, but things that happen on the job that cause her stress.

“I don’t mind work. I like work. It’s just the little things that get to you sometimes,” she said.

Some of the stressful things that Spielmann named as causing her stress are rude customers and scheduling problems.

Spielmann is one of many students at SDSU trying to balance classes and work.

Adding to her stress this week include midterms and attempting to plan out her classes schedule for the spring semester.

Relieving this stress is an important part of staying healthy. According to the AIS, stress is the top health problem in America and has been increasing since the 1980s.

Stress can cause such health problems as hypertension, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, ulcers and neck or lower back pain.

Stress is not all bad though. Some stress is needed in order for the human body to function.

The important thing to remember when dealing with stress is take some time and relax, the AIS Web site reports.

Relaxing can include anything from taking a few minutes by yourself and listening to soft music or heading out for a night on the town with some of your friends.

Why did I decide to accept the job as Lifestyles editor for the Collegian? I have asked myself that question every day since this job started.

It certainly wasn’t for the money, but nobody goes into the newspaper industry to become rich.

I’d like to think that I got this job because I am so much more talented than everyone else in the whole world, but then reality sets in and I realize that it’s probably just because I’m creative, not because I’m the smartest person on campus, which I realized after my first economics test.

In high school I tried to be as creative as possible to stand out from the rest of the people in my class, though sometimes I was less than successful. I once tried to make a stuffed dinosaur for a school project. It turned into an oddly misshapen figure that I have since hidden from the eyes of man.

If not for my creativity, I would probably have completely devoted myself to the study of some fascinating subject, like mathematics, and become an accountant, punching an adding machine until my hands locked into a permanent typing position.

Luckily for me, I love writing, which is the thing that attracted me most to the newspaper business. What other industry can you go into and meet new people every day, write about your experiences and then get sued when people do not like what you have to say?

Still, I really like meeting new people, though my old roommates might disagree on that point.

And that’s the greatest thing about working for the Lifestyles sections. Not only do you get to meet new people, but you also get to do things that other people might not do and share the experience.

As my mentor this summer told me, the experience is the reason that people in the newspaper business do things because that is what you can write about.

Of course, this woman crash landed in a hot air balloon in Oklahoma, so she’s got experiences to share.

I’m still looking for some of my own.

Sean Kennedy is the Collegian’s Lifestyles editor. Write to him at collegianlifeeditor@yahoo.com.

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