July 18, 2010
Covenant professors and students present papers at national sociology conference
Graduating students Caleb Mask '10 and Adrienne Saxon '10 joined Sociology Professors Matt Vos and Toni Chiareli at the 2010 Association of Christians Teaching Sociology (ACTS) Conference, where all four presented papers.
Founded in 1976 by the late Covenant Professor of Sociology Russell Heddendorf, the annual ACTS conference allows Christian scholars in sociology to share their research and enter dialogues with colleagues and students. "ACTS is the most active association of Christian sociologists in the country," says Dr. Chiareli, who served two years as president. Dr. Vos is currently vice president of the association.
At this year's conference, Vos presented "Those Who Mourn," a personal essay dealing with the reality that the world is not as it should be. He also invited two graduating sociology majors to present their senior integration papers as part of the undergraduate research portion. Adrienne Saxon presented "May I Borrow Your Glasses?: Seeing Life Through the Lens of Five African American Girls." Caleb Mask's paper, "Watches and the Grip of Time," explored man's alienation from and submission to time, manifest in the portable measuring device, the watch. "It was wonderful," says Mask. Saxon agrees, noting "the conference broadened my understanding of the discipline."
Involving students in the wider academic community is a vital part of Covenant's sociology department, says Chiareli. "We are a close-knit department. Our goal is to give students the experience of doing scholarly work and presenting that work professionally." Chiareli's paper, entitled "That's Amore," reviewed the preliminary findings of research he conducted in Rome, Italy, along with five Covenant students: Michael Bowser '10, Ashley-Marie Chinchen '11, Haley Garis '11, Jane Travis '12, and Amanda Van Camp '10.
In these and many other ways, Covenant professors continue to mentor their students, offering them opportunities to work as colleagues as well as pupils.
Classes , Events , Excitement | By cmask9 | 4:36 PM | Comments (0)
BLOGGING TO RESUME!
Hi all. As you know, I haven't blogged in over one and a half years, but I hope to get back into it sometime between now and the Fall. There have been some major milestones in my life since I last made an entry, with Graduation being one of the biggest. As a result, one of the first changes I plan on making to this site will be to rename it, and possibly create a new banner image.
There are also still many issues concerning the coding of my blog. There are basically still some problems with code I've written being compatible with the newest version of blog software that my host is using. This means I may actually completely start over, with brand-new templates and whatnot. We'll just have to see.
Some of the issues I currently know about:
- Broken links to entries before May 10, 2008 on the "Complete Archives" page.
- Faulty "Search" code. Currently disabled.
- Older comments not being logged, but at least still visible.
- General visual problems with the bottom of the site.
So! Perhaps I will soon have new content to read. In the meantime, feel free to NOT read my old entries, as some of them are quite embarrassing. Haha.
Events , Excitement , Friends , Uncategorized | By cmask9 | 4:15 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2008
An eye for acting.
Literally, one eye, has he... Wes Simmonds.
I'm writing this one year after Wes starred in The Return of the Rasta Man, Sutherland's MAC movie from 2007. In my opinion he should have won the best actor award, since he was actually the only male character to have any extensive role in any of the MAC movies, much less do a great job. But oh well... it's a Sutherland tradition to get shafted in every competition it participates in.
Sadly, Wes won't be appearing in Sutherland's movie this year, as he no longer lives there (here?). But, as the two pictures below show, he continues to be... Wes.
A few brief shots of Wes can be found in Sutherland's 2007 MAC Movie trailer.
p.s. In the next couple of weeks I hope to post full reviews of this year's MAC movies, after I finally get the free time to watch them all.
Friends | By cmask9 | 9:43 PM | Comments (1)
November 8, 2008
Everything Hollywood
I just read this article that was debating another article which said that Barack Obama's election to the Presidency would actually help The Dark Knight at the Academy Awards, and frankly, I have to agree with the argument against. I just don't see (or at least wouldn't easily recognize) the connection between Obama's "hope" and the hope found in The Dark Knight, and highly doubt any of the Oscar voters would either. Not that the Batman blockbuster is going to need any help in winning multiple awards.
In other news, I recently acquired several new (previously-viewed would be more correct) dvds at Blockbuster. I bought Iron Man, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Rambo, all for $20. Needless to say, after all my tests and projects this week, I'm going to have a dominating movie fest this weekend. Next on my list: The Dark Knight, Prince Caspian, and Wall-E.
