This is my least favorite week of the year. For many, this week is overwhelming with assignments and last-minute preparation for finals. Although I can't say that I personally enjoy "Hell week," as it is so aptly called, I can say this much: academic Hell week holds no candle to the heartache that is watching your dear friends head off into the sunset. With only one semester left to tackle, I can't imagine how unrecognizable this place will be without so many people who have made AU home to me. … [Read more...]

College is both beautiful and destructive, simultaneously formative and calamitous. I realized recently that college has been damaging me. I have five tattoos, and three of them are strings of words that have impacted my life so strongly that I declared them worthy of staining my skin forever. The first of these is a gentle request: “may my soul resist the rush.” The second, lyrics to my favorite Billy Joel song, reminds me that it’s okay to live in the here and now: “Vienna waits for … [Read more...]

While walking down a city street recently, a member of the Andersonian staff encountered a woman, disheveled and worn-looking, sifting through a trashcan for plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The staffer, never having encountered such a situation, looked away and continued walking. After the staffer passed, the woman said hello to another passerby. When the person didn't respond, the woman said, "Why is nobody smiling at me? Is there something on my face?" Over the next few hours and … [Read more...]

Guest Writer: Zach Van Duyn To some, this opinion will be frustratingly insufficient and anodyne.  To others, some of my statements may provoke and breed resentment.  Overall, I’m taking an admittedly scatterbrained approach to describing where I believe humanism and Christian faith intersect, as well as the insufficiency of the former to lead us to eternal life. I’ll start with what I consider one of the most transformational and inescapably pervasive quotes ever uttered about my faith:  … [Read more...]

Guest Writer: Jake Mills Reaching back to freshman year is a stretch for some.  Time seems to fly by so quickly, but when you look back, much of it is seems so far away.  There are those pieces of memory, those priceless moments, however, that have or will shape who you will become as a student and person.  As a senior looking back, those moments are all too clear. When I first arrived on campus as a freshman back in 2014, I could not have felt more out of place. Taking some liberty on a … [Read more...]

The Easter season: a time filled with Easter egg hunts, pastel colors and bunnies. For many, the powerful nature and culture that surrounds Easter is often hidden behind baskets and shiny, too-green fake grass. In a world that markets to what sells, to what is fun, to what is  consumeristic, even the most important death and most meaningful act of perfect love in all of history is shrouded by frills and bows. The Easter Bunny was most likely a pivitol figure in your childhood. Waking up to … [Read more...]

As students, we are coached to work diligently to “achieve” something, whether that be a prestigious internship, fellowship or job opportunity. We know we’re supposed to be racing toward that goal, but it’s easy to get lost along the way. What if we return from summer break, struck with the fear that our majors might not be the best fit for us? What if someone warns us that this career we’ve been daydreaming about isn’t the most financially secure option? What if, while walking across the … [Read more...]

Guest Writer: Katie Krisker In the recent weeks, America has been shocked and appalled by the Washington, D.C. school scandal. For years, D.C. has been known as the “miracle” district after reforms made by Michelle Ree, Kaya Henderson and Antwan Wilson transformed a low performing, poverty-level neighbood school into one of the fastest improving schools in the United States. In October of 2015, the D.C. public school district made a statement headlining: “D.C. public schools continues … [Read more...]

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." - The Second Amendment America's children are not being taught how to spell, determine the slope of an angle or to cite the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. Instead, America's children are learning to use textbooks as projectiles. They are learning how to fight. They are learning that fire alarms are just as useful for gunfire as … [Read more...]

With 468 congressional seats up for grabs in the midterm elections taking place this fall, 2018 is going to be an important year in American politics. However, America isn’t the only country that will be holding important elections this year. The Russian presidential election will be taking place this March, and the outcome will be unsettlingly predictable. As of 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin has an impressive 81 percent approval rating, faces little opposition and is expected to … [Read more...]