Our cover this week defines our message and our tribute. This issue is, quite simply, a love note. It’s a love note to Maddy, to the student body, and to the

Love that surpasses all. Only hours ago, we decided that the Valentine’s Day issue we had prepared was not what this campus needed to read. We have

made every effort to transform this week’s publication — seeking to comfort, to pay tribute, and to ask the right questions about life after tragedy. We hope

that you will find a way to push forward, with the kind of zest that our friend exemplified.

We dedicate this edition to Madison Baird, who filled the lives of countless with sunshine and unselfish love.

02 context

Table of Contents | 2Manifesto | 3Snapshots | 4Week in Forecast | 5

06 perspective

News | 6,7Feature | 8-10Opinion | 11Religion | 14,15

12 life

Humor | 12The Other Cheek | 13 Tribute | 16

Cover Credit:

The Collegian is the official publication of ASWWU. Its views and opinions are not necessarily the official stance of Walla Walla University or its administration, faculty, staff, or students. Questions, letters, and comments can be sent to aswwu.collegian@wallawalla.edu or richard.barbosa@wallawalla.edu. This issue was completed at 4:12 A.M. on Thursday, February 12, 2015.

If you are interested in contributing to The Collegian, speak with one of our illustrious staff members. The Collegian is enhanced by regularly incorporating a wide range of campus perspectives.

For information about advertising, please contact Shandra Cady at aswwu.ads@wallawalla.edu.

The Collegian | Volume 99, Issue 15 | 204 S. College Avenue, College Place, WA 99324 | collegian.wallawalla.edu

BARBOSARICKY

Editor-in-Chief

4.bp

.blo

gspo

t.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ricky Barbosa

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Karl Wallenkampf

LAYOUT EDITOR

Mindy Robinson

HEAD COPY EDITOR

Andrea Johnson

PERSPECTIVE EDITOR

Alex Lemnah

CONTENT EDITOR

Carolyn Green

BACKPAGE & CREATIVE CURATOR

Abigail Wissink

CULTURE WRITER

River Davis

FASHION WRITER

Alyssa Hartwick

FOOD WRITER

Rachel Peterson

HUMOR WRITER Lauren Lewis

NEWS WRITERS

Morgan Sanker Alexandra Buley

OFFICE MANAGER

Melissa McCrery

RELIGION WRITERS

Benjamin RameyRandy Folkenberg

ADVERTISING MANAGERShandra Cady

SCIENCE & TECH WRITER

Daniel Hulse

SPORTS WRITER & PROMOTION MANAGER

Alex Wagner

TRAVEL & LOCAL WRITER

Shannon Pierce

COPY EDITORS

Tyler JacobsonKayla AlbrechtRachel Blake

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Zachary Johnson

LAYOUT DESIGNERS

Matthew MoranIan SmithChloe PutnamEmily BrinleyAlix Harris

ASWWU HEAD PHOTO EDITOR

Erick Juarez

ASW

WU

uplo

ad.w

ikim

edia

.org

WITH LOVE,

03 CONTRIBUTORPERSPECTIVE

PSALM 6 StephanJORDAN

Contributor

At first it trickled out slowly as ru-mors and vague prayers. But yester-day, when the news officially broke, this campus became a different place. I saw shock. I saw tears. I saw fear. When everything seemed to suddenly stop, things were actually just getting started. I saw community. I saw every-one drop what they were doing. I saw love. Prayers spread, as they should, like wildfire.

Please understand this. The reason that I bring up what happened yester-day is not to be gratuitous. This isn’t me trying to force-fit this awful story as an illustration simply because it’s timely and emotional. No, I start with this because honestly last night was when the reality — the heart — of this passage, which I could never seem to get really grounded in, came to life. The passage we’re looking at today is Psalm 6.

David writes this Psalm with both physical and emotional sickness. He talks about physical pain in his bones in verse 2. He is weakened; he feels he is on his deathbed and he is trying to reconcile his sickness. He begins to get the mentality, common in that day, that his sickness must be the result of his sinfulness. But he isn’t hearing from God. Because of that, in verse 3 he says, “my soul is greatly dismayed.” David is broken emotionally. “But you O Lord, how long?”

David is hearing nothing back from God. He prays and prays, but gets no answer. Listen again to the heart-breaking language in verses 6 and 7: “I am weary with my sighing. Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief.” This Psalm is one of the most vulnerable and miser-able verses recorded in scripture.

This is the type of prayer that comes from Jesus during his final hours: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death”; “My God, My God, why have you for-saken me?” David too seems to be at the end of his rope. But then, in verse 8, David makes a u-turn. Seemingly out of nowhere, he finds peace and confidence. Let’s read it again.

What changed? There seems to be a verse missing, or a segway that was deleted. Even more surprising is that David’s wishes haven’t been granted. He doesn’t say that his sickness is gone. God doesn’t speak to him and directly comfort him. Why does David sud-denly have peace?

