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Talent Show Rocks the Howard Talent show 2015 plays to full house -p. 2
PHOTO BY JOSHUA MARTIN
CHANGE THE WORLD
PROTESTANT
“I think that no matter how far EVANGLISM along you are in your faith, there “...colonies founded for the puris always room for improvement…” pose of religious liberty... all were significantly more democratic than their counterparts...” P. 3 P. 4
SUPERBOWL PREVIEW “It’s exciting and nervewracking at the same time.”
P. 6
FINDING EVERY REASON TO SMILE “I’m struggling with the same things everyone is, but I just find the positive.” P. 9
AU’S GOT TALENT
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
“I was extremely thankful and ex- “Missionary work has an extremely cited for the opportunity to be on uneven history.” stage and perform for such a wonderful, enthusiastic audience!” P. 10
P. 12
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THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
News
AU Talent Under the Bigtop Jenna Neil | On Saturday night,
Givan Hinds News Editor
January 24, at 8 p.m., the annual AU’s Got Talent show brought a talented group of performers to the Howard Performing Arts Center stage. Thirteen performers shared their skills with the audience under a Circus theme. Master of Ceremonies Dave Ferguson introduced and interviewed each act. AUSA and Student Life co-sponsored the event. As audience members entered the Howard, they were greeted with various performers from the Gymnics team, including different displays of silks such as the fire poi (swinging lighted tethered weights through the air in patterns). The Gymnics started the evening on the main stage with a mini trampoline routine, including stunts such as flipping and vaulting over other
Gymnics members. The second group to perform included four young men, Taylor Bartram, Austin Cassell, Boone Menhart, Andrew Krause, who performed Switchfoot’s popular song Stars. “It was really cool,” said Junior Horticulture major Austin Cassell. “I’ve never done something like this, I’ve always played for church. It felt good to pump people up.” He particularly commented: “No one can perform as well if the crowd doesn’t have their back. It’s all about the fans.” Third to perform was first year music major Gabriel Bruno who sang “I Believe” by David Foster. Shaun Haankwenda, a second year International Business major, followed with an original rap. Following Haankwenda was the song “I’m Here” from The
SECOND PLACE WINNERS, ALICE CHELBEGEAN AND GREG SIMPSON
FIRST PLACE WINNER, SU JUNG KO
Color Purple by Senior Political Science major Afia Asamoah, accompanied by Ilana Cady on the piano. Music Performance Senior Pablo Sanchez and accompanist Rachelle Gensolin followed with “Hungarian Dance.” Next, Kristen Abraham, accompanied by Liam Myrie, performed an original song titled “Bright Eyes.” The next performer, who goes by the stage name of The Element, performed an original poem titled “Love.” Alice Chelbegean and Greg Simpson performed a song by Flight of the Concords, titled “Jenny,” followed by Jonathan Dominique and Paul Ochieng performing “Funny” by Tori Kelly. Senior Social Work major Esther Briocher, who sang “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys with Joel Wallace accompanying on the guitar. Su Jung Ko sang “Stand Up
For Love” by Destiny’s Child and Freshman English and Music double-major Bennett Shelley closed the program with “Poor Unfortunate Souls: An Academic Reprise.” After all of the performances were finished, students had the opportunity to vote for their favorite act. While the voting took place, Chaplain Michael Polite performed parts of three songs, and at the same time advocated for different causes by showing how different songs could apply to different situations. Emcee Ferguson had all of the participants return to the stage to announce the winners of the talent show. Third place went to Bennett Shelley, second place to Alice Chelbegean and Greg Simpson, and first place to Su Jung Ko. The prizes were $100 for third place,
$200 for second place, and $300 for first place. “I had a lot of fun,” said Shelley. Chelbegean commented: “I didn’t go up expecting to win. I really enjoyed myself and the exposure” and her co-performer Simpson added “It was so exciting to be up there and have such a good audience reaction… I was extremely nervous but on stage, it was more natural.” Su Jung Ko said she “didn’t expect to win. I want to thank God and Andrews.”
THIRD PLACE WINNER, BENNETT SHELLEY
PHOTO BY JOSHUA MARTIN
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News
Week of Prayer: “Change the World” Andrei Wayne Kyrk Defino | Last
week, students gathered into PMC to listen to Dr. Andrea King for Student Week of Prayer, also known as the Week of Spiritual Emphasis. As senior pastor of the 16th Street Seventh-day Adventist Church in San Bernardino, California, President of the Black Adventist Ministerial Fellowship, and author of one book, King has traveled around the world. For one week, King added Andrews University to one of the many locations in which she has had the joy of sharing God’s love. For five days and four nights, the campus was given the charge to Change the World—the theme of this Week of Prayer. Every service opened with a video of student missionaries sharing their lifechanging stories from their time on the mission field. Their testimo-
nies offered inspiration to those in the audience who were looking for an opportunity to serve the world around them. Lane Babb, a Freshman Business Management major, noted, “With two meetings a day, it’s hard not to pay attention and start really analyzing aspects of your life that you think God can help you improve.” King shared powerful testimonies and messages to inspire and move Andrews University to be more than just church attendees and students, but to be active sharers of the gospel. As Senior Community & International Development Major and Student Missionary Cointe St. Brice commented, “I was truly left motivated to become a world changer not only globally but first in my heart and in the community
around me.” With powerful sermons, multiple pop-culture references, oneon-one talks with students, and an evident passion for service and God, King presented Andrews with multiple steps on how to change the world. During her time on the pulpit, King kept her audience engaged and entertained, filling PMC with laughter and “Amens.” “I thoroughly enjoyed this week of prayer,” St. Brice expressed, “Dr. Andrea King presented the word in a way that was captivating and left me wanting more after each session.” A part of Andrews University’s mission includes “Change the World” and this Week of Prayer became an emphasis of that goal to transform their students into positive world changers. King challenged those in the Andrews
University community to be proactive transformation agents for the world, God, and in their own lives, King made multiple appeals to Andrews University to become world changing missionaries. In return, a number of students walked across the aisles of PMC to answer the call. “When listening to the speaker, I realized that no matter what we all have areas in our lives that we need Gods help to improve,” Babb said as he reflected on his reasons to answer the appeals. “I think that no matter how far along you are in your faith, there is always room for improvement and we should give ourselves to God daily so that he can help us. We can’t do this on our own.”
