In Yosemite National Park, there is a waterfall called Staircase Falls. Located on the side of a rather unassuming rockface in the park, Staircase Falls only flows for a few weeks every year from the height of the snow melt to when it dries up in the early days of summer, usually between May and June. Staircase Falls is an ephemeral source of water, meaning that it inhabits a state of impermanence. If you happen to be in Yosemite during the right season, you might just see Staircase Falls. But for the majority of visitors, it will be just another cliff.
The definition of the word “ephemeral” itself is as prone to change as the word would suggest. The word is often used to describe fleeting moments, where only memory might preserve them—performances, vacations, intimate moments with friends and family, and others of the like. It takes on a broader connotation when we think of nature, society, and culture as ephemeral things: time brings many changes and the things we take for granted now will fade into memory.
Or, in the words of an old Persian adage, “This too shall pass.”
The threads of the ephemeral are felt throughout this issue. In Opinions, Sadie McDonald, in a rather “meta” piece, discusses how our own work as a part of Mars’ Hill exists in a state of ephemerality. In Humour, contributor Marissa Welch writes an interesting piece about how she uses a pair of shoes to capture the fleeting, ephemeral moments of her life.
Our feature, “Closed Eyes Behind Rose-Coloured Glasses” by Ava Gili, touches on the idea of the ephemeral. The article is a reflection of the memories and legacy of TWU’s once-mandatory Community Covenant and its impact on queer students and alumni. The article shows that, even when something has passed into memory, it does not mean that its impact has gone.
As always, this issue of Mars’ Hill is loaded with fantastic articles from the opening headline of News to the last words of Humour. In News, contributor Sophie Holland writes an excellent analysis of seasonal affective disorder in university students. In Sports, Bailey Froese makes their section debut with a breakdown of Super Bowl LII. Lastly, in Humour, contributor James Vandermuelen introduces a new chapel subscription service being rolled out by the administration.
This issue was a joy to craft with this team. I cannot wait for you to read it.
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.
WRITERS
Hannah Gallandt
Sophie Holland
Bret van den Brink
James Vandermuelen
Marissa Welch
PHOTOS
Grace Schouten, pg. 1
Kristen Washburn/TWUSA, pg. 6
Spartans Athletics, pg. 15
Mars’ Hill is a student publication of Trinity Western University located on the traditional ancestral territory of the Stó:lō people. Floated with funds raised by the Student Association, Mars’ Hill seeks to be a professional and relevant student publication, reflecting and challenging the TWU community, while intentionally addressing local, national, and international issues
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, the Statement of Faith, the Student Handbook, 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.
Too scared to ask out that hot girl from Rels class? Have a thought you’re dying to share? Did a professor say something strange or funny? Do you have some information that you want to get out to the student body? Whatever it is, the declassifieds are here for you.
Submit yours at www.marshillnewspaper.com/declassifieds
IM IN LOVE!!!
“Can’t be spicy under this regime” - my fav professor (don’t want to be too spicy and say who)
Who is dis Casper guy, He is Wierd. Dont believe me????
-Casper
This valentine’s day look for purpose and not a girl to propose.
be friends with me on my singing monsters
Easy way to get your $75 back: steal silent disco headphones
I still don’t get why TWU does not have an interfaith program. Learning how to live well within religious diversity has to be taken more seriously. #StatsCan
#Alumni2018
A million stars will lead me home to you, Through the desert and the darkest blue. I’ll do it all, make all our dreams come true, Tell me how I could use a wish right now?
“I need to sweat”-Berke Picasso I like it
Why did I take an at class :( (Seth please insert a fun emoji)
Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh-
hhhh
Me when, me when, me when you and your, me when
Me when cows make a very mooving speech
When my keyboard go clickety clackety, my mental health drippity droppity
I hope that Bret guy writes about Puss in Boots for next issue.
It’s always Yee-Haw and never Haw-Yee
Please let me graduate, I beg of you
Messages have to be kept to 280 characters? How very bold of you to try and limit my declassified prowess. You cannot stop me, my words are long and my messages lengthy. I am inevitable, Thanos wishes he could be me because of how cool I am. I will breeze past your puny character limit so far that you will scream in agony. My crimes are many and my mercies are few. I will never be cut off; in fact, I dare you to cut me off, I dare you to look me in the eyes and delete my declassified.
Editor’s Note: The previous two declassifieds were split from one original submission to avoid going over Mars’ Hills’s 280 character limit for declassified submissions.
Seth what is your favourite type of pizza?
Editor’s note: A good pizza. -Seth
The Bing Chilling Boys is a slept on Boy Band name 3 hour classes are the bane of my exsistence
Legend has it that Maddy McMillan’s great-grand-pappy gave her the keys to the pearly gates of Trinity.
Those three roommates running for twusa rub me the wrong way…
Please kindly stop putting your dirty shoes and smelly feet on furniture around campus. Have some respect, this isn’t your living room.
Everyone always ask when is Mars’ Hill but no one ever ask how is Mars’ Hill
*jazz music stops*
TWUSA ran out of hot chocolate, this is the real election issue
I would kill to have a fjord running right through the middle of campus
the only ppl I would trust with the burden of the defunct twu match is mars’ hill. Get on that dating advice
column
Editor’s note: Time to bring back the she-vangelist and himnal? -Seth
Normalize ending 3 hour classes early
FNED shall perish under the weight of his nemesis FJORD
All hail FJORD
Hot take: campus needs more fjords
Anybody know the what a long, deep, narrow body of water that reaches far inland would be called?
Fjord
Can we talk about oxbow lakes for a second? Unreal
Am I submitting water themed declassifieds because Seth says we need more? Maybe. Do I still think it’s hilarious? Once again maybe Pond would be cooler if it was a moat Lagoons are in the top 10 best ways to store water for sure
Why don’t we be friends to lovers
Sodexo food this month has me thinking about f—ing suicide mane tf, no food anywhere should do this to somebody
This is for seth and seth only. How do I get a boyfriend?
FACTS! COP27 (in person) is contributing to climate change by getting activists to fly non-electric planes twusa retreat wild
Apply for Mars’ Hill 2023/2024!
Andrew bouchard, you are the most attractive man I’ve ever seen
could go for some borsht rn fr
I am too scared to ask out that hot girl from rels class One TWU stories night!
March 3! 7:00 PM! Fort Langley Community Hall!
Never mind! It sold out! Shout out to local news coverage!
Is there something going on with Steven and Naomi? I saw them walking together one night and I swear I saw sparks flying [yellow sparkle emoji]
Puss in boots this, puss in boots that. when are these kids going to be puss-ing their trust in Jesus?
De-Classified or declassified?
Next time I see Mars’ Hill spelt as “Mars Hill” or “Marshill,”, I’m gonna puke many waters cannot quench love
Honestly hating the $30,000 a year school you go to doesn’t make you quirky. Stfu we are all privileged to go here.
Great that the library has featured titles about Black History, yet why was the display moved out of sight and their book sale featured? This is the wrong message. Does not show compassion or interest. Do better!
Say their names! Acknowledge their contribution to the TWU community instead of burying their existence. Allyson Jule, Sonia Grypma, Jenn Skelding, Adrienne Castello…there are many more female faculty who have left under the current administration.
Call your mom. Tell her I love her.
Jeff Gibbons is the best professor on campus
TWU is happy to take your money, but then goes about erasing student’s exist. does anyone have a recording of the 2022 commencement speech? asking for research purposes. send to the One TWU instagram pls & thank you
Why does that one white girl wear braids and get away with it?
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
TIL that Trinity has a subreddit. Check out r/twu Crap’s about to hit the fan. The pen is mightier than the sword... and considerably easier to write with.
The problem with political jokes is that they always seem to get elected.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready... IT’S MIDTERM STRESS TIME!
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
Allow me to introduce myself, my name is mud.
SEND HOOK!
It’s March, you know what that means.
Oh (bleep). Another epic fail...
Mars’ Hill reserves the right to edit or reject submissions based on content and/or length. A printed submission does not reflect an endorsement of any kind, nor does it reflect the opinions of Mars’ Hill or its staff, the student association, or Trinity Western University.
When I was asked to create a piece of art centred on the word “ephemeral,” my mind was immediately drawn to the traditional art practice of vanitas . The purpose of vanitas art, an artistic form popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, was to remind the viewer of their own mortality, so they would not forget the transient nature of all things.
When creating this piece, I considered what symbols and objects were traditionally common in vanitas, and bubbles are often portrayed. This is because they are one of the most delicate and ephemeral things in existence. They are here one moment and gone the next. With that as my starting point, I created an image of a girl blowing bubbles, while she simultaneously turns to bubbles as well. The girls and the bubbles are beginning to shatter. Their time here is short and will not last.
Talia Wollf is a second-year Art & Design student. She comes alive when she creates art and hopes to one day have a career in illustration.
One TWU’s annual student and alumni stories event is happening off of Trinity Western University’s campus this year, despite being able to hold the event on campus previously. After the group submitted their request for a space to hold their event, the university declined it. The group had been able to hold similar events on TWU’s Langley campus since One TWU was founded in 2014.
“We’re sharing our stories, which I think should be a non-controversial thing,” said Carter Sawatzky, the co-leader of One TWU, in an interview with Langley Advance Times
One TWU is an independent group that advocates for greater inclusion and support for LGBTQ+ students at TWU. The group was founded in 2014 and is comprised of LGBTQ+ students, alumni, and allies of TWU. Since 2019, One TWU has been barred from displaying permanent posters that advertise its services and resources on campus.
The stories event, titled “If Only You Knew,” is a time of sharing and the presentation of testimonies from various members of One TWU’s community. One TWU describes the event as “an evening of stories, [where] queer students and alumni reflect on the joys, the sorrows, and the laughter of being queer or allies at TWU and what they’ve learned since.”
Tickets are available for free and the event is open to anyone who wishes to attend—whether connected to TWU’s community or not.
The event is scheduled for March 3 and was originally going to be held at St. George’s Anglican Church in
Fort Langley. However, due to high ticket demand, the event has been moved to the Fort Langley Community Hall. On February 22, the event sold out in-person, although tickets to attend via a live stream are still available.
“A lot of people come to TWU and have never heard an LGBTQ story,” Sawatzky said, stressing the importance of One TWU’s story night. “They’ve never heard different perspectives around [the] LGBTQ community, around queer people. And so for some people, this event on campus is one of the first times that they can hear the lived experience from the words of the people themselves, not from a secondary source of someone saying that they’re going to hell, that God hates them, that they have dignity. They have their own lives.”
media. Some are directed towards the administration while others address the community at large, offering words of encouragement.
One such supporter was Jared Barkman, an alumnus of TWU and the president of TWUSA for the 2017/2018 school year. “I am deeply disturbed to see the way that the voices of LGBTQIA2S+ students are being stifled at TWU,” Barkman wrote in a message to One TWU. “I have seen many faith-based organizations successfully embrace inclusion and display unconditional hospitality. At present, TWU is the antithesis of this.”
