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

It’s hard for me to live in this COVID-19 reality without thinking about my time in China two years ago, partly due to the reoccurring language of “the China virus” used by those in leadership, but mostly because there is so much that year continues to teach me. I return back to the smells of steamed buns, to the bustle of parents on their motorbikes rushing their children off to school, to the sounds of a tonal language flying off the tongues of strangers.  And after I’ve journeyed far into the memories of my senses, I’m reminded that amidst the...

By Mackenzie Miller • September 3, 2020 • Features

I have sat down to write my first editorial as executive editor of The Record many times over the last week, hoping to find the right words to usher in an unprecedented semester. But what do I write, when a ‘welcome back’ implies some sort of return to what once was, when the masked faces I see on campus remind me we are far from returning back to a semester of campus events, musical performances in Sauder Hall or filled classrooms. What do I write, knowing we have all witnessed and lived a new reality these last six months, with...

By Mackenzie Miller • August 27, 2020 • Features

This is it. After six semesters of dedication to The Record, I am leaving this student newspaper behind as I prepare to enter into a new chapter of life. You may think I’m exaggerating, but I’ve spent endless hours in our newsroom, the Hub. Every Wednesday this semester, I spent at least 10 hours editing, writing, re-editing, designing and perfecting The Record. And before I was executive editor, I worked as the digital editor, associate editor, news editor, perspectives editor and as a staff writer. When I write endless hours, I mean endless hours. My most formative experiences at Goshen...

By Abigail King • November 29, 2019 • Features

It is important to know that not all Goshen College students feel at home at Goshen College.  After racist and homophobic slurs were found in front of the science building on Nov. 3, and posters promoting Prism, a confidential support group for LGBTQ+ students, were removed from the residential living areas, it is obvious that not all Goshen College students are welcoming.  I am one of the many privileged students on this campus. Goshen is a place I feel comfortable. I seldom worry about my safety while on campus.  But many students — those who are not white, straight, middle...

By Abigail King • November 18, 2019 • Features

Where is home? This question is something that I have struggled with for the past couple of years. I constantly feel like I am chasing after missing pieces of home.  When I was younger, home was where my family lived and where I had friends. Once I was in college, home started to become the place where I felt comfortable to be with my friends. Now that I’ve went on SST to Peru, my definition of home is less of a physical place and more of an ever-changing concept.  One night during my last half of my SST experience, I...

By Dillon Hershey • November 6, 2019 • Features

A few days ago, I walked away from a conversation about conflicting political identities feeling invigorated.  Joe Liechty, professor of peace, justice and conflict studies, led my Global Issues class in an exercise in which we were able to share political influences in our lives. My peers and I shared with each other the political alignments of our families, schools, friends and churches.  It was almost as if we were displaying our political history to each other. We explained the situations we had experienced where we the “other.” We shared stories where we sided with the majority.  And after the...

By Abigail King • November 1, 2019 • Features

I am an Enneagram type three.  To some, this has no meaning. But to others, it gives a deep insight into who I am.  For those who don’t understand what I’m talking about, the Enneagram is a personality test which separates people into one of nine distinct personality types.  According to its founders, Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, “At its core, the Enneagram helps us to see ourselves at a deeper, more objective level and can be of invaluable assistance on our path to self-knowledge.”  And not only has the Enneagram helped me understand more about who I am,...

By Abigail King • October 9, 2019 • Features

If you haven’t noticed yet, this week’s issue of the Record has a slight theme.  Though the municipal election is over a month away on Nov. 5, Oct. 7 is the last day to register to vote. The Record staff thought now would be an appropriate time to remind the Goshen College community to exercise your civic right and vote.  After 2018’s midterm election, I read an article from New York Magazine’s Intelligencer in which 12 young adults, ages 21 to 28, explained why they didn’t vote.  The main reason? In my opinion, laziness.  Several of the young adults cited...

By Abigail King • October 2, 2019 • Features

Like most, I am inspired by Greta Thunberg this week.  Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist, shook the world this week as she not only lead 150 countries in the Global Climate Strike on Friday, but also as she delivered a scathing speech at the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit this past Monday.  At 16-years-old, Thunberg has done more for the world than I probably ever will, and I find that motivating as a 21-year-old.  Thunberg, a child, should not be expected to lead a global change. As she said in her speech, “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up...

By Abigail King • September 25, 2019 • Features

This summer, I got engaged.  To be 21-years-old, on the precipice of entering into adulthood, and engaged is awfully exciting.   We’re a good match, my fiance and I. Nick’s goofy, passionate and talented. He is also laid back — a definite Type B — which contrasts and compliments my high-strung, perpetually stressed personality.  But while I’m excited to marry him and begin our young adult lives together, I have an overwhelming sense of grief.  I am grieving the loss of the future I was promised as a child. When envisioning my future, I, of course, included the occasional stressors of...

By Record • September 21, 2019 • Features

Thursday, the Earth Charter will host its fourth annual Climate Leadership Summit. This is the first time the event will occur at Goshen College, but I think I can speak for our community when I say that we’re happy to host the summit.  I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of my time thinking about climate change and how it impacts our earth.  In the morning, when I wake up, I worry about the amount of energy my fans have used throughout the night. When I brush my teeth, I regret that I haven’t bought a biodegradable...

By Abigail King • September 12, 2019 • Features

Welcome back to another year at Goshen College. For some of you, this might be your first semester at GC. For others, like me, this might be your last semester on campus. The beginning of a new semester always reminds me that I’m really bad at savoring moments. When I arrived at Goshen in the fall of 2016, I couldn’t help but feel like I wasted my high school years. And now, I’ve managed to make it to my final semester and it often feels as if I’ve squandered my time. That, of course, is not entirely true. I’ve had...

By Record • September 5, 2019 • Features

It’s hard for me to comprehend that my time as executive editor is coming to a close. I’m not going to lie; I’ve been eagerly anticipating the final issue for a while now, but now that it’s here, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. One thing I learned this semester is that even for someone with a lot of opinions, writing an editorial every week is hard. There’s a lot I wanted to talk about, but some topics never felt quite right, and there were others I never bothered to develop. As I write this final editorial,...

By Siana Emery • April 8, 2019 • Features