MARS’ HILL ACTS ACTS17:19-20 17:19-20
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VOLUME VOLUME19,19,ISSUE ISSUE6 7
ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
DECEMBER 3, 2015 2014 JANUARY 21,
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JANUARY 21, 2015
FROM THE EDITOR
Step onto the grayscale
PETER WOEKEL
managing editor
AMY GOERTZEN
visual editor
STEPHANIE REDEKOP
chief copy editor
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tara GORMAN
Sometimes my brain follows a rabbit trail where I think about the state of the world – the problems it has, its politics, its hypocrisy, its hate, its greed, its pain, its pride, its vanity – and I get inexorably sad because my fallible human brain, the part of me that still tries to solve all my problems with only the brute force of my own human will, can’t find any concrete solutions. This causes me to fall into a shallow pit of hopeless despair until I continue with my monotonous routine that sometimes perpetuates the problems that caused my despair in the first place. It is not that serious, I have the hope
of Jesus Christ to fill my spirit with joy and hope of the world’s spiritual prosperity, but it happens as soon as I look at the news or gossip magazines. I like to observe the world and examine where it has been and where it is going. But one of the aspects of my observation that always leads me to thinking, “Wow, the world sucks,” is the subject of polarities. We see polarities everywhere: the disparity of the rich and poor, the chasm between beautiful and ugly. We see polarities in the shadows of social progress; you can either be right about social issues or you can be evil, ignorant, and bigoted. This moral polemic is largely inflated in those who are in the eye of the media. When a person says something that is a modern taboo, they are quickly stripped of any status, humiliated, and given an eternal label of “racist” or “homophobe.” While this occurs, young boys and girls are watching movies, music videos, and pornography that glorify sexual promiscuity that may ultimately ruin their lives, but this is seen as harmless sexual expression. Humanity is strict in some areas, yet morally lenient in others. I feel like we are constantly tiptoeing in the shadows, afraid to start hard conversations for fear of social exile without any hope of forgiveness. But on the other hand, we are given this loose freedom with no explanation of how to use it. We are given the excitement of a living a limitless existence – it is too bad that this existence is contained within a rigid box.
MARS’ HILL
Why, then, can the world be black and white, yet also absolutely grey? My theory is that the original sin has thrust the world into grayscale. None of us are truly black, like the devil, and neither are we as white as the pure and perfect God, but we can be anywhere in between. Some of us, so immersed in our own selfishness and sin, are closer to the black, a dark charcoal, and some of us have had that black coal washed to a pale grey, still trapped in this sinful world but being continually cleansed by our faith. And here is the thing: black is popular, black is flattering, black is mysterious, black is sexy, but black also carries a discreet weight of shame and fear. On the other hand, white is seen as pure, beautiful, but also lonely and unknown. We are simultaneously afraid of the dark and wary of the light. Thus, we are complacent in our grayscale world, and it is easier to stay a murky grey than stray to either side. We may all be in different shades of grey, but we are all grey and therefore, we are all on equal footing. I wish that we could recognize the grey within all of us. I wish we could accept it, acknowledge it, love it, but also help each other strive for better. White, while blank and perhaps seemingly empty, contains so much more light than its dark counterpart. We can live in this temporary world of grey, while continually reaching for the luminous white that will one day reveal the world to be made of glorious colour.
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The mission of Mars’ Hill, as the official student newspaper of Trinity Western University, is to inform and entertain its readers, cultivate awareness of issues concerning the TWU community and provide a forum for purposeful, constructive discussion among its members in accordance with the Community Covenant, Statement of Faith, and Core Values of the University.
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Mars’ Hill encourages submissions and letters to the Editor. Mars’ Hill reserves the right to edit submissions for style, brevity and compatibility with the Mission, Statement of Faith, the Community Community Covenant, and the Core Values of the University. Anonymous authorship of any material may be granted at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Opinions expressed in Mars’ Hill belong to the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board, Trinity Western University, its officials or its Student Association.
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JANUARY 21, 2015
NEWS |
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SARAH GROCHOWSKI
sarah.grochowski@mytwu.ca
Revolution not resolution
pressures that hinder a countless number of us when it comes to forming a healthy view of our own selves. The media we are subjected to on a daily basis presents us with an ideal world where standards of beauty are more rigid and have become increasingly harder to attain. Whether we like it or not, living in North America, we are surrounded by mass media and its continual stream of “perfect” looking people. For women, an unrealistically slender body is showcased and prized. For men, it is a body that requires countless hours in the gym. Our culture’s narrow beauty standards has left the large majority of us feeling inadequate about our God-given bodies; studies show that with each added minute of exposure to mainstream broadcasts, we are taught in a concentrated amount, of our own inequality. It has been estimated that North American women critique their appearance for a total of 20 minutes per day, this translates to 2 hours per week, and by the time we are roughly 66 years old, an entire year of our lives will have been taken up by standards we were never made to compare ourselves to. Imagine what each of us could do with this extra time. Instead of accepting media’s indoctrinating ideals we could spend time on projects that might instead teach us of our own worthiness and abilities. Then our deeply rooted joy and empowerment could be used to teach others. The sickening conclusion here is that this very dissatisfaction with our bodies feeds into a trillion-dollar weight loss industry where money is being made from our insecuritydriven purchases. They offer us products as “solutions” to supposed body “problems” that were never really problems in the first place. The truth is that occupying a human body does not mean we have to fulfill standards that mainstream media and society at large continually perceive as attractive. The truth is that we are enough. So many of us have been seriously hindered from making the most out of our lives by waiting for the next year when we finally imagine ourselves with the potential to be perfect through attempts at physical transformation. We are missing out on who we are now and on all the beautiful things our body was really made to do. Looking a certain way was never one of them.
sarah
GROCHOWSKI
Early this month, as the arrival of 2015 weighed on the consciousness of the Western world, the majority of us participated in the tradition of making a New Year’s resolution. In the time since, parents have asked their children, pastors have challenged their congregations, and students have pressed one another with a question: What is your New Year’s Resolution? Perhaps the most striking reality of the 68% of us Canadians who did make New Year’s resolutions was the nature of what we resolved to do. It was losing weight that topped the list of our nation’s 2015 resolutions and it has been this way for decades now. Whether it is with a new diet, eating healthier, going to the gym more, using supplements, restricting calories, or any other weight loss strategy, North America seems to play on repeat attempts at losing weight. However, the reality is that instead of losing pounds, weight loss attempts like dieting result in each person gaining an average of eleven pounds. Other studies have shown that the majority of those who were successful at losing weight end up gaining all of it back within the next five years (due to their body’s need to survive in its homeostatic state). There is an epidemic of misplaced happiness in North America. This year, we observe the lie our society has bought into with our money and our time: that increased physical transformation is the key to happiness. For college students our age the goal is predominantly not health-focused but to lose weight in order that we might end up looking more attractive, or should I say, more worthy of admiration and love. Advances in technology and mass media have turned what once was a normal concern over beauty concepts for both men and women into obsessions. This is not to say that the motivation to be fit or a healthy weight is wrong when following through with our resolutions, rather this is to evaluate the social
Bill Cosby Rape Scandal Continues to Escalate
Since 2005, up to 24 accusations of sexual assault have been attributed to comedy star Bill Cosby. Recently, backlash against Cosby occurred in Hamilton, Ontario, where he performed last week. Demonstrators, both men and women, stood up during the beginning of his set and began to chant: “We believe the women.” Once they were escorted out of the building, the comedian was awarded three full rounds of applause before continuing his performance.
deadliest boko haram attacks yet hit nigeria
What is being labeled as Islamist militant group Boko Haram’s “deadliest massacre” yet has left insurmountable heartache in Nigerian communities this week. It started when insurgents seized a key military base and ended with a death toll of thousands. Officials have concluded there has been a high escalation of violence in Boko Haram’s fight for an all-Islamist state.
target pulls its 133 locations out of canada
This Thursday, American retail chain Target announced that it is pulling out all of its 133 Canadian stores and will be granted protection from creditors. This decision comes just before two years of business, which culminated in a loss of nearly $1 billion. Experts say that the company’s failure in the Canadian market is a viable lesson to other businesses that seek to succeed here; they suggest that no company overestimate the reception they will receive upon a business expansion to Canada.
Outdoor deaths a result of toronto’s sub-zero temperatures
An extreme cold weather alert has been issued and remains in effect as Toronto faces sub-zero temperatures and gusting winds. One result of the temperature drop has been the deaths of homeless citizens that have slept outside. There is now pressure on Toronto’s government to make more overnight shelters publicly available this winter.
Mass amount of bodies found in India’s ganges river
Authorities investigated on Wednesday the details behind 102 deceased bodies piling up in an offshoot of Northern India’s Ganges River. Officials do not suspect this dumping was the result of crime, but have concluded that it is a result of many families’ attempts at a sacred Hindu water burial and an avoidance of the $40 cremation cost.
three days of gunpoint terrorism in paris
In a recent spur of terrorist attacks, bloodshed was brought to France’s capitol and its surrounding areas this month. It began on January 7 when two armed men attacked offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and continued as they shouted the Arabic words “God is Great” after ending the lives of many. Their reign of terror ended on January 9 as the two men provoked their own deaths as “martyrs” in a shootout with French police.
What’s black and white and red all over? “Tricked-out oreos.” -Cassie Thorpe
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JANUARY 21, 2015
IJM’s Dressember raises $440K
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lindsey
MAYHEW
This past December, you may have noticed a trend taking over your Facebook News Feed. All around the world, women participated in “Dressember”: a challenge to wear a dress everyday for 31 days, and in doing so, campaign to raise money for International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a human rights-based organization with the specific goals of rescuing overseas victims of various forms of slavery and helping each of them return to a more free life through job training and education. Over the course of Dressember 2014, the organization was successful in raising $440k towards their attempts at freeing victims of human trafficking. However, as comfortable Christians in our Western nation, it is important to keep in mind that we should never trivialize the plight of human trafficking victims in our attempts to raise money for their freedom. Any silly old event might be “for a good
cause,” but if we are simply signing up to wear dresses without approaching the task of advocacy with appropriate intentions, how much help are we really giving to these women? Fun events like Dressember are exactly that: fun. And it would be a grave disservice to the real victims of slavery and sexual abuse to undermine the severity of their afflictions. The horrors of the world are hard to look at, especially from so far away and from such a privileged vantage point. Sometimes it can be easier to take the easy way out; to wear a few dresses, take a few nice pictures, and call it a day. But what is truly more important is making sure that we give our hearts and minds to such causes first. Are we wearing dresses and giving money simply because it’s easy and because we don’t want to get more involved? Are we praying for the organizations and the victims? Are we approaching the issue from a point of privilege, or are we recognizing the dignity and strength of its victims? Do we see ourselves in the women on the other side of the world, or simply another dress looking back at us from the mirror? With any fundraising event or awareness campaign, it is crucial
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that we not participate to broadcast our own wardrobe or appearances, but because we have a passion for our cause. We must not approach issues in other parts of the world from a vantage point of superiority, as every human possesses common threads of hurt and brokenness. We live in an exciting time where we can help save women from sexual slavery just by using our Facebook accounts. We’re more aware of what’s going on in the world than any generation before us. Let’s not let the flashiness of social media and the convenience of online fundraisers
distract us from loving the people around us and on the other side of the planet, nor let us trivialize their hurts. That being said, Dressember segues well into January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. IJM is still trying to raise their intended goal of $500k.