“Truth is not divisive,” wrote Chrisaleen Ciro, another alumnus of TWU and a former Editor-in-Chief of Mars’ Hill. “Empathy is not scary. Accountability is not disrespect. Tenderness is not a threat.”
“It’s not a contradiction,” said Sawatzky. “You can be queer and Christian.”
One TWU’s story has garnered media attention with Global BC and CBC having picked up the story.
When One TWU shared their difficult experiences of trying to find a space for the stories event on social media, they were met with a flurry of supportive messages from alumni, faculty, and other community members, which One TWU has shared on their social
TThe conflict between Israel and Palestine may be one of the most underreported and misunderstood geopolitical clashes of the last half-century. Ever since Britain’s decolonization of Palestine, the region has been defined by a struggle for both territorial and religious primacy. Seventy-four percent of the populations in the occupied Israel territory is Jewish, while 85 percent of the Palestinian land is Muslim.
Friday, January 27, a Palestinian gunman killed seven and injured at least three Israeli civilians outside a synagogue in Neve Yaakov, an Israeli settlement in the Northeastern part of Jerusalem. According to the police, the 21-year-old suspect was shot and killed after a brief chase, and over 40 people have now been arrested under suspicion of connection to the shooter.
Saturday, January 28, a separate attack left two wounded, after a 13-year-old boy opened fire just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Police say that after being “neutralized” and taken into custody, the boy was also identified as a Palestinian.
In response to the two attacks, Israeli authorities have positioned officers from a counter-terrorism unit “permanently” in the Jerusalem area to “promptly respond to exceptional events whenever necessary.” Jerusalem is an internationally disputed territory between Israel and Palestine.
Many believe that the two shootings came as retaliation for Israel’s deadly raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on January 26. Ten Palestinians were killed, including an elderly woman, after dozens of Israeli soldiers attacked a house. In a separate incident that day, a 22-year-old Palestinian man was shot by Israeli forces in the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem. Israel had also launched multiple air attacks on the Gaza Strip overnight. Local sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera that Israeli warplanes hit the alMaghazi refugee camp in the center of the territory, with at least 13 attacks by the early hours of Friday.
When their story about One TWU’s event was published on February 16, Langley Advance Times was unable to receive comment from TWU’s administration, despite multiple attempts at reaching out. Mars’ Hill reached out to TWU administration for comment via email on February 17, February 21, and February 24 and via phone on February 22 and February 24. At the time of publication, we have received no statement from the university.
The conflict flared again, not even a month later, when Israeli forces raided an apartment building in the West Bank city of Nabluson on February 22, leaving 11 Palestinians dead and more than 80 hospitalized. The ages of the victims ranged from 16 to 72.
The Israeli army said that the raid was targeting suspected terrorists in a hideout apartment, while Palestinian official Hussein al Sheikh declared the event a “massacre” and called for “international protection of our people”. Israel has continuously sent raids and bombings to populated areas both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip due to what they call suspicions of terrorist hideouts and weapons manufacturing.
The White House has not been shy to express its strategic partnership with Israel, even selling them $735 million worth of weaponry in 2021. It then comes as no surprise that Western media has consistently favoured the side of Israel and has made out the Palestinians to seem like terrorists. But there is no innocent side in this war, with tens of thousands of lives being lost, the vast majority of which have been Palestinian. While numerous efforts have been made in the past half-century to stop this dispute, developments over the weekend of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as the February 22 raid have surely added more fuel to the fire.
The Economist has called the conflict between Israel and Palestine the “unholy war of the holy land.”
“For some people, this event on campus is one of the first times that they can hear the lived experience from the words of the people themselves.”
-Carter Sawatzky
“But there is no innocent side in this war, with tens of thousands of lives being lost, the vast majority of which have been Palestinian.”
On Monday, February 13, we received the exciting news that Mars’ Hill had been nominated for two John H. McDonald Awards for Excellence in Student Journalism. The news took us quite by surprise when Sports Editor Julianne Jones brought it up toward the end of our weekly meeting. We raced over to the Canadian University Press (CUP) website and were thrilled to see Mars’ Hill Newspaper listed among the nominees.
The JHM Awards—also known as the “Johnnies”— are presented every year by the CUP, a national cooperative made up of student newspapers all across Canada. Mars’ Hill was nominated alongside many other publications like the University of Alberta’s The Gateway, Toronto Metropolitan University’s The Eyeopener, and the University of British Columbia’s The Ubyssey. We sent in several submissions to the JHM awards in late 2022 from issues of Mars’ Hill published throughout 2022. In the end, two Mars’ Hill articles were shortlisted
for awards. Bailey Froese’s piece “I Am the BeReal Man” (featured in volume 27, issue 4) was nominated for the Humour Award. Carter Sawatzy’s piece “Was It Something I Said?” (featured in volume 26, issue 10) was nominated for the Feature Writing Award (under $75k category).
The winners were announced on Saturday, February 18, at the CUP’s annual NASH conference. This year’s conference was hosted by McMaster University’s The Silhouette in Hamilton, Ontario. While we lost the humour award to The Ubyssey, we did win the Feature Writing Award.
“I think this is the biggest honour I’ve received for my writing since my Grade 7 public speaking trophy, so I’m overjoyed,” Bailey said about their nomination. “It’s a sign that I need to keep writing, and if you too would like to receive a similar honour, I encourage you to apply for an editorial position here at Mars’ Hill. We don’t have cookies, but someone brought us cinnamon buns once.”
Those cinnamon buns were courtesy of Student Life early in the Fall semester.
“I’m incredibly honoured to receive the JHM award for feature writing,” said Carter about their win. “Dr. Allyson Jule’s story deserves to be heard, and I’m glad I could do it the justice it deserved and break the news of how TWU is pushing out brilliant, smart, inspiring queer-allied faculty like her. Dr. Jule deserved better. So many faculty at TWU deserve better.”
It is an absolute pleasure to have been considered for the JHM awards this year. We are incredibly thankful to the Canadian University Press for nominating our publication and highlighting the work done by past and present members of Mars’ Hill. We have not taken this lightly, especially considering all of the other excellent and important student journalism being done all across the country.
On February 3, a train derailed in Ohio, U.S.A., spilling toxic chemicals over the surrounding area, which lead to an investigation into the safety protocols of the Norfolk Southern Corporation and more broadly, the rail industry.
In East Palestine, Ohio, a wheel bearing on a rail car carrying plastic pellets began to overheat. The train passed two wayside defect detectors without an alarm being set off, but when it reached a third detector, the temperature had reached 253 F (approximately 122 C) above the ambient temperature, which triggered the alarm.
The threshold for triggering the detector was 170 F above ambient temperature, which Norfolk Southern claims is one of the lowest in the industry. While inspectors have not found any issues with these detectors, it is possible that if a detector was placed earlier on the track, the derailment could have been prevented. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is now investigating the company for their use of, including the placement and threshold of, these detectors.
While it is unclear what exactly caused the faulty wheel bearing and subsequent derailment, there is no evidence that it is the fault of the train crew. Immediately following the alarm, the crew began to brake the train. Unfortunately, at this point, the wheel bearing failed and an emergency brake was required to stop the train.
One possible cause lies in Norfolk Southern’s priorities – a railroad worker’s union has criticized the company, saying that they emphasize speed over safety.
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, called the derailment “100 per cent preventable” and said that “We call things accidents—there is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable.” She believes it is unclear at this point what the best solution would be moving forward: “It could be regulation changes. It could be recommendations to Norfolk Southern, to the Department of Transportation or to rail car manufacturers or to emergency responders. But again, it’s too early to tell.” The NTSB is conducting a full investigation, but that could take 12 to 18 months to complete.
ditches to contain the vinyl chloride while it vaporized and burned.
The spill contaminated nearby waterways and killed over 40,000 fish and other aquatic life. The contaminants have been contained as of February 23 and authorities say that the air quality and water supply are safe. However, residents of the surrounding area have reported health problems, including nausea, bloody noses, and vomiting. Some residents have sued Norfolk Southern and there have been calls for the rail company to buy the homes of residents who feel unsafe living in the affected area.
The derailment happened near Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania and the effects spread to that state, with some residents given an evacuation order. The state’s attorney general’s office is looking into a criminal referral against Norfolk Southern, and Ohio might follow suit.
The EPA has ordered that Norfolk Southern must completely clean up the wreck and outlined certain actions that must be included in that process. However, residents have been skeptical of the clean-up efforts, in part because of potential soil contamination, since soil removal was not listed among completed clean-up activities in a document sent to the EPA on February 10.
Ultimately, 38 cars derailed, including 11 that contained hazardous materials that ignited fires, which then damaged 12 more cars that hadn’t derailed. Five cars were carrying vinyl chloride, a highly flammable substance that can increase cancer risk. While the vinyl chloride did not spill initially upon the derailment, the temperature inside the cars that held it was increasing and raising the risk for an explosion. The rail company chose a controlled release, digging
While the cleanup is underway, it is possible that the region has only begun to feel the effects of the disaster. Environmentalist Erin Brockovich believes as much, saying that “These chemicals are going to mitigate through the system for decades” and arguing that the long-term impacts may not be understood for years to come.
“Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, called the derailment “100 per cent preventable” and said that “We call things accidents—there is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable.””
Editor’s note: This piece was originally written for MCOM 452 - Feature Writing with professor Loranne Brown in the Fall 2022 semester.
As the temperature drops, the leaves fall, and the days grow shorter, many people have every reason to feel gloomier than usual.
“It’s harder to get yourself to do the things that you typically would when the sun’s up at six, it’s warm outside, and you don’t have to put on thirteen layers to get from here to there,” said Sarah, a fourth-year university student (whose real name is not provided as per her request). “It’s dark, and I’m already not a morning person, so that doesn’t help.”
Sarah is a psychology major at Trinity Western University (TWU). She is passionate about her field of study and works as a student leader on campus. However, for many college students like Sarah, depression and anxiety show up regularly in life. This is a foreseeable circumstance when it comes to university due to demanding academics and, for many, the transition from living at home to living far away.
“It’s a tug-of-war situation, especially when you’re dealing with both anxiety and depression at the same time,” Sarah said. “I have the anxiety that tells me, ‘you need to run to the library and print this and do that’ and there’s the other part of me that’s like, ‘how important is this morning class?’ It feels like you’re fighting yourself, trying to keep up with the norm of what you think society wants of you.”
among students during these times.
“It’s a time where students who, maybe, if it wasn’t as apparent that they were struggling, those struggles become a bit more obvious,” Lepp said. “I think you start to see people’s behaviour changes, their patterns change. Student development, student mental health can feel very nebulous. It’s like this big ocean. Some people are struggling, not everybody’s struggling in the same way.”
Lepp, who has worked previously as a registered nurse in TWU’s Wellness Centre, said the campus clinic experiences an increase in clients when it comes to exam seasons, but campus itself experiences a lull around this time.
“One of the things I’ve already noticed this year is that campus is quieter. When I came on [to campus] I was able to find a parking spot the easiest I’ve ever found on a Monday,” she said.
Though seasonal depression can come out of nowhere, it can also be predictable and rhythmic for some students. When it comes to tackling SAD, Lepp encourages students to seek out mental health resources available to them and to know their own mental health patterns.
