The Swinging Bridge: Feb. 27, 2014

THE

SWINGING BRIDGE MESSIAH COLLEGE//THE PULSE

Vol. 94 // ED. 7 // February 13, 2014

Social Justice

&

Social Media [page 5]

A Chat with Visual Artists at Messiah [page 11]

Sochi

O l y m p cs

Photo by Hanna Schaffer

MAC Champions

The Recollections of the Retiring College Pastor

T

By Serena Dixon STUDENT WRITER

his weekend history was made for the Messiah Swim Team. For the first time in program history, the women’s team are MAC Champions with freshman, Tara Freeman being awarded with Rookie of the Year and Head Coach Nancy Luley receiving Coach of the Year for the women’s team. Few people know that the swim team is only six years old, and ever since they have strived to reach top three at MAC Championships.

Well this year the women’s swim team not only made that goal, they surpassed their goal beyond all belief.

MACs began Thursday evening with the 200 Medley Relay and the 800 Free Relay. The team faced an interesting situation, they had to be separated because of Thursday’s snow storm.

Therefore, only the members who were swimming the relays that night went to MACs, while the rest of the team stayed on campus. Determined to show

their team support from home, the group that stayed face-timed in from campus to cheer on their team mates.

Emily Reale earned her first individual event win in the 1650 Freestyle with a season best, and program best time of 17:52.25. Lauren Clune finished sixth, while Abbie Stonelake took fourteenth.

In the 200 backstroke, Caitlin Magaw finished fifth and Katie Reiter finished ninth to help the Falcons maintain a 49 point lead. Tara Freeman and Hanna Schaffer helped maintain the Falcons’ advantage by finishing third and fifth, respectively, in the 100 freestyle.

Freeman’s time of 53.22 was a new school record, while Hanna Schaffer swam a personal best at 54.33. Anna McArdle finished sixth in the 200 breastroke with a time of 2:34.71 to help keep Messiah in the lead. The Falcons were able to separate themselves from the pack in the final individual event, the 200 butterfly. Renee Ormond finished third and Lydia Ellsworth finished in

tenth place to give Messiah a slight 26-point lead. Going into the final event – the 400 freestyle relay – the Falcons were seeded third while the Cougars from Misericordia were seeded second.

Despite the lead in points, it was really anybody’s meet. The Falcons needed to finish well in order to capture the title, and that they did. Laura Penwell, Emily Reale, Tara Freeman, and Hanna Schaffer put together a stupendous performance to win the event with a record-breaking time of 3:36.38.

Their efforts solidified the program’s first-ever MAC Championship.

Senior and Team Captain Hanna Schaffer had this to say about the weekend, “The weekend was an exciting one to say the least. Along with some really great swims and new best times, we all experienced some fantastic support from teammates, parents, friends, and even rivals. It was really inspiring to see everyone come together to push one another towards greatness. I couldn’t have imagined my senior year going any better.”

The men’s side had a fantastic performance. They held their own and put together several record breaking swims on Sunday. Aaron Eckman started things for the Falcons with a fourth place finish in the 1650 freestyle (16:57.00), just slightly off pace of his 2013 MAC final time of 16:44.67. Luke Sagaser set a new school record during the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke, and went on to raise the bar in the finals for an eighth place finish at 2:02.28.

Photo By Hanna Schaffer

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15// RECOLLETION

[page 14]

Let’s Keep

IT REAL

By Huy Nguyen NEWS EDITOR

O

n Wednesday, Feb. 19, Messiah College Black Student Union (BSU) hosted an event/alternate chapel titled “Let’s Keep It Real.” It is a student-led discussion on topics pertaining to contemporary issues among the African-American culture.

BSU liaison Imani Studivant led the discussion along with a panel of six Messiah students, including BSU president Alaina Byers. According to Studivant, last year’s event featured professional speakers, but BSU decided to go with a student-only panel this year.

“We want students to feel more comfortable talking instead of turning this into a lecture,” said Studivant.

The discussion began with panelists sharing their personal opinions on what it meant to be labeled “African-American.”

“I don’t like the term ‘African-American’ since Africa is only a small part of who I am,” said junior Autumn Jackson.

“I don’t go out and call white people ‘European-American’,” she added.

Also a student of mixed races, Byers echoed Jackson’s sentiment.

“I feel no ties to the continent of Africa,” she said.

Other panelists also agree that “African-American” is not a term that can fully describe who they are, but are comfortable being labeled as such.

“I won’t be offended if someone calls me African-American, because it’s partly true,” said senior Freddy Love.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 // LETS KEEP IT REAL

NEWS

February 13,

The Swinging Bridge 2014

A Conversation Worth

By Jeremy Zimmerman STUDENT WRITER

“

The poor will always be with you,” quotes economist Peter Greer, “but that’s not an excuse to give up. Extreme poverty can and will be eliminated by economic development, but wealth will always be relative.” Greer leans back in his seat, takes a drink from his water bottle, and turns the question over to his conversation partner.

Chin in hand, Shane Claiborne mulls for a second. The question of whether or not poverty can be eliminated in an age of overpopulation has been put on the table by senior Seth Sharber, and is certainly not an easy one.

“Does God want the world to be free of poverty?” Claiborne rephrases in a thick drawl, “Be an idealist. God already mastered the impossible.”

The two men are seated on the stage of Parmer Hall on Tuesday night, coming together to taking part in an event called “Beyond Right & Left: a Conversation on Social Justice”. The evening -- cohosted by Messiah College and the Honors Program – was not unlike an overly civil debate between Claiborne &

Greer, and featured 15-minute opening remarks from each candidate, as well as conversations moderated by Dean Curry.

Religiously speaking, the two men are unified. Politically, however, they diverge. Greer, a Messiah Business alum, is currently the CEO and President of HOPE International, a faith-based nonprofit dedicated to creating economic development and assets around the world. Claiborne, on the other hand, is an author, speaker and dynamic leader of The Simple Way, an intentional faith community in Philadelphia.

Because the two share a common faith, the conversation has a different feel than a traditional political debate.

Indeed, without knowledge of both speakers’ backgrounds and values, one could easily see the night as a debate for and against the very concept of helping people. This was not the case, and even though the night ended with the two in disagreement, both Greer and Claiborne exhibit an ethic of servanthood.

Greer rallied against the term “Social Justice” and everything associated with it, emphasizing that charity in its purest form reinforces poverty systems and ignoring the fact that poverty is not strictly materialistic in nature. He praised the tenets of capitalism, noting

Photo By Daniell Gingrich //LETS KEEP IT REAL “I labeled myself African-American just for the sake of checking a box,” said junior Cora Hines.

In the next part of the discussion, panelists expressed their concern regarding stereotypes erroneously associated with black culture. They specifically mentioned “ghetto” as a certain type of discourse that should not be associated exclusively to black culture. Some even wished to get rid of the word entirely.

“A lot of people ask me ‘why do I talk “white”?’ as if being educated is strictly a white thing,” said Jackson.

The majority of panelists pointed

to media portrayal of black culture as the main reason why stereotypes like this still persist.

“Stereotypes are a cognitive shortcut, and a lot of times they create misconceptions.

It doesn’t help that people keep being reminded of these stereotypes by media,” said junior Kalann Washington.

Byers, however, suggested there’s more to blame than just media: pointing to her high school experience. She witnessed black students being overly loud, committing crimes, and getting pregnant, “I definitely see that a lot of people go out of their way to act out the stereotype, because otherwise you are

News 2

Having

Photo By Danielle Gingrich that “no other system works better” and that creative and responsible use of wealth can do much more than direct charity. In addition to talking economics, Greer noted that people who are often termed “Social Justice warriors” can have either a savior or superiority complex, and that neither is good. Touching on Micah 6:8, he reinforced the idea of walking humbly in addition to merely doing justice.

