Interview: Biola and Chapel

I interviewed a student who was working at Biola, sophomore Riley. 

1. Should Biola require students to attend chapel? 
      Yes, because it is good edification. Students are busy with school and this chapel time is like a break from our studies to focus on God. Even though students may go to their own off-campus church on Sundays, this is additional practical application set apart from the heavy schedule of education.

2. Should there be consequences for not attending chapel? 
     Well, the fine that they recently started to enforce is maybe a little extreme. Consequences should not be that extreme. It depends on the situation because students should go to chapel willingly and from the heart.


3. Do you think that it is hard to meet the requirements for chapel at Biola?
     No, I was able to do it last year. It depends on the number of units and extra curricular activities a student is involved in. Biola should be more flexible and take into consideration the schedules of each student.

Speeding or Safety?

53 year old Nancy Stevens from Yorbalinda, California suggested a new program in 2005 to ensure public safety. This program was suggested to prevent speeding and the accidents which may come from speeding because she does not feel safe with the young adults' reckless driving around her city. The program, which was never enforced, would allow for an easy detection of speeding through yellow stickers which would have to be placed on each vehicle. The city and many of her friends supported her and were very impressed. People who disagreed with it, on the other hand, sent Nancy Stevens threats to her safety and her property. Threats were sent through phone calls, e-mails, and even her personal social networking systems but were always unidentified. The city did not help her situation, although they thought her idea to be brilliant, they did not get involved with helping her out of danger from threats because of her idea. She believes that these threats have come about because the friendly people who used to live in her home town have all moved out and now there are new people who show no support or care for community. She is now thinking about moving away from Yorbalinda but finds it hard because she has grown up knowing this town for many years.

Interview: Biola and Studying

I interviewed a Biola Freshman, Jennifer, who was looking for a book for the first time at the library, and also looking for a quiet place to concentrate and study.


What is the hardest thing for you about being a student on campus and how do you cope with that?

The hardest thing for Jennifer Vela at Biola was not having to get used to the new living arrangements, being away from family, or all of the things that we have to worry about in our busy schedule as students. The hardest thing for her was trying to do homework in her dorm. She said that she could not concentrate with loud noise or distractions and her roommates are always in the room making noise while she is trying to study. The amount of space, although it is not that big of a problem, is a little small in their room. The way that she copes with this situation is by going to the library to study where it is more quiet and there are no distractions. When she get the chance she studies in her room when it is alone. She talks to her roommates about the arrangement of the furniture and are planning on taking out a small couch that they brought from home because it is taking up too much space. Other than that, there are not many things too complain about at Biola. It is a great school to attend.

Interview: Life on Campus

 I interviewed Melissa Hanson, a senior at Biola University, who's life away from home has been easy to adjust to.

In your daily life on this campus, how much does interaction with your family, contact from people from your home, affect your progress here?

Melissa talks to someone from home every day. Her family lives out of state but she said that the move, even when she was a freshman, was not difficult for her. She thought that just a simple phone call or a text message was enough to get her through the day. I asked her if it was difficult to manage relationships from home while living on campus and she said that it was not difficult but the most important relationships come to the surface and you realize who will stick around in your life. She is not living on campus any longer, although she used to dorm on campus, she is now living off campus with her friends who are also Biola students. It was easy for her to move into Biola and get used to the environment here. The community at Biola was welcoming enough that she did not feel far from home.