“As soon as you start doing something, it’s responsive. It won’t fix it all at once, but it builds. The little baby steps do make a difference with seasonal affective disorder,” Lepp said. “I’m a parent of a toddler now. I’ve never left my house in the last two years without nine thousand things that I might need––usually because I left the house once without them and learned the lesson! It is a tried-and-true rule that you need to plan for some of these things in your life and think through it. Even though it’s not always fun, it sets you up a lot better in the moment.”
With such a prevalent mental health issue affecting college students, it can often feel overwhelming. Students may feel hopeless, like there is nothing they can do in these seasons.
Fortunately, there are many solutions when it comes to student mental health. Affordable and confidential counselling services are available at TWU and most other university campuses in British Columbia.
the campus clinic and above the student association lounge, The Well is a convenient space where students can come to rest and recharge between classes. The Well started at TWU in 2017 and has been in operation since.
The Well is an intentionally quiet space, so the buzz of conversation does not distract students from taking even a tiny chunk of time to rest. It is also homework-free and technology-free zone. Laptops, phones, and textbooks must be left at the door, which intentionally encourages students to take time for themselves. Sarah said she appreciates the homework and technology-free policy of The Well, as it eliminates the very causes of her stress.
The Canadian Mental Health Association estimates two to three per cent of Canadians will experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in their lifetime, and those with SAD make up 10 per cent of total depression cases. SAD is a form of depression identified by many of the same symptoms, such as poor sleeping patterns, withdrawal from activities once enjoyed, and feeling anxious or on edge. According to TimelyMD, SAD is connected to a lack of Vitamin D due to limited daylight hours, which causes a chemical imbalance in the brain. This makes SAD “particularly troublesome for college students,” as this is a time in their lives when their routines change. Rather than getting the recommended amount of sleep, many post-secondary students will “stay up to study or socialize.” This can dramatically throw off a student’s schedule and make it more challenging to get the amount of Vitamin D they need. On top of this, the stress of lengthy papers, rigorous exams, and tight deadlines can increase the likelihood of developing SAD.
The increase of depression, anxiety, and stress among college students during the winter months and exam seasons is visible to campus staff.
Taryne Lepp, the Director of Community Wellness and Senior HealthAdvisor at TWU, notices how these patterns of seasonal depression and anxiety increase
TWU’s Wellness Centre offers support groups each semester, designed for students with various mental health concerns, from depression and anxiety to eating disorders and body image struggles. These confidential groups are facilitated by registered clinical counsellors as well as supervised counselling interns from TWU’s Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MA CPSY) program.
Since mental health is unique to every individual, there are many artistic outlets for students to pursue in order to approach mental health issues such as SAD. Zach, a second-year TWU student, said he prefers to cope with these feelings through his craft of filmmaking.
“I was raised in ‘solitude means strength,’” Zach said. “I used to internalize everything and process it that way, but that got really destructive really fast. I adapted to it and tried several different processes. The one I find works most well would be averting my attention to something creative––filmmaking. When I’m creating scenes, developing ways to move the camera, I’m channelling my energy and any negative feelings into those scenes, doing something productive. No matter what kind of depression it is, there’s no single one way to approach it or process it. Everybody’s different.”
In addition to its nurses, physicians, and mental health services, the TWU Wellness Centre also offers a relaxing space known to students as The Well. Located in the Douglas Hall residence building, next to
“It’s almost like you’re constantly on a treadmill with anxiety. Going into The Well, I could step off the treadmill and give myself a fifteen-minute break before getting back on,” she said.
The Well offers many outlets for relaxation, including weighted blankets, massage chairs, colouring, sensory toys, Play-Doh, books, puzzles, and more. These activities give students a chance to take a break from their crazy schedules and recharge, focus on something creative, or even take the chance to play. Students with SAD may find The Well to be a particularly uplifting space during the darker months, as it features a mood lamp––a lamp designed specifically to help with SAD––and a cozy fireplace.
“There’s actually a lot of really good pieces in there,” said Sarah. “All the things that are in there are there with a lot of intent and purpose, and I think that sometimes we forget the practical [use for] it. I’ve used weighted blankets only once or twice––I don’t have one myself––but this calms me down so much.
Through counselling and processing, a change in perspective and a practice of gratitude can also help students cope with seasonal depression and anxiety. While it might be easier said than done, it is possible. Sarah also said that she tries to change her perspective during stressful times and that this helps her stay motivated.
“I try to treat myself like I would treat someone else, to put myself outside of myself,” Sarah said. “If my friend got 100 per cent on a test that I know they’ve been struggling with, then I’d be like, ‘Oh, let’s go and get a celebratory coffee.’ I do that for myself. I try to celebrate the little things to keep me motivated because there’s so much in life that will get me down.”
“I have the anxiety that tells me, ‘you need to run to the library and print this and do that’ and there’s the other part of me that’s like, ‘how important is this morning class?’ It feels like you’re fighting yourself, trying to keep up with the norm of what you think society wants of you.”
-Sarah
“Fortunately, there are many solutions when it comes to student mental health. Affordable and confidential counselling services are available at TWU and most other university campuses in British Columbia.”
I asked students to write on vision boards with questions relating to my three campaign promises. The questions were “How TWUSA can be more intentional?” “What opportunities TWUSA can provide for you?” and “How TWUSA can create more community on campus?” I got more feedback than I ever could have hoped for—feedback that will shape what the TWUSA team does for the student association next year.
The number one idea throughout all three vision boards was for TWUSA to host a campus-wide Prom. Many students did not get the opportunity for prom because of COVID-19 or because it was not a big deal in their high school.
“The mission of the Trinity Western University Student Association is to promote a maturing and active commitment to Jesus Christ among its members: challenging one another spiritually, socially, and intellectually; providing individuals with opportunities for involvement; and positively impacting the life of the university and the community at large.”
What I see here are two amazing organizations that have the same interest at heart: the students.
To all Trinity Western University Students, Thank you.
Thank you to voters from the faculties of Education, Business, Nursing, SAMC, HKIN, FNAS, the Humanities, and the Social Sciences for your votes and your voices. You have given me the chance to serve you next year through the position of TWUSA President.
I will make sure that your voices are heard.
I based my campaign on student input. For three days, during lunch and dinner outside the main café,
AUDREY Vice President-electMy goal for next year is to host this TWUSA Prom. The ticket sales will go towards fundraising for a chapel to be built on campus. I am currently in the process of planning the TWUSA Prom with my fellow TWUSA Executives.
To all Trinity Western University Staff, “The mission of Trinity Western University, as an arm of the Church, is to develop godly Christian leaders: positive, goal-oriented university graduates with thoroughly Christian minds; growing disciples of Jesus Christ who glorify God through fulfilling the Great Commission; and serving God and people in the various marketplaces of life.”
Vice President of Finance-electIf my business courses have taught me anything, it is that a mission statement is a promise that an organization makes to the outside world. If a promise is made, it must be kept. (Woah, Jeremy, is that a campaign slogan reference? Yes. Yes, it is.) The TWUSA team will achieve its mission statement. The TWUSA team is here to voice any and all student concerns, compliments, or feedback.
We are excited and looking forward to working with the faculty throughout the next year. We are looking forward to the great year of collaboration and communication that is to come.
Carpe diem, Jeremy Joosten, 2023/2024 TWUSA President Vice President of Academic Relations-elect
Vice President of Student Relations-elect
I am pleased and honoured to be your next TWUSA Vice President and for Mars’ Hill giving me this opportunity to address you all! As VP, my job is to provide you with agency. My privilege is to support your TWUSA team and to ensure our policies and people are pursuing your ends.
While my mind, hands, and feet are itching to get started serving this community, I realize that my job is to first listen. Already this year my work has been shaped by ordinary conversation. I am thankful to individuals like Markus who I met on a bus in January and who sparked getting commuters access to resident buildings. I am thankful to the members of the Catholic Pacific College and One TWU who were willing to entrust me with their experience at TWU. And I am thankful to all those who I hope will feel comfortable moving forward to come and talk to myself and to my team and allow us into your TWU experience and learn how we can better serve you. With grace and love.
Hi everyone, I am honoured and happy to be your VP of Finance for TWUSA next year! Thank you for all of your votes. I cannot wait to work with my team and every department associated with TWUSA. As promised, I will manage all the budgets and numbers well so that you can have a memorable school year next year. I hope to see you at some point in the TWUSA lounge next year!
My name is Maki Yimer, and I am a second-year nursing student. I was born and raised in Ethiopia. I have loved my experience as a TWU student and student leader so far. I have had the privilege of serving in the Intercultural Programming Club, assisting as a Community Life Trinity Commons Assistant, and this year, being the nursing faculty representative on TWUSA. I am more than excited and honoured to be serving as your next VPAR.
As VPAR, I will be working in close relation with the executive team, sitting on the undergraduate council of the university, and will be leading a team of students representing each of their different faculties. Some of my initiatives for the coming year include working on issues regarding library and Learning Commons hours, helping ease the transfer credit process, increasing student participation in clubs and extracurricular activities, and creating internship opportunities for students in their respective fields.
Hello everyone, my name is Marko Zolotarov! I am a Ukrainian second-year education student. Being your TWUSA VPSR for the 2023/2024 year is an honour.
After studying at TWU for almost two years, I can confidently say that you and I are truly blessed to be here because of the excellent education and, most importantly, the amazing people we can meet and become friends with. I hope we can all agree that TWU has an amazing and unique community.
As my role is to be the bridge between the students and community life, I want your university experience to be the best one.
One of my goals for the upcoming year is to systemize communication between different departments and communities that are represented on campus so that it is inclusive. I am at work developing ideas, and if you have ideas or want to ask about mine, connect with me, and we will chat over coffee.
Love & peace.
Iam about to graduate.
The entry class of 2019 was the last one before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were the last to experience a truly “normal” pre-pandemic fall semester. I have spent four years at TWU now, trying to soak up the typical college experience and all that it entails.
I was not involved in anything in my first year. I was too scared to make any big moves because I was worried about making mistakes while trying to figure everything out. I eventually volunteered to help run sound for chapel, but that was a mostly solitary experience. I joined no clubs, went to no events, and generally spent most of my time just trying to survive. The COVID-19 pandemic changed many things, and I found myself regretting the self-imposed solitude of my first year. I found out through hard experience that the only way to truly become connected is to care.
I needed to care enough to show up to club events, say hello to people when I saw them, and volunteer for things. It went against my natural impulse to simply disappear into the background, but it truly works. The best part is that I found I did not need to care all that much. Before joining the Mars’ Hill team, I was a casual reader of the paper; I had written a few articles out of an interest in writing rather than some calling to be a journalist. I applied for my position
simply because I thought I might be able to do it. I only cared enough to fill out what I thought to be an overly long application. Yet that was enough.
platitude about making friends or connecting. Especially at TWU, we extol the virtue of being in a close community, but we never tell people how to create a community. We are told that TWU is different because of its community while ignoring the truth that community comes from people rather than a place. The way to community, to connection, and to long lasting bonds is to care. It is to watch your friends perform on jazz nights, accept invitations to events (even when they start at 10 p.m.), and to care just an iota about something. It is not always better nor does it magically make life less lonely, but it does make life just a little more worthwhile. The worst thing we can do is go from class to class and job to job without caring about anything.
