September 12, 2014
Volume 109 - Issue 3
CALVIN.EDU/CHIMES
COMMUNITY GARDEN PAGE 3
BILL MURRAY PAGE 5
CHAOS PAGE 6
ISIS PAGE 9
Master plan addresses future of Calvin facilities
BY ALDEN HARTOPO
Online Editor
A major effort to establish a
campus master plan is in progress under the guidance of the
Facilities Task Force (FTF) as
par t of the Master Planning
Steering Committee, a subcommittee of Calvin’s Planning and
Priority Committee (PPC).
Phil Beezhold, director of the
physical plant and co-chair of
the FTF along with engineering professor David Wunder,
explains the aim of the process is to examine and evaluate
Calvin’s buildings and facilities
going forward.
“The master plan is a look at
the future to say, ‘Here is where
we are today.’ What are we going
to need to change, do better and
improve for the future?’” said
Beezhold. “It basically is taking a
look at the circulation, pathways
and entrances on campus, as
well as the landscaping on campus and student housing. It also
will be asking lots of questions,
such as what do you like about
campus? What don’t you like
about campus?”
The process of creating a master plan began in late May when
Calvin sent out a request for
proposal to 19 different archi-
tectural consulting groups. This
group was narrowed down to
four before the task force appointed Ayers Saint Gross in
late June.
In July and August, the college
provided the firm with relevant
documents with information on
ments. According to Beezhold,
the goal is to have a finalized plan
by May 2015. During the week of
September 22, a team from Ayers
Saint Gross, a leading national
campus planning firm, will come
to campus to meet with different groups of students, staff and
important to be part of process.
What we are trying to do is get
as much feedback as possible
from faculty, staff, students and
alumni,” said Beezhold.
An important outcome of the
master plan aims to tackle questions that could seek to revamp
the campus as a whole.
“My hope is that we
get answers to questions
like the effective use of
existing space, what kind
of things can we do to enhance our classroom and
teaching spaces, do we
need a student union and
if so where will it go and
what will it look like?”
said Beezhold. “We also
need to look at the various departments on campus and more suitable
spaces for the Calvin
Center for Innovation
in Business.”
Among the questions
the master plan aims to
answer: the f ut ure of
t he Hek man Librar y.
PHOTO COURTESY CALVIN.EDU
B e e z h old s ay s s o me
The plan will examine ways to revamp Calvin’s campus as a whole.
people have raised questions about whether the
the site. The consulting team will faculty. Student senate will be library is an effective use of space
meet with the board of trustees the first of the focus groups to be with a high percentage of books
during their October 24 meeting meeting with the team.
going unused.
before bringing back ideas to the
“Student senate will then name
“The new concept today for
college on potential improve- other students that would be libraries is called information
centers,” said Beezhold. “A
lot of people use computers or
technology more than paper
books. So the question is, ‘what
is the future of Calvin’s library
and how will students use
the library?”
As part of the process, the
consulting group will receive
base information on library
data, including most recent
library volume statistics, total
number of volumes by type,
the number of study stations
and projections for how many
book volumes will be added
per year.
In a letter to be sent to students, President Michael Le
Roy explains “a thorough
master plan does not start from
scratch, or happen in a vacuum;
rather, it should flow from the
historical development of the
Knollcrest campus and from
the mission, which we as a
community reaffirmed in the
strategic plan.”
The planning process for
the master plan finds its roots
in the Calvin 2019 Strategic
Plan, which includes an objective to “develop and implement a strategically aligned
campus master plan that prepares f ully for key college
needs and their long-ter m
sustainability requirements.”
Calvin recognized as top school for undergraduate research
BY BETHANY COK
On-Call Writer
Calvin has been recognized by the U.S. News and
World Report as a top liberal
arts college and an institution
with top-notch undergraduate
research programs.
In this year’s rankings, Calvin
is one of 32 colleges and universities nationwide receiving special
recognition under the category
of undergraduate research and
creative projects.
This past spring, college presidents, chief academic officers,
deans of st udents and deans
of admissions from across the
count r y were encouraged to
nominate institutions they felt
had stellar examples of research
programs, among other categories. Other institutions recognized for their undergraduate
research include Yale, Harvard
and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
“The recognition from U.S.
News and World Repor t is a
tremendous affirmation of the
strong undergraduate research
programs at Calvin and the support of the Calvin administration
to sustain these programs,” said
chemistry professor Eric Arnoys,
who worked with several students
this summer in research involving
membrane proteins.
Calvin offers research opportunities, both during the
summer and year-round,
to students in a diverse
range of fields including biology, chemistry,
mathematics, astronomy,
speech pathology and the
social sciences.
Kelsey Veldkamp, a
senior chemistry major,
had the opportunity to
do research in her department for two summers.
A lo n g s id e P r ofe s s o r
De Jo n g , she s t u d ie d
the bacteria and viruses
found in the digestive systems of snails, with the potential that those findings
could be translated into
better understanding of
human digestion.
She said t hat t he
chance to work closely
w it h a professor wa s
“invaluable,” and that the independent aspects of the research helped to build skills and
gain confidence.
“It forces you to take learning
into your own hands,” she said.
Senior Monica Langeland expressed similar feelings about the
research program, emphasizing
the importance of hands-on work
outside of the classroom. When
studying the effects of pollution
on Michigan waterbirds with
other Calvin students, she says,
“I was able to explore a field of
science that wasn’t covered in any
classes I’d taken.”
Not only is research a valuable
learning experience for students,
but it often provides students with
a chance to take their findings
beyond Calvin, making presenta-
ars outside of Calvin,” explained Arnoys, also citing
the fact that some students
co-author as many as five academic papers during their time
at Calvin.
Arnoys points out that
the quality of the research
programs at Calvin has also
been recognized by agencies that provide funding
for research, such as the
National Institutes of Health,
American Chemical Society
and the Dreyfus Foundation.
“In a highly competitive environment when funding is
rare, my colleagues continue
to secure grant f unding-nearly $5 million in the
last five years--to support
undergraduate research.”
Veldkamp agreed, saying,
“For Calvin’s being the size
that it is, we have incredible
research opportunities.”
She added that the openPHOTO COURTESY SCIENCE DIVISION
ended nature of research was
one of her favorite aspects of
the experience.
tions about their research in other
“You don’t k now wh at
academic settings.
t h e a n s w e r ’s g o n n a b e ,
“Students work as collabora- and your professor doesn’t
tors with faculty, pushing the k now w h a t t he a n s we r ’s
boundaries of science in proj- gonna be,” she said. “That’s
ects that will be useful to schol- what’s exciting.”
T H E O F F I C I A L S T U D E N T N E W S P A P E R O F C A LV I N C O L L E G E S I N C E
19 07
Chimes
2014-2015
Campus News
Beets-Veenstra dominates 45th Annual Chaos Day
Editor in Chief
Lauren DeHaan
Online Editor
Alden Hartopo
Print Editor
John Muyskens
Head Copy Editor
Grace Ruiter
Arts & Entertainment
Christian Becker
Campus
Kate Parsons
Laura Sheppard
Features
Ericka Buitenhuis
Hayley Cox
Local
Sierra Savela
Science & Technology
Natasha Strydhorst
Opinion & Editorial
Nathan Slauer
Religion
Katelyn Bosch
Sports
Brian Exner
Photo Essay Credit
James Li
Advisors
Lynn Rosendale
Donald Hettinga
tive on the fun and frivolity of the
event,” said Witte. “There’s not
Online Editor
a whole lot of deeper meaning to
Chaos Day, but as a way to bring
together our community in a fun
In a major comeback after
tradition, it was fantastic.”
coming in sixth at last year’s
The Calvin Moses also failed
Chaos Day, Beets-Veenstra (BV)
to make an entrance in this year’s
emerged victorious in this year’s
Chaos Day following an alterevent. Trailing behind the Harry
cation with st udents.
Potter-themed dorm was
Pr ior to t he event,
last year’s victor, RooksMoses reached out to
VanDellen (RV D), and
the Chimes Facebook
Schultze-Eldersveld (SE).
page citing Exodus 3:4,
The winner of the cup
indicating it was planof participation this year
ning to arrive.
was Boer-Bennink (BB)
JD Rocha, a junior
wit h 82 percent of t he
who was among those
dorm present.
involved in the pursuit
A new trophy named
explained that several
“the cup of decorations”
upperclassmen had been
was awarded to the best
awaiting the arrival of
costumes and best dorm
the statue of Moses.
wi ndow decorat ions.
“We gat hered four
This year’s winner was
of our trusted friends
Kalsbeek-Huizenga-van
and headed out, in two
Reken (KHvR), which had
cars, to the gym parking
a Mario Kart theme.
lot,” said Rocha. “While
L a st-place w i n ne r
waiting for the van that
Noordewier-VanderWerp
Moses was in, we de( N V W) was the recipivised our plan to trap
e nt of t h i s ye a r ’s c up
it in the middle of the
of perspective.
road. But that plan did
For BV resident assisnot come to fruition as
tant Joey Hulst, winning
t h is yea r’s C haos Day
PHOTO BY HAYLEY COX Moses was inside the van
broug ht i m mea su rable Schultze-Eldersveld emerged victorious in this year’s Chaos Day tug-of-war event. instead of above it.”
According to Rocha,
pride and joy.
“It was beyond amazing to tradition,” said John Witte, dean some unique aspects of hold- the van was successfully trapped
bring home a victory for BV this of residence life. “We had talk- ing Chaos Day in the morning for 10 minutes with both students
and vehicles after the van backed
year. It helped to have the unbeat- ed about having a Friday night were missing.
“I liked last year when they up to the loading bay area and
able theme of Harry Potter, which Chaos Day in the past, and the
allowed our RD to summon vic- precedent of the last two years woke us up; it was chaotic,” opened its trunk.
“All this time we were trying
tory using the ‘accio’ spell,” said was indoors because the weather said Ray.
The new time yielded some to pry open their hood to cut off
Hulst. “I couldn’t be more proud was sketchy, so we said, ‘Let’s
changes to the structure of the their power and hopefully unlock
of my dorm, and even if the cold try it!’”
The new date and time also games itself. For instance, events their doors,” explained Rocha.
I have came from screaming my
However the attempt proved
head off on Chaos Night, I’d do it a i med to get more st ude nt s now featured glow-in-the-dark
to participate.
objects as part of the competition futile as Campus Safety interagain without hesitation.”
“It’s a good option for stu- with all the lights in the venue vened, telling Moses’s vehicle
As part of the 45th annual
to leave. A response from the
celebration, this year’s Chaos dents who had conflicts Saturday turned off.
