Moments in the Mist

Among avid readers, claiming that a film adaptation is better than an original book can put me on dangerous ground. After all, people fall in love with books, spending time with them in a way that many don't with movies. A book is often read a bit at a time and can last someone weeks, whereas a movie is done in less than two hours, so it makes sense that readers can get very emotionally attached to books. Although I agree that many books hold more value and express more nuance than their adapted film counterparts, there is one key series that I believe was improved by its film adaptation: Lord of the Rings. Although Tolkien clearly did a brilliant job with his trilogy, it is easier to keep track of the characters and the narrative in the films. Not only were the casting choices perfect - every single character is unique and interesting - but the plot flows well and holds my attention. The books can drag a bit with long descriptions that the movies capture more quickly with a gorg...

In his political treatise Leviathan , Thomas Hobbes makes arguments for the state of the world and humankind and for a way to make them better. He argues that in our natural state, we look out for our own interests. The world cannot sustain us each individually, so we are in a constant state of war/insecurity. However, when we form groups, those who could only survive alone can begin to thrive; working together feeds human development. To escape the state of nature, these groups agree to surrender their individual rights to a sovereign who protects them from other groups and from the world. When we must surrender all of our individual rights to gain physical protection, this presents problematic possibilities and risks. This is what we tend to talk about when we talk about Hobbes: what will go wrong when we lose our individuality. These conversations are relevant and important, and they present good reasons for why concentrated power in the hands of one person or a few people is not ...

What is a gerund? What is a participle? What is a prepositional phrase? If you're curious, I'm sorry to say you won't find the answers to these questions here. I don't really care for formal grammar instruction. Even if one learns all the vocabulary and rules for grammar perfectly, her writing may not improve. Reading, practice and intuition will help the writer connect with her reader in a meaningful way. Reading will help the writer learn how good sentences are supposed to sound. If the writer reads enough different styles for long periods of time, writing her own work will be as easy as practicing good mimicry. If one doesn't know how to mimic authors, she can still learn good writing habits through practice. Practice will help the writer recognize her own errors and learn to self-correct. If she writes enough and receives feedback, she will likely start to notice poor structural tendencies in her own work. She can compare this to the structural tenden...

I am running for junior class rep! Here is the speech I gave on Wednesday: Hi friends! I’m Ana. You all have a lot of speeches to listen to tonight, so I am going to keep mine brief. That’s one of my goals for my time as junior class representative: to listen more and speak less. As you all know, George Fox University isn't just a school or workplace where students go during the day to return safely home at night. For many students, George Fox is home. When we, the students, don't feel safe in our own home, we can't thrive. Over the past year, I have spoken to students who don’t feel safe here. There are members of our community who don’t feel safe in class, walking across campus, or even in their own dorm rooms. The university has a responsibility to address these issues. Thankfully, the student body is here to hold the administration accountable. Over the past year, I have personally seen members of the safety subcommittee and the LGBTQ+ and Title IX subcommittees a...

I am a woman, and I am a writer, and those two parts of my identity are inseparable whether I like it or not. Thankfully, I do like it. Although I do not have direct evidence to back this up, I believe that women tend to be more aware of their surroundings than men. This may be because men are more likely to focus on individual goals rather than paying attention to the whole picture. Regardless of the reason, I am usually hyper-aware of my surroundings. This can be overwhelming at times if there is a lot of sensory information to process, but it also helps me write better. I notice details that men might not notice. This is valuable whether I am writing creative fiction or non-fiction. Either I can imagine a greater quantity of significant details when I am creating a moment, or I remember a greater quantity of significant details from moments in my own life. Another factor that may come from my femaleness is my high level of empathy. I find it easy to put myself in someone else...

Here is the story as I understand it: Friend A has had a crush on Boy for a period of six months (give or take a few). Friend A has kept Friends B and C updated on her feelings during that time. Friend B begins to develop feelings for Boy. Friend B flirts with Boy. Friend B tells Friend A that she would like to date Boy. Friend A is blindsided and hurt, but she tells Friend B that it is okay to pursue a relationship with Boy. Friend B begins dating Boy within the week. Friend A still feels hurt and angry and talks with Friend C about what is going on. Friend B has fallen in love with Boy quickly and feels bitter about Friend A's response. Friend B expresses her frustration to Friend C. Many women have been in Friend C's position before. Now I am Friend C. Friends A and B are my closest friends. I am also a six on the enneagram. One characteristic of sixes is that loyalty and security are very important to them. I can be loyal to Friends A and B in this scenario, but I ca...

I have been describing myself this week as a skeptical theist. When I am talking to my peers or other Christians, I use the term agnostic Christian, because I don't think that those in my contact would understand the label "skeptical theist" (unless I happen to run into philosophers Perrine and Wykstra who helpfully define the term in the Cambridge Companion to the Problem of Evil). The "core" of skeptical theism is the view that if there is a God, the metaphysical gap between humans and the divine could reasonably prevent us from understanding her actions and attributes. Put simply, as a skeptical theist, I don't expect to be certain about what God is like or the way she works. One common misconception is that the word "skeptical" in this instance refers to a skepticism regarding God's existence. Rather, it refers to human epistemic limitations. Under the mentality explained in my first paragraph, I am skeptical that I have the ability to gr...

Like countless women, I dated the wrong guy in high school. This wasn't simply a case of falling head over heels too quickly, going through a tough breakup, and then learning from my mistakes and growing as a person. Although these are all aspects of my story, I still struggle to process my experience several years later. My high school boyfriend was emotionally and sexually abusive, and our relationship took an extreme toll on my mental health. I doubted myself and my experience constantly, and I even began to have anxiety attacks and nightmares that lasted for months after the breakup. Needless to say, I was no longer thriving. About a year after our relationship ended, I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. It isn't easy to categorize this part of my life. I will never be "grateful" for the suffering I endured during that relationship, and I wouldn't say that the ways I have grown since then make the experience "worth it." I still stru...

Those of us who have experienced profound suffering often struggle with the question, "How can there be a God," or, "How can a God who allows this to happen to me be a good God?" Whether we know it or not, by asking those questions we are participating in a vibrant philosophical debate. The Problem of Evil is the biggest logical threat to the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent god. If a god knows there is evil in the word, is powerful enough to stop it, and is good, how can she allow evil to exist? Theists can choose between two major responses. One is the free will defense: humans cause suffering and evil through their free will, but God knew when he created the world that a world with free will and evil is better than a world without free will. This option does not easily address evils not caused by humans, such as natural disasters. I will call the other response the "redemption defense" (I am sure there are better names for ...

Mr. Kline turned to me and Turtle Boy and said, "You both need to produce more writing and share it with others, maybe join a writing group of some kind."  Turtle Boy looked at me and smiled. "We could form our own creative writing group over the summer," he suggested. I shook my head. "No." Two years later, I regret not being a bit kinder to Turtle Boy. However, I do not regret turning down the invitation to join a creative writing group with him. It's not that I think writing groups are a bad idea. But I do prefer to wait to get feedback until I produce enough decent work to make it a worthwhile endeavor, and I did not have enough produced at that point. If I write creative short stories for the sake of bringing them before a small group for feedback, I am likely to fall into the trap of writing to impress. It is necessary for me to finish the stories for the sake of themselves. After I have done that, the feedback of other writers and reader...