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Some students here at Trinity Western have joined together to raise over $1,500 for Dressember last month. I would encourage each of us to continue in raising funds and awareness for such a worthy cause.
The little school that could TWU law school’s climb against the status quo
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jared
BARKMAN
“I think I can. I think I can. I think I can...” Nearly every child has read The Little Engine that Could, the tale of a small train whose hard work and determination allowed her to complete an impossible task: climbing a mountain’s steep incline amidst the ridicule of the stronger and more experienced trains. Trinity Western University has faced several of its own mountains recently. 2014 was full of high hopes as well as crushing disappointments, especially regarding our proposed School of Law. Last January secured the long-
anticipated approval from the Federation of Law Societies in Canada (FLSC) and allowed for serious development of the school to finally begin. However, by late spring the tides had turned and a new wave of disappointing verdicts began to overshadow our university’s existing accomplishments. Two federal law societies voted against the decision of the FLSC in approving the School of Law and in late October, the original verdict was reversed. This put a significant damper on the possibility of a 2016 opening. As exam season drew to a close on December 11, the BC Advanced Education Minister also reversed his prior approval in the school’s proceedings. TWU President Bob Kuhn responded, “There are such important rights and freedoms at stake that we may
have no choice but to seek protection of them in court.” Following this statement, TWU formally announced that it would issue litigation against the LSBC’s decision and fight for a reversal. Despite court verdicts in December, on January 9 the Law Society of New Brunswick decided to ignore the resolution of its members to reverse the original acceptance verdict, thus qualifying future students of TWU’s School of Law to practice in New Brunswick. This stands in addition to the acceptance of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon Territory. Currently, legal action is being taken against the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Law Society of British Co-
lumbia, and the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, the last of which should arrive at a verdict next month. Incidentally, eight of the 10 highest-ranked law schools in Canada are within the three provinces providing the greatest opposition to Trinity Western’s School of Law: British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Perhaps it isn’t too misguided to suggest that the case against TWU’s School of Law is even more politicized than it seems. Many are now left wondering what the next step in our legal battle will be. In a recent interview, President Kuhn expressed that from both a legal and personal perspective, he does not see the likelihood of this case being denied. “Nothing has changed significantly enough in the context of the legal
principles at stake [since the 2001 case] to modify the outcome,” he says. There is no escaping the fact that these circumstances are inconvenient and frustrating, but there is still hope for religious freedoms to prevail, even if it means that TWU will not see the opening of our Law School until after 2016. “Trinity will always, to some extent, threaten the status quo,” President Kuhn concludes. “We do it in the way we educate, in the quality of our education, in the quality of our students... We are the little school that could.” We may not be the biggest, flashiest, or the most obvious candidate for the job, but the false pretense of being unqualified has never stopped our university before. We are going to climb this mountain until its end.
What’s black and white and red all over? “A skunk with a sunburn. “ - Michael Brouwer
JANUARY 21, 2015
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Canada declines international arms trade treaty
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jordan
SHROEDER
In late December 2014, the International Arms Trade Treaty came into effect. Canada is one of 43 countries in the world that has declined to sign on to the treaty, which aims to regulate the multibillion dollar global arms trade. Five of the world’s 10 biggest arms exporters—the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy—have already signed the treaty. Additionally, the United States has also signed, though not yet ratified, the treaty, leading many to wonder why Canada has declined to commit to the accord. Canada’s firearms lobby, the National Firearms Association, has publicly opposed the deal due to concerns that it would significantly raise firearms prices, saying that Canadian hunters and sport-
shooters rely heavily on imported firearms. Sheldon Clare, President of the Association, has also warned that it could result in a comeback of the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry. The proponents of the treaty have stated that this is not the case. US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, “This treaty will not diminish anyone’s freedom; in fact, the treaty recognizes the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legitimate purposes.” This is verified in the preamble to the treaty, which states that the signatories are “Mindful of the legitimate trade and lawful ownership, and use of certain conventional arms for recreational, cultural, historical, and sporting activities, where such trade, ownership and use are permitted or protected by law.” Clearly, the treaty is not intended to limit lawful gun use. This may lead some to speculate that the Canadian Government’s opposition to the treaty is rooted in political motives. The
aforementioned firearms lobby is particularly strong in the Prairie provinces, which form an important core of Conservative voters. Signing and ratifying this deal could result in a certain amount of lost votes for the Conservative Party in the October 2015 election. However, one must also keep in mind that the only alternatives for these voters would be the champions of the long-gun registry—the Liberal Party—and the ardent gun-control supporters that make up the New Democratic Party. With this in mind, it is unlikely that the Conservatives would lose a significant amount of votes over this treaty. Therefore, it may be possible that the Government has other reasons for opposing the treaty. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable John Baird, has stated that the Government’s opposition to the Treaty lies in the fact that it would not actually increase Canada’s standards for the export of guns and ammunition. According to Baird, Canada al-
ready has one of the highest standards in the world for regulating gun exports, and the Arms Trade Treaty merely brings other countries up to the Canadian standard. Under articles three and four, the treaty requires signatory-states to establish a national control system for conventional firearms and ammunition. The system would prevent arms from being exported to groups with a goal of committing human rights violations such as genocide (article six). To compare, on the Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada website, there are similar regulations to those of the treaty that restrict the trade of arms and ammunition. Those who wish to receive exported arms and ammunition from Canada are thoroughly investigated to ensure that they are not planning human rights abuses with the arms that they receive. So Baird is correct in saying that Canada’s current regulations would likely not need to change even with the ratification of this treaty.
Why cheaper gas prices?
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johnny JANZEN
Oil and gas prices have plummeted over the past few months with Vancouver gas prices plunging from highs above $1.50/litre in June 2014 to just $1.00/litre this month. These price drops are largely due to an increased global supply of oil caused by a boom in the U.S. shale oil markets and a steady increase in oil export by OPEC. This high global supply has resulted in oil prices reaching a six-year low of $46 per barrel. OPEC, the international oil cartel whose members include the largest Middle-Eastern oil producing nations, has resolved to maintain high levels of oil production in order to deliberately keep oil prices low. The lowered prices are an attempt to increase OPEC’s market-share by bankrupting the U.S. shale oil industry. Shale oil is much more expensive and difficult to extract than the oil produced by OPEC nations. As such, the shale oil industry relies on high prices in order to maintain a positive profit margin. By deliberately manipu-
lating the market to keep prices low, OPEC ensures that shale oil companies are unable to make suitable profits to stay in business. The energy minister of the United Arab Emirates, Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazrouei, stated, “We have seen the oversupply, coming primarily from shale oil, and that needed to be corrected.” The plunge in oil prices is seen as a happy relief by many consumers, with some estimating Canadian families could be saving around $1500 annually, money that optimistic citizens hope will be reinvested in our economy. A downside to the low prices, however, is that Alberta’s primarily oil-driven economy has been heavily hit by the plummeting prices, leading economists to estimate a decrease in its economic growth of between 1.8 and 3.2 percent. The oil sands crude of Alberta is expensive to extract compared to OPEC crude, but less expensive than shale oil. So Albertan markets are hit heavily, but less so than U.S. shale markets. Alberta’s Premier Jim Prentice is considering the possibility of introducing a sales tax in order to make up for budget deficits. The oil war is also having effects on other major oil economies. Oil price drops have affected Rus-
sia’s already declining economy and faltering ruble. As the largest producer of oil in the world, Russia is heavily influenced by the oil prices, and is also affected by international trade sanctions due to its war with Ukraine. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov called for a 10% spending cut this week in response to declining oil profits. The low prices of oil might end up being a positive tool to increase international pressure upon Russia to cease its conflict involvement in Ukraine.
What’s black and white and red all over? “A zebra with a knife in its back. “ - Joel Austin
However, one should not fully disregard the Conservative Party’s image as defenders of responsible gun-ownership for Canadians. Thus, it is probably permissible to conclude that it is a combination of political reasons and the reasons listed by Minister Baird that is responsible for the government’s opposition to this treaty. Indeed, the Conservative Party is gaining some political points from the gun lobby for refusing to sign the treaty, but due to Canada’s regulations on the arms trade, the treaty is much less necessary in Canada than it is in other countries. Certainly, one might say that it would still be preferable for Canada to sign the Treaty in order to show solidarity with the international community. Unfortunately, this opportunity was missed because politically motivated policy decisions are and will always be a reality in our world.
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JANUARY 21, 2015
ACADEMY
ELLEN GRAHAM
ellen.graham@mytwu.ca
Perfectly good
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ellen GRAHAM
In our culture, the pressure to be perfect is always there, especially in the Christian community. I have vivid memories of Sunday School lessons and Youth Church meetings where the allconsuming importance of doing good works was emphasized again and again. For a long time, I thought that only after I had read my Bible and eaten my vegetables and converted heathens would I be worthy of heaven. When I inevitably spent hours watching Zoey 101 while my Bible sat neglected, I wound up feeling confused and worthless.
Ironically, these feelings would then discourage me even further from spending time on devotionals. Mindless television made me feel good about myself, whereas the sight of my Bible collecting dust made my stomach flip with guilt. Looking back, it frustrates me that I would feel this way. The pressure to be both good and perfect in order to deserve salvation made it so that for a long time, my focus was on doing good works to avoid damnation. I was so lucky to be surrounded by faith growing up, yet I envied the people with broken pasts who came into the church full of passion and zeal. I could not understand that their relationship with God was one based on love, whereas mine was based on works. Gradually, I began to realize that God doesn’t require any-
thing of me. But I still didn’t really get it. If we don’t have to earn heaven, then why do we obey these rules? What is the point of the Ten Commandments if God loves us anyway? This summer, I read East Of Eden by John Steinbeck – mostly out of the desire to name-drop famous authors in future conversations. I immediately fell in love with the novel’s realistic portrayal of humanity. The book deals with the concept of grace as many of the characters in the story search for a perfection that they cannot quite grasp. In the end, one such character must let go of her pursuit of the ideal, and it is only when she does so that she can be happy. This struck me, as did the quote: “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” When I read that, everything clicked. All the little
revelations and RELS class discussions and conversations came together, and the beautiful significance of grace hit me. What most people don’t understand about grace is that we don’t deserve it and we can’t earn it. This is what I didn’t get growing up. Even though I was raised in the church, I did not understand the simple concept of an all-consuming love that cannot be repaid. It is so impossible to live up to the grace that we have been given that to try is to be disappointed; to try is to chase that idealism that we yearn for. Grace is the perfection we aspire to and which we cannot achieve. Yet it is by grace, by that perfect wholeness, that we can be good – not because we have to, but because we can.