In the end, Witte believed the Calvin Moses twitter page quoted
Day was held at night, earning morning with work, or just didn’t
Exodus 18:13 “…and the people
it the nickname “Chaos Night” want to get up early. We can al- event to be a success.
ways change it back if needed,”
“The energy was great, and stood about Moses f rom the
among underclassmen.
each hall had the right perspec- morning until the evening.”
T h e c h a n g e i n s c h e d u l e said Witte.
BY ALDEN HARTOPO
emerged after Grand Rapids’ annual Celebration on the Grand
was moved to the Fourth of July
weekend. As a result, weekend
programming approached residence life to fill the then-vacant
Friday night activity slot for the
first week of classes.
“It’s always a risk to change
However, one downside of the
change, to the dismay of freeloading upperclassmen, was the
elimination of the annual Chaos
Day cookout.
“Each hall went back to do its
own social event [instead],” said
Witte.
For sophomore Caroline Ray,
KE students start the year with a muddy splash
through a foot of mud. My legs
were killing me by the end of it.
On-Call Writer
It was still a lot of fun, though.
It was amazing seeing how far
people could go!”
Team Kappa-Delta-Gamma
Te a m s we n t w i ld a s t he
emerged victorious from the
participants dwindled and reannual Mudbowl, a competimai n i ng compet itors st r ugtion between the residents of the
gled to get under a bar that
Knollcrest East apartments. The
came up barely
apartment residents
past their knees.
d on ned old sh i r t s
Team Kappaand face paint for the
Delta-Gamma
event, which was held
came out on top
in a plot of land next
of the games afto parking lot 17 that
ter a tie-breaking
had been ploughed up
game of t ug- o and filled shin-deep
war with Alphawith water.
Zeta-Lambda.
Fi ve a p a r t m e n t
Participants
teams competed in
reconve ned a n
a list of events that
ho u r a f t e r t he
included hula racing,
Mudbowl for
tug-of-war, limbo and
pizza and drinks.
a relay race. All of
They congratuthe events were delated each other
signed to cause speca nd r e c ou nted
tacular falls into the
highlights from
mud. Students who
the games earlier
showed reluc tance
in the morning.
ove r ge t t i ng d i r t y
According to
were encouraged with
KE resident asmuddy hugs or even
sistant Kathryn
outright tackles into
Knox, the fantasthe “water.”
tic attitude that
“You’re not meant
everyone had was
to stay clean,” said
the best part of
Ana Ruttenberg, one
the event.
of the event coordinaPHOTO COURTESY CALVIN ANNUAL FUND
“I loved seeing
tors. “Yes, there was
a lot of mud flinging Knollcrest East students battled it out in a foot of mud to kick off the 2014-2015 school year. all the team support,” she said.
and tackles, but that’s
citement from the sidelines by lowering bar by leaning further “Teams cheered each other on,
part of what makes it fun!”
but by the end they were cheering
Ruttenberg enjoyed the amount chanting team cheers and yell- and further backwards.
“It was really a workout!” said for everyone else as well. People
of participation she saw from all ing support to their friends. A
the competitors. She noted that couple of teams were too excited Leira Joy, one of the competitors. had as much fun competing as
“It’s a lot less overwhelming to hear all the instructions to the “After getting under the bar you they did just playing around in
than Chaos Day, so it makes for a to the hula race and failed to pass had to go all the way back around the mud.”
BY AUDREY ENTERS
Chimes
Calvin College
3201 Burton Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
chimes@calvin.edu
advertise@calvin.edu
Phone: (616) 526-6578
The official Student
Newspaper of Calvin
College Since 1907
better atmosphere.”
Senior Kelvyn Koning agreed,
saying he enjoyed Mudbowl more
than Chaos Day, and mentioned
that there was even more participation from Alpha this year.
“It makes it so much more fun
when everyone’s excited,” he said.
Students expressed their ex-
the hoop back down the line of
people, sacrificing their chance
at victory.
While students enjoyed all the
activities, many felt that the most
impressive event was the limbo.
Four students from each team
formed a line and attempted to get
themselves under a constantly-
C HIMES
September 12, 2014
Campus News 3
Campus garden expands in first season Stephen Okeyo remembered
BY EMILY COLE
On-Call Writer
Following the approval of the
new Calvin community garden
last spring, the plot, located beyond the Spoelhof Fieldhouse on
Hampshire Street, has experienced a flurry of growth.
The new garden had some
hurdles to jump over in its first
season, including a late start due
to the cold winter, late approval
of the project as well as the time,
energy and construction necessary to turn a grassy backyard
into a fenced-in garden.
Sunshine Cahill, one of the
student garden managers, explained that “people are really excited about the garden, especially
the new connection with the
dining hall and getting students
connected with where their food
is coming from.”
Currently, the dining hall is
only receiving handfuls of salad
greens and other produce, but
the vision for next year is to
create a more regular stream of
garden contributions.
“Once we start bigger production next year we’ll be able
to supply the dining hall with
a sizable quantity of what they
rigation systems and in successive
years an operational geo-thermally heated and cooled hoop-house
producing healthful leafy greens
year around.”
Students in Dornbos’ biology
123 and 364 classes will closely
observe the garden this semester, investigating and evaluating soil content and food production processes focused on
ecosystem health.
Those involved with the garden
stress involvement in the garden
on all levels. Jon Gorter, a sophomore who volunteered at the
garden often this summer, said:
“I think it’s really important to
PHOTO BY JAMES LI
Much of the produce grown in the community garden is given to the dining hall to be used for meals.
Biolo g y p r ofe s s o r D av id
Dornbos has been instrumental
in the current and future garden
expansion. He and a core group
of volunteers “spent hours building beds, finding rocks, building
fences, cutting tons of non-native
invasive shrubs and trees with
a chainsaw.”
Despite the dif f ic ulties in
its f irst growing season, the
garden has produced a wide
va r iet y of produce, some of
wh ich is used i n t he di n i ng
hall and catering services. The
garden has also received a lot
of positive feedback from the
Calvin community.
can use,” said Sunshine. The
possibilities on the horizon for
garden development are ambitious, but “we are only utilizing half of the space we have
so far and are hoping to expand
next year, including planting a
variety of fruit trees and expanding our giving to organizations
like Supper House and Degage,”
he added.
Looking forward to f uture
developments, Dornbos said,
“I am excited about such second and t hi rd generation
id e a s a s s u s t a i n a ble w a t e r
management using water captured from a roof and trickle ir-
connect to where your food comes
from. You gain a respect for the
earth and what you’re eating. You
know how much work goes in it.”
Over the summer, a number
of students took part in garden
care, but garden leaders hope to
see greater student involvement
this semester.
“Spend at least a little bit of
time in the garden. It’s really cool
that it was started by students and
that something that big can come
out of a little bit of investment and
dedication,” said Gorter.
St udents interested in t he
garden are welcome to meet at the
garden at 3:00 p.m. every Friday,
BY KATE PARSONS
Campus News Co-Editor
This summer, after six years
of heart problems, Calvin alum
and friend Stephen Okeyo
passed away at the age of 26.
Okeyo, who graduated from
Calvin last May, sur vived
seven major surgeries, including a heart transplant, during his time at Calvin. But
despite the frequent hospital
visits, his friends and family
do not remember Stephen for
being sick, but for his quiet,
passionate faith in God.
“At his funeral everyone
said they would remember
him for his smile. It’s not
something you’d think of for
someone who’s had as many
cardiac ar rests as he had,
and a heart transplant, and
how many other relapses he
had with his health. That’s
crazy because for some of us
who don’t face health challenges, we find it hard to smile,”
said Jona Eigege, a friend
of Okeyo.
W hen Stephen came to
Calvin College as an international student from Kenya in
2008, Eigege said, his biggest
worries were whether he would
like the food, understand the
culture, or fit in with his dorm.
No one predicted his weak
heart would see him airlifted
to Cleveland for major heart
surger y during his second
semester. After a traumatic
procedure, during which he
went into cardiac arrest and
had to have his heart restarted,
he faced months of rehabilitation. His improvement, many
believed, was a miracle. In
2010 he returned to Calvin,
supported by many friends and
church members.
It was during his first hospitalization that Calvin associate chaplain Nate Bradford
met Stephen. As he coordinated groups of students to
visit Okeyo, Bradford was
impressed by the soft-spoken
st udent. “He’s the kind of
guy you fell in love with right
quietness, was able to influence so
many people.”
“With Steve just by looking at
him, you could tell that his faith
was genuine,” added Eigege. “It
just flowed out of him. There was
no on and off switch.”
When Okeyo came back to
campus in 2010, he came with a
renewed purpose. This was a significant point in my life,” he said
in an interview with Calvin News
and Stories. “All of this caused
me to seek God in a deeper way.”
According to Mefor, Stephen
came to him after the surgery
and said, “God has given me a
new life. I have a new heart, and
I have a new perspective.” After
this experience, Stephen began
reconsidering his plans for a business-economics career towards
ministry, eventually applying to
Asbury Theological Seminary,
where he was to begin this fall.
Much of this new focus came
from something that happened
to him during the moments during his first surgery in which he
was clinically dead. Okeyo spoke
sparingly about his experience,
afraid it would sound “too crazy”
to others, but Bradford is convinced he would want his story
to be shared.
In the moments before being
shocked back to life, Bradford
said, “He spoke of being in front
of the Lord. I remember Stephen
telling that story and the hairs on
the back of my neck stood up.”
“He spoke about two things,”
Bradford continued. “First, the
amazing power of God and being
confronted with the utter shame
of what he’s done wrong, but then
a split second later, being enveloped by the overwhelming love
of God. This was a place of the
deepest, purest rest and comfort
that Stephen had ever felt before.
In some ways, I think Stephen
never fully left this embrace.”
Q u ie t a n d u n a s s u m i n g ,
Stephen shared this experience
w it h f r ie nd s, but w it nessed
t o t he c a mp u s mo s t i n h i s
quiet intercession.
“I know that Stephen prayed
a lot for Calvin College,” said
Eigege. “When ReigKnight started, he was heavily involved on the
Work Study offers student opportunities
BY LAURA SHEPPARD
Campus News Co-Editor
Approximately 1600 Calvin
students are eligible for a program that few know exist: the
Federal Work Study program,
which provides funds to colleges
and universities to help students
fund their education by receiving
minimum wage pay.
Karen Hollebeek, student employment manager in the career
center, works with students to
partner them with local nonprofit
organizations through the Work
Study program.