HONY and the Mott Hall Bridges Academy Gielle Kuhn | “Humans of New
York” (HONY) is a popular Facebook and Tumblr photo blog run by photographer Brandon Stanton. HONY has almost 12 million likes on Facebook, and HONY’s “photographic census” in book form almost instantly became a New York Times Bestseller. Recently, HONY has undertaken a huge project to improve the lives of current and future students of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, who live in want of a better financial, social, and academic outlook. HONY publishes pictures of people Stanton finds in the streets of New York, often with an interesting caption or personal story. On January 19, 2015, Stanton published a picture of a young boy, Vidal. When asked who the most influential person in his life is, Vidal thought of his principal, Ms. Lopez, commenting: “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every stu-
BRANDON STANTON, NADIA LOPEZ, VIDAL
dent stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.” Vidal’s response sparked Stanton’s curiosity. He went on to visit Mott Hall Bridges Academy. The school is situated in Brownsville, an area that has the highest crime rate in New York City, and is one of Brooklyn’s most dangerous neighborhoods. On January 22, 2015, Stanton posted a picture he took during his visit with Ms. Lopez. Ms. Lopez explained the limitations of children growing up in such a background, saying: “When you tell people you’re from Brownsville, their face cringes up. But there are children here that need to know that they are expected to succeed.” Stanton posted another picture the same day, explaining that he had spent the previous day brainstorming ideas on how to help the students succeed, despite their limited horizons. Since the neighborhood is so dangerous and children face economic hardships, they do not have the chance to travel and see beyond their surroundings; they cannot dream of
PHOTO FROM ASSETS.NYDAILYNEWS.COM
opportunities they have never encountered. Stanton, Principal Lopez, and her assistant, Ms. Achu, came up with a plan for students to take a trip over the summer to Harvard. Harvard was an exceptional choice for a school trip. It is a place that is safe, conducive to learning, and stimulating to the students’ future goals. At home, especially during summers, students are hindered from a normal childhood activities. They cannot learn from and play outside: they are restricted to the indoors because of the immediate dangers of their environment. Ms. Lopez explains, “My scholars can’t even go outside. It’s too dangerous… just last Saturday, one of my scholars had two guns pulled on him while he was walking to the community center. In broad daylight. It’s just too dangerous to be outside, so my scholars stay inside all summer… They miss out on the enrichment available to children from more affluent neighborhoods. They need a safe place where they can do activities and continue to grow their minds.” Ms. Lopez estimates that a summer program would run at about $30,000 a year, so HONY created an Indiegogo Campaign with a goal of $100,000, so that three summer programs could be funded. According to the HONY Facebook page, more than $700,000 has been raised and nearly 25,000 people have donated. A post featuring a smiling Vidal reads: “Taken together, these donations have provided funding for ten years worth of Harvard trips, and ten years worth of summer programs...I wanted to announce
that all funds raised over $700,000 will be reserved for a final purpose. We are starting a scholarship fund available to the graduates of Mott Hall Bridges Academy...It will be called the Vidal Scholarship Fund. And the first recipient will be Vidal himself.” Stanton’s campaign has raised enough money to make the Harvard trip a part of the regular summer curriculum at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. He posted a picture of another student, Adrian, the student body president of Mott Hall Bridges Academy. During their brief interview, Adrian shared with Stanton his biggest goal in life, “I want to make it out of the hood. I don’t have to go that far. But if I can just live an inch outside, then I’ll feel safe and know that I’m straight.” Through HONY’s campaign, Adrian and many others will be granted an unprecedented opportunity that will help them cultivate curiosity and academic knowledge. Not only that, but these students will see that although their life has been unfair, they have the capability to pursue something infinitely better. Vanna Giddings, a French Studies/ Pre-PA student is extremely inspired by the HONY initiative: “I think it would be a great opportunity for the children to have their eyes opened to other perspectives. Instead of having to stay indoors during their summers, they could be growing and learning at an awesome facility like Harvard. They would be given an opportunity to see that even attending Harvard can be a goal for their future.”’
#SOTU
PHOTO FROM MEDIA.ZENFS.COM
Gielle Kuhn | President Barack
Obama addressed members of Congress and the American public on January 20, 2015 to orate his annual State of the Union address. President Obama spoke in light of three main issues: the 21st century economy, working families, and leading abroad. This was the first time that the President addressed a Congress controlled by Republicans. While engaging a difficult feat, Obama used this opportunity to encourage breaking down party lines to work together to “better reflect America’s hopes.” The President encouraged Americans by acknowledging some positive changes that have occurred for the American people. He reported that since the 2008 recession, 11 million jobs have been created, that America is number one in wind power, that US reliance on foreign oil has decreased substantially and that crime and incarceration rates have also decreased. These positive reports helped boost morale and encourage his continuing economic plan. President Obama’s main focus was the economy. His premise is that “Middle-class economics works.” President Obama argues that working families should feel security in the economy by expanding opportunity. He believes this is achieved through allocating federal budget funds to affordable childcare, college, healthcare, a home, and retirement, which will save thousands of dollars for the average working family. For further Federal Government revenue to support these changes, the President encouraged closing the loopholes used by the top 1% to avoid paying taxes. President Obama also addressed current issues that plague working families and proposed ideas for how he can help from a government level. He encouraged lawmakers to increase cyber security, raise the minimum wage, provide paid sick leaves, and address the gender wage gap: “Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It’s 2015. It’s time.” He also hopes to work with Congress to make the first two years of college education free for American students and to reduce the monthly
student loan payments, helping students to reduce their student debt. The President also hopes for a “smarter kind of American leadership,” both in domestic and foreign terms. Although Obama faced criticism for not attending the January 11 Charlie Hebdo solidarity march in Paris among other world leaders, he specifically addressed and supported this instance while talking about foreign diplomacy and terrorism: “We stand united with people around the world who’ve been targeted by terrorists—from a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris.” The President also promoted the free speech movement by encouraging tolerance. Obama argued that the concept of human dignity is “why we continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims—the vast majority of whom share our commitment to peace. That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We do these things not only because they’re right, but because they make us safer.” He believes the United States should keep “assisting people everywhere who stand up to the bankrupt ideology of violent extremism.” Much buzz has surrounded President Obama’s diction. Time Magazine reports that President Obama was the first president ever to use the words “lesbian,” “bisexual,” and “transgender” in a State of the Union address. An anonymous Andrews student explains, “Using inclusive language really helps unify Obama’s theme of respecting human dignity. His choice of words proves that Obama is ready to crush stereotypes and the various forms of prejudice that plague our society.”
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THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
Ideas
J.N. Andrews Emily Cancel | John Nevins An-
Erik Vyhmeister Ideas Editor
drews is often considered one of the most intelligent of the early Adventist pioneers, having left school at the age of eleven because it was too slow for him. He educated himself, learning several languages, and memorizing huge passages of scripture, until his wealthy uncle asked him to go to law school. John had always dreamed of leaving his small and unexceptional hometown of Poland, Maine, but he thought law school would not satisfy his desire to learn and travel. The Millerite movement caught him in 1843, at just 14 years old, and when Jesus did not return to cleanse the earth in 1844, he settled in to worshipping on the seventh day Sabbath and hunted through the Bible for answers. He met James and Ellen White a few years later, and quickly established himself in the fledgling Adventist church. He avidly studied
Daniel, Revelation, and the gospels, and helped in the formation of many fundamental Adventist beliefs. Andrews is also responsible for the interpretation that Revelation’s two-horned beast represented the United States and the establishment of Adventist young
in infancy and his wife died after a stroke in 1872. Two difficult years after the death of his wife, J.N. Andrews looked for a change in scenery and found it when he accepted a position as the first overseas missionary to be sponsored by the
of their travels to his two children, Charles and Mary, as they stood at Boston Harbor on the day of their departure. Upon his arrival in Basel, Switzerland in 1874, John Andrews pursued his goal as energetically as he had pursued everything in his life.
“He gave up everything he once had in order to serve God.” men as conscientious objectors in the draft. By the time he was thirty years old, he was the general conference president, and a renowned Adventist theologian, author, and pastor. He was married to a lovely woman, and had two children. In the following few years, however, he had two more children who died
Seventh-day Adventist church. His task was to encourage and organize the seventh-day Sabbath worshippers in Switzerland, as the general conference had been organized several years before in the United States. The statue between the field of flags and PMC is of J.N. Andrews indicating the direction
He began writing tracts, establishing congregations, preaching, and even built a printing press to publish “Signs of the Times” and other Adventist writings in European languages. Mary, his daughter, learned French and translated his sermons and documents from English, and set the type on the print-
a short period of time? It really all depends on where you go and what happens to you there. But ultimately, it’s a result of giving yourself away, for however long or short a period of time. To be a missionary, you have to be willing to forget yourself, almost completely. It’s as simple—and difficult—as that. If you make yourself your own last priority, your entire outlook shifts. This shift is hard to make in the comfortable world we live in, and it’s not the kind of shift you make because
you feel like it. A change in outlook happens because it has to happen, because your former way of looking at the world is no longer sufficient. Again, mission work’s personal effects vary from person to person, depending on how long you stay and where you go and what you do. There is only one constant: the effect’s existence. The person who went may never want to go back, or they may want to return on the next flight. They may have loved every minute or hated their experi-
ing press. Unfortunately, Mary caught tuberculosis shortly after their arrival in Switzerland and was sent back to the Battle Creek Sanitarium for treatment. The treatment did not come in time, and Mary died upon her arrival. John Andrews himself did not outlive her for long, as he died from the same disease in 1883, still in Switzerland. J.N. Andrews succeeded in becoming a premier Adventist biblical scholar as well a distinguished author. His life should be a reminder of what the cost of mission work can be. He gave up everything he once had in order to serve God. Emmanuel Missionary College was renamed to Andrews University to commemorate both his service and the Adventist church’s dedication to mission.