David tells us why: The Lord has heard the voice of his weeping. The Lord has heard his supplication. The Lord receives his prayer. For David, prayer was not a vending machine — he doesn’t pray simply to get some-thing in return, to feel better. David finds peace and hope against all odds with just the assurance that God heard his prayers. That was the reason Da-vid prayed. Through all of his tears and sleepless nights, God heard. And David came to the realization that that was what mattered.

You see, nowadays we misplace the value of prayer. Praying is not some-thing we should do to get what we want, to get permission to do some-thing, or to lazily have choices made for us. The value of prayer is knowing that we are turning something over to

God that is bigger than us, and when we do that, when we pray, it’s in God’s hands. For David, in the midst of his suffering and his trials, he finds hope in understanding that God had heard his prayer and would answer it, in whatever way He chose.

I know that I struggle to view prayer this way. I want prayer to be a quick fix. I want prayer to be a weapon that I control. We use the term the “power of prayer,” but the power of prayer is not that it makes things happen mag-ically the way we want. The power of prayer is that we can take things that are out of our control and place them in the hands of someone who is always in control. David in his grief comes to this understanding.

Yesterday, this message came to life for me. I watched this campus become a different place. It became, above all else, a place of prayer. We can have peace in the midst of suffering. Our prayers are placing this matter, bigger than us in every way, into His hands. And when things are in God’s hands, no matter what happens, we can have hope and peace.

O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,

Nor chasten me in Your wrath.

2

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away;

Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed.

3

And my soul is greatly dismayed;

But You, O Lord—how long?

4

Return, O Lord, rescue my soul;

Save me because of Your lovingkindness.

5

For there is no mention of You in death;

In Sheol who will give You thanks?

6

I am weary with my sighing;

Every night I make my bed swim,

I dissolve my couch with my tears.

7

My eye has wasted away with grief;

It has become old because of all my adversaries.

8

Depart from me, all you who do iniquity,

For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

9

The Lord has heard my supplication,

The Lord receives my prayer.

10

All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed;

They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed.

This isn’t me trying to force-fit this awful story as an illustration simply because it’s timely and emotional. And when things

are in God’s hands, no matter what happens, we can have hope and peace.

CONTEXTSNAPSHOTS04

Walla Walla University

Dylan Browning

Kyle Chiasson

Jordan Spady

Walla Walla University Walla Walla University

Randy Folkenberg

Week inFORECAST

ASWWU Elections Confab7:00 P.M., FAC

Speed Dating9:00 P.M., Alaska Room

FRIDAY

14

SATURDAY

15

SUNDAY

16

MONDAY TUESDAY

February 132

February 1456°

February 15

2February 16

50°February 17

Portland Mission Trip 1 59° 2 53°

2 44°

Snow FrolicPortland Mission Trip

Gospel CommUnity: Aisha Fukushima 11:00 A.M., University Church

UPCOMINGEVENTSASWWU Weekend of Worship:Friday, February 20 - Saturday, February 21 WEC, 8:00 P.M.

Guest Artist Recital: Michael Kleinschmidt, organ Saturday, February 21 Walla Walla University Church, 5:00 P.M.

18

WEDNESDAY February 18

This day in 2010, Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama

1 48°

THURSDAY February 122 59°

Snow FrolicPortland Mission Trip

gian

tbom

b.co

m

President’s DaySnow FrolicPortland Mission Trip

CONTEXT05 WEEK IN FORECAST

12 13

wik

imed

ia.o

rg

foru

m.s

mar

tcan

ucks

.ca

nadi

neta

rotr

eiki

.file

s.w

ordp

ress

.com

olsi

ster

s.or

g

thew

oods

wor

ds.c

om

17

CONTEXTNEWS 06

Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Ger-many and France plan to convene this Wednesday in Belarus’s capital of Minsk to format a peace plan for the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine.

The decision was made after leaders from all four countries held a confer-ence call this Sunday. Vladimir Putin now has until Wednesday to formulate a plan to help end the current conflict.

So far, there have been no break-throughs in this almost yearlong conflict that has claimed upwards of 5,000 lives. While the situation seems

hopeless at best, some good news came from the talks held this Sunday.

Ukraine’s president Petro Poro-shenko shared a positive outlook after the phone conference, stating that progress had been made. He ex-pressed his excitement for the meet-ing in Minsk, and that it would hope-fully lead to a quick and unconditional ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

While the leaders may have a posi-tive outlook, the situation only seems to get worse. In recent weeks, pro-Russian separatists have increased their military offensive, and have seized new territory.

During a newspaper interview Putin warned Kiev that it needs to halt military operations in Eastern Ukraine, and that increasing economic tensions on rebel-held territory would only worsen the situation.

