Month: February 2008

Letter From the Editor – Edward Perkins

This week’s issue spends a lot of time discussing love at Antioch. Our readers hear it from our staff, faculty, and even our layout editor. Given the amount of attention given to this topic, it would seem redundant for my editorial to also discuss love at Antioch, but I am talking about love of a different kind, and a different Antioch.
In Roman times, Antioch was the largest city east of Constantinople. It was also of great importance to early Christians. One of these early followers of Jesus was St. Ignatius, the third Bishop of Antioch. It is to old Saint Iggy, rather than Saint Valentine, that I turn to for a lesson in love.
St. Ignatius was captured by the Romans, and sentenced to death in the Colosseum. During the long journey from Antioch (in present day Turkey) to Rome, he was subjected to all kinds of hardships. His writings tell the grim tale: “I fight with wild beasts, by land and sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only grow worse when they are kindly treated”. Yet his beliefs did not waver, and he actually attracted large crowds of followers during his trying journey, turning desperate times into an educational experience. Upon arrival in Rome, Ignatius was taken to the Colosseum and put in front of a bunch of hungry lions. His love of his beliefs was so great that right before he was torn apart by these bloodthirsty beasts he is reported to have cried out to his followers “I am dying willingly for God’s sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God’s wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.” This is true love, though certainly not of a romantic disposition, but love for a belief system and ideas.
As we at the Antioch of modern times face the wild beasts of disappearing financial aid, disintegrating facilities, and dwindling student services, and possibly the ultimate test of our ideals, the closure of our institution, I ask those who truly love this place, and its virtues and principals, to remain steadfast. Follow the example of St. Ignatius, and if the death of the college does transpire, let your love move you closer to everything it represents, even as we are ripped to shreds by the merciless teeth of the Board of Trustees. Love, Live, and Prosper.
Happy Valentines Day Molly!
-Edward Perkins

ATONEMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW

By Barbara B. Davis, History, emerita

I love film, and I also love reading film reviews. It was most distressing to read Tim Peyton’s reviews of Juno and Atonement, two fine films. He seems not to understand that a critical review is NOT about himself and his own personal biases; he never defines some of his terms, either, such as what he means by “popular culture.” The Record is not a soapbox, it is a means of communicating news in an unbiased fashion; or should be.

One fateful day during Summer, 1935. The Tallis residence outside London, a lovely mansion set in a lush garden, with pools, fountains, grottos, all bespeaking the family’s wealth, taste, and social standing (Mr. Tallis is actually a minister in the government although we never meet him). It is a busy day with visiting cousins, a friend of the elder son, Leon, Paul Marshall, who is hugely wealthy and will become even wealthier from the impending war. All these minor characters are important, but the central figures are: Briony (pronounced Briney), a rather precocious thirteen year-old with a literary bend and an over-active imagination who has just finished writing a rather gothic, highly romantic play; her elder sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice) just graduated from Cambridge and wondering what next; Robbie (James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland) the son of a servant who is the protégé of Tallis senior, having also just finished his degree from Cambridge and thinking of becoming a doctor. A series of amorous incidents between Cecilia and Robbie culminate in a passionate assignation in the library. The problem is that Briony witnesses them, and, not really understanding love or sexual attraction, is free to distort them accordingly. So when her cousin, Lola, is raped, Briony is sure Robbie is the culprit. Part I ends with Robbie being led away by the police, and Cecilia, dressed in a billowing kelly green satin gown, watches helplessly. Director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) creates a luminosity of this scene that is both breathtaking and unforgettable. Continue reading ATONEMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Lessons in Love With Bill Whitesell

Antioch love is a magical, magical feeling but where can you find sound advice on this campus about how do deal with your relationships? This week for Valentines Day The Record did your work for you. The Record presents Lessons in Love with Bill and Corinne Whitesell.

What advice can you give Antioch about love?
Bill: None everybody is so individual. Ask my wife.
Corinne: Well they went around and did this survey of people who were married more than 50 years to find out what the secret was and they found out they were more miserable, but they were able to put up with the misery better than others, they eventually just abandoned the survey.
Bill: That was very helpful to realize that people who managed to stay married 50 years weren’t all happy all the time, all through those 50 years.

Continue reading Lessons in Love With Bill Whitesell

Politics with Zach Gallant

All The Way To The Convention! Sound familiar? It’s what Howard Dean, now a Hillary Clinton supporter who has urged the dropping out of one candidate to unify the Democratic Party, declared in his epic “YYEEEAARGH!” speech in 2004 prior to his even more epic concession to everyone’s favorite loser John Kerry. We are hearing similar words from the mouth of Former Governor Mike Huckabee, whose insurmountable lag in delegates to Senator John McCain for the Republican nomination just got more so with his losses in the Chesapeake Primaries on Tuesday. It became a two man race when Mitt Romney dropped out last week, and while McCain is the presumed nominee, he has failed to galvanize either the Fiscal Conservatives who miss Romney’s business savvy, or the Social Conservatives who have begun supporting Huckabee in greater numbers to protest McCain’s frontrunner status. When asked how he’ll overtake McCain’s lead in delegates when the numbers looked inevitable, Huckabee quipped at his press conference “I didn’t major in Math. I majored in Miracles.” Continue reading Politics with Zach Gallant