Parts of this article have been edited for clarity. Daniel Shank Cruz’s Twitter biography is lengthy. First, there is the flag of Puerto Rico, in emoji form. Afterwards, the entry reads, “queer disabled Mennonite lit Phd MFAing@Hunter_College. Author of Queering Mennonite Literature (Penn State UP, 2019). he/they.” Shank Cruz, 42, a former associate English professor who is now completing a MFA in Creative nonfiction at Hunter College, City University of New York, wears quite a few hats. Growing up in Mennonite communities in Lancaster and eventually Goshen, Shank Cruz had difficulty finding a space to internalize and accept his identity...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • December 8, 2022 • Features

Dale Kempf first put on his white lab coat as a chemistry student at Hesston College in the 1970s. It fit well. He transferred to Goshen College where he completed a chemistry major. He then went on to graduate school to study organic chemistry at the University of Illinois, where he got his Ph.D. He did post-doctoral research at Columbia University, and then took a job at a pharmaceutical company, Abbott Laboratories, as a medicinal chemist, in 1984. “I basically used my chemistry ability to make new compounds,” he said. “I would work closely with biologists and other scientists to...

By Amelia Lee • December 8, 2022 • Features

Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice and conflict studies at Goshen College, believes that spiritual connection is important in the daily practice of antiracism. In the book “Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality” (Herald Press, 2021), which Shands Stoltzfus wrote with Tobin Miller Shearer, spirituality emerges as a key focal point of antiracist tactics. “We practice,” Shands Stoltzfus said, “Just like musicians and athletes do. I think that’s true for something like antiracism. We have been socialized in a very racist setting, living in America. We are expected to embody racism and practice those beliefs; that there...

By Faith Fegley • December 8, 2022 • Features

For Yudiria Garcia, studying virtually at Harvard University last summer was “overwhelming at first.” “Imposter syndrome was real,” Garcia said. “At the beginning, I really felt like I didn’t belong at Harvard.” Garcia was one of nine participants from across the country who were accepted into Fostering Advancement Camp; Careers through Enrichment Training in Science (FACETS), a six-week program focused on research, professional development and networking. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion within Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted the program. After hearing about the opportunity from Brianne Brenneman, public health program director and assistant professor of public...

By Caleb Shenk • December 8, 2022 • Features

As I pulled into the parking lot of the Child and Parent Services building in Elkhart, there was only a single car in the parking lot. It was early. 7:22. When I punched in the address earlier, my GPS reminded me that Child and Parent Services, better known as CAPS, didn’t open until 9. The clock in my Subaru advanced to 7:23 as I pulled next to the lone vehicle. I was seven minutes early, but she was earlier than I was. As I a sat for a moment, I realized something. I was nervous. Why was I nervous? I...

By Mike Murrell • December 8, 2022 • Features

Small college presidents are not typically involved in conducting original, on-the- ground research with students and faculty. President Rebecca Stoltzfus is an exception. The research of President Stoltzfus focuses on the causes and effects of malnutrition in low-income women and children, particularly the integration of direct nutrition interventions with intersectoral initiatives such as infectious disease prevention, food safety and reproductive health. She has approximately 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles to her credit. In 2017, when she came to Goshen College from Cornell University, where she was the vice provost for undergraduate education and a professor of nutritional studies, she had two...

By Mariela Esparza • December 8, 2022 • Features

This summer, Goshen College will begin a new program in partnership with a Kenyan research station, studying carbon sequestration in soil. Four Goshen College students will team up with four Kenyan students to study grassland conservation and restoration. The eight-week program involves studying at Merry Lea for four weeks in June and then at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya for four more in July. The program “seeks to understand the role fire and grazing play in sequestering carbon in grassland soils.” Carbon sequestration — simply put, capturing carbon in soil — has two major benefits: not only does a...

By Daniel James • December 8, 2022 • Features

When Mackenzie Miller answers the video call in Taiwan, she comments on the weather. The sun is shining. In Taiwan, during the typhoon season, that’s news worth sharing. “Riding my bike is a struggle,” she said. “We have typhoons here. [But] it’s been great.” Striking a balance given the 13-hour time difference with Indiana, Miller pauses for an interview before attending a 9:00 a.m. class at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien, Taiwan. In 2021, Miller graduated from Goshen College with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English. This year, in September, she got on a plane to Taiwan as...