9/11 From a New Point of View

Today is September 12, 2011. 10 years and a day after the 9/11 tragedy happened. This incident changed America forever, not only in a terrible, unnecessary way, but also in a way that we all grew as people.
In my journalism class today, our task was to look up different major cities that we were assigned to and see their perspective on 9/11. I was assigned Nashville, Tennessee. In The Tennessean they talked about the fear and loss that Tennessee had also experienced because of what had happened in New York. Although Tennessee is not so close by, it also had a strong impact due to the attack. Many Nashville residents were working in and living in New York during September 11. Because of the fear that they had after the incident many of them returned home. One of the articles described how the people of Nashville, Tennessee were afraid for their lives and thought that if a tragedy as destructive as this had happened in New York, where would the next attack occur? Security was tightened, especially in the airports. People did not know how to respond, they did not know whether to explain to their children what was going on or to leave them out of these serious matters. They did not know what to expect, what was to come, or what the future held.
All of the United States became united because of this. With the need of comfort and hope, the people of the United States grieved together and grew together. Every state, not only Nashville, from California to Maine, had felt the hatred that had been expressed that day.
Many innocent lives were lost and my heart goes out to each and every one of those people who lost a loved one that day. I hope that America never has to see something like this again. But because of the the many lives that were lost, because of the rubble which at that moment seemed bigger than Mt. Everest, because of the ash that filled the city, we became united as one. We felt each other's pain because so many had been lost. We were all scared for our lives and needed each other's comfort. And at that time, nobody cared about the color of your skin, the status of your class, or the clothes that you wore, we were all one, with no distinction of color because of the ash that filled the city. Most importantly we remembered and looked to the United States' first foundations, God, for comfort, reassurance, and hope.

"Says Who?"

When reading a newspaper one thing you should ask yourself is "Says Who?" You should not always trust everything you read because you think that it is reliable. Although it should be, it may not always be. Good journalists should know how to cite a person accurately and should print only true facts and stories but there can be cases in which a writer may not be telling the whole truth. So you should read carefully and ask yourself who are the sources? and where did they get the information that they are giving? You should be a critical reader analyzing everything you read. If you do not do this you will fall for anything. You do not want to be the person who is ignorant because of information that was falsely fed to them. Do not just take any information to be true, as a good reader always be critical and skeptical. Test the writer and ask yourself if it sounds reliable.

Newspaper Readers

Reading the newspaper is a life style choice.

The number of people subscribing to newspapers have been declining since the 1950s.

Newspaper readers tend to be more educated.

Skim and scan but read entire articles.

ratio of 60 female - 40 male readers

The Northeast has the highest number of readers.

Most attentive and regular readers view other sources of media.

Advertisements matter to readers.

Read Skeptically and want to know if news is valid.

Is it a Christian Thing to Do?

Karl Barth said "Christians should pray with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other"

News is the basis for "prophetic" journalism, exposure of wrong doing and injustice.

Christians with a critical biblical approach to media produce better.

Hello.

Well my name is Britney and I am a freshman at Biola University. I had a blog before but I didn't really use it and now sitting in my first journalism class I kind of regret it. One of our tasks is to start a blog for our class and write in our blog each class day. So if you want to be a journalist, blogging is a way that you can express yourself and just learn how to write something that will interest readers. I highly recommend any aspiring journalist to start a blog just because you can write about whatever you'd like and you increase your skills by just doing it and getting practice. And you will feel much more confident in starting a blog in your first journalism class than I do because I have no clue what to write.

It isn't that hard actually, you just write whatever you are thinking. If you aren't thinking anything and your mind is blank than just write that. I am really enjoying my journalism class so far. I've only been to two classes so far but just being there twice I can see how great of an impact it will make on my life and how much it will help me to grow, not only as a journalist but also as a person. And Biola is a Christian university so I know that and can already feel that God has great plans for my life and journey here at Biola.

So on my first day of school, professor Longinow was my favorite teacher already. He encouraged us and told us that being different is a good thing. I had really felt like an outsider coming to a new school, not knowing anyone whatsoever, but I bet everyone feels that way on their first day of college, but just hearing his words made me feel like I belong here. He said that we should embrace our differences, our backgrounds, and our history. Those are the things which will help us relate to any person and tell good stories and become a great journalist. So for all of you who feel or have felt different than everyone around you, I know how you feel. Embrace who you are and where you come from because your story can impact a life and make a difference.