Are you afraid of the dark?
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trevor MCMAHAN
In my grade twelve English class, we read Les Misérables (the abridged version, of course – we’re not masochists). In my endof-the-unit paper, I discussed the contrast between Jean Valjean, the ex-convict who is transformed by grace, and Javert, the upholder of the law who believes people never change. In the process of writing, I began to question whether I chose to be an honest person because I feared punishment, like Javert, or because I loved righteousness, like Valjean. When I got my paper back, my teacher had scribbled in the margins, “Let me know if you figure this one out. ” Recently, I came to the stark and sudden realization that I have no idea why I believe the things I do. I had previously operated
with wholehearted, honest trust in the moral and religious framework within me. My morals were black and white; there was the white zone, where I was allowed to be, and the black zone, where I wasn’t allowed to go. I was terrified of the black zone. I never actually knew what would happen to me if I wandered there, but I was pretty sure it would be like hearing the phrase “I’m very disappointed in you” from God. In hindsight, I can see that I feared the bad consequences more than I loved goodness. Last semester, I briefly stepped into the black zone, and what really shook me is that my world didn’t immediately fall apart. The consequences kinda sucked, sure, but I emerged relatively unscathed, which didn’t make any sense. Now that I had temporarily gone off the grid of all things neat and spotless and survived, my moral compass started spinning. The high-contrast mono-
chromatic world I had been living in began bleeding to grey. This grey area in which I had arrived was scary and exciting. I was no longer in a labyrinth of right and wrong, fearing what may lie on the other side of the flimsy walls. I was free to make my own decisions, to paint on the walls of this infinite space. For the first time, I began to question why I do the things I do. Do I act this way because I “ought” to, or because I want to? With a timid but excited spirit, I be-
gan to establish the white and the black in this grey area. I trusted these newfound barriers because I loved the goodness they fostered and not because I feared the consequences. The answers I’m finding to these difficult questions aren’t very clear-cut, either – there are some absolutes, but there are more grey areas. Maybe my workmanship is a little flawed, but at the very least, I’m excited to be painting it myself. No one wants to be compared to Javert, since he’s a relatively compassionless stickler, but in a way, I was him. My entire concept of self leaned heavily on a binary understanding of right and wrong. But Javert isn’t some sadistic villain you love to hate – he’s not a bad person. He’s a highly moral man and, behind his stone-faced façade, he’s absolutely terrified of the possibility that an ex-convict could be a good person.
Our moral compasses should point north because we believe that’s the way to go, not because we’re afraid of going south. In a legalistic, black and white world, it’s easy to prefer the latter. But Jesus didn’t establish the new covenant so we could follow an updated list of rules. As Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” In the Old Testament, sin was directly correlated with death, but through Jesus’ sacrifice, we have access to forgiveness when we wander into the black. God’s grace is grey. It crosses the boundaries of right and wrong, since we humans are rightly wrong. It meets us wherever we are, and through love, it reminds us we are not ultimately defined by our shortcomings. So if the blackness doesn’t own us, why should we be afraid?
What’s black and white and red all over? “A French newspaper (It’s insensitive AND relevant!).” - Nico Jancewicz
JANUARY 21, 2015
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I AM CAM
Evangelicals, gays, abolitionists, and everyone in between
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cam THIESSEN
It seems we welcome in every New Year with more things to talk about. This New Year’s Eve, a couple in Saskatoon became the first gay couple to be married in the Canadian Mennonite tradition. Many Mennonite churches, along with other Christian groups, are beginning to develop affirming views regarding the LGBT community in the Church. Outside of the Church, of course, the world keeps progressing, and humanity is always moving somewhere, whether forward or back. Some might say that the secularization of the western world looms near, as religiously influenced values slowly seep out of schools, politics, news reports, and other public scenes to be replaced with the principles of humanism. We watch as the leaders, pastors, bloggers, and authors struggle to preserve the tradition and piety upon which we Evangelicals have placed so much importance. And amid all of this, along creeps the fact that not all Christians – even further, not all Evangelicals – agree on the most prominent contemporary question for modern Christianity: how do we address gay Christians in the church? Two prominent positions are currently represented in the LGBT conversation, and the following are my own interpretations of both. “Side A” is the position which argues not only that LGBT Christians are to be welcomed in the Church, but also that monogamous, Godhonouring marriages between two people are blessed by God, regardless of the gender and sexual identity of those people. Thus, in this view, the practical manifestation of their sexual identity (i.e. the actual sexual acts within marriage) should not be shamed or condemned by the church, but honoured and supported. “Side B” is a perspective held by many Evangelical Christians, including some who are LGBT, which argues that Christians who identify as LGBT should be loved, welcomed, and supported in who they have been created to be, however marriage and sex are ultimately reserved to be between one man and one
woman, and thus, gay sex and gay marriage are not to be condoned by Christians. Side B advocates have a variety of views, however the most resounding is that LGBT Christians, if they feel unable to enter into an opposite-sex marriage, are called to be celibate in order to respect God’s design for marriage. Although both views are supported by very strong Biblical arguments, in my struggles to find answers, I have determined that approaching this conversation from a simply exegetical, doctrinal, or theological perspective is both impossible and irresponsible. People are not theological concepts, codes to be cracked, or debates to be won. This conversation must be understood from a socio-historical perspective, a perspective which acknowledges the human struggles of both the LGBT community and the Church. I have noticed that as we observe the progression of Christian views and secular liberal re-
sponses, the Biblical arguments used to advocate anti-gay perspectives appear eerily similar to those used when Christians argued and debated about the biblical basis for slavery and its abolition in the mid-1800s. The reason these situations are analogous is that the Bible, when taken at face value with a plain hermeneutic, as is normative among Evangelicals, appears to actually condone slavery. In Leviticus 25, God explicitly grants the Israelites the authority to take slaves from alien nations. Paul refers to slavery in his letters, and the letter to Philemon revolves significantly around a situation involving the institution of first century slavery. In fact, it was not until the fourth and fifth centuries that some Church Fathers finally began advocating for the abolition of slavery, although most, such as theological heavyweight Thomas Aquinas, maintained that it was an appropriate and acceptable social institution.
So then, what we have are historically Christian doctrines which appear to sanction slavery and also condemn same-sex romantic relationships based on the same interpretational hermeneutic. However, in the modern Western world, only one of these things is actually widely held in practice by the Church – and that, of course, is the condemnation of same-sex romantic relationships. My argument is this: What changed in the minds of the anti-abolitionists in 19th century America needs to change in the minds of anti-gay Christian groups today. We are over slavery, and we are on our way—but by no means are we there—to being over racism. It has been a long, difficult process, but it is a process that the Western world has had to undergo. I believe that the modern Church must begin to undergo this same process of reconciliation with the LGBT community. To bring it close to home, the
What’s black and white and red all over? “A dead Panda.” - Nathan Lester
last ten years have seen a new progression of reconciliation between the Canadian people and First Nations communities who were oppressed and wronged by Residential Schools, which began with the Indian Act in 1876 – almost ten years after the abolition of slavery through the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the United States. The wrongs done through these Residential Schools were believed to be justified by the Scriptures and traditions of the Christian faith. Now, over a century later, we continue to seek to rebuild bridges which were torn down by our Christian ancestors. The next generations of the Church will have the same responsibility of reconciling the wrongs which have been committed against the LGBT community in the name of the Church. As Christianity in the Western world continues to progress, more and more groups are coming out with affirming stances on same-sex marriage. We find affirming beliefs expressed in many Anglican, United, and Mennonite churches around the country to name only a few denominations, some of which identify as “Evangelical.” This is not a question of a need to defend the Bible. In approaching this issue, I believe Evangelicals must answer three questions. First, are Paul’s discussions on homosexuality applicable to the situations we see in our modern world with LGBT Christians who desire monogamous, God-honouring marriages? Second, if his words do apply to this particular concept, must we agree with him? Must we simply accept his social commentary as truth applicable to all Christians for all time because it’s in the Bible? And finally, will we choose to first and foremost, regardless of Side A or Side B, love LGBT Christians as human beings and accept their faiths and relationships with Christ as genuine? If we can answer these questions in our own hearts, then I believe we can have positive dialogue with one another in regard to this dilemma, remembering Jesus’ commandment to love one another so that we as Christians might be set apart and recognized by our love, which is made possible only through the love and sacrifice of Christ.
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JANUARY 21, 2015
Meet Guy Saffold
TWU Spokesperson and Special Assistant to the President
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emily ZMAK
Emily Zmak: Who are you and why are you here? Guy Saffold: I’m a follower of Christ and have given my life to furthering His purposes. I began my career as a pastor, and then became Trinity Western College’s first Director of Admissions, then VP of Advancement, then Executive VP, then head of ACTS as well as an associate professor of theological studies. I also worked a few stints in IT. I even built TWU’s first computer from the wires up in 1978! After working at Power to Change for eight years, I’m here because I believe in
the future of the University—and because Bob asked me to come back. EZ: How did you become a spokesperson? GS: I became a spokesperson because someone was needed in 1995 when we were headed towards the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). It was a necessity. EZ: How does the case surrounding TWU’s School of Law compare to the 2001 TWU v. BC College of Teachers SCC challenge? GS: In many respects, it’s exactly the same. It’s an attempt by a secular society to impose its vision of sexual ethics upon others, using the excuse of tolerance as a fig leaf to cover up coercive efforts. The legal principles are largely the same, but the environment is more hostile, discriminatory, and aggressive.