On his part, Claiborne agreed that not all iterations of Social Justice are for the best, emphasized the idea of holding both love and assets with a “loose hand.”

Shane’s informal manner, as well as colorful stories and jokes, often drew laughs from the packed audience. When turning the conversation back on Greer, Claiborne said “Jesus was nothing that ended in –ism or –ist. Jesus was love incarnate.” Though framed as responses to Greer’s challenges and the questions posed by audience members, Claiborne’s anecdotes and themes weren’t unfamiliar to

anyone who has read any of his books.

Following a short period of audience questions, the evening was formally ended. Claiborne and Greer were available in the atrium to meet fans and sign books for a time afterwards.

Although neither was declared a formal “winner”, and most in the audience retained their original viewpoints, this event demonstrates Messiah’s commitment to being a place of open and honest dialogue. Somewhere beyond right and left, we find ourselves equally speaking and listening. It was truly a conversation worth having.

considered abnormal and sometimes even not accepted,” she said.

When asked what makes them proud of their culture the most, panelists’ answers ranged from their hair to the feeling of community that black people share, especially here in Messiah College.

But above all, as BSU advisor and pastor Cathy Coleman added, is the perseverance that African-Americans had shown throughout history.

Finally, the panelists offered their thoughts on the term “diversity” and how it is often used in social discourse. For Byers, the term is too closely related to race.

“My definition of diversity is any difference. But oftentimes it is too tied to race and we lose a huge part of what that word means,” she said.

“To me, diversity is simply what you can bring to the table. There’s diversity among [black culture] as well,” senior Christina Thomas added.

In the spirit of the African-American History Month, BSU hosted this event as an attempt to break down barriers and teach the true meaning of black culture. Students who are interested in learning more about black culture are encouraged to contact the BSU at blackstudentunion@messiah.edu.

February 13, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

News 3

A Reflection Eldon Fry Looks Back on His Time at Messiah family moved to Colorado in 1997.

By Nicholas Tay FEATURES EDITOR In the corner of Hostetter Chapel resides an individual whose heart and time has been invested to Messiah’s campus for over 22 years. In that time, he dedicated time interacting with students, faculty, and staff while also working with his staff on the framework for the campus’ spiritual formation.

Who is this individual? He is none other than Eldon Fry, the college pastor.

While he ministered to the campus for a generous length of time, what some might fail to realize is that Fry has had two discontinuous terms. He first moved to the Messiah campus after pastoral service in Kansas. Fry recalls his first encounter with the college was in an “April issue of Christianity Today”, in which he “saw an advertisement for the Director of Campus Ministries at a place called Messiah College”. He applied without any connections to Messiah and did not even know the college existed before the advertisement, thus Fry finds it “surprising” that he and his wife ended up in Grantham.

Fry entered Messiah at a time when the “campus was experiencing great growth” and he was responsible for overseeing the development of the World Christian Fellowship (WCF), the floor discipleship ministry, and the local church outreach programs (Gospel Teams). After a year in this position, internal changes resulted in Fry becoming both the Director of Campus Ministries and the college chaplain.

In his first stint, Fry noted that a lot of his time was spent “interacting with students, especially in the residence halls. I was in the dorms a lot at night, about three to five times a week. I would be invited to a floor to share in a devotional, perform foot washings, and even conversations on tough issues.

It’s similar to the discipleship programs today (like Koinonia). However back then we were the ones responsible for these events. It was also easier too as we lived on campus. I enjoyed these opportunities to interact with students.” As much as Fry enjoyed his job at Messiah, he felt a calling to pursue other pastoral activities. Thus after 13 years at Messiah, Fry and his

During the interval between his ministerial positions at Messiah, Fry was the senior pastor at Pine Creek Community Church and manager of pastoral care for Focus on the Family (FoF). While working with a large congregation and serving as the chaplain to the employees of FoF, Fry also worked a “toll-free line for pastors experiencing personal trouble.” He then worked for three years as Dean of the Chapel and Campus Pastor at Bethel University.

While he felt that he was meeting a real need at his jobs, Fry admits that he could not resist returning to Messiah once President Phipps approached him to retake his old position. He found that he had a gift in working within a college campus and was thus excited to return to the same setting.

Coming back in 2005, Fry notes that there was a change in focus; the first 13 years were “concentrated on organizations and personal time with students” while the second stint has prioritized on “developing a spiritual formation model for the campus and reconciliation efforts” with the campus ministry team, although he notes that spending time ministering to students has remained important.

During his time at Messiah, Fry “saw tremendous spiritual growth in this period of time. The Loft and Agape Center are just two examples of outreaches within College Ministries that have sufficiently developed such that they are separate entities now.

Also seeing students reach out not only to the local community but also to communities in the region around Messiah is encouraging.“ He also notes that developing the international missions programs was essential. At the start of his first stint, Fry notes that there were only “six students out on summer missions and they didn’t quite know where they were. It was quite limited at first. Thus to see opportunities for international work increase over the years and the number of students involved is encouraging.”

Fry is also encouraged by the increase in religious diversity in both the faculty and the student body. At the start of his first term, Fry notes that many faculty members were from “Brethren in Christ backgrounds but now there are professors from very different religious backgrounds. I see that as being healthy in so many ways.” Fry also points out that the number of non-Protestant students has increase. “We now have a Newman club (Catholic students club) on campus.

I used to meet personally with our

Catholic students, as there were only one or two isolated cases. But to see the Newman club grow and provide support for our Catholic students is wonderful.”

Looking back at memories during his time at Messiah, Fry acknowledges that there are too many to even list. However two stand out. His first was a “mud wrestling competition during my first term at Messiah. It was for a fundraiser and actually quite fun. My son was attending college at that time and he constantly heard people shouting my name outside of the Eisenhower center.”

A second, more intimate memory is the time spent one-on-one with students.

He talks about an instance where “a group of guys and I were hiking on the Appalachian Trail overnight. It started raining and all of the campsites were full, so we eventually ended up at my house. We started talking until four or five in the morning and we all wondered why we weren’t sleeping in our own beds. Wendell Witter (director of the Loft) was one of those guys and

to see him back at the college, doing the same type of activities is just wonderful. I truly appreciate the time spent with students and when I look back on them, these were the special moments during my time at Messiah.”

Although Fry’s resignation from Messiah is a retirement decision, he wants to pursue small side projects postMessiah. “A few years ago I founded this organization called Open Hands, a ministry that provides spiritual direction, formation and consultation to pastors in ministry. Doors in this area have kept opening, so I think I’ll be involved in that for some time. There have also been speaking and retreat events that people have asked me to be part of. We’ll see how that goes. I have also started writing for my grandchildren, whom I dearly love, and around some issues that I think are important.

Topics surrounding men, hope, and spiritual formation are of interest to me and I hope to do some of that.”

UNDERCLASSMEN AND SENIORS

S AY “ C H E E S E ” !

2014 Clarion Yearbook Portraits

when

Tuesday, March 4th: 12pm - 8pm Wednesday, March 5th: 9am - 5pm

where

Student Union Fireplace Alcove

how

Sign up at www.ouryear.com using 713 as the school code.

questions?

Contact us at thepulse@messiah.edu

February 13, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

News 4

Student Senate Agrees on 2014 Budget

By Huy Nguyen NEWS EDITOR

A

fter over an hour of discussion on Thursday, Feb. 20, the Messiah College Student Senate was able to approve a budget for 2014 that resulted in zero deficit.

SGA President Tim Sensenig called Thursday’s meeting “the best budgeting I’ve ever experienced.” Some students were apprehensive coming into the meeting after participating in a previous meeting that included a twohour discussion over a $10,000 deficit.

Newly confirmed Finance Committee chair Zachary Kantner opened the budget discussion with a presentation of the SGA’s proposed budget.

Kantner said prior to Thursday’s meeting that the proposed budget went through three rounds of cuts.