Missionary Effects Alexi Decker | We see it all the
time. Friends you thought you knew come back from a week or a summer or a year or more as a missionary and bam. They’re a different person. To be fair, they’re usually not that different. You’ll see minor changes at first: maybe they bring their Bible to church, or have no desire to go shopping. Maybe they’re a little more serious, a little more passionate, a little more careful about what they say. Maybe they’re abnormally protective of
other people, or more open-minded than when they left. Maybe they care less about themselves. Suddenly they want to save the animals or teach kids or pastor or be a part of a nonprofit organization. Maybe they still want to do the same thing, but their focus is sharper and their determination is stronger. Whatever it is, people are changed by mission work. So why do they change? What happens to the people we know that changes them so much in such
ence. But in the end, it doesn’t matter. They have still been changed by everything that happened to them. If you want a change, a shakeup in the complacency that haunts many comfortable Americans, go somewhere. Do something. Be a missionary. Don’t be content with a predictable world. You will come back changed.
Unintended Results of Protestant Evangelism Erik Vyhmeister | I recently be-
came aware of an article published ‘recently’ regarding the social effect of missions over long periods of time. The study, entitled “The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy” was published in May of 2012 in the American Political Science Review, and has been the subject of some controversy within the field of sociology. The study is massive, and while I endeavor to provide a concise summary of its main points, I cannot do it justice. Its full text is available online, though it is quite long. The study was conducted on a global scale, using data from the mid-1800s to the late 1900s. Its author, Robert Woodberry, puts forth the argument that even though the intent of many protestant missionaries was *just* to convert the locals, they did much more. He says, “in trying to spread their faith, [conversionary protestants]
expanded religious liberty, overcame resistance to mass education and printing, fostered civil society, moderated colonial abuses, and dissipated elite power.” This came from the structure innate in protestant hierarchies, not in what they explicitly taught -- “Protestant missions are associated with higher educational enrollments in both cross-national and subnational analyses. Protestant missions are also associated with high newspaper circulation, more organizational civil society greater economic development, stronger protection of private property, greater rule of law, and lower levels of corruption.” Dr. Woodberry’s analysis is not qualitative – it is a statistical analysis that correlates different missional factors with how democratic a nation is. He uses two different methods of analysis, which while each one inde-
pendently only shows correlation, the fact that they both lead to the same result is indicative that causality is plausible. He shows that the coefficient for protestant missions is not affected by controlling for: colonizer’s religion, length of colonization, colonizing country, amount of direct rule, or amount of *Catholic* missionaries. That is, while these factors do show correlation with the development of democracy, the effect they have independent of protestant missions is negligible. Interestingly, his study also shows that colonies founded for the purpose of religious liberty – including the United States, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand – all were significantly more democratic than their counterparts, even within other British colonies. Another point he brought up is that the Dutch colonies (specifically Indonesia), while being
protestant did not become more democratic because of the controlling nature of the Dutch rule. He does mention that there could be another explanation, but “the association between Protestant missions and democracy is so strong that if omitted variable bias caused it, the omitted variable(s) must powerfully predict both democracy and Protestant missions (but not Catholic missions).” “A century ago Max Weber argued that Protestantism helped spur the rise of capitalism. Some of his causal mechanisms may be wrong, but his main intuition seems right: Religious beliefs and institutions matter. What we consider modernity was not the inevitable result of economic development, urbanization, industrialization, secularization, or the Enlightenment, but a far more contingent process profoundly shaped by activist religion.”
It’s important to remember that when we do mission work, we not only bring our religion – we also bring our entire cultural heritage as well, whether we intend to or not. The influence of missionaries goes far beyond the religious teachings they set out to share.
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orphanage that they repaired, and that they could’ve spent the money much more cost efficiently had the students just donated it. If we give the organizers the benefit of the doubt, it seems clear
even if the money isn’t being spent in the “most efficient ways.” However, the fact still stands that there is a need for more longterm: career missionaries. Shortterm mission trips often execute tasks that could be done (most likely with more quality as well) by locals. Short-term mission trips also do not allow for the volunteers to spend enough time in the culture long enough to really understand the local way of living and impact their lives in a substantial way. With career missioners, the exact opposite is true. They invest their entire lives, without compromise, in these people, and work diligently and unselfishly to meet their needs. But they don’t just do things for these people. They develop the communities, helping them work towards the point where the missionaries are no longer necessary. Whereas with short-
term missions, the locals are often robbed of an experience to help themselves. Robert Lupton, author of Toxic Charity, claims that “giving to those in need what they could be gaining from their own initiative may well be the kindest way to destroy people”. This brings to question what the goal of mission work as a whole should be. Wanting to “go and make disciples” is one thing; understanding what that means is quite another. Mission work has become too interchangeable with good deeds, which are most often thought of as quick and relatively easy. But maybe Jesus was calling us to a deeper, more real experience. An experience where your mission is to commit to Him for the long-term, exercising the effects of that both at home and abroad.
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Ideas
Mission-Minded Sarah Stelfox | Short-term mis-
sion trips are one of the fastest growing trends of our generation. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, being that short-term mission trips are cheaper. Seemingly the perfect compromise, short-term missions allow for the mission-minded to enjoy the satisfaction of enhancing someone else’s well-being without having to sacrifice copious amounts of resources, such as money, time, and energy--both physical and psychological. This has resulted in nearly 30% of teenagers reporting to have taken part in some sort of “religious service project.” Unfortunately, as the interest in short-term missions increases, the funding for missions is decreasing. Currently, only approximately 1% of monetary donations to the church are directed towards funding for missions. As
a result, it takes a substantially larger amount of time before these missions can be executed. Also, a considerable amount of the funds required come from the volunteers themselves. That being so, the
alone [for a week trip] was enough to pay for [a weeks’ worth of training for locals] on the island.” A similar incident occurred in Honduras, as a group of high school kids spent $25,000 on a trip dur-
“As a result, it takes a substantially larger amount of time before these missions can be executed.” question has been raised of whether or not short-term missions--as opposed to long-term missions-are even worth it. Often, short-term missions have been reported as wasteful. One career missionary stated that “the money that they spent on food
ing spring break. While both the students and the locals alike enjoyed the sense of community and were excited for the opportunity for two worlds to collide, the locals later confided that the cost for the trip was approximately half the price of the yearly budget for the
that short-term missions are about more than just being cost effective. It has been argued that one of the main purposes of short-term missions are to open the eyes of the volunteers so they see the needs in the world. For those who went, short-term missions are worth it,
PHOTO FROM ADVENTISTMISSION.ORG
Who Qualifies As a Missionary? Shastri Lloyd | As a Seventh-day
Adventist church, we have a long standing history with mission work. Andrews University, the General Conference of Seventhday Adventists’ flagship school, is named after the church’s first official missionary, John Nevins Andrews. As Andrews University students, we are often encouraged to get involved in mission work. In fact, this previous week of prayer had an emphasis on encouraging students to become student missionaries. As students were emotionally coerced into fulfilling Andrews’s need for student missionaries, it became apparent that no actual explanation of the work that they would be going on to do was ever given. All the information that students had to respond
to “the call” with were their own preconceived notions of what missionary work entails. That being said, the question was asked to students outside of chapel, what are the first things that come to mind in their peer
“hard-work.” When asked about community service, students responded by relating it with things such as participating in soup kitchens, visiting nursing homes, raking leaves, shoveling sidewalks, picking up trash, working
eling to third-world countries. It was also associated with teaching, specifically teaching English or other languages, and even an opportunity to grow one’s walk with Christ. One student related longterm mission work with “living
Do you have to get your hands dirty and live in a “dirt hut?” groups when talking about missions? When asked about missions in general, students responded by saying they thought about work outside of the country in multicultural settings, assimilating to different cultures and that it was
with an animal shelter, visiting prisons, cleaning parks, manual labor, and simply “humanitarian work.” When asking more specifically about long-term missions, students associated it with learning different languages and trav-
in dirt huts.” When asked about short-term missions, students associated it with building projects, evangelism, and even “graduating college.” Others said they liked the idea of a mission trip without a long-term commitment.
