Written by Stephanie Gertsch Transitioning to college means facing the unknown—leaving behind your home and childhood friends, learning to live in a new world, and suddenly wondering, “Who are these hoards of twenty-year-olds in flip flops?” Whether moving just a few hours away or across an entire country, transitions make life more exciting, but also more difficult. American-born college students wonder if there are any points of contact between themselves and an international student, or if they should respect cultural differences by holding off on cultural assumptions. Newcomers wonder if America is a safe place to learn and grow, or if they must constantly struggle against prejudice and misunderstanding. As…
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FACES
By Stephen Hernandez In this portraiture series, I initially set out to capture a completely honest and unhindered expression of the self. In seeking the ever-elusive ego, however, I stumbled upon something profoundly more breathtaking: the dignity and innate liberation afforded by the process of image-making. That is to say: to receive an image offered by another and to return it as it was given is equivalent to sharing one’s vulnerabilities and saying, “Yes, you are worthy!” Where I first sought to create a thought-provoking product by means of whittling the traditional constructs of portraiture all the way down to their most basic form — the face — I soon…
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Echoes of Eden
Written by Claire Callway English budgies, lineolated parakeets, cockatiels, and canaries populate and color Peggy Burke’s life. Cacophonous chirping and the sound of fluttering wings fill her home so much that we can hear it from the outside. Within seconds of walking in the door, a large, regal green Macaw named Tiki had already found a perch on my photographer’s head. Apart from Tiki, several other birds flitted around the main room, chirping happily and playfully at each other. Burke gladly showed us around her rooms filled with cages containing around one hundred birds of all breeds, sizes and colors. She allowed us to hold a few as she spouted…
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Dr. Barry H. Corey
Written by Sarah Jean “So what have you done with your life?” Today, with a Fulbright scholarship, a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. over 5,000 friends on Facebook, and even his own Wikipedia page, few would think it hard for Biola University President Barry Corey, Ph.D. to answer this question. Years ago, though, he wasn’t so sure. Five years out of college, at the age of twenty-seven, Corey went through what he calls a “crisis of normality.” “We were just a middle class family, everyone was a Christian, we all loved Jesus, we all loved each other.” Corey says his “security crutches” were never kicked out from under him. The cure…
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Dealing with Disconnect
Written by Kelsey Osterman “That smile is going to get you married!” the African American man exclaimed as I walked by him on the sidewalk. I laughed and thanked him. He was not the only black man to greet me as I made my way through the group of homeless people gathered in front of the shelter. By the midpoint of my semester, I started getting used to this treatment. I was a blonde-haired white girl living in Washington D.C., — a rarity that received a lot of attention. Fifty percent of the D.C. population is black, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. At times, riding the Metrorail or the…
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In Process
Written by Sarah Jean Discipline. For most, the word means self-denial and willpower: losing sleep to study for an exam, remembering to pay the phone bill on time, or passing by the display case lined with plump swirly-top cupcakes. Afterwards, it’s the ‘A’ on an exam, the perfect credit score, or the clothes that fit that make the small triumphs seem worthwhile. Few enjoy the process of disciplining themselves. It seems a bit monastic to actually appreciate the solitary triumphs that receive little attention from others. What if those solitary moments of discipline, not the end results, were actually the most rewarding part? The lives of artists and monks are…
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Editor’s Note: Spring 2011
Written by Melissa Gutierrez I want to frame the following set of works with a fact: people take up time and space. Your body occupies a certain volume in the universe, and your actions occur across a series of seconds, minutes, hours, and years. This is simple stuff, but stuff that’s hard to remember in an increasingly busy world that tries to ignore basic physical limitations; a world that is constantly trying to be more and do more with less effort and less time. It’s a sort of environment that sets the standards for success in our culture today: getting the best things the fastest, or overcoming the hardest obstacles…
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Sciarra on the Side
Written by Zachary Fu Freshman cross country and track runner Alexandra Sciarra exemplifies an strong spirit in the face of athletic trials. After competing as one of Biola’s top runners during cross country season and helping the team to a second-place national finish, she knew what it meant to “feel on top of the world.” When she returned from winter break for indoor track training, she noticed that something in her body was not right. “I had somehow injured my Achilles tendon… well, that’s what I thought it was. It’s just like a little thing, but it’s one of those nagging injuries that’s like a stabbing pain when you’re running,”…
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A Life Well Lived
Written by Candace-Arce Lindsay Sarah Jong, a junior and cellist performance major, relates the difficulty of rising each day to face the heaviness of trials. In her home in South Korea, she was plagued by an illness for which doctors could find neither name nor cure. “My disease was so obscure it didn’t have a name, but the doctors did not give me more than two weeks to live,” she explains. She was healed from her sickness by what Jong describes a miracle of God. “Actually this is my second life,” she says of her current symptom-free state. “God saved me; I met Him at that time, and I’m the…
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Strive for Meaning
Written byCandance-Arce Lindsay “The idea that I might be able to do something really exceptional, to be able to participate in something really extraordinary is what gets me out of bed in the morning,” shares Jon Puls, professor of Painting, Drawing and Art History at Biola University. This expectation for excellence influences both his vocation as artist as well as professor. While working in the studio or teaching one of his classes, he works in the hope of finding some real profundity around the corner that might surprise him in each of his daily projects. This drive necessitates an intentional and constantly industrious way of living, which can prove a…
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Meet Our Staff
Spring 2011 has arrived and so has our new Point Magazine staff. We have expanded to better this next issue and have begun work. Melissa Gutierrez is once again leading the team as Editor-in-Chief and she has brought together a great team to work under her leadership.
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Christmas Gifting: Biola Style
The Christmas season, as all of us Bible-believing Biolans know very well, is not about gifts, Black Friday, or Santa Claus. It’s clearly about the Creator of the universe becoming a helpless human child. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t all spread a little love and joy (and imitate the generosity of God the Father in the process) by giving and receiving a few presents here and there. So to help you out in the process, here’s a quick list (make sure to check it twice) of the top seven gifts Biolans can give to one another. Biola-Themed Winter Survival Kit: The weather outside is frightful, and the Biola bookstore…