Daniel Jessen and Nathanael Skroban picked up eleventh and fourteenth finishes, respectively. In the 100 freestyle, Nate Brown finished with a personal best time of -48.16 for fifth place. Daniel Wingert (2:13.59) finished fifth in the 200 breaststroke while Taylor Shields and Adam Zech came in fifthteenth and sixteenth, respectively.

Another school record fell in the 200 butterfly as Nick Wieder’s second place time of 1:56.14 beat his own record (1:56.62) that was set earlier in the preliminary rounds. Mark Wagner rounded out the field with a sixteenth place finish at 2:16.15. In the final event of the weekend – the 400 freestyle relay - the Falcons finished sixth with a time of 3:17.41. Joseph Cornelius, Daniel Jessen, Nick Wieder, and Nate Brown’s efforts placed them second in program history. The men finished with 334 points and came in fifth place.

Rookie of the Year, Tara Freeman reflected upon the weekend and the Falcon’s season as a whole “Going into MACs, I was the most excited and nervous I had ever been for a swim meet.

The team has been training since September, and the goal to do well at MACs was a huge motivator during our practices. I had a few goals in mind of times I wanted to achieve and places I hoped to get, but since there are a lot of great swimmers in our conference, I knew every race would be tough.

Before I swam my races, I told myself that regardless of what place I was seeded (for prelims or finals), I had to give every race 100%. Races are not won by the swimmer’s seed time, they are won by the amount of effort the swimmer puts into the pool. I feel as though this was especially true for our relays at MACs. Our team (both on the Men’s and Women’s side) definitely gave 100% effort, all weekend long. A

Kantner presented the suggested budget compiled by campus clubs first, which totaled $287,000; $33,000 over the target number. The revised budget given by the SGA was $237,000, with a deficit of $1,028.44 to account for.

The floor was opened for discussion, leading to the question that influenced most of the negotiations for the night: How much would it take from each club to balance the budget?

Kantner informed the group that about $27.50 would be needed from each of the 37 clubs chartered without fixed percentages in order to balance the budget.

Some students argued whether the debt was small enough that it would be best accounted for by using capital funding.

Senior Ian Gallo presented the winning counter-argument to that motion.

“It would be irresponsible to keep dipping into the capital account,” said Gallo. few of my teammates told me that I had a chance at receiving the Rookie of the Year award, but I didn’t want that to be my focus during MACs. From day 1, after our 200 medley relay unexpectedly placed first, the big goal was for our team to remain in first place for the rest of the meet, in hope of winning the MAC Championship. The Messiah Swim Team showed a lot of teamwork at MACs, and all the accomplishments that were made, whether they were best times, records, or awards, wouldn’t have been possible without the team effort. We work together to encourage each other and push one another in order to reach our goals. Because of this team effort, I believe my teammates and coaches deserve a lot of credit for this award. I feel very blessed and honored to have received the Rookie of the Year award, but I feel even more blessed and honored to be a part of such an amazing team with fantastic coaches. I love my Falcon Family.”

It’s amazing to think that just six years ago the swim team was a group of students looking to just swim and have fun. Now, after a lot hard work in the pool, this talented group of individuals are living out the dreams of former Messiah swimmers, becoming MAC Champions. The men’s team had done well at MAC conferences in years past, as well as this year. They definitely added a competitive edge, and worked hard to perform their best. This year they finished fifth overall which is by no means a small accomplishment. There’s no doubt that Messiah’s swim teams will one day be overall champions.

The Messiah Falcons will be working hard to defend their championship next year.

A motion to reopen the discussion of making cuts to individual clubs was made by the Chemistry Club, which offered to drop $50 from its budget.

This set off a flurry of voluntary cuts from other clubs including Student Chaplains, Swing Dance Club, Earthkeepers, Powerhouse, and Sport Management Society.

After those cuts, the Senate was left to debate the $523.53 remaining in the deficit. A motion was approved to discuss dividing the remainder among the clubs who did not voluntarily cut funds.

Kantner calculated for the Senate that only 17 dollars was needed from each club.

While some clubs were still concerned about cutting any money at all, Gallo once again contributed to the meeting, suggesting that if money was needed, “a club with at least 10 members could

ask each member to (pay dues of) $1.75” to make up for the lost funds.

In order to account for clubs with smaller budgets, Kantner suggested cutting a percentage from each club based on how much of the total budget their club uses.

A motion was made to discuss that idea, followed by the motion to vote on it.

A 40-10-1 vote determined that the budget for 2014 would be balanced by applying percentage-based cuts to clubs who did not voluntarily cut their budget.

A five-minute adjournment occurred as Kantner made the calculations; adjusting the budget to show the final numbers to the Senate for official approval.

After a motion was made to discuss the budget as a whole, it was enthusiastically approved by the Senate; officially kicking off the operation of SGA for spring semester.

2 Week Outl

k:

Feb. 27 - Mar. 13 Compiled by News staff

A

s the snow begins to clear and spring semester gets underway, so do we here at the News section of the Swinging Bridge. We are happy to bring you spring semester’s first edition of the Two-Week Outlook, a list compiling all the can’t-miss events happening in Grantham in the next couple of weeks.

Carnaval Dance - Brazilian Masquerade: This Saturday, Feb. 15, Students Activities Board (SAB) and La Alianza Latina are teaming up to present a Messiah College dance version of the Brazilian festival, The Carnaval. The dance will take place at 8 p.m. at the Union, featuring student DJ auditions for the upcoming Spring Fling. Entrance is free and no tickets are required.

SAB Excursions - Harrisburg Day Trip: On Saturday, Feb. 22, SAB and the Harrisburg SaLT House will take participating students on a day trip to Harrisburg. This includes a visit to the Susquehanna Art Exhibit, a walk around the Midtown area and finally a tour of Messiah’s own SaLT House. This is a free event but tickets are required. Students can reserve tickets at the Union desk.

Home(town) Security: This is the title of the Spring Humanities Symposium Keynote Lecture, which will be delivered by the internationally-renowned Majora Carter. An urban revitalization strategist and philanthroper, Carter’s lecture will center on the 2014 Symposium Theme of “Resilience, Sustainability and the Humanities: Reimagining the Future.” Attendance is free but tickets are required and can be reserved via the Messiah College Ticket Office.

Beyond Left and Right: A Conversation on Social Justice: This event will feature two prominent speakers, Peter Greer and Shane Claiborne as they facilitate a discussion with Messiah students and faculty on the issue of social justice. For more information regarding this event, check out Shannon Cochran’s article (insert title here).

As always, if you want your event to be featured on our Two-Week Outlook, contact the News section of the Swinging Bridge at hn1169@messiah.edu.

Stay warm!

*

OPINIONS

The Swinging Bridge February 27, 2014

Too Cool

for

Opinions 5

School?

Student reactions to Messiah’s Heating Changes.

By Breanna Whitelock STUDENT WRITER

B

ecause of a recent shortage of propane throughout the mid-west and northeast, Messiah College has taken to reducing the heating levels in academic and residential buildings. The temperatures in certain academic buildings such as Boyer and Frey have had their temperatures reduced to 65 degrees and residence halls heat has been reduced to 68 degrees. According to Kathie Schaeffer, Vice-president of Operations, Messiah is trying to show its, “commitment to sustainability, stewardship, and concern for the community,” by working alongside their propane provider and ultimately using less propane. While it may be environmentally friendly, has the recent decrease in temperature had an impact on student’s who have to live and attend classes in these buildings?

Students, as well as staff, are asked to either teach or be taught in buildings set aside for academic purposes. Has a decrease in temperature around campus affected the way students learn or the way teachers instruct a class? After asking many students a similar ques-

tion to this, there seems to be a consensus among students that the heating change seemed noticeable at first but as the weeks have gone on the change is only noticeable at times. One first year student who lives in Naugle says, “it’s freezing in Lottie and I make sure I have my coat in the academic buildings, otherwise it’s not really affecting me.” Students campus wide gave similar answers when asked about the heating change. Students and teachers are now aware of the temperature decrease and plan their dress accordingly by bringing a sweatshirt or keeping their jacket on.