What’s interesting about the responses between short-term and long-term mission work were the time periods students considered “short-term” or “long-term.” Some students thought a short-term mission trips meant one or two weeks, three months, or over spring break. Others thought short-term meant a year. However, other students thought long-term mission work lasted a year, and for others, longer than that. What becomes problematic when we talk about missions is that it is never properly defined. How long is a shortterm, and how long is a long-term mission? What work is done on a mission trip? What is the difference between missionary work and community service? Who does a short-term mission trip bene-
fit? Is it only a mission trip if one leaves their home country? Is disaster relief considered a mission trip? Can you be a missionary that works in an office or do you have to get your hands dirty and live in a “dirt hut?” We need to have open conversations about missionary work and what it truly means and entails as we remain a church and school that adamantly promotes it. Some students may learn that their skillset may only be necessary in certain missionary environments; others may learn that they are more of a burden than a benefit, and vice versa. Nevertheless, we should strive more for knowledge and dialogue as we ask and respond to calls to be missionaries.
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THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
Pulse
Fan vs. Fan
Tim McGuire Pulse Editor
Gati Wankyo
Who or what worries you the most about the Seahawks?
Connor Smith
What’s it like being a Patriots fan considering most NFL fans hate your team?
The Seahawks have really good defense so it will be tough going against them. Also the Seahawks are coming back as the previous Super Bowl champions so they are going to be hype and ready to defend their title.
What’s it like being a Seahawks fan and being a part of the 12th man?
I love being a Pats fan! I’m from New England so I will always represent. It’s ok that everyone else may hate us. People hate on teams that are good so I don’t blame them. Who’s your favorite player and why?
Tom Brady is my favorite player, obviously! He’s a key player on the team and a great leader and also a great quarterback. How’s it feel to be able to watch your team in the Super Bowl AGAIN?
It’s exciting and nervewracking at the same time. I know they can win and so I just hope they go into it ready to play.
What do you think are the keys for a Patriot victory?
I think good defense will be extremely important because defense wins games. Also, like I said before, Seahawks have great defense so our offense needs to execute well against them and protect the ball.
It is really fun being a Seahawks fan especially now when they are winning--it had been a long time since the Seahawks played well and to watch them win their first super bowl last year was great. There was time it looked like Tavaris Jackson was going to be the future of the franchise and our division was the worst in football so to be on top for a small market team is great. Who’s your favorite player on the Seahawks?
Who do you think wins? What’s the final score and who wins the MVP?
Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. I cannot decide between the two
I believe the Patriots are going to win, but in a close game. Maybe 2824. It will be a good game. I think Julian Edelman might win MVP.
What’s it like to return to the Super Bowl after winning it last year?
Being able to return to the Super bowl rocks, especially when
we lost players to free agency like Golden Tate and Red Bryant, so to make it back especially after a shaky first half of the season is great.
17 to 14 Seahawks I think it will be really close game and very exciting. I don’t think it can top the Green Bay comeback, but it should be fun. MVP Lynch.
Who or what worries you the most about the Patriots?
Gronk worries me the most--him and Brady are so good together when they both play at their best it is hard to stop them What do you think are the keys for the Seahawks to win? Keys to the game got to get Lynch going and then get explosive down field passing plays against a really good Pats secondary. We struggled to throw down field against Green bay, getting intercepted a ton; got to do better and get some turnovers to keep Brady off the field and of course make sure the balls are pumped up all the way. Final prediction? Who wins and by what score? Also who gets the MVP?
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JOELLE ARNER
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Pulse
Super Bowl Preview Working Out In Winter Justin Walker | The most-watched
sporting event of the year (which is so popular that there have been proposals stating that the following Monday should be a holiday) will take place this Sunday as the New England Patriots will take on the defending champions, Seattle Seahawks. The two teams have taken different roads with completely different stories to get here. The Patriots are concerned. They dominated the Colts on their way to capturing yet another AFC title, but then found themselves in controversy again due to a couple of their footballs (ok, 11 of 12) not having the required inflation. On the flip-side, you have the Seahawks team who somehow managed to get by the Packers despite playing rather poorly for most of the game. One would think that they must be a bit worried as a couple of their stars got banged up in the game. The only comparison you can make would be the two starting quarterbacks, as Russell Wilson became only the second QB in NFL history to make two super bowls in his first three years. The only other QB to accomplish such a feat is future hall of famer Tom Brady (after Rookie season as backup), who just so happens to be the opposing
quarterback this year. Unlike last year, you can safely say that the two best teams will be playing in the Super Bowl, as these two teams are very evenly matched and will have a lot of interesting matchups to watch. These matches include Pete Carroll vs. Bill Belichick, Gronk vs. Chancellor, and even the already mentioned Tom Brady vs. Russell Wilson. The keys for the Patriots is to not let Lynch get into a rhythm on the ground and to find ways to get Gronk into the game. As for the Seahawks, they can’t afford another five-turnover game and they must get pressure on Brady in order to disrupt the offense. As for who wins, I’m sticking to my preseason pick, but I’ll throw in a little wrinkle to the outcome. I’m going with the Seahawks to repeat over the Patriots in the Super Bowl’s first overtime game, 26-20.
Rebecca Coleman | It’s fair to say
that working out during the winter months is not the easiest thing to do. Staying motivated when it is dreary and snowy outside is a problem that many people face. It’s especially disappointing that you just can’t pull yourself out of bed to go to the gym despite all of your well-intentioned New Year’s Resolutions. It’s surprising how much the weather can affect our desire to work out, even if we usually do so indoors. If you are one who struggles to get the motivation you need to work out when you’d really rather sleep in, you need a plan of action. One of the best ways to make sure you get in your daily workout is to find an accountability partner. It would be preferable to find a partner that has a little more drive than you do so they don’t accept any excuses. Create a plan with them and stick to it. Getting to the gym is the hardest part. Once you’re there, you’ll find that it’s actually quite enjoyable. It is also useful to understand just what a good workout regimen will do for your health. Not only does exercise increase cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and overall flexibility (depending
5 Health Mistakes of College Students Bethany Morrison | Since many of
us live away from home, we tend to make these common mistakes on a daily basis without really thinking about it. 1. Forgetting to Wash Our Hands You don’t know how many times I’ve witnessed people gracefully walk out the bathroom without washing their hands. There’s so many different people living together and so many things going on that germs tend to spread drastically. Many of us unexpectedly wake up with sore throats and colds. These things come about when unclean hands touch certain parts of your face. Even if you wash your hands, not everyone around you does, so be aware. It’s appalling to know that grown people can’t get into the habit of keeping their hands clean. 2. Trying Every Food in the Cafeteria The freshman 15 is there to warn us. I mean, who really wants to gain 15 pounds? When people are away from home and are exposed to foods that they may not get at home, they tend to go a little overboard. Which leads to weight gain.
It may not be purposely but it definitely happens. In addition to the negativity of weight gain, poor eating will make you sick, so eat well. 3. Pulling an All-Nighter We’ve all pulled one of these, whether it’s staying up late to study for a test or finishing a long paper. Either way, pulling an all-nighter isn’t good if it means missing out on sleep. When we miss out on getting enough sleep, the risk for becoming depressed increases. Not only that, it’s hard to concentrate if you’re tired, your way of being tends to be slow, and you can even make errors in your work because your mind is set on sleep. Your brain is trying so hard to focus on one thing when it really can’t. Not getting enough sleep weakens your immune system which gives you a higher risk of getting sick. So improve those sleeping habits and set some kind of schedule. 4. Stress Many of us have crammed schedules and many tasks to accomplish with not enough time to finish in one day. This can stress one out and when someone is stressed they tend to be tentative. Their abil-
ity to concentrate gets groggy and they’re easily tired. Stress may not be avoidable but there are ways to get by. Find things that you enjoy and take a break. 5. Precarious Acts Drug use, drinking, and promiscuous sexual activity are known as prevailing issues on college campuses. Drinking and drug use is not only a health risk but it can get someone dismissed from school. Irresponsible sexual acts can lead to pregnancies and transmitted diseases. Be wise about where you go and what actions you take.
on your regimen), it also improves your mood. This can be very important for those who spend their winters in the Midwest. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a condition associated with mild depression that is related to seasonal variations of light. Half a million people are affected with SAD every winter. The condition normally peaks during January and February. SAD typically affects those between the ages of 18 and 30. A milder version of SAD, “Winter Blues,” affects even more people. While exercise is not the only cure, it can greatly reduce the bad effects of your “funk.” According to the Mayo Clinic, even 30 minutes of light exercise can help to shift your mood. Physical activity stimulates brain chemicals that help you feel happier and more relaxed. Exercise also boosts the energy that these winters month seem to so readily steal. Exercise promotes better sleep. If you’re a busy student that only gets 4 to 5 hours of sleep every night, it might be helpful to get a quick workout in before bed to ensure that you sleep soundly during those few precious hours. Understanding the benefits of exercise and how it can change your body and mood is sometimes
4 Healthy PostWorkout Snacks
all you need to get you motivated. Exercise can be fun! If you have a hard time getting motivated, find something that you especially like to do. This could include swimming, racquetball, indoor soccer, or even yoga. There are so many different kinds of physical activities that can be done during winter months; all you need to do is find one that makes you happy. Bring along a friend or two that share the same favorite physical activity that you do and make it even more enjoyable. The bottom line of physical activity is this; everyone should do it no matter the time of year. Each person should exercise at a level that is comfortable for him or her. Check with your doctor if you have any concerns. The body and mind thrive off of physical activity, not only will you feel better, you will also be able to concentrate better during classes and while doing homework. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderately strenuous activity everyday and see how it changes your outlook on life especially during these winter months.