Uncategorized | By cmask9 | 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
November 6, 2008
My thoughts about the articles in the previous three entries.
For those of you who don't know, I've been taking a lot of heat from my friends this past election because I wasn't a die-hard supporter of McCain. It's been tough, and I've been pleased to find that several friends cut me some slack when I told them that I wrote in my own candidate. They were glad that I stuck with my choice that neither candidate was a choice for me.
Anyway. There is an article in this week's campus newspaper concerning "The complexity of abortion issue," and I was happy to find that somebody had a similar view as me, and was able to put it into words which I couldn't have. After reading the "Why Christians Should Not Support Barack Obama" article from last week's newspaper (more specifically the paragraph I pasted below), I immediately jumped to thoughts which both Chis Nystrom and Chris Thornton put into words.
Continue reading "My thoughts about the articles in the previous three entries."
Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 9:24 PM | Comments (0)
"The complexity of abortion issue..." by Chris Thornton
"The complexity of abortion issue: why voting for legislation change isn't best approach"
Single-issue voting was brought up a lot during this election cycle regarding abortion, as it always is. Considering the nature of this horrible practice, I can't say I blame people for placing a premium on it.
But considering the facts of how entrenched abortion is in our society today, and how long we have futilely tried to do away with it over the past 35 years, I pose the question: how has abortion become so prevalent in our society, and what is the most effective way to stop it? I'd argue there are a number of issues that inform a woman's choice to have an abortion that aren't addressed by merely voting for a slim chance of over-turning Roe. v. Wade.
Continue reading ""The complexity of abortion issue..." by Chris Thornton"
Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 9:19 PM | Comments (0)
"Why Voting Obama or McCain is Okay" by Chris Nystrom
I voted for Barack Obama for president. I would argue that I can be a Christian and vote for Obama. It was not easy to decide whom to vote for. I was very distraught, particularly because of Obama's stances on abortion and free trade. There are several very good reasons to not like Obama's politics, but there are also several very good reasons to vote for him. Perhaps you have read the recent articles in our paper about why voting for Obama is wrong. Though several good and valid points were made, I have to be honest, I disagree.
Continue reading ""Why Voting Obama or McCain is Okay" by Chris Nystrom"
Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 9:15 PM | Comments (0)
"Why Christians Should Not Support Barack Obama" by Blake Bozarth
Recently published in the Bagpipe, Covenant's student newspaper, but this is the original, unedited version, in my own actual words...and also the one where Justice Ginsberg is not referred to as a male. :)
"Single-issue voter." In our day and age, this term seems to carry more sting than a racial slur. It is often used in a belittling way by those who consider themselves more knowledgeable than the "naïve" Christian conservatives who place a premium on a certain voting issue - namely, abortion. But I, for one, can't say that the label bothers me. In fact, if ruling out a candidate who supports the practice of abortion makes me one of those "single-issue voters," then I claim that title with pride.
Continue reading ""Why Christians Should Not Support Barack Obama" by Blake Bozarth"
Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 9:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 31, 2008
Found Data (no, not Date)!
Some of you may know that a little over a month ago the internal hard drive on my laptop failed, leaving me to deal with the world all alone (haha). Well last weekend I finally had time to call Dell for a free replacement hard drive, since I'm still under warranty, and just 3 days ago I had my laptop back up and running.
One problem. All my old data was "lost" (technically it's still on the old broken hard drive, but I have no way to access it). So this past week I have been contacting multiple data recovery businesses, all of which charge between $500-$2000. Obviously I can't really afford that, but just 15 minutes ago I made a life-changing discovery. Seriously...
Continue reading "Found Data (no, not Date)!"
Excitement | By cmask9 | 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2008
Update of my life.
The last time I posted on here was August 3rd, and it is now October 21st. Wow. So I don't have to worry about wording, here is a list of why I have been absent.
- My blog host made a software and interface change to the system resulting in a lot of dead code which I had written for the old system, which I don't have time to rewrite/update.
- The site runs a lot slower, and I don't have time to wait.
- My schedule leaves me with little or no free time this semester.
Here is a very condensed update on me, extending even into the summer, as I left out many details in the posts during that time:
- I bought a Tippmann A-5 paintball gun. Yes, I dominated the field with it.