“Kiev’s attempts to exert economic pressure on Donbas (region of east Ukraine) and disrupt it’s daily life only aggravates the situation. This is a dead-end track, fraught with a big ca-tastrophe,” said Putin.

On Sunday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said that the fighting has worsened, especially around the rail junction town of Debaltseve. Rebel fighters have been making constant attempts to break the line held by gov-ernment troops.

With the high level conference held in Munich over the weekend, Merkel seemed skeptical as to whether nego-tiations would lead to a deal with Putin but concluded that every avenue for a diplomatic solution must be tried.

Right now, the U.S. is deciding whether or not it should send mili-tary aid to the Ukrainian govern-

ment. This, however, is controversial amongst many of our allies because they believe that the separatists have an unlimited arsenal of weapons due to Russia.

Delivering arms to Ukraine could possibly internationalize the conflict, which is what everyone wants to avoid.

During an interview the secretary-general of Organizations for Security and Cooperation in Europe said he was concerned about the crisis and felt that Western military support would fuel the flame in this ongoing conflict.

“It may even lead down the line to more direct intervention of Russia in this conflict,” said Lamberto Zannier.

An anonymous senior official close to Merkel said that Russian leaders may be inclined to reject a peace deal due to the recent territory gains made

by pro-Russian rebels.

If no peace deal is reached by Wednesday, European Union leaders gathering in Brussels the following day may start to signal their readiness on further sanctions against Russia specifically targeting Russia’s banking sector.

Officials acknowledge that tough-er sanctions will not be made against Russia until March at the earliest. The Minsk talks are a last minute oppor-tunity for Russian leaders to avoid new sanctions that would cause major damages to the Russian economy.

CRISISA GLOBAL ABROADFOREIGN POLICY:

NORTONJAMES

Contributor

news.bbcimg.co.uk

SenateUPDATE

NEW BUSINESS:Kyle Lambert for Marketing Funding for Three WWU Students to a Drama Festival

Auri Yates, Nathan Burfeindt, Matthew Kim for ASWWU Video Filmmakers

OLD BUSINESS:Kyle Lambert for Marketing Designer

Nichole Briones for Marketing Designer

Kyler Alvord for Marketing As-sistant

Jonathan Deleon for ASWWU Web

Gregory Ringering for ASWWU Web

news.bbcimg.co.uk

07 NEWSCONTEXT

buleyALEXANDRA

News Writer

Looking for a way to spread love without paying for overpriced candy, flowers, and gifts? The Walla Walla Valley offers plenty of volunteer opportunities for those interested in giving back during the season of love.

ruizHEATHER

Contributor

LOVE AND SERVICEIN WALLA WALLA

Whitman College will be hosting a showing of a film about systemic in-equality entitled “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequality” on Feb 11. The film will begin playing at 9 p.m. in Olin Auditorium as the first event in Whitman’s Power and Privi-lege Symposium. The showing is free and open to the public.

From Skakti Butler, the director of “Mirrors of Privilege: Making White-

ness Visible”, this film asks America to talk about the causes and consequences of systemic inequality. Designed for dialogue, the film works to disentangle internal beliefs, attitudes and pre-judg-ments within, and it builds skills to ad-dress the structural drivers of social and economic inequities.

“Cracking the Codes” supports in-stitutions and communities to deepen and shift the framing of racial dispari-

ties. The current conversation is not only shallow but also actually harmful. We continue to primarily focus on in-dividuals, when institutional and struc-tural inequities are the bigger problem.

“’Cracking the Codes’ is the most dignified and evidenced response pos-sible to the blithe assertion that we now live in a ‘post racial’ America,” said Yes! Magazine in response to the film. The film has already been gain-

ing speed across America in churches, campuses, businesses, and companies, thus facilitating discussions that are changing the rules of how people relate to each other about race.

The co-founder of Breakthrough Communities Project, Palmona Pavel, Ph.D., stated that she felt transformed for life after watching the film. “I can’t wait to bring this film into my work and to share it with everyone I know to

bring this healing into our world.”

The film features moving stories from twenty-four racial justice lead-ers including Amer Ahmed, Michael Benitez, Barbie-Danielle DeCarlo, Joy DeGruy, Harley Eagle, Ericka Huggins, Yuko Kodama, Peggy McIntosh, Rinku Sen, Tillman Smith and Tim.

Racial InequalityWHITMAN COLLEGE SHOWING FILM ABOUT

YWCAThe YWCA is a world wide

organization committed to the fight against racism and domestic violence. They are powerful advocates of human rights, and specifically work to empower young women in both local and global communities.

Walla Walla’s YWCA is currently looking for volunteers to work with children in their shelter. There are currently 20 kids at the shelter, many whose first language is not English. Activities include reading to kids, organizing art projects, and coordinating games, and cleaning the activity center.

In April, the YWCA will hold the Tri-College Service Day, in which students are invited to participate in promoting awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence.

