The first weeks of school are a precious time. We haven’t reached the onslaught of group projects, exams and papers all due at once, we have time to sit in the grass and throw sticks at passersby, and everyone is overjoyed to see each other again. But one of the most beautiful things in my opinion is the general openness that people have towards each other. Being a fifth-year is a funny thing because I feel like I now see the friendship cycle through college, at least as I’ve experienced it. My first and second years were full of big...

By Laura Schlabach • September 15, 2010 • Features

When Bev Lapp, associate professor of music, emailed me a thoughtful perspective piece on her reaction to the playing of the national anthem at a recent volleyball game, I knew right away that I wanted to print it. Although it is printed directly to the right, I initially hesitated to print material about the national anthem in the first issue for a few reasons. First and foremost, I was afraid people would react negatively to bringing up such a sensitive issue again. After the national anthem issue headlined the front page of The Record for most of the spring semester...

By Laura Schlabach • September 9, 2010 • Features

It’s always a stressful time of the year, and, for seniors, these last few weeks are filled with not only end of the year assignments like senior research papers and presentations, but also frantic planning for after graduation. All these final projects and events create a showcase of the talent at Goshen College. I’ve been outright in awe at some of the final projects and portfolios that my peers in my communication and theater senior seminar have presented. They have so much talent. Not only that, many of my classmates have some lofty goals. Unfortunately, this year’s graduating class, like...

By Marlys Weaver • April 21, 2010 • Features

“See past the paint. Let’s open our minds to a different idea.” -Julia Roberts, Mona Lisa Smile (2003) Late one night, far too late to be specific about the hour, I sat on a saggy couch and, alternating between crispy Bugles and chocolate cookies, watched the movie Mona Lisa Smile for the first time. The motivation behind this choice, trust me, was not in any way to stimulate serious thought; yet in my experience, brain function often does, and does not, occur in the least welcome of places. Set in the early 1950s, Mona Lisa Smile follows the struggles of...

By Emily Taylor • April 8, 2010 • Features

Goshen College and Anabaptists in general are a bizarre entity. If you don’t think so, read the national coverage of last week’s premiere playing of the national anthem on campus. Then, read the comments below and blogs that also continued to remark on the situation. I was quoted in two USA Today articles last week, one which mentioned I was crying “tears of pain” at the anthem’s premiere. I was actually running around interviewing people. I wouldn’t have had time to cry that day, even if I would have felt so moved. The other states that I am against the...

By Marlys Weaver • April 1, 2010 • Features

There are exactly four weeks left until the last day of finals—that’s 28 days, 672 hours, 40,320 minutes or 2,419,200 seconds.  Whichever way you look at it, there’s not much time left in this semester. For me, this means being that much closer to leaving for Africa on SST, being a senior and having to figure out what in the world I want to do after graduation.  While I am more than excited for all of these things to happen, the reality of it all, piled on top of my regular school work and everyday issues, has become quite stressful....

By Alysha Landis • March 25, 2010 • Features

Last week, a student approached me and said that if she heard or read anything else about the national anthem decision at Goshen College she would throw up. I talked with a variety of students, alumni and community members this week about the upcoming premiere of the anthem, and many students, though definitely not all of them, are feeling like that first student. Many students talked about how when they went on spring break, people who knew they were Goshen students approached them consistently wanting to know about the controversy on campus and their own opinions. Several of those students...

By Marlys Weaver • March 18, 2010 • Features

This week was one of those weeks where I’ve walked across campus from a class to my next study area and passed a poster or a banner with our new slogan and thought to myself, “Heal the world? I just need to write five more pages on that paper for class X and try to get to bed by 2 a.m. Oh yeah, and make sure you eat plenty of oranges in the Rott—can’t get sick this week!” Our new motto isn’t meant to pressure students or ask more of us than the college has in past years; I know...

By Marlys Weaver • February 18, 2010 • Features

For a discussion that lasted formally over a year at Goshen College, and certainly longer through much of Anabaptist history, an e-mail in my inbox seemed an abrupt ending to the national anthem discussion on campus. Of course, that e-mail wasn’t the end. In that e-mail, President Jim Brenneman urged students, faculty and community to continue the conversation, and today announced a formal outlet for that discussion this Monday. Chances are that Monday’s discussion will also not be the end. There was never a point throughout the last year, after Mike Gallagher’s publicity over a year ago of Goshen’s choice...

By Marlys Weaver • January 27, 2010 • Features

On Tues. Jan. 12, a devastating earthquake reaching 7.0 on the Richter Scale hit Haiti, causing some of the most destruction ever seen in the country. The death toll has risen to 72,000 people, and it is feared that the number will keep rising. Yet again, on Wednesday, another earthquake hit the already suffering country. Even with such a strong presence of grim news, hope can be seen in many forms. Great effort has been put into relief efforts for Haiti. Rescue teams and other volunteers have headed to the country to assist Haitian natives. Relief funds have been established,...

By Brett Bridges • January 20, 2010 • Features

Goshen College is only a small part of the city of Goshen and an even smaller part of Elkhart County. But with so many activities on campus, not to mention classes, we might often forget that there’s a dynamic community right off campus. The college recently acknowledged this with the introduction of the domestic Study Service Term program, exploring multicultural Goshen. Other campus activities connect to our surrounding community too. Martin Luther King Jr. Day convocations and concerts bring people through the church-chapel’s doors who we don’t usually see Monday and Friday at 10 a.m. Some of my earliest memories...

By Marlys Weaver • January 16, 2010 • Features

As end of the semester stress sets in and students, myself included, spend later and later nights packing in the last few assignments before finals week, it becomes ever more important to take some time to breathe and remember why we’re here. I took an hour and a half off from doing work this evening to attend the release party for Goshen Portraits 3, a book of essays profiling various people who live and work in the Goshen area. This event was meant as a celebration of the work of many individuals who contributed writing, photography, design and powerful stories...

By Chase Snyder • December 2, 2009 • Features

This week’s Record might as well be dubbed “The Environmental Issue,” (yes, its a pun), with all the coverage we have of 350.org and other environmental awareness projects occurring around campus.  Since there won’t be a Record out next week because of fall break, we had to really squeeze stuff in and preview as many upcoming events as possible, and it turns out that Goshen College students have been and continue to be participating in environmental movements in a big way. I am inspired when I see the number of students from GC who, in spite of their busy class...

By Chase Snyder • October 14, 2009 • Features

Since the inception of Youtube in 2005, the site has served up more than a billion videos for the entertainment and edification of the internet’s denizens. Often, during the week, if I find myself with 20 or 30 minutes of spare time, I’ll turn to Youtube, and fill that time with videos of funny cats, or extreme sports, or (this week) a video of someone with large false buttocks attempting to dash between tables laden with glass and china without breaking anything. Sometimes, as I’m watching these things, I question the entertainment value of what I’m seeing.  With the creation...

By Chase Snyder • October 7, 2009 • Features

On travel: A new feature has been added to the Perspectives page of The Record this semester.  “Beyond the Bubble” is a place where people who have had an educational experience, or one that shaped them personally, outside the confines of Goshen College’s often insular campus environment, can share it.  This feature came about when I asked a housemate to write a perspective about her off campus internship, and the more I thought about it, the more valuable I realized such a feature could be to me. Upon reading about other students’ experiences with travel, I began to think about...

By Chase Snyder • September 23, 2009 • Features