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In the Middle of the Night Essay & Project Ideas

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• A Major Character
• Globe Theater
• Robert Cormier

In The Middle of the Night 5 Pages 1286 Words

             "The sin of a father is visited upon the son." Robert Cormier entangles accidents, death, life, and revenge in the novel In The Middle of the Night. In The Middle of the Night is about a sixteen-year-old boy named Denny whose parents didn't allow him to answer the phone. Twenty-five years earlier Denny's father, Jean Paul, was in accident at the Globe Theater that killed twenty-two children on Halloween. Many people blame Jean Paul for the accident the Globe Theater. Now every year around the time of the accident someone calls in the middle of the night, to talk to Jean Paul. Because of this mystery caller Denny is not allowed to answer the phone. But, one day Denny can't take it anymore; he picks up the phone and talks to the mystery person, Lulu, a victim of the accident. In The Middle of the Night shows how Denny starts a dangerous, yet intriguing, relationship with Lulu over the phone. Something his parents had shielded him from for so long.              Two main characters of In The Middle of the Night are Denny and Lulu. Lulu was a victim of the tragic accident that happened twenty-five years at the Globe Theater. She was eleven at the time and was attending the magic show with her younger brother, Dave, and some friends. When the balcony fell Lulu was crushed underneath. She was thought to be dead, but she miraculously came "back to life" or she was "born again". Lulu was raised to believe that when you die you see a light or some powerful source, but she saw nothing, only blackness. That left her bitter combined with the fact that she was also now crippled. Lulu would have to wear braces on her legs. She blamed Jean Paul, Denny's father for her "death". He had been the one up on the balcony checking for a noise and started a fire by accident on the balcony. Now Lulu had set out for revenge, not Jean Paul specifically, but she wanted to kill Denny. Denny is...

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The Phone Rang in the Middle of the Night

By barbara zapson.

I am a night person and a late sleeper, which is something I’d looked forward to all my working years. My husband, on the other hand, is usually asleep by 9:30 and wakens about 8 AM. We have phones in every room of our one-bedroom apartment (including the bathroom), and the ringing often awakens me out of a sound sleep. ___ After a few years of being loudly woken up before I was ready that was turning me into a grouch, my husband decided to mute the bedroom and bathroom phones to keep me happy. He could answer the ringing phones in the kitchen, dining room or living room. Then, for some reason, during the pandemic, he decided we needed all the phones ringing “in case of an emergency”! ___ “What kind of an emergency can we have?”, I asked. “Our parents are no longer living, our children are all grown, for goodness’ sake even our GRAND children are grown, so leave the phones muted”, I said. ___ “You never can tell, Julio answered.” “Maybe a fire or one of our neighbors has a problem, or one of our grandkids is in trouble and afraid to tell their parents.” ___ “A fire or a neighbor’s problem would cause a knock on the door or the doorbell to ring, and our grandkids are more afraid of me than they are of their parents! Do you remember what one of them said about me ‘yelling at him with my eyes’?” ___ The argument was dropped for a few weeks. I had several weeks of peaceful mornings and he had a happy wife. Then it started again with “It could be any kind of problem or emergency!” I finally gave up and told Julio, “OK, OK, you win! Unmute the phones!” ___ The phone did not ring early in the morning for four days. On the 5th day, it rang in the middle of the night. Needless to say, we both nearly jumped out of our skin. The call went something like this: “This is the Social Security Department calling to tell you that we found someone fooling around with your Social Security Card. Please press 9 to speak with a representative.” Of course, we hung up. The next day at 5 A.M. the phone rang again, and that call was from an insurance company, threatening to end our insurance and repossess our car! We do not own a car. ___ But it was the call from China, in Chinese, at 3 A.M., mentioning Bank of America in English, that finally convinced Julio there was no reason to keep the phones ringing overnight or early in the morning.

How does this story end?

He kept trying to get a date with her–– not once, not twice, but for a few years. They would get together as friends but had never even held hands. Of course, when they danced, they would hold each other, as this was in the days of close dancing and they had become dance partners, having coincidently always frequented the same places. Or was it subconsciously on purpose, for one, or both? ___ “I can’t go out on a date with you, you are like a brother to me and you’re one of my best friends! You know ALL about me, my strengths, my weaknesses, my life, she always answered when he asked her to go out on a real date with him. “How could I ever DATE you?? Where is the MYSTERY? The challenge?” ___ Why does there have to be mystery or challenge” he wondered? Isn’t being close friends a good reason to start a romantic relationship?” To him, it was the best reason. ___ This situation went on for about five years. He was her confidante during a few small (or not so small) challenges in her life, like when she lost her job, when she found out a guy she was dating was married, or when one of her children didn’t call her for a week or two. She went to him to vent, for advice, or for a little sympathy, all of which he was very good at supplying. ___ One night, they ran into each other at a club. When the club was closing, they were in the middle of a conversation. ___ “Why don’t we finish this conversation over breakfast?” he said. She accepted his invitation. Of course, in her mind, this was not a date. After breakfast he insisted on taking her home by cab, saying “You can’t go home alone at four in the morning!” Once again, she accepted his invitation, and he hailed a cab.

How Do We Stop World Destruction?

Wildfires Earthquakes Hurricanes And wars. Hunger Violence New viruses No cures. Insurrection and looting Old diseases arise Is God telling us we’re bad in his eyes? Water rises Fires roar The Earth explodes And there is more. Famine, plagues, tsunamis, disease Is there no staunching the rising seas? How do we stop global destruction? Can’t anyone shed light on what has become a worldwide plight? Can humans survive with all the deception, -OR – Is it too late for human correction?

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Why You’re Waking Up in the Middle of the Night and 20 Fixes

Waking up in the middle of the night?

• Waking up in the middle of the night is normal, but when you wake up regularly, it can be hard to get the sleep you need.
• You may be waking up in the middle of the night due to late light exposure, caffeine, alcohol, stress, or eating too late.
• To stop frequent middle of the night awakenings, improve your sleep hygiene.
• The RISE app can tell you when to do 20+ sleep hygiene habits so you can fall asleep, stay asleep, fall back asleep, and, ultimately, have more energy.

Waking up once or twice during the night is normal and, most of the time, nothing to worry about. But when you find yourself spending hours staring at the ceiling, or waking up so much you can’t get the sleep you need, it’s a problem. 

Below, we’ll dive into the reasons you’re waking up in the middle of the night and what you can do to stop it from happening. Plus, we’ll share how the RISE app can help you get a good night of uninterrupted sleep. 

Advice from a sleep doctor:

“Waking up once or twice in the middle of the night is nothing to worry about. But if it’s happening so much you can’t get the sleep you need, it can be a problem. Try cutting down on caffeine and alcohol, getting light in the morning, and making sure your bedroom is comfortable to help you sleep through the night.”

Rise Science Medical Reviewer Dr. Chester Wu

What Causes Waking Up in the Middle of the Night?

Here’s what could be waking you up in the night. 

1. Something in Your Sleep Environment 

Something in your bedroom could be waking you up in the middle of the night. This could be something obvious, like a snoring partner , or something you don’t even think about, like your bedroom getting too warm .

For undisturbed sleep, you need your sleep environment to be: 

• Dark: Aim for as dark as possible. 
• Cool: Aim for 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Quiet: Silence may be best, but white noise may help if noises wake you up. 

When one of these factors is wrong, it’s easy for your sleep to be disturbed. This is even more likely to happen when you’re in the light sleep stage of sleep. 

2. Alcohol 

Alcohol may make you feel sleepy, but it fragments sleep, meaning you wake up during the night. 

A 2021 paper states, “while alcohol is initially sedating, this effect disappears after a few hours, resulting in a fragmented and disturbed sleep in the second half of the night.” 

Alcohol can also be a trigger for night sweats and it’s a diuretic, meaning it increases urination. Both night sweats and needing the bathroom could add to your nighttime awakenings. 

We’ve covered more on how long before bed to stop drinking alcohol here. 

3. Caffeine 

You may think coffee makes it harder to drift off, but it can also wake you up once you’ve fallen asleep, too. 

One 2017 paper says caffeine can: 

• Increase arousals at night  
• Increase sleep latency — the time it takes to fall asleep 
• Reduce total sleep time 
• Reduce sleep efficiency — the measure of how long you sleep for in bed 
• Worsen perceived quality sleep 
• Reduce deep sleep
• Increase light sleep 

Think coffee may be your problem? We’ve covered when to stop drinking coffee here. 

4. Light Exposure

If you sleep with the lights on, research shows this can lead to more nighttime awakenings. And beyond awakenings, research from 2022 suggests light exposure during sleep can lead to health issues. 

But your light exposure before bed and during the day could also be to blame. Getting light exposure in the evening can suppress melatonin production, your body’s natural sleep hormone. This can make it harder to fall and stay asleep. 

A 2017 sleep study found evening exposure to short wavelength light — like that you’d get from electronic devices — can disrupt sleep continuity.  

When you get light in the morning also makes a difference. Research shows those who get later first exposure to more than 10 lux of light had more awakenings when they next slept. 

For reference, an overcast day is about 1,000 lux and a very dark day would be about 100 lux, so getting outside in the morning should give you the light exposure you need. 