EZ: What did you learn in the last legal battle? GS: We learned that the best way to respond is thoughtfully and compassionately. We learned that it’s good to persevere when others think you’re going to lose. EZ: How long will TWU be in the spotlight? GS: If the case goes to the Supreme Court, it will unfold over the next three to four years. EZ: So, the law school isn’t opening in 2016? GS: At this point, it seems very unlikely, because we have to have full approvals in place before we admit students into the program. EZ: What does Minister Virk’s decision mean? GS: It’s just a step along the way. The issue will ultimately be decided by the Courts. EZ: What does the legal timeline
“Because I said so”
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victoria BUTLER
Have you ever had the experience where a conversation with a child has sparked internal conflict within you? One moment you’re having a silly conversation, and the next you’re
facing some sort of philosophical crisis. Why do I believe that’s wrong? Should I allow society/religion/others to inform my thinking on this issue? Am I biasing this child to think as I do? Is that okay? Will they grow up to resent me? As an education major and childcare worker, I can attest that this conflict can occur at the most random of times, even if you’re convinced that all your opinions and beliefs are firmly grounded. All it takes is one little face resolutely demanding, “Why?” to send your preconceived notions flying. Trying to explain to a child the concept of right and wrong can be a challenge. Children think in black and white, so when an issue (however small) is grey, it becomes a source of confusion and possible fuel for a tantrum. If a mother were to tell her child to stop a certain behavior and then the father were to allow it, the child would become confused and frustrated. Who is right?
look like right now? GS: In Nova Scotia, we’re waiting for the Court’s decision. The legal process unfolding in Ontario will take place in late spring. Here in BC, the legal process will begin in late February, when the judge will decide on the Court dates. EZ: What makes you think we’ll win again? GS: The law of Canada is still the same. The Supreme Court precedent is a very strong precedent, the Civil Marriage Act specifically provides protection for minority views, and we believe our case is well within our Charter protections. EZ: Why should I care? GS: Students who believe in the mission of TWU—to educate and transform—should care deeply about our capacity to
train professionals. Should secular society be able to forbid faith groups from self-identifying? Or expressing our beliefs? This is a case of religious freedom. EZ: What can I do? GS: Pray. We should all be bringing our concerns before the Lord. Also, live out our commitment to bring dignity and respect to the people around us—not only to the LGBT community, but to everyone we interact with. Questions? Concerns? Feel free to email Emily Zmak (’14), Media & Communication Coordinator, at Emily.Zmak@twu.ca, or swing by Guy Saffold’s office (upper Reimer, across from the Office of the President) and introduce yourself.
Who is wrong? Likewise, what may be right to do at an aunt’s or uncle’s house could be wrong at the grandparents’ house. The situations are similar, but the rules are different. Now combine this line of thinking with an insatiable curiosity, and it is a recipe for child and adult bewilderment. Every little thing is concretely analyzed in the mind of a child and then profusely questioned. It’s little wonder that many adults resort to that famous phrase: “Because I said so.” It is a conversation ender and an argument winner. While perhaps not the most constructive response, I can practically guarantee that you will someday say this, or at least think about saying it. Adults have difficulty explaining right and wrong amongst themselves. How then are they expected to explain it to children in an age-appropriate way? Some issues are so multifaceted and debatable. “Because I said so” can be appealing to use,
but the phrase communicates to the child that it is not worth your time to give an explanation. Is that really the message you want to send? Even if you never become a parent or caregiver, you will inevitably come into contact with children. Whether it is a niece or nephew, a friend’s child, or the horribly annoying kid on the plane who is kicking the back of your seat, you will be faced with a “why?” from an angelic-looking creature. When that happens, how will you respond? Here’s a hint: “I don’t know. Let’s find out together” is absolutely acceptable. To admit that you do not have the answer, but want to take the time to discover one is honesty that children (and adults as well) will appreciate. In general, this is a helpful answer to give in any type of circumstance where debate and confusion are involved. If you follow through on this statement, you can work to find a resolution that you can both understand.
What’s black and white and red all over? “A blushing nun.” - Anna Alexis
JANUARY 21, 2015
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cody FRIESEN
Sometimes, I don’t want to make lemonade. The infamous saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” resonates quite strongly with TWUSA right now. It hasn’t been the easiest or most gracious start to the semester, and we wanted to inform you of some changes going on. Lemon number one: Eric Dupuis, the Executive Vice President, has unfortunately decided to step down due to personal issues and is now at home in Alberta with his family. As a community, I ask and encourage you all to think of Eric at this time. He served hard. He served well. He helped bring us to where we are today, and for that, we are forever grateful. You may be wondering, “What is happening next?” There was a vote placed before the council to either elect someone to fill the position or to divide up Eric’s responsibilities internally within TWUSA. After a unanimous vote, the latter was decided, and we feel very confident about this decision. Elections are just around the corner
E D A N EMO
S R E MAK L
for the 2015-2016 TWUSA team, so we didn’t want to place any unnecessary confusion on all of you by having two separate elections. Lemon number two: I consider
this more of a fruit basket, but this past Christmas break gave us TWUSA members a time to get back in gear and focused on what lies ahead. In the next couple of months, we will
be having a forum and a focus group to help us determine the best way to move TWUSA forward in the years to come. You will be hearing more information on these functions in the weeks to come, so keep your eyes peeled. Our main focus right now is transitioning well. We want a strong carry over for the team that God is preparing for next year’s service and ministry. Losing a team member who played an integral part in TWUSA’s service was a surprise, but we are ready to go boldly ahead with the confidence and courage found in Christ. Lemons are sour, but how we use them is what makes them sweet. We’ve all been tossed into situations that shock us, but I challenge you, just as we at TWUSA have been challenged, to take a step back and think about what is God saying to you right now. What are you doing about it? What is God saying to us as TWUSA? It’s time for us to strap on our boots, serve, advocate, love, and end well. Let’s make some lemonade! If you have any questions about elections, we will be having a “TWUSA Fireside” night for anyone who is interested in running on January 22 at 9pm in the Fraser Lounge. Questions? Email cody.friesen@mytwu.ca.
What’s black and white and red all over? “A newborn zebra.” - Casey DeJong
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JANUARY 21, 2015
, k , c e t a i l h B W and Beat by Stephanie Redekop 1950s America is notoriously “black and white.” An age of economic boom and consumerism, it is remembered especially for its social conformity and conservatism. We observe its clear-cut social code and regard it, perhaps, as a “simpler” time – granted, a simplicity made possible by a highly politicized dichotomy of right and wrong shaped by the contemporaneous Cold War. Popular blackand-white representations of the 1950s reveal cookie-cutter nuclear families, men and women quietly fulfilling their social responsibilities, living good lives in their designated spheres. And yet perhaps these perceptions are limited by the monochrome through which we view their society; because the predominant means by which we have looked upon the 1950s has been the black and white lens of their photographs and television programs, perhaps we have reductively applied this lens to o u r
perceptions of their culture as well. What’s more, many of the issues that we perceive today as black and white have quite possibly been restricted by our use of a similar lens. Of course, given the state of world affairs directly after the Second World War, we realize that this 1950s culture was likely not as straightforward as we comfortably perceive it, its monochromatic tinge perhaps as much the result of its location directly under the shadow of the war and the bomb as of its attraction to clean-cut conformity. Certainly, underlying complications are evidenced by the various movements that erupted in the 1960s which followed, including the infamous Hippies. Yet it was out of the self-constrained 1950s that the original North American counterculture emerged, from which the major social rebellions of the 1960s stemmed – the original “hipsters,” literary and spiritual rebels: the Beat Generation. First formed when Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs met at Columbia University in 1944, the literary works that these writers would produce throughout the next several decades would in many ways revolutionize American culture. Iconic Beat texts like Kerouac’s
On The Road (1957) were daring and rebellious, marked by spontaneous prose and candid self-expression. The Beats drew widespread attention for their advocation of radical nonconformity in life and in consciousness, which often took the form of experimentation with drugs, sex, and various forms of mysticism. Their movement was consequently dismissed by many critics as socially destructive and even nihilistic. As we examine the narratives of these socially marginalized – or, perhaps, self-marginalizing – figures, however, our conventional social categories become frustrated, for the Beats countered that it was, in fact, their conformist society that was most truly destructive to both the lives and the souls of its citizens. Recall, for instance, Ginsberg’s 1956 poem Howl, that groundbreaking manifesto of the Beat philosophy. A poem in four parts, Howl reads like a prophetic chant, decrying the mindlessness, materialism, and militaristic destruction that the poet witnesses within his society, ultimately affirming in its place an acknowledgment and acceptance of the spiritual realities and unorthodox individuals existing beyond the social pale. The poem’s language and forthright descriptions of sex, drugs,
and mental illness ultimately resulted in an obscenity trial, as the poem was banned for being profane and without social value – categories which Ginsberg would describe, in a 1956 letter to Richard Eberhart, as “stupid mental self deceiving moral categories selecting who it is safe to sympathize with and who is not safe.” Where critics regarded Howl as obscene because it ostensibly shunned the sacred in favour of the profane, to the Beats, everything was holy; the secular is not glorified through a rejection of the sacred, but the secular itself is reclaimed as sacred. What we find in Howl is an affirmation of compassion and virtue not in spite of, but through its unflinching representations of life on the fringes, newly offering these individuals the community of love for which they had previously been regarded unfit.
MARIAH CROCKETT
What’s black and white and red all over? “The American flag.” - June Na
JANUARY 21, 2015
The case of Howl presents to us the possibility that we make a grave error in offhand dismissals of those things, or perhaps, of those people that are ostensibly profane – or, perhaps, by creating the “Christ Against Culture” dichotomy identified by H. Richard Niebuhr. The Beats, for all their unorthodoxy, identified a hypocrisy and spiritual vacuity in 1950s standards of acceptable Christianity. Their social vision inherently rested upon the spiritual, as the very name of their movement suggests. Jack Kerouac is credited with first using the ambivalent name “Beat Generation” in 1948. This group was “beat” in the sense that they had been beaten down and defeated by life, and yet they also claim to be “béat,” invoking a sense of being truly blessed that points to the “blessed are the poor” paradox of the beatitudes – and, indeed, to the paradox of Christian hope. The Christian worldview, we recall, has always embraced this paradox, and has thus
necessarily transcended our seemingly clear-cut social distinctions. Alongside the Beats, Christian writers such as Flannery O’Connor, a pioneer of the Southern Gothic genre, also illustrate the problems of our simplistic dichotomies well. Perhaps the most significant trademark of O’Connor’s Southern Gothic, beyond its macabre ambience, is a device known as the “grotesque,” wherein characters with various distortions evoke ambivalent responses within the reader. When O’Connor employs the grotesque, we find ourselves repulsed by characters who seem conventionally good, and drawn to those who are outwardly repulsive. Take, for example, O’Connor’s best-known short story, “A Good Man is Hard To Find,” which features a proper, Southern grandmother who we increasingly discover is grossly selfish, and the outlaw who will ultimately murder her, whose distorted devotion to justice draws our honest interest and empathy. In O’Connor’s world, it is characters with spiritual defects and deformities by whom we are truly most frightened, characters that are ultimately awakened to the divine by the most unlikely candidates, and often through shocking experiences of the crisis implied by divine grace and transcendence. The radical appearances of the divine through secular and
even profane figures, through conmen and murderers and many a social outcast, newly reveal to us the nature of grace. This grace devastates our clearcut categories of “in” and “out,” “safe” and “unsafe,” and humble us before God and the world, awakening us to our selfrighteousness and to the price of our holiness. The paradox of grace, though resisting our simple categorizations, does not denote an “everything goes” spirituality; O’Connor, of all people, recognized the high cost of holiness, identifying in a 1959 letter to Ted R. Spivey that “grace is the free gift of God but in order to put yourself in the way of being receptive to it you have to practice self-denial.” Recognizing this price may be where the Beats fall short, and yet even here, we recognize the need for rejecting those binaries which are inherently divisive, which often betray our underlying hypocrisy and will to power, and which – perhaps worst of all – are profoundly untrue. These 1950s writers demonstrate that, at the very least, an embrace of paradox allows us to be humbly receptive to a profusion of graces. As we try to find our own cultural footing amid the aftermath of the age that these literary prophets of the 1950s foretold, our problem appears not so much to be reductive dichotomies of black and white, but a para-
lyzing mist of grey wherein all is equally permissible and impermissible – and anyhow, visibility is limited, so there is no way to know with certainty. Nonetheless, a true embrace of paradox speaks to our age as well as to theirs. We may conceive of reconciling black and white as reality seeping into this hopeless, nondescript grey – and yet the paradox of grace that underlies the paradox of the beatitudes and, indeed, the very beauty of Christian hope is perhaps best envisioned not as a forceful melding of black and white, but as transcending these very categories by newly realizing reality and embracing its complexity, adopting a humility that invites the wind to remove the long-settled dust and ash that veil our world and limit our perceptions, allowing our landscapes to at last take on all the vibrancy and fullness of colour.
