“How dare you give me a multisyllabic word? Can’t you see I’m a scholar but not a nerd?” When senior English major Keyona Shabazz asked for topics as she freestyled in front of her peers, one student called out suggestions from fish to armadillos to that multisyllabic juggernaut: “Constitution.” Last night, students gathered in the...
Year: 2016
Post
Backpacking, hitchhiking, and freeze-dried dinners
The air sits on the tongue like a menthol cough drop, and two hikers inhale as they ford a river of glacial runoff. It’s a summer day in Iceland, with the temperature hovering at 40 degrees and the sky a pastel blue framing nebulous clouds. The hikers are hoping, most of all, not to freeze....
Post
Honoring alumni achievements
As homecoming celebrated its 100th year and the alumni association celebrated its 150th year, the alumni board held its annual alumni awards banquet last Friday to honor three distinguished alumni and one honorary alumnus. The recipients, David Hough, Kevin Shinkle ’87, Beth Deer Walker ’87, and Hans Zeiger ’07, are thriving in their respective fields...
Post
Hillsdale needs to expand its language department
The College’s revamped mission statement speaks of “our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem.” We teach the language of Athens, but where is the language of Jerusalem? With enrollment climbing to nearly 1500 students, Hillsdale has neglected the opportunity to expand its foreign language offerings. Foreign languages are both a fundamental...
Post
Pongracic: When it comes to the economy, Johnson is the only choice
“Gary Johnson is not a real libertarian!” You’ll see this on Facebook, in the comments sections of various political websites, in YouTube comments, etc. It’s a putdown of the man representing the Libertarian party, which in its 40-some years of existence could always claim ideological purity, if not much else. But something different has been...