We’ve covered when to get light and what color light is best for sleep here. 

RISE can take the guesswork out of it and tell you when to get and avoid light each day. 

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up their get bright light reminder.

Stress — from work deadlines, family obligations, or financial worries — can wake you up in the night and then make it hard to fall back to sleep. 

And stress affects us all differently. The higher your sleep reactivity , the more stress is likely to disrupt your sleep, and the more at risk you are for insomnia. 

Research suggests once you’ve been exposed to stress and developed insomnia, your sleep reactivity may increase and not return to pre-insomnia levels — meaning even more nighttime awakenings. 

6. Eating Too Close to Bedtime 

You may have digestive problems if you eat too close to bedtime. A large meal before laying down can increase your risk of acid reflux, for example. But that’s not all. 

A 2021 study found eating or drinking an hour or less before bed increased the odds of waking up during the night. 

It’s not clear why, but eating can lower your arousal threshold, which is how easily you’re woken up from sleep. So if your arousal threshold is lowered by a late-night dinner, you may find things that don’t usually wake you up — a warm bedroom, a noise outside, etc. — do. 

On the flip side, hunger pangs can wake you up in the middle of the night, too.

Not sure when to eat dinner? We’ve covered what time to stop eating before bed here, including what to eat if you need a pre-bed snack.  

7. Hormones 

When it comes to sleep, women (and those assigned female at birth) have drawn the short straw. 

Fluctuating hormones can cause hot flashes, insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing, mood changes, and an increased body temperature — all of which can wake you up in the night. 

You may have trouble sleeping when: 

• On or before your period  
• Going through menopause and perimenopause 

Women are also more likely to have a sleep disorder or mental health disorder (which makes it harder to sleep). 

We’ve covered the many factors impacting women’s sleep here.

8. Insomnia

Insomnia comes in many forms. 

• Sleep onset insomnia — when you have trouble falling asleep. 
• Sleep maintenance insomnia — when you struggle to stay asleep.
• Early morning awakening insomnia — when you wake up too early.
• Mixed insomnia — when you’ve got a combination of the above. 

Insomnia can be caused by many factors including caffeine, alcohol, late-night light exposure, poor health, pregnancy, pain, daytime naps, and shift work. 

9. Obstructive Sleep Apnea 

Sleep apnea is when your airways close and your breathing is cut off during the night. When your brain detects low oxygen levels, it wakes you up to kickstart your breathing. 

You may notice some of these awakenings and struggle to get back to sleep. 

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10. Other Sleep Disorders 

Beyond insomnia and sleep apnea, other sleep problems can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night. 

These include: 

• Periodic limb movement disorder 
• Narcolepsy 
• Night terrors 

11. Medications 

Certain medications can mess with your sleep and wake you up. 

• Antidepressants
• Beta-blockers 
• ADHD drugs 
• Decongestants 
• Diuretics to lower blood pressure 

Whether it’s from laying on an injured shoulder or rolling over in the night and tweaking your back, pain can wake you up from sleep. 

You may also have a painful health condition that gets worse at night such as: 

• Heart failure 
• Sickle cell anemia 
• Chronic pain 

13. Discomfort 

Sometimes it’s not full-on pain waking you up, it’s discomfort. But this can be enough to disrupt your shut-eye. 

You may get discomfort from: 

• A too-hard or too-soft mattress  
• An uncomfortable pillow position — or no pillow at all  
• An uncomfortable sleep position  

14. Digestive Problems 

Digestive problems can wake you up, either in pain or needing to use the bathroom. Once you’re awake, discomfort and anxiety over these digestive issues can make it hard to fall back asleep. 

• Acid reflux
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) 
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Stomach pain or gas 
• Constipation 

15. Needing the Bathroom 

Waking up needing to pee is called nocturia. When it happens once or even twice, it’s nothing to worry about, but if it happens regularly, it can easily add up to sleep loss. 

You may need to pee a lot at night because: 

• You drank a lot of fluids during the day 
• You drank too close to bedtime 
• You’ve consumed diuretics, like caffeine, alcohol, or salty foods 
• You’ve got a health condition like diabetes, heart disease, a urinary tract infection, or an overactive bladder 

We’ve covered more reasons you pee so much at night here. 

16. Mental Health Problems  

Mental health issues can make it hard to stay asleep through the night. These include: 

• Depression 
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 
• Bipolar disorder 
• Schizophrenia 

Some mental health conditions can become a vicious circle , too. For example, anxiety can make it harder to fall and stay asleep. But sleep loss can increase anxiety. 

Medications to treat mental health issues, like beta-blockers and antidepressants, can also mess with your sleep. 

17. Smoking 

Smoking can affect your sleep in more ways than one. 

Research shows smoking can lead to: 

• Increased difficulty maintaining sleep 
• Less total sleep time 
• Longer sleep latency — or time to fall asleep 
• Waking up earlier than desired 

Smokers are also more likely to report daytime sleepiness as well as depression and a high caffeine intake (which may add to your nighttime awakenings). 

The good news is former smokers report sleep disturbances similar to non-smokers. 

18. Breathing Problems or Mouth Breathing 

Breathing disorders like asthma or bronchitis could wake you up, as can snoring , sleep apnea, congestion, or allergies . 

But even the simple act of mouth breathing can wake you up as it lowers your arousal threshold, making you more vulnerable to other factors disrupting your sleep. 

We’ve covered more on mouth breathing here, including how to break the bad habit ( mouth taping may help).

19. Being Out of Sync with Your Circadian Rhythm

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s natural internal clock. It runs on a roughly 24-hour cycle and helps to control your sleep-wake cycle. If you’re out of sync with it, you may find yourself waking up at odd times and struggling to fall asleep when you want to. 

You may be out of sync if: 

• You work night shifts
• You’ve got social jet lag — or go to sleep and wake up at irregular times 
• You’re living at odds with your chronotype — like a night owl trying to be a morning person  

RISE can predict your circadian rhythm each day and show you when your body naturally wants to go to sleep and wake up. If you try to sleep in beyond your natural wake-up time, you may find yourself waking up. 

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to see their circadian rhythm on the Energy screen.

As we age, many factors that can cause nighttime awakenings get worse. These include: 

• You may have more health issues  
• You may be on more medication 
• Pain can be worse  
• Age is a risk factor for snoring, sleep apnea, and insomnia 
• Your circadian rhythm shifts earlier, so you may find yourself waking up earlier, and it “flattens,” or sleep-wake signals become weaker, so you may have less consolidated sleep 

How to Sleep Through the Night?

Want to make it through the night without waking up? A few lifestyle changes may help. 

This is where good sleep hygiene comes in. Sleep hygiene is the name for the set of daily habits you can do to fall and stay asleep at night. With good sleep hygiene, you’ll be avoiding many of the triggers for nighttime awakenings we’ve mentioned above. 

Plus, you’ll be less vulnerable to sleep disruptors you can’t control, like a noisy neighbor or health issue. 

Here are the good sleep habits to develop: 

• Get bright light first thing: Sunlight signals to the brain that it's time to wake up, which helps keep your sleep cycle in check. Aim for at least 10 minutes of light as soon as possible after waking up or 15 to 20 minutes if it's overcast or you’re getting light through a window. 
• Avoid light close to bedtime: About 90 minutes before bed, dim the lights and put on blue-light blocking glasses (we recommend these ).
• Avoid caffeine, large meals, intense exercise, and alcohol too late in the day: You don’t have to give them up altogether — check RISE for when to avoid each one daily. 
• Do a calming bedtime routine: This will help keep stress and anxiety low. Try reading, listening to music, journaling, or doing yoga or breathing exercises before bed . RISE can walk you through relaxation techniques , too. 
• Keep your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet: Aim for 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, as dark as possible, and keep noises below 35 decibels , which is about the sound of a whisper. Use blackout curtains, and wear earplugs and an eye mask to help.
• Avoid sleep aids: As tempting as it can be to turn to sleep aids to sleep through the night, they come with many risks and side effects, and can make your insomnia worse when you stop taking them. 
• Keep a consistent sleep schedule: Find the best time to go to sleep and wake up for you, and then stick to it, even on your days off. 

To help you remember all this and prevent poor sleep, RISE can guide you through 20+ sleep hygiene habits each day and tell you the ideal time to do them.

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up their 20+ in-app habit notifications.

What to Do When I Wake Up in the Middle of the Night?

Improving your sleep hygiene can help reduce how often you wake up in the night, but here’s what to do when it does happen. 

• Keep the lights low: If you need to get up, keep the lights as low as possible to avoid waking yourself up further. Use a red light night light if there’s not enough ambient light to get around. Research shows red light doesn’t disrupt your melatonin production or circadian rhythm as much as other wavelengths of light. 
• Avoid looking at the time: This will only stress you out, which can spike cortisol levels and make falling back to sleep even harder. 
• Do a sleep reset: If you’re still awake after about 20 minutes, get up and do a relaxing activity, like reading or meditating, until you feel sleepy again . 

We’ve covered more tips on how to fall back asleep here. 

Is Waking Up in the Middle of the Night Normal?

Yes, waking up in the middle of the night once or twice is normal. In fact, most of us experience micro-awakenings (sometimes up to 10 to 20 per hour) that we often don’t remember.