What’s black and white and red all over? “The Canadian flag.” - Mary Gray
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JANUARY 21, 2015
CREATIVE
inspired by
[spaces]
A cruel angel’s thesis
Norman’s Journal Entry dated: January 13
Olivia and I are now a couple. Many in the student body knew it even before I fully came to terms with it myself. A brave student— probably among her friends— occasionally approaches me with a half-smile, to comment on my new “friend.” Only at TWU! I am not sure if I should appreciate, or be annoyed, that my university social-experience is beginning to resemble my high school one. At any secular university, the students mate like minks and nobody thinks twice about it. But here, euphemisms are deployed to address even the most tentative stage of a relationship. But this ambiguous word, friend, instead of girlfriend—why? There is something sinister to it. I speculate it is because my place as a “believer” on campus is dubious at best. To acknowledge the extent of our relationship would require her ever-vigilant friends to address the subject of unequal yokage with Olivia—a most unpleasant conversation. Between Christians, there is no greater risk of insult than in implying that a Christian—especially, one who is another Christian’s romantic
interest—may not have the faith he claims. We saw one another frequently during the exam period and remained in contact over the break. I cannot say we ever dated. Following that eventful encounter at the Christmas Gala, we simply fell together. We shared long walks during the evenings when it was too cold to walk, surveying the early Christmas lights decorating the neighborhoods around campus. We shared even longer, winding, pseudo-theological discussions over steaming cups of chai at various coffee shops downtown. Always I wore my well-polished mask, explicating a very agreeable, mostly evangelical-with-flavorsof-inc ar national-humanism theology. It is concerning, how easy it is to falsely represent those views. When those conversations became too long for comfort, we continued them by email, and they lasted us the entirety of the break. When both speakers are honest with one another, these conversations, by face or by correspondence, can be breathtaking. Such conversations can be shared only between two persons romancing one another,
where between them is a trembling landscape of feelings underlying the benign conventions of conversation. In words there is a delicate deliberation in revealing one’s true beliefs and feelings to the other, in fear that one may betray an idea that infringes upon the non-negotiables of that other. It is the terrifying experience of encountering another person who is so different from you, and becoming excited by the fact that someone so different is attracted to you, despite—and, on account of—those differences. And then: the anxiety of speculating if you could spend your life alongside this alien. I once had encounters like that—but not now, with Olivia. With her, I merely revolved through the routines of courtship, taking little pleasure in it—except, occasionally, for amusement. I decided a long time ago I would buffer my heart towards her. Also, she desires for me to attend her church—not by theological necessity (thank God!) but rather only so that we may see one another on Sundays. Probably, a trick by her to bring her parents and me together in one place. Perhaps I will attend— being able to claim that I attend
a church consistently might be useful in other ways to me here at TWU—one can claim to be “searching” only for so long. Were she more devout, she might have made our relationship conditional on my attendance of her church—a heinous proposition! It is for this reason that I cannot read The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, who, before marriage, forced his wife to convert from her Protestantism to his Catholicism—much to her lifelong suffering. But if she did insist that I must attend her church for us to be together—at least that would lend some desired drama to our dynamic. Olivia bores me. From the moment I decided to pursue her, I knew I would grow bored of her eventually—but this quickly? I wonder if my last relationship before her has inoculated me to have no inkling of any passion for anyone else. Perhaps Olivia and I are merely now beyond romance. Romance is what takes place during the preface and during the afterword of a relationship. The chapters in between may be skipped. In actual romance novels, they are often not even written. So many voluminous Victorian serial-novels portray in
detail the courtship and either consummation or breakdown of a relationship, omitting the in-between years by means of a time-skip. No reader ever held it against the Victorian authors for omitting those details. No one cares about the lives of Jane and Rochester following their marriage—were Bronte to have written a sequel, one would rather follow a character as revolting as St. John to India and read about his exploits there. Simply, romance does not exist in marriage—except (speaking of India, I suppose) for in arranged marriages. The arranged marriage is simply marriage rearranged— the drama takes place following matrimony rather than before it, and is even more intense, since the spouses must learn to live with one another without the option of calling it off. Marriage is often used as a metaphor for Christ returning to establish his kingdom—a metaphor for heaven. Well, if marriage is anything like heaven—not that I am bound for that particular place—then heaven will be as boring as hell.
Visit www.marshillonline.com/sections/creative/ to read the previous chapters of A Cruel Angel’s Thesis to get caught up in this tale of faith, romance, and heresy!
What’s black and white and red all over? “A murder. There’s blood, but you don’t know the truth.” - Brian Guo
ARTS & CULTURE
JANUARY 21, 2015
Tom Sawyer Cinema
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MACKENZIE CAMERON
mackenzie.cameron@mytwu.ca
The whitewashing of Western film
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tara GORMAN
We are all attending a Christian university, and have hopefully learned enough about the Bible and its history to acknowledge that very few – if any – of the people mentioned within its pages were white. So why did two of the Biblically based-films released last year, Noah and Exodus, have entirely white casts? In this instance, it is obvious that these films were historically inaccurate, but what if I told you that cinema has erased people of colour from film since its invention and that it is still doing so? What if I told you that there are films coming out this year that have taken a character’s race from them in favour of hiring popular white actors?
Whitewashing, in simple terms, is the act of placing white actors into roles that could have been given to people of colour. There are varying ways in which this has presented itself in cinema, but all of the following examples have occurred within the last few years. For example, particularly in book adaptions, characters that were originally intended to be people of color are cast with white actors. In the 2013 romantic zombie comedy, Warm Bodies, a character that was written as black in the YA novel was featured as a white girl in the movie. This issue can also be seen in films where a circumstance that affected mainly people of other races, such as the Thailand tsunami in 2004, is pushed aside in favour of telling the story of white characters, such as Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts’ 2012 film, The Impossible. The list goes on, with more to come – like
Avengers: Age of Ultron, where two new characters who are JewishRomani in X-Men comic canon, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, are played by two white actors. And in even broader terms, whitewashing can simply be not hiring actors of colour at all. Cinema as we know it today
is meant to make money. Studios have somehow gotten it into their minds that movies will have more monetary success with white actors. But cinema at its heart is meant to represent the real world (even the most fantastical of films still have metaphors and themes that are applicable to real life),
and the world that so many films are presenting to audiences is in no way indicative of the one we actually live in – a world that is filled with human beings of various ethnicities and cultures, each with an interesting story to tell.
by making it an action movie,” and that “commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing.” The task of assessing The Hobbit films seems to be two-fold; we must not only consider the filmmaking quality, but also assess how these films meet the criteria of
page-to-screen adaptation – and how they fall short. What elements of Tolkien’s The Hobbit are essential to preserve in a successful adaptation, and how can they be best translated to the medium of film? Have the recent films, as many have suggested, truly failed to preserve Tolkien’s meaning? It is these sorts of questions that the Inklings Institute of Canada endeavours to discuss in its January 21 event: “Ad-
aptations of The Hobbit: Killing the Book?” The event, which will take place at 7 p.m. in TWU’s Fosmark Graduate Collegium, will feature presentations (with film clips) by Dr. Chris Morrissey and Dr. Ned Vankevich, to be followed by a question and answer period and informal discussion over refreshments. The Inklings Institute would like to invite you to join the conversation! All are welcome to come, listen, and engage in discussion.
Adaptations of The Hobbit:
The December 2014 release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies marks the final installment in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s twentieth-century fantasy classics. Unlike the largely positive reception of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, however, his three Hobbit films have come under fire from film
“I have only seen the first of the three Hobbit movies, and I was disappointed. The action scenes were too long and there was way too much CGI, enough that it really took away from the experience. But the intro scene and the “Riddles in the Dark” scene were both fantastic.”
david brynjolfson
“The Hobbit trilogy was somewhat good entertainment and does have a “rewatchability” factor; however, it ultimately lacked passion. The pacing was, at times, unbearable, the special effects (all CGI) were lazy, and the character development was startlingly boring. Its attempt to be a prequel to the LOTR series weakened the integrity of the entire franchise.”
nicholas lee
tara gorman
“Having read and adored The Hobbit as a child, the first 40 minutes of An Unexpected Journey, which were filled with the adventure, mystery, and light-heartedness that Tolkien intended, were magical. However, the constant fight scenes, the crude and gruesome slapstick, and the shallow plot that followed were heartbreaking, and that heartbreak followed me to the end of the final installment, leaving me with the distressing sense that an enormous part of my childhood was somehow sullied.”
“Featuring a weak central plot padded with overblown action sequences and contrived character callbacks, The Hobbit feels like Peter Jackson’s response to the guy in the back row shouting, “Shut up and play the hits!” I’m saddened to see one of the most beloved fantasy novels of all time turned into yet another bombastic Hollywood franchise.”
kevin redekop
stephanie REDEKOP
janica grenier
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critics and Tolkien fans alike. While Five Armies was loftily advertised as “the defining chapter of the Middle-Earth saga,” many fans seem to disagree, siding instead with the harsh critiques that Christopher Tolkien ( J.R.R. Tolkien’s son) made about film adaptations of Tolkien’s work. In 2012, he observed to Le Monde that film adaptations of Tolkien’s work had “eviscerated the book
joel redekop
Killing the book?
What’s black and white and red all over? “That thing right there. *gestures*” - Jocelyn Tanton
“Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit is like butter scraped over too much bread, and the butter is filled with unnecessary ingredients. What should be a short, fun adventure becomes nearly nine hours of boredom.”
