Sydney Reynolds Writing Samples

  Quinnipiac Athletics has experienced postponements and cancellations throughout the pandemic, causing some difficulties. However, one subsection has thrived: esports. Quinnipiac Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player “Bakko” finishing a Marist player in the MAAC semifinals. (Screenshot from maacsports.com) The university’s own club esports team has been performing well in the pandemic. While the club has been active on campus for five years, this is only its first year being an official club sport of the university. The team plays three games: Rocket League, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (SSBU). Billy Schillinger, who goes by his username “Billy Schilly,” is a member of the SSBU team. Just recently in a match against Marquette University in which Quinnipiac won 18-10, one of the announcers described him as the “anchor” of the group. He mainly plays Pichu or Pit in his matches. Quinnipiac’s SSBU team has been the most successful in its division out of the three groups. “In t...

  Story Analyst: Sydney Reynolds Date: Feb. 17, 2021 When Lightning Strikes By Anna Klassen Logline: The dramatic life of J.K. Rowling and what inspired her to write the “Harry Potter” series. Detailed Summary: Joanne Rowling is on the train and has an idea for a new book. A lightning bolt strikes, and suddenly she is desperate to find a pen and paper. She expands off of this idea throughout the next few years. She spends time with her family, including her parents and siblings. Her mother struggles with M.S. Joanne is close with her mother but has a distant relationship with her father. Joanne works for a company, Amnesty International, but gets fired because she is daydreaming too much. She returns home to her studio, which shows she is a struggling artist. Various situations in her house and in dreams begin to add to the world of Harry potter. Then, her mother dies, and she decides to move to Portugal to teach English and begin a new life.  In Portugal, she meets a girl, ...

Demi Lovato’s new YouTube series reveals she suffered three strokes and a heart attack Sydney Reynolds , Hollywood Beat Reporter February 21, 2021 Jump to Comments Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Print Demi Lovato revealed Wednesday that she suffered from three strokes and a heart attack when she overdosed in July of 2018.  This information came from the trailer for her new YouTube series that will go into detail and “set the record straight” about everything that occurred when she relapsed. The series, “Dancing with the Devil,” will premiere on March 23, 2021.  The singer has struggled for years with drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and self-harm. One of her most famous songs, “Sober,” was her admitting that she had relapsed after being sober for years. She overdosed only a month after this song was released. She then performed at the Grammys in 2020 after recovering, belting her song “Anyone.” This ballad pled for help, saying she fell into the ...

Actress Gina Carano, who is best known for playing Cara Dune in “The Mandalorian,” has been removed from all future “Star Wars” projects. Carano has come under fire in the past for sharing problematic posts on her social media platforms. This ranged from misinformation, Qanon theories, transphobic remarks, anti-mask comments, and supporting those who stormed the Capitol building. She also promoted her account on Parler, an alt-right social media application that came under fire for spreading mass amounts of misinformation and death threats to public officials.  She recently shared a post on Instagram likening modern Republicans to Jewish people being rounded up in the Holocaust. Lucasfilm called her statement “abhorrent.” It has also been revealed that Lucasfilm planned to give her character a mini-series, but decided to scrap the idea back in November right before Investor Day. This is most likely connected to all the posts she has shared.   This news broke the same day ...

  The lights dim. The audience quiets. The phones are silenced. And the show begins…except, there are a few differences. My family and I are not enjoying the show from padded red seats that cost $200 each, nor are we enjoying refreshments that took twenty minutes to purchase due to a long line. We are sitting on our couch, viewing the show through a membership that costs $7 a month, and are enjoying refreshments that were found from our cabinets and refrigerator. Is this the future of live performance art? Is COVID-19 the catalyst for this new age of digital performance? If so, it’s an exciting time to be able to see it form and take shape. As all theatre-lovers do, I have had previous experience viewing “Hamilton”. I had the privilege of seeing it on Broadway in 2017, albeit without the original cast. I was already familiar with the story of Alexander Hamilton and the other founding fathers as they founded our nation as well as the untimely death of Hamilton in a duel against Burr...

  Editor’s Note: Sydney is one of the Connecticut college students participating in the CT Critics Circle (CCC) Mentor Program. The purpose of this program is to bring young perspectives and voices into the CCC as well as a broad range of ethnicities and backgrounds. With live theater on hold, members of the CCC have been branching out to live streaming productions such as this one. In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We sit, watch, and review. While we do toil over our words, there is no sweat produced, no vocal chords strained, or wigs in need of wearing. But we do have one thing in common with actors now: the world has crashed down around us, and we are left to pick up the pieces. The lights have been dim on Broadway for nearly a year now, affecting the world of drama as we know it. Three shows now ─ Frozen, Mean Girls, and most likely Beetlejuice ─ have announced that while one day the doors of musicality will open again, theirs will not. It is a difficult time to creat...