The money Calvin receives
from the government for Work
Study can be used to pay eligible st udents to work on or
off campus, but at least 7-percent of the funds must be allocated to support students doing
community service work as tutors
or at nonprofit organizations.
About 25 organizations currently partner with Calvin to
hire students in the Work Study
program, and Hollebeek says
she is always looking for more
partners. Students can work as
administrative assistants, accountants, interns, reading tutors or publicity writers, among
other positions.
According to Hollebeek, the
Work Study program is beneficial
for all those involved.
“Calvin st udents not only
gain work experience but earn
money for it. The agency gets
st udents to help adm i n ister
their program, and the community benefits, too. I call it a
win-win-win.”
For Hollebeek, the best benefit
of the program is the chance for
students to be exposed to the
world of nonprofits. This is a
good fit for Calvin students, she
says, because “Calvin’s mission
is for students to be God’s hands
and feet in God’s world.” In this
way, students who work with
nonprof its are engaging that
world and being a “support to
the community.”
She cites Degage Ministries,
a Work St udy pa r t ne r w it h
C a lv i n , a s a n orga n i zat ion
where students can live out this
goal in helping provide shelter
and assistance to homeless and
disadvantaged individuals in
Grand Rapids.
Other organizations that partner with Calvin for the Work
Study program include Habitat
for Humanity, the Boys & Girls
Club, Bethany Christian Services,
World Renew, and Lutheran
Social Services.
Students become eligible for
the Work Study program by fill-
ing out the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
and qualifying for a certain level of gover nment assistance.
According to Hollebeek, about
1600 students at Calvin are eligible, but many don’t know it.
However, eligible students can
expect emails from Hollebeek to
arrive in their inbox, featuring
a number of different available
positions every week.
Of f icial ly, Calvin Col lege
e m p l o y s Wo r k S t u d y s t u dents, who receive their payroll through the Calvin
system. However, 75-percent
of their wages comes from the
government Work Study grant,
and 25-percent is provided by
the organization.
“It’s an awesome program,”
said sen ior Jess Kora nda, a
Work-St udy st udent who inter ns at Roosevelt Park
Ministries,“because the organization doesn’t have to pay as much.”
She added, “I don’t know why
you wouldn’t do it if you have
the chance.”
Hollebeek stresses her passion for the program, saying
t hat orga n i zat ion s a re a lways looking for students to join in
their work.
“Many organizations are looking for the passion and enthusiasm that college students have.”
PHOTO COURTESY CALVIN.EDU
Okeyo planned to attend Asbury Theological Seminary this fall.
away,” Bradford said. “He had
a big old smile.”
“A s a f r ie nd , Ste phe n
had a very calm demeanor,
a really gentle spirit,” said
Ebuka Mefor, a close friend
of Stephen’s. “Something was
different about him.”
“He always struck me as
someone who was always living with a foot in Heaven
and a foot on this earth,” said
Bradford. “He was living in the
presence of God in ways that I
just don’t see, that I don’t even
experience myself. I always
thought that Stephen was a
wonderful encouragement in
the way that I live my life.”
Others, too, noticed this
difference in Stephen. “He
was one of those people that
when I think of, I think of as
larger than life,” said Eigege.
“And not in the sense that
he was the most outgoing or
the most boisterous or the
most out-there person, because
he wasn’t. But he was one
of those people who, in his
prayer time, and he would stay up
for hours and for nights just praying for revival to happen here on
campus. He would take charge
and intercede on behalf of the
people who were more up front.”
Friends noticed him slip out
once a week to pray through
the night, usually in the nature
preserve. Said his friend Ebuka,
“If there was ever a God ambassador on earth, it would have
been Stephen.”
“I think his story can continue even if he is not here,” said
Bradford, “The story of Stephen
that should be told is that God is
real, that this hope is real.”
“T here’s a lot of ‘why?’”
said Bradford. “Not just with
Stephen, but why in the world.
The why of Stephen was, for me,
in a sense, he lived halfway in
Heaven halfway on earth. For
him to be gone is for him to just
be where he always was anyway,
right there at the feet of the Lord,
in the presence of God. Though
that doesn’t make it any easier for
us to not have him.”
4
“
loc a l n e w s
I’m not begging or knocking on people’s doors... You choose
to help me or you don’t and that’s fine
Gene, “Panhandling”
”
Grand Rapids faces problems with panhandling
Both city and citizens voice their opinions on potential anti-panhandling laws in Grand Rapids
BY SIERRA SAVELA
Local News Editor
On the corner of East Paris and
28th Street in Grand Rapids is a
woman named Gene. She holds
up a long sign explaining that
she is a mother of two boys and
homeless, while working a part
time job. But her goal is having
a full time job, which she can’t
get because she lost her ID and
birth certificate when her truck
was stolen.
At the end of her message she
writes: “We apologize for resorting to this.”
Every big American city has
its panhandlers — people who
beg for money on the street. They
stand on street corners and on medians with their cardboard signs
that explain their situation in
hopes you will spare them a few
dollars. There has been a recent
push to get rid of this practice in
west Michigan.
In 2008, Michigan passed a law
criminalizing peaceful panhandling. The state was concerned
about safety, traffic and fraud.
Gene is aware of panhand l i ng pol it ics goi ng on i n
Grand Rapids.
“I think people should have
freedom of speech,” she says. “I
don’t think everybody does it for
the right reasons but you’re going
to find that with anything.”
She explains how difficult it is
to go out and ask for money.
“I don’t enjoy getting up and
doing this,” Gene explained.
“If I didn’t, we would literally
be outside.”
Many panhandlers were arrested while the law was in effect
sued the city of Grand Rapids
and won on the grounds that it
violated the first amendment.
But the ruling was appealed.
The city and state stressed its
concerns about safety and fraud.
PHOTO BY SIERRA SAVELA
Panhandler stands on the corner of 28th Street and East Paris. Her sign explains she is a
mother of two, homeless with a part-time job but looking for a full-time job.
from January 2008 to May 2011.
Among those arrested were James
Speet and Ernest Sims. With
the help of the American Civil
Liberties Union, Speet and Sims
The appellate court upheld the
original ruling.
Boyce Martin Jr. explained his
reasoning in a 17-page ruling.
“Because it prohibits a sub-
Fair brings arts, crafts, food and more
Local News Editor
This Saturday, the Eastown
Community Association (ECA)
will be hosting its 41st annual
edition of the Eastown Streetfair,
a day f ul l of local food, ar t
and music.
The free, family-friendly event
is a chance for the community to
celebrate the arts, say farewell to
summer and hello to fall.
The fair has expanded this year
and the ECA has added another
block to accommodate. The event
now stretches across Wealthy
Street in between Lake Drive
and Gideon Ave., with more
than 100 booths set to line the
street. The vendors are the arts,
crafts and food portion of the fair.
They include local businesses,
boutiques, restaurants, nonprofits
and artists.
Many local Grand Rapids
stores will have booths as well. A
full map of vendor locations can
be found on the ECA’s website.
As the streetfair has grown in
popularity, the ECA has added
more and more to the event.
Last year it brought in about
15,000 people.
ECA director Lindsey Ruffin
explained why this year’s fair will
be different.
“You know, even though this
event has been going on for 41
years, this year is going to be
the biggest we’ve ever had,”
said Ruffin.
This edition will have more
food than ever and 16 musical
performances on two separate
stages. The outdoor and main
stages will be located on Hub
Lot on Wealthy Street, while
the indoor stage will be inside
Billy’s Lounge, a local Eastown
hot spot that has live music on
a nightly basis. Some of the performers include Jesse Ray and the
Carolina Catfish and Eastown
Jazz Ensemble.
There will also be many children’s activities and samples from
many local restaurants, such as
TerraGR, Eastown Café, Chez
Olga and many more. Grand
Rapid’s Sandmann’s is returning
because of its success and popularity at the fair in years past.
“It should be fun,” said Ruffin.
“We revamped it this year to
center the stage. It’s better for
the street performers and makes
it feel like a real fair.”
Ruffin hopes it won’t rain on
Saturday but invites everyone to
come out. The Eastown Streetfair
is this Saturday from 9am-8pm.
again. Grand Rapids city officials
proposed to restrict panhandling
by making it illegal to ask for
money from motorists, along with
other restrictions that included
minimum distances from ATMs
and bus stops.
But the ban failed when city
commissioners came to a tie
vote in June and no restrictions
were made.
Since then, the residents of
west Michigan have been pushing to put an end to panhandling in the state. A Facebook
group called “West Michigan
Hardly Homeless Panhandlers”
formed and currently has over
4,000 members.
The group’s mission statement
is written in their Facebook page.
“Quit giving to the corner
and donate at your local mission
to help the real homeless,” the
page reads. “Time, money and
supplies are needed at all homeless shelters. Do your research
and make an educated decision
to donate your dollar to an organization that gives back to
the community!”
Others argue an anti-panhandling law criminalizes people for
being poor and inhibit their right
to free speech.
In response to the Facebook
group, Gene explains that shelters
aren’t a place she wants to take
her family because of all the drug
and alcohol usage.
“There are a lot of worse things
I could be doing,” Gene said.
“I’m not stealing from anybody.
I’m not robbing people. I’m not
begging or knocking on people’s
doors... You choose to help me or
you don’t and that’s fine.”
Upcoming Local Events
Annual Eastown street fair
BY SIERRA SAVELA
stantial amount of solicitation,
an activity that the first amendment protects, but allows other
solicitation based on content,”
Martin wrote.
This past May, the issue arose
9/13
9/13
Mari J Meyer
Pancreatic Trail Run for
Hope
5k run to raise money for
pancreatic research at the Van
Andle Institute.
9/15
Swing Dancing
Swing Dancing at Rosa Park’s
Circle happens every Tuesday.
Eastown Streetfair
Eastown Community Association hosts street fair with local
arts, crafts and food.
9/13
GRCC Community Picnic
Grand Rapids
Community College celebrates its
100th birthday with a
community picnic.
9/20
9/24
11th Annual Mayors’
Grand River Clean up
Help clean up the river area with
volunteers and local mayors.
The art competition starts its
19 day run through out Grand
Rapids.
ArtPrize begins
Do you love living in the beautiful city of Grand Rapids?
Do you love hard hitting journalism?
Do you want to write for Chimes?
You should write for local!
Local is a place where Grand Rapids and journalim intersect.
Explore the city by reporting on Grand Rapids news and events
We could use your talent and passion.
Email sns6 for more information.
PHOTO BY BRITTANY BEEZHOLD
ECA hosts events to better
Grand Rapids commmunity.