You may wake up because you need the bathroom, because you’ve changed sleeping position, or just naturally in the second half of the night. 

You’re more likely to wake up in the second half of the night because: 

• You experience less deep sleep and more light and rapid-eye-movement sleep, or REM sleep , so it’s easier to be woken up. 
• Your body has less adenosine in its system, a chemical that makes you feel sleepy, as this is cleared while you’re sleeping.

As long as you’re meeting your sleep need (the genetically determined number of hours of sleep you need), waking up once or twice isn’t anything to worry about. 

If you’re not meeting your sleep need, you’ll be building up sleep debt , the measure of how much sleep you owe your body. And this can cause low energy, mood, and productivity the next day, as well as long-term health issues, like diabetes, obesity, and depression. 

RISE can work out your sleep need and how much sleep debt you have, so you can see if your nighttime awakenings are causing sleep deprivation. 

For a sleep doctor’s take, we turned to our sleep advisor and medical reviewer, Dr. Chester Wu. 

“Waking up once or twice in the middle of the night is nothing to worry about. But if it’s happening so much you can’t get the sleep you need, it can be a problem. Try cutting down on caffeine and alcohol, getting light in the morning, and making sure your bedroom is comfortable to help you sleep through the night.” Rise Science Medical Reviewer Dr. Chester Wu

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to view their sleep need and here to view their sleep debt.

When to Speak to a Doctor About Waking Up in the Middle of the Night?

Waking up in the middle of the night can stop you from getting enough sleep if it happens often. 

If you’ve improved your sleep hygiene and still find yourself waking up often throughout the night, it may be worth speaking with your healthcare provider or a sleep specialist. 

They can test for an underlying sleep disorder or medical condition and recommend treatment options to help. 

Sleep Soundly Through the Night 

Waking up once or twice throughout the night is nothing to worry about. In fact, it’s normal! But when you wake up regularly, it can be hard to get the sleep you need. 

Try improving your sleep hygiene to cut out many of the things that can cause nighttime awakenings. This includes getting light at the right times, avoiding caffeine, alcohol, and large meals close to bedtime, and making sure your bedroom is dark, cool, and quiet. 

To stay on top of everything, the RISE app can tell you when to do 20+ sleep hygiene habits. The win-win of sleep hygiene is it’ll help you fall asleep quicker, too, meaning even more sleep and better energy day after day. 

You don’t need to wait long to see the benefits — 80% of RISE users report better sleep within five days. 

Summary FAQs

Waking up in the middle of the night.

If you’re waking up in the middle of the night, it’s probably due to caffeine, alcohol, light exposure, stress, anxiety, discomfort, eating too close to bedtime, or being out of sync with your circadian rhythm. Improve your sleep hygiene to reduce how often you wake up at night.

Waking up in the middle of the night to pee

Waking up in the middle of the night to pee is called nocturia. It’s normal to wake up once or twice. But waking up often to pee can happen when you drink too much fluid, drink too close to bedtime, or have a medical issue or bladder problem.

Waking up in the middle of the night with anxiety

Waking up in the middle of the night with anxiety or with a panic attack can be caused by stress, mental health issues, or medical conditions. To fall back to sleep, try doing a sleep reset where you do a relaxing low-lit activity until you feel sleepy again.

Waking up in the middle of the night hungry

If you wake up in the middle of the night hungry, you may not have eaten enough during the day. Sleep deprivation can also increase the hunger hormone, ghrelin. Try having a light and healthy snack before bed such as a piece of fruit or portion of Greek yogurt.

Why do I keep waking up in the middle of the night?

You may keep waking up in the middle of the night due to getting light exposure or having caffeine, meals, or alcohol too close to bedtime; having a bedroom that’s too bright, noisy, or warm; stress, anxiety, or hormones. Improve your sleep hygiene to reduce how often you wake up at night.

How do I stop waking up in the middle of the night

Stop waking up in the middle of the night by improving your sleep hygiene. This includes getting light first thing and avoiding light, caffeine, large meals, and alcohol close to bedtime; keeping a consistent sleep pattern; and making sure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet.

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Writing in the middle of the night

They arrive either just after I’ve gone to bed, creeping in like a burglar so as not to wake The Builder, who does not subscribe to my Night Owl hours (mostly because he has to wake with the sun).

So I slide in next to him and lie there, waiting for sleep, watching the pattern of light on the ceiling (stripey, thanks to lovely old shutters).

My muscles relax, my breathing begins to even out, I’m standing at the top of the slippery slope into Dreamland when… wham ! The world’s best idea shoots through the night air and into my mind.

My eyes fly open, my heart races. Should I get up and write it down ? The Builder stirs in his sleep next to me, muttering in his dreams.

If I get out of bed, I’ll wake him and, knowing him, he’ll then lie awake for hours unable to get back to sleep. Not really fair.

Down the hall, I hear Mr6 call out in his sleep, caught on the cusp between waking and rolling over into a new phase of REM.

Mr9 is quiet. The whole house is quiet. That deep, dark quiet that can be pierced by the squeak of an office chair, the tippy-tippy of fingers across a keyboard.

I have other people to think about. My idea will wait until morning. An idea like this, sharp and clear and brilliant, will surely still be there in the morning? I entrust it to my subconscious and fall into the pit of sleep.

When I wake in the morning, it’s gone. I feel around in every corner of my mind, blowing the cobwebs out of the darkness, but no. That shining light has dimmed into a vague murmur of thought.

All I can do is to hope that when I do get a chance to sit down, with my cursor blinking at me from the glare of a white, blank screen, it will somehow slither back out of the recesses and arrive fully formed on the page.

In a recent interview with Clive James, he talked about the selfishness of the writer, who would wake in the middle of the night, thoughts and lights blazing, and blast out several hours of work.

I’m guessing that most writers who work like that are not thinking about the sleep patterns of small people and the fact that their other halves have to get up for work the next day. They’re not thinking of school lunches to be made in four hours, the squeezing pressure of editorial deadlines, the book stall at the school fete.

Saul Bellow once said: “You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” I guess I will have to wait a while longer to find out if that’s true.

Subscribe to So You Want To Be A Writer podcast for more amazing writing advice.

Or check out So You Want To Be A Writer (the book), where my co-author Valerie Khoo and I have distilled the best tips from hundreds of author and industry expert interviews. Find out more and buy it here .

19 Comments

Wow. Read this after waking up with lots of ideas and for once deciding to furtively write them down in notes on my phone so as not to wake other half (carpenter with an early start). Intrigued to see that I’m not alone in this! Looking forward to reading my notes in the morning- will thry seem so good then or be goobilydegook?

Thanks for the comment Charlotte – I hope they turned out to be pearls!

The moment before sleep is when sentences or whole paragraphs come to me. I no longer have family to worry about, so I run out to the table and scribble it all down, but only if I’ve forgotten to replace the pen and paper I usually have stashed in the bedside drawer.

Occasionally I get up during the night if I have an amazing idea but only to jot it down quickly. I find my ideas come late at night on the couch which usually means I get them down but then realise it is 1am and freak out that I will be so tired tomorrow (or today!)

I got up once and started typing in the study – woke everyone in the house. They didn’t understand my urgency to write. I haven’t done that again. Instead I have perfected typing on my iPhone in the notes app.

LOL! Pretty sure that’s what would happen here as well.

I use Evernote on my iPad – the problem then becomes the light off the screen tricking my mind into thinking it’s time to get up. Takes longer to get back to snoozy town.

I have that problem after working late at night – my brain thinks it’s the middle of the day and refuses to turn off.

I’m also with the notes on my phone. I only recently found out that my husband receives these as emails and they appear in his notes on his phone. He’s raised a few eyebrows at me after some nights! I find it hard as I’m ready to write at night. I hurriedly write as much as I can but I do find that I still have tweaking to do in the morning. Usually by then I’m so tired that I have to wait until the next night for the spark to come back. Makes my usual “day” job plus looking after toddlers a little draining… Hoping the balance will restore one day!

(I also have a Builder husband, who if woken will be up for hours, so I have to hide my phone down the side of the bed!)

LOL! And yes, here’s to balance!

I usually try and covertly open up my notes on my phone and write the key points down and hope my brain will fill in the blanks in the morning. I try to hide the screen glare from my husband and I have the phone on silent, but my husband is a heavy sleeper and will nod off quickly again if disturbed. If I hear a child stirring I will put the phone down and hold my breath. I have some pretty interesting notes on my phone!

I’ll bet!

Nope. I really should though. Like you, this is when my brain seems most tuned to the great ideas for blog posts, articles, stories etc. I am too scared to move out of bed when the house is quiet though. No doubt one of the little ones will hear the floor creak and be ready to party!

And therein lies the problem…

I do get a lot of idea during the middle of the night, but I tend not to fuss about them… I always think the best ones stick, and the unimportant ones don’t… so if they’re still there in the morning, then they were meant to be.

But then again, I also get a lot of my best ideas sitting on the loo… sorry for that mental image… 😉

Shaking me head in an attempt to dislodge that image – but I hope you’re right about the ideas that stick.

My head even.

I have to say, I find a lot of writing advice from men (massive generalisation) completely unrelatable. As mums we have so much else going on that writing has to come at least second, but preferably third or fourth.