Bagel with Ricotta & Strawberries -Spread 1/2 toasted whole grain “flat” bagel with 2 tbsps. of fresh Ricotta -Top the bagel with 1/3 cup of sliced strawberries -Drizzle the bagel with 1 tsp. of honey or Agave Nectar Frozen Yogurt with Blueberries -Fill bowl 1/2 full of vanilla frozen yogurt -Add 1/2 cup of blueberries Crackers with Nutella Spread and Banana -Divide ingredients evenly -Spread crackers with 1 tbsp. of nutella -Top the crackers with 1 sliced banana
Bethany Morrison | Do you ever
crave a little something before working out, but know that you can’t eat a whole meal? Try a preexercise snack that will help you push through an exhausting workout. Some health information that I have read suggests the following: Find a balanced snack with proteins and carbs up to three hours before your workout. -A cup of berries with some yogurt. -A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or just peanut butter and banana. -An apple with any type of spread of your choice. -Oatmeal mixed with milk and fruit. -Nuts and raisins.
Results:
Schedule:
Men’s Basketball: January 15th, 2015 Cardinals - 90 Great Lakes Christian College - 58
Men’s Basketball: January 31st, 2015 @ 7:30pm Cardinals vs. Great Lakes Christian College
January 20th, 2015 Cardinals - 79 Kuyper - 80
February 3rd, 2015 @ 7:30pm Cardinals vs. Indiana University Northwest
January 22nd, 2015 Cardinals - 57 Grace Bible - 58
February 10th, 2015 @ 8:00pm Cardinals @ Moody Bible Institute
By: Jordan Jackson Tropical Yogurt Parfait -1 container of Yogurt (your choice) -Add sliced tomatoes and Kiwi (or any tropical fruit of you choice) -You can either top it off with nuts or granola
Small Health Tips for a PreWorkout Snack
Women’s Basketball January 20th, 2015 Cardinals - 28 Kuyper - 53 January 22nd, 2015 Cardinals - 20 Grace Bible - 65 January 24th, 2015 Cardinals - 42 Saint Mary’s of the Woods - 82
Women’s Basketball: February 3rd, 2015 @ 7:30pm Cardinals vs. Indiana University Northwest February 12th, 2015 @ 5:30pm Cardinals vs. Grace Bible College February 17th, 2015 @ 5:30pm Cardinals vs. Kuyper College
8
THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
Humans
The Face of Success Sweet Thoughts Mercedes McLean | Like most
Dakota Hall Humans Editor
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CAST
Emily Perkins | You may recognize
her as the face of the “A Successful You” posters around campus, but the students of Berrien Springs High School, Middle School, and Elementary School are getting to know Ms. Emily Perkins as the student teacher of their music classes. The music education major has the position of student teacher in Mrs. Carrie Vandenburgh’s music classroom at BSHS. Though growing up she had many ideas for what her future career would be (paleontologist, veterinarian, and singer), she never thought she would end up being so passionate about teaching. Trying to pave her own way in life and not just follow her mother’s footsteps by going into music education, she attended Southwestern Michigan College and took her generals as she figured out her plans for the future. While she was there, she had a dynamic choir director, Mr. Carew, who she says “made learning fun for me but he also looked like he was having fun teaching. It was also music related, too, so I was like, wow, this is someone who is doing something with music and they seem to be really enjoying it. He was like a third party looking in and he would see things in me that I hadn’t seen before so he was my main inspiration.” Once she transferred to Andrews, she entered the music education program and had the luck of being assigned one of the most desired assignments for student teaching in music education: “I got so lucky, as the semesters were rolling by, I was noticing all the other students that were going to be
student teaching at the same time as me and everyone just wanted to get Carrie Vandenburgh, I was so scared that someone was going to get her but I got so lucky because she’s so amazing.” Her responsibilities as a student teacher cover a lot of ground, as she describes: “I’ll accompany on the piano while she conducts or she’ll play the piano as I conduct. If I make a mistake, we’ll stop and redo it and the students know I’m still learning. I also do the behind the scenes things like grade papers, make copies and put things in folders--all of the extra work that my teacher needs done. I am making lessons plans for myself to complete the requirements for the Department of Education but day to day I just do whatever she tells me what we need to do.” From her enthusiasm, it’s easy to tell that Emily will be successful in her teaching career from the passion she has for teaching. “I like the younger kids,” she says. “If I’m excited, they will just kind of mirror my excitement which just gets me even more excited. I’m getting really excited just talking about it right now.”
people, junior Elementary Education major Candace Ballester likes food. “I like eating small meals throughout the day. I don’t like feeling really full, like I’m heavy and sleepy. I would rather have a bowl of pineapple or a bag of chips occasionally than eat big meals.” When asked what some of her favorite foods were she replied, “I love smoothies, and I like chocolate a lot. When I think of my favorite snacks, those are the things that come to mind. I also love soup. Vegetable soup, lentil soup, potato and broccoli soups, they’re all so great.” When asked what foods that sometimes appear on the cafeteria menu make her definitely want to go to dinner she notes that Samosas and Spring rolls were her cafe favorites. “If they have Samosas or Spring rolls I’ll always go,” she says, “even though I’m not always a big fan of the cafeteria.” Candace explains that she comes from Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots, and that the traditional foods of those places are very dear to her. “I love my cultural foods. One example of a great Puerto Rican food is empanadas, which are pieces of dough with meat or cheese in them which are then fried. They aren’t healthy,
but they’re delicious.” When asked if there was any foods that reminded her of home, or that her family cooks especially well, she comments that everything her grandmother cooks is wonderful, and that while she generally avoids eating meat, her Grandpa makes the best barbeque chicken in the world. Candace also talks about her experience learning how to cook. “My mom hates cooking. At 12 or 13 years old I started watching Food Network and I learned how to cook by watching shows. Now I cook all the time, for everybody. I love cooking. I don’t get as much of a chance to cook during the school year because working in the community kitchens at the dorms is more difficult, but I make up for it by having a baking explosion when I go home. Cooking is
great. Feeding people is my love language.” Her favorite things to bake are cupcakes, because “they’re so creative, and there are so many different kinds. Though chocolate is always better.” As far as her favorite desserts go, “I love cheesecake,” Candace says, “and while I do like to make it, it’s never quite as good as what I can get at a restaurant.” Beyond specific tasty foods, food is special and important for a lot of reasons. “Food brings people together. Everyone has to eat and likes to eat. When you eat something good, it makes you happy and you want to tell people about it. Food is special. I remember when my boyfriend and I first started dating, I cooked for him, and then he was like I really like you.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RICHARD ULANGCA
Battle for Activism Name: Esther Battle Class: Sophomore Major: Sociology Interviewed by: Isabel Stafford Why did you decide to come to Andrews?
My sister was already here, and I was about to go to Oakwood but I decided not to because a lot of the kids from my high school went there and I wanted something different. I didn’t want to stay too close to home, so I didn’t go to WAU, and PUC was too far away, so it was just process of elimination. Andrews was the one place left. You work at the cafeteria, right? What’s that like?
