WHATEVER I WANT!!!!!!

DANCE
A form of expression that uses the body to either portray a sense of emotion, or tell a story that can relate to the viewer. Dance is my favorite form of expression, and one winter I went with my mother to see Alvin Ailey's Dance Theater perform and my life was forever changed. I saw dance as a possible pastime for myself, so I started to take classes. I studied all kinds of dance, from ballet to modern to hip hop.

EXPRESSIONS
 This ballet theater carries on the tradition of its founder with a  special series that contains a peice called 'Revelations'. This piece is beautiful, engaging the audience from the first movement and carrying them through a stories that demonstrate the different states of humanity.

SHOW
Right now Alvin Ailey Dance Theater is on their North American tour, coming to California in the first week of April. I encourage anyone to go see them perform when they are presenting the 'Revelations' piece. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you stare in awe and wonder at the beauty of the perils of  humanity. Attached is a clip from 'Revelations', watch it and be amazed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce5pQkUZdWI

The Faith Masquerade

The Good the Bad and the Ugly
There are many pros and cons whether Christians should blast to the world about their faith, or just keep it on a relational level.

Releasing Your Inhibitions
First, if you talk constantly about how you are a Christian, there are some good things about that, it shows that you aren't ashamed to believe in something. Yet the problem with that is that  you might experience a lot more persecution, because you are being extremely transparent about your faith, and what you believe.

Masks
I believe it is better not to hide your faith, or keep it to yourself, but keep it personal. It might be easier to share the gospel with someone when you aren't blasting to them about how Christians do this, and Christians do that. I believe that the gospel should be shared on a relational level, and as a Christian you should do whatever your vocation might be for God in truth, and honesty. The gospel should be spread, but on a relational level in which you are loving the person and explaining to them why Christianity is so important to you, and how it might help them in their life.

The Dance
Therefore I see that there is a dance Christians do around this idea of how to let others know that you believe, but also having quality in whatever their vocation. The dance is a careful one, in which people are attempting to make sure they don't stomp on others people feet with their beliefs, but they are making what they do believe known.

The Glass Slipper
So should we as Christians shout our faith to the mountaintops, or masquerade our faith, and focus on building relationships in which we foster and nurture God's love to our own sphere of influence.

The Lovely Lauren Rhodes

A stubborn yet friendly young woman, Lauren Rhodes was trying to notice the promises of God in her everyday. She had dreams and goals to become something lasting, that furthered the kingdom. She used her logical and thoughtful personality to take time to process and think about the things and people that surrounded her. Growing up in a home that was both normal and loving; her parents Mark and Nancy both nurtured their daughter and cultivated her mind to become an thoroughly ambitious young lady who cared for both God and people.

Sadly the lovely Lauren Rhodes died of heart failure on March 24th 2011. Her philosophy for the actions of God to fall from her head to her heart to her hands into her habitat will live forever in the hearts of her friends and family that loved her. She will be greatly missed.

The Death of Tenacious Tonika

*DISCLAIMER: This was an exercise. The death of Tonika Reed has not yet taken place.*

-The peaceful death of Tonika Reed. 

Tonika Reed, a student, writer, daughter, and friend to many died of natural causes in her sleep on March 24th 2011 at the age of 18. Miss Reed was a college freshman at Biola University. She was a writer for her college's newspaper and had dreams of becoming a news reporter someday. While in school she had a heart for the oppressed and was an up and coming leader for her school's Multiethnic Programs Department. She had received the SURGE scholarship and attended all of the events of the Multiethnic Department.  Overall she seemed to be having a great college experience.

-Artistically inclined.

As a child Miss Reed was part of pageants, she also was a budding writer, and played the piano for 4 years in elementary school. Miss Reed was a lover of the arts. As a young child she would create different crafts, and she painted with her fingers, and or paintbrush very often. She also loved attending ballets, reading books, and going to different cultural events such as a Farmer's Market, visiting museums and art exhibits. Although Miss Reed was artistically inclined, she also was a scholar. She attended the Collegebound program beginning in 9th grade where she was prepared for college and her mind was cultivated by a group of people who beleived in her and encouraged her to attend college at Biola University. Miss Reed also attended Boeing Summer Science camp where in 8th grade she won an award for an essay written on quantum physics.

-Faith

Miss Reed was a very diversely educated person. She was very friendly and sweet to everyone she met. She was compassionate, yet self sufficient, and had many friends. Her faith in God was very evident through her love for his creations.

Tonika Tracy Reed was a FASHIONABLE young woman who truly lived her life TENACIOUSLY.