“Let’s take the Hobbit movies for what they are: fantasy or escape media. Let’s not be like those who criticized Tolkien for writing about elves, hobbits, and Middleearth. I believe that the movies are a good adaptation of the book and I found them to be emotionally compelling and entertaining.”
JANUARY 21, 2015
B&W
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by Erik deLange
1. “God or Man” - Ivan & Alyosha 2. “Abraham” - Sufjan Stevens 3. “Scared or Selfish” - Kye Kye 4. “Laughing With” - Regina Spektor 5. “Late” - Ben Folds 6. “No Rest For The Wicked” - Lykki Li 7. “Dark, Dark Thinks” - Eastlake Community Church 8. “Ya Hay” - Vampire Weekend 9. “Secret of the Easy Yoke” - Pedro the Lion 10. “White As Snow” - Jon Foreman
There is much dichotomization in this list of songs from albums with B&W cover art, but there is also much ambiguity – and even a little bit of colour to help you find a human way amidst the polarization.
Into the Woods
A failed attempt at illumination
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erik DELANGE
In Disney’s latest musical, Into the Woods, Meryl Streep’s witch character delivers a rather foretelling line: “You’re so nice. / You’re not good, you’re not bad, / you’re just nice.” I think this poignant idea, originally written by Stephen
Sondheim, serves as an effective critique of the latest adaptation of his musical: a tamed, washed-out version of the original play that loses its dark, and thereby loses its light to a cloudy, unfocused conclusion. This Disneyfied movie reduces the complicated subject material to another family-friendly fairy tale. Though the lyrics still point to darker realities, the campy deliveries mine the material for surface level laughter at best. The
DISNEY
Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus is that it “darkens to its detriment in the final act,” but in fact, quite the opposite has occurred here. The cleverness of the original Into The Woods musical is that it brings classic fairy tales up against deeper and darker modern social and philosophical ideas, but in this Disneyfied version, these powerful situations and ideas are reduced back to their safe, fairy tale stereotypes. The seductive undertones and sexual language
The Road to Home 1
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2
graham BOLDT
Which stories are the most enjoyable to tell? Victories? Perhaps, but aren’t the tales of ridiculous misfortune more fun – more relatable? Sometimes the most mystical revelations are to be found during our simple daily activities; however, where would the longing – the appreciation – for these mundane activities exist without the blisters, the lupine eyes on the roadside, or the chill on the long journey home?
3 1. The Road- Cormac McCarthy To accompany the desolation of the winter world outside, perhaps a little dystopia would complement your literary palette. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road chronicles a father and son’s journey east across a post apocalyptic wasteland. McCarthy’s poetic descriptions of gruesome encounters make this one a page-turner. 2. The Pearl-John Steinbeck If you’re looking for something gritty and profound, but don’t have much time on your hands, John Steinbeck’s The Pearl could be your book. Only 120 pages, this novella concerns the lives of a Mexican pearl harvesting family during the turn of the century. When Kino discovers “The Pearl
of the Big Bad Wolf are lost amid the glib stagey performances and childlike silliness – essentially just an awkward attempt to pretend it doesn’t exist. The emotional honesty of the witch character as a relatable mother with control issues is relegated back to the clichéd “evil witch” role, safely distanced from any real emotional involvement. This musical, which is about shattering this-worldly fairy tale idealism, becomes nothing more than a light-hearted critique of the fairy tales themselves. By the time the second act is reached and the audience has had its fill of ironic and light-hearted fairy tale humour, there is no clear transition. By skipping the “Agony (Reprise)” and other key bits of dialogue, there is no thematic worldview-shattering or opportunity to see the disillusionment of the main characters, and so we’re thrust into a very awkward theme of infidelity with no deeper thematic basis beyond “the prince was a dink.” By omitting the death of the narrator, we lose that clear nod toward the post-modern idea of killing metanarratives. The angry Nietzschean rant given by the Witch is supposed to be the natural nihilistic consequence of this sort of worldview shatter-
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A book list confronting humanity
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of the World” (a massive pearl the size of an egg), he must fight to protect his family from the overwhelming power of humanity’s greed. 3. All My Sons-Arthur Miller It’s no book, but hey, it’s short. Arthur Miller’s first award winning play All My Sons concerns the lives of two neighbouring American families during the aftermath of World War II. Tensions run high when an old scandal is coaxed to the surface by the budding romance of two starcrossed lovers. 4. The Earthsea Quintet-Ursula Le Guin If you want to know where the Potter series began, take a journey to Earthsea. Fantasy writer
ing, but instead it is reduced to “one of those scary witch scenes” of little consequence, during which children avert their eyes. However, what does come through the clouds makes it nevertheless worth watching. The lyrical and music genius of Sondheim is executed excellently, and a lot of his deeper themes can still come through, if only in the lyrics. Highlights include the “The Steps of The Palace” (despite the awkward choreography), “I Know Things Now” (despite the insincere delivery), and the hilarious “Agony.” Emily Blunt and Anna Kendrick were a delight to watch, and James Corden was a surprising emotional anchor for the whole show. The finale of the film leaves us with the words, “No one is alone,” as the sun desperately tries to peak through the cloudy sky. This hint at transcendence is, as I stated before, lost amid a play that doesn’t acknowledge the depths from which it needs saving. This is due to a lack of focus and an obsession with keeping things PG. Yet the movie is not without its moments, and if you strain hard enough, you may find some sunlight.
6 Ursula Le Guin is at the top of her game in this five-part series chronicling the adventures of the wizard, Ged the Sparrowhawk. Ged, recognized for his magical prowess, is brought to a wizarding school where he learns the craft (before Harry was even a dab in Rowling’s inkwell). 5. The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde Conservatism getting you down? Throw a little Wilde into the mix. One part poetry, one part wit, and a three parts multiple partners; Wilde concocts a novel that goes down sweet, but leaves your stomach sour. 6. Mere Christianity-C. S. Lewis If you’re looking for someone to expand your horizons while
What’s black and white and red all over? “A ladybug.” - Caitlyn Froese
7 sitting down to a merry cup of tea, Lewis could be your man. Adapted from his radio addresses from WWII, Mere Christianity operates as a refreshing introduction to Christianity through relatable philosophical explanation. 7. Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam Trilogy)-Margaret Atwood Proof that Canadians can write dystopia, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake will have you holding on to your millennia for dear life. Atwood investigates the corrupting nature of the Machine through the adventures of a hermit named Snowman in a postapocalyptic landscape. JEF GIBBONS
JANUARY 21, 2015
15 GREGORY REESE
a conversation on Art & Faith with Katharine Bubel
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mackenzie CAMERON
Mars’ Hill: What is your involvement with the arts? Katharine Bubel: I am a researcher and literary critic of poetry. I am also an instructor of literature, hoping to open my students’ hearts and minds to the wonder of the human, the world, and the divine that is discovered in the literary arts. MH: Why do you do what you do? KB: It is a fascination; literature expands my world and my experience of being in it. Particularly in poetry, people are imagining possible worlds, not just recording the world as it is; they’re presenting the world as it might be. That’s what art tends to do: it pushes the limits of what we are used to, what we take for granted as being. It opens up new ways of seeing, making what is common strange, and what is strange familiar. Wonder. I would say I’m pulled by wonder. MH: How has working in a creative capacity impacted your faith? KB: Because I’m working on my PhD right now, I’m learning a great deal about perseverance. Faith goes hand and hand with discipline. Staying with it when you feel weary or like you’re losing interest, staying open to learning unexpected things from new ways of putting things together. Maybe it’s a poem you’ve seen over 50 times, and yet you read it one more time and something lights up and you make a new connection. It’s the same with faith. I think I learned this from having read passages or memorized verses at a young age that
continue to live with me, and then something opens them up after decades. Studying poetry also alerts me to the beauty of the poetry of scripture and liturgy; how spirit is not just revealed in cognitive truth, but spirit is conveyed in affective, and emotive, and sensuous ways as well. Also, because I’m encountering in my studies people of other faiths, or no religious faith, it stimulates me to think more deeply about what it is I believe. And not just to think about it, but also to do it, to practice and to be more aware of my practices. But also to be open to learn from others and their practices of being attuned to the mystery of the world. MH: What has art taught you about God? KB: The more I learn about poetry, the more I’m delighted by the poetry in scripture and aware of how we would be losing so much if we tried to read the scripture as only one particular genre. It’s important to recognize scripture as multi-genre, multi-voiced, to heed the polyphony of scripture. Poetry makes that more living for me. As Christians, “people of the Book,” we believe that God is conveying and manifesting himself in words that are spoken and written in ages past and spoken again every time we read them, and often the way those words are configured is in poetry. Also, t h e JudeoChristian God is a
God who speaks things into being and delights in them. And then we have John saying that Jesus is the Word of God; the living Word of God. Because of my work with poetry, I understand God the Son, the Word, as “play[ing] in ten thousand places” as Gerard Manley Hopkins puts it. I think of the Word as creating, constantly creating. To be in him is not about finality, about getting things nailed down – poetry teaches me God’s incarnate logos is not some fixed pattern we can fully comprehend and fit ourselves into or predict what comes next. I think of the Word as creatively circulating, undoing and recovering, hiding and disclosing, making all things new. MH: When do you feel closest to God? KB: Today was communion Sunday at church. The way we do
communion is that we have multiple tables that we stand around, and we use a special clay cup that comes from the Dalit people. The reason we use this cup is to show solidarity with them. For ages, the Dalit people in the caste culture of India have been viewed as the untouchables. As soon as they use a dish it needs to be broken (the name Dalit actually means “broken”) because it is believed it will pollute anyone else who uses it. I say we’re standing in solidarity with them, but really we’re standing within Christ. It is a reminder of the incarnation, the belief that God came down and pitched his tent among the lowest of the low; that God is on the side of the poor and the downtrodden and desires to see them lifted up. Also, in this experience of passing the bread and cup to one another, we are being priests to one another. At a table surrounded by people, young and old, from different backgrounds, turning to serve one another, sharing that cup and broken bread, that’s one of the times when I feel most acutely what the faith is. I am also a “nature girl,” and so when I’m in some ridiculously beautiful place I feel close to God. I go running with my son in Boundary Bay and sometimes at night the moon is full and shining on the water, or sometimes it’s a rainy afternoon and it’s all silver, or it’s sunny and all sorts of hues are coming out all around – I feel God
GREGORY REESE
then, too. MH: What kind of a role do you think arts can play, or are currently playing, in our culture? KB: I will confess to a sort of anxiety about technology, because technology is about efficiency and control. I’m thankful for it. I can’t imagine having to handwrite my PhD – I’m so glad to have my MacBook Pro. I’m not antitechnology, but I have an anxiety around how ubiquitous it is, how hidden it is, and how disembodied it can make our perception and way of knowing. We’re sensuous creatures, fleshly, in the body, and the arts keep us connected to that reality. Remember how that great artsy science teacher Ms. Frizzle says, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!” With art, our discovery of the world involves us in the messiness of life. It’s not all about being efficient and accurate and direct. It’s play, putting into play whatever it is we’re discovering as we are making, and finding ourselves drawn into the play of what we’re encountering in the poem or painting or music or whatever. Art holds out other aspects to being alive in the world besides efficiency, practicality. Art helps us to be alert to earthy life in ways that much of our technology steers us away from, or narrows to the capacity of our devices. The arts keep us true to our bodies and the more-than-human world in ways that I want to hold on to… that I hope we all hold on to as valuable modes of perception, because we’re changing what it is to be human if we don’t. The novelist Iris Murdoch said that the human is a creature who makes a picture of him or herself and then comes to resemble it. So art is also a space to reflect on what we are, what we do or don’t want to become.
