Opinion: Why we should consider consuming stories with a worldview focus
By Ben Konuch
When was the last time you watched something you completely disagreed with? Was it a movie or series that said something about a value that you inherently stand against, or perhaps a character that showcased behavior that you fundamentally can’t agree with? People are faced with concepts and themes in media that they disagree with all the time, and it often causes them to pull back and withdraw to a piece of media that’s seen as more comfortable ground.
But ...
Just Sayin’: On valuing the insignificant
By Heidie (Raine) Senseman
Everything in my life has felt so intense lately.
This winter, I vowed myself in marriage (a wonderful and sobering commitment); and I sent graduateschool applications to 11 universities (my future rests in these); and I completed an internship to see ifI’d enjoy being a professor (spoiler: yes); and I began the process of changing my name (very emotional,if you were wondering); and I opened up a TD Ameritrade account (made me feel 45); and I’m realizingt...
On Spring Weather
By Heidie (Raine) Senseman
April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.
-T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Let’s begin with a brief lesson in literary interpretation.
When T.S. Eliot wrote of April’s cruelty in his five-part, 434-line poetic masterpiece, he wrote with a mixture of irony and sincerity. Ironic: that April’s renewal and life strike us as more nurturing than cruel. Sincere: ...
On Decorating a Home
By Heidie (Raine) Senseman
If you’ve ever gone shopping for throw pillows, I pity you, for you are either a wayward soul searching for the perfect pillow that you will not find, or you’re the emotional support friend being dragged from store to store.
I also pity you if you’ve shopped for wall decor, for each mass-produced, HomeGood’s-stocked picture on the shelf is either too large, too neon, too cliche or too expensive. In the process, you find the occasional oddity, like a 3x4 ...
Just sayin’: On next steps
By Heidie Raine
I’m currently sitting in the Dayton airport, gate B19, three granola bars into a flight delay. The plane thatcame from Philadelphia has a bad nose, so while it gets rhinoplasty, we’re waiting for another jet fromD.C. Then to Chicago we’ll go — a jamboree of travelers depleted of phone batteries but rich in freeairline snacks.Chicago is a 90-minute drive from my mother’s house. It’s close enough that I can convince my dad topick me up tonight, but it’s far ...
A Personal Take on Halloween
By Chris Karenbauer
Halloween is the one time of year when kids and adults dress up in fun costumes and wander their neighborhoods asking strangers for free candy, and society will not judge them too harshly for it.
Halloween is mostly harmless, except for the small percent of teenagers who find it funny to toilet paper their neighbor’s house. But despite its appearance to target children in marketing, Halloween has dark origins that explore macabre and witchcraft.
Despite its dark ...
Learning to Live Without Social Media
By Heidi Raine
I recently friended my best friend’s mother on Facebook. The interaction went like this:“Heidie, you have a Facebook? I thought it was for old people.”“Haha yeah, I guess...do you have one?”“Yes! Friend me!”Kimber is now one of my 738 friends, a number that feels ob-scene but also doesn’t begin to capture all of my family, high school classmates, coworkers, old teachers, church friends, college friends, camp friends, sis-ter’s-church’s friends and obscure ...
On Staring
By Heidie Raine
The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.
–Flannery O’Connor
Sitting in the library, looking through the thick-paned glass of the upper-level windows, I am staring. I am squinting and watching and questioning all that passes below. This is what I see:
I see a boy with olive cargo pants and a faint mustache topple off his longboard, roll like a bowling ball and land in the frosted crunch of cold spring ...
On Productivity
By Heidie Raine
We are nearing the end of the semester. Assignments are many. Reprieve is sparse. Writing about productivity feels appropriate.
These are the months where papers and reports begin to clog our Canvas calendars and pile up in the filing cabinets of our minds, making us choose between exfoliating and editing as the hours dissolve and the rubrics flood in. Life becomes a large Google Doc, punctuated by professors’ comments to “stay strong!”
These are the months where I ...
On Embracing What You’re Horrible At
By Heidie Raine
I quit cheerleading after my sophomore year of high school in search of something new—reduced glitter, less time, better people. I found my answer in the form of the cross country team, a lovely athletic group that shared mutual respect, carb-loaded dinners and one goal: run fast. Though unfamiliar, cross country fit my criteria for a new activity:
1. No glitter
2. 45-minute practices
3. An altogether kinder atmosphere than competitive cheer crowd had provided
C...
