Author: Houghton STAR
The student newspaper of Houghton College for more than 100 years.
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Article written by Megan Brown (‘23).
October 9th marked the halfway point of Houghton College’s fall semester and served as a reminder that, while active cases on campus remain at zero, the hamlet of Houghton does not fare as well. With 46 new cases of COVID-19 at the Houghton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center as of last Thursday, a case on the college’s campus seems inevitable because of the recent increase.
Even with this grim forecast, few students interviewed expressed additional stress because of the uptick in cases. A couple students even admitted they had not thought about the rise in cases surrounding our campus after the initial email about it from Marc Smithers. Sophomore Psychology major Mackenzie Milne views this as a wake up call, saying “it’s hitting close to home. It is suddenly becoming more of a reality.”
One worry does unite the students interviewed: the residents and staff at the facility. Communication major Courtney Johson commented, “I think it’s very troubling…because I know a lot of other nursing centers where one person gets it and then a lot of people do. So I am very worried for them.” As the CDC has stated, COVID-19 can be more dangerous when risk factors, such as underlying medical conditions or older age, are involved. Students’ concern lies more with the residents residing at the rehab and nursing facility than with a threat to their safety here on campus.
For those worried about the threat of COVID-19 coming to campus, Marc Smithers advises that students should not spiral into panic. The absence of students on campus contracting the virus so far this semester shows the dedication of many students’ adherence to the Big Three, which consists of masking, social distancing, and cleanliness. The increase of cases in Allegany County should instead renew the students’ commitment to following COVID-19 guidelines. With a higher concentration of local cases, the chances of a case occurring on campus rises. As Smithers says, “we cannot slip into worry, but we also cannot slip into complacency.”
While students may believe COVID-19 would not dare enter into the creekstone-clad asylum after the success Houghton College has had this semester, Smithers continues to stand by his stance that the campus will soon see an active case “not due to our campus community not practicing safe habits but more so because the virus is just too prevalent in our area.” Precautions to the virus’ spread are in place not because they eliminate the chance of contracting COVID-19 but because they decrease transmission. With a higher volume of cases locally, the chances of a student or faculty member contracting the virus increases, too.
Because of this possibility, the campus needs reminders of safety precautions because it is easy to become relaxed in Houghton’s “new normal.” However, of the students interviewed, only two professors discussed the local rise in cases with their classes: Professors Susan and Benjamin Lipscomb. Both professors reminded students of the proximity of the Houghton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to the college and, like Marc Smithers, urged students to double down on following COVID-19 protocol.
What are your thoughts and feelings on the surge in COVID-19 cases at the nearby nursing home in Houghton? Worried about the residents? Worried about the safety of those on campus? Not very concerned? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (star@houghton.edu)!
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Farmer’s Markets Will Heal The Divide
By Collin Zehr ‘22
Whatever political affiliations you may associate yourself with, we can all agree on one thing: Farmer’s Markets.
An establishment that predates The United States of America by 46 years, farmer’s markets are an essential part of North American culture. The origins of the first farmer’s market is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1730, city planners set aside a 120-square foot plot in the center of the city which gave birth to the Lancaster Central Market. Since its inception, farmer’s markets have spread across the north east to small towns and cities alike.
You might ask, “how could a farmer’s market ‘heal the divide’ we feel in our over politicised culture?” The answer is simple. Farmer’s markets are a place where people from all walks of life can come together to enjoy buying and selling artisan goods and fresh produce. Whether you are a business person in New York City, or a school teacher in a rural community, you can find the same joy and pleasure in perusing items being sold by local vendors.
Farmer’s markets are unique from most other ways of buying and selling. At a market, vendors sell their products directly to the customer and get to establish a face to face connection with someone they would probably never have come into contact with. In the electronic world we live in, run by social media addiction, people have become accustomed to meeting others through a screen. As more and more connections are being made online, dehumanization grows. With no in-person consequences to our actions, online arguments and bullying have become a passtime for many social media users. The way that social media algorithms are designed, individuals continue to see more and more things they agree with online, regardless of factual validity. Research has shown that mass shootings and hate crimes are possible extreme results of misinformation spread on social media, as well as the consequence of divisive attitudes and a feeling of disconnect. This has resulted in an inability to understand the legitimacy of arguments being made by someone who we disagree with. Not only are people missing facts, but the dehumanizing effects of social media eliminate any type of nuance or empathy in conversation, especially on political topics. In order to reverse these effects, face to face interaction must grow.