Students do wish to see the temperature in Lottie increase, as they all agreed that they had felt cold while eating there.

Wearing your jacket in class might be one thing, but is having to wear your jacket in your dorm room acceptable?

While some students might not recognize heat changes in their dorm buildings, others are definitely feeling the difference. Upperclassman in apartments, “have been freezing since the beginning of j-term,” according to one senior. But, he added “there is nothing they can do about it.” Students have been wrapped in blankets while inside their rooms trying to outlast this cold blast. Students are paying a lot of money to be able to

Photo provided by www.freechristmaswallpapers.net live in a residential building on campus so shouldn’t there be more of an uproar over the temperature change? It became apparent through talking with students that while the temperature change might be a pain, their ability to act as a community on this issue is a bigger deal.

While students might be cold both inside and outside of the buildings they go to, they understand the decision Messiah College has made. Messiah is trying its best to keep the campus at a

reasonable temperature while working with the recent shortages in propane.

Although temperatures might not be comfortable in all buildings on campus, students are submitting to Messiah’s decision and bundling up more in order to keep warm. There’s only so much Messiah can do about the propane shortage and having the help of students and staff to keep the temperatures down shows how Messiah works as a community.

Anti-gay Laws

Effect the Sochi Olympics

By Nikki Rita STUDENT WRITER

A

t the end of June 2013, a law was signed in Russia that prohibited the promotion of nontraditional sexual relationships to minors. This meant no gay pride parades, no homosexual discussion among teenagers—nothing where children could see or learn.

Controversy was immediate. Not only did this affect those in Russia’s LGBT community, but those in other countries supporting gay rights, and particularly the gay athletes that would be competing in Sochi, Russia in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

That was eight months ago, where athletes and spectators feared discrimination and possible arrest and supporters declared a boycott against watching the

games. Now, with the Olympics fully underway and with no disruption of any sort so far, the controversy seems to have faded into the background.

But you have to give the LGBT community and its supporters more credit than that.

Germany’s team arrived decked out in rainbow design parkas, which they have worn for the duration of the games. Greece was given attention for their rainbow gloves in which each finger is a different color of the rainbow.

Even Russia’s volunteer staff is decked out in rainbow-themed uniforms.

Despite this rather passive protestation, (if it even is that) there has been little expectation of athletes publicly opposing the anti-gay law during the Olympics. However, there is high hopes for an event after the games.

Known as the Russian Open Games, this sports festival is to be held for five

days in Moscow to protest the law. So far, more than 250 athletes from 11 countries have signed up to be there.

According to NBC News, “The Russian Open Games are designed to show the world that ‘we are normal people,’ said Konstantin Yablotsky, president of the Russian LGBT Sport Federation, a non-government group. ‘We are good people. We play sports. We win medals.’”

While the athletes are not pushed to make a statement, many companies have been speaking up in support of the LGBT cause. Urged on by protesters, several U.S. sponsors, such as AT&T and Chobani, issued statements of anti-discrimination although none actually targeted the Russian laws.

Andre Banks, executive director of AllOut, one of the protesting groups, is working to call for the International Olympic Committee to ban countries from bidding to host the games unless

they show they do not discriminate against gays, according to Mercury News.

It is nice to see that, despite this glaring problem, there is still a focus on the sports. While the Olympics are often a big PR pitch for the hosting country, the overall significance is top athletes from around the world training for four years to bring home a medal for their country. The games in and of themselves have nothing to do with a person’s sexuality. But having an athlete’s performance threatened because of their concern for their well-being is not fair.

Russia’s Open Games seems like the most peaceful and most demonstrative choice for athletes and supporters alike to express their aversion to the antigay laws and push towards equality.

February 27, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

Opinions 6

Must We

A lways

By Katie Tyrpak STUDENT WRITER

P olarize?

T

he Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye debate on creationism and evolution was disheartening. After watching it, I realized it was nothing more than a publicized media event to stir up controversy. It was not a debate that could be had because Nye wanted to stick to observable fun facts while Ham used all of his time philosophically and semantically defining Nye’s info as scientifically unobservable and pragmatically useless. The problem was neither Nye nor Ham—the problem was the pairing of the two. If you are going to debate worldviews on life’s purpose and the existence of creator, debate that. And if you’re going to debate observable facts, debate those. But because the way we interpret facts is tied so intimately to worldview, attempting to change one without the other is a hopeless endeavor.

I’ve seen a lot of my peers, and felt within myself, the sensitivity of the creation evolution debate. So often in our Westernized culture, issues are oversimplified to two options and we become slaves of the dichotomy. You’re either creationist or evolutionist, fundamentalist or liberal, you interpret scripture literally or consider them fallible. In my capstone class I read, “when any group feels attacked and disrespected, this naturally leads to a hardening of their position as they become defensive and seek to promote their cause….

Each of which vilifies the others.” And yet, “for most issues there is a relatively large group in the middle, but the ends dominate public awareness.

Those who try to defend a middle po-

on tiny aspects of whole belief systems!

As a biology student at Messiah, the curriculum pushes me to integrate faith and science. Yet, we still structure our class discussions on controversial topics in a dichotomous (or, if we are lucky, a polychotomous) fashion. It is improvement to recognize the middle ground.

But a non-gradiented “spectrum” of non-extremist positions still doesn’t quite square with my experience. I can’t point exactly where on the spectrum I fall with so many issues. My faith runs deep, and my desire to be logically consistent with the empirical world around me does as well. Yet, I’m human, far from perfection or ultimate wisdom.

I’d be arrogant to say my philosophy on origins could even be perfect.

If my journey of specific beliefs can be compared to the process of sanctification in salvation, I’m still early on. I resonate deeply with Rainer Maria Rilke who “beg[s]…to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them…Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way to the answer.”

I have given up the idea that faith and science must contradict each other.

You can’t threaten my faith with a new scientific discovery, and you can’t threaten the reality of science with my faith in the supernatural. There’s enough error in scientific interpretation and biblical interpretation to think that I have access to an ultimate truth

There’s enough error in scientific interpratation and biblical interpretation to think that I have acccess to an ultimate truth in my finite mind. in my finite mind. Furthermore, science cannot fill the void that my faith fills, and my faith cannot exist in a vacuum devoid of observable experience.

We’re all here on this earth trying to grow, and just like God expects a process of sanctification, I think God expects us to admit that we aren’t perfect and try to grow closer to a worldview that makes us love Him and love our neighbor more.

Rather than arrogantly asserting our position and becoming defensive about our insecurities, why don’t we all in humility try to help each other find truth on all these secondary issues, and trust that if our minds are open and hearts are

humble, the Spirit will guide us along.

We’re all different parts of the body: so long as our heads and hearts are aligned with the basics of the gospel, we each are going to have a different purpose and perspective, and this is healthy.

The conversation at Messiah entitled “Beyond Left and Right” by Shane Claiborne and Peter Greer was an excellent example of a healthy constructive discussion free of Western dichotomy.

Shane Claiborne and Peter Greer obviously had different strategies: abundant generosity versus giving out loans.

However, both realized they were working towards the same goal—fighting poverty. By the end, sitting in the audience, I realized that choosing one only limits the power that both could have in different circumstances. I think both Claiborne and Greer would agree to that. Different people can have different opinions for the maximal amount of God-honoring impact on the world.

I do not believe in moral and truth relativism--there are things worth standing up for. I’m just saying that Christians need to admit their opinions with humility and accept their questions.

The non-extremist rest of the world is not a morally vague grey area; a spectrum of growing opinions is healthy for achieving change on a broad scale.