I hear what you’re saying.

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Creative Writing - waking up in the middle of the night

ABDULMALIK        

Creative Writing

    I awoke in the middle of the night to the familiar disturbance of my next door neighbor's cat .I looked over on the wooden table my phone has a voice message saying “call me back when you hear this”, but the call ID was unknown. I wonder who called me weather if it was important.

I rest in my bed struggling to sleep for about an hour. I assumed the only way was to bore myself to sleep so I decided to watch some TV, a horror movie was on maybe this would make me sleep peacefully, I watched it for about 30 minutes and then decided to go downstairs to wash my face. As I step down stairs my phone started ringing, I ran back into my room to pick it up known the person who left the voice message could almost certainly be the one calling now, as I pick up my phone and answer “hello…..?” no one answers I looked at the phone and there was no signal. I go down stairs into my toilet, I turn the light on and washed my face in the sink as soon as, I leave there the lights turn off by themselves, I positively thought nothing of it and just closed the door and made me a little snack before going to bed.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Now I could hear steps upstairs, not knowing whether they were real sounds or my imagination. Maybe I was getting a bit paranoid because I was dead scared in the dark and from watching the horror film. I hear a baby crying upstairs, I quickly ran up wondering where the sound is coming from only to find out the TV was loud. I turn to my bed only to see a man hung himself as he tried to hold himself above the floor. I watched as his face turned blue and his eyes started to slowly roll to the back of his head. Slowly, but surely the fingers began to slip from the rope as he eventually took his last breath to his death.

I was so confused whether to call the ambulance or help this man who I have never seen in my life and have no idea what he is doing in my house. I picked my phone terrified dialing 999, there was still no signal I ran down stairs to go out and call for help only to discover my door has been locked from the outside everything is happening fast my mind is full of questions with no answers to them. I was confused to the point I went upstairs again to see this man that was in my room as I step into my room the man was no longer there. At that same moment, I thought I was going crazy, then in a split second I hear this same baby cry but this time it wasn't from the TV it was under my bed! It also smelt a little strange but nothing I could identify. Gathering courage, I decided to take a look as I get on my knees and took a peek under my bed only to see a ghost reaching its hand to me.

I wake up breathless with my heart beating rapidly, thanking god that was only a nightmare I look at my clock which was exactly at midnight, I find my phone and look to see there is a “voice message received” the only thought that was running on my mind was “oh no this cannot be happening to me”.

Document Details

• Word Count 598
• Page Count 2
• Subject English

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• Short Story

In The Middle Of The Night

• Rida Zeya, Grade 4

It was a hot and humid day and I have been so busy doing my homework that I creeped into the bed and fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night, felt like having a glass of water. Apparently, I went downstairs to the kitchen when I heard a strange squeaky noise coming from the backyard. This was the time when I was going to see who it was, with my pet dog, Barks. I didn’t bother waking up my big sister Dara or my big brother Dave. So, I woke up Barks from the scrappy basket he sleeps in and crept outside with a gulp. When I walked past the washing line I saw something more like a ghost. When I saw the skinny legs, I knew it was Dave. I opened the ghost’s blanket and guess who I saw, it was actually Dave. I told him the story and asked what he was doing here. He said that he heard the same strange noise and was willing to see who it was. So, there I was walking with him in the middle of the night. Something started moving from the bush. Me and Dave were scared but Barks wasn’t. While Barks went to see who it was, I had a feeling it was something terrible. Barks used his paw to open the bush and saw Dara. We asked her what she was doing here and she replied the same story as Dave. On the way I was reminded of Dave’s scary story again. There is a ghost with red bulging eyes, he wears long boots and has blood all over his head that covers his face. We went past the street and saw a delicious candy cane house, because Dara was impatient she quickly ran and had a bite. A lady with stick answered the door. She said, “Hello little kids, come in and have a cup of tea.” We had a seat and the lady brought a bag of candy and right amount of tea. When we finished we ran back home and stopped in front of our neighbour’s garden and saw someone friendly moving in. He waved to us and we waved him back. He asked if we would like to come inside his house. When we were on the way upstairs we asked him if he heard the same squeaky noise. He laughed and told us that it was him moving all the furniture into the house. Then we laughed back. He was sorry about the noise and the disturbance he created in the middle of the night. We helped him with the rest of the settings. Later he offered us lollies which was one of my favourites. We said goodbye to him and promised to visit him again. We were thankful to God that we had a kind and friendly neighbour, there wasn’t any GHOST, Phew! We ran back home and everyone got into bed.

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Trump Throws Absolute Fit In Middle-Of-The-Night Attack On Robert De Niro

Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be getting much sleep as his criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case is expected to head to the jury this week.

The former president was up after midnight on Wednesday morning, firing off a series of angry and, in some cases, all-caps messages attacking President Joe Biden , Judge Juan Merchan , the district attorney’s office and screen icon Robert De Niro.

The actor, who is in a new ad for the Biden campaign, spoke outside the courthouse where Trump’s criminal trial was taking place on Tuesday , trading barbs with Trump supporters and calling Trump “a tyrant” and “a coward.”

The former president was apparently still seething about it shortly before 1 a.m. Eastern time as he fired off a message on his Truth Social website. He called De Niro a “wacko,” said his movies have “gone WAY DOWN IN VALUE,” and dismissed him as “pathetic and sad.”

Then, for good measure, Trump quoted “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel, writing: “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio!!!”

De Niro has been an outspoken Trump critic for years.

“He’s so blatantly stupid. He’s a punk, he’s a dog, he’s a pig, he’s a con,” he said ahead of the 2016 election .

He’s hardly let up since, and Trump has from time to time fired back. After De Niro criticized him during an awards show late last year, Trump called him “unwatchable” and a “total loser.”

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Robinson Film Center invites community to The Robbys 2024 for a night of fun

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - KSLA’s own Biskie Duncan will be hosting The Robbys in two weeks!

In the 10th episode of Reel Talk, Robinson Film Center Executive Director Wendell Riley discussed the latest movie showings and the upcoming Robbys event happening Saturday, June 15 at 7 p.m.

Biskie Duncan said it best, THE ROBBYS is the best party in town! Join us for a Hitchcock-themed evening of food,... Posted by Robinson Film Center on  Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Come to the event in your finest Alfred Hitchcock-esque cocktail attire (or costume) and dance the night away to a live performance by Identity Crisis. You can also see thrilling movies on the big screen, belt out your favorite theme songs in the karaoke room, and come dressed in your best master-of-suspense-inspired attire for a chance to win a coveted Robbys Reel, according to the website. There’ll be thrills, spills, and twists aplenty!

There will also be prizes.

“So the prize pull is a little different than the typical silent auction that you would find that an event like this. And essentially people buy tickets they’re $40 each, and with each ticket that you buy, you are guaranteed to get an item that is worth $50 or more,” Riley explained.

General admission tickets cost $150. Perks include:

• Access to the Grand Ballroom, the Willis-Knighton Screening Room, and the Kennedy Karaoke Room
• Light hors d’oeuvres
• Open bar with beer, wine, and well-liquor
• Free valet parking

VIP tickets cost $250. Perks include:

• Full access to all areas, including the Grand Ballroom, the Willis-Knighton Screening Room, the Kennedy Karaoke Room, as well as the VIP Lounge & Balcony with a private bar
• Light and heavy hors d’oeuvres
• Access to the Private VIP Bar with beer, wine, specialty cocktails, and premium liquor
• Early access to Prize Pull tickets

Go the Robinson Film Center website to learn more about The Robbys.

LOOK THROUGH THE PLAYLIST FOR MORE REEL TALK WITH ROBINSON FILM CENTER

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Chivalry and Valor: the Legacy of Knights in the Middle Ages

This essay about knights in the Middle Ages explores their lives, roles, and the chivalric code that guided them. It describes the process of becoming a knight, starting from a page to a squire, and finally a knight, marked by a ceremony of vows. The chivalric code emphasized virtues like bravery, loyalty, and respect for women and the weak. Tournaments and jousting were key aspects of a knight’s life, serving as both entertainment and a demonstration of skills. Knights were also expected to uphold Christian values and participate in the Crusades. Despite the idealized image, many knights acted as mercenaries. The legacy of knights and their influence on Western culture endures through literature and modern concepts of heroism.

How it works

The image of the knight, clad in shining armor and mounted on a powerful steed, has long been a symbol of the Middle Ages. These medieval warriors, bound by the code of chivalry, were more than mere soldiers; they were the epitome of honor, bravery, and courtesy. The life of a knight was defined by a rigid social structure and a commitment to a set of principles that governed their conduct both on and off the battlefield.

Knighthood in the Middle Ages was not just a profession; it was a way of life that began in boyhood.

Young boys of noble birth were sent to live in the households of lords, where they served as pages. This early training involved learning the arts of courtly behavior, such as dancing, music, and the rudiments of combat. As they grew older, these pages became squires, taking on more responsibilities and receiving more intensive training in the use of weapons and horsemanship. The transition from squire to knight was marked by a solemn ceremony in which the young man would take vows to uphold the chivalric code.