It can be busy, sometimes, but sometimes it’s not, sometimes there’s a lot of downtime where you aren’t really doing anything. The weirdest thing I can think of is when the computers that we use both shut down on us for no reason, and our manager whipped out his cell phone and started taking pictures of students id cards in order to charge them later, and we were frantically writing things down and ripping off to go receipts and stuff like that. It was back to normal in ten, fifteen minutes. How’s sociology going? Do you know what you want to do once you graduate?
I really like it a lot. I just changed my major this year and I’m taking the research methods course, so I’m doing my own research projects, which is really cool. I don’t know what I want to do with it yet. I’m hoping I’ll figure it out before I leave Andrews. I just know that I like it, and I feel like that is a good start. If you could choose any career without worrying about failure, what would you do?
Anything that I wanted, without worrying? I’ve never been one of those people who wanted to do something like that. I was never like, oh, I want to be an artist or a singer. It was always something concrete, things your parents aren’t going to be upset at you for majoring in. But I think what I would like to do is social activism. I’m passionate about a lot of things, and if I could just get involved in something, a big movement, and devote my life to that thing and make a big change. I’d like to do that.
there’s a lot of on-the-ground stuff happening that I’d like to be a part of. I’m also a feminist, and I like to focus on women of color. A lot of the celebrities I like are also feminists, like Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, and I respect them because of that. I’m also all for the LGBTQ community. I like to support that and follow what’s happening. When I think about things that I really, really care about, those are the top three that come into my head. I just feel like everyone should be treated right all the time, and I don’t think there’s ever an excuse for them not to be.
What sorts of social activism are you involved in?
I’m really involved in Ferguson, as much as I can be. If I were at home in DC, I’d be doing a lot more, because I feel like Andrews is kind of isolated. I go on the marches they’ve had here, but at home
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JOELLE ARNER
WED 01.28.15
VOLUME 99
ISSUE 14
9
Humans
Jasel McCoy by Scott Moncrieff Faculty Advisor
Director, Fitness and Exercise Science Completing a Doctorate in Public Health from Loma Linda University MS in Exercise Science, Georgia State University MBA, University of Phoenix What is the topic of your dissertation?
of students don’t eat in the cafeteria [where there are more healthy options]; they eat in the Gazebo, and those foods tend to be higher in fat and higher in sugar. Another “barrier” I’m looking at in my study is hygiene and hair care. Hair maintenance for women is a big deal.
Barriers to physical activity in college-age women. You might think this would be a pretty common area of study, but it’s not. It’s important, because this is the age group where students make their patterns for the rest of their lives. In the research you see studies on elementary age, high school age, middle age and the older population. They skip over college age for some strange reason.
How is hair care connected with health?
So college-age women are typically not as active as they should be?
So for instance, look at potato chips. You have “regular” Lays and the “fat-free” Lays. Calorie wise? Big difference. Fat-wise? Big difference. Sugar-wise, though, the fat-free Lays have tons more sugar.
No. And not only that—it’s their energy levels. They consume too much food. Too much food; too little physical activity. But also too much sugar. That’s the biggest issue, according to a lot of studies. Students are walking across campus all the time, they’re constantly moving , but when you’re putting in that much sugar it pumps that sugar into your bloodstream and you have increased storage of fat, and then more obesity. What are the foods or drinks most at fault for the sugar overload?
Vending machine foods. Plus a lot
A lot of women don’t want to get their hair sweaty. If they’ve just washed their hair or just went to the salon—it’s actually a very common problem. And then there’s social/ecological factors such as family structure, background, ethnicity. Could you say some more about the sugar problem?
Potato chips aren’t a sweet food, so we don’t even think about them having sugar.
Sugar is found in every food. If you consider how many tablespoons of sugar we should eat per day, we eat about 100 times more than we should eat. And the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], you know on the side of the food label where it gives the daily percentage value? You will never see the percentage value of sugar. It will
tell you how many grams of sugar, but it won’t tell you what daily percentage of adult limit it is. A lot of manufacturers, around 1987, they approached the FDA, wrote this big report, and asked them to take that percentage value off. They did it so covertly no one really paid attention to it, except for people who work in the field. Think about it. If the average person saw a food label of their favorite Frosted Flakes and it said 200% of your recommended daily sugar allowance, they would never buy it. Never. We like to think about how the tobacco industry was so evil in the way it hid the effects of their product from consumers, but we seem to have that going on right now in our country with sugar?
Exactly. In the early 90’s I remember seeing all the Camel commercials, and the billboards, and everything like that, and I remember when they passed legislation to stop advertising. I don’t know if you ever watch any little kids’ programming. I have a three-year-old so I watch it all the time. You can’t even watch Mickey Mouse without being bombarded by Ronald McDonald and all these things. Your brain is always thinking “food food food” because it’s always in front of you. Like the way it used to be with cigarettes. In commercials, actors, actresses, everybody had a cigarette. Can you explain to me why Adventists have always had “no
PHOTOS BY SCOTT MONCRIEFF
drinking” and “no smoking” on their health lists, but not much about sugar.
brown rice, all the other vegetarian options that we have.
[laughs] You’re trying to get me in trouble.
Put in a nutshell for me, what would be one or two changes you would like to be part of bringing about on the Andrews campus?
Why does smoking have this sinful connotation that sugar does not?
That’s a really good question. It all comes down to treating your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Once you find out that something is harmful in any amount to your body, you should make an effort not to consume it. Primarily, this excess sugar comes through processed foods. We need to preach whole foods. Get grains, quinoa,
Right now it’s the dissertation, but after that . . . I would love to have more physical activity outlets on campus. Because we don’t have a Wellness Center it makes it really challenging. I’m developing a Wellness Club here in the department where the students will be responsible for holding free fitness classes on Sunday mornings. I’ve revamped the program
so their junior year our students are required to sit for their personal training exam, so people can come and actually work with Certified Personal Trainers right here on campus. Once we get that new Wellness Center we’ll be unstoppable [laughs]. I’m looking forward to getting new equipment in there. Look at this for instance [holds up catalog of exercise equipment]: we can put all of a person’s health information on a jump drive which can plug right into the equipment and we can actually tailor things to help improve the person’s fitness and their nutrition. I’m really excited about that.
Finding Every Reason to Smile Sam Fry | Serge Gedeon Jr. is a
sophomore transfer student who is majoring in English for Secondary Education. Serge, 21, hails from the Florida and enjoys meeting new people and making them smile. His optimism and enthusiasm are infectious and are a huge part of his personality. As for his extroverted personality he says, “If you can’t handle a joke, you’ll hate me.” If you happen to run into Serge anywhere on campus, he will probably greet you and ask your name. Why? “I try to learn everyone’s name. I hate seeing faces and not knowing who the person is. When you talk to people you gain so much in life, and get the chance to make new friends. I like forming connections with people, and I never forget someone’s name twice.” Transferring to Andrews after deciding to pursue a secondary education degree is what he describes as a “blessing in dis-
guise.” He previously failed nursing school twice, but this didn’t stop him, it just showed him that his passion was to teach. Serge loves teaching—he taught dance during high school, and after he volunteered so much, he was hired to teach at other schools. His inspiration for teaching comes from a teacher he had in high school, Mr. Haman, who believed in him. “I had this substitute teacher my freshman year who later became my teacher, junior year. I was a big problem child in high school; all the teachers knew me before I had a class with them. Everybody used to judge me before they knew me. He never judged me. One time when I got in trouble and he was going to write me a referral, he gave me a big talk and told me I needed to grow up and act like a young man instead of a boy. He listened to me.” This was the turning point for Serge, and he aspires to be like his teacher. “I want to help
someone who was ignored by other teachers. I want to look deeper than that, and maybe start a chain reaction.” Serge is putting Mr. Haman’s lesson to good use, as he is a leader on campus and a positive influence on everyone he meets. He created a musical group at the beginning of last semester consisting of seven singers and instrumentalists who are now performance ready and will perform at New Life and One Place in the near future. He attributes his ability to be a social leader on campus to his positive attitude and his first job at Disney World in Orlando, FL. “Getting a job with Disney, it’s not easy. But public speaking helped me with that. I got hired off the bat. It really developed my character, and matured me as a person. It’s not easy to smile at strangers all day. I’m struggling with the same things everyone is, but I just find the positive.”