So often in our Westernized culture, issues are oversimplified to two options and we becme slaves of dichotomy. sition or promote discussion between the extremes often find themselves being attacked by both ends.” What a shame that we’ve polarized society to alienate the majority of people based

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February 27, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

Opinions 7

A View from the Outside:

Advice for Graduating Seniors

By Katherine Todd STUDENT WRITER

M

y last semester of college, I made a bucket list. I sat down with my roommate and talked about all the things I wish I had taken more advantage of: swimming in Messiah’s pool, pranking the Men’s Restoration house, visiting Philly. I whittled my checklist down to twenty ideas that I wanted to accomplish in order to “make the most of my college experience”.

Naturally, I only completed about seven, but I still felt accomplished for making an effort, and especially for skinny dipping in the Breeches (shh, don’t tell).

What I wish I had thought more about, however, is what to expect soon after graduation. As a college kid, I knew what to do during a spring semester, I knew what items to put on my bucket list for May 18th, I knew which friends that I would go out of my way to reminisce with and watch a movie. What I didn’t

Photo provided by cdn.theatlantic.com have any frame of reference for was the moment of graduation, or 6 months later, or even a year later. I didn’t know that my cousins would be very hungry on the afternoon of graduation. Sure, I knew that we would go out to eat after

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the ceremony, but I didn’t know how hungry my family would get while I thrived off of my endless enthusiasm for pictures with people I was only friends with freshman or sophomore year.

So, as a recent alumni, I would like to present you with a short checklist of Do’s and Don’ts for your impending post-grad life, based off of my personal experience:

1. Please, please clean your room/ apartment/special interest house before graduation.

Don’t leave it for the night before (especially if you live in a satellite house). This is a bad idea. You will have a hard time getting up in the morning. Your parents may be coerced into last minute cleaning, and they will not be happy.

2. The strangest part of graduating will come on the last week of August, first week of September. Up to this point, you will imagine yourself returning to school from your summer job/experience.

There’s no way to avoid it. For many of you, this will be the first time you haven’t gone back to school since you were 7 years old. The good news is that you are not seven years old anymore and you don’t go to Messiah College: you can go have a beer and try to ignore that weird urge to pack your clothes up 3. Every one of you has served in the local community during your time at Messiah; the Agape Center and its affiliates have done an excellent job ensuring this. Don’t stop serving. It does take a lot more initiative to find organizations and set this up- but it’s worth it. Serving was never about getting outside of the Messiah College Bubble, it was about getting outside your Personal Self-Absorbed Bubble.

4.

Don’t just accept you live in a

subculture where a large proportion of your friends have their rings before spring- embrace it. For all of you single people out there, realize the full potential of your friends’ weddings: Scheduled Reunions with College Friends (and good food). But seriously, you will not stay in touch with all of your current friends. There’s not enough time when you are adjusting to a new living situation, job, or graduate program. It’s sad and it requires you to be very intentional about the few friends you continue to invest in. But don’t forget: you will most definitely be invited to at least one - three weddings (reunions!) this summer.

5. Lastly, living in a community of young adult Christians can be very energizing for your faith. You will miss it. You will probably attend a church with a youth group, nursery, and significant elderly population. You will probably not attend a church with more than 15 young adults. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, ESV).

If you start feeling stagnant though, I would seriously challenge you to read through Celebration of the Disciplines

by Richard Foster.

I hope all you seniors have a great last semester and transition well into a post-grad life. Also, if you’re going out to eat with your family after graduation: make reservations.

February 27, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

Opinions 8

Happiness:

Some Assembly Required

Photo provided by agilemindstorm.com

By Lynda Heller OPINIONS EDITOR

W

inter is always a bleak time of year, but this winter is the winteriest-winter I have ever seen. Everything is wet, slow, and sloshy. On the rare occasions when the ground is not mushy, it is very hard and slippery. It is a difficult time of the year. All over campus, I feel like spirits are low. Students walk quickly and carefully, with their heads down to shield their faces from the wind. Starlings huddle sadly in treetops. The backforty looks absolutely drained of colors.

Biologically, winter is a time of waiting.

Almost all life pauses, waiting for the earth’s tilt to bring us back toward the sun. I don’t think that humans should be half as active as they are at this time of the year. Every other organism is conserving food and warmth, sleeping the days away. Foolishly, humans have have obligations like classes and work, which seem detrimental to survival but which

still must be attended to. We must get through winter, and unfortunately we are supposed to do so in a conscious state. I think though, that there are ways for us to be happy even in this dreary season.

Once, I watched a Ted-Talk in which David Steindl-Rast shared his secret to contentment. To paraphrase, SteindlRast said that happiness is not proportional to the blessings in a person’s life but instead to the gratitude that he or she has. Basically, we can gain control of our moods by changing our reactions to events. This is wonderful news for us. After all, we can not change events. We can not bring the leaves back by wishing for them, but we can stop wishing for them.

Instead, we can appreciate the pointed glory of the icicles growing off of roofs.

We can be grateful for those who plow the sidewalks so that we don’t get snow in our boots. In winter, more than any other time of the year, we can be thankful for our shelters, and hot showers.

For some of us, cultivating gratitude can be hard. There are some practical ways that one can make winter more bearable. Light your room well. Dimlylit rooms make one feel tired and irritable. After all, seasonal affected disorder has been linked to shorter days.

The cure is obviously to get some more “sunlight”. You can also increase the bight colors in your life. Eat oranges.

You can bring a little spring to your room by getting plant. I recommend going all out here: get a plant and love it excessively. Name it, talk to it, and baby it. Since we aren’t allowed to have kittens on campus, make your plant a surrogate cat. If your roommate becomes concerned for your mental health then your goal has been achieved.

Its possible that none of these things will work for you. Maybe color hurts your eyes, and you are allergic to all plant life. Maybe your car is snowed

in and your heat breaks. If everything goes wrong, and you can’t find anything to be happy about, then don’t give up. Make happiness for someone else. Bake your roommates a cake, and clear the ice off a stranger’s car.

Live generously, and you will find joy.

As I write this, the sun is setting, making the snow look blue. A starling is building a nest in the hole in the tree outside my window. Spring is coming, but I am going to stop waiting for it. The palate of winter is not colorless, and there is happiness to be made, right now.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

February 13, 2014 The Swinging Bridge

Alternative

By Sam Dougherty ART & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

A

ccording to a 2012 study by Sandvine, 33 percent of all downstream internet traffic in North America is caused by Netflix. Its no secret that Netflix is popular, and its impact is only growing. Some schools, including Northwestern, have already canceled their regular cable packages because students were opting for streaming services instead of live television.

Netflix is acclaimed for its wide selection of films and for its bingecentric original programming like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, but it still may not be the most fruitful streaming service for everyone.

Take for instance Hulu Plus or HBO GO, which are often better options

Media

A

series of recent Lego advertisements have used the slogan, “Small Toys, Big Stories” to advertise the endless fun one can have playing with the classic building bricks. With the widespread success of The Lego Movie, this statement has never been truer.

These small toys have influenced one big story that has made over $200 million worldwide since its release in early February. For anyone who has seen the flick, it isn’t hard to see why it has achieved such critical and commercial success.

The Lego Movie follows Emmet (Chris Pratt) an average construction

Streaming

NLINE than Netflix for television viewers.

Hulu has a substantial offering of old and new shows and lets viewers watch new episodes just a day after airing. It also has late night offerings, such as the Colbert Report, or Saturday Night Live.

HBO GO is comparable because of the quality of its original programming.

Those who like highly acclaimed shows will love binging on classic shows like The Wire or The Sopranos, as well as newer hits like Game of Thrones and True Detective. Unfortunately, ‘GO’ requires an HBO subscription which usually runs upward of $15 a month, compared to the $7.99 a month costs of both Hulu Plus and Netflix.