The code of chivalry was a complex system of ethics that knights were expected to follow. It emphasized virtues such as bravery, loyalty, and respect for women and the weak. While the romanticized version of chivalry often focuses on the knight’s duty to protect damsels in distress, the reality was more nuanced. Knights were also expected to be loyal to their lords and to defend their lands against enemies. This loyalty was reciprocal; in return for their service, knights were granted land and the protection of their lord.

One of the most significant aspects of a knight’s life was his participation in tournaments. These events were not only a form of entertainment but also a way for knights to demonstrate their skills and bravery. Jousting, the most famous of tournament events, involved two knights charging at each other with lances, each trying to unseat the other. Success in tournaments could enhance a knight’s reputation and increase his chances of gaining favor with powerful lords or attracting a wealthy bride.

Despite their martial prowess, knights were also expected to be pious and to uphold Christian values. The ideal knight was as devout as he was brave, often participating in religious ceremonies and pilgrimages. The Crusades, a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church, were a significant outlet for this piety. Knights from all over Europe took the cross, journeying to the Holy Land to fight against Muslim forces. These campaigns were seen as a way to demonstrate their faith and to earn spiritual merit.

The reality of knighthood, however, was often at odds with its idealized image. While many knights adhered to the chivalric code, others were little more than mercenaries, using their martial skills for personal gain. The brutality of medieval warfare and the harsh conditions of life in the Middle Ages also meant that the lofty ideals of chivalry were not always practical or even possible. Nonetheless, the concept of the noble knight endured, becoming a central figure in medieval literature and later, in the popular imagination.

The legacy of knights and their code of chivalry has had a lasting impact on Western culture. The stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, for example, have been retold countless times, each version adding to the mythos of the medieval knight. In these tales, knights are portrayed as paragons of virtue, fighting not just for personal glory but for justice and the greater good. This idealized vision of knighthood has influenced modern notions of heroism and honor, extending far beyond the historical reality of the Middle Ages.

In conclusion, knights in the Middle Ages were far more than just warriors; they were the embodiment of a complex set of ideals that defined an entire era. Their lives were governed by a strict code of chivalry that demanded bravery, loyalty, and piety. While the reality of knighthood often fell short of these ideals, the enduring image of the knight as a noble and virtuous figure continues to captivate our imagination. The stories of their exploits, both real and fictional, remind us of a time when honor and valor were the highest virtues a person could aspire to.

Remember, this essay is a starting point for inspiration and further research. For more personalized assistance and to ensure your essay meets all academic standards, consider reaching out to professionals at EduBirdie .

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Daily Southtown | Lincoln-Way Central alum hits the bull-riding…

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Daily southtown | lincoln-way central alum hits the bull-riding circuit, ranks 51st in world standings.

He’s even working on his Portuguese to better communicate and build camaraderie with riders from Brazil.

The Mokena native is ranked 51st in the Unleash the Beast world standings among professional bull riders.

And recently, the Lincoln-Way Central High School graduate competed in the PBR World Finals in Texas.

“The World Finals is your Super Bowl of bull riding,” Morinec said. “You have your top bulls in the world against your top riders in the world.”

While he didn’t perform among the top competitors, it was his first year making it to the world finals and he plans to train hard, rise in the rankings and finish stronger next year.

Morinec, who now lives in Michigan, became interested in bull riding on family camping trips.

A western-themed campground in Michigan hosted rodeos on the weekends, and he tried riding sheep as a kid. At about age 12, he was too big to ride sheep and began to ride bulls instead.

“It intrigued me,” Morinec said.

Morinec had been active in mixed martial arts, but then switched his focus after learning how to ride bulls.

“I made the transition from wanting to be a professional fighter to a professional bull rider,” he said. “It just kind of took off from there. I kept dedicating myself to it and finding more and more opportunities and just trusting God’s timing on it. He opened a lot of doors for me, and now I’m working hard and trying to climb up the ladder.”

Morinec said he never realized how big bulls are until he first got on one.

“It was terrifying,” he said. “This is a lot scarier than I thought it was going to be. But I was in a little bit too deep. It was a little bit too late to bail out.”

Many bulls weigh between 1,600 and 1,700 pounds, though some can weigh more than a ton. They stand at 4½- to 5-feet tall, Morinec said.

Riding the majestic creature is awe-inspiring, he said.

“At first, it’s a wow factor riding a big, bucking bull,” Morinec said. “I always like to push my comfort zone.”

He said you can get on a powerful bull and ride it easily, but if you are an inch out of position it can be difficult. Bull riders have to stay on top of the bull for 8 seconds while being judged on their control and style. The bull is also judged on its athleticism and difficulty to ride.

To stay in shape, Morinec does a lot of weight training and mobility workouts, eats right and practices riding. Being bull-savvy is important to become comfortable and confident with the animals, he said.

“There’s definitely a lot of respect that you have to give them,” Morinec said.

The bulls that professional bull riders ride “are treated like royalty,” he said. They love to buck.

Morinec said there’s something special about the sport. He said he is thankful to be able to participate in a sport he loves while glorifying God.

“There’s really no other sport like this,” Morinec said. “You give it 110% and trust God’s timing. That’s when I’m riding at my best. I feel God put it on my heart to go after this and chase it.”

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

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Trump found guilty: Read the court transcript of the hush money trial's final day

History was made Thursday afternoon when a Manhattan jury handed down a guilty verdict to former president Donald Trump .

Judge Juan Merchan was poised to dismiss the jury for the evening on their second day of deliberating when he received the note.

The jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to disguise the hush money payment issued to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election as legal expenses. Trump is expected to appeal the decision .

Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, but you can experience the historic moment through court transcripts :

Understanding the verdict: What was Trump found guilty of? See the 34 business records the jury decided he falsified

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Read Trump trial transcript of guilty verdict proceedings

You can read all testimony transcripts on the New York Court media website .

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See the first verdict sheet of a former president

What's next for donald trump.

Judge  Juan Merchan  has scheduled Trump's sentencing for July 11, and Trump is out free until then.

Because this is Trump's first felony offense, his sentence is likely to be as light as probation or home confinement. If he does receive a prison  sentence , it would probably be less than a year.

Trump is also likely to appeal the conviction, further pushing down any chance he serves jailtime before the election.

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi

Middle East Crisis Deadly Strike in Rafah Did Not Cross Biden’s Red Line, Officials Say

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• A view over Rafah after Israeli strikes. Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Palestinians transporting the bodies of people killed in a strike on a tent encampment for displaced people in Al-Mawasi, a coastal community near the city of Rafah. Haitham Imad/EPA, via Shutterstock
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Follow news updates on the crisis in the Middle East .

Top U.S. officials say the deadly airstrike in Rafah, while tragic, did not cross Biden’s red line.

U.s. will not withdraw military aid after rafah strike, kirby says, john f. kirby, a white house spokesman, condemned the deadly israeli airstrike in rafah, but said that the attack was not enough to change u.s. policy..

So I just want to just right off the top, talk about these devastating images and reports coming out of Rafah over the weekend following an I.D.F. strike that killed dozens of innocent Palestinians, including children. We still don’t believe that a major ground operation in Rafah is warranted. We still don’t want to see the Israelis, as we say, smash into Rafah with large units over large pieces of territory. And we still believe that. And we haven’t seen that at this point. But we’re going to be watching this, of course, very, very closely. Maybe some people have forgotten what happened on the 7th of October, but we haven’t: 1,200 Israelis, innocent Israelis, slaughtered, mutilated, raped, tortured. And they’re living right next to that kind of threat — still a viable threat in Rafah, by the way. If you think Hamas is just gone, they’re not gone from Rafah or from Gaza. And if you think they’ve abandoned their genocidal intent towards the nation of Israel, think again. They haven’t. So Israel has every right to not want to live next to that kind of threat. And yes, we’re going to continue to provide them the capabilities to go after it.

U.S. officials said on Tuesday that the Israeli strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in southern Gaza was a tragedy but that it did not violate President Biden’s red line for withholding weapons shipments to Israel.

The bloodshed came after Mr. Biden warned earlier this month that the United States would block certain arms transfers if Israel targeted heavily populated areas in Rafah — a warning that has been tested regularly as the war has ground on.

John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said the deaths were “devastating” but that the scale of the attack was not enough to change U.S. policy. “We don’t want to see a major ground operation,” Mr. Kirby told reporters. “We haven’t seen that.”

Israeli tanks were on the outskirts of the city “to try to put pressure on Hamas,” Mr. Kirby said. He also offered a measure of specificity about Mr. Biden’s warning to Israel, which critics have said was too vague.

“We have not seen them go in with large units and large numbers of troops in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated maneuver against multiple targets on the ground,” Mr. Kirby said. “Everything that we can see tells us that they are not moving in in a major ground operation in population centers in the city of Rafah.”

Mr. Biden has faced pressure from advocates and members of his own party to use his power to curtail arms to Israel as a way to influence its conduct in the war. The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, which raises questions about American responsibility as the death toll mounts.

The strike in Rafah on Sunday ignited a deadly fire and killed at least 45 people, including children, and wounded 249, according to the Gazan health ministry. It has prompted international outrage, including from leaders in the European Union, the United Nations, Egypt and China.

