Dr. Larry Brown advocates a Christian education

College is where students generally spend four years of their life getting an education and preparing themselves for their future careers. Some students prioritize a place where they can comfortably practice and share their beliefs alongside their academic studies at a Christian university.  At Lipscomb University, students may be familiar with Dr. Larry Brown, who has taught a variety of classes in his 24 years, including both Bible and Liberal Arts courses. Brown first majored in the field of theater then followed in the footsteps of his parents, who were both teachers at one time. “It seemed natural to follow that path. I grew up in a home where education was appreciated. As an undergraduate, I decided that if I wanted to continue in the field of theater, but not go the professional route, that teaching was my best option,” Brown said. Brown grew up in Nashville and attended Lipscomb University.He received his first teaching job at York College in Nebraska in 1982. Brown’s former professor, Dr. Marlin Connelly, invited him back to Lipscomb when its previous director retired, and 1989 Brown returned to his roots. “I teach a variety of courses. For 19 years I was director of theater, and I still teach a few theater classes,” Brown says, “But also World Lit. and four different online Bible classes; mostly for the Adult Degree Program.” Although theater was his focus for quite some time, Brown always had time set aside to teach Bible. “Besides my PhD in theater,I also have a master’s in Bible,” he said. “I always intended to teach Bible along with my other subjects, as...

Lumination Newscast, March 15, 2013

In this semester’s eighth installment of Lumination News, Caitlin Selle and Nick Glende are behind the news desk to update you about what’s happening on campus. Ariel Jones brings you up to speed with sports, Brianna Langley fills you in on the week’s top world news headlines, Nicolette Carney gives the scoop on all things entertainment and Brynn Watkins delivers your weather forecast. This week’s newscast features insight into the Walk Off the Earth Concert, a look into last week’s Tokens broadcast, information about the new pope, a feature on Lipscomb’s Hannah Phillips and reporting from Hawaii, Savanna Schubert lets you see how the Lady Bisons golf team is doing on the sandy beaches. We also take a closer look at the top three majors to graduate with, how technology effects our lives, information about Wednesday’s Pizza and Politics and a quick look at the intramurals basketball championship last week, as well as our weekly Nashville Spotlight and Tweets of the Week. Be sure to stay tuned for future newscasts published every Friday here on...

Modern communication – more or less social?

Sixty percent of Lipscomb students polled say they would text before using any other means of communication. A survey from Sept. 10. asked students “When you wish to contact someone, how would you normally do it? (assuming all options are available at the time you want to contact them).” The four options to choose from were phone call, text message, instant message (email, Facebook, etc.) or knock on their door (face to face).  A few years ago the polls would have shown different results, but now most Americans, especially college students, carry a mobile phone. Rebecca Clark, a Lipscomb junior, has seen a decrease in the amount she calls and said she has grown maybe too comfortable with texting. “I used to call people a lot more, but texting just seems so much easier,” she said. “I’ve grown used to it, and now I tend to feel more awkward about calling someone. And I’d much rather send a text so I have time to respond, instead of be on the spot.” Judging by the poll results, 60 percent of the time, when communicating, nobody is actually talking. Things like tone of voice and body language are not a factor in a text message, meaning a lot of the time what you say can easily be misinterpreted. President of Lipscomb’s IT Department, Nick Painter, is familiar with this situation. “I can see how most people text instead of call nowadays, but texting is not always the best method,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll text my girlfriend and say something completely harmless, or I’ll be joking, and she’ll get mad at me, or it...
‘Exposure’ shows ugly side of social media

‘Exposure’ shows ugly side of social media

The power of social media is all too evident to today’s teenagers. When technology abuse causes two girls to ruin each other, parents and school officials intervene, struggling to create peace and reconciliation. This reality is the center of “Exposure,” a play written, directed and performed by Lipscomb students. “I think it’s a play that speaks particularly to parents, and I hope parents in the audience are encouraged to be good parents, especially in a world that has changed a lot with social media and technology,” said Director Sawyer Wallace, a recent Lipscomb graduate. The play, written by senior Whitney Vaughn, a double major in theater and Law, Justice and Society, won the playwriting competition at last year’s Christian Scholars’ Conference. It was performed June 6-9 during the 2012 conference on campus. The Christian Scholars’ Conference annually brings together Christian scholars from various academic backgrounds “to develop their own academic research and to reflect on the integration of scholarship and faith.” As described in the play’s program, the work is “a riveting play about a high school guidance counselor’s attempt to reconcile two teenage girls who have used social media to destroy each other’s lives. It exposes the pervasive quality of social media and the damaging effects of poor parenting.” Vaughn, who is interning in Washington, D.C. with the Republican National Committee, said the idea for the play came last year when she was in Mike Fernandez’s playwriting class. Fernandez told the students to consider the big moments in their lives and find common denominators between the events. “The common denominator in all of the good and bad that I’ve been...

Opinion: Looking at a digital nation’s pluses and minuses

As we are becoming a digital nation, there is much speculation over whether this will help or harm us. “Frontline” examined this topic on television, and it is something that ought to make us all think. Over the past few decades there has been a tremendous rise in digital involvement. Americans are constantly connected in some way. Whenever we can’t find an answer, we whip out our smart phones and google the answer. In fact, “google” is now an official word of our vocabulary. It can be used either in upper or lower case, as in “google” or “Google.” The Webster’s dictionary defines google by saying it is “a verb meaning: using the Google search engine to obtain information on the world wide web.” How did anyone ever function without such readily available materials the Internet provides? The downfall to having everything here and now is that we always expect it that way. People are becoming more impatient. Their attention spans are short lived. Children are relying on online games and media to hold their attention as opposed to playing outside or reading a book. Inside the classroom students expect learning to be game-oriented as opposed to a more traditional lecture style. Studies have shown that our quality of learning has decreased. College students are finding it harder and harder to succeed in a literature classes. When surfing the web, the brain is utilizing several parts and functioning at a fast rate. Therefore, when someone is constantly surfing the web they aren’t exercising their brain as they would when focusing on a single topic or reading a book. So as college students are assigned reading in...