What’s black and white and red all over? “A cow that got caught in a paint explosion.” - Rachel Schultz
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JANUARY 21, 2015
SPORTS
CONNOR EWERT
RecServices | Schedule
connor.ewert1@mytwu.ca
colleen LITTLE
Spring semester is here! Be sure to check new times for your favorite intramural activity! There are big events coming this semester like CAN-AM Flag Football on Saturday, January 31 at 2:00pm on the REC Field. Come out to play, cheer, and be extremely patriotic for one afternoon—it’s going to be a blast!
MON
TUES
Intramural Basketball 6:30-10:00
WED
Group Fit 4:30-5:30
Group Fit 4:00-5:00
Intramural Indoor Soccer 6:30-10:30
Intramural Volleyball 6:30-10:30
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY January 21st 1979 -Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys 35-31 with Terry Bradshaw winning MVP 1989 - Wayne Gretzky passes Marcel Dionne to become NHL’s 2nd all-time scorer January 22nd 1987 - Blizzard in New Jersey causes only 334 people to attend the Devils and Flames game, Devils won 7-5
THUR Group Fit 4:30-5:30
FRI
Golf Club TBD
Badminton 6:15-9:00
Cycling Club TBD
WKND Check our website for Bombers and Titan game times! (Fri/Sat/Sun)
For more updates on the coolest, jump-for-joy, most-fun-you’ll-ever-have Rec Services special events, check our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TWUrecservices) and Rec Services Website (recservices. twu.ca/)!
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connor EWERT
Mars’ Hill: Why Did You Choose to Come to TWU and Become a Spartan? Laura Paterson: When I first came to Trinity, I didn’t plan to be a student athlete. However, in my second semester of my first year, I decided I wanted to continue sport into post-secondary, seeing as I had always been highly involved in athletics throughout high school. I remember hearing about the cross-country program when I was in high school, so I contacted the head coach Laurier Primeau, who was very welcoming and had me join in on practices right away. MH: How did you hear about
TWU and the Spartans? LP: I first heard about the TWU Spartans when I was in grade ten and got a letter explaining the program from the current head coach after the BC crosscountry championships. MH: What are some accomplishments you had in high school or prior to becoming a Spartan? LP: I would have to say winning a small community triathlon and making provincial teams for field hockey. To be honest, running was usually something I did on my own time throughout high school. It wasn’t until coming to Trinity Western that I have become a competitive runner. MH: If you could play any sport other than your Spartan sport, what would it be? Why? LP: I have always thought it would pretty cool to be a professional snowboarder because snowboarding has always been a passion of mine, I enjoy being
outside, and I love the colder weather. MH: What are you afraid of ? LP: I am afraid of getting too wrapped up in competition and making it an idol instead of keeping my main focus on God. MH: What excites or excited you about being a Spartan? LP: Being able to challenge myself and achieve short-term goals and plan for more future achievements. MH: Who is one person in your life that has been a mentor to you? LP: My mom and dad, because they never pressured me into doing a sport but simply promised to support me in whatever I chose to do. My dad was a runner and when he was alive, he always encouraged me to take running to a more competitive level. I feel very blessed to have had their constant support and love, no matter the outcome of my performance. MH: Where do you see yourself
January 23rd 1943 - Detroit Red Wings score NHL record 8 goals in 1 period 1981 - Mike Bossy becomes first in NHL to score 50 goals in 50 games 1976 - Washington Capitals end 25 game winless streak and beat Rangers 7-5 January 25th 1924 - First Winter Olympic Games open in Chamonix, France 1989 - Michael Jordan scores his 10,000th NBA point in just his fifth season January 27th 1973 - UCLA men’s basketball team win 61st straight game, an NCAA record 1984 - LA Kings end Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record 51-game scoring streak
Name: Laura Paterson Birthday: November 20. 2015 Place of Birth/Where are you from? Delta/Tsawassen, BC Year of Schooling: Second Year Major/Program: Sociology and Human Services Sport/Club/Team: Women’s Cross Country when you are done your time here at TWU? LP: When I finish up my education at Trinity, I hope to have been able to grow in my relationship with the Lord and have God’s grace shine through me in everything I do. The plan is to avoid injuries and work towards
competing in half- and full-marathons. I hope that within the next four years as a Spartan, I am able to stay true to who I am and not lose sight of the bigger picture: God. I want to be satisfied in the Lord and to delight in Him.
What’s black and white and red all over? “Two skunks fighting over a can of tomato juice.” - Nick Kinnie
JANUARY 21, 2015
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While you were gone...
Spartan athletics over the winter break
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connor EWERT
While most of us were at home sitting in front of the fire, playing with our dogs and new Christmas gifts, our Spartan athletes and teams were competing in exhibition and league play. The men’s volleyball team took part in the Thompson Rivers’ McDonalds International Tournament, held at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops. The men started the tournament with three straight wins, the first of which came against Budo International, then UBCO and TRU. Upon reaching the final, the men lost to the host TRU in three sets; however, it was their third game of the day, having filled in for UBCO in the bronze medal match against Budo Internation-
STUDS
al. They beat Budo again in four sets with key performances coming from freshmen Carter Bergen and Riley Vander Meulen. Also over the break, the Spartans gained a familiar face in setter Devyn Plett, who has missed the past couple of seasons due to an ailing back injury. Plett will remain with the squad for the remainder of the season. The men will be playing a key match this weekend as they travel to UBC to take on their rival Thunderbirds. The TWU’s women’s basketball team was in action over the break as they played three exhibition games. The squad lost all three games, however the women put up an impressive fight, each member of the team displaying a never-give-up attitude. Two of the three games were against North Idaho College. The men’s side also started their second half of the season as they took on Regina at the Langley Events Centre. They unfortunately lost both games, putting their record at
1-11 on the season. A team that has emerged as a bright spot and surprise this year in Spartan Athletics is the men’s hockey team. Backstopped by goaltender Silas Matthys and league-leading scorer Cody Fidgett, the men’s hockey team’s emergence as a contender in the BCIHL has gained them muchdue respect and fear from other teams in the league. They picked up a sweep in their first weekend back in action when they swept the Selkirk Saints while on the road. They are now five points ahead of the second place UVIC Vikes and they also have a game in hand. They play at home this weekend. All of our Spartan athletes are performing at their greatest abilities and capacities, and they are excelling as individuals and as a collective group. Come out and show your support as our beloved Spartans enter the second half of their respective seasons!
DUDS
The Anaheim Ducks honoured legend Teemu Selanne last The Oregon Ducks failed to capture the NCAA National week by retiring his number 8. They did so while having the Championship last week in a lopsided loss to Ohio State. Winnipeg Jets in town, another team and city that Selanne The Ducks were favored by 7 points but lost 42-20. had a huge impact on. The Edmonton Oilers yet again find themselves at the very North Dakota State Bison Football Team won their fourth bottom of the NHL standings, with a miserable 29 points consecutive NCAA Div. 1 Subdivision national championon the season. It has led to their coach being fired, ruship last week. The win puts their record at 58-3 since mours being thrown around about the security of star 2011 and gives them more national championships (4) than players such as Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, and ultilosses (3) since 2011. mately putting them in position to get highly touted prospect Connor McDavid in this summer’s draft. The Nashville Predators are off to an amazing first half of the season with a 29-9-4 record, putting them in first place The New York Knicks are off to their worst start in franchise overall in the NHL. history with a record of 5-36 as of last week. The record has caused the disassembling of some of the roster with trades of key players and waiving of others. What’s black and white and red all over? “A penguin in a blender.” - Mitch Harivel
SUPER BOWL 18
JANUARY 21, 2015
PREVIEW
The Patriots and Seahawks will battle for Super Bowl XLIX
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connor EWERT
It is finally here! The 49th installment of America’s beloved Super Bowl game. The two best teams in the NFL will battle it out on February 1st in Glendale, Arizona. The Seattle Seahawks are coming off an amazing performance against the Packers last Sunday where they came back from a 16-0 deficit at the half and a 19-7 deficit with under two minutes to play, winning in overtime with a performance from Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch that will not be soon forgotten. The Patriots are also coming off an amazing performance where they manhandled the Colts 45-7. Tom Brady, the NFL postseason passing leader, threw 3 TDs in the win and the team had 397 total yards. It will definitely be a Super Bowl game to remember. Will the Seahawks repeat as champions? Or will Tom Brady and the Patriots claim another title? Here the teams and match-ups are broken down!
OFFENSE
Seattle Seahawks The Seahawks have the best bargain in football in QB Russell Wilson at the helm. Though they traded star WR Percy Harvin to the Jets earlier in the year, the Seahawks have rattled off eight straight wins, with their last loss coming to the Chiefs on November 16th. A key to Seattle’s offense is their running game, notably Marshawn Lynch. In three of the four losses the Seahawks have suffered this season, Lynch has rushed for less than 100 yards. With a big day from Lynch and cooperation with the media and the league, the Seahawks will be in good position to win another Super Bowl. Russell Wilson was not well protected last week versus the Packers and was hit hard by Clay Matthews while throwing four interceptions, but he came up with plays when it mattered most. By using his arm and his legs, he led all QBs in rushing yards, and his excellent performances in clutch situations will give the Seahawks an advantage. If the Seahawks have one weakness, it would be their receivers.
Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse make up the core, but they have struggled at times in the season and playoffs without a goto WR, making it their most exposed area. New England Patriots The Patriots have arguably the best postseason QB in NFL history in Tom Brady. Brady was in the top 10 in all major passing categories and he just passed Peyton Manning as the all-time postseason passing leader in yards. New England’s threats expand down to their receivers in Julian Edelman and their TE, Rob Gronkowski. Both are incredible players and with Brady passing the ball as well as he has been, 226 yards and three TDs last week versus the Colts, it could cause the Seahawks’ defense some trouble. Their running game is also impressive. RB LeGarrette Blount is coming off an impressive performance last week in the AFC Championship Game, where he ran for 148 yards and three TDs. He is also in fourth place for RB’s in the postseason. THE EDGE = Patriots
DEFENSE
Seattle Seahawks The Seahawks led the NFL in defense in the regular season, allowing an average of 267 yards per game. They also welcomed back CB Byron Maxwell last week, who along with Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, and Kam Chancellor, makes up the Legion of Boom for the Seahawks. The Seahawks’ defense is arguably the best in the NFL. With the LOB, LB Bobby Wagner, and DE Cliff Avril, the defense will cause the Patriots and Brady a lot of trouble. The secondary with the LOB is also a huge interception threat, with Sherman leading the league last year and already having two this postseason. After a slow start on Sunday versus the Packers, the defense came up big for the Seahawks and provided the offense with great field position and momentum. New England Patriots New England’s best defender is OLB Jamie Collins. He led the team in tackles with 116, and he had an impressive performance last week versus the Colts where he led the team with three tackles and an interception. Outside of
Collins, the Patriots’ defense gets the job done by committee. Veterans like Darrelle Revis and Patrick Chung provide leadership for the group. One particular player to keep an eye on would be the Patriots’ CB, Brandon Browner. Browner was formerly with the Seahawks and a member of the LOB, but he failed a drug test and was released by the club. He has since joined with the Patriots’ secondary and will look to get revenge on the team that released him. THE EDGE = Seahawks
SPECIAL TEAMS
Seattle Seahawks With a coach like Pete Carroll, we have to mention and include special teams. Last week, the Seahawks pulled off two amazing and improbable plays in their fake FG TD pass from Canadian punter Jon Ryan and their onside kick recovery in the last two minutes of regulation. Carroll has proven that he is not scared of creating and executing creative and trick plays this season on special teams. Other than the big plays and playmakers last week and Carroll’s confidence in special-teams trickery, the Seahawks have arguably the best kicker in football in Steven Hauschka. He is kicking 83% on the year, good for fifth in the NFL. New England Patriots The Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski was the best kicker in the NFL this past season. He is 35 of 37 attempts (95%) with the longest coming from 53 yards. Another special teams threat is kick returner Danny Amendola. He led New England and Seattle in kick return yards and average, and he is always a threat to make something out of nothing. Look for the Seahawks and Hauschka to want to keep Amendola away from the ball and aim for touchbacks on kickoffs. THE EDGE = Seahawks
PREDICTION Seattle Seahawks def. New England Patriots 31-24 Kam Chancellor named MVP
What’s black and white and red all over? “A bloodshot eye.” - Gaby Sapón
JANUARY 21, 2015
HUMOUR
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TREVOR MCMAHAN
trevor.mcmahan@mytwu.ca
Your bi-weekly dose of LOLs and guffaws
The Top Three Things You Should Stop Doing and Saying to Half-White-Half-Black/Mixed/Black-ish People
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emily ROBERTSON
When people don’t know how to act around others of mixed races, like myself, it is often super awkward. Here are some tips on how to avoid that. Number One: Please do not use the term “home-girl” to address me. For some reason, a lot
of my acquaintances see it fit to use this term as a way to become closer friends with me. This will not work. You will not suddenly become more relatable to me because you have used a term that is used in 90’s movies amongst people of colour. Number Two: When you are meeting a new black-ish individual, go for the handshake, not the props. This has happened to me on multiple occasions, and every time it gets more and more awkward. There was actually a time
where I was walking into a church behind a group of my Caucasian friends, and the church greeter shook their hands as they entered (as you would expect). But when it was my turn, she proceeded to stick her fist out to me, smiled, and said “yo”. Despite this awkward encounter, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and gave her a props back. Don’t be that greeter. Number Three: Don’t tell us that we can’t rant about being black because we are only “black-
ish”. I cannot tell you how many times my friends have stopped me from ranting about my outrageously thick hair only to hear them say: “Emily, why are you getting so mad? You’re not even really black!” First of all, talk to the hair because the face ain’t listening. Second, tell that to my funky fresh dance moves as I tear you up on the dance floor. And third, tell that to my mad basketball skills. JUST KIDDING. THESE
ARE ALL STEREOTYPES PLACED ON BLACK PEOPLE, AND YOU GUESSED IT, BLACK-ISH PEOPLE AS WELL. Case closed. At the end of the day, if this is too much to keep in mind, I have come up with one rule to help you: If you are pointing out a difference in someone that is indeed true about them, make sure you’re celebrating it, not diminishing it. If you follow that rule, you should be golden. Let’s make 2015 a little less awkward for everyone, yo.
JORDAN SCHROEDER
Why I hate Jesus but love blog posts
Today I realized a new dream of mine: I want to change the world. And while some people choose to do that through volunteering in their community, peer mentorship, or—God forbid—politics, I’m pursuing a new and exciting medium to change the world: blog posts. And I don’t mean just any blog posts. The thing is, regular, generic blog posts just can’t grab people’s attention anymore. Who wants to read a post called, “Why Toms Shoes’s giving strategy is poor economics for developing countries”? Too intelligent, and probably requires too much thinking. No, I need a blog that can compete with the likes of Buzzfeed, Upworthy, and all these other click-bait websites—I need a Christian blog with trendy, misleading titles. I know, it’s not exactly like I’m blazing a new trail here. On my Facebook news feed I often see blog-gospels such as “Why I didn’t wait for my wife to have sex, and you shouldn’t either,” or “Why I don’t call myself a Christian anymore,” or my favourite one, which I call the 67th book of the Bible, “Why I love Jesus, but hate religion.” I know what you’re thinking: “Jordan, these titles seem like heresy. Won’t your posts mislead people on Christian doctrine?” Short answer: no. One of my prominent strategies will be to slightly alter the meanings of words so that the heresy people thought they saw in my title that made them click on the post will actually be noncontroversial. For example, in the example, “Why I love Jesus, but hate religion,” the author just changes the meaning of the word “religion” to something that means blindly following rules rather than a spiritual belief that binds people together. It’s that easy! I think it’s time that we leave the Gospel behind. We don’t need it anymore. The Gospel can be intense, confusing, and take a lot of time to study. Plus, let’s be honest: they all have terrible, non-catchy, non-controversial titles (they could have at least tried, “23 ways Jesus will DESTROY your old life”). My posts will be easier to understand and a maximum of 750 words. And while I’m not into old-fashioned things such as organized religion, I hope that one day my posts will spark a progressive, attractive new denomination of our old religion: Click-bait Christianity. Posted 2:43pm January 21, 2015
Comments:
What’s black and white and red all over? “The fire alarm! That has red on it, right?” - Rowyn Neufeld
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JANUARY 21, 2015
DE-CLASSIFIEDS
marshillonline.com/de-classifieds
Mars’ Hill editors reserve the right to edit or reject submissions based on content and/or length. A printed submission does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of any kind, nor does it necessarily reflect the opinions of Mars’ Hill staff , the student association, or that of the University. In fact probably not. Now that we’re back at school, will the real J.N. please identify himself? I’ve been thinking about him all Christmas.
Would Jesus have gone on a missions trip?
I wish there was more swag demonstration of campus.
Would Jesus have gone to the gym?
It is Christmas vacation and I am sooo bored. Am I so pathetic that I need others to plan every minute of my day as I obviously cannot figure out what to do with all of this free time? Or more likely, I just love being at Trinity.
*Throws boomerang into a wormhole* Does Trinity realize the pressure they put on us students to marry young? I’m fourth year, do not have a boyfriend, and am feeling very much a societal failure. Even my parents, I know, are waiting for me to meet someone. Maybe Trinity should set up a dating service. Or maybe not...
The day Friends came on Netflix is the day I lost all my friends. Upper level Sociology courses really lay on the white-straightmale guilt. Garret Fraser outshines Audrey Hepburn any day. FYI - It’s cheaper to join a Christian dating service than pay four years of tuition at Trinity. Just saying...
THE HIMNAL
Would Jesus have gone to Trinity?
I don’t want a ring by spring, I don’t want a boyfriend, I just want a male to cuddle with. Exasperated by life.
It’s Christmas Eve, I’m having dinner with my family then, with friends, attending midnight mass at church. And yet, I’ve never felt lonelier...
Clark Mammel
This is a shout out to a very special event that started with a game of munchkin and ended with a trip to Denny’s. Love ya’ll. #Allnighters #bowlingkittens#1year One day I will find a significant other who shares my passion for sock puppets.
If people are in awe of something you do, then you are awesome. However, if you become full of yourself, then you will become awful.
I sure hope Joseph Breda can interpret dreams as well as Joseph son of Jacob because I’ve been having dreams about him since September ;) <3 Love, RPCgirl1234
“Do you ever think about how like the older we get the more we live in the past? It’s like reverse living in a way, you know?” “That’s so deep dude.” I say, ignoring my friend as I gaze at a nearby gorge
Is Braden Rosenfeld still single? Wow just wow...God you make beautiful people!
RNT 237 is definitely a female.
Number one on my bucket list is to buy more buckets so I won’t die after kicking the first one.
“Son, guess what I’m going to be for Halloween?” “What dad?” “A dad!” “You are already a dad though.” “Nope! Surprise you’re adopted!”
Mario Kart 64 was released the same year that most of the first year class was born.
year: 4
The entire TWU Law School debate is literally centered around twelve words (two sections, six words in each section). Get rid of those twelve words, and most of the opposition to the TWU Law School would leave, with no harm done to the Christian worldview.
age: 23
major: Business
Caitlyn Dyck, I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU! PLEASE DATE ME!! PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!! Sincerely, Desperate
height: 6’1 AUSTIN NOVAKOWSKI
Age limit (max/min)? I’m not sure what this question means, so if it refers to the max difference in age between me and potential datee, then probably How would you win her parents over? Views on courtship? Hometown: Chilliwack 8 years. Nothing but charm.
Denomination: Non-denominational
I’m a traditional guy; my motto is “ball up or shut up.”
Fave way to worship God?
Idea of a perfect date? Two words: tractors
Cooking.
Singing at Praise Chapel and SNA.
and sundresses.
Biggest deal breaker:
Fave Christian (non-worship song)?
Best place for a first kiss?
Drives anything but a Deere.
In the cab of a John Deere.
How would you make up after your first fight?
“Ooh Aahs” by Needtobreathe
Fave Bible verse? James 5:7
How do you know if it’s love? When she likes the smell of Chilliwack
Domestic talent:
Shucked corn and chocolates.
Ask LLC? me! Interested in the
LLC Info Session
February 5th, 2015 Thursday, 4-5pm Lynn Szabo Meeting Room (Upper RNT/SNC)
twu.ca/llc
@twu_llc
llcinfo@twu.ca
What’s black and white and red all over? “An oreo that’s been used to stop a bloody nose.” - Anneka Hodson