“
The festival screened a marathon of Murray’s most iconic films,
including “Stripes”, “Groundhog Day” and “Ghostbusters”
Christian Becker, “Bill Murray Day”
”
5
A RT S A N D
E N T E RTA I N M E N T
2014 Fall TV has plenty to offer in comedy and drama
“Gotham”, “Mulaney” and “A to Z” among most anticipated shows for fall
BY CHRISTIAN BECKER
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Fall is an exciting time of the
year for fans of television because
it’s the season with the most show
premieres. A giant batch of new
shows is set to premiere every
year in September and October,
but not all can survive. A new
show needs to go above and beyond in the ratings to assure its
chances of making it past its first
season. For every show that is
dead on arrival, there are several
promising freshman shows worth
tuning in for.
Networks are trying hard to
push their comedies this season.
One of NBC’s biggest players
is new couples comedy “Marry
Me.” Put together by the talent behind the cult hit “Happy
Endings,” Ken Marino and former SNL star Casey Wilson star
in this new comedy as a couple
who seem perfect on the surface,
yet can’t seem to make it to the
next step of their relationship
(you guessed it: engagement).
It sounds average, but the talent in front of, and behind the
camera should be enough to help
the simple sounding comedy
stay afloat.
Another show that sounds average, yet has a lot going for it is
“Mulaney.” Fox’s newest sitcom
from stand-up comedian and former SNL writer, John Mulaney.
The show seems to be going for
a “Seinfeld” vibe, focusing on
the everyday struggles of living
in New York City and infusing
it with wacky characters and
comedy routines.
Perhaps the most anticipated
dramedy of the season is NBC’s
follows that format correctly; it
should be a huge win for viewers
and the network.
On the dramatic end of the
spectrum, all eyes seem to be
on the superheroes. Fox is coming right out of the gate with
Batman prequel “Gotham” is one of the fall season’s most anticipated shows.
“A to Z,” a romantic comedy
that chronicles a relationship
from beginning to end between
Andrew and Zelda (“How I Met
Your Mother”’s Cristin Milioti).
This series is being compared to
a TV version of the hit indie film
“(500) Days of Summer,.” If it
“Gotham,” a Batman-based prequel that follows the character of Commissioner Gordon
(Ben McKenzie) as a young man
trying to protect the streets of
Gotham City from iconic villains,
such as Poison Ivy and Penguin,
before the caped crusader came
U2 drops surprise album
Apple releases band’s new album for free on iTunes store
listen through, you can tell
what the gifted musician is
Arts & Entertainment Editor
talking about.
From the acoustic melody
T he I nter net can ta ke
“Songs for Someone,” to the
away a lot of enjoyment from
fast-paced “Volcano,” the band
different media platforms.
has created a string of songs
Because of the Internet, fans
more reminiscent of previous
k now when to expect new
albums of theirs, such as “All
si n g le s a nd a lb u m s f r om
That You Can’t Leave Behind”
their favorite artists sometimes
and “How To Dismantle An
a year in advance and the eleAtomic Bomb.”
ment of surprise is basiW h i le “Song s of
cally gone.
I n nocence” is on ly
U2 broke that trend
available in a digital
this Tuesday by releasformat now, the physiing their newest album,
cal album will be in
“Songs of Innocence”,
stores on October 13
exclusively on iTunes
as a deluxe edition full
for free. Much like the
of additional content
move Beyonce pulled
not included on the
back in December with
iTunes version.
the release of her surCritics are already
prise record, the band
weig h i ng i n on t he
gave no warning of the
band’s latest efforts,
drop of these new songs.
calling it a step up from
There had been talk of
2 0 0 9 ’s s ub pa r “ No
a new album ever since
Line on the Horizon.”
the band released their
“It’s easy to split the
single “Invisible (Red)”
album roughly into
back in February, but an
halves, with the first
official date had never
half-dozen or so songs
been set.
feeling like Classic U2
In addition to unveilin the give-the-peopleing the iPhone 6 and
what-they-want mold.
Apple Watch, Apple got “Songs of Innocence” is U2’s 13th album.
The second half
exclusive first rights to
sounds like a looser,
U2’s sur prise album,
a little more expanwhich sent fans rushing to we n t l i ve o n A p p l e ’s d i g i t a l sive...and a lot more Danger
download it.
music store.
Mouse,” wrote Yahoo music
The band performed
“Songs of Innocence” now makes critic Chris Williams.
d u r i n g Tu e s d a y ’ s l i v e 13 full-length albums for the band, an
Bono and company clears t r e a m e d A p p l e p r e s s impressive feat for any musical group. ly compiled a set of songs
conference with a new sin- It consists of 11 songs that range with the intention of reachgle, “The Miracle (Of Joey from upbeat to slow and steady, the ing as “many people as posRamone),” as an ode to the a l b u m c l e a r l y s h o w s t h e sible.” On ly time will tell
R a m o n e s f r o n t m a n . U 2 i n f l u e n c e o f n o t e d p r o d u c e r the success of this strategy,
cites t he R amones as one Danger Mouse.
but t he accessibilit y of
of their greatest inf luences
According to Bono, the album “Songs of Innocence” will no
and one of the first concerts is far from subtle, “we wanted to doubt result in wide listent h e b a n d m a t e s e v e r have the discipline of the Beatles ing by both lifelong fans of
saw together.
or the Stones in the Sixties, when U2’s work a nd f i r s t- t i me
Within seconds of the song’s you had real songs.” Even after one listeners alike.
BY CHRISTIAN BECKER
to be.
The CW is getting into the
superhero game as well with
their new series “The Flash.”
This show can thank Arrow and
its devoted following for even
being created, as it opened DC
ending, Apple CEO Tim Cook
took the stage alongside U2 leader Bono as he shared the unique
release strategy.
“The question is now how do
we get it to as many people as
possible” stated Bono, “because
that is what our band is all about. I
do believe you have over half a billion subscribers to iTunes, so could
you get it to them?”
Wit hin moments, t he album
comics up to the idea of having
a live-action superhero universe
on the small screen. Not many
people are aware of The Flash’s
origins, or the characters in his
world, but the CW is hoping
to change that.
Going along with the comic
book theme, NBC is hoping to
bring the character of Constantine
to life. Based on the DC comic,
“Hellblazer,” “Constantine” follows a seasoned demon hunter
who struggles to find the balance
between good and evil as he tries
to fend off the evil creatures he
once campaigned for. Reactions
at San Diego Comic Con were
solid, and it sounds like it’s full
of enough content to keep every
episode fresh.
But why only focus on the
new shows of the season when
so many fan favorites are returning? The newly-awarded
Golden Globe series “Brooklyn
Ni ne-Ni ne” is back for a
second season, “The Blacklist”
is high up on ever yone’s rad a r a nd “Sat u rd ay Nig ht
Live” fans eagerly await the
news of who will be hosting
and per for m i ng t he for t iet h
season opener.
Shows li ke “Park s and
Recreation” are entering into
their final season, which will
hopef ully give fans of Leslie
Knope and company something
to cheer about. It is still unclear
when the last season will air,
but keep fingers crossed for an
early date.
Television has an exciting
season coming up, whether it’s
a new show you are looking to
find or the anticipation of an
already loved one, there will be
something for everybody to watch
this fall.
Bill Murray honored
Festival hosts “Bill Murray Day”
BY CHRISTIAN BECKER
Arts & Entertainment Editor
T h i s y e a r ’s To r o n t o
I nte r nat iona l Fi l m Fest iva l
(TIFF) is currently underway,
with a fun new addition to its
schedule. TIFF officially declared
September 5 “Bill Murray Day”
as a whole.
Fa n t u r ne d o u t i n c o s tumes that showcased characters from Murray’s f ilmography that weren’t even featured
at t he fe s t iva l, s u c h a s t he
b e a rd ed o ce a n ex plor e r,
Steve Zissou. There was even
a ba by d r e s s ed a s t he St ay
Puff Marshmallow Man
FILE PHOTO
Bill Murray is a well known comedic actor with iconic roles.
at the festival, and fans of the
legend a r y ac tor cou ld not
be happier.
The festival screened a marathon of Murray’s most iconic films,
including “Stripes”, “Groundhog
Day” and “Ghostbusters”, which
was followed by a Q&A with
Murray himself.
“I get to park anywhere I want”
Murray stated.
All of this lead up to the premiere of Murray’s newest film,
“St. Vincent,” a comedy in which
Murray plays a rude, yet caring
old war veteran who befriends
a young boy moving in next
door. “St. Vincent” has been met
with mass critical and fan praise
and even put Murray in the best
actor Oscar race. But that one
film couldn’t take all the news
away from “Bill Murray Day”
from Ghostbusters.
W hen asked about his involvement about his own day,
he gave perhaps the most “Bill
Murray answer” anyone could
think of:
“People kept coming up and
saying things like, ‘it’s real humid
out there. And it’s going to get
more humid.’ That’s what my
day’s been like. It’s mostly been
a weather report.”
Af ter the screening of
“St. Vincent” concluded the day, Mur ray came up
on stage one last time to receive
a crown and red sash as everyone in t he room gave him a
standing ovation.
If people needed anymore
confirmation that Bill Murray is
a one-of-a-kind legend, this just
about seals the deal.
6
f e at u r e s
45 YE ARS OF C H A O S
A Brief History of Calvin’s Largest Dorm Competition
BY HAYLEY COX
AND ERICKA BUITENHUIS
Features Editors
During a pivotal scene in the
film “Dead Poets Society,” a
teacher takes his English class of
boys to the school’s trophy room
and asks them to look at the
photos of their previous classmates, making the point that no
matter how old the photos are,
they all show young men full of
hope, potential and dreams —
not that different from the boys
themselves. “Carpe diem,” he
says, pretending to be the voices
of the faces in the photographs.
“Seize the day boys; make your
lives extraordinary.”
Looking through old Chaos
Day a r t icles i n t he C h i mes
a rch ives, t he sit uat ion isn’t
that much different. Current
Calvin students may stay away
from feathered bangs, mullets
and scrunchies, but the looks
of triumph capt ured on f ilm
are timeless.
Chaos Day originated in 1969
after a meeting of staff advisors
and the dean of men. Calvin alum
Andy De Jong (‘61) was a student
staff advisor in NoordewierVanderWerp (when Noordewier
was still a men’s dorm). De
Jong explains that Chaos Day
came about not from a need for
“any more chaos given the social and political upheavals that
marked the 60s,” but rather as a
source of college comradery.