Vice President Kamala Harris, asked about Rafah on Tuesday, said “the word tragic doesn’t even begin to describe” the deaths. She did not answer a follow-up question about whether the strike crossed a red line for Mr. Biden.

Still, the Israeli military’s conduct was similar to what Mr. Biden said he would not tolerate when he warned, in an interview on CNN earlier this month, that the United States would not supply Israel with weapons to attack Rafah.

“I have made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet they’re not going to get our support if, in fact, they’re going into these population centers,” Mr. Biden said in the interview.

In that interview, Mr. Biden emphasized that the United States would still ensure Israel’s security, citing the Iron Dome missile defense system and his support for Israel’s “ability to respond to attacks.” But he said he would block the delivery of weapons that could be fired into densely populated areas of Rafah.

The area that was hit on Sunday was not included in evacuation orders that Israel issued in early May, and some Palestinians sheltering in the camp said they had believed it was a safe zone .

The Israeli military said that the target of Sunday’s strike was a Hamas compound, and that “precise munitions” had been used to target a commander and another senior official there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “tragic accident” that civilians were killed.

Around one million people have fled Rafah during Israel’s assault on the city, according to the United Nations , including many in the western part of the city and in the area around the camp that was struck on Sunday.

A State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said the United States was watching Israel’s investigation of the incident closely.

“Israel has said that it might have been that there was a Hamas ammo dump near the area where they took the strike,” Mr. Miller said. “It’s a very important factual question that needs to be answered.”

The Israeli military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told a news conference that Israeli jets had fired the “smallest munitions” that they could use and added that “our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size.”

Israel invaded Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people in Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 36,000 people, many of them women and children, according to health officials in Gaza.

World leaders, including Mr. Biden, have warned of the dangers of a major military operation in Rafah without a proper plan for evacuating the displaced Gazans taking refuge there.

Mr. Miller was able to provide little detail on hundreds of thousands of people who have fled Rafah in recent weeks.

“Some of them have gone back to Khan Younis,” he said. “Some of them have pushed into western Rafah. Some of them have gone to Mawasi. I don’t think there’s any one answer.” Mr. Miller said he did not know if Israel was assisting those people.

Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and an adviser to Palestinian leaders during past peace negotiations, said the White House was benefiting from its ambiguous descriptions on Mr. Biden’s “red line” for Israel’s military operation in Rafah.

“It’s definitely blurry and by design,” Mr. Elgindy said. “They don’t want to be pinned down. They don’t want to pin themselves down by identifying an exact point or line that gets across because Israel will absolutely cross that line. We’ve seen that over and over again.”

Erica L. Green contributed reporting from Washington, and Michael Crowley from New York.

— Zolan Kanno-Youngs reporting from Washington

The Israeli military said it was engaging in ‘close-quarters combat.’

Israeli military says it is investigating cause of blaze after rafah airstrike, rear adm. daniel hagari, the israeli military’s spokesman, insisted that their munitions alone, used in a strike in rafah, could not have ignited the deadly fire that killed dozens of people at a camp. those claims could not be independently verified..

The strike was conducted using two munitions with small warheads suited for this targeted strike. We’re talking about munition with 17 kilos of explosive material. This is the smallest munition that our jets can use. Following this strike, a large fire ignited for reasons that are still being investigated. Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size. I want to repeat it: Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size. Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite. We are operating in Rafah in a very targeted and precise way. There are still hostages in Rafah, and we need to make sure that we do everything we can to bring our hostages back home.

Israel’s military said its troops were pressing on with their ground assault in the Rafah area on Tuesday, even as international outrage over its operation there intensified in the wake of a deadly airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians.

The military has said that the strike in Rafah on Sunday — which ignited a deadly fire in the camp and killed dozens of people — was targeting a Hamas compound.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Monday it was a “tragic accident” that civilians had been killed, and on Tuesday the Israeli military’s chief spokesman claimed that the bombs Israel had used in the attack were too small to have caused a fire of that size.

Those statements, however, did little to quell a chorus of voices demanding accountability and a halt to the fighting, which came amid reports of another deadly strike in nearby Al-Mawasi on Tuesday.

Britain’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, on Tuesday cited the “deeply distressing” scenes from Rafah over the weekend — many of which featured charred bodies in the wreckage of the encampment — in calling for a “swift, comprehensive” investigation.

The Israeli military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told a news conference that an investigation was examining “all possibilities” to determine what had caused the fire

Israeli jets had fired the “smallest munitions” that they could use, he said, insisting that “our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size.” Those claims could not be independently verified.

Even when the cause of the fire is established, Admiral Hagari said, “it won’t make this situation any less tragic.”

Still, he gave no indication that the Israeli military’s operation in Rafah would be interrupted. He did not directly address a question from a reporter about whether tanks had moved into Rafah’s center, saying that Hamas battalions remained in the city and that Israeli forces were operating in a “targeted” way.

In a separate statement, the Israeli military said its troops were operating in the Rafah area, engaging in close-quarters combat, “as efforts are continuing to be made in order to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians in the area.”

China expressed “serious concern” about the Israeli military’s actions in Rafah, citing an order by the International Court of Justice last week that appeared to call for Israel to stop its military offensive there. China “opposes any violation of international law” and “strongly urges Israel to listen to the voice of the international community and stop attacking Rafah,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

But the wording of the court’s order — which called on Israel to immediately halt any actions in Rafah, “which may inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” — was ambiguous. Israeli officials have argued that the ruling allowed it to continue fighting in Rafah because the military would not inflict such conditions.

Alexandra Stevenson contributed reporting.

— Cassandra Vinograd

U.S.-built pier for delivering aid to Gaza breaks apart in rough seas.

The temporary pier that the U.S. military constructed and put in place to provide much-needed humanitarian aid for Gaza has broken apart in rough seas, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The latest calamity to befall the pier endeavor punctuated a particularly grim several days in Gaza, where Israeli forces have ramped up attacks on the city of Rafah just two days after carrying out a deadly strike that killed dozens of people.

“Unfortunately, we had a perfect storm of high sea states, and then, as I mentioned, this North African weather system also came in at the same time, creating not an optimal environment to operate,” Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon deputy press secretary, said at a news conference.

Army engineers are working to put the pier back together and Defense Department officials hope that it “will be fully operational in just a little over a week,” she said.

In early March, President Biden surprised the Pentagon by announcing that the U.S. military would build a pier for Gaza. Defense officials immediately predicted that there would be logistical and security issues .

In the days after the pier became operational on May 17, trucks were looted as they made their way to a warehouse, forcing the U.N. World Food Program to suspend operations . After officials beefed up security, the weather turned bad. American officials had been hoping that the sea surges would not start until later in the summer.

On Saturday, heavy seas forced two small American military vessels that were part of the pier operation to beach in Israel. On Sunday, part of the pier broke off completely, including a wider parking area for dropping off supplies transported by ship, officials said. That part will have to be reconnected.

The pier is now being removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired after getting damaged in the rough seas, Ms. Singh said. Over the next two days, it will be pulled out and taken to Ashdod, in southern Israel, for repairs.

She said that the fact that the pier, which cost $320 million, was able to get 1,000 metric tons of aid into Gaza before it broke apart demonstrates that it can work.

White House policy does not allow U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza, so the Pentagon was able to start but not finish the mission.

And as the pier project struggles, the situation in Gaza remains dire. Even before Sunday’s deadly Israeli strikes, more than 34,000 people had died and more than 77,000 people had been wounded, according to health officials in the territory.

— Helene Cooper Reporting from Washington

Gazan officials say a strike killed 21 in Al-Mawasi.

Gazan officials said that at least 21 people were killed and dozens injured on Tuesday in a strike that hit a tent encampment housing displaced people in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area in southern Gaza where Israel has designated a humanitarian safe zone.

The Israeli military immediately denied it had carried out any attacks inside the zone. Videos verified by The Times show multiple people dead and injured in an agricultural area of Al-Mawasi, where civilians had been sheltering near the zone.

Dr. Mohammed Al Moghayer, a senior official with the Palestinian Civil Defense emergency rescue organization, said that most of the dead and injured were taken to nearby field hospitals, and others to Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis. Dr. Moghayer and the Gazan Health Ministry said that in addition to those killed, 64 people were injured, including 10 very seriously.

It was not immediately clear what sort of weapons or shells had landed in the camp, or whether they had been fired from the ground or launched from aircraft.

The reports come just two days after dozens of people were killed when a fire tore through a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah after an Israeli airstrike, drawing international condemnation. The Israeli military said that the target of the strike in Rafah on Sunday was a Hamas compound, and that “precise munitions” had been used to target a commander and another senior militant official there.

Israeli troops have been pressing farther into Rafah. The United Nations has said that in the last three weeks a million people have fled the southern city, once a major hub for displaced people forced out of other parts of the enclave by fighting.

Israel has on previous occasions designated parts of Al-Mawasi as a “humanitarian zone,” but the population of the area has grown massively in recent week as hundreds of thousands of people have heeded Israeli warnings to leave the city of Rafah, where Israeli troops have pushed forward in recent weeks. Displaced people have said Al-Mawasi lacks food and basic amenities and the United Nations has warned of dire conditions.

Johnatan Reiss , Arijeta Lajka and Christiaan Triebert contributed reporting.