The true crux of the matter is that someone needs to care. If there is no one to care about the paper or the club or the event, it all falls apart. Someone has to keep things going to establish those connections. The best and most beautiful thing about our university experience is that nothing is truly inevitable—except perhaps foundations courses. We can choose to change our major, to take a gap year, to attend for 10 years, or to eat ramen for every meal. Yet the best thing we can choose to do is to care.
The thought of “yeah, I could probably do this” was imminently more powerful to me than any sort of
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, did it really fall? If an opinion is expressed in the newspaper and no one reads it, does it really matter? The stories we tell live on again in the reader, thereby having a second life. The newspaper may be temporary, but can student journalism transcend from the page into a second life?
The word ephemeral means to last only for a short time, or in other words, to be temporary or fleeting. It is why theatre is known as the ephemeral art, the mayfly as the ephemeral insect, and perhaps most apt, paper, as defined by Talia Schaffer, “the medium of permanence and ephemerality at once.”
Many writers are familiar with the “second life” that stories take on after they are told, in which their existence lies in the work’s impact on the reader. As print journalism becomes an ephemera, the second life of stories matters even more so as tangibility fades. Many newspapers have made the digital transition to online readership. It is the most easily accessible journalistic resource of the 21st century and reaches
a larger audience than the papers fresh off the press. While I prefer to read a physical copy, I just love to read above all else, so I will take it in any form I can find.
ly admitting to not having even opened the cover, or at best, skimming the Declassifieds. But the stories we tell can live past the faded ink and creased pages. Their impact has permanence, found in the lasting tug of heartstrings, lingering questions, or a smile of satisfaction.
At the heart of journalism is the story. The power of the narrative in this paper—however long it remains running—is that its ephemerality cannot define its value. We are all made up of stories, regardless of whether or not we decide to share them. The first copy right off the printer can never be replicated again, but its short-lasting beauty is treasured all the same. By connecting us to our community, student journalism can transcend into a second life, defying all impermanence.
Unfortunately, the ephemerality of the newspaper does no good for student journalists, nor journalism alike. It can become easy to be discouraged when overhearing students discussing Mars’ Hill and open-
“But the stories we tell can live past the faded ink and creased pages. Their impact has permanence, found in the lasting tug of heart strings, lingering questions, or a smile of satisfaction.”
“The way to community, to connection, and to long lasting bonds is to care. It is to watch your friends perform on jazz nights, accept invitations to events (even when they start at 10 p.m.), and to care just an iota about something. It is not always better nor does it magically make life less lonely, but it does make life just a little more worthwhile.”
Your least favourite politician is probably not as stupid as you think they are. World leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Justin Trudeau are all high-profile and high-controversy figures. It is important that I make a clear distinction between being stupid and cruel. In no way is this article a defense of the crimes and wicked deeds committed by some of these people. What it is, however, is a recognition that the media only shows us the tip of the iceberg of what happens inside the most influential offices in the world. Most of what is shown to the public has been carefully calculated, planned, and scripted by the hundreds of people working around these leaders. It is most likely that we are rarely conveyed a truly authentic message, and in most cases, the headlines, interviews, press conferences, and conventions are delivering a message distant from reality.
Let us begin by examining Donald Trump. Outspoken, unapologetic, a large personality, and a terrible liar are some of the words used to describe Trump. While his character, integrity, and even political skill can be called under question, his fittedness to be the presidential candidate for the Republican Party in 2016 cannot. Trump is a man who seemingly climbed the financial ladder by himself and lived out the “American Dream” to become a highly successful self-made billionaire. That persona is exactly what the GOP needed in a presidential candidate, and his ability to stay in character was what pulled right-wing Americans off their couches and into the voting booths in 2016.
As a former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin is a master of deceit, evasion, and sabotage. Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote that any means to gain power are justifiable. Putin took that advice to heart and was not only able to grasp power in 2000 but has managed to keep it indefinitely; political analysts predict that he will stay head of the Kremlin until 2036. Putin, much like Trump, pretends to be a man of the people. He has previously shown off his Judo skills, participated in environmental work in Siberia, and done firefighting work. Even the Kremlin’s official website has posted pictures of him fishing and riding horseback to make him seem like a commoner. Why would Putin engage in any sort of physical activity common to Russians, when instead he could spend time at his $1.4 billion “palace,” which is
rumoured to include a casino, a spa, Turkish baths, a hookah bar, and even a pole-dancing room? Meanwhile 12 per cent of Russians live below the poverty line.
A hereditary prince is one who did not come into power through his own will but rather inherited through his predecessors. In Machiavelli’s book The Prince, he argues that this is the easiest way to become a ruler and says that even a minimally competent individual can hold onto power through this method. Can you think of any minimally competent, hereditary princes in power today? Justin Trudeau, much like Donald Trump, was never admired for his political skills or his leadership abilities. He was simply the perfect fit as the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party in 2015. So while Trudeau’s childishness, poor policies, lavish vacations, and bad haircuts might justify calling him stupid, the Liberal Party and the people working around him must be given credit for winning their second consecutive federal election in 2021.
So the next time we see a politician doing something distasteful, it is not enough for us to call them stupid. It is our responsibility as citizens to do our own research to try to see through the fog of lies and propaganda to find their real motives. Because at the end of the day, most politicians are not trying to make our lives better; they are simply trying to hold onto power for as long as possible.
“So the next time we see a politician doing something distasteful, it is not enough for us to call them stupid. It is our responsibility as citizens to do our own research to try to see through the fog of lies and propaganda to find their real motives.”
Anya’s eyes widen as she stares down at the chapel speaker from the hard, plastic benches in the gymnasium bleachers. Did he really just say what she thought she heard?
Initially, the eleventh grader had been looking forward to hanging out with her friend Sierra and exploring the university her friend went to. Now, Anya’s not so sure. Is this what everybody here thought?
The speaker continues on, “You see, it’s a tough, on-going battle. One of my close friends—a strong believer in the word—his son just came out. Yes, it’s a tragedy. We can only pray for the day he finds his way back to God and the church.”
A sinking feeling slithers down Anya’s stomach. This is not a safe space.
Back at home later that night, during dinner, her parents ask the inevitable question: “How was your day?”
Resolve hardening, Anya stares down at her full plate of food, eyes burning.
“I am never going to Trinity Western University.”
Fast forward seven years later, Anya (she/they) is completing their third year of TWU’s nursing program. However, their initial qualms with TWU’s attitude towards—and interactions with—the queer community still stand. Since 2018, it is no longer mandatory for incoming students to sign the infamous Community Covenant. How has this decision changed the school’s environment in regard to LGBTQ+ members feeling accepted and free to be themselves on campus?
Listening to the different stories of older TWU
students who did sign the covenant compared to the experiences that new queer students are having on campus, it is clear that making the Community Covenant optional to sign was a progressive step in the right direction, but it was just that—the first step of a much longer journey.
TWU’s Community Covenant is a “contractual agreement and a relational bond” that outlines what a proper Christian community should look like on campus. It demonstrates how “to live according to biblical precepts” in order to “optimize the University’s capacity to fulfill its mission and achieve its aspirations.” Overall, it encourages members to pursue truth, treat everyone with respect, think critically and respond constructively to complex perspectives in the world.
The covenant’s stance becomes more controversial due to its definition of marriage; the document entails that individuals will abstain from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman.” Although this statement points towards TWU not being a safe space for members of the LGBTQ+ community, it is an undeniable fact that many queer students call TWU home. What is it that draws people from all walks of life to TWU in the first place?
It was the acclaim of TWU’s nursing program that won Anya over in the end. When they recall back to signing the covenant while first applying to the program in 2019, they did so with a heavy heart. Anya was not made aware of the policy change and recalls that it was still a part of the strenuous application process despite it no longer being mandatory. Putting their professional aspirations over their personal beliefs, Anya did not attach any meaning behind the action, saying, “I just closed my eyes while I signed it.”
The eventual journey that ended the mandatory signing of the Community Covenant began in 2012 when Trinity Western University announced its plans to establish a School of Law. After getting the proposal approved by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, TWU planned to welcome its first class of law students in the fall of 2015.
Plans came to an abrupt halt in April 2014 when the Law Society of Upper Canada (now the Law Society of Ontario) and the Nova Scotia Barristers Society voted to ban TWU graduates from practicing in their respective provinces. Unless TWU altered its conservative Christian view of marriage, the societies maintained that the Community Covenant was discriminatory towards the LGBTQ+ community, which would threaten the integrity of Canada’s legal system. Following in these law societies’ suit, the Law Society of British Columbia reversed its initial accreditation in September 2014.
In response, TWU took the three societies to their prospective provincial courts in 2015, stating the societies were infringing on the right to freedom of religion. The Nova Scotia and British Columbia courts ruled in favour of TWU, stating that the denial of accreditation was unreasonably based on a
lack of evidence. However, the Ontario court ruled in favour of the law society, stating that the society was upholding the right to equality and was not infringing on freedoms of expression or association.
The Ontario and B.C. rulings were appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada and appeared in court on November 30 and December 1, 2017. In June 2018, the highly anticipated debate between religious freedom and equality came to a head, as the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in favour of the law societies. Overall, the Supreme Court stated that it was within the public interest to ensure equal access to legal education and diversity in the legal profession. They maintained that the Community Covenant would deter LGBTQ+ students from attending TWU at best and pose a significant threat to their well-being at worst.
Two months later in August 2018, Robert Kuhn, the president at the time, released the decision that signing the Community Covenant would no longer be mandatory in following with the school’s “desire to maintain TWU as a thriving community of Christian believers that is inclusive of all students wishing to learn from a Christian viewpoint and underlying philosophy.” This decision was not made lightly, as opponents critiqued the decision as a shift away from the traditional values of Christianity, while supporters praised TWU’s openness to change.
The only way to truly understand the effect the Community Covenant had on students is to ask them directly.
In comparison, when Morgan Ross* (they/them) came to TWU in 2021 from the U.S., they had never heard of the Community Covenant. Admitting that they wore rose-coloured glasses for the majority of their first semester, it was not until they applied for a leadership position for their second year that they became aware of the covenant’s existence.
While they do not have a problem following the stipulations of the covenant due to their asexuality, they take issue with its pointed implications. Ross sees the love TWU extends to its students as contradictory to the unconditional love and forgiveness of Jesus, saying, “You have a lot of buts attached to your love.
‘I love you, but . . .’” Instead of a document that lists the specific dos and don’ts of Christian living, Ross would love to see the covenant open a conversation about moral values: “What do you value? Why do you value it? How are you going to stand for this?”
also felt alone due to a fundamental lack of deeper understanding and reliability. One TWU was a venue to vent her righteous anger while also funnelling it more productively to create positive change. She figured she had nothing to lose by going but everything to gain.