To get involved at YWCA please call (509) 525-2570 or visit www.ywcaww.org for more information.

Christian Aid CenterThe Christian Aid Center is a

faith-based, non-profit organization focused on serving the homeless and low-income members of the Walla Walla community. Their services include providing shelter for women and children, a shelter for men, two meals a day, and Bible studies.

The Christian Aid Center offers a variety of volunteer jobs including drivers for their donation van, childcare providers, Bible study leaders, Chapel leaders, personal mentors, yard care workers, or servers for breakfast and/or dinner. Any other skilled persons such as musicians, artists, writers, etc. are also welcome to share their gifts with the center.

Additionally, they will soon be offering wellness check-ups and are looking for both certified and student nurses to volunteer.

To get in touch with the Christian Aid center please call (509) 525-7153 or log on to www.cacww.org/wp/ to find out more.

BirthrightBirthright is an organization

dedicated to providing women facing unplanned pregnancies with support, care, information, and most importantly love. They are committed to offering help without judgment, while striving to promote the dignity of human life.

Birthright is currently in need of office volunteers whose jobs will include tasks completing paperwork and filing. Volunteers who feel comfortable enough also have the opportunity to work directly with clients to ensure they get the care they need.

Later in the spring, Birthright will be putting together a newsletter and could use students with writing, editing, and/or layout design experience.

To contact Birthright please call (509) 529-8678, or go to birthright.org/en/landingpage/lp-wallawalla

DonateIf volunteering isn’t your thing, donations are accepted at any or all of the

organizations listed in the article. In addition, if you would like to donate items such as non-perishable food, clothing, or furniture, visit these locations:

FoodBlue Mountain Action Council Food Bank

921 West Cherry Street

Walla Walla, WA 99362

Clothing and FurnitureSt. Vincent De Paul Society

308 West Main Street,

Walla Walla, WA 99362

4.bp.blogspot.com

Pantry Shelf of Walla Walla

325 South 1st Avenue

Walla Walla, WA 99362

Goodwill

217 East Alder Street,

Walla Walla, WA 99362

FEATURELIFE AFTER DEATH 8

Valentine’s Day is hours away. Though nowadays we think about romance, heart candy, and who our dates might be, the romantic association first appeared with Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages. Before Chaucer, Valentine’s Day had actually been dedicated to remembering various saints named Valentine who were legendary martyrs.1 Today we are missing our dear friend, Madison Baird. She wasn’t a martyr, she didn’t die for her faith. But that very word, “martyr,” is a word given to a person by those of us who remain. “Martyr” is a word meant to underline our memories, highlight an example of a life better lived. I want to remind each of us how Maddy can remain with us as a memory and inspiration.

I call Madison my friend even though we had few interactions together. They were limited mostly to our studies at Starbucks last year — she used the hashtag #whereiskarl when I was missing and gave me warm hellos while walking through campus. However, in just those few interactions I was amazed by her vivacious smile and wholehearted, holistic attitude toward life.

Given the brevity of our friendship, I’ve wondered over the past 36 hours why I was so deeply affected by this, her trauma and death. Why would I, someone who has spent perhaps five hours in her presence, cry — repeatedly — while praying for her, thinking of her, and hearing of her passing? Looking back on those moments with burning eyes, I realize that I cried because of her authenticity, the meaning she pursued, and our unity in response.

AUTHENTICITYYou and I have heard a few platitudes too

many times: “The only person you can be is you; everyone else is taken.” Another favorite plastered in more than a few classrooms: “Be yourself.” I’ve turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to those slogans because they are too often emblazoned upon lifestyles that are irresponsible, neglectful, and lacking a drive of personal betterment. “Authenticity” as a concept becomes useless — something I drag around and read about in an attempt to make myself more successful and attractive.

What does it mean to live authentically? Do you wear Birkenstocks when everyone is wearing Nike? For me to think joggers are an unattractive fad and stick with my slim-fit jeans? I reject those decisions as matters of authenticity; they are simply actions based on reactions, defining ourselves by something “other.” Living authentically is something deeper than how we dress — it is about the energy we bring to the choices we make.

When I think of authenticity, I think of starting the day with a decision to passionately tackle the tasks I have given myself. Then, when before noon the realization comes that I’ve failed my morning self, authenticity is to chuckle at my optimism and then recommit. It’s the fervor that Maddy used to earn her white water safety instructor certificate, being thrown about in the turbulence that didn’t have a care about her life. She achieved that goal of hers through authentic vigor, rocks aside. She lived authentically in choosing a pre-professional major of nutrition

and dietetics by living her life as a vegan (which I didn’t know until yesterday; unusual for a vegan to not proclaim it to everyone). Yet, however authentic her life and whatever my dreams of living similarly, neither she nor I could live authentically without having a reason, a meaning.