“It was determined,” he said,
“t hat hav i ng some f r ie nd ly
competition among the dorms
pl ay i n g c l a ssic ga me s s u ch
a s t h ree -leg ged g u n ny- sack
racing, r unning while carr ying an egg on a spoon in one’s
mo u t h a nd , of c o u r s e, t he
p r ove r b i a l t u g- of-w a r r o p e
completion would help build
dorm community.”
Chaos Day at its inception
looked significantly different than
it does today. Instead of trophies,
the winning dorm was “awarded special ice cream treats,”
according to De Jong.
Noordewier-VanderWerp
prevailed that first Chaos Day.
Universal themes and pageantry didn’t enter the equation
either during that first year.
“It was not until the second
and subsequent years that dorms
began to generate themes and
special [t-shirts] and team songs
[and] cheers and did the dressup stuff,” recalled De Jong, “I
do remember a few guys doing
some body paint.”
Indeed, Chaos Day is now
o ne of t he mos t c ele b r ated
traditions shared by the Calvin
st udent body, t houg h it has
u ndergone some sig n i f ica nt
changes throughout the years.
John Witte, dean of residence life,
related how “the games used to
PHOTOS FROM CHIMES ARCHIVES
The name “Chaos Day” was
initially intended as a temporary
title for the games, but it stuck.
“Maybe it reflected the general
mood of the broader society,”
reflected De Jong, “but [it] also
described the ethos of incoming freshmen who felt life had
suddenly become a bit chaotic
over against the more routine
and predictable days of high
school. Given its long legacy, it
appears that Chaos Day continues
to generate some excitement
a nd dor m- s pi r it, es pec ia l ly
among freshmen.”
be announced ahead of time and
the dorms were able to practice.
But then it became high pressure
and unless you were athletic you
really couldn’t participate.” So
they began to add random events.
“It went so well that in two or
three years, no one knew what
games would be played, except for
the tug of war,” Witte said.
In fact, tug-of-war is the only
event on which students can
depend any given Chaos Day.
When asked about this, Witte
laughed and responded, “We paid
a lot of money for the rope.” He
then added, “it also gives good
breaks in between events. It gives
time to set up and tally points. It’s
a tradition within a tradition.”
Many of the changes made to
Chaos Day come from trial and
error. Witte reflected fondly on
the many escapades and injuries
inherent in the enthusiasm of
several hundred 18-20-year-olds
in one place. “I’ve seen plenty
of injuries,” said Witte, “from
blisters to concussions. One year
we played a game where we drew
a big circle and 25 students from
every hall stood around it and
had an area where there had to
get to. Seven times 25 equals mass
collisions, especially when some
halls decided, ‘let’s tackle other
teams so they can’t get across. It
turned out badly, and we didn’t
do it again.”
In 2004, student Miram Maring
questioned in a Chimes article:
“Who came up with the idea to
stick four people in an inner tube
and make them run down the
field with a volleyball between
them?” We haven’t seen that
game in a couple years.
While the events of Chaos
Day differ from year to year, the
attitude of dorm pride is always
as strong as the cheers that rung
out over the din last Friday night.
“Ultimately, the fun for Chaos
Day is the love for your hall that
drowns out everything else. It’s
the only time students feel that
proud about the name of their
hall (and see everyone else as the
enemy),” Witte joked.
“One year,” he added, “the
president of RVD, Ben Ardec,
arrived by helicopter. Their
theme was ‘the A team.’ It was
very dramatic.”
After that, it almost didn’t
matter who won.
But beyond dorm pride, Chaos
Day has been the springboard
for connections that last far
beyond September and even
beyond graduation.
“I could lengthen my list of relationships that still exist because
of dorm camaraderie,” said alum
Rachel Cooper-Aupperlee, ’92.
“[Chaos Day] certainly started that
sticking process.”
Aupperlee didn’t remember the
exact events she competed in, but
after trooping across the soccer
fields to the land now occupied
by the Prince Conference Center
and nature preserve, it was all fun
and excitement.
“ We s c r e a m e d u n t i l w e
were hoa rse a nd came back
around lunch time completely
exhausted,” she reminisced.
“ T he f i r s t week s at C a lv i n
were the most exhilarating [at]
that point in my life.”
While alumni and current
students alike can attest to the
excitement and thrill of
competing in Chaos Day, one
might think back to that thoughtprovok i ng sce ne f rom “T he
Dead Poets Society.” Perhaps,
at the bottom of it all, behind
t he c he e r s, t he g a me s, t he
f u n. Some t h i ng la rge r i s at
work. Something grander.
Chaos Day is more than a
tradition; it unites us as a Calvin
Community. It’s an event linking the generations together in
an unlikely way. For the last
45 years, students have been
declaring dorm pride —
students who come from all sorts
of backgrounds nationalities and
skill sets. But, they all had one
t h i ng i n com mon. D re a m s.
Goals. Aspirations.
Seize the day, Knights, make
your lives extraordinary.
DOMINATING
DATA
VICTORIES PER DORM
SINCE 1998
SE - 8
BV - 5
RVD - 2
BB - 1
KH (pre-vR) - 1
NVW - 0
BHT - 0
“
Every year we start a whole new team with the incoming
freshman which develops a unique personality for the year.
”
Cross Country to host 21 teams at Knight Invite
Stacey Kamp, “Volleyball”
first last year in the women’s 5k with
a time of 17:40.7.
Sports Editor
“You need a bigger purpose and
goal. I know that in the race all my
Twenty-one cross country teams
teammates will be pushing themwill be competing this Saturday at
selves, and so it’s my job to push
the Gainey Athletic Complex in
myself just as hard,” stated Vince.
the first official meet of the season
Senior captain of the men’s team,
for the Calvin Knights. Last year,
Josh Ferguson, said it is the basic
level of hard work and
training that excites him
about the sport. Ferguson
finished second among the
Calvin men and 37th overall in the men’s 8k with a
time of 25:58.8.
For the men, sophomore Zach Nowicki finished with the best time
of the team at 25:15.3 and
placed seventh overall.
His motivation is to be
the best for his team: “it
helps drive me in races and
even workouts.”
“T he mos t exc it i ng
thing overall is watching
the team come together
and grow more unified
t h roug hout a season,”
added Ferguson.
This weekend’s meet
is especially exciting for
many of the runners, since
PHOTO COURTESY OLIVET SPORTS INFORMATION
it is on Calvin’s campus.
Sophomore Cassie Vince seperates herself from the pack.
They also noted that the
cou r se is ver y spec t athe Calvin men took third place running alongside them. It is the tor-friendly. The team is looking
behind two top-of-the-line NAIA motivation you need to keep going.” forward to having the support of
programs, while the women took
Several other runners agreed the Calvin student body behind
first by 61 points.
with her sentiments, especially them Saturday. The meet begins at
For best team results, the Calvin sophomore Cassie Vince, who took 10:00 a.m.
BY BRIAN EXNER
runners all push one another to do
their personal best.
“Our program puts an emphasis
on the power of pack running,”
said senior captain of the women’s
team Paige McGahan. “When you
are hurting, there are two or three
other people who you know might
be hurting just as much as you are
Volleyball wins 20 straight sets and remains undefeated
BY BRIAN EXNER
Sports Editor
Calvin Knight’s Volleyball,
which was ranked number one
in the nation in a preseason poll,
won 20 straight sets from August
29 to September 6; six of those
wins occurred this past weekend
in Illinois.
The ranking came after winning a national championship,
but the team is not allowing
last year’s victories to make
works best for us, one point at a
time,” said junior Magge Kamp.
With a new year comes new
teammates. Among them is firstyear setter Jenna Lodewyk who
has provided her teammates
with 293 assists in 24 sets so far
this season.
Maggie Kamp was “pleasantly
surprised” with how quickly the
team was able to “gel” with their
new setter. Maggie Kamp currently leads the Knights with
114 kills.
“A lot of practice and com-
PHOTO COURTESY CALVIN COLLEGE
Junior Jamie Kooiman celebrates a hard earned point.
them complacent.
“What happened last year was
so incredible, but it’s in the past,
and it’s a new year with new goals
to accomplish. We have a new
team so were discovering what
munication went into connecting
with new hitters. Taking reps,
learning the hitters’ tendencies
and adjusting accordingly has
made everyone more comfortable,” said Lodewyk.
She acknowledged the encouragement of Calvin fans, coaches
and players as having an impact
on the transition.
Senior Stacey Kamp has experienced four years’ worth of different teammates now and can sense
the team is successfully building
good chemistry.
“Every year we start a whole
new team with the incoming
f resh m a n wh ich develops a
unique personality for the year.
That is what makes each year
fun, special and memorable,”
she added.
Stacey Kamp credits the first
tournament of the season and
spending time together off the
court for creating the chemistry within the team. The first
day of the Clarkson Classic on
August 29th was the last time the
K n ig hts tasted defeat. T hey
were forced to the full five with
host tea m C la rk son. St acey
Kamp reflected:
“It is always good to... get
rid of nerves and also to start
seeing what we can work on to
excel as a team. We went to five
sets with Clarkson which was
a great experience to not only
play a really good team, but also
to get our first five set match out of
t he way a nd le a r n to s t ay
menta l ly and physica l ly
though throughout the
whole match.”
The Knights were back in action
Wednesday against Kalamazoo
and will head to Wit tenberg
for the Wittenberg Fall Classic
Sept. 12. Their next home game
is September 19 against Adrian.
Notable Athletic Team Results From the Past Week
September 6
Calvin Men’s Golf: 3rd Place - MIAA Tournament at Alma (Pine River CC)
Calvin Women’s Golf: 9th place - Olivet College Invite (Medalist GC)
September 8
Women’s Soccer vs. Alma: Calvin 1 Alma 2
September 9
Calvin Women’s Golf: 8th place - North Central Invite (Springbrook GC)
September 10
Volleyball at Kalamazoo: Calvin 3 Kalamazoo 1
s p o rt s
7
S P O RT S T H I S W E E K
Friday September 12
Volleyball at Wittenberg at Wittenberg Fall Classic
3:30 PM
Volleyball vs. Washington (Mo.) at Wittenberg Fall
Classic 8:00 PM
Saturday September 13
Women’s Cross Country at Knight Invite 10:00 AM
Men’s Cross Country at Knight Invite 10:45 AM
Volleyball vs. Ohio Northern at Wittenberg Fall Classic
12:00 PM
Men’s Golf at MIAA Tournament at Adrian (Lenawee
CC) 1:00 PM
Men’s Soccer at Cleary 2:00 PM
Women’s Soccer at Wheaton (Ill.) 2:30 PM
Volleyball vs. Otterbein at Wittenberg Fall Classic 8:00
PM
Tuesday September 16
Women’s Soccer at St. Mary’s (Ind.) 4:00 PM
Wednesday Sepember 17
Women’s Golf at Aquinas Invitational (Scott Lake GC)
10:00 AM
Men’s Soccer at Alma 4:00 PM
Thursday September 18
Men’s Golf at MIAA Tournament at Albion (Medalist
GC) 1:00 PM
Follow us on Twitter!