Now, Rabanes describes One TWU as a metaphorical family, united by shared experiences. In addition to the organization’s three foundational pillars—educate, advocate, relate—Rabanes’ personal mission as a leader “is to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.” Her passion shines behind her eyes as she said, “I would put my whole career into [One TWU] if I could live off of it.”
TWU alumnus Ivon Hayes* (they/them) signed the covenant when they came to the school in 2017. While they admit there were some positive experiences seeing allyship on campus, they were few and far between. Mainly, Hayes felt like the TWU environment did its best to avoid mentioning LGBTQ+ topics; in turn, this erasure made them feel isolated from TWU’s well-touted community.
Hayes mentions that while the Community Covenant says it promotes the exploration of different worldviews in theory, in reality, the practice looks much different. “You have a certain number of pre-set conclusions you’re allowed to reach,” they said. “You’re allowed to think critically within this little box, but you’re not allowed to look back at the assumptions that start your thinking process.”
Looking back at their time at TWU, Hayes admits they probably would have come into their gender and sexual identity earlier with less pain if they had attended a different university. “Given who I was when I was 18, and where I was, I can’t even imagine myself picking [another university] even though a large part of me does regret picking [TWU] now.”
As someone who is non-binary, Ross comments that “it’s really weird having to figure out how much effort I want to put into living outside of the binary when everything at Trinity is so painfully binary.” They continue with a sigh, “It’s the little things that chip away. . . . It’s always guys and girls, husbands and wives, men and women of the church—and me somewhere in there.”
Across the board, it does seem to be TWU’s community and faith-based education that draws in the majority of its potential students. This appeal is no different when it comes to students who happen to be queer as well. The main difference is, however, that LGBTQ+ students need to put more time and energy into curating their own circles of community where they know it is safe to be their authentic selves.
One TWU is the grassroots, non-profit organization—which is independent from TWU—that offers support and community to queer students on campus. This club understands the hardships of identifying as queer in a religious institution and strives to create a safer space for queer students and alumni to exist, grow, and explore their gender, sexuality, and spiritual identities.
Queenie Rabanes (she/her), a co-leader of One TWU since 2019, first joined One TWU in 2016 in order to combat the steadily growing sense of isolation that she experienced during her first year at TWU. Although she felt loved by her friends, she
Rabanes reveals that One TWU has so much potential for growth and outreach; yet, she is frustrated by the opposition the club receives from TWU. The hardest part of being a leader is knowing that there are students struggling alone with no idea that One TWU exists. They are not a ratified club on campus, as one step in the ratification process includes disclosing the members of the club—a security risk One TWU leaders are skeptical of making. Therefore, with One TWU’s denial of ratification, TWU’s administration does not allow the organization to put up posters or freely advertise the club’s existence, which also aligns with the administration’s goal to
“You have a certain number of pre-set conclusions you’re allowed to reach . . . You’re allowed to think critically within this little box, but you’re not allowed to look back at the assumptions that start your thinking process.”
—Ivon Hayes
“It might be [that the administration] thinks they’re portraying strength and courage to stand by their beliefs despite these ‘crazy times,’ but what I think true strength and courage is—from my little experience—is opening up the portal to receiving criticism. That’s courageous right there because it’s hard.”
—Tausani Levale
Five years after the end of the mandatory signing of the community covenant, LGBTQ+ students and alumni reflect on its legacy, the current state of the university, and the progress they hope to see from TWU in the future.
not offend any students or parents who hold differing perspectives on the LGBTQ+ community.
“[TWU] sees us, but they don’t understand our mission,” Rabanes admits in a regretful tone. While progress has allowed One TWU a space at the table to share their thoughts and frustrations, Rabanes says the “margins are very, very small. . . . It’s only an attainable spot for people with a similar voice.” Operating under the assumption that their next move could be their last, One TWU functions within a sphere of tension in relation to the school: both want what is best for students but have drastically opposing views on what this end goal looks like and the means by which to achieve it.
One TWU challenges students to see the inherent human worth in everyone and the detrimental effects of homophobia. The future Rabanes dreams of seeing is one where TWU’s actions would follow its words and “would use [its] privilege and power to create an environment safe for those who are oppressed”—something many queer students think can be improved upon on campus. As evidenced by its past actions, Trinity Western University has the capability to enact change to prevent future hurts, which would hopefully help repair past harm that it has already caused. The question is will it? And what does this look like going forward?
Katie Smith* (she/her), a second-year English major, believes the answer lies in ending forced theology. Taking one step back to look at Christian history, it becomes evident that Christians do not agree on many points; however, there is always core dogma that unites the religion. Smith’s issue with the Community Covenant is that it dictates people’s theology without room for discussion, opinions, or dissent. “Unity and [homogeneity] are not the same thing,” she said, leaning forward in her seat. “You can be different and still have unity. You can be different and still have respect. You can be different and still be a healthy community that promotes Christian ideals.”
Smith is grateful that, as a student, she did not have to sign the covenant when she applied to TWU, as she would not have attended the university otherwise. Signing away her rights was where she drew the line.
Smith’s predicament brings to light a startling question: how many queer students was the Community Covenant driving away before change occurred in 2018? How many prospective students were not willing to fight to simply exist? This severe lack of diversity directly translated to TWU having limited
queer voices to advocate for change. It is only within the last few years that campus life has begun to see an increase in diversity and allyship.
However, the issue of enforced homogenous belief is still prevalent at the higher levels of Trinity Western University. It is still mandatory for staff and faculty to sign the Community Covenant. This forced lack of diverse perspectives persists in the individuals who are supposed to facilitate opportunities for critical thinking during an essential time of development and growth in young adults.
fortunately, she does not see higher levels of TWU’s administration being receptive to open discussion and close relationship in order to establish lasting and impactful change. “It might be they think they’re portraying strength and courage to stand by their beliefs despite these ‘crazy times,’” Levale said, miming air quotes, “but what I think true strength and courage is—from my little experience—is opening up the portal to receiving criticism. That’s courageous right there because it’s hard.”
At the end of the day, students can try as hard as they want to create a safer community within their university experience, but ultimately, that power resides in TWU’s administration and what steps they are willing to take to ensure this reality. Across the board, it seems that students are thankful for the gradual shift towards more open-minded communication but are pessimistic about further changes being implemented in the future. Instead of hopeful enthusiasm, most of the interviews conducted were shrouded in a forlorn sense of exhaustion. “Going to school, especially with mental health issues, is already so much of a fight,” Ross said, slouching back in their seat. “I don’t want to fight to exist as well.”
For instance, when Tausani Levale (she/her) first came to TWU in 2019, she looks back and describes herself as “a fresh mind to mould.” She said, “I felt a lot of pressure to conform to a certain Christian standard.” As the captain of the women’s rugby team, the expectations did affect her, and she left TWU after two years in the position. But Levale could not stay away and, this year, is back as a volunteer coach: “I poured so much of my heart into that team, and I really care about leading the next generation of strong women.”
The key word here is volunteer, as to be paid for her role, Levale must sign the Community Covenant— something that she is not willing to commit to. Integrity has always been central to who she is as a person: believing in what she stands for and abiding by that decision. While she appreciates TWU’s mission—especially in the sports-related field—Levale also knows that her beliefs do not align with those of TWU. “My future is not here at Trinity,” she said, shaking her head with a grimace.
Levale believes that empathy, patience, and love are necessary to understand what true acceptance is. Un-
In a disheartening turn of events, TWU has recently denied One TWU from holding their annual stories night event on campus. This decision from administration has created outcry from students, alumni, and the general community, as people are beginning to speak up against the unfair and marginalized treatment that queer students receive on campus (read more on page 3). Is this denial a preliminary glimpse into what the future holds in store for queer experiences at Trinity Western University? “I would hate to see that [TWU] aren’t actually the ones that are initiating God’s love,” Levale said.
It is important to recognize that change is not only coming but is already upon us. It is our responsibility as Christians to extend Christlike love in all we do, listening with compassion and having conversations that close the door on past harm to strive towards healing and forgiveness. When the door truly opens to genuine diversity, TWU will gain valuable opinions and insights that will revitalize the community instead of letting it stagnate in exclusion and bigotry. “I really hope that you’re not completely reactionary to this major change in history,” Levale said, addressing TWU directly, “before you fall behind.”
“At the end of the day, students can try as hard as they want to create a safe community within their university experience, but ultimately, that power resides in TWU’s administration and what steps they are willing to take to ensure this reality.”
Now onto Mr. Lacy, the smooth guitarist from Compton. From his impressive time with the alternative R&B band The Internet at the young age of 15 to releasing a series of increasingly successful solo projects, Lacy’s career has been on the rise. Steve Lacy is a talented musician who has taken the time to put his soul into everything he creates. Gemini Rights, his latest album and second studio-produced project, brought Lacy to a new frontier in the music world. His most popular tracks, such as “Bad Habit” and “Sunshine,” became incredibly famous on TikTok and adjacent platforms, causing him to become a more widely-known artist. His album also garnered him a Grammy award for Best Progressive R&B album.
However, his tour, Give You the World, seemed to be less encouraging, and Lacy was hit with a harsh reality. On many occasions during the tour, fans were unable to sing more than a few lines of his songs. Several videos show the artist expressing his frustration, pointing out this fact during his performance. Videos show Lacy asking to see a phone from the crowd and then smashing it on the stage, or walking off stage after feeling disrespected. Unfortunately, these same songs which gave Lacy his popularity simultaneously corrupted his work as well. When the bulk of listeners are only exposed to 10 second snippets of a song, an empty fandom is created.
We killed music.
We did it: art is dead. We dug the grave, we buried it, and then we filmed a ten-second video of us dancing on the grave to a high-pitched re-edit. How did it come to this? How could we let ourselves arrive at this barren place? We are reduced to mindless consumers, scrolling and scrolling, tapping and tapping, sinking deeper into a black hole of media, all while craving more and more. Zombified and attention deficient, we sit back and let all that is beautiful in this world whither up and die away. To sum up, Tiktok killed Steve Lacy.
With the emergence of platforms such as Vine, Musical.ly and now TikTok and Instagram reels, society has been introduced to a new form of media. Quicker and easily digestible content now feeds our attention. This media now shapes the way entertainment is portrayed and, in consequence, influences the very nature of art itself. We have succumbed to a lesser form of media consumption and demand the most in as little time as possible.
These platforms reflect a fast-moving world of innovation, a train hurtling down tracks going in no particular direction and with no sign of stopping. Places must be travelled to as quickly as possible, a task must be performed with the max amount of efficiency, and interactions must be had with the most amount of stimulation as possible—or not be had at all.
It is kind of like we are the Blob, from that old sci-fi movie, absorbing everything that crosses our path into a giant mass until everything is the same: until all is the Blob. These platforms promote a uniform surplus of hollow content which never allows for any tangible connection or real reflection to be had on a piece of work.