For film buffs, the strongest contender to Netflix’s massive catalog is actually Amazon Prime. While Netflix has

recently focused on creating original content, Amazon has worked harder and harder to get more titles, which now includes over 40,000 movies and television episodes. Prime may also be the best overall deal, considering its the same price as Netflix and also includes the benefit of free two day shipping on all amazon purchases.

Hulu Plus can also be a good movie option, but for different reasons. Hulu has a smaller quantity of movies but they do give access to the Criterion Collection. This appeals to film viewers for its selection of hard to find foreign films and American masterpieces.

Less conventional streaming services include Itunes and Youtube. Both follow a pay per content model that can be a cheaper way to go for students who

making each character, brick, and background look as if they came right out of the playroom toy bin.

By Jonathan Barry Wolf STUDENT WRITER

Arts & Entertainment 9

worker who discovers he is the legendary, “special,” and therefore the only figure who can stop evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from destroying the world. He joins forces with a rag-tag team of characters and ultimately discovers that every person contributes to the world in their own important and unique way.

Timing is everything when it comes to the film’s humor. Each joke builds off of the next, resulting in perfectly executed hijinks that will set audiences both young and old into fits of hysterical laughing.

Visually, the movie is stunning.

The movie’s animators bring the lego to life with amazing accuracy and incredible attention to detail,

For longtime Lego fans, it is exciting to see favorite figures brought to life on screen. Cameo appearances by hundreds of classic characters including Superman, the 2003 NBA all-stars, and the Bionicles fill viewers with nostalgic feelings of fun playtimes gone by.

Out of all the movie’s colorful characters, the one that stands out most is Will Arnett’s portrayal of Lego Batman. Arnett’s Dark Knight is a hilarious parody of the seriousness of Christian Bale’s Batman in Christopher Nolan’s recent trilogy. Brooding and gruff, Lego Batman acts as a FOIL for Emmet’s good-natured and whimsical character, resulting in even more laughs.

The film isn’t all fun and games, however.

Characters struggle and learn to overcome big issues such as loneliness, conformity, and depreciated self-worth.

Topics like working well as a team, living out your dreams, and remaining positive in difficult situations are also presented, along with the encouraging message that everyone is important in society.

don’t already have access to any of the providers mentioned earlier. They each have a good variety of shows and movies, each usually costing a few dollars. If one searches hard enough, there’s also a good number of free movies on Youtube, especially foreign films.

Currently, Spotify is looking to start a competitive video streaming service. Amazon is also looking to expand as it is considering a live television streaming service.

TV channel subscriptions dropped 6 percent in the last two years and streaming services are increasingly looking like they are here to stay, making it important to find the right streaming service for your media needs.

The best part about the movie is that it never feels cliché or contrived.

Every character, action, and plot point feels fresh and new. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, whose previous works include hits like 2009’s Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs and 2012’s 21 Jump Street have created a movie as creative and accessible as the blocks they were based on.

Just like the Lego Bricks, this movie will continue to inspire laughter and creativity in children and adults for years to come. For those who grew up building, it is exciting to see a lifetime of creation play out on the big screen.

For those who didn’t grow up playing with Legos, its never too late to start.

R

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w ie

February 13, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

Arts & Entertainment 10

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February 13, 2014 The Swinging Bridge

Arts & Entertainment 11

By Jen Morgan STUDENT WRITER

S

o often when we hear the word “artist” we tend to think of those in music or theater, but what about those in the visual arts? Here at Messiah College, those majoring in art are able to put their creative skills and talents to use in a place focused on God and wholesome artistic creations. We sat down with two sophomore art majors here at Messiah College, Abbey Wylie and Andres Gutierrez, to hear a little more about their lives as students majoring in art.

Why did you decide to become an art major?

Wylie: I have always loved art. Growing up, it was the only class I could pay attention in. When I was a senior in high school I took a graphic design class and absolutely fell in love with the world of design.

Gutierrez: I became an Art Major because I have always been interested in the arts. I really enjoy the process of imagining and creating objects and images.

Photo provided by Andres Gutierrez Wylie: My favorite artist is Jessica Hische. Her work is fantastic. She does a lot with fonts, which is my favorite thing.

Gutierrez: My favorite artists are Tim Noble and Sue Webster. I really love their sculptures that incorporate spotlights to create shadows that change the viewer’s perception of the form. My favorite piece is Wasted Youth.

Do you have a favorite medium?

Wylie: I don’t really have a favorite medium per se. I have always love fonts and the way words look on a page. It’s super nerdy, but I find it fascinating how letters change through different fonts.

Do you have a favorite artist?

Photo provided by Andres Gutierrez

A Chat with Visual Artists Wylie: I came to Messiah College because I wanted to go to a Christian college far away from home. I’m from Ohio, and that’s the last place I wanted to end up. I looked at Messiah’s art program and it was perfect for me.

When I visited campus I felt like I fit right in. God placed me in the perfect college and I’m so thankful for the many opportunities I’ve been given through the college.

Gutierrez: Wood.

Why did you decide to come to Messiah College?

What are your main passions?

Wylie: Aside from designing, I really love working on movies and acting.

The film industry is such an interesting world and I really want to learn more about it.

Gutierrez: My main passions are solving puzzles, creating new things, and service. I love puzzles, whether it’s a jigsaw puzzle, a conceptual challenge, or a logic problem. Creating something new is rather exciting whether it will last forever or if it’s just ephemeral. Service has always been a part of my life and I don’t intend to just stop now.

What is your favorite Bible verse?

Photo provided by Abbey Wylie Gutierrez: I had heard about the college from people back home. It wasn’t the first school on my list, but when it was all said and done I came to Messiah.

My experience here has allowed me to see the wondrous opportunities Messiah offers in its amazing Christian community. I can truly say I love Messiah.

Wylie: The verse that I live by is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Gutierrez: Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Photo provided by Abbey Wylie

February 13, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

Mu ic

Arts & Entertainment 12

Matters:

New Sounds at PulseFM

By Dylan Lee Kalogris PULSEFM MUSIC DIRECTOR

T

his semester has some very exciting things in store coming from Messiah’s radio station: PulseFM. We are introducing a bi-weekly staff pick album from a new band on our playlist. The very first staff pick this year was a great folk rock band out of the Berklee School of Music called American Authors.

American Authors features fairly standard rock instrumentation with the addition of a few subtle folk elements including mandolin and banjo parts.

Standout features to their band include tastefully distorted bass and vocals.

Their new self-titled EP features the single Best Day of My Life, an uptempo encourager that is sure to see a ton of radio airplay to go along with the millions of views the music video has already received on YouTube.

This band is sure to find a home on anyone’s playlist that features other

great artists like Imagine Dragons and Phillip Phillips. American Authors is on an upswing to their inevitably bright career. They’ll be on tour in support of One Republic and The Script this spring.

The newest addition to the staff pick collection is another band based in New York called AUGUSTINES. The first time I heard this band, I was thrilled.

What immediately came to mind were comparisons to Bruce Springsteen and Mumford and Sons. Aside from the fact that the front man looks a lot like Marcus Mumford, AUGUSTINES has the same painfully truthful sound that is reminiscent of the British folk rock band. Listening to these songs on their brand new twelve track self-titled record, you can’t help but feel like you’re along for the ride on a life long journey.

AUGUSTINES is out to share anthems of persistence, struggle, and longing.

The chorus of harmonies throughout along with dynamic horn parts invite the listener to sing these songs out as

loud as possible. AUGUSTINES are true troubadours. Their songs are about the road and they would sound best while riding a motor cycle cross country to find one’s self. In fact, the lyrics to most of the record were written by the lead singer while he took a cathartic journey on his motorcycle around North America.