@Chimes_Sports
Men’s soccer prepares for conference
number of shots isn’t always
indicative of dangerous chances, but the Knights did manage to put 8 of their 17 shots on
Calvin men’s soccer split target in the game as well as
two non-conference games, maintain possession more than
facing two non-conference op- their opponent.
A losing effort against tenthponents this past weekend in
Wheaton, Illinois as they pre- ranked Wheaton College wasn’t
pare for conference play. They all bad for the Knights. Wheaton
had control of the
game ea rly on,
scoring two goals
a nd not a l lowing a shot until
the 36th minute.
Calvin showed resilience by scoring
in the 41st minute
and t hen again
i n t he 50 t h to
level the scores.
Wheaton pushed
a late goal in
to take home
the win.
“We let them
dictate the f irst
PHOTO COURTESY CALVIN COLLEGE
thir t y minutes,
Junior Taylor Pruis looks to create space. a n d t h e y o u t played us. From
have one more non-conference that point on, we outscored them,
game before playing Alma on we created great opportunities.”
said Coach Souders. “Obviously
the road September 17.
Trav i s Veg te r, a se n ior it was a disappointing loss, but
forward who was named to hopefully one where we can reaflast year’s socccer.com All- firm what we are good at and are
America first team for scoring able to move on.”
T he K n ig ht s defe n se h a s
27 goals and providing six
assists, scored his first goal only given up multiple goals to
of the season which proved Wheaton and was able to mainto be a winning goal in the tain a shutout of Elmhurst. With
second game of the weekend new players in new positions,
Coach Souders mentioned that
against Elmhurst.
H e a d c o a c h R y a n there is some cleaning up to do:
“It wa s good [to shutSouders was pleased with
out Elmhurst] but we want to
the performance:
“If we play like we played be great.”
The f irst conference home
against Elmhurst from here
on out, it could be a really game will be Saturday, September
20 at 2:30 p.m. a ga i n st t he
fun fall.”
He me nt ioned t h at t he Kalamazoo Hornets.
BY BRIAN EXNER
Sports Editor
8
science and
tec h n o logy
“
ALS is a debilitating condition; patients in its advanced stages struggle
with motor tasks as seemingly simple as opening a paper or even
scrolling through a web page.
Natasha Strydhorst, “ALS has been challenging researchers”
”
Calvin introduces uniFLOW to increase ease, reduce waste
WebPrint’s replacement prompts questions and excitement from students and faculty
BY HAYLEY COX
Features Co-Editor
This summer Calvin’s information technology department (CIT)
introduced a new printing system,
uniFLOW, which offers benefits
and frustration for students and
faculty alike.
According to Michael
Mandeville, head of st udent
technology services, the complete
overhaul of Calvin’s printing
system was a process almost two
years in the making.
“With WebPrint,” he said,
“the first year it was hardly used.
Then the second year it was
the most used [service]. By the
third year, we had outgrown
WebPrint’s capacity.”
T he r e we r e m a ny a n noyances with WebPrint, which
most students encountered at
one point or another. Sometimes
students would submit a print job
and only discover af ter ward
that the printer was out of toner.
Some students never picked up
their papers, which led to paper waste. Or most often, if a
student was queued far behind,
they might send it to multiple
printers, thus backlogging the system and contributing to further
paper waste.
“We had outgrown the infrastructure,” said Mandeville.
“uniFLOW is not a one-to-one
relationship. There is less paper
waste. It’s easier.”
The philosophy behind the
new system is called “follow
me printing” or as Mandeville
explained, “print to anywhere
from anywhere.”
“This will be the biggest mind-
set change,” said Mandeville.
“If there’s a long line at one
printer, you can just go upstairs to
another.” Students can even print
from department printers without
charging the department because
students have to swipe their ids
“The philosophy behind
the new system is called
‘follow me printing’ or
as Mandeville explained,
‘print to anywhere
from anywhere.”
and the charge will go to their
printing quota.
This was the other mindset
change Mandeville recognized.
The print budget, when it is
released, will look 40-percent
smaller. This reflects the lowered
cost of overall printing. The
number of print jobs allotted to
students will be no fewer than in
previous years.
Mandeville also explained
the students will be “charged”
based on sheets, not pieces of
paper. Thus, students who use
double-sided printing will not see
their quota decreased any faster
than those who print one-sided.
Another perk of uniFLOW
is that students can print from
their phones, since the system
is integrated into Google Cloud.
From whenever a job is sent,
the system will hold it for up
to 24 hours, but it must be sent to
the “uniFLOW” option from the
Calvin student Gmail account.
After that, students need only I’m not clear about is how we’re lated to the uniFLOW system.
swipe their cards — magnetic going to be billed for printing, None of it has been being reported
strip facing self — and the printer whether or not students have a to us consistently and has caused
will print every stored document print quota and which printers I’m some frustration, on both our end
then and there.
allowed to use.”
and the user’s end.”
One of the potential drawMandeville urged students to
Despite some student frusbacks of uniFLOW affects pro- visit the “Students” section of the tration with the new system,
fessors, who now have to carry CIT homepage for a fuller expla- Mandeville noted:
around their ids to print,
“though professors can
choose to se t a pi n,”
Mandeville explained.
A l s o, b e c a u s e t h e
pr i nt i ng system is so
persona lized, depa r tments will now be
able to see who prints
the most.
“I do think it saves paper,” said junior Kayla
Scholten, “but I don’t
think it’s any easier.”
Scholten went on
to explai n t hat un iFLOW has never connected with her student
Gmail, no matter what
she has tried, so she can
only print directly to specific printers from her
personal Gmail.
Junior student Sara
Sapsford had m i xed
feelings about
PHOTO BY HAYLEY COX
uniFLOW, commenting: UniFLOW enables students and faculty to print from any device to
“ I t ’s a g o o d t h i n g
any Calvin College printer via Google Cloud Print.
there’s instructions.”
Fi f t h -ye a r s t u d e n t
Lauren Cremean likes the new nation of the uniFLOW system.
We have not yet seen a case
system overall.
He added:
[at CIT] of a student printing
“Being able to get a print job
“If there is a question, issue, via Google Cloud Print or unianywhere on campus is cool,” or concern, it should always be FLOW where the system has not
she commented, “and so far I’ve reported to the HelpDesk.”
been working.”
s e e n fe w p r oble m s w it h it.
“The main issues we’ve been
For those seeking answers or
Actually, uploading the print having,” continued Mandeville, assistance uniFLOW questions
job seems to take longer, but I’m “is when there are issues either or issues, the HelpDesk can be
no longer worried that a printer with Cloud Print or something contacted at x6-8555 or helpwill be out of paper or ink. What else that may or may not be re- desk@calvin.edu.
ALS has been challenging researchers for decades
The popular challenge is just a drop in the bucket to decades of ALS research
BY NATASHA STRYDHORST
Sci-Tech Editor
The viral “ice bucket challenge,” pervasive on social media
for the past few months represents
only a fraction of time compared
to the decades-long research of
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(ALS) conducted to date. Even
s o, t h e c o n d i t i o n r e m a i n s
poorly understood.
Common ly k nown as Lou
Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a degenerative motor neuron disease
and is grouped with such neurodege nerat ive cond it ion s
a s Pa rk i n son’s d i s e a s e a nd
Alzheimer’s disease. ALS is a
debilitating condition; patients
in its advanced stages struggle
with motor tasks as seemingly
simple as opening a paper or
even sc rol li ng t h roug h a
web page.
ALS patients experience a
progressive loss of voluntar y
muscle movement due to the
weakening and death of motor
nerve cells in the brain and spinal
cord. Lacking the communication from the nervous system,
voluntary muscle cells atrophy
(waste away) and progressively
lose functionality.
In the latest stages of the disease, a patient’s brain is unable to initiate or control muscle
movement, and he or she is dependent on ventilator support to
breathe. ALS patients maintain
the ability to see, hear, taste,
smell and sense physical touch,
and the mobility of eye muscles
is unaffected. A patient’s intelligence is likewise unimpaired
The vast majority of ALS dias the disease progresses, though monly experienced by individuthe ability to speak is compro- als between the ages of 60 and agnoses are non-heritable and
mised. The ALS Association 69, non-Hispanics and white are referred to as sporadic cases.
repor ts t hat life expec tanc y males. It is more common in men Only about 5 to 10 percent of diagnoses are familial, according to
ranges from two to five years than women.
following diagnosis.
The cause
or causes of
ALS remain
unknown, but
t he Na t io n a l
Instit ute of
Neurological
Disorders
and Stroke
( N I N DS) r e ports that over
a dozen genetic
mutations have
been linked to
t he d i sord e r,
a nd a ny one
of these might
point to a
possible cause.
What research has uncovered is that
A L S, t hou g h
rare (affecting
3.9 i nd iv iduals per 100,000
U. S. p o p u l ation, according
to N I N DS),
i s one of t he
most common
neuromuscular diseases
around the
world. T he re
have been
cases in every
PHOTO COURTESY ANTHONY QUINTANO
race and ethnic
The
ice
bucket
challenge
of
this
summer
raised
funds
for continued Amyotrop
group, but ALS
-hic
Lateral
Sclerosis
research.
is most com-
NINDS. Of these, about a third
have been linked to a defect in the
gene C9orf72 (or chromosome 9
open reading frame 72) whose
function remains unidentified.
As far as a cure or even treatment for ALS goes, scientists are
still largely in the dark. The primary avenue of research is building an understanding of what
causes the initial degeneration of
motor neurons at the onset of the
disease. Facets of this research
include investigation of possible
genetic links and the development of stem cells from patients’
skin cells.
Potential therapies are another component of A LS research; investigations currently
focus on drugs, gene therapies,
and cell-based treatments. The
most significant development
in drug therapy, according to
NINDS, was the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) approval of the first drug treatment
for ALS specifically in 1995.
Riluzole, or Rilutek, is suggested
to decrease neuron damage,
and clinical trials of the drug
have shown it may increase a patient’s life expectancy by up to a
few months.