Serge has a positive mentality and it tends to rub off on those around him. In his journey to become a teacher and a better person he has this advice for his peers: “Become a happier person; smiling everyday makes you happier in life. God doesn’t let things happen for no reason. Everything happens for a reason. Enjoy it, stop frowning. Find every reason to smile. We get so much time to live, so enjoy the blessings that happen every day.”
PHOTO BY JOELLE ARNER
10
THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
Arts & Entertainment
Shanelle Kim Arts & Entertainment Editor
PHOTO BY BRANDON INJETY
AU’s Got Talent: Interviews with Participants Interviewed by: Janelle Aguilera
How did you feel when you placed?
Bennett Shelley
Very much surprised! I was so excited about getting to perform in the show that I wasn’t even worried about winning. For me, publicity is even better than placing, so having such a large audience was quite the award already. At the same time, I figured that if I won, it would be third place. I can’t really explain that feeling--it was just performer’s intuition, I guess. Either way, I was extremely thankful and excited for the opportunity to be on stage and perform for such a wonderful, enthusiastic audience!
What was your act called, and could you give a brief description of it?
The song I sang was Disney’s Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid. I added the “Academic Reprise” bit, since I altered quite a number of the lyrics. I played the part of a quack teacher who couldn’t care less about his students and who is only worried about making a profit off their excuses and mistakes. How did you come up with the song you wrote, and how did you feel performing it?
What are your aspirations for the future?
I wanted to perform something different, but also something funny. As an actor, I love playing the part of the villain, so I was definitely looking for something to fit that image. I had been looking at a number of different Disney “villain songs,” such as Mother Gothel’s “Mother Knows Best,” and Ursula’s “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” along with many others.
Acting, of course! I enjoy a number of different forms of acting, such as voice, stage, and film, but I would have to say that stage production is my first love. I definitely want to teach high school and college-level theatrics, possibly even creative writing as well. Besides all that, professional acting, writing, and directing are also much higher aspirations of mine. I’ve never lived
out west before, but Hollywood may indeed be a part of my future! What are you going to do with the money?
won 2nd place in the state once! How did you feel while you were preforming?
Afia Asamoah
I felt great! I always get super nervous before going onstage, but once I see the crowd, the nerves just loosen up, and singing just becomes second nature to me. I really felt like I was connected to my character, Celie, my emotions, and the audience.
What was your act called, and could you give a brief description of it?
What was your favorite part of the night?
I will definitely be depositing it into my bank account immediately. Beside school expenses, I’m saving to study abroad in southern France, come next year.
I sang “I’m Here” from the Color Purple. In the musical, it is sung by Celie towards the end when she finally begins to love herself after years of abuse, and other unfortunate events in her life. Why did you decide to choose the song you picked?
I chose this song because those who knew me from high school always call it “Afia’s song.” I was introduced to this song by one of my voice teachers who said it was perfect for my voice, so I sang it in showcases and competitions and
PHOTO BY JOSHUA MARTIN
My favorite part of the night was sitting down because my feet hurt! Actually, it was that accomplished feeling I felt at the end of my song. “I’m Here” is an emotionally demanding song that you cannot just sing without tapping into your own emotions, therefore reaching the end while still staying connected is an achievement for me. Who is your biggest support to your music?
My biggest support is my family, hands-down. Of course my parents are my “day-one-fans”, but
AFIA ASAMOAH SINGS “I’M HERE” FROM THE COLOR PURPLE
my younger sisters are especially supportive of me because they look up to me and tap into their musical sides as well. Taylor Bartram, Austin Cassell, Boone Menhardt, and Andrew Krause What’s your band name?
The Preserves, or the Jelly Shack, or the Pruning Preserves (apparently, TBD) What did you do for the show?
We played Stars, by Switchfoot. We picked it because we love Jon Foreman, we love Switchfoot, we really love their style and their sound and we wanted to do something challenging that people knew and loved. What’s your biggest fear performing?
Forgetting the words, dropping a drum stick, or getting way too into the music to remember what I’m supposed to be doing, maybe getting my foot caught in a cord.
PHOTO FROM KELLY GABRIEL VIA YOUTUBE.COM
WED 01.28.15
VOLUME 99
ISSUE 14
11
Arts & Entertainment
Jonathan Doram
Whisk Review: De Café 31 Reviewed by: Tanya Thomas 9067 US Highway 31, Berrien Springs, MI 49103 (269) 471-3131
grocery stores and shopping centers. Two of the most popular menu items are the Avocado Sandwich and the Tomato Bisque Soup.
Vibe: De Café 31 is a little café nestled in the heart of Apple Valley market. Though the outward appearance of the café seems simple, the welcoming staff really sets off the actual experience.
Price: For under $4.00, two people can grab a hot chocolate and pastry to sip or nibble on over a conversation or studying session.
Student Spotlight: Jonathan Doram Class Standing: Third year in college, Senior by credit Major: Music Education Minor: History with Education Interviewed by Joyce Yoon What instrument do you play?
Student Friendly: The restaurant invites students to grab a bite to eat while they study. With tables for two, four, or six, the place offers enough space for the solo student as well as small study groups. There is surely something for every student to enjoy on a budget as well.
My main instrument is the piano. I also play the clarinet and sing in choir. The cool thing about music is that we get to learn all the different instruments. So I played the drums, the saxophone, flute, bassoon, and [am] now learning cello.
Service: The service at De Café 31 is definitely one to speak of. Rather than waiting in a line, customers sit at a table of their choice while they wait for their food. They have a very friendly and speedy staff. Score: 4 of 5 Whisks
Wow, that’s a lot.
But not all well! Just…well enough to teach [students] how to play if I needed to teach someone. Tell me a little bit about what you like to do for fun.
Menu: From fresh baked pastries to hot chocolate, sandwiches, and more, there is a menu full of items to satisfy the vegetarian palate quite unlike the typical Starbucks Café that is located in so many PHOTO BY JOELLE ARNER
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland (2013) Reviewed by Shanelle Kim Warning: Spoilers ensue. My first encounter with awardwinning author Jhumpa Lahiri was reading her first novel, The Namesake, for a twentieth century literature class I took last semester. I fell immediately in love. What followed was a complete devouring of the rest of her books—the two short story collections, Unaccustomed Earth and the Pulitzer Prize winner, Interpreter of Maladies, as well as her latest work, The Lowland— during winter break. In between time spent relaxing with friends and family, battling a nasty and seemingly never-ending fever, and working on a research project, I thumbed my way through Lahiri’s works, stopping occasionally to sigh and contemplate a passage, or, more embarrassingly, to blink back tears. Incidentally, The Lowland was the first of Lahiri’s other works that I read during the holidays, as I had seen the simple watercolor cover many times before. The Lowland begins with a history of two brothers growing up in Calcutta, India in the politically volatile 1960s. The older one, Subhash, is introspective, hardworking, and academically-minded. His younger brother, Udayan, is fiery, charismatic, and more concerned with living out his passion for political and social reform
than doing well in school. The two brothers, who were intimate in their youth, soon drift apart as Udayan becomes more involved in secretive meetings and Subhash buries himself in his studies. Eventually, the two grow distant as Subhash moves abroad to study in America after receiving a scholarship, cutting off most contact between his family and himself in the process. He entertains vague thoughts of returning to Calcutta to visit his brother, who has written to tell him that he has married and his wife is with child, but what ends up bringing him back to his hometown is the death of Udayan. Shocked and regretful, Subhash marries his brother’s widow, Gauri, and brings her back to America with the intention of raising Udayan’s child the best he can. The rest of the novel is an account of the disintegration of Subhash and Gauri’s marriage, and the long and difficult relationship their daughter, Bela has with the two of them. What’s striking to me about The Lowland, as with other works by Lahiri, is its inherent refusal of neat, “clean” storylines and satisfying happy endings. Instead, there is an overhanging sense of emptiness and “never”—Subhash and Udayan never renew their relationship, Gauri never fully accepts Subhash, Bela never forgives her mother, etc. And yet, The Low-
land is far from bleak. Warm moments provide healing amidst the sadness, loneliness, and regret, especially in the exchanges between Bela and her adoptive father, Subhash. Lahiri has a magical way of saying more with less and of showing more than she tells, and these skills shine in The Lowland: a few words convey more love than a long dialogue, the detailing of a daily routine says more about a character than a direct description. The result is a tender novel that is a beautiful collection of small moments, both sweet and sad, all expressed in quiet, clear prose.