Farmer’s markets have a unique opportunity to encourage the direct interaction of people who might feel as if they have nothing in common. In my own experience, I have never been disappointed in the quality of items I have found at farmer’s markets, and I often have found items that I would not have thought of that have given me a lot of joy. One of the most magnetic features of farmer’s markets from a buyer’s perspective is the ability to meet the creator or cultivator of the products. When you get to look someone in the eye and discuss the process undergone to create their products, the buyer has an assurance that what they will receive will be high quality and worth whatever price they might pay. By establishing humanity in another person, we can better recognize their value.
Though this may not be the only method to unite a divided culture, farmer’s markets are a historically significant establishment that have the potential to act as a bridge that transcends political platforms. The ability to empathize with others is essential to redeem any hope of unity. Why not improve your empathy while partaking in the mutual benefit that accompanies the buying and selling processes of farmer’s markets?
Article by Justice Newell (‘23).
Amongst the numerous changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of in-person chapel services has been significant for returning students at Houghton College. Despite this change, Houghton’s Spiritual Life department has been deliberate with creating chapel services that still engage and challenge students’ beliefs, all while maintaining the policies enacted to keep Houghton’s students healthy.
Of note, the format typically used for Wednesday chapels is interview-based. During this service, there are generally one or two guest speakers that are interviewed by either Nuk Kongkaw, Director of the Mosaic Center, or the Dean of the Chapel, Michael Jordan. The topic of discussion varies with each speaker, but a common thread binds them all together.
According to Dean Jordan, that thread relates to the types of issues present in the Christian world beyond the scope of Houghton. These speakers are, as Jordan proposed, “the many other voices asking some of the same questions, sometimes related questions, and then sometimes questions we don’t even know that we should be asking.”
In years prior, Houghton had speakers deliver sermons or presentations before an audience of hundreds of students and staff. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person chapel services became mostly impossible. As a result, public worship time on Mondays and Wednesdays have been lost, with Friday’s “worship on the quad” remaining the only public worship time.
Regarding that change, Jordan said, “ I really treasure things taking place within the context of worship. And I never want to lose that ground permanently. But, I’ve kind of made a conscious decision that this [discussion format] won’t really be worship in that way, you know, like Monday and Friday can be worshipful moments in their ways.”
Since the first online chapel service more than a month ago, students have been engaging with the new interview format of chapel to varying degrees. While many students gather to watch the chapel livestream together, or watch from the comfort of their dorm room, students like David Bowers (‘21) chose to become a part of the discussion. On October 14, Bowers, an Intercultural Studies Major on the pre-med track, facilitated an interview with Grace and Sunday Bwanhot, Nigerian missionaries on mission in the United States. He found the experience to be vastly rewarding.
“As I sort of alluded to in the interview,” Bowers said, “often you see missions as, you know, white people going to non-white communities and breaking their culture and telling them about Jesus as they become more like white people. And I think the image of a couple from the Muslim part of Nigeria, working among the Diaspora in Chicago, just basically breaks that stereotype in every way.”
Aligning with Dean Jordan’s goal for the discussions, Bowers believes that the interview format of chapel is critical for broadening the student body’s perspective on Christianity, as well as reaffirming their core beliefs. He remarked, “I’d say that my biggest takeaway was [the Bwanhots’] testimony of just listening to that call, even when, from the outside, it doesn’t make sense. It’s just that active, intentional submission to the will of God for your life.”
Student engagement with the new format extends past Bowers’ discussion with the Bwanhots. As a particular strength of the format, Ashley Archilla (‘23) cited the live stream’s chat feature. “There’s the comments section,” she explained, “and they sometimes do include questions from it, so it’s interactive in that way.”
Dean Jordan also voiced his support for the live comment section, as he believes that it is critical for engaging with difficult conversations. Recounting a recent example, Jordan said, “There was a time when there was something a speaker had said that one of the people in the chat had some concerns about, and they put it out there. And then some faculty came alongside and were like, no, no, this is what this person meant. To me, that was really rewarding.”
He continued, “ Like, how often have I sat in chapel and thought, ‘I wish right now that some of my colleagues could help this go down, because I know some people are having a hard time with it?’”
Though students have shown support for the new chapel format, concerns have also been raised. “The disadvantage [of the format,]” Bowers offered, “is that because it’s sort of off the cuff or unscripted on the part of the interviewees, students maybe don’t get as full a picture of the sort of message that the guests would want to communicate, you know, as opposed to if they had time to plan and prepare a message.”