The band formerly known as We Are Augustines has found their sound, their niche, and themselves in the process of making this record. Recorded during a snowstorm in western New York in an 1800’s era church, AUGUSTINES’ sophomore effort deserves a listen during your next roadtrip. Perhaps

that roadtrip can come on Friday the 28th when they play in Philly.

Currently, WVMM is working to produce a series of video concert events called Live from the Yellow Room recorded in the radio station.

We are very excited to be in talks with a number of great bands, including some bands currently in our rotation, to come play a set for us. Be sure to check the series out on The Pulse YouTube channel and catch tons of great music playing all the time on 90.7 PulseFM. We look forward to bringing you free concert tickets and some unique music experiences in the next few months.

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Fall 2014!

Available Positions: Business Assistant Design Assistant Music Coordinator Managers: A/V Manager Design Manager Radio Station Manager Web Manager Editors: Editor-in-Chief Arts and Entertainment Editor Features Editor News Editor Opinions Editor

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February 13, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

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Messiah Mini-Pages 13

SPORTS

December 5, 2013

The Swinging Bridge

Sports 14

Basketball Season Coming To A Conclusion

By Seth Roseman STUDENT WRITER

C

oncluding the 2013-2014 men’s and women’s basketball seasons, each team ends the term with solid winning records. After beginning the season with a streak of 12 wins in a row, the men’s season rests at a healthy 18-4, with a record of 10-1 at home. The lady Falcons are holding their own at 16-7 with a record at home of 9-2. As the seasons come to a close, it’s time to reflect on the peaks and valleys on the programs road to success.

Photo Provided by go.messiah.edu

As the season progressed, the Falcon’s continued to be

dominant continued to be dominant, including a double overtime win over Albright that ended 90-87. The men look to continue this winning form in their final game against Alvernia on February 22nd.

Photo Provided by go.messiah.edu

Meanwhile, the women’s team rebuilds after losing 7 seniors who helped lead the team to an impressive record of 25-5 in the 2012-2013 season. This year’s current roster consists of a relatively young squad after graduating numerous team members, yet still strung together

and remarkable 7 wins in a row late in the season. This includes an impressive win over Hood College by 37 points in a game that ended 77-40 as well as a win over rivals Elizabethtown (who is ranked first in the conference) in a hard fought game that finished 59-58. Coach Mike Millers 28 years of experience have paid off dividends for a team that hopes to qualify for the NCAA National Tournament for the 15th consecutive time.

Several tough loses have befallen each team, but the Falcon’s have continued to fight back. After the men lost a stunning game to Stevenson to end the team’s 12 game winning steak, they have rebounded to outscore their challengers by an average of 4.5 points. Likewise, the women’s time has outscored their last 10 opponents by 13 points. Inevitably, competition produces moments that feel like mountains, valleys and plateaus; each team has navigated this rough terrain with expertise. The men and women are ranked 1st and 3rd, respectively, in the Mid-Atlantic (MAC) conference.

Each team will graduate multiple key players next year, but talented firstyears and the continued contributions of players from every level will be able to remedy the situation. With talented veteran coaches and promising young players, the teams look to forward to building on this years success. The 2014-2015 season may prove to be even more fruitful for Messiah’s basketball empires.

tough “ Several loses have befallen each team, but the Falcon’s have continued to fight back.

“

Last year’s men’s team finished with a record of 13-11, including finishing an even 9-9 in the conference. After losing senior Derek Mosley, and his impressive total of 154 rebounds, the Falcons were able to utilize their maturity and experience to dominate their opponents for the beginning half of the season. The men hit a rough patch midway through as teams countered the fast paced style of the Falcons and retained possession. Yet the men bounced back.

The team, which consists of 5 seniors and 4 juniors, was able to capitalize on playing time accumulated from past seasons to create a well-balanced and composed attacking tour de force.

As the season progressed, the Falcon’s

February 27, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

1Result

Sports 15

2 Countries, 2 Games,

By Joel Hoover STUDENT WRITER

I

n sports, the balance of power in a long-time rivalry can change like the swing of a clock’s pendulum.

During the 24 hours separating the United States and Canada’s men’s and women’s ice hockey games at the Sochi Olympics, both rivalries saw their own dramatic changes of power in the quest for gold at the Games.

North America’s two largest countries, the only ones from the continent who have ever competed in men’s and women’s Olympic hockey, have rich histories in the competition.

For Canada, their men had captured a record eight gold medals and 14 total medals coming into the Sochi Games, while the women had won the last three gold medals. The United States also boasts their own history, with the men winning two gold medals— including their famous 1980 triumph— and the women winning the very first gold medal in women’s ice hockey.

The two women’s sides met on February 20 in the gold medal game, their second

meeting of these Olympics. In the first game, Canada pulled two goals clear in the third period, then held off a late charge for a 3-2 victory. Both teams had breezed through the competition, with the U.S. outscoring opponents 18-2 in their other three games and Canada outscoring theirs 11-1.

It was the second straight Olympics in which they met for gold: in Vancouver in 2010, Canada had brought joy to the home-ice crowd with a 2-0 victory over the U.S. This time around, the Americans seemed to have the gold in their sights, with a wonderful second-period goal from captain Megan Duggan and a power play goal in the third from Alex Carpenter staking them to a 2-0 lead with under four minutes to play in the game.

Their start to the game almost seemed to mirror the start Team USA’s men had made to the Olympics—one that, coupled with the women’s dominance, seemed to be swinging the pendulum of hockey power to the southern neighbor.

The United States had flown through the Sochi tournament up to their semifinal clash with Canada, outscoring opponents 20-6 in four games and

Photo Provided by bleacherreport.com //LETS KEEP IT REAL Luke Sagaser set a new school record during the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke, and went on to raise the bar in the finals for an eighth place finish at 2:02.28. Daniel Jessen and Nathanael Skroban picked up eleventh and fourteenth finishes, respectively. In the 100 freestyle, Nate Brown finished with a personal best time of -48.16 for fifth place. Daniel Wingert (2:13.59) finished fifth in the 200 breaststroke while Taylor Shields and Adam Zech came in fifthteenth and sixteenth, respectively. Another school record fell in the 200 butterfly as Nick Wieder’s second place time of 1:56.14 beat his own record (1:56.62) that was set earlier in the preliminary rounds. Mark Wagner rounded out the field with a sixteenth place finish at 2:16.15. In the final event of the weekend – the 400 freestyle relay - the Falcons finished sixth with a time of 3:17.41. Joseph Cornelius,

Daniel Jessen, Nick Wieder, and Nate Brown’s efforts placed them second in program history. The men finished with 334 points and came in fifth place.

Rookie of the Year, Tara Freeman reflected upon the weekend and the Falcon’s season as a whole “Going into MACs, I was the most excited and nervous I had ever been for a swim meet.

The team has been training since September, and the goal to do well at MACs was a huge motivator during our practices. I had a few goals in mind of times I wanted to achieve and places I hoped to get, but since there are a lot of great swimmers in our conference, I knew every race would be tough.

Before I swam my races, I told myself that regardless of what place I was seeded (for prelims or finals), I had to give every race 100%. Races are not won by the swimmer’s seed time, they are won by the amount of effort the

Photo Provided by gazettenet.com winning a thrilling shootout with host Russia thanks to the heroics of goalie Jonathan Quick and shootout specialist T.J. Oshie. Meanwhile, the favored Canadians had struggled to find their form, squeezing past Norway and Finland before getting a serious scare from Latvia in the quarterfinals.

The men’s marquee semifinal matchup the day after the women’s final was one fans had been waiting for since Canada’s thrilling 4-3 win over the U.S. in overtime of the Vancouver gold medal game four years ago. This time around, it began as a very tense affair.

Canada showed much of the early edge in chances and aggression, while Team USA struggled to approach the net during their forays into the Canadian zone. Still, through one period, there was all to play for at 0-0. The American’s ability to adjust and attack effectively had served them well throughout the Olympics. Perhaps it would here as well.