Grand Rapids’ Van A ndel
I n st it ute ( VA I ), establ ished
in 1996, has had a Center for
Neu ro - degenerat ive Science
since 2011. That same year, accordi ng to Verge magazi ne,
Allison Schepers (then a Calvin
College senior) worked in the
VA I a s a n i nt e r n s t u dy i n g
ALS. The VAI expanded this
past March with the hire of two
specialists in the field of neurodegenerative disorders.
“
It is essential for Christians to pay attention to this because
ISIS is inflicting a lot of pain and suffering on people’s lives.
9
”
Professor Westra, “Calvin Professors”
religion
Ali Abunima speaks at Calvin on injustice in Gaza
Abunima mourns death and destruction in Gaza following Israel bombings and calls for action
BY KATELYN BOSCH
Religion Editor
Ali Abunima, a renowned
activist and author, spoke in the
chapel undercroft about Gaza’s
plea for help on Monday, Sept. 8.
Abunima is author of “One
Country” and “Battle for Justice
in Palestine” and co-founder
and executive director of The
Electronic Interfada, an online
publication that serves to advocate for Palestine.
Among the event sponsors
were the Middle East Club, the
Ca lv i n h istor y de pa r t me nt,
Peace Means GVSU and Healing
Children of Conflict. Abunima
walked up to the podium in the
front of the chapel and paused.
He thanked everyone for coming
with visible sincerity.
“You all here shows that people
are asking questions,” he said.
“And that is encouraging to me.”
Abunima began by showing
pictures and videos of the destruction that has occurred in Gaza
since the bombings first started.
Histor y professor Douglas
Howard is a board member of
were killed in span of 51 days.
The bombings of Gaza from
Israel have recently drawn significant attention to the issue, however, Abunima also spoke about
the injustices that
Gaza has been facing since the siege
in 2007.
This has only
gotten worse with
the bombings as
factories and fields
have been targeted, and no food is
coming in. This
means food and
other essentials
are scarce.
Accord i ng to
Howa rd, I s ra el
is a hot issue
for debate in
the U.S.
“W hen you
b r i n g I s ra el up
people start yelling at each other.
PHOTO BY NIDAL KANNAN
Yo u c a n g e t a
Ali Abunima used many pictures in his speech to crowd in Calvin chapel.
caricature view,”
he said.
siege in 2007 and the more recent
But for Abunima, the issue is
were quite powerful:
“(A b u n i m a) i s a n e f f e c - bombings. One in 1,000 people clear. Israel put a siege on Gaza
Healing Children conf lict and
the faculty mentor for the Middle
East club at Calvin. He served as
MC for the event.
Howard said that the pictures
t i v e s p e a k e r, t h e m a t e r i a l
was very sad.”
Abunima spoke with remorse
for the lives lost and the destruction that has occurred since the
and bombed civilians. A condition of the ceasefire was that
Israel would open the siege, but
they have not.
“This ceasefire agreement will
not hold if Israel does not open
crossroads, and right now there is
no pressure I see,” he said.
Abunima emphasized the pain
of the people. They have faced
uncertainty everyday and severe
displacement as many homes
were destroyed.
“It is a prison. A physical prison, but also a mental and psychological prison,” he said.
Abunima ended his speech
with an appeal to boycott services
and products that are enabling
Israel, including Cater pillar
and Motorola.
Howard encouraged anyone
who wants to learn more to look
up Abunima’s site at http://electronicintifada.net/.
Additionally, there will be a
showing of the film “We all Live
in Gaza” by Maurice Jacobson
on Thursday, Sept. 18 in the
Covenant Fine Arts Center. The
film will be shown in preparation for a corresponding exhibit
in ArtPrize.
Calvin professors describe ISIS and implications
BY KATELYN BOSCH
Religion Editor
T he Islam ic State of I raq
and Syria, or ISIS, has recently received at tention following a series of violent acts, including the beheading of an
American journalist.
“ISIS is a transnational network of radical Sunni Muslims
that is attempting to establish a
Caliphate,” political science professor Joel Westra said.
ISIS is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda,
which was responsible for the 9-11
attacks. And Al-Qaeda is an offshoot of the Islamic Brotherhood,
said Westra. They are a type of
political group in Iraq. The three
groups differ primarily on tactics.
Westra said ISIS holds the
view that Islam has been corrupted through the ages, and they
want to return it back to their
fundamentalist roots.
“[ISIS’s] stated goal is to reestablish a Caliphate: state ruled under Islamic law,” he said. “They
believe that previous attempts
have been flawed, or corrupted.”
Histor y professor Douglas
Howard stressed the militant
nature of the group. He said they
may claim to be a fundamentalist
group, but really they are just “a
pirate movement.”
“They give fundamentalists a
bad name,” he said. “I don’t believe these people know the first
thing about Islam. They are an
opportunistic militant movement
trying to feed the people they recruit...despite what they say their
motives are.”
Westra said it is undeniable
that current ISIS actions are
getting lots of coverage. He attributed this to a series of military
victories and violent actions.
“They are certainly getting attention,” Westra said. “Filming
beheadings of jour nalists
gets attention.”
H o w e v e r , We s t r a q u e s tioned whether this attention
is warranted.
“All the things they have done
has forced people around the
world to pay attention. Now
whether that attention is appropriately directed is another question,” Westra said.
Professor Howard stressed the
necessity of viewing ISIS in terms
of the “long picture.” ISIS is one
group that stems from the original weakening of the Iraqi government in 1991 and the second
Iraq war beginning in 2003 that
led to the complete overthrow of
the Iraqi government.
“To me, it’s easy to get lost in
the details of this episode when it
is part of the longer war in Iraq,”
Howard said.
Both Howard and Westra say it
is important to be well informed
about ISIS.
“[We] need to understand what
the goal is in order to assess more
clearly what sort of response is
appropriate.... much of the news
coverage has just been focused on
the violence,” Westra said
Howard thinks a long picture is necessary to understand
the conflict.
“This conflict is a consequence
of the U.S. overthrowing the
Iraqi government,” he said. “It is
our responsibility.”
Westra believes that with the
violent coverage on the media,
additional U.S. involvement is a
“forgone conclusion.”
According to Howard, ISIS has
caused much suffering and violence in effort to reach their goals.
“That man who lost his life,
its so sad,” he said in reference to
American Journalist James Foley
being beheaded.
Westra agreed the political
goals of ISIS have caused suffering and even persecution.
“It certainly is the case that
religious groups are being persecuted,” he said. “It is essential
for Christians to pay attention
to this because ISIS is inflicting
a lot of pain and suffering on
people’s lives.”
PHOTO BY USAID U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A member of the U.S. Mt. Sinjar Assessment Team being greeted by locals in Iraq as he
evaluates whether they need extra supplies.
Language Chapel Schedule
German Chapel: Every Tuesday
-Chapel Undercroft Choir Room
Spanish Chapel: Every Tuesday
-Meeter Center Leacture Hall
Dutch Chapel: Wednesday Sept 17, Oct 15, Nov 19
-Chapel 220 (Meditation Chapel)
French Chapel: Wednesday Sept 24, Oct 21, Oct 15, Nov 12, Dec 3
-Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Write for Religion
Opportunity to build your resume,
meet interesting people
and learn about important events at Calvin and in
Grand Rapids
Email kmb53@students.calvin.edu for more information
10
e tc e t e r a
Campus Safety Report
Campus safety took a report of the larceny of a iPhone 5C
from the main office of the biology department. The phone,
which had originally been turned in as found property, was
subsequently stolen from the office. The victim was encouraged to also file a report with the Grand Rapids Police
Department.
2/25/2014
Campus safety took a report of damage to property where
unknown persons shoved a candy bar in the gas tank of a
vehicle belonging to a student. The incident occurred in the
East Beltline parking lot (lot 13) sometime between Feb. 18
and Feb. 26.
2/27/2014
Campus safety took a report of retail fraud from the campus
store. An unknown white male suspect in his twenties with
a blue jacket, jeans and tattoos on his neck was observed
acting suspicious in the textbook section. A review of video
footage by store employees showed that the suspect placed
at least two books under his coat before walking out of the
store. A report was filed with the Grand Rapids Police and
other schools were notified of the incident.
2/28/2014
From
Dialogue
thirty cedar waxwings
by Faith Van Alten
(originally published May 1979)
thirty cedar waxwings
i saw them
i counted them
thirty in the berry bushes
by the east window
Dialogue is now accepting
submissions for the
-
their tails edged in yellow
a red slash on each wing
SUDOKU
“
We are told to be true to this calling and authentic in what we believe and how
we live out our lives.
”
Ice Bucket Challenge Prompts Giving
Lauren DeHaan, From the Editor
BY KATE PARSONS
Campus News Co-editor
I’ll admit: I rolled my eyes
when the barrage of videos hit
my Facebook feed. It seemed
like so-called ‘slacktivism’ at its
finest: something to be ‘liked’
and ‘shared’ and forgotten almost
instantly. But as the movement
flooded social media — Facebook
has recorded over 1.2 million
separate videos — people began
to take notice.
The Ice Bucket Challenge,
which started as any other viral
stunt and somehow became a
fundraising powerhouse for ALS,
could be dismissed, like one
commenter said, as “the Harlem
Shake of this summer.”
But un li ke ot her f lash-int he-pan movements, t he Ice
B u c k e t C h a l le n ge i s d oi n g
some t h i ng. Si nce Ju ne, t he
New York Times reports, the
ALS Association has seen an
astronomical surge of donations
totaling over $100 million —
quadr upling t hei r an nual
operating budget in
just t wo mont hs. In t he
same time, Wikipedia
repor ted a spi ke of 4 0 0,0 0 0
new searches for “Amyotriphic
lateral sclerosis.”
Apparently people are
doing more than scrolling. And that
is the genius of the Ice Bucket
C h a l le n ge: t he w ay t h a t it
taps into a new realm of viral
altr uism.Say what you want
about the qualit y of the
videos — the marketing strategy
is effective.
Pe o p l e h ave c o m e d o w n
ha rd aga i n st t he cha l le nge.
It can be self-congratulatory,
c r i t i c s s a y, i t s p a r t i c i pants more interested in
joi n i ng a movement t ha n
raising awareness. Who hasn’t
seen someone call the disease
ASL, or neglect even to mention
it? And as the declining numbers
of videos already shows, this
spike in giving is unsustainable.
