By U.S. State
By Country
German at Calvin
by Andrew Knot | Dec 16, 2013 | Austria
After reading about the potential elimination of the German major at Calvin, I’m writing to tell you a bit about what German at Calvin meant and continues to mean to me.
Traditions
by Sarah (VanderMolen) Sundt | Dec 15, 2013 | Placeless
I was that kid who freaked out when my ice cream sandwich broke in half. I remember being five years old at my grandparents’ house, shrieking in agony over the broken dessert.
A Most Gracious Reprieve
by Will Montei | Dec 14, 2013 | Placeless
“How’s school?” Grandma Shirley asks me this every single time I see her, even though I graduated many months ago. She was at the graduation.
A Penny for your Evangelism
by Melissa Dykhuis | Dec 13, 2013 | Arizona
“YOU DESERVE HELL.” The murmurs that skittered through our classroom when that sign marched to the front row drew the attention of the professor.
Commonplace Christmas
by Abby Zwart | Dec 12, 2013 | Placeless
I’m pretty sure it’s Christmas’ fault. We’ve entered the season when everyone and their mothers has something inspirational or encouraging to say.
I Heard You Like Lists
by Elaine Schnabel | Dec 11, 2013 | Placeless
Crushing on characters (both alive and dead, real and fictional) is probably what steered me toward my lucrative career path in words and stuff.
No Use To Us
by David Greendonner | Dec 10, 2013 | Detroit
We walked a few blocks from the museum to find food (unreasonably passing on a café whose window quoted Jay Gatsby: “Well, he’s no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town. . . .”).
Hunger Games 2: Catching Mediocrity
by Bart Tocci | Dec 9, 2013 | Placeless
The film, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, followed the book decently, but they added a brilliant (Read: horribly irritating) element: excessive screaming.
Free Time
by Caroline (Higgins) Nyczak | Dec 7, 2013 | Hungary
There is a freedom to being a child that I will never experience again. There is a freedom in being aware of time but not fearing it. There is freedom to not feeling guilty about doing nothing.
Thanksgiving Lies
by Josh deLacy | Dec 6, 2013 | Washington
Normally, I hate lying. I prefer honesty and the rewards and consequences that come with it. But I was loving this kind of deception.
Come (cont’d)
by Alissa Anderson | Dec 5, 2013 | Placeless
I love the way Advent meshes with the changing seasons in my Northern-Hemisphere home. The air takes on a crisp chill and the scent of snow. Dark comes early and the nights are the longest of the year.
Death, The Narrator
by Annie Williams | Dec 4, 2013 | Placeless
But Death, as in the narrator of The Book Thief, would not enjoy such a tune, at all. Cancer, cancer I hate. Death, the narrator, I love. Death the narrator is comforting, pleasant, desirable.
Waiting
by Sabrina Lee | Dec 3, 2013 | France
What could be more beautiful, I thought, than to break bread with the person who almost ran you over? The wolf will live with the lamb, and a little child will lead them.
Object Permanence
by Jacob Schepers | Dec 2, 2013 | Placeless
A sample list of my previous collections, presented chronologically: heads of Lego people, Beanie Babies, wristbands and tie-dye t-shirts, and music CDs (and books are a given, right?).
Come
by Amy (Allen) Frieson | Dec 1, 2013 | New York
And she’s a whole lot better at waiting—or, at least, at proclaiming what she’s waiting for and what she expects. I try to drown out the world. She tries to make it see.
A Simple Mistake
by Paul Menn | Nov 30, 2013 | Wisconsin
I don’t know if I’d say that I gave them hope, but I maybe helped them back to the path to realizing that there is some hope in life. At the very least, I eased their burden for a little while.
Favorite vs. Best
by Stephen Mulder | Nov 28, 2013 | Placeless
Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords might be your favorite musical comedy act, but are they really the best?
Cambodia, Pt. 1
by Brad Zwiers | Nov 27, 2013 | Cambodia
I thought it might be interesting to write about the trip for this blog in two parts, the first now, roughly a month and a half before we depart, and the second after we return in January.
Best-ness
by Lauren (Boersma) Harris | Nov 26, 2013 | Placeless
I have always had a profound aspiration to be extraordinary, and not just extraordinary in a way that puts me among the greatest people that have ever lived. I kind of want to be the greatest person that ever lived.
Finding Myself
by Bethany Tap | Nov 25, 2013 | Placeless
Because of these things, it is impossible for me to say that Calvin is an unaccepting place. However, I would never have felt safe being in a relationship with a woman while going to Calvin.
6 Reasons to Start Your Personal Blog Today
by Griffin Jackson | Nov 24, 2013 | Placeless
Undoubtedly, a few friends have told you to start a blog because you said something interesting once, right? And last time I checked, if your peers tell you to do something, you should always do it.
A Tale of Rescue
by Jenn Langefeld | Nov 23, 2013 | Placeless
The book patted my hand. “Let’s keep talking,” it said. “We can fix all that.”
Magazines in My Mailbox
by Robert Zandstra | Nov 22, 2013 | Placeless
This post is an attempt to review the magazines that my wife Hope and I currently subscribe to, organized into categories. I wonder what this list says about us, if anything.
A Brief History of Boy Bands
by Libby Stille | Nov 21, 2013 | Placeless
What marks a boy band most, though, is the lack of future success. Yeah, Justin Timberlake and Mark Wahlberg have made names for themselves, but they are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Looking Back
by Calah Schlabach | Nov 20, 2013 | Arizona, Vietnam
I was inexplicably tired, unable to focus, and uncertain how I would ever get everything done. I wondered, briefly, why I had chosen such a difficult path.
Why Did I Read That Book?
by Mary Margaret Healy | Nov 19, 2013 | Placeless
What is it about me that gives me my love of decoding Shakespearean poetry over decoding twentieth century poetry? Is it genetic? Is it learned? Is it based on the people I associate with?
Bless Me
by Matt & Laura Hubers | Nov 18, 2013 | Placeless
I used to think libido was a car. One little misconception can change the way we understand things. It can change our perceptions, our preferences, and sometimes it can change the way we live completely.
Father, Son, and Holy Jokes
by Geneva Langeland | Nov 17, 2013 | Placeless
As autumn fell, he started nudging me, gently striving to get my attention. Geneva, he whispered, you’ve been running in circles for months. We haven’t talked in a while.
The Tower of Babel
by Andrew Knot | Nov 16, 2013 | Austria
Like the Bible story after which it is named, Bruegel’s painting seems to critique humanity’s thirst for power. The tower is unfinished and crumbling.
Listen First
by Abby Zwart | Nov 15, 2013 | Grand Rapids
I could tell you my opinion about the intersection of homosexuality, Calvin, and the church. But I appreciate the simplicity and genuine goodwill of these stories, so I’ll let them speak unaccompanied.
