Overtaken waters: A primer on the zebra mussel’s invasion of the Great Lakes
By Heidie (Raine) Senseman
The zebra mussel. Dreissena polymorpha. Rounded triangle shells, banded with dark brown stripes that mimic the mammal for which they’re named. The size of a pistachio or fingernail. Often clustered together on top of rocks, buoys, crustaceans or water intake pipes. Glossy. Inedible. Sharp enough to slice your feet.
In its natural habitats — Black Sea lagoons and Caspian Sea drainage basins — the zebra mussel is a fitting creature. Its high capacity for ...
Salvation on the Shoreline: How Lake Michigan Weathered Chicago Through the Great Fire of 1871
By Heidie Senseman
October 9, 1871 — Chicago is on fire.
“The fire in the west division is now raging with unabated fury,” writes The New York Tribune, and “the city of Chicago in ashes,” writes The (Washington D.C.) Evening Star, and “fiery clouds, with flames leaping!” writes The Chicago Tribune, and “doomed city,” writes The Charleston (SC) Daily News.
Eyewitnesses confirm the reports. John Chapin draws sketches of the fire. He says the flames are like towers. The ...
‘Hope’ Highlights Growth and Healing
By Esther Fultz
Personal growth is something we all experience over time. Artists have both the blessing and curse of being able to showcase it publicly. In 2015, Nate Feuerstein, professionally known as NF, released his first major-label album, “Mansion.” Since then, his success has skyrocketed with five other album releases, including his most recent on April 7, 2023 - “Hope.” Unlike many other fans, I didn’t discover NF until after his release of “Clouds ...
‘Suzume’ stuns as an animated adventure
By Ben Konuch
Very few names have advanced the genres of anime and animation in recent times like Makoto Shinkai. The creator and director of 2016’s anime phenomenon “Your Name” and its followup in 2019, “Weathering with You,” Shinkai has prioritized a sharp and clear art style that paints even the mundane of everyday life with beauty and style. His stories typically center on love, loss and a touch of something magical that breaks through the normal realities of day-to-day life ...
Inmates and students encourage each other through jail ministry part 2
by Esther Fultz
While Cedarville University’s Jail Ministry org is the main way students on campus can get involved in ministering to inmates, students also have the option to minister at the juvenile detention center.
Last year, current junior Molecular Biology major Josh Halsey and current junior Social Work major Sarah Hougtentogler volunteered at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center after the detention center director spoke in one of Hougentogler’s classes. At the ...
Affirming physical and spiritual life at the Pregnancy Resource Clinic
by Noah Tang
This semester, I began to volunteer at the Pregnancy Resource Clinic (PRC) in Springfield, Ohio. It is a short drive of approximately fifteen minutes north on State Route 72. My internship involves sundry responsibilities, but mainly ministers to the men who accompany their partners for pregnancy tests.
The PRC is piloting a new male mentorship program as part of a wider fatherhood initiative being undertaken by its parent organization CareNet, which includes over a thousand ...
Why ‘The Bad Batch’ is my Star Wars show
By Janie Walenda
Every Star Wars fan can pinpoint which piece of Star Wars media is “theirs.” For a lot of people who grew up in the last 2000s, it’s “The Clone Wars.” For a more recent generation, it might be “Rebels.” Going further back, you have fans who have defended the prequel trilogy since day one, or those who grew up on the Old Republic video games. That’s the magic of Star Wars. There is an era, a character and a storyline for everyone. For me, my Star Wars is ...
‘Power Rangers: Once and Always’ reunites the original team
By Katlynn Rossignol
The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are back to defend the world from evil in “Power Rangers: Once & Always”. When the ranger’s nemesis, Rita Repulsa, destroys Yellow Ranger Trini, it’s up to Billy and Zack to lead the Ranger team. Minh Kwan, Trini’s distraught teenage daughter must learn what it means to be a true hero in order to help her adopted family and save the world.
This special is a treat for long-time fans of the Power Ranger ...
‘Tetris’ is a fast-paced, stylized look at the game’s complicated origins
By Janie Walenda
When I think about Tetris, my first thought usually isn’t Cold War espionage, but that’s the premise of Apple TV’s “Tetris:” A look inside the convoluted negotiations for the rights to license Tetris during the 1980s. While the characters are based on very real people, it’s dubious how much of this high-stakes and dramatized movie is factual. However, the end result is so entertaining, I didn’t mind it.
Taron Egerton plays the hero of the story, Henk ...
Bravo Zulu: Dick Walker’s legacy of kindness and community at Cedarville University
By Avonlea Brown
The old man at the coffee shop
Dick Walker, known to many as Chief, sits in Beans and Cream, the local coffee shop. Rarely a morning goes by he can’t be found there, whether meeting a friend or his wife for coffee.
His shaking hand rests on a black cane and a cough wracks his chest. His head swivels to the right every time the door opens, watching students, teachers and townspeople stop in for coffee before going about their lives. Occasionally his face splits into ...