I love playing music! I’m in different ensembles on campus, I love playing with them or with different friends. I love to read books--I love reading a lot. Different books are fun, and also for class which are fun, but not all of them. I love to play tennis as well.
When did you start playing the piano?
I think I started in the fourth grade. My first teacher was very harsh and called me “lazy” and “mean.” After my first lesson, I cried and thought I didn’t want to do this. Then we went to another teacher and they were not that good. And so finally, we went to someone who was at my school. She changed my life. After the first day, I just loved the piano and wanted to practice all the time! I would pick up sheet music at home and just start playing. That really started my love for music. Did you just stick with piano during the first few years?
Let’s see… I did piano since fourth grade, then took up the violin. But I really wanted to be in an ensemble. My group only had a band, so I took clarinet and did that for four years. With singing, I actually used to be partially tone-deaf when I was a kid so everyone would tell me not to sing. I wouldn’t sing but I would hum at the table because I loved to sing! Then in high school, I thought I would try out, so I went to the choir. My motto is that anyone can sing: everyone can be a part of a group and sing, have fun and do music.
THE STUDENT MOVEMENT
The Last Word
Mission Impossible
Melodie Roschman Editor-in-Chief
I’ll be honest with you: I’ve been dreading writing this column all week. As a child I was deeply afraid of Jesus calling me to be a missionary, fearing that I would be commanded to drop all of my interests and aspirations and become a doctor in Africa. As a college student, I never went out as a student missionary, mostly because I found different opportunities for outreach here on campus. This past week of spiritual emphasis, however, has forced me to think about missionaries again, and created a strange dichotomy: admonitions to “go out into the world and save the lost” contrasting to the post-colonial readings in my classes detailing the suffering caused by misguided Westerners thinking they know what is best for other countries. Missionary work has an extremely uneven history. On the one hand, purported “missionary work” has been hand-in-hand with colonialism for years. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the destruction of indigenous cultures, and the torture and brutal murder of millions can be directly linked to the Christological mandates of centuries of religious zealots. Upon arriving in the New World in 1492, Christopher Columbus wrote that “the people were ingenious, and would be good servants, and I am of the opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear to have no religion.” The fact that Columbus links converting people with making them servants (really, slaves) shows that he is one of many who see missionary work as just another form of domination and superiority.
On the other hand, I know that missionary work can and has done a tremendous amount of good. In his 2012 doctoral dissertation, “The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy,” Robert D. Woodberry proves that there is a worldwide correlation between the presence of Protestant missionaries and the development of democratic government. The very fact that lifelong missionary Mother Teresa’s name is cultural shorthand for “truly good person” speaks for itself. And, perhaps most importantly, to deny the good of missionary work is to deny the dedication and experiences of the millions of missionaries who have devoted their entire lives to serving God and others. Originally I was going to title this piece “Why you shouldn’t be a missionary,” and talk about all of the wrong reasons why people become short-term missionaries. Then I realized that, as someone who has never gone on so much as a one-week mission trip myself, I’m in no position to judge. Who am I to decide whether the intentions of people willing to leave everything they know behind are pure? This may be the Last Word, but I can’t give you the last word on what it means to be a missionary—so instead I asked the people who can. For my friend Matthew Chacko, who spent a year as a medical missionary in Tanzania, going abroad was about realizing what he wanted to do with his life. He needed time off, time to serve others and get his mind off himself, and in the process he discovered that he didn’t want to be in medicine after all.
Ivan Ruiz spent a year in Palau in order to get his life together and live out what he believed. He was frustrated, however, to discover that he was extremely unprepared for his position there. We as a school and church, he says, have this “rhetoric surrounding missions and God ‘not calling the qualified but qualifying the called’” that can often translate to cheap, untrained labor instead of genuine calling. Student missionaries can do great things, he said, but if they aren’t properly prepared for their situations they can do themselves and the people around them a lot of unintentional harm. For Jordan Arellano, missionary work wasn’t so much about she affected the people she served for eight months as it was about how it changed her. “It is doubtful that I made any lasting impact on the people in Chad where I lived and served…” she admits. “However, if it wasn’t for that experience I wouldn’t be taking my masters in community development. In the moment, my student mission year was rather fruitless, but it was Chad where I learned what I loved to do and inspired me to pursue it as a lifetime career.” Erik Vyhmeister just returned from a year teaching in Egypt, but as a fourth-generation missionary his perspective is a little different. Erik has always wanted to be a missionary; he’s watched his parents, both professors, spend their lives living in service for people around the world, and he knows that he wants to be the same. But for him, missionary work isn’t about going away from home to find himself—with roots in Argentina, the Philippines, and Kenya
THE STUDENT MOVEMENT STAFF
as well as the United States, it’s hard to even know where home is. “To me,” he says, “a missionary is just someone who has a job, and in their job as well as their free time they have a specific focus on sharing who they know God to be with other people.” Being a missionary, he explains, isn’t about reaching out from sanctified place to a heathen place, but simply about living a life of witness wherever there is a need. Listening to my friends’ stories didn’t answer many of my questions. I didn’t come to a conclusion about colonial imperatives, or the actual impact of short-term missionary work, or whether we should change the way we talk about outreach. But there was one thing that stood out to me again and again: an openness to God. Jessie Link spent a year teaching music in Portugal, and there she learned “less about what I could do with one year abroad, and more about what we can all do with ten, wherever we are.” We are all called to be missionaries, she says, because we are all living in a suffering world.
Hindsight
communication major serving as a student missionary in Guam, ran 30 miles on Christmas Day to raise money for a new S.D.A. church there. Smith ran across the island from Anderson Air Force Base to the church in Agat. As well as requesting donations, he pledged $100 of his $245/month Student Missionary budget. Because Smith received financial help from a local woman, Mrs. Jelly Macadagum, whose son is an autistic child at the Higasshi School in Boston, some of the contributions went towards autism research. The Higasshi School is an institute for the study of autism and human development. Mrs. Macadagum’s son, Jay, uses run-
ning as part of his therapy, a technique discovered by Dr. Kitahar Higasshi in Japan. Jay ran three miles with Darcy as part of his therapy. What is most remarkable about Smith’s trek is that this 5-foot-6inch, 115 pound lightweight was born with a birth defect in which a bone was missing from his neck. This rare defect strikes one in every million children. “Whenever I put my head down, it would affect my spine,” he said. “If they had not found it [the problem], it would have killed me.” At six years of age he had a spinal transfusion and is doing well. Smith received moral support along the route from joggers who joined him. A Phys. Ed. teacher from the island ran 20 miles with
him and a coach from the Seoul Olympics coached him along 10 miles. Smith finished the run in a little over four hours, coming in earlier than the crowds expected. Smith grew up in Tanzania, Africa, where his parents were missionaries. After serving in Africa, his family moved to Singapore. Eight years later, he came to Andrews to pursue a degree in communication. He is now a junior with a broadcasting major and a minor in biblical languages. Smith went to Guam in June as a Student MIssionary where he is production coordinator for KSDA radio station. Along with his daily radio station work, tape editing and working on commercials, he also writes two weekly programs. One is a news program in English,
Letters to the editor can be submitted to smeditor@andrews.edu All letters subject to publication. The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventhday Adventist church.
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Student Missionary Runs to Raise Funds for New Church January 25, 1989 Emily Perkins | Darcy Smith, a
Melodie Roschman Editor-in-Chief Givan Hinds News Editor Erik Vyhmeister Ideas Editor Tim McGuire Pulse Editor Dakota Hall Humans Editor Shanelle Kim Arts & Entertainment Editor Joelle Arner Photo Editor WayAnne Watson Copy Editor Bennett Shelley Copy Editor Amy Beisiegel Layout Editor Dori Moore Multimedia Manager Scott Moncrieff Faculty Advisor
the other is an answer to listeners’ letters. Smith will return to Michigan in April. Smith explained that he had two basic reasons for this fundraising run. First was to raise money to build this church and second was to show his gratitude to God for saving his life as a young child.