Though at times an opportunity to gain attention, there are some artists who feel they have been forced to promote their work on a page like TikTok. Forced into a cage to appease the public, their art becomes nothing but a stimulant for our hungry eyes. Music artists have expressed their frustration with their labels, as some claim their music would not be released until they could produce a viral video featuring their songs. Singer/songwriter Halsey explained in a video that her record label would not release her new song unless they could “fake a viral TikTok moment” for promotion. She added, “I just want to make music, man. I deserve better to be honest.” With the everpresent greed of record labels fueled by the eternal crave of the consumer, art has become modified, warped to fit onto a screen for ten seconds.
Maybe in those videos of Lacy throwing tantrums, he realized what had been done to his creation and how TikTok mutilated his art. At what cost did this fame come, and if he could, would he want to take it back? Perhaps a spotlight is meaningless without substance, deep appreciation, and genuine connection. I think that is what inspires art and fuels the artist to some extent: a reaction of raw emotion to raw creation so that passion can stay alive like oxygen to a fire. Maybe if we keep blowing on the fire though, needing more and more, craving bigger and better, it will just go out. . . . it will just die.
Hobo Johnson in his song “I want you Back” writes, “And now I’m just laying here dead on my couch / Facebook and Google have their tubes in my mouth / And as they generously feed me my ads for the day / For the week, for the month / I think we’re f—ed.” Commence the feeding. Art is dead.
“Forced into a cage to appease the public, their art becomes nothing but a stimulant for our hungry eyes.”
“Perhaps a spotlight is meaningless without substance, deep appreciation, and genuine connection.”Steve Lacy performing at Coachella. Image via Getty Images.
Saxophonist John Coltrane was one of the great jazz masters. He lives on in the annals of jazz history as one of the greatest—if not the greatest—saxophone players of all time. Coltrane was an accomplished soloist but also played in legendary bands alongside other jazz legends like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.
One of Coltrane’s most formidable and well-known contributions to jazz is the song “Giant Steps” off his album of the same name. Blinding fast chord changes across three different keys make it an incredibly difficult song to improvise alongside. The technically complex song, combined with the fact that Coltrane had a habit of coming into recording sessions without rehearsal, made it tough, even for the seasoned pros that he enlisted into the rhythms section, to follow along with the song.
It is a preeminent point in jazz history and a prime example of the bebop music that lead into the avant-garde era of jazz. These chord changes alone had so much impact that the now-common patterns that make up “Giant Steps” are called the “Coltrane Changes.”
Coltrane and Giant Steps are intertwined, but while it may have been a famous moment in jazz history, that period of Coltrane’s life was marred in much the same way as many other famous jazz musicians. Heroin use and addictions were incredibly common among the jazz greats, often to tragic ends. Saxophonist and bebop legend Charlie Parker, perhaps the only player that eclipsed Coltrane, died at the age of 35 due to his addiction. Great musicians like Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Fats Navarro, and Stan Getz all encountered health issues related to their
use of heroin at the time. The stars of the classic jazz eras burned brightly in their younger lives but were held hostage by rampant alcoholism and heroin addiction that often ensured that they never experienced their older lives.
knowledgement,” Part 2: “Resolution,” Part 3: “Pursuance,” and Part 4: “Psalm.”
There is an ineffable religiosity to his playing; it is an amalgamation of soulful jazz soloing, piano lines, a thrumming bass line, and low-voiced chanting. The sound is almost haunting as Coltrane intones, “A love supreme” across the tracks. Coltrane’s playing is lyrical, and it sounds as if the saxophone were truly speaking.
Amidst the backdrop of early death and addiction, Coltrane had a spiritual awakening in 1957—an awakening which he claimed helped him beat his addictions once and for all. He wrote about this transformation on the liner notes of his now-classic album A Love Supreme. All of the pain, suffering, and healing is contained in those four tracks. The squealing of his saxophone is a message to heaven of grief and renewal, inexplicably intertwined. Jazz has always been a medium that speaks to the soul, right from its very roots in New Orleans.
“Giant Steps” may have been his biggest contribution to jazz history, but A Love Supreme was his masterpiece. Only four tracks grace the album: Part 1: “Ac-
With it being over a decade since the first Puss in Boots film, which in itself was a mere spin-off in the Shrek franchise, one may be forgiven for asking, upon hearing about its sequel, “What’s the use?” Nonetheless, the dandy in me would probably quip a quote from Oscar Wilde’s preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray: “All art is quite useless.” The wisest part of me—reverent and patient—would be inclined to experience the piece first and judge it after.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, directed by Joel Crawford, is much more than a mere sequel. It is not an unartistic cash-grab seeking to pickpocket its audience members by exploiting their nostalgias, nor is it a work, which, being overshadowed by the covering cherub (to borrow an idea from Harold Bloom) of its predecessor, is unable to achieve a new greatness. Its art style is, at many points, sumptuous, and there were many times I would have paused just to admire the flowers in the background, were it not for my friends watching with me. (And that was before stopping to smell the roses was a major plot point.) The voice acting was lively, giving the film a sense of variety, ranging from its feline spaniards to its cockney bears (with Olivia Colman being versatile as ever). And the sound consistently evoked a pathos appropriate for its given scene—the hair-raising whistling of Death was particularly evocative. If that was not enough, the story is even neatly tied together, in true fairy-tale fashion, with a moral: be grateful for the good things in your life. Even if you are an orphaned pup whose family tried to drown you in a sock.
The antithesis to the film’s message is embodied in its villain, Big Jack Horner who turns to villainy despite growing up with “loving parents, stability, a mansion, and a thriving baked goods enterprise to inherit,” scorning them all as (pardon the vulgarity) “useless crap.” This fiend suffers, like Satan from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, from a “sense of injured merit.” Some may object to the grand comparison, but, as C.S. Lewis correctly observes in A Preface to Paradise Lost, “Only those will fully understand it who see that it might have been a comic poem.” The film, in its way, enacts the comedy the epic might have been. Big Jack Horner’s fall from grace, however, was not spurred by God’s preference for his Son over Satan, but by a crowd’s preference for Pinocchio over himself. One pictures him saying in some indeterminate point in his past, with Milton’s Satan, “Evil be thou my good,” that he might strive for greater power.
John Coltrane died in 1967 at the age of 41.
He was a seminal figure in the history of jazz, forever moulding its image in an undeniable way. Yet Giant Steps was not Coltrane’s most popular album. A Love Supreme found its audience in a way that none of his other albums did. The album tells the story of Coltrane’s life in a way that reaches directly into the human soul and spirit. It captures a feeling that most of us could never express, much less make clear through a saxophone. It is sad, it is joyful, and it is so very human.
Your wish is horrible. YOU’RE horrible! You’re an irredeemable monster!” Big Jack Horner responds, “What took you so long, idiot?!”
Big Jack Horner is evil, plain and simple, and he acknowledges that. In an era suspicious of binary oppositions such as good and evil, preferring to emphasize complexity and nuance, sometimes to the point of moral obscuration and obfuscation, it is refreshing to have a character who is unambiguously evil. All this emotionally immature, Napoleon-complexed monster cares about is world domination—to teach the world a lesson for ignoring him as a (loved, wealthy) child—and to this end, he collects magical items as a means of accruing power. There is an elegance to simplicity which is often undervalued. (Of course, the real world is one of nuance, and art should also reflect this.)
Evil surely has become Big Jack Horner’s good. After the Ethical Bug—his Jiminy-Cricket-inspired conscience—says, having attempted to reform him time and time again, “Oh. Oh! That was horrible.
Do I have qualms about the film? Yes, but my reservations are few. I particularly wished to see Big Jack Horner’s story come full circle by him being brought down to size (to Little Jack Horner) by consuming the Drink Me potion from Alice in Wonderland (which, if memory serves, is shown prominently three times in the film). Secondly, I wished to see the movie’s two major allusions to Pinocchio more fully developed. Is Big Jack Horner the anti-Pinocchio, who, defying his arthropodal advisor to his story’s close, ends up not a real boy but a dead boy? Perhaps—it is the Ethical Bug who delivers Big Jack Horner his comeuppance by withholding the final piece of the map—but it seems to me that this very engaging film squandered some of its potential.
“In an era suspicious of binary oppositions such as good and evil . . . it is refreshing to have a character who is unambiguously evil.”
“The squealing of his saxophone is a message to heaven of grief and renewal, inexplicably intertwined. Jazz has always been a medium that speaks to the soul, right from its very roots in New Orleans.”
powerful vision was quickly dismissed in Godzilla Raids Again (1955), a pretty brain-dead sequel with a rushed production and a half-baked story.
Godzilla was revived after seven years in hibernation in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), a smash-hit success that jump-started the rest of the Shōwa era. Honda returned to direct and, although the film was not as overtly political as the original, it does still feature the same sort of catastrophic violence that the first utilized. Honda directed the follow-up Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). It was a crossover with the Mothra series, another successful kaiju (essentially, films that involve giant monsters) franchise.
new monster has come to plague Japan. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, features a fish-themed psychedelic dream sequence, musical numbers, existential fears about environmental collapse, and some cool animated segments. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), directed by Fukuda, revolves around an amusement park that is actually a cover-up for a— you guessed it—alien plot to take over the world. And then there is Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), which is a pretty unfortunate downgrade with cheapened visual effects and a forgettable story. By now, the once-villainous nature of Godzilla has been completely forgotten as he takes on a friendlier public image. As Toho continually slashed each entry’s budget, they also pushed to make the films more child friendly, a decision which Honda resented.
In the 2014 American reboot of Godzilla, the titular monster is framed from the perspective of the insignificant humans trying to stop his path of carnage through a constant haze of smoke and debris. He is depicted as an existentially terrifying force of nature that dwarfs humankind in scope and scale. This treatment of the character is very much in line with his original onscreen appearance where he served as a metaphor for the devastation the atomic era caused to Japan. However, this is not how the famous monster has been usually treated on the big screen. In f act, in many of his early appearances, Godzilla is a rather cartoonish character who frequently gets involved with human drama, alien plots to take over the world, other horrifying beasts from the depths, giant robots, and his own bratty son.
Godzilla in these first four films is constantly portrayed as an antagonist. He is an obstacle for the human characters and the empathetic King Kong and Mothra to overcome. It was not until 1964’s Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and 1965’s Invasion of the Astro-Monster, both helmed by Honda, that Godzilla first begins to be seen as a hero, albeit a reluctant one. The films also become more ridiculous with multiple hostile alien forces quickly established and the action shifting continuously from terror to entertainment.
In the next two installments, Godzilla embraces his moniker of “hero” more than he ever has before. Jun Fukuda takes over as director from Honda with his “Godzilla goes to an island to fight sea monsters and evil corporations that want to destroy the environment” duology comprised of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) and Son of Godzilla (1967). Fukuda’s style is much lighter compared to that of Honda. He focuses more on the big, spectacular fights and adds a lot of strong kinetic energy to the carnage that keeps the films constantly exciting.
The first nine films come to a head with Destroy All Monsters (1968), once again directed by Honda, which was originally designed to serve as the series finale. The film is perhaps the campiest, yet relentlessly earnest, of all of the Shōwa films. The film embraces a spirit of international unity and cooperation with many of Honda’s personal anti-war, pro-peace sentiments apparent throughout the film. While it revisits familiar territory with its alien invasion storyline, the larger budget means that Destroy All Monsters is just about the biggest, most bombastic film in the bunch with almost every monster from the series thus far making an appearance. It also, like all good Godzilla movies, ends with the three-headed King Ghidorah returning to Earth for about a minute before the entire monster squad curb-stomps him.