Similarly, Archilla was quoted as saying, “I preferred when it was just the guest speakers speaking because they’re free to discuss what they want, and it flows more easily. They gave an introduction and they had a PowerPoint presentation that goes along with it, which I think is engaging.” Due to the technological wall between the viewer and the speaker, she said, it is also easy to “zone out. And it’s easy to just not focus on it.”
Though many things about this semester may be deemed a “work in progress,” the unique problems that COVID-19 has presented offer the world a chance to grow and experiment with new things. Reflecting on the nature of the semester, Dean Jordan concluded, “ Like I say, it’s so surreal. And I really like trying to think through how to best preserve what chapel can do, all acknowledging it’s not what it can be.” Someday chapel will return to normal, but of course, until then, a particular phrase will have to make its way from the recording room to students’ computer speakers, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!”
What are your thoughts on the new format of Chapel? How do you like the Wednesday interviews? Impressed? Find it lacking? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (star@houghton.edu)!
By Sarah Evans ’22
Asexuality Awareness Week is October 25th-31st so I thought I would share a bit about myself. I identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community even though, in the broad sense of the word, I am still “straight.” I identify as heteroromantic demisexual, but most of the time I just say that I am ace.
To explain these labels I am going to explain a bit about what asexuality is. Someone who identifies as asexual (ace) is someone who does not experience sexual attraction. Asexuality is a spectrum that spans from those who experience some sexual attraction but very rarely (greysexual) to those who experience sexual attraction only once they have a strong emotional connection with another person (demisexual) to those who never experience sexual attraction. Also within the ace spectrum people can be anywhere from sex-repulsed to sex-positive (this refers to the way we perceive the thought of sex in general, not sexual attraction). Within the ace community some might also label their romantic attraction, which I do. Romantic attraction labels are diverse like sexual attraction labels and can be anywhere from heteroromantic, biromantic, aromantic, and more. Now that we have explored and defined the different aspects of asexuality, I would like to talk about my own experience with being ace.
I grew up in an environment that most would say was sheltered. I was a homeschooled pastor’s kid. I was told all my life that sex should be saved for marriage, but I never understood what was so exiting about sex. I have never really had my internet usage restricted, so I could have looked up things I should not have, but I was never interested in doing that. I never had that sex-crazed puberty that it seems most people do, and I have also struggled to understand what it means when someone was described as being “hot” or “sexy” because those words mean nothing to me. I describe people as cute or attractive because I appreciate their aesthetics, but I am not sexually attracted to them. This experience of not having sexual attraction is confusing when our culture seems to focus so much on sexualizing everything.
I have spent a lot of time reflecting on and researching asexuality to make sure I understand myself enough to be confident with the labels I use. I did not realize that I was asexual until this semester which has been an interesting experience for sure.
But since I realized that I was ace I have been passionate about educating myself and others on what asexuality is. I have talked to friends and some of my professors about asexuality and I have received mixed reactions. My friends who already knew about asexuality would usually accept it right away and tell me that I am valid, but those who did not know anything about it would usually say it was “normal.” I think the most common response I have gotten is, “it’s normal to need time, you just haven’t found the right person yet.” That is not how it works though. While I would say needing time is true about finding a trusting relationship, some people will never have sexual attraction to anyone no matter how much time they have. Being ace is not a choice. Another reaction that I have gotten is that I am “just being abstinent” and, while that might be a personal choice I have made, that does not make me ace.
I would like to encourage everyone to intentionally learn more about the LGBTQ+ community and its diverse aspects. The community is bigger than it might seem.
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Lanthorn Lite: “Coffee Mug Conversations”
Published in collaboration with The Lanthorn, from their February 2019 volume, “Imprints”. Poem by Tyger Doell with commentary from Lanthorn editor Ally Stevick.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
– T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
You have filled my mug up
With all you have to offer me;
The hospitality wraps around my nose,
Smiles at me through my reflection
In the liquid.
We both lift the cups to our lips,
A warm and friendly Eucharist
It is like you whisper to me
(and truthfully, I to you)
“When you go from this place,
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In this moment,
I see myself in a thousand mornings and evenings,
Some of them spent at your table.
In this moment, and infinite others
I will.
