On Sat., April 9, I drove three hours to Columbus, Ohio for a concert. Playing at the show were The Kills, The Joy Formidable, BAIO, and Everything Everything. I had only heard of one of these groups, and had driven this entire way only to see the latter.  Everything Everything are a four piece alternative rock band from Manchester that rarely play in the U.S., so I saw it as a golden opportunity. Frontman Jonathan Higgs was both on key and on point, with his near universal use of head voice … [Read more...]

Recently, there was a “drinking party” broken up by campus police that involved members of Camarada and Dativus. Most of the students involved were seniors, but nonetheless, AU policy was broken. It’s almost the end of the year, and seniors are bound to be restless for the freedom outside of AU. That said, seniors are no more exempt from campus policy than underclassmen. People who come to AU should be aware that drinking is prohibited while on campus, when underage or, in recent history, not … [Read more...]

The most recent DC movie, “Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice,” expected by many to be a blockbuster hit, flopped in the box office. This movie had potential, with Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, a powerhouse of superheroes and the extensive monetary support of DC. So why did it fail to satisfy audiences? Well, if you look at the wreckage of the movie, you can see the primary rules of storytelling being broken and mistreated throughout the story. Rule #1 -  Set the Stage When you tell a … [Read more...]

On April 1, Aerie, whose parent company is American Eagle Outfitters, released a photo campaign featuring men of diverse body types called “#AerieMAN.” This campaign was taken seriously and lauded by many on the internet as a positive campaign to include men of body types other than the usual super-fit models. That is, until the campaign was revealed to be a parody of the company’s own “#AerieReal” campaign, which included the company’s promise not to retouch any of the models for their … [Read more...]

As a graduating senior, my best advice to my younger peers is simply this: get out. No, don’t drop out! Just get out. Let me explain. For all of the great things AU has to offer, it is nonetheless a small, Christian university in a place unknown to most people in the world and somewhat isolated from the 99.99% of humanity that has never heard the term “ring by spring” or been to a CAB event. Yes, AU’s small size and tight knit community certainly play a part in what makes it exceptional, but … [Read more...]

The 2016 Presidential election has been nothing short of absurd, and absurd may even be on the humane side. For starters, the GOP nomination started out with 12 candidates at the beginning of the primaries—no, your eyes did not deceive you, I did say 12. The other thing, or shall I say person, that makes this year’s election even more bizarre is a man by the name of Donald Trump. All of this Trump-induced chaos has led to many comical incidents, and I am here to share with you, the lucky reader, … [Read more...]

Let’s face it, we’re not perfect. None of us are. Not even here in what some like to call the “Anderson bubble.” We’re a bunch of flawed and imperfect people who step on each other’s toes and insult each other all the time. In the timespan of about one week, we’ve had a forum to discuss the LGBTQ community and related issues, an act of racial aggression in the form of revolting speech, as well as a bomb threat that took place on the same day that we had a Muslim guest-speaker in chapel, It … [Read more...]

Chapel on campus is known to have a wide variety of topics and formats throughout the semester, which allows for students to experience different types of worship and gives students the opportunity to hear messages that they might not seek out for themselves. In chapel last Thursday, PACT organized an informal interview with a Muslim woman as the message. While many students appreciated the opportunity to hear the perspective of a Muslim woman about her faith, others were less than … [Read more...]

We’ve all heard the phrase “dating Jesus.” I will tell you why I am not now, nor will I ever be, dating Jesus. The modern-day concept of “dating” implies a romantic relationship, one in which people show affection for one another and spend time together. Dating Jesus implies that whenever one starts to date an imperfect human, Jesus will be cast aside. The phrase implies that a significant other occupies the same space in one’s life that Jesus does. Tell me, can you cuddle with Jesus? Does … [Read more...]