 -Tonika Reed will be donating all of her money to Haiti Relief efforts, Japan Relief efforts and the Multiethnic Department at Biola University.

What Did God Say?

According to many students Missions Conference 2011lit fires, and  set Biola ablaze with a passion for being globally aware. Biola had over 100 missions organizations from around the globe come and set up information booths, talk with students, and overall make sure that here on campus we are doing our part to 'impact the world for Christ'. Although it may be easy to assume that everyone here on campus would take advantage of the frequent free events like Missions Conference, that is not the case. There are some students who decided not to go, and all of their reasons are diverse in number.

"I didn't have to go, so I didn't. I've gone in years past, and I think it makes a positive impact on campus," said Talbot grad student Andrew Sarchet.

Although some students did not attend, most students who did said that on Thursday night at the last main session, their lives were definitely impacted by how God spoke into their lives.

"God worked in many ways on Thursday night for me. God did different things for different people. He built and strengthened friendships and community in my own life; keeping each other accountable and in  prayer on  a daily basis, " said junior Christian Ministries major Alyssa Jacobs.

There is only one way to keep everyone ablaze, and according to Alison Bognda that is to stop living in our sinful past.

"We need to cultivate more a community in which we can continually stay in a place of openness. We constantly need to be open to forgiveness so that we can heal. Its been a struggle on this campus to say 'I'm fine.' when your really hurting. We had a speaker that walked in obedience and out of that obedience he was able to call us out on things that we really needed to hear. He called out lust and unbeleif. These are things we deal with on campus that we need to come to terms with. We need to hear the Lord and speak honestly. It was just the right atmosphere. We need to stop living in the shame of our past.

Pheromones....

Dictionary.com defines Pheromones as, "any chemical substance released by an animal that serves to influence the physiology or behavior of other members of the same species." Its true, guys usually overdo it with cologne. Sometimes that Axe you may have gotten them for Christmas can turn into an household odor, that you may feel the need to kill with Lysol, or any other household air freshener.

Worlds' Most Natural Thing

New York Times: Elissa Gootman
'Breast-Feeding Boutique Battles in Feud with Condo Board'
Background: In short there is a problem with the boutique and its consumers because the store has moved into the Pythian which has no windows, and used to be a historical landmark in which the apartment building was exclusively all male. 

The first few words grasp the reader saying, "For legions of lactating women in one of Manhattan’s most productive precincts, it has become an essential destination:..." The alliteration used here is uncommon, because the word legions is not commonly used in everyday American diction. Therefore it grabs the readers attention. Words like myriad, and emporium are speckled throughout this feature making the reader have to think a little bit more than usual to understand exactly what is taking place. The writer of this introduces quotes in a very unique way. She fits certain short quotes in like "sufficient evidence", and "community facility". The writing style is a little satirical in the sense that the actual facts are sometimes ironic, and a little contradictory. The author also sort of makes a generalizing statement in the beginning saying that breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world. This is too relative, but it provokes the readers to think.

Jarrod's Response

Jarrod agrees that it is detestable for the Supreme court to rule that Freedom  of Speech is acceptable, even when insensitive to people who are mourning. He believes that respect for people who fought for this country should be upheld, even if their lifestyle was an alternative one.

First Amendment Rights Devoid of Compassion for the Mourning

QUESTION: What did the Supreme Court rule about people holding up signs at military funerals, saying things like "God Hates Fags"?

REACTION: American culture is getting out of touch with the idea of compassion. In the New York Times there is a quote by the Chief Justice John G. Roberts saying that "Speech is powerful." If the Supreme Court really believes that, then they should not allow people to hold up signs saying very rude, detestable things at funerals. Yet for people who disagree, and say that things like this are alright are just attempting to grapple onto the idea of Freedom of Speech. They must assume that even if what you are saying hurts someone, its okay, because you are entitled to say what you feel. Yet, exercising your rights, and saying things like"God Hates Fags", when people are already mourning could stir up lots of dissension. It seems that America has become very desensitized to things such as respect for the mourning, and even respect for the dead. What happened to ideas on protection in this country? In lots of cultures, other than American, there are certain traditions set in place for dealing with a mourning family. What is the idea of this in American culture? Has there been anything set in place for  the protection of those who are mourning?

More Q&A

What I learned over the course of writing a story on the SCORR Conference is that you have to get quotes, and get them fast or else, you wont have a backbone to your story. The validity will be compromised and everything will fall apart. Set up interviews ahead of time, and ask the people you talk to for quotes. Make sure to get all of their information though. Also, work on sentence structure. PASSIVE/ACTIVE voice is a big problem for me. So overall, write more, because when you write more, you get better at it, and have more Q&A.