MEANINGA few friends and I spent the first weeks of this

quarter reading Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for

Meaning. I read with a distant, academic attitude, questioning Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, along the way. I had read it before and didn’t feel connected to it the second time. What hubris. Now, the book couldn’t be more powerful to me: I have a difficult time writing this and coming to terms with why I will go to class tomorrow. Yet, two passages really speak out to me, and maybe they will to you. When Frankl was at a work site, thinking of his wife in order to maintain hope and stay alive, he realized “The truth — that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which men can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of

man is through love and in love” (37). It’s difficult to put a finger on love. It’s nebulous and concrete, still and effervescent, all at the same time. I think I would be wrong to focus on “love” the subject in neglect of “love” the verb. I certainly saw a loving Maddy embodying a unique meaning, which I believe she had embraced authentically. Many of you could better write how she chose and lived that meaning — you may have had that conversation with her. However, I think many

wallenkampfKARL

Assistant Editor

LIFE AFTER DEATH

9 LIFE AFTER DEATHFEATURE

more of us could see that love acting on a daily basis. Frankl reminds me that in the face of death — indeed, Frankl’s wife had already died — our focus on the love we have and live for others can provide meaning for our future.

The second passage arrives after Frankl has been freed, and he is commenting on the gravity of the life we choose to live. He states, “When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. … His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden.” He adds, and this is true comfort to me, a crying man, “But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer” (Man’s

Search for Meaning 77-78). (Frankl is a man of his time, so please accept that Frankl’s “man” is “woman,” too.) This passage strikes me as especially important in this time of suffering we share. As I mourn the death of my friend, I realize I cannot simply ride out the pain like a wave, or let it carry me along like a river. The pain and suffering of the loss is, I believe, essentially a mission. Frankl adds, “Dostoevski said once, ‘There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.’ These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings… It is this spiritual freedom — which cannot be taken away — that makes life meaningful and purposeful” (66-67). I cannot forget that when I

awake tomorrow, I have the ability to remember Maddy without neglecting the pain, while continuing to live the life I have with the grace and generosity she embodied. I can go to class in the knowledge that my suffering will not be in vain if I press on, if we pursue authentic meaning.

UNITYYet, not all comes down to our individuality.

A relieving moment of beauty which I see in this tragedy is the unbelievable unity I have seen represented on this campus and elsewhere. I was in class when I first heard the sirens. We were talking about meaning, and on what grounds we can find confidence in life. We stopped for a moment to listen to the sirens. Soon, a group message alerted me to whom I should pray for. As the night passed, I saw friends and strangers meeting in the Atlas to pray. Editorial Board of The Collegian met to pray. Conard Chapel stopped to pray. Soon, Facebook lit up like a beacon and friends were gathering throughout campus, and the world, to plead for Maddy’s life.

Yesterday, I saw pictures from my friends at Andrews as they joined us in making #MaddyStrong clothespins. We met for prayer and song in front of the Administration Building, and I noticed, in warm surprise, the diverse cross-section of campus who had responded to the tragedy. Last night, as the final events unfolded, I messaged a friend from Andrews. Though our Facebook friendship was founded on a single conversation over pizza, he shared our depth of feeling in a way that left me speechless. Likewise, Union College joined Walla Walla in praying for

Maddy, even while their own Heather Boulais is still in critical care. (I encourage you to continue to pray for her — her fight is not yet over.)

As another friend and I spoke this evening, we pondered the remarkable response to Maddy’s passing. The depth of feeling across campus is undeniable. He asked me a simple yet difficult question: “Do you think she is gone?” I do not think she is. While I will no longer see her beautiful being sitting in the Atlas, her personhood, identity, and meaning are by no means gone. Our community has a moment of opportunity. Maddy’s presence cannot simply be snuffed out without our assent. I refuse to allow that, and I’m sure that you refuse, too. In this time we have after hers, I will direct myself to more embraces, more smiles, and more “I love you’s” than before. We have an opportunity to truly bear our suffering as a mission to do honor to her memory by living with the vibrancy, joy, silliness, and sincerity she did. In our time of loss, unity is what we have left to carry our shared burden of suffering. Some will bear it more than others. Madison’s close family and friends — my heart and prayers reach out to you: I serve the God of the Incarnation who will provide your strength and comfort you with joy.

I will leave you with a poem, one I learned when I was in high school. It’s by John Donne, a 17th-century poet who was both pirate and preacher, who went to battle with Sir Walter Raleigh and went to church as the Dean of St. Paul’s. He was a man who lived life to the fullest.

(Continued next page.)

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

FEATURELIFE AFTER DEATH 10

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.

Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better then thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.

Thank you, God, for giving us Madison. Thank you, Madison, for showing us God.

HOLY SONNET X

11 OPINIONPERSPECTIVE

lemnahPerspective Editor

ALEX

Dear Reader,

I love you, which is my way of winning your favor, which is my way of insinuating that I can win your heart if I try hard enough, which is an arrogant way of saying that I’m better than you, which isn’t true at all but is my way of illustrating the evolution of selfish love. Selfish love is born selfish, matures into dignified self-absorption, and then blossoms into full on narcissism. Selfish love sucks.