The Shōwa era closes out on the Mechagodzilla duology. The first, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), the last Godzilla film to be directed by Fukuda, sees Godzilla face the only opponent worthy of his strength: himself. There are some stunning action set pieces to behold here, and this is also one of the few films where the human plot is just as exciting and captivating as the kaiju action. The series ends with Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), Honda’s last Godzilla film. It features a dinosaur monster, another alien invasion, sweeping romance, and great tragedy. These films can be rather metatextually seen as Godzilla coming to terms with the creature he once was. The heroic monster must fight the embodiment of his worst tendencies and history of violence. While this was the least financially successful film of the Shōwa era, causing the series to go on hiatus for 10 years, if any one of these films were to be the finale, Terror of Mechagodzilla is a good choice.
Between 1954 and 1975, Japanese film production titan Toho released the first 15 Godzilla films, collectively referred to as the franchise’s “Shōwa era.” These films run the gamut from politically charged action films to conspiracy thrillers, from big, brainless monster showdowns to light children’s entertainment. As the series goes on, the depiction of the main monster slowly transforms from a ruthless, city-crushing brute to an ally of humanity in their struggle against other, more powerful antagonists. I have developed a strong love for these films and all of their strangeness, whether it be the dour Godzilla (1954) or the ridiculously campy Destroy All Monsters (1968). These films are a fascinating look at culture and society and how cultural symbols and icons change over time, as Godzilla goes from an atomic metaphor to Japan’s fun-loving saviour.
The Godzilla series has never been more self-serious than it was in the original film, Godzilla, directed by Ishirō Honda. Released not 10 years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the film is a potent metaphor for the damage of the atomic bombings and the political situation of Japan at the time. The imagery of the film echoes a lot of war-time images of radiation burns and ruined cities and much of the plot concerns the political and social ramifications of such an impersonal terror on the lives of everyday citizens. For Honda, this was no accident, as he served as a soldier in World War II and bore witness to the atomic atrocities firsthand. But Honda’s
And then there is All Monster Attack (1969), a madefor-children clip show of the previous films that ends with the moral of “if you are being bullied, bully harder.” Most try to forget this one.
The next three Godzilla flicks are largely stand-alone affairs with Godzilla showing up to stop whatever
So there you have it, a whirlwind tour through the Godzilla franchise’s Shōwa era. There is much to digest and unpack within these films, making this the briefest summary of their themes and history. Watching the once-terrifying symbol of atrocity become reclaimed as a nationalistic hero is a truly fascinating process. The Shōwa era films are a campy delight. I have come to form a deep admiration for the Godzilla of times gone by. Maybe, if you give them a chance, this magical collection of oddball stories will find its way into your heart.
“As the series goes on, the depiction of [Godzilla] slowly transforms from a ruthless, city-crushing brute to an ally of humanity in their struggle against other, more powerful antagonists.”
“As Toho continually slashed each entry’s budget, they also pushed to make the films more child friendly, a decision which Honda resented.”Promotional image from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). Image via Toho.
On November 19, 2022, the TWU men’s rugby team achieved a pivotal win that would completely change the rest of their season. With a chance to go to the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (CUMRC), the Spartans faced the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) in a crucial game that went down in history.
With a quick lead and a steady finish, the game ended with the Spartans defeating the Heat in a 40–19 win. With the program being only four years old, this ticket to the CUMRC was a historic and unforgettable moment for the Spartans. Being seeded at No. 8, the Spartans were ready to battle for a title.
November 30, 2022 marked the Spartans’ first time on the national stage. Being matched up for the first round against No.1-seeded University of Victoria (UVIC), the Spartans felt the pressure. In the past, the Spartans had fallen to UVIC in a total of three riveting games. It is safe to say that the Spartans had the Vikes on their toes every game but had struggled to secure a win—resulting in a 0–3 track record. With a national title on the line, the Spartans were determined to finally beat the Vikes.
Despite their past losses, the Spartans were ambitious approaching their first game in the CUMRC. Lock and Backrow, Josh Halladay shared the team’s perspective going into the first-round game stating, “We did feel very evenly matched with them [UVIC]. [In] the first game of the season, we lost to them on a no-time-left penalty kick. We felt like we handed them that game, and it was our own mistakes biting us.” With this, the Spartans proceeded with caution and confidence knowing that they were capable of winning—despite their history with the Vikes.
Prop/Flanker Favour Olaniyan shared his mentality prior to the game against the Vikes: “A lot of people
put so much pressure on the national stage. I see that it’s a big game but it’s any other game. We’ve played this team a couple times, and we know they’re a talented team, but so are we.” Being familiar with UVIC’s presence on the field, Olaniyan showed us how prepared the Spartans were to come out on top.
Being the biggest upset of the weekend, the Spartans managed to claim victory over the Vikes in the quarter-finals with a final score of 23–22. The game had a nail-biting finish when Spartan Matthew Willemse scored a converted penalty, putting the Spartans up by one point.
This was not only a historical moment for the TWU rugby program, but it was also the most rewarding victory for the Spartans’ long-term members. In an interview with Mars’ Hill, Halladay reflected on this moment stating, “That UVIC game was so satisfying. We finally had all that work pay off, and we finally got over the hill that we have been trying to climb over for so long—it kind of felt like an arrival in a way.” Players like Halladay, who have been around since the program’s beginning, felt an irreplaceable sense of relief and excitement from this victory.
It is undeniable that a four-year-old varsity team will face adversity in their starting seasons. As a team that is still attempting to establish themselves within Canadian rugby, it is evident that the Spartans have tried to take advantage of every given opportunity. Halladay shared his feelings about winning against the Vikes after a taxing four years with the Spartans: “It was three years of grinding without tangible results.” Winning this game made their dream a reality, but the race was far from over.
Coming off the high of winning prior to semi-finals is a difficult task. After the Spartans achieved one of their most historical wins, the team had to remember that the job was not done. When discussing the emotional reset between quarter-finals and semi-finals, Halladay stated, “We celebrated, obviously, but by that evening, we were ready to win the next game. I think some of us got stuck in celebrating that we beat the No. 1-seeded team.” Olaniyan admitted that, in the moment of celebration, he had to bring himself down: “In the heat of the moment, I thought, ‘This is awesome, we just beat UVIC, and we’re going to get these next guys.’ But you have to remember that those guys are now playing for the same thing I want.” With an adjusted mindset and a win under their belt, the Spartans went into the semi-finals with high hopes of capturing another win.
Following their huge win, the Spartans lost to McGill and Guelph in their final games of the CUMRC. After emotionally recovering from these disappointing losses, Halladay and Olaniyan seem hopeful as they look to have this opportunity again in the future.
With long-term players such as Caleb Gerth, Scott Bowers, Sam Wegert, Erik Niebuhr, and Tamilore Awonusi not returning for the 2023/2024 season, the remaining players are looking to step forward. As Halladay returns for his fifth year as a Spartan, he shared how it felt to be stepping up as a leader next fall: “The biggest thing that I’ve been trying to get across is how high of a standard the guys who have been here from the start have set. They have worked hard and dedicated their lives to building this—we need people to start stepping up.”
Despite the outcome of nationals, the Spartans showed their strength through this experience. Making a mark on rugby history at TWU, the Spartans look towards the future in hopes that this will not be their last time on the national stage.
“A lot of people put so much pressure on the national stage. I see that it’s a big game but it’s any other game . . . we know they’re a talented team, but so are we.”
“That UVIC game was so satisfying. We finally had all that work pay off, and we finally got over the hill that we have been trying to climb over for so long—it kind of felt like an arrival in a way.”
Ah yes, football. A subject I know a lot about. Ask me anything about feet or balls, and I will provide you with encyclopedic understanding. On February 12, I had the opportunity to build up my vast knowledge of football at a Super Bowl viewing party, and I watched the whole game from the preshow to post-win interviews. My brain throbbed with enlightenment, and I felt compelled to summarize the game for my fellow experts in this section that I am not used to writing for.
Right out of the gate, I noticed a distinct lack of bowls in this Super Bowl. I did not even have a bowl for my Doritos; I had to chow from a paper plate like a neanderthal. This disappointed me, but perhaps the game would still be super. I observed the tears rolling down one player’s face as the national anthem blared, basking in the beer-bellied glory of the audience weeping for ‘Murica. The commercials played: Walter White and Jesse Pinkman advertised seven flavours of Popcorners, some poor soul in a casino lost his entire life savings on a coin toss, and then the real fun began. It was football time.
It was the red guys versus the blue guys, so obviously it would be a tough game. One guy footed the ball, and it flew right to the end of the field. A truly exciting
development, I thought, my footbrain seething with expertise. It is all over for the blue guys, or the red guys, or whoever has the ball right now
The game continued to thrill. The players ran at each other, occasionally pausing for aggressive hugs. Sometimes they got tired of hugging and formed little circles to whisper secrets. The ball went up. The ball went down. Guy kicked ball. People yelled. Guy hugged ball. People yelled. Guy grabbed ball because he wanted to hug it. People yelled more. A game for the ages, truly.
When the concert finally started, I found myself underwhelmed. It is cool that she performed while preggers and running a billion-dollar business, and her outfit looked great, but I expected more. The climax with her singing “Diamonds” atop her Super Smash Bros stage felt rushed; I guess Fenty duties called. Oh well, time for Football II: Electric Boogaloo. Some guy injured his ankle a bunch and kept getting drugged to play more. I questioned the legality and sanity of this action and hoped the poor red guy would not need a walker by the time he was forty. The heat was on in this half of the game. Balls were footed. Red and blue guys were hugged. Cheers were cheered. Just when I thought the excitement would never end, the red guys boinked the ball for a final time, securing their victory. An unprecedented spectacle. Legendary in every sense of the word. To quote the great Owen Wilson, “Wow.”
All in all, I give this game ten footballs up. Yay for football. The red guys sure deserved that Stanley Cup this year. A truly Super Bowl.
All the while, I wondered why Rihanna decided to have such a long opening act before her first concert in seven years.
The Dallas Mavericks’ world has been rocked. The enigma himself, Kyrie Irving has been traded to the Mavs. A surprising move to say the least, as many thought he would be in LA or Phoenix. A tiny tear must have fallen down Lebron James’ cheek when he heard the news. Though controversial and perhaps problematic*, the talent which Kyrie brings to the court is hard to come by.
The official trade saw the Brooklyn Nets receiving Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, one firstround pick, two second-round picks. The Dallas Mavericks received Kyrie Iriving and Markeiff Morris. With the trade deadline fast approaching, the shape of the league has been rapidly changing, and new powers are coming to fruition. With this acquisition of Irving, the dynamic of the Dallas Mavericks is altering as well. Before, if someone were to put the Dallas Mavericks as a planet in a solar system that is in orbit, then Luka Doncic would be the sun. He is the pinnacle of Mavs’ basketball: the 23-year-old is putting up legendary numbers in surreal performances and is a league MVP frontrunner in my opin-
ion. If you watched any game with Doncic, it is pretty easy to see who runs the show. However, though close, Doncic is not a basketball god; he is just one player, and as good as he is, one player does not win you a championship.