— Hiba Yazbek and Abu Bakr Bashir

More Palestinians were leaving Rafah after ‘a bloody and very difficult night.’

Displaced Palestinians were fleeing areas of Rafah on Tuesday, prompted by what residents said was a night of heavy bombardment, as Israeli forces continued their offensive two days after an airstrike there killed dozens of people.

Intense Israeli artillery shelling was reported overnight on Tuesday in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of western Rafah, in the same area as the deadly strike that Israel said was targeting a Hamas compound. The upper floor of the Indonesian Hospital as well as a clinic and a school-turned-shelter were hit in the overnight shelling, according to Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s news agency.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it “continued to operate in the Rafah area,” but did not mention Tal al-Sultan specifically.

“It was a bloody and very difficult night,” said Nedal Kuhail, 30, who was preparing on Tuesday afternoon to leave the apartment in Tal al-Sultan where he had been sheltering with his family since the beginning of the war. “Danger was chasing us from every side.”

Mr. Kuhail said by phone that an Israeli artillery shell struck a lower floor of his building overnight, while another apartment nearby was also hit. He said he saw several people who had been killed or wounded. “This prompted us to make the quick decision to leave Rafah in order to survive,” he said.

Mr. Kuhail estimated that more than 85 percent of the remaining people in his area had fled since Tuesday morning, urged on by the terror they faced overnight. Video footage from the Reuters news agency on Tuesday showed people fleeing parts of Rafah, some on foot and others on carts, as the sounds of blasts and gunfire echoed through the streets.

Around one million people have fled Rafah in the last three weeks amid Israel’s assault on the city in southern Gaza, the United Nations said Tuesday. The evacuation from Rafah, once the primary destination for people leaving other parts of the enclave, is the latest in a string of displacements since Israel launched a war to dismantle Hamas , the armed group that led the deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Mr. Kuhail said he had found an empty warehouse to rent for his family in the Deir al Balah area of central Gaza. Even though the warehouse is empty and did not have electricity, water or a bathroom, Mr. Kuhail said he was grateful that he at least had a place to go, unlike many of those fleeing.

“We don’t know where we are going,” said Ahmed al-Namleh, who spoke to Reuters as he fled on foot while pushing his belongings on a cart. “We woke up at 6 in the morning from the shelling and rockets.”

Some of the fear was spurred by the strike and ensuing fires on Sunday, which killed 45 people and wounded more than 200, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said that it had used “precise munitions” to kill two senior Hamas leaders. With international condemnation mounting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the civilian deaths were “a tragic accident,” though he gave no sign of curbing the Israeli offensive.

Mr. Kuhail said that he and his family had only decided to flee on Tuesday after artillery shelling signaled that Israeli forces were advancing and that the “danger was getting closer.”

Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting from Istanbul.

— Hiba Yazbek reporting from Nazareth, Israel

Key Developments

One million people have fled Rafah, and other news.

Around one million people have fled Rafah amid Israel’s assault on the city in southern Gaza, according to the United Nations . The evacuation from Rafah, once the primary destination for people leaving other parts of the enclave, is the latest in a string of displacements since Israel launched a war to dismantle Hamas , the armed group that led the deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

A member of Egypt’s security forces was killed near the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip and an investigation is underway , an Egyptian army spokesman said on Monday, after the Israeli military reported a shooting on the border. Al Qahera News, Egypt’s state-owned television station, cited an unnamed security official as saying it appeared there had been gunfire exchanged between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters, and that the ensuing battle resulted in the death of the soldier. The Times could not independently verify the circumstances of the shooting.

The United States has asked Israel for more information about the events that led up to the deadly airstrike on Sunday that killed at least 45 people in an encampment for displaced people in Rafah, a state department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said on Tuesday, calling the images of the carnage “heartbreaking.” Mr. Miller said Israel’s preliminary investigation had found that the strike “was carried out using the smallest bomb in their arsenal” and the target was a mile from the encampment. “Israel has said that it might have been that there was a Hamas ammo dump near the area where they took the strike,” Mr. Miller said. “It’s a very important factual question that needs to be answered.” He said the United States would watch the results of the investigation closely.

Three European countries formally recognize Palestinian statehood.

Three European nations formally recognized an independent Palestinian state on Tuesday, drawing the ire of Israel as it continued to press its military offensive in Gaza.

The previously announced moves by Spain, Norway and Ireland are largely symbolic , but serve as a rebuke to Israel in the face of mounting international frustration over the country’s military offensive in Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories over the years.

They also come amid global outrage over an Israeli airstrike on Sunday that killed dozens of people at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, despite international calls for the military to curb its offensive in the southern Gaza city. Growing concern over the civilian death toll could prompt more nations to follow suit, analysts say.

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, on Tuesday accused Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of complicity in incitement against Jews for his role in recognizing a Palestinian state.

But Mr. Sánchez rejected that claim in an address on Tuesday ahead of a cabinet vote on the matter, calling the recognition a matter of “historical justice” and a “necessity” in order to achieve peace.

“The recognition of Palestine is not against anyone, least of all Israel, a friendly nation that Spain values and holds in high regard and with whom we aim to foster the strongest possible relationship,” he said on the steps of Moncloa Palace, the prime minister’s residence, in Madrid. “Furthermore, our decision reflects our absolute rejection of Hamas, a terrorist organization that is against a two-state solution.”

Ireland — which on Tuesday flew a Palestinian flag outside its presidential palace, alongside those of the European Union and Ukraine — said that it had agreed to establish full diplomatic relations and would appoint an ambassador to a Palestinian state. “We have made this move alongside Spain and Norway to keep the miracle of peace alive,” said Ireland’s prime minister, Simon Harris. “I again call on Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza.”

While scores of countries have already recognized Palestinian statehood , the closely coordinated moves by the three European nations carried added weight amid the growing toll of the war in Gaza, and because most Western European countries, and the United States, have resisted taking such a step out of solidarity with Israel.

Jonas Gahr Store, the prime minister of Norway, said in an interview last week that his country was taking action along with Spain and Ireland in an effort to salvage the possibility of a two-state solution in the face of an Israeli government that has openly rejected it.

Mr. Store said Norway is hoping to break what he sees as “a downward spiral, with militant groups like Hamas setting the agenda on the Palestinian side” and the Israeli government “establishing hundreds of thousands of settlers” on occupied land.

And even if the reality of two states can seem far away, Mr. Store said, “more countries in Europe are making the same analysis as Norway, that the Palestinians should have the same rights and obligations that statehood entails,” committed to peace and bound by international law.

The moves will likely have little immediate effect on conditions for Palestinians in Gaza, where health authorities say more than 36,000 people have been killed in over seven months of Israeli bombardment and ground combat.

The White House has flatly rejected unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, with Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman, saying that President Biden “believes a Palestinian state should be realized through direct negotiations between the parties.”

Aaron Boxerman , Steven Erlanger and Emma Bubola contributed reporting.

Israel had not ordered Palestinians to leave the area it struck on Sunday.

Residents told

Mediterranean

Location of

Israeli strike

Kerem Shalom

The area where Israel carried out a strike that killed dozens of Palestinians at a displaced camp on Sunday was not included in Israel’s evacuation orders in early May, and some Palestinians sheltering in the camp said in interviews that they had believed it was a safe zone.

Ahead of its ground offensive in Rafah, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders that focused on areas east of the city center near Gaza’s border with Israel. The Tal al Sultan neighborhood where Sunday’s strike happened was not included.

Months before the operation, in December, the military had even told Palestinians to go to Tal al Sultan for safety. The Israeli military has not specifically updated its instructions for the area since then, according to a review of official Israeli military statements on X.

Many people had evacuated the area anyway as the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for areas to the east and started its push across Rafah. But others remained, and some Palestinians who were sheltering in the camp said in interviews that they had thought the area was a safe zone.

“Civilian families are sheltering here in the western part of Rafah that is supposed to be a safe zone, according to the army,” said Mohammed Abu Ghanem, 26, who had been sheltering in the camp when Israel struck.

“It was announced it was a safe zone and we were listening,” said Bilal al-Sapti, 30, who had also been sheltering in the camp with his family.

Kuwait Al-Salam

Burn scars where rows

of structures stood

United Nations

Burn scars where

rows of structures

While the camp was not in an area subject to an explicit evacuation order, it was also not part of a “humanitarian zone” along the coast that Israel designated as a safe destination in evacuation orders in early May.

Israeli officials have reiterated that the strike had taken place outside of the designated humanitarian zone.

Around one million people have fled Rafah amid Israel’s assault on the city, according to the United Nations , including many in the western part of the city and in the area around the camp.

The Israeli military has said that the strike in Rafah on Sunday — which ignited a deadly fire in the camp and killed dozens of people — was targeting a Hamas compound. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said it was a “tragic accident” that civilians were killed.

“Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said on Tuesday.

Satellite imagery captured the morning after the strike showed only burn marks remaining where rows of structures had stood.

Abu Bakr Bashir and Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting.

— Lauren Leatherby

‘I’ll be strong for you.’ A former hostage awaits her husband’s release.

When Hamas released video last month of Keith Siegel , an American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza, it was the first sign in months that he was still alive. His wife, Aviva Siegel, couldn’t bring herself to watch it.