Oh, America. We are are caught up in such an odd love story. If America were in a Disney movie, he’d be the

white prince riding off into the sunset fussing and kissing all over his own ego. America would be a princess, too. She’d be the girl who is too self-absorbed to notice the beauty all around her. America is the story where the protagonist falls in love with the mirror before the credits roll.

Who am I to talk about selfish American love? I was born into a home with foreign parents — my mom is French and my dad is a Vermonter. But together they fought desperately for American love — I became hypersensitive to poisonous love. Eventually I questioned the nature of love so much that I questioned if it were real or not. After a stint in France and a stint of selfish living back in the States, I sorted some of my thoughts on the matter. Here’s my thesis: love is real, but sometimes love is poisoned by selfishness.

Selfishness poisons love. Being selfish means being self-concerned, which is different from being self-

centered. Being self centered means having a source of inside peace that is planted deep within you. We are born self-centered. Being self-centered is as important to love as it is to balance. So what is our internal locus of peace? Maybe it’s the presence of life. Maybe it’s life itself, God Itself.

So here’s the good news: love is re-surging as I write this sentence. Love is rebuilding itself anew in this country. National divorce rates are lowering. We’re figuring it out. We’re getting better. Maybe we’re abandoning the model of love where the self is the most important factor. Maybe we’re starting to figure out sustainable love. I mean, look around you. Do you see life? Do you see love? Do you think it? Do you feel it?

Oh, okay. Glad you’re on board.

At some point, Americans probably lost sight of love altogether. Look around you. The fertile plains of America are the wasteland of beauty

that has been cut and slashed by hungry, need-based love. Need-based love is not natural. When I was six years old I did not want to become someone’s prince charming. I have been fed on the wrong ideas of love. I want to change my love diet. I want to know the taste of real love.

As I seek to love, I ask these questions: Is anyone else looking for love, or is everyone else looking for themselves? The best way to find love is to find yourself. So, is selfish love right?

Dear reader, I fear that selfish love isn’t actually love at all. I fear that selfish love is like a black hole: it consumes itself and everything around it. Selfish love is easy to recognize. If you love someone and they can’t return it, you have probably met selfish love. Dear reader, here’s the bad news: selfish love sucks. It will consume you. One reason Jesus is special is because much of the world believes that he consumed

and overtook selfish love and not vice versa. The story goes that Jesus lived a life of love until he was killed in the black hole of humanity. The story goes that he came out alive on the other side.

Maybe we should be asking if Jesus’s love is alive. Maybe we should ask ourselves how much we believe in unselfish love, how much we believe in love at all. Do you believe in love? I do. I believe that love happens between someone and someone else. It takes two, but the more the better. Love transpires when the self is centered on the other, when “other” and “self” become one together. Let’s make “self-centeredness” and “other-centeredness” synonymous terms.

I was the first person to break my heart. I loved myself so selfishly that I lost myself. But it’s not selfish to live when you live to love. There is no such thing as life and selfish love. Selfish love isn’t really selfish love because it isn’t love at all.

Selfish Loveupload.wikimedia.org

I am going to be honest. I practice being insincere and a little crude more than their antonyms and I love my job as the humor writer because The

Collegian gives me the freedom to be two-faced. However, this week is not a time to sneer at innuendos, but a time to find love in our community and significance in our existence. However, I cannot write about those two things. I do not understand tragedy, death, life, love, significance or existence. Therefore, I will write about two things that I do know: life is a beautiful uncertainty, and I know nothing about anything.

I tried to organize my life, make sense of it, and frame it in a pie graph.

The general portions go from largest to smallest: School/studying. Sleep. Work. Social activities. Eat. With the largest portion being school and

studying, my life revolves around my major. As a history major, I read, I research, and I write. That is all. Professor Buell assigned our class a wonderful book, which I recommend for everyone, not just History majors. It is called The Landscape of History:

How Historians Map the Past by John Lewis Gaddis. This book will frustrate you with piles of metaphors and

symbolism but can be summarized in one quote at the end of the book, “Ambiguities come with the profession”. Gaddis makes it obvious

that despite a historian’s intensive study and work, historians will fail and never capture the past accurately.

This simple five-word quote not only destroyed my ideas about how to write, but also fed my obsession in proving it wrong. Despite my brain’s failure to do math, I want A+B=C, but history doesn’t work like that.

God knows that I have tried and failed to make the connections click. If history has proved anything to me, it has proved that life is unsure, obscure, tragic and beautiful. Despite these frustrating facts, I find peace in community and find significance in knowing others are living the frustrations by my side. I love history for it is heartbreaking and beautiful. It strives to define an undefinable life and the experience of a community and its people.