And just like that—in both games—the power shifted.

Miraculously, Canada’s women would launch a comeback from their 2-0 hole.

A deflected shot from Brianne Jenner pulled them within one, and after the Americans saw a long shot hit the post of the empty Canadian net, Marie PhilipPoulin netted the equalizer with 55 seconds left to force overtime. It was in the extra period, on the power play, that Philip-Poulin would once again leave her mark, shooting home the winner to give Canada a fourth straight gold medal— swimmer puts into the pool. I feel as though this was especially true for our relays at MACs. Our team (both on the Men’s and Women’s side) definitely gave 100% effort, all weekend long. A few of my teammates told me that I had a chance at receiving the Rookie of the Year award, but I didn’t want that to be my focus during MACs. From day 1, after our 200 medley relay unexpectedly placed first, the big goal was for our team to remain in first place for the rest of the meet, in hope of winning the MAC Championship. The Messiah Swim Team showed a lot of teamwork at MACs, and all the accomplishments that were made, whether they were best times, records, or awards, wouldn’t have been possible without the team effort. We work together to encourage each other and push one another in order to reach our goals. Because of this team effort, I believe my teammates and coaches deserve a lot of credit for this award. I feel very blessed and

and break the hearts of the Americans.

Just over a minute into the second period a day later in the men’s game, Canada’s Jamie Benn redirected a shot from the point past USA netminder Jonathan Quick to edge Canada in front.

Despite a late push, the Americans could never muster enough offense to find an equalizer against Canada’s defense and goalkeeping of Carey Price.

For a second straight day—and second straight Olympics—the men’s and women’s sweep belonged to Canada. The pendulum of ice hockey power was with the north again.

Team USA could not recover from the narrow defeat, as they took a heavy 5-0 loss to Finland the next day in a deflated and slightly bad-tempered bronze medal game. Canada, meanwhile, used the momentum from the semifinal victory to fly past Sweden in the gold medal game by a score of 3-0. It was their secondstraight gold medal, and completed yet another men’s and women’s sweep of the Olympic ice hockey competition.

Two neighboring, rival nations. Two games. One result—the same as four years ago. For the United States, another long four-year wait begins for another shot at hockey gold on the international stage. For Canada, their claim as the world’s foremost hockey nation remains unchallenged—the gold medals around their men’s and women’s necks all the backing such a claim needs.

honored to have received the Rookie of the Year award, but I feel even more blessed and honored to be a part of such an amazing team with fantastic coaches. I love my Falcon Family.”

It’s amazing to think that just six years ago the swim team was a group of students looking to just swim and have fun. Now, after a lot hard work in the pool, this talented group of individuals are living out the dreams of former Messiah swimmers, becoming MAC Champions. The men’s team had done well at MAC conferences in years past, as well as this year. They definitely added a competitive edge, and worked hard to perform their best. This year they finished fifth overall which is by no means a small accomplishment. There’s no doubt that Messiah’s swim teams will one day be overall champions.

The Messiah Falcons will be working hard to defend their championship next year.

February 27, 2014

The Swinging Bridge

Sports 15

OLYMPIC

BY DAN ROW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

S

OCHI, Russia – The 2014 Winter Olympic Games wrapped up this weekend. As is the case every two years, the games were thrilling fun and brought national pride to many around the globe, not without some controversy, however.

This year’s competition featured a total of 98 events in 15 different winter sport categories. This year’s games included twelve new events, including Men’s and Women’s Slopestyle, Men’s and Women’s Ski Halfpipe, and Women’s Ski Jumping.

North winning ten gold over our nine while The States took home three more medals in total with 28 to Canada’s 25.

These Olympics were not all fun and games, however. Five Olympic athletes were found guilty of using performanceenhancing drugs at the games. These athletes were banned from the games

Falcons Wrestle Up To Third Place

By Celal Kamran SPORTS EDITOR

M

essiah Falcons Wrestling team has had an incredible earning themselves the number three spot heading into the NCAA regionals. They have a record of 21-2 in duals winning the last fourteen duals. The Falcons also put up an advantage of 207-25 points in the last five matchups. The team triumphed over McDaniels College in their last dual on the way to NCAA regionals.

Last Tuesday, the Falcons beat McDaniels by a margin of 44-6. This was accomplished with a handful of pins and technical falls. Richardo Plummer and Ben Kramer both had tech falls both in the third period. Nick Havener and Charles Jones both had a set of pins in the first round of their matchup. Chris Williamson, returning from an injury earlier in the season, also contributed a pin to the Messiah win.

Messiah’s last home dual was against The College of New Jersey who they defeated with a combined score of 36-7. The big upset came from Richardo Plummer defeating the number 7th ranked Zach

Zotollo. The biggest defeat was Messiah’s Josh Thompson ranked number six being outscored by Brian Broderick. Lucas Malmberg, Larry Cannon and Kaleb Loht both came up for Messiah with major decisions helping the Falcons secure a win. Ben Kramer and Charles Jones finished of with wins and Jones got a pin within 30 seconds of the first round.

Look for the Falcons winning big at regionals and BEYOND! The Falcons prepare for the NCAA regionals which are March giving them a couple of weeks to rest and get ready.

As mentioned before Messiah goes on 3rd overall so look for the Falcons winning big at regionals and beyond!

These games came as U.S. and Russian tensions were mounting over a variety of issues including the Russian ban on “homosexual propaganda” and the deposition of Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych, whom was closely allied with Russia in the past.

What’s more, these games were seen as a massive appeal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to show that Russia is

a successful and thriving nation, despite claims of national-level corruption and injustice. These games have been dubbed by some “Putin’s Olympics” as the Russian President was largely responsible for getting the IOC to allow his nation to host the games.

As the competitors return to their home countries, we look forward to the upcoming Olympic Events. The upcoming Summer Olympics will be taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 and the next Winter Olympics will occur in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The games are sure to bring even more national pride and hopefully more international fraternity as our athletes compete on the international stage.

THE

Editor-In-Chief Dan Row Designers Carly Groff Corinne Elliott Justine Robillard Lauren Piccioni Michelle Kim Quan Nguyen News Editor Huy Nguyen Opinions Editor Lynda Heller Features Editor Nicholas Tay A & E Editor Sam Dougherty Sports Editor Celal Kamran Business Cameron Gilmore Eby Degu Audio/ Visual Danielle Gingrich Sarah Berger Social Media Michael Brookhart Website Dan MacGregor Erin McCollum Swingingbridge.messiah.edu FB// MessiahPulse Twitter// MessiahPulse

SWINGING BRIDGE

One of the games’ most highly-anticipated and fiercely competitive events was the Men’s and Women’s Hockey competition. Twelve nations competed in each hockey tournament and twelve rounds were played. In the women’s division, Canada and the U.S. competed in the finals, with Canada beating out America in overtime for a final score of three to tow. Switzerland then took the bronze after beating out medal-hopeful Sweden in a four to three match. In the men’s competition, the U.S. was not so successful, falling fourth after a five-zero shutout by Finland in the Bronze Final on Feb. 22. On Sunday, Feb 23, the final event of the games was the thrilling finals of the men’s hockey tournament. Canada claimed victory over Sweden, securing the nation’s second gold medal in hockey this year.

by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and were sent home to their respective countries. While none of the convicted athletes were medal winners, some were top competitors in the games including Austrian crosscountry skier, Johannes Duerr, who finished eighth in his competition.

MESSIAH COLLEGE//THE PULSE

No matter how you count success in these games, either by most gold or most total medals, Russia was the clear winner. The host nation took home nine bronze, 11 silver, and 13 gold medals including three in Short Track racing and three in Figure Skating, bringing the country’s total medal count to a whopping 33. Norway came away in second place, securing 11 gold medals with 26 top three winners overall. Canada and the U.S. came in third and fourth, with our neighbors to the

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