“It would be too difficult for me to see the sadness in Keith’s eyes,” Ms. Siegel said in an interview in New York last week, where she was meeting with António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations.

Ms. Siegel, 63, was held captive with her husband until late November, when she was one of 105 hostages released as part of a cease-fire deal. They were taken from their home at Kibbutz Kfar Azza on Oct. 7 during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

Nearly eight months into the war, the families of hostages have grown increasingly alarmed. Mr. Siegel, who is 65, has a medical condition, and Israeli soldiers have recently recovered the remains of several hostages in Gaza. For months, Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been trying to get Israel and Hamas to accept a deal for another cease-fire and exchange of captives.

Ms. Siegel understands the hostages’ experience like few others. “Knowing what they’re going through,” she said, “is too much for me to handle.”

She said that she and her husband of over four decades were moved more than a dozen times and were kept in apartments and tunnels, which felt particularly stifling.

Ms. Siegel said that they were denied food and water, while their captors ate, and that she lost over 20 pounds.

She said her captors would hit and push her, blindfold her and pull her by the hair. They shaved Mr. Siegel’s body to humiliate him, she said. The hostages were not allowed to talk.

The captors would play mind games with them, telling them that Israel had ceased to exist, Ms. Siegel said.

Ms. Siegel expressed empathy for Gazans and said she wished Israelis and Palestinians could eventually live alongside each other in peace. She has been alarmed by what she said was a global lack of focus on the hostages.

“Something really bad happened, and we need the world’s help,” she said.

Ms. Siegel often remembers her last conversation with Keith. When the time came for her release from Gaza, she initially refused to leave without him, she said, but soon realized she had to.

“I asked Keith to be strong for me, and I said, ‘I’ll be strong for you’ — and that’s what’s keeping me alive,” she said.

— Nadav Gavrielov

U.N. says it is struggling to keep operating in Gaza because of Israel’s expanding offensive.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that it was struggling to maintain its operations in Gaza because of Israel’s expanding military offensive in Rafah, including a devastating strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians that killed at least 45 people and the continued airstrikes near the U.N. offices in north Rafah.

“We want this to stop,” the U.N.’s chief spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said on Tuesday.

Over the last two days, officials and senior diplomats at the United Nations have issued statement after statement, expressing not only condemnation of the strike on Sunday but also frustration that they have been unable to stop the war and the suffering of civilians.

The strike and a resulting fire killed at least 45 people, including children, Gazan health ministry officials said. Videos reviewed and verified by The New York Times showed fires raging through the night as people frantically pulled bodies from the rubble, shouting in horror as they carried the charred remains out of the camp. In one video, a man held a headless child as fire engulfed a structure behind him.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency consultation meeting behind closed doors on Monday afternoon and was scheduled to hold an open emergency meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the situation in Rafah.

Nicolas de Rivière, France’s ambassador to the U.N., told reporters ahead of Wednesday’s meeting that “there is no safe zone for Palestinian civilians in Rafah.” He called on the Council to adopt a new resolution calling for a cease-fire. “This Israeli operation must stop immediately as requested by the International Court of Justice,” he said, also calling for the immediate release of hostages.

Since the war began last October, the United States has blocked the Council from demanding a cease-fire with three vetoes. In December, Washington abstained from a resolution that called for a humanitarian cease-fire for Ramadan. That resolution passed, but no cease-fire has ever materialized. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages, mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, have reached an impasse.

Even if the United States allows a cease-fire resolution to pass, it is unclear whether Israel or Hamas would heed it. Israel has shrugged off widespread international condemnation, including from some of its allies, over its conduct in Gaza. Hamas, a terrorist organization, does not abide by international laws of conflict.

António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, condemned Israel’s attack on Rafah and warned that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza was worsening. He said in a statement on Tuesday that the only solutions were an immediate end to the conflict and the release of hostages and said “the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is now compounded by the unconscionable prospect of a man-made famine.”

Efforts to alleviate severe hunger were still being crippled by the continued fighting in Rafah, officials said, which was one of the main border crossings for aid convoys coming from Egypt.

Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, the main United Nations agency that aids Palestinians, said on Tuesday that little aid has trickled in — about 200 trucks in a period of three weeks as opposed to more than 500 plus trucks a day that U.N. officials say is needed.

Workers face barriers to distributing the aid that does arrive, she said, among them heavy movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities, airstrikes, the expanded military operation in Rafah and recent rocket strikes by Hamas. Not enough fuel is being delivered to Gaza to support humanitarian operations, she added.

“The humanitarian space is shrinking by the hour, by the day, because of all the restrictions placed on us,” said Ms. Touma.

Ms. Touma said that UNRWA staff in Rafah, where the agency has its headquarters and main warehouses, was unable to come to work on Tuesday because of the Israeli airstrikes and because they were packing to move with their families.

Isabel Kershner , Arijeta Lajka and Christiaan Triebert contributed reporting.

— Farnaz Fassihi

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OU baseball live score updates vs UConn in NCAA Tournament Norman Regional

Coach Skip Johnson and the ninth-seeded OU baseball team  will face the Connecticut Huskies on Saturday night with a spot in the NCAA Tournament Norman Regional finals on the line.

The Sooners beat Oral Roberts 14-0 in Friday night's opener, while the Huskies upset Duke 4-1.

Here's what you need to know about the Sooners (38-19) and Huskies (33-23):

More: How OU baseball veteran Kendall Pettis' leadership is fueling Sooners into NCAA Tournament

OU baseball live score updates vs. UConn

More: OU baseball: Get to know the 2024 Oklahoma Sooners roster, schedule

End of eighth inning: UConn 4, OU 1

Quick inning for OU as Dylan Crooks struck out one and induced a flyout and groundout to force it into the ninth. Jaxon Willits will lead off for OU.

Middle of eighth inning: UConn 4, OU 1

Kendall Pettis led off the inning with a solo homer over the left field wall. UConn starting pitcher Stephen Quigley kept the damage to just that though as OU had three straight flyouts to end the inning.

End of seventh inning: UConn 4, OU 0

OU's Dylan Crooks replaced starting pitcher Braden Davis with one out after Davis allowed two straight singles. Luke Broadhurst then launched a three-run homer over the left field wall before Crooks struck out the next two batters.

Middle of seventh inning: UConn 1, OU 0

Tough break for OU at the end of the inning. Rocco Garza-Gongora hit a rocket line drive to UConn first baseman Maddix Dalena, who made the catch and stepped on the bag before OU base runner Scott Mudler got back to it, completing the double play.

End of sixth inning: UConn 1, OU 0

Terrific play by OU third baseman Michael Snyder at the end of the inning as he plucked a hard-hit ball before throwing it to second base as part of a 5-6-3 double play. OU's defense was in a shift on the play and in perfect position.

Middle of sixth inning: UConn 1, OU 0

Strong frame for UConn starting pitcher Stephen Quigley. He faced just three batters, inducing two groundouts and one flyout.

End of fifth inning: UConn 1, OU 0

UConn got a pair of runners on base as Paul Tammaro was hit by a pitch and Luke Broadhurst singled, but the Sooners kept the Huskies off the scoreboard while still trailing 1-0.

Middle of fifth inning: UConn 1, OU 0

OU threatened to tie it as John Spikerman hit a two-out double. The Sooners' rally ended there as Byrce Madron grounded out.

End of fourth inning: UConn 1, OU 0

Solid inning for OU starting pitcher Braden Davis. He struck out two and walked one while not allowing a hit.

Middle of fourth inning: UConn 1, OU 0

A double by Michael Snyder was OU's only highlight in the top of the fourth. UConn starting pitcher Stephen Quigley has done well on the mound, allowing just four hits.

End of third inning: UConn 1, OU 0

UConn's Korey Morton broke the scoreless tie as he hit a two-out single to left field, driving in Paul Tammaro.

Middle of third inning: OU 0, UConn 0

OU remains scoreless, although Kendall Pettis and Bryce Madron each singled in the inning.

End of second inning: OU 0, UConn 0

Bryan Padilla and Jake Studley each singled for UConn, but OU starting pitcher Braden Davis got out of the jam, striking out Maddix Dalena to end of the inning.

Middle of second inning: OU 0, UConn 0

OU's Michael Snyder got hit by a pitch and stole second base, but UConn starting pitcher Stephen Quigley retired the next two batters to get out of the inning. OU has just one hit, but the Sooners are putting the ball in play and have struck out only once so far.

End of first inning: OU 0, UConn 0

Strong inning for OU starting pitcher Braden Davis. The left-hander struck out two and didn't allow any hits.

Middle of first inning: OU 0, UConn 0

Bryce Madron singled for the Sooners, but it was overall a solid inning for UConn starting pitcher Stephen Quigley, who got out of the frame with a pitch count of 19.

OU baseball highlights vs. UConn

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What time does OU baseball vs. UConn start?

• Date:  Saturday, June 1
• Time:  8 p.m. CT
• Where:  L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman

More: Who is coming to Norman Regional? Get to know OU baseball opponents in NCAA Tournament

What channel is OU baseball vs. UConn on today?

• Streaming:  ESPN+
• Radio: 1400 AM/99.3 FM
• How to watch online:  Watch ESPN ( here's how to stream it live )

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