by Carly Bergthold | Mar 23, 2015 | News Slider, Opinion
I spent hours waiting for the bus last week. On warm and sunny days, spending a few minutes at the bus stop doesn’t seem that bad. Waiting in the cold rain, however, is pretty miserable, especially if you have an appointment to which you’re definitely going to arrive late. I took the bus so often because I was on Lipscomb’s Serve the City missing trip team, working with newly arrived refugees in Nashville. Not only did we learn how to master public transit, but we maneuvered the health system, got library cards, ate a lot of PB&J’s and spent three hours at the DMV. Our team of nine worked with six refugees from Somalia and Burma. When I first met them, they struck me as lovely and intelligent people who just happened to be displaced from their home countries. We soon learned, though, that each of them went through hell and high water to reach the United States. As the week progressed, I stopped thinking of them as “the refugees” and started thinking of them as Ibrahim, Mohamed, Hassan, Hussein, Aung Gi and LinLing. It must have happened as we spent hours laughing and talking, playing soccer with an empty plastic water bottle, riding the seesaw at Cumberland Park and learning that the culture gap isn’t so wide after you’ve crossed Nolensville Road on foot during rush hour and survived. In America, we make memes about “first world problems” and occasionally remember to give $5 to the poor. Yet what we often lack is the ability to see the world through a lens of grateful curiosity — a viewpoint...
by Hunter Patterson | Sep 9, 2011 | News Slider
On the morning the Twin Towers fell 10 years ago, our futures became a little less certain, a little more stifled. The anxiety of those first weeks – when it felt like we were living on the brink – has eased, or at least, become so routine that we don’t recognize it for what it is anymore. After all, you can only mourn the loss of life-as-we-know-it for so long before deciding to embrace what is and finding a way to move forward. To understand this is to understand – at least in part – the story of the way students and teachers have adapted to change. The change that was and still is life after 9/11. I know that I don’t speak for myself when I say that the attack felt personal. It was in our faces, in our homes, on our TVs. And most importantly, inside of our own country – on our soil. That was the case for two of Lipscomb’s own – David Hughes, former Special Forces and now Director of the Yellow Ribbon program; and Jon Corley, a student that is a part of the program, set to graduate in May. The attacks on the country hit them so hard – like it did many others – that it was one of the defining reasons they joined the fight against America’s enemies. Jon was 16 when the attacks happened. He says his experience was very different from what most of us went through when the first plane hit the tower. Jon was home alone that day. He was in bed, sick, and was woken...
by Hunter Patterson | Aug 1, 2011 | News Slider
On the day after an agreement has finally been reached to extend the federal debt ceiling, both Republicans and Democrats can rejoice the government has avoided a possible default. While congressional approval is still required, America has seen bipartisanship win once again. And bipartisanship is exactly what Thomas Whisenant wants on Lipscomb’s campus. Resurrecting the Lipscomb Democrats club, Whisenant is ready to give democratic students a louder voice on campus. “I felt like there was an absence on campus for students with a more democratic political view,” Whisenant said. “Being a student who is a democrat, it is nice to have a group of people there to get your voice heard.” It’s not just about promoting democratic views for Whisenant, though. While that is high on the list, there are more important things. “We want to present to people that politics are not a bad thing,” he said. “Politics is something that we need to be involved in. Just because Washington seems hostile and difficult doesn’t mean they have to be here [on campus].” As far as the group’s formation goes, this is not something new. For those that are seniors this year, you may remember the 2008 election. During that time and during the campaign, there were groups for Republicans and Democrats. However, since then, both groups have disappeared. With the reformation of Lipscomb Dems, Whisenant hopes to reach out to different groups and help the community at the same time. “I think that it’s important that we make sure that Lipscomb comes before the Democrats,” Whisenant said. “We want to be a group that gives back and...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 23, 2011 | News Slider
How about this? Take a World War II movie, crank up the action with effects and CGI and then give the focal point of the movie some steroids. If you do all those things, you’ll end up with Captain America: The First Avenger. While it is a fun movie, it lacks depth and that sense of deep, sophisticated storytelling that most of the Marvel movies have. That is not to say that it is too fast for one to understand what is going on, but in certain scenes that would require some emotion to grasp, the film sidesteps it. However, the movie is still about one of America’s first superheroes. During the World War II era there were less shades of grey. America was at war, and the enemy was truly evil. To battle that, America needed ideals and heroes that were truly good. It is against that backdrop that the film is built around. There are good superheroes, and there are bad villains. And because of that setting, we can put our modern cynicism aside and appreciate goodness and heroism for what it really is. Captain America’s (Steve Rogers) nemesis in the film is a Johann Schmidt, a Nazi better known as Red Skull. Contrasting the very good looking Captain Rogers, the ugly as sin Red Skull is a near perfect villain on the screen. Of course with any other Marvel film there is plenty of humor to go around. The bulk of the jokes come from Tommy Lee Jones. Jones’ character, Colonel Chester Phillips makes most of the jokes in rapid-fire mode while pre-transformation Rogers is still...