Doncic—whose fiery competitive nature demands NBA titles—a move like this trade makes sense. Or does it?
Doncic is the primary ball-handler: he scores, he facilitates, and the offense flows out of his game. Irving plays a similar role, as one of the most skilled ball handlers of all time. For the most part, Irving is an iso player, thriving in quick shifts of speed and misdirection—and most importantly with the ball in his hands. So how do two scorers co-exist in a way which could make them the deadliest backcourt in the NBA?
The Mavs faced a tough reality. In order to keep Doncic happy in the organization, moves had to be made, and a vision had to be set. That is the purpose of Kyrie: to appease Doncic and regain his faith in an organization that has been mediocre at best these last few years. The Dallas Mavericks are a good team, but not a legitimate contender; And with talent like
There are definitely possible solutions for this new Dallas roster, but the clock is ticking. In these past few weeks, a large amount of talent has shifted to the Western Conference and the competition is stacked. If Dallas wants to make a deep playoff run, there has to be chemistry between Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Otherwise, Doncic might be on the move in the next few years.
*See Mars’ Hill, volume 27, issue 5. -Seth
“The Mavs faced a tough reality. In order to keep Doncic happy in the organization, moves had to be made, and a vision had to be set.”
“The players ran at each other, occasionally pausing for aggressive hugs. Sometimes they got tired of hugging and formed little circles to whisper secrets.”
Pods of salt clustered around the shell Like bioluminescent jellyfish, Grit and glass, scumming the edge. I suck on it and spit it out.
In fifteen months, we won’t be here; This hall hulled out, washed away. Green scripture stripped out with beige, Couches with our back-prints at the exit: Fire hazards.
Crack the shell, Straitjacket the seed with Your teeth. If you’re going to yellow them, Might as well be with us— Might help you quit smoking.
Cobble the shells together Til you can’t tell them from the seeds
Anymore:
Trash for the gulls to cry over. We’re only split because we’re between your jaws.
James Vandermuelen
We, the administration of Trinity Western University, have deeply aware of the problems facing the average student. In a recent survey taken of the student body, 69 per cent of participants said that they felt there weren’t enough opportunities to spend money on campus.
One student stated, “I have so much money, I don’t know what to do with it! I’ve resorted to throwing it out of my dorm window so I don’t drown in the pile!”
The administration of TWU wants to make sure you know we hear you, and we care about your financial well-being. We live by the words of 1 Timothy 6:10, which says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” We want to help free you from the dreadful and evil burden of having money in a way that glorifies God. That’s why we’re proud to announce the introduction of the brand new Chapel Tiered Subscription Plan. There will be three tiers, each with its own perks and benefits.
We want to streamline this transition process as much as possible, which is why beginning this week, all students will automatically be subscribed to the first Tier, the Standard Plan. This plan costs only $700 per month and includes perks such as access to the upper bleachers during chapels, as well as snacks provided by Sodexo during the chapel period. You will also receive a small commemorative sticker saying
“I love TWU” as a reward for your generous donation.
The second tier is our Economy Plan, recommended for commuters or those unable to attend chapels regularly. For only $300 a month, you will have access to the lower bleachers during chapel times, as well as weekly email newsletters on the value of wholeheartedly committing time and resources to your Christian communities.
The final tier is the Free Plan, which is not recommended for students. On this plan, you will have access to standing room during each chapel time. Please note that sitting on the gym floor during this period is not allowed. You will also be automatically subscribed to our Generosity Promotion Program, which consists of daily email devotions on the importance of giving and generosity.
With the introduction of these plans, we will also be rolling out steps to encourage attendance for these chapels. As a result, the cafeteria hours will be pushed back to open for lunch at noon rather than 11. The bell will also ring every five minutes for the half hour leading up to chapel, ensuring you have plenty of time to plan and make your way over.
We look forward to reaping the fruit of this step to building generosity and giving in our community.
Hannah
So I have a pair of shoes—well, multiple—but there is one in particular that I call my signature shoes. You probably think that my signature shoes would be the ones I wear all the time, so much so that they would be associated with me. But you would be wrong. I hardly wear my signature shoes, and if I wear them, it’s not outside. See my signature shoes are so precious, I don’t want them to be ruined. To start, they are white slip-on keds that I got last year, along with a set of coloured sharpies. For the third time in my life, I set off armed with the shoes and sharpies to find my friends and even some acquaintances. When I found them I asked them, “Do you want to sign my shoes?” and they did.
Now, to understand why I do this, we’d have to go back to 14-year-old me, slowly discovering who I am in a public high school. One day, as I was reading a book on Wattpad (because what else would I be doing, hanging out with friends? Hah!), the main character had a bucket list of things to do before graduating high school, and one of them was to have her friends sign her white shoes (if anyone knows what this book is, please let me know what it’s called). I thought that sounded fun, and so Grade 9
me decided to buy white shoes and sharpies and have people sign them.
Then Grade 10 me bought another pair of white shoes and had people sign them. They turned out great, and I still have both of them to this day (at least somewhere in my mess of a room). Last year, I was going through an interesting period of my life, so when I ordered a pair of black keds, I also ordered a white pair and some coloured sharpies. Almost everyone I asked was willing to sign the pair of shoes, and some even chuckled before immediately picking out what colour they wanted to sign with.
I’m still working on getting as many signatures as I can on the shoes, and who knows, maybe I’ll get another pair in the future (something I would recommend people try too). Even if some of the friendships are ephemeral, their signature on my shoes is permanent.
This year, we saw Trinity Western University’s familiar torch logo exchanged for three wavy lines reminiscent of a minimalist’s campfire. The past couple years have seen several similar changes, from the renaming of Northwest to DeVries (or, as I like to call it, the Pilgrimage) to the upcoming transition of Jacobson from apartments to dorms. Yes sir, TWU seems focused on rebranding lately. The question is, what else does TWU need to change? The disrepair of its current housing? The quality of its meals? The dysfunctional relationship between administration and students?
No, this school just really needs a new mascot for its sports teams.
Why are the athletes called Spartans, anyway? Spartans believed in the many gods of Ancient Greece; how does this make sense for a Christian university? Furthermore, the mascot suit looks awful. It’s like Boba Fett and a wasp had an ugly baby with saggy arms. And the name? Ancient Spartans had cool names like Leonidas and Anaxandridas and they went with Sparty?? Worst of all, I did a bit of research and it turns out that at least 12 other universities have sports teams called the Spartans, and Michigan State University also has a mascot named Sparty! Clearly, a more Christian, aesthetically pleasing, imposing, and original replacement must be found. Here are some options:
1. The Hydra. Our university is named after the concept of three persons in one being, and what creature better encompasses that than the mythological hydra? It also stays in line with the original Ancient Greek theming, and a three-headed
monster will certainly intimidate our athletic opponents. Perhaps a three-person mascot suit could be designed to give all the heads different personalities. The tricky part would be manufacturing a head that can grow three more in its place if one is accidentally knocked off.
2. Canada Goose. This seems like the most obvious choice; after all, the geese on campus practically outnumber the students. A special feature of this suit would be marshmallows that drop from the rear end for the children.
3. Raw Chicken. Everyone who has dined in Sodexo’s cafeteria has seen it at least once on their plates, so a pink rotisserie chicken would be a joyously familiar sight to TWU’s student body. The suit could also be smothered in sauce to mask its potential for future food poisoning.
4. Just The Bell Tower. No real mascot suit here, we just shove the bell tower over someone’s head and make them run around the gym or field while “Amazing Grace” chimes at an obscene volume. It kills two birds with one stone as the other team becomes too deaf to continue while being reminded that Christ saved a wretch like them.
5. Jesus Christ. Speaking of Jesus, what could be more Christlike than the man Himself? Designing the suit would obviously present many potential pitfalls into heresy, but I’m sure if we pray enough we can make it work. All we have to do is find the most Christlike person on campus via an America’s Next Top Model-style audition
process and make sure they do nothing sinful while in the suit. It would probably be best if they just stood still and passed out Bibles to everyone before the game. Plus, imagine the pressure on the other team with a physical representation of Christ watching the game. That will teach those heathens that there is nothing stronger than the love of Jesus and our athletes’ feet in their faces. Gooooo Christians!
This issue’s horoscopes are special. Each contains the perfect partner for you to look for after spending February 14 sad and alone, stuffing your face with grocery-store frosted heart-shaped sugar cookies.
If
You like efficiency, so I assume you want to snatch a marriage partner right away. The secret to finding one is to ask if they listen to country music. Your chances are best with people from Abbotsford or Chilliwack. If they do, mark the calendar for your farmhouse, backyard, lantern-lit wedding, complete with white cowboy boots to match the dress. You should probably grab a copy of What To Expect When You’re Expecting as well, because chances are you’ll need it in a year or less.
You’re a nurturing, caring person (I hope), so the best way to use your instincts is to find the most screwed-up person possible whom you can save from the brink of destruction. Choose someone with a lot of paperwork to their name, a rebellious soul who has been through H-Edouble-hockey-sticks and came out the other side kicking and screaming. It definitely
on’t affect your mental health negatively. No emotional trauma or permanent trust issues will come of this, surely. They’re bad, but you can change them.
Okay, settle down, I know what this is about. If you want a baby that bad, there are other ways to obtain one. Find a sperm donor/surrogate, adopt, hunt for an unwatched stroller. Those fleshy lumps of human don’t have to come with a partner you may or may not necessarily care all that much about.
HKIN
Okay, settle down, I know what this is about. If you want someone to compliment your muscles that bad, there are other ways to accomplish this. Post pictures on social media, work out with minimal top coverage, buy a motivational poster. Those verbal affirmations don’t have to come with a partner you may or may not necessarily care all that much about.
NATURAL & APPLIED SCIENCES
Find someone who is just as smart as you but in the opposite way. Date a brilliant writer with insightful commentary on literature, history, the arts, and other humanities: someone who can educate you as much as you educate them. In other words, date Bret van den Brink.
Is there something you’re passionate about more than anyone else? Is there an idea or story you’re dying to share with the world? Do you like to make people laugh?
Send us your pieces or ideas to marshill@gmail.com
According to the most relevant expert, your partner will inevitably be someone who is exactly like your mother or father.
Sorry, you’re all undateable for obvious reasons. Go look up Saturday Night Live’s Brownie Husband sketch on YouTube because that’s a more feasible option for you.
SAMC
Everyone on campus secretly wants to date you, so you should just ask anyone. Ask the person next to you in your favourite class, ask a professor, ask one of the janitors, ask a goose, literally everyone will say yes. And if they don’t, they’re just playing hard to get, so you should kidnap them and force them to face their feelings while tied up on a romantic candlelit dinner with you. All they want to do is see and/or hear all the drafts of your latest creative project and hear about how much homework you don’t have.
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