Photography by Alissa Sandoval When I looked out at the coral reef from inside my kayak, it was not anything impressive. I was able to spot a few rocks poking through the surface of the water and peer down at some sort of dark shapes, but that section of ocean basically looked like any other. That all changed once I got out and jumped in. Streams of sunlight beamed down from above, illuminating an active and colorful other world. Yellow, white, blue and silver fish darted in and out of the coral. Octopuses slinked in the shadows, while sea turtles chilled near the surface. Then, with a flash of silver…
-
-
Outrunning My Shame
Photography by Meagan Garton Written by Tayllor Lemphers In theory, every muscle in my body should have been screaming in agony. In theory, every shallow breath should have wracked my lungs. In theory, my legs should have felt like dead weights, resisting my knee-drive forward, and my arms should have felt like lead as I pumped them faster. However, theory failed to apply as I pushed my body forward into the final corner of the track at Azusa Pacific University. As I propelled myself into the last 100 meters of the 400m final of the 2012 GSAC Championships, my body was anything but heavy, my breath anything but ragged, my…
-
Commuter Crossing
Photography by Paige Bocianski Written by Grace Kim It is the first week of school. During this fast-paced, exhilarating time, we find ourselves asking our fellow new students the same three introductory questions: What is your name? What is your major? And, where do you dorm? Students who live on campus eagerly answer these questions without hesitation, whereas commuters may pause before answering the last question. “I do not live on campus; I am a commuter,” they may respond. “Oh,” is all the residential student usually responds with. This answer has become so typical that Katie Tuttle, Director of Commuter Life at Biola University, has coined this interaction with the…
-
Made Well: A Glimpse at the Theology of Fashion
Photography by Daniel Lambert Written by Kristina Nishi Say the word “fashion” and you will get a variety of responses. Some people enjoy it and voraciously flip through any magazine on the subject. Others shake their heads in dismay at the different and sometimes confusing trends. However, fashion is not just about clothing, but also style, mannerisms and customs — it has much deeper roots and implications than you might think. In the past four decades, fashion has exploded onto the scene, dictating the design of society. Now more than ever, people use fashion as a means of branding, to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Magazines such as Vogue, People…
-
Living Frame by Frame
Photography by Meagan Garton Written by Thomas Harlander The night air is warm and the sand is cool. As we walk to the shoreline, the first wave builds, peaks, tips and crashes. And it lights up blue-green. Bioluminescent algae cause the effect, but in the moment that seems irrelevant. We enter the water, the surface of the ocean stretching away until it falls over the horizon, dropping off into starry space. A dark swell eases toward us, rising. Then it caves over itself and bursts into a neon avalanche of froth, enveloping my field of vision as it rushes over me. Looking down, we find that our bodies glow as…
-
Obsess or Admire
Photography by Daniel Lambert Written by Cassie Acosta She made her way from a horse-riding country gal from the hub of Tennessee to a teen pop sensation practically overnight. Although she tried desperately to separate her life on stage from her life as a daughter, sister and friend, the weight of the world rested heavily on her shoulders. As her talent continued to grow, so did her place in the public eye. She went from the girl next door to the object of every little girl’s affection, as her fun and catchy songs captured the hearts of many across the world. Suddenly, what used to be her private life became…
-
Great Expectations: Growing Into Reality
Written by Deborah Kwak “God knew what He was cooking,” says Dr. John McKinley, professor of biblical and theological studies at Biola. Ever since he was a teenager, McKinley had been on the road to becoming a professional cyclist. His identity, dreams and ambitions were wrapped around the world of competitive cycling for years, but the trajectory of his life began to change. From the ages of 19-21, McKinley learned what it meant to be a Christian. Right out of college he became a high school history teacher, and then decided to serve in Campus Crusade for Christ for two years. While contemplating what the “Christian ideal” actually meant, he…
-
As You Are: Freedom from the Personal Fable
Photography by Hannah Caprara Written by Kahlie Cowell Dorothy Barr remembers a time in her life when she questioned herself. Her childhood was spent growing up on an isolated farm lost amidst the plains of Wisconsin. Following the death of her husband, Barr’s mother struggled to make ends meet. For Barr, this made affording college impossible. As the youngest of her siblings and unable to attend college, she never regarded herself as unique. Later in life, after she married and had kids of her own, Barr’s struggles with self-doubt began to manifest themselves. “When my husband and I moved, I knew no one in the new area,” Barr recalls. “The…
-
Hello, My Name is ESFJ
Photography by Meagan Garton Written by Heather Pape You look into a mirror and see yourself; you see your appearance, you see your reflection. This is you. But is this really you? Or is this just a single perspective of who you are? This same concept can be applied to personality tests. At Biola, many professors ask their students to take personality surveys like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the StrengthsFinder test in order to help their students figure out who they are and what they want to do. However, it is easy to become defined by these results or find identity in them. In actuality, these tests can only…
-
A Wedding to Follow
Written by Ian Mayta Luis Daniel Arias, a high school student at the American School in Honduras, queued behind a line of boys and girls holding hands. He waited patiently to be “married” by an upperclassman dressed as a minister, who distributed plastic rings and made-up wedding certificates. In line with other student couples, Arias held the hand of the girl next to him tautly. This event was part of “Carnival” — an annual junior-senior fundraising event. This might be an unfamiliar and bizarre scene to the average American high schooler or Biolan. Yet, during my sophomore year at Biola, girls and guys wearing wedding gowns and suits had a…
-
See Me, Not My Disability
Photography by Christina Bryson Written by Sarah Huffman Students often take full use of their bodies for granted. Instead of complaining about having only fifteen minutes to stop at the food truck for lunch between classes, Victoria Nuñez, a freshman biology major who suffers from cerebral palsy, has to plan how she’ll get to class on time carrying a backpack full of textbooks and using her walker. Cerebral palsy, a group of motor conditions that causes physical disabilities in development, particularly in body movement, has been a constant struggle for Nuñez. But instead of complaining, she has begun to look toward God. She says she was able to seek God so…
-
The Color of Absence: Life After Loss
Photography by Jaicee Almond Written by Cassandra Acosta Five years ago, Joe Gonzalez was busy focusing on his sophomore year of high school and enjoying the life of a teenage boy. Though his aunt had been sick with cancer for quite a few months, he had great hope that she would make a full recovery; not knowing that only months later, she would go home to the Lord. “My aunt was more of a mother to me than an aunt. She went to every baseball game and every kind of celebration. As she began to get sick, I sat by her bedside every single day, reminiscing on good times and…