I am truly uncertain how to close this article, because the tragedy of Maddy’s death is overwhelming and I don’t know what to think about it. However, I all I know is I know nothing, that life is uncertain and that I love the community that shares these experiences with me.

lewisLAUREN

Humor Writer

This simple five-word quote not only destroyed my ideas about how to write, but also fed my obsession in proving it wrong.

I’M GOING TO BE HONEST

videoThursdays at 9:30 pm

vimeo.com/aswwu

You know those awkward moments when you think

someone’s waving at you, but they’re not? It

happened. And we filmed it.

LOVE AND CHEX MIX

the Other Cheek

Haiku

“REVIEW

This week’s Review is brought to you by my friend Brennan Hoenes

Send in your guesses to Abigail.Wissink@wallawalla.edu

wissinkABIGAIL

Backpage Writer

From Vienna to

California, listen to

the whistle sounding.

If you love someone, how do you tell them? We are all reminded this time of year to express our love to friends and family, but the ways in which we express this love can feel inadequate. No matter how special a Valentine card or box of chocolate make you feel in the moment, what are the expressions of love that you are going to remember 20 years down the line?

I’m going to jump back to fall quarter for a second. Author Sherman Alexie came to Walla Walla to talk about his book Reservation Blues, and most of the evening felt like a hilarious and inspiring mix of standup comedy and sermon. One of my favorite

stories he told was of a town car driver who came to pick him up before a book reading. When Alexie got into the car, he saw that along with the normal snacks that accompany a town car ride there was a bag of his favorite flavor of Chex Mix. When Alexie asked the driver how he knew that it was his favorite, the driver said he had Googled Alexie before coming to pick him up to find out what his favorite snack was.

This simple and unnecessary act of kindness left an impact on Alexie, and he said he saw Jesus more in that town car driver than anyone ever before because that man did something small that brightened a stranger’s

day, even though he knew he probably wouldn’t get anything in return.

Our words aren’t always adequate to tell someone what they mean to us. Gifts won’t do it all, either. Taking time to do unexpected and nice things for another with no expectation of reciprocation comes pretty close.

This week we have all been reminded how important community and love are. Go give someone their Chex Mix.

“You remind me of my mother, because she’s got a little dementia and a little OCD.”

- Professor Brandon Beck, to Johnel Lagabon

Last week’s answer: FAC practice roomsLast week’s winner: Mae Liongco

Piping hot coffee

brought by a skirted maiden;

can’t tell what’s hotter.

10%o� 1 entree

with valid student id

Any Noodlesor

Any Fried Ricewednesday all day

THAI CUISINE

not valid with any other offerHOURS:

sunday-thursday: 11am-9pmfriday: 11am-10pm

saturday: 12 noon - 10pm

$8.95

1528 e. isaacs ave.walla walla, wa 99362

(509) 529-8889

dine-in, take-out, or delivery

LIFE13 BACK PAGE

THIS IS MY RALLYING CRYSometimes there is nothing to be

done except feel the way that you do and be content with feeling that way for at least a little while. Such is a validation of our perfectly human emotions. I cannot reference the Bible to find the answer to why suffering exists, because it’s not there. The scriptures themselves are confused and empty of definite statements; just ask Job.

Pain is a universal experience — it is felt by all regardless of race, gender, or orientation. Pain believes in equality. Since no one can escape its grasp, it binds us together. We were all bound recently, and because of it, more love and care was shown and expressed on this campus than I have ever witnessed before. Walla Walla University, I am proud to be a student here; it has taken me too long to realize that our greatest asset is our community. It is a testament to the value of human devotion and the application of affection.

Our faith, our Christian faith, is surmised to be much greater than that of the irreligious, those that do not belief in life past death. But it is faith all the same and it is to be gratefully cherished. Faith in the face of death is found not just in a belief that one day all things will be made new, but in the present belief that something greater than pain, greater than death, greater than suffering holds us together. We call it the Spirit, and it is a real force that we’ve all felt at one time or another. Think back to an instance when time seemed to stop, when you were intent and focused, a time when nothing else mattered but that one incredible thing. It captured you, gave you life and a sense of meaning. This belief can be held by all.

I’ve heard many talk about the will of God; in times of intense anguish they pray, “Your will be

done” assuming that God’s will is the same as the natural consequences of reality. Note, it is sufficient cause to reject such an absurd idea as that of the Divine. For if even one person has to suffer at our expense, within the context of a heavenly promise of eternal life, why are we content in living and believing in such a God? Once again, your Bible can’t answer this question.

But I would like to submit that within the Christian system we can be assured of three things regarding God and the present state of our reality, which is that of a society facing the equality of pain: God suffers with us, God suffers by us, and God suffered for us.

GOD SUFFERS WITH USPresupposing the existence of a

loving and merciful creative God, it would pain Him or Her to see its offspring struggle and feel any sort of pain. God suffering with us teaches that we are not alone in our misery, but that our pain reaches even to the highest levels of existence.

