What a ride it has been. It’s hard to believe that my four years at Goshen are already up and life without class, practice or The Record is just one week away. If you know me, you know that like most Iowans, I have a weirdly close connection with the state. But as much as I don’t like to admit it, Goshen has become my home the last four years. And I have so many people to thank for the influential experiences that I’ve had here. My friends, professors, volleyball teammates but especially all the Record staff editors over the...

By Nick Yutzy • April 15, 2021 • Features

Two weeks ago, I published an article in The Record titled “Barahona’s ‘beloved’ pursuit for equality” about a man, Rafael Barahona, who believes so deeply in the common humanity of all people, that he created a T-shirt design that shows it. I interviewed Barahona multiple times over a couple of weeks, but there is one moment from our third conversation that will stick with me. “Just to be clear, you’re a graphic designer, right?” I asked, wanting to make sure I got the job title right. Barahona looked up at me from across the table with a look that said,...

By Sierra Ross Richer • March 25, 2021 • Features

I rang in 2021 with a fever, sore throat, headache and chest pain. On January 2, ten days after I had been exposed to COVID-19 at work, I tested positive.  Fortunately, my case was mild. I had been quarantining, and didn’t spread the virus to anyone in my family. The semester hadn’t started yet, so I was able to fill my time with hot tea, Schitt’s Creek and ridiculously long walks. I slowly strolled around town, staying as far away from people as possible and listening to my favorite podcast, “Hidden Brain” with Shankar Vedantam. It was all interesting, but...

By Greta Lapp Klassen • March 18, 2021 • Features

As hard as all of 2020 was, the start of 2021 wasn’t much better. From political unrest and agitation across the country to seasonal depression, the hopeful start of a new year was underwhelming to say the least.  Recently, however, I’ve been reminded of the beauty of normal life through glimpses that have also given me hope that a transition to that beauty could be nearing. It started at the end of last week when the weather proved to Punxsutawney Phil that groundhogs can’t predict the seasons.  The warm weather and full sunshine had a noticeably positive effect on the...

By Nick Yutzy • March 12, 2021 • Features

The shortest month of the year hosts a number of celebrations: Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day, Presidents Day, even the Super Bowl is in February.  Though my focus every year is on Black History Month.  Black History Month dates back to 1970 when Black educators and students first celebrated it from Jan. 2 to Feb. 28 of that year. It would become a national holiday six years later when former President Gerald Ford recognized it in 1976.  I cannot speak to what this month means to other people, but to me, it’s a time to remember Black people that we do...

By Zack Begly • February 11, 2021 • Features

I was only ever late to one high school basketball practice. The overwhelming guilt I felt as a scrawny sophomore prompted me to promise myself I would never make the same mistake of being unprepared for a practice. When we had morning workouts or practices, I slept in my basketball shorts. Before I walked out the door, I triple checked to make sure I had everything in my grey Nike backpack. I conditioned myself to wake up before the alarm on my phone, ensuring that I never overslept again. That same fear of being late for a basketball practice slowly...

By Nick Yutzy • January 28, 2021 • Features

I’m embarking on the final semester of my college career, and the one thing that has been constant recently is reflecting. Reflection has never been my strong suit. I’ve always looked ahead, onto the next task, goal, or location.  There was almost never a point where I stopped and thought about how far I’ve come. A time where I sat in the present and did not think about the future.   Is this new momentary time of contemplation going to be a shift in my life? I really doubt that, but it’s been something I really should strive to incorporate into...

By Zack Begly • January 28, 2021 • Features

When I graduate this spring, I don’t plan on entering the field of journalism. Seems a bit strange that I’d invest four years of my life in this field, only to be so confident that it’s not the path I’ll go down. Still, if I were to do this college thing all over again, I wouldn’t change my major. There is a higher calling for journalists, even beyond the duty to uphold democracy and freedom of speech, that I am drawn to: We are called to listen. We are called to listen in a world filled with noise. And for...

By Mackenzie Miller • November 19, 2020 • Features

There is something slightly off about watching autumn leaves blow in the wind in 75-degree weather. I know that if the groundhog sees his shadow, spring will come early, but it seems that this year, the hog didn’t even have a chance to emerge from his hole before spring sprung on us all. The past few days of warmth have me feeling conflicted. On one hand, I’ve really enjoyed the freedom that warmer weather brings. No coat, no gloves, no problem. This past weekend was filled with a bike ride and tossing the football around – both normal activities for...

By Nathan Pauls • November 12, 2020 • Features

For the second time in my life, I voted in a presidential election.  I checked the boxes for the candidates I hoped would assume office, signed my name, licked the envelope shut, carefully placed that envelope inside an additional white envelope and biked my way over to the post office to send my absentee ballot back east.  Voting in a presidential election as a college student from Pennsylvania has always felt like a distant, but important, part of democracy, especially in two of the most pivotal elections this nation has ever witnessed. And I voted in them. My generation now...

By Mackenzie Miller • November 5, 2020 • Features

I’ve been living in language a lot this semester. Whether it’s diving into the works of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” or Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” in American Literature, or analyzing the placement of consonants and vowels in linguistics, it would be fair to say that many of the questions I have relate to language.  I’m equally obsessed and inspired by its power. And as a journalism and english major, language is my future. But I would argue, along with American poet Ocean Vuong, that language is really all of our futures. As Vuong says, “The future is in your mouth.”...

By Mackenzie Miller • October 22, 2020 • Features

I’m mad. Shocking, I know.  For anyone who knows me well, it’s not an emotion that I outwardly express very often. But here I am, writing my first For the Record editorial about it. So why am I mad?  The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases both on our campus and nationally, the lack of a fall break that is causing Goshen College students’ mental health to break, the near-impossible balancing act of the college administration to keep students both safe and happy and much, much more. I could go on, but most everything I just listed can be described by...

By Nathan Pauls • October 15, 2020 • Features

In seven years, I will be 30 years old. I barely know what I’ll be doing after graduation in April, let alone where I might find myself seven years from now.  I don’t like to think about it; there’s a lot of life to be lived between then and now, a lot of questions I imagine I’ll still be asking.  But artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd are reminding me that there is much more to pay attention to in the next seven years than whether or not I attend graduate school or end up flipping burgers at McDonald’s –...

By Mackenzie Miller • October 8, 2020 • Features

My strength as a woman is inspired by cabbage and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Walking into the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative warehouse this past June, I was eager to start my new job as a wholesale packer, unaware that I would be one of only two women hired to use skid loaders, lift boxes and load trucks for the summer. I was hesitant, but my Enneagram three-wing-four-ness, otherwise known as someone hungry for achieving the unexpected, pushed me to show up and do the work.  Though I soon observed myself apologizing way too much.  I apologized when I stacked the boxes...

By Mackenzie Miller • September 24, 2020 • Features

Like 143 undergraduate students at Goshen College, I am a transfer. Though this part of my story is not unique, it’s certainly nontraditional. And it continues to push me to ask questions about my identity and the places I belong, even in my final year of college. As a transfer, I carry experiences of past places with me – of time spent at Hesston College, of a life-altering year abroad in Nanjing, China, of changed majors, of distant relationships. But do others know the complexity of my story, and will they take the time to listen. I’ve wrestled with this...

By Mackenzie Miller • September 17, 2020 • Features