It’s time for another blog! Or so the Great Blog Administrators tell me…repeatedly…and actually, according to Them it was time for another blog a week ago. But hopefully what I lack in timeliness I make up for in cleverness. This is a super busy time of year for many students on campus; there’s Greek Life formal recruitment, Wellness Week, Hispanic Heritage Month, Family Weekend, and of course HOMECOMING!! But, just because a big event comes along doesn’t mean that everything else suddenly stops.
As I mentioned in my last post, Homecoming is the major focus of the ASLC President in the fall (in terms of events, at least). And this year the ASLC Cabinet and I decided to shake things up. We brought the number of competitions down from five to two, keeping the most closely held traditions: Mr. & Miss Linfield and the Song & Banner competitions. Instead of the field events that were held in the past (tug-o-war, relay races, Knowledge Bowl), we’re putting on all-campus events: a BBQ/Pep Rally, an 80’s cover band, and a Homecoming Dance. With most of the planning behind us, we’re just putting on the finishing touches. I can’t wait to see the turnout and involvement in the events (and then the cycle starts over as we evaluate and think of ways to make Homecoming better next year).
After three years of taking 18 credits per semester, plus Jan Term and summer courses, classes really aren’t my focus anymore. That said, I am taking a couple cool ones this term. Religion & Politics (through Political Science), Forgiveness & Reconciliation (through Religious Studies), and Social Psychology are all having really cool interactions between the materials. Which, I guess is kind of why a liberal arts education is so great. When you lock yourself into a single major, it’s easy to miss how much overlap there is between disciplines (also, it’s a little easier to sneak by not doing absolutely 100% of the reading when you’re discussing the same thing from multiple perspectives, but that’s a secret).
On a somewhat more personal note, these last couple weeks have kind of been disheartening as I follow the news about other gay men in colleges and universities across the country. In just the last month two university students and three younger teens have committed suicide – with homophobic bullying as the only visible cause. To top it off, we’ve had a very public display of homophobia in Andrew Shirvell’s rants against openly homosexual University of Michigan – Ann Arbor Student Assembly President, Chris Armstrong. I’m proud to be a student at Linfield where an environment of mutual understanding and inclusiveness is strong. This is a national crisis, but I know the Linfield Community will come together and use it as an opportunity for learning and growth.