B u t I d o n’ t t h i n k t h e s e
c r it ic i sm s de t rac t f rom t he
intent of the movement. In the
carefully-curated, self-focused
world of social media, I think
t he Ice Bucket Cha l lenge is
ref resh i ng (f ig u rat ively a nd
literally). Friends of mine have
u s e d t he pl a t fo r m t o r a i s e
awareness about ALS or other
causes close to their heart. This
brief philanthropic moment in
the spotlight isn’t one that comes
around often.
As a culture, I think we have
an unhealthy relationship with
giving. We don’t talk about it.
For every university hall named
after an illustrious family, there
are a thousand donations sent in
sealed envelopes, taking to heart
Jesus’ command to “not let your
left hand know what your right
hand is doing.”
I’m not saying that discretion
in giving is wrong, but I do think
over-conscientiousness puts us
out of touch with both the giving
and the needs of our community.
Who of us knows what charities
our friends support, or if they
donate to any at all?
I think of Paul’s letters to the
Corinthians in which giving
was a natural part of a broader
conversation about caring for
each other. Paul commends the
giving habits of one church and
openly seeks donations for another congregation.
This spike in ALS donations
may be a one-time thing, but I
don’t buy the criticisms that the
challenge is stealing from other
worthy causes. Giving engenders giving. Charity is not a
zero-sum game.
So is the Ice Bucket Challenge
a good model? Is t h is t he
giving of the future? As someone
involved in nonprofits, I hope that
people are motivated to donate by
results and not by flashy stunts.
I hope that giving is a
long-term commitment,not a onetime challenge.
But I still think this is a step in
the right direction.
In Philippians 1:15 and 18 Paul
writes again, “It is true that some
preach Christ out of envy and
rivalry, but others out of goodwill…. But what does it matter?
The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.
And because of this I rejoice.”
In the same way, some are
dumping ice water over their
heads for the right reasons and
some for pride or vanity or boredom. But what does it matter?
Money and awareness are being
raised. Charitable donations captured the media’s frenetic attention and held it for a brief second.
We should be discerning with
our gifts, but we should also be
generous. Why not challenge
each other to learn about a condition our neighbors live with
daily? Why not call on each other
to give?
There may be more effective
ways to give, but at least this starts
the conversation.
Challenge raises concerns
Social campaigns must spur lifestyle change
BY NATHAN SLAUER
Op-Ed Editor
If you’ve watched YouTube
in the last three months, you’ve
heard of the Ice Bucket Challenge,
a viral fundraising campaign for
the ALS Association. The Ice
Bucket Challenge deserves praise
for raising a lot of money for, and
uniting interest around, a great
cause. People participating in
the Challenge have raised $100
million for ALS research since
July, an incredible amount for
any nonprofit. On an average
day of the challenge, the ALS
Association raised approximately
$2 million, the equivalent of their
annual earnings last year.
Nonprofits struggle to persuade people to make charitable
donations during the best of economic times. But with the Ice
Bucket Challenge, 184,812 new
donors contributed to the ALS
Association, and 17 million Ice
Bucket Challenge videos have
been posted on Facebook — that’s
amazing! Even North Korea, one
of the poorest and most politically
oppressed countries in the world,
recently jumped on the Ice Bucket
bandwagon. The only big question left is which holdout is next:
Vladimir Putin or the Pope?
W h i le it ’s g r e a t t h a t t he
campaig n was so successful, it’s time to take the next
step. Nonprofits like the ALS
Association need to move from
social campaigns like the Ice
Bucket Challenge to strategies
that raise more in-depth awareness and commitment about
issues than dumping a bucket of
ice on your head can.
The Ice Bucket Challenge
did not do enough to inform the
general public about ALS. The
Ice Bucket campaign focused
more on its central gimmick and
the celebrities involved than the
cause itself. For at least some
participants, that meant that the
challenge was more about joining a hip, new movement than
about being genuinely charitable.
Magazine author Arielle Pardes
put it well when she said, “there
are a lot of things wrong with
the Ice Bucket Challenge, but
the most annoying is that it’s
basically narcissism masked as
altruism.”
While more people have technically heard of ALS than before
the challenge, almost none of the
videos for the challenge actually
discuss what ALS is, what the
ALS Association does, or how
people can continue advocating
on behalf of ALS research.
Building real awareness involves more than just saying that
a problem exists. It means educating people on what that problem
is, why their participation in
ending the problem mat ters,
and, most importantly, showing
people how they can get involved
with the cause in a more consistent, meaningful manner than
one-time donation. That kind of
education doesn’t happen when
campaigns don’t move beyond
the gimmicks and celebrities to
deeper content, such as personal
invitations to volunteer for and
consistently donate to the ALS
Association, as well as in-depth
informational videos explaining
the ALS research process.
The biggest problem with the
Ice Bucket Challenge is that it
pushed towards a culture shift
towards generosity, but did not
push far enough. American pop
culture, which glorifies individualism, buying stuff and Kim
Kardashian, could use more
campaigns like the Ice Bucket
Challenge to remind people of
the importance of giving. That
said, trends like the Ice Bucket
Challenge risk sending the cultural message that you should
participate in charity, but only
when it’s trendy.
Participants in the Ice Bucket
Challenge deser ve praise for
donating, but so much more can
be done. Each year, Americans
manage to spend $1.2 trillion on
luxury items such as gambling,
booze, video games, candy and
yachts. It is disheartening to think
that temporary bouts of do-gooding could just be a way of making
people feel good about themselves
for a short time instead of helping
other people in more significant
ways.
In the future, nonprofits should
seek ways to engage individuals
beyond momentary, hashtag activism. Social campaigns, such
as Livestrong, Kony 2012, #Haiti,
and, of course, the Ice Bucket
Challenge, may grab headlines
and even some donations but
rarely result in lasting social
change. People should be distubed, even angry, to think that
longafter people have forgotten
these campaigns, a cure to cancer
is nowhere in sight, Joseph Kony
remains at large, and 150,000
Haitians still live in plywood shelters following Hurricane Sandy.
Altruism is too important to
remain a fad, a game, or something one pursues in order to
receive their five minutes of fame.
The lives of real people suffering
from terrible diseases, poverty,
and oppression are at stake. These
people deserve far more attention
than is usually allotted by the
average social campaign.
The Ice Bucket Challenge did
a lot of good. Let’s just hope that
nonprofits can inspire people to
change their lifestyle, not just
their Facebook profile.
opinion and
e d i to r i a l
11
From the
Editor
Thir teen years ago this
we e k o u r c o u n t r y e x p e rienced the tragedy of 9/11
when four planes were hijacked on American soil. Two
hit the World Trade Center
in New York Cit y, a third
the Pentagon and the fourth
a field in Pennsylvania (after
the passengers aboard heroically attempted to take back
the cockpit).
I had the opportunity to
visit the 9/11 memorial in New
York City a few weeks ago. It
was stunning. Sad. Humbling.
The site of the two towers is
now home to two vastly deep
and dark memorial pools.
Surrounding the pools are
many young and healthy trees.
There are benches for people to
sit, quiet and serene, reflecting
on the tragedy as the pools
reflect the names of those lost.
Underneath the pools is a
museum with a timeline of
events and a thorough explanation of what occurred:
The history of Al-Qaeda, the
mobilization of the city and
the country, the news reports
from that day.
I cried.
In my English capstone
class we are talking about
vocation. We do this a lot at
Calvin. Starting in First Year
Seminar (or Prelude, if you are
as old as I am), we are told that
we have a calling. We are told
to be true to this calling and
authentic in what we believe
and how we live out our lives.
In one of our most recent
discussions, my professor told
us about one class period she
taught in the capstone class.
She had asked her students
to read articles about finding
your calling as an English major. You know, embracing the
fact that you love Jane Austen
and can probably dedicate
your life to the study of her
many works. The students had
read those pieces in preparation for a riveting discussion.
The discussion never happened. That morning, those
four planes crashed. Many
Americans died. Many more
panicked, and those readings
seemed different.
Now, I am not saying that
dedicating your life to the
study of Jane Austen is necessarily a bad thing. What
I am saying is some things
are different in light of tragedy. It wasn’t that wanting to
study Jane Austen didn’t make
sense; the world as a whole
didn’t make sense.
We are living in a time of
great tragedy. People all over
the world are hurting and suffering and dying. Journalists
are beheaded by ISIS. Gaza is
bombed. Ukraine is invaded.
Young men are shot to death
for stealing.
We are at Calvin. We are
safe. We are worrying about
Jane Austen texts and trying
to find our crushes in the dining halls. We are participating
in Mudbowl and Chaos day.
We are thinking about our
vocations.
Does it make sense to do this
in a world of tragedy? A world
where planes hit buildings?
If you are a senior right now,
you are most likely struggling
with the question of what happens after you graduate. I am.
What happens when we leave
the place we have called home
the past four years? What happens when all our friends are
dispersed across the country
and the world? What happens
when another global crisis
occurs or when we are faced
with personal tragedy? What
happens when nothing seems
to make sense?
To be honest, I don’t quite
know. I have been asking for a
lot of advice lately from people
I love and respect. I would like
to share some of this advice
with you now. First, bad things
will happen. Tragedy will occur. Vocation or calling is not
about having an “easy life” but
rather facing the world with
courage and sharing hope with
those who have none. To have
a vocation is to live and work
in the reality and brokenness
of the world.
Second, it is okay to not have
a plan. We are in our early 20s
and have years to learn and
make mistakes and grow. Just
because you don’t know what
to “do with your life” doesn’t
mean you don’t have a calling.
You may have many. Last, but
certainly not least, surround
yourself with those you love
and those who love you. When
all seems lost, they are the
people who will be there. The
people you will call, the people
to cry with.
As we move past this week
of memorial, my hope is that
we will remember the tragedies
of the past and present. In doing so, let us not give up the
hope we have for the role we
will play in our world.
~lmd
WRITING FOR OP-ED is open to all Calvin students!
Send your articles to Nathan ncs7@students.calvin.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the writer’s
name and class. Letters received without a name will not
be printed. The editors reserve the right to edit any letters.
The length of the letter should be no longer than 250 words;
longer letters may be shortened at the editor’s discretion.
The deadline for all letters is 5 p.m. on Tuesday for print
on the following Friday. Send letters to chimes@calvin.edu
with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line, or send your
comments through our website: www.calvin.edu/chimes
ANNOUNCEMENTS can be submitted by Calvin students,
faculty and staff to be printed in Chimes at no cost. Announcements can be sent via e-mail to chimes@calvin.edu
or dropped off at the Chimes
nouncements must be received by 5 p.m. Tuesday to run in
12
Photo essay
September 12, 2014
Calvin
Community
Garden
Photos by James Li