Lanthorn Editor’s Note: Ally Stevick
“Coffee Mug Conversations” first stood out to me because of the epigraph–I love T.S. Eliot’s “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” and I love the way that this poem pays homage to it. “Coffee Mug Conversations” makes the drinking of coffee not only a physical action, but also a stage for emotional and relational action. I’ve always interpreted the quote about measuring out life with coffee spoons to mean that each coffee spoon represents a day in the speaker’s life, but “Coffee Mug Conversations” suggests to me a new possible interpretation: that coffee in a social context like this becomes more than just the coffee, and that to measure it out is to measure out life as well.
I also enjoy the allusion to the Eucharist–the imagery of cups and drinking resonates well with that of taking the Eucharist. But more than the physical imagery, I appreciate how this poem reminds me that Eucharist or Communion is just that–a kind of communing, a fellowship. The Latin root which the word “communion” comes from means “sharing in common.” This sharing is present both in the Eucharist and in this poem–as the two characters share coffee and friendship. I think that “Coffee Mug Conversations” can serve well to remind the reader of those special people with whom the reader has communed over coffee. This is a reminder that I really value.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this piece in the comments below, and check out more from The Lanthorn on their website!
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Voting this November
Article written by Matthew Uttaro (‘22).
One of the greatest rights afforded to Americans is the right to vote. It gives us the unique ability to hold those in government positions accountable to us, and it makes our voices as citizens powerful beyond our angry tweets and Instagram posts. We have the power to influence government action. Yet, even with this being the case, just over half of those eligible to vote actually do cast a ballot.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 61.4% of the eligible voting population exercised that right in the 2016 election. That means just under 200 million people voted in that election, compared to the total population of the United States that year, 323.1 million. How could the political landscape be different if even just one percent more voted on average?
One of the most common reasons people do not vote is that the process seems too hard. The process of getting registered, of making time in your day to go to your polling place, and making the constant effort of being knowledgeable of the issues seem to be too much alongside our everyday commitments. With the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it only gets harder. So why should you make the effort?
Voting is the manifestation of democracy in our country. It allows us to go above and beyond with our beliefs on issues, to make real, substantive change by electing those that we feel will fight for this change. You may view yourself as apolitical, or someone who doesn’t bother with politics at all; however, the case remains that you do something every day thanks to politics. If you are a commuter, you drove here today on a road that was made possible by a political decision. Regardless of your status as a student here, you most likely receive financial aid. The entire concept of student loans was born from a political decision.
Perhaps you are passionate about a specific issue. Maybe you are seeking to make the world a better place for people of all walks of life. While the government may be a key player in the issue you are seeking to address, it may also be the most effective avenue for change. Granted, voting once and doing nothing else may not grant the change you wish to make in the world, but combining it with activism towards that cause and voting every chance you get is most certainly a step in the right direction.
Indeed, the process of voting will be much different this election cycle due to the pandemic. The good news is that you can still vote safely and easily! You can do all things voting-related (besides the actual act of voting) online in New York State, including registering to vote, applying for an absentee ballot, and finding out your polling location. If you live out of state, a number of states have implemented voting reforms designed to make voting easier for this upcoming election. You can go to Vote.Org to find out more about how you can vote in your state.
On September 1, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new online absentee ballot application portal in which all registered voters can request their ballot in just a few minutes. This supplements the paper application system previously used in which voters had to print off a request form, fill it out, and mail it in to their local Board of Elections. In New York, an excuse is required when applying for an absentee ballot; if Houghton is not in the county you live in, you can check ‘absence from county on Election Day’ as your excuse. If you live within Allegany County and you would rather not vote in person due to worries about COVID-19, you can request an absentee ballot and check ‘temporary illness or physical disability.’ It is important to do this as soon as possible due to current delays with the United States Postal Service.
Another option is voting early. In New York, early voting begins on Saturday, October 24, and runs through Sunday, November 1. What this process allows you to do is to vote at your polling location in your home county before Election Day. What you need to do in order to vote early differs from county to county and of course in different states as well. New York residents can navigate to this website to learn more about early voting based on their county. If you live outside of New York, go to Vote.Org and select your state to find out your voting options.
The final option is to vote in person, as normal, on Election Day. This is most likely not feasible for many students who live outside of this county and/or live far away. Depending on where you live as well, there is a slightly higher risk voting in person on Election Day than it would be to vote by mail or to vote early, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. If you do vote in person, make sure you take the proper precautions and wear a mask as well as wash your hands often. Check with your local Board of Elections to find your polling location as well as when you can vote.
Are you voting in this year’s election? Why or why not? Comment below or get in touch with us via Instagram, Twitter, or email (editor@houghtonstar.com)!
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