- I watched Iron Man multiple times. It's amazing.
- I watched The Dark Knight, sadly only once. Just as amazing as Iron Man.
- I was an Orientation Leader for the freshmen/transfers once again (one of 5 returnees).
- I live at home this semester. I can't study at home. I just doesn't work.
- I have stayed up past 3 AM multiple times this semester working on art projects.
- I scored 94% on my first Statistics test.
- I am officially (on paper) a Sociology major!
- Jackie and I had our one year anniversary, if that's the proper word.
- I have stayed overnight on campus entirely too many times.
- I bought the movie Dan in Real Life. Watch it with your friends. You'll probably die.
- My laptop hard drive failed. I lost my data. From forever.
- Dell replaced my hard drive under warranty, and I found a May backup of my data! (more in my next post)
- I plan on living in the apartments next semester. It will be less than half the cost of the dorm. Sutherland still Representing.
- Jackie was in town for Jazz on the Overlook and Burning at the Stage. Much fun.
- I am on Fall Break right now, but couldn't visit Jackie like last year.
Much sadness.
A shot from Covenant's Jazz on the Overlook.
p.s. Jackie looked amazing, but I choose to only post the guy shot.
I got my baby back.(picture taken with my phone)
Another Day , Classes , Events , Excitement , Friends , Rough Seas , Uncategorized | By cmask9 | 3:13 PM | Comments (0)
August 3, 2008
Did you know?
If you haven't seen Saving Private Ryan lately, you might not have realized this, but while watching it today for the first time in years, I noticed that along side Tom Hanks are both Matt Damon and Vin Diesel. It's always fun to watch old movies which feature now-popular Hollywood stars.
Uncategorized | By cmask9 | 3:25 PM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2008
blog problems
Hi all. Recently my blog host upgraded their software by two versions, and I'm having some major issues due to these changes. It looks like I'm going to have to go and change a bunch of coding.
Initially I couldn't even post any new entries, but that's been fixed. The problems I can see right now include the inability to view certain entries, links, and comments. For any of you who may actually read this, I will do my best to be fully operational as soon as I have the time, and patience.
Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 3:12 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2008
Ben Entwistle Called Home
Just last night God took one of our brothers... one of his servants... to be with him. He was only 20 years old, but Ben lived a full life of joy, encouragement, and care of others. Though I only got to know him this summer, his friendship was a true blessing from God.
We'll miss you Ben
Continue reading "Ben Entwistle Called Home"
Events , Friends , My Lord, My God , Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 6:09 PM | Comments (0)
June 3, 2008
Covenant: A Community of Exceptions
I've come to realize that just like the English language, Covenant College has many exceptions of it's own.
Mostly these exceptions concern Sundays. For example: Covenant says they do not want anybody to work on Sundays, yet they hire students to clean (work BEST) on Sunday. And something I can attest to--I've worked the past two Sundays (in the morning and afternoon, therefore missing church), and will be working next Sunday and it looks like even the Sunday after that as well. Yes, I just said I'm working for Covenant College for 4 Sundays in a row, and missing church because of that.
Continue reading "Covenant: A Community of Exceptions"
Uncategorized | By cmask9 | 11:06 PM | Comments (2)
June 1, 2008
Sunday, working day 7
Today is Sunday, and instead of being in church right now, I am working as the gym monitor at school. You see, for conference desk workers, there are no weekends. Instead, we get two randomly assigned days off every week. Interestingly enough too, was the fact that I was actually supposed to work paintball today, but since it is thunderstorming really hard right now, I got a call this morning saying there was nobody at the gym and that I needed to fill the position... at 8:00 AM. So I quickly changed from outdoors work clothes into our front desk uniform and ran through the rain to my post.
Now, concerning "Day 7." As I said earlier, all desk workers get two days off a week. This week mine was Sunday (when I was in Huntsville), and Tuesday, when I worked my temporary filming job downtown. That means that today is my 7th straight day of working, between my two jobs. But that's not all. My two days off from Covenant next week will again be spend at my filming job, and I'm scheduled to work all next weekend again, so my first day off from all work will be June 12th... after 17 straight days on the job!
Good for my bank account. Bad for my sanity.
Rough Seas | By cmask9 | 9:03 AM | Comments (0)