By Jakyra Green • December 8, 2022 • Features

Christmas season is fast approaching, and downtown Goshen is decked out with winter-themed decorations. Plastic evergreen is wrapped with lights around the black light posts, with snowflake-themed lighting fixtures extending out into the street, eight feet or so above the ground.  Electric lights strung throughout evergreen trees and hung in storefronts illuminate the downtown. Each storefront has its own decoration decisions to make. While these decorations may be easy to brush past without second thought, each business must put thought and preparation into their profusion or lack of decoration. Plastic holly, bulbs, Christmas lights and cream plastic candles with fake...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • December 1, 2022 • Features

You hurry to your seat, the lights go down — the show you’ve been anticipating is beginning. The lights go up on stage, the performer appears and you applaud for what’s to come.  Whether you’re in Sauder Concert Hall, Rieth Recital Hall or Umble Center, the shows you’re seeing didn’t just happen. Someone is working backstage to ensure that your experience was worth the wait. Brody Thomas, performance venue production manager at Goshen College, is the man behind it all.  “Any production that happens in one of our venues, I help manage, staff and provide direction so the event can...

By Sarah Miller • December 1, 2022 • Features

Campus Activities Council (CAC) hosted a Battle of the Bands for student-organized bands on Saturday, Nov. 19th, to showcase their sound.  Three student bands, The Runaways, Goshen Panic, and Potential Novelty, competed. Goshen-alum-started Gross Puppy performed a set as well.  There’s no shortage of music at Goshen College, with every weekend seeming to boast a jazz concert, Performing Arts Series event, or choral performance. Most of these events are formal ones targeted primarily to the surrounding community rather than students.  The Battle of the Bands was a different story. Colorful flashing lights and a small stage transformed Newcomer Center 19...

By Annika Alderfer Fisher • December 1, 2022 • Features

Tyson Miller’s hands move between a keyboard and an intricate radio board, his eyes darting between three monitors. As he manages these many streams of information, he speaks into the microphone: “Stay tuned for a few of my friends joining me at the top of the hour.” Miller, a sophomore communication major, is hosting the morning show, The Breakfast Blend, on Goshen College’s radio station 91.1 The Globe. The Globe, which claims to offer “a platform to discovering culturally progressive content,” programs a mix of Americana and AAA (adult album alternative) music. The station is student-run with hosted morning, sports...

By Simon Hertzler Gascho • November 10, 2022 • Features

On the south side of Goshen,Yoder-Culp Funeral Home is quiet. Death passes through its rooms every day. It stops for no one. “Sometimes they’re still warm when [we pick up the body],” said Tim Yoder, 70, owner of the funeral home. “Other times you go to a big city hospital, the body may be there a couple of days and then they’re cold. I mean the feeling is that the blood isn’t moving there. It isn’t something that’s necessarily normal; I think you have to become acclimated to it.” On a daily basis, Yoder comes face-to-face with death. Living and...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • November 10, 2022 • Features

When Doug Schirch attended Goshen College in the early 1980s, he couldn’t have predicted that he’d be a professor of chemistry here decades later. More surprising, however, was his first job after earning a doctorate in biochemistry: living in Nicaragua to record abuses committed by rebel groups that were supported by the U.S. government.  Schirch first traveled to Nicaragua for two weeks in graduate school. There, he was inspired by teachings from Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. “I was so shocked by what our country was doing to Nicaraguans that I felt absolutely compelled to return and help the...

By Amelia Witmer-Rich • November 10, 2022 • Features

If you’ve gone for a stroll in downtown Goshen around 10:30 a.m. sometime this fall, you may have noticed a newly opened restaurant with several patrons waiting outside. This is Daycap, a family-friendly, sit-down business serving breakfast and lunch food as well as cocktails. And it’s popular enough to have a 30-plus minute wait time at peak hours. Daycap opened on Aug. 28 of this year and is the second venue opened by Jami and Ryan Hawkins, a couple who have owned and operated the next-door Common Spirits cocktail bar since 2015. This weekend, I had the opportunity to spend...

By Asa Schiller • November 3, 2022 • Features