GOD SUFFERS BY USAny evil that we commit, causing

pain to another, is therefore felt on a glorious scale. By hurting others we create a disruption within that which holds the cosmos together.

GOD SUFFERED FOR USThe resurrection of Jesus is needed

for the gospel story to be complete and have any real significant value. The grand point of the incarnation, that love wins, would mean nothing if it were not exemplified by the God of all gods.

THIS IS MY RALLYING CRYI watched as you rode over an

oncoming hill that afternoon. The sun was at your back, your hair blew in the wind, and there was strength in your eyes. You were beautiful, and you were free. You are beautiful and you are free.

With that said, it is not fair of me to take comfort in the fact that God suffers because of our very existence. It does not make me feel any better about experiencing adversity. Pain is something that should not be felt by all. It must be stood up to, believing that no one should brush up against the manifestation of its fury. This is where faith must take action. Faith must admit that death exists and not only believe that it doesn’t have the final word but act in such a way to prove that death is not the final state of all existence.

Colors tangled up with light

the beauty is such a sight

I want to capture these moments of bliss

For I was built for this

Let the sky be the wealth within our hands

And, the stars be the map to all our plans

Look up to the sky

Don’t be afraid to fly

Pain is a universal experience — it is felt by all regardless of race, gender, or orientation. Pain believes in equality. Since no one can escape its grasp, it binds us together.

PERSPECTIVERELIGION 14

rameyBENJAMIN

Religion Writer

a poem by madison baird

The Sky

PERSPECTIVE15 OPINION

Absent — God is absent in death. Death and God are opposites. Where there is one there is not the other. But can God ever be absent? Isn’t God omnipresent? Isn’t that an important trait in this God of which we speak? Because God cannot be forever present and also forever absent. God is either present or absent. So, which is it? Which way has God gone? Has he ever been present? Has he ever been absent? The answer to this depends on whether or not life can ever be known. Can we ever prove that we are alive?

Yes. I am alive. Everyone knows life, not because they can voice it in words, but because they can know it by knowing. Knowing is thinking, and sometimes thinking is insufficient. Together, thinking and feeling tell us that life is real, that love is real. If life and love are real, God must be real too, because God is life and love. But what of death? The death we see in life is just the appearance of death. God is real because life is real and death is not, so fear not death. Death is not real. Life is real.

So, what do we do when we confront death in the physical world? Do we see death at play, do we see it wreaking havoc in a broken world? No. Death and life have wrestled together from the start of all, yet life began to hold out. Life began to spread and claw its way past death. Life and God and the God that is life began to shape and shift into the cycle of life that produced man and beast alike. Life beat death a long time ago. Look around at life. Do you see it? One day, not far from now, you will see death no longer.

Choose life — it has chosen you.

The campus of WWU has been rocked this week by an accident involving one of our own. Madison Baird, better known as Maddy, was a 20-year-old sophomore Spanish major with a pre-professional focus in nutrition and dietetics. Late Tues-day afternoon, Maddy left The Atlas, donned her reflective orange vest, and started riding her bike down

Whitman Drive toward the setting sun. Some minutes later, a truck that was also heading westbound collided with Maddy and emergency services were called. She was flown by LifeFlight to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, where after undergoing emergency procedures, Maddy died Wednesday evening, surrounded by her family and close friends.

Maddy was an organ donor, and because of her, eight others will live. Dr. Art Giebel, Maddy’s father, shared these words on Facebook: “She loved Jesus with a passion that

she wanted to share with each and every one she encountered. We con-tinue to pray and know that Madison would want her life shared with oth-ers through organ donation. Above all, she would want to share the joy of knowing Jesus and your fellowship when Jesus returns.”

While Maddy spent her last hours surrounded by her family and friends, she was a member of many families. She belonged to the WWU family, the Walla Walla Valley Academy family, the Big Lake Youth Camp family, and so many more who

claimed her as sister and friend.Since Tuesday night, social media

has been filled to the brim with love and prayers from all over the world. Friends have posted countless photos with an ever-smiling Maddy, recounting the best of times together and sharing stories of how this one young woman made moments and days and lives better.

Maddy was smart, adventurous, radiant, and full of life. “My heart is heavy tonight. This light that shined bright for Christ has been lost too soon. May we all have a little extra

zest and love for life and Christ just like Maddy did. Dear Lord, please come soon. This is not our home,” said Alex Drury, former WWU student and current student at Loma Linda School of Nursing.

May we embrace life in the way that Maddy did. May we be passion-ate, may we be thoughtful, may we take challenges in stride, and may we love in such a contagious way.

“Embrace today and thank God for all He has done.” - Maddy Baird.

#MaddyStrong is a beautiful way to live.

Maddy.

greenCAROLYN

Content Editor