If last week’s grueling United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearings with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh teach us anything, it’s this: boys…
Last week, one of our Student Association (SA) sponsors, Jill Davis, professor of mathematics, showed me a C.S. Lewis quote from his book “Christian Spirituality” that goes with our theme…
I was bad at baseball as a kid. On my fourth-grade baseball team, we barely had enough players to field a team. Come playoff time, I stood at second base,…
I did a double take in Barnes & Noble last Saturday. I was walking past the coffee shop, through the action figures, around the vinyl records, up the aisle of…
Tailgates, pumpkin spice and still-90-plus-degree Arkansas weather can only mean one thing: Fall is on its way. Frankly, tailgates underwhelm me. Pumpkin spice is gross, in my humble opinion. And,…
Years after he became famous as “The Godfather,” Marlon Brando made a movie spoofing his legendary role. In “The Freshman” (1990), Brando played a mobster who ran an exotic restaurant…
My parents and I stood frozen, eyes darting, sweat beading on our brows. Time was running out, and we knew we needed to act before it was too late. Taking…
Losing sucks. It was a cool, sunny and wet Saturday morning, and I was preparing to run yet another cross-country race. This was typical my freshman year of high school,…
“Pick on me! I’m a man! I’m 40!” Almost 11 years ago, Oklahoma State University Head Football Coach Mike Gundy lashed out against reporters in a postgame presser. The phrase…
When I’m not writing this column at 2 a.m. the morning we go to print, working on other aspects of the newspaper or in class, you can find me in…
“I always skip chapel on 9/11. Every year it’s pretty cringe-worthy.” It was a shock to hear someone make this casual comment Tuesday afternoon. The fact that someone would be…
One day last week when I was wearing one of my favorite ties, I received quite a shock. It’s a tie that pictures my cartoon hero Bullwinkle J. Moose holding…
“Players Only” is a special column, written by Harding athletes. In this week’s column: Sophomore Bisons quarterback Preston Paden reflects on his week-one start on the road. Coming into the…
One of my great adventures as a 10-year-old was at the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was the last of a grand tradition of international expos dating back well…
Let’s start from the beginning: a very good place to start. For me, it all started with “The Sound of Music.” When I was only 7 years old, I watched…
“The tailgate” is not a place. It is an experience. Growing up 10 minutes from the campus of Louisiana State University, tailgating has always been a part of my culture.…
“This is our year.” That phrase permeates throughout the world of sports at this time every year, as fans experience a magical feeling: Hope. Hope, however, is dangerous. Far too…
At the end of my eighth grade year, in the land of Axe Body Spray and Japanese Cherry Blossom-scented everything, the high school journalism adviser, Nancy, approached me about joining…
Class is in session, extracurricular activities have commenced and curfew is in full effect. All this can only mean one thing: a new school year has arrived. If you are…
My mom always thought I was weird for loving “Alice in Wonderland” so much. She preferred “The Wizard of Oz.” But I loved that the story was full of inspiration…
The English Department has a roundtable discussion most Fridays, where faculty and students bring lunch and chat. Last week we talked about walking. We had a guest from the Kinesiology…
Meet Kaity. We met sometime between freshman and sophomore year. I don’t remember how or when we met. We had some mutual friends, but I cannot recall any initial conversations…
Growing up, I was the typical kid who participated in as many different sports as possible. Gymnastics, swimming, basketball, soccer — you name it, and I at least tried it.…
Sports are universal languages. I have always loved this aspect and that they can be used as a mission field. As head sports editor for The Bison, I might be…
I went to elementary school with a boy named Dilraj. I am certain he was Indian. I remember him wearing a turban on his head. As a kid, I did not…
I recently overheard a group of students talking about OPIs. In case you aren’t taking a foreign language class, the acronym stands for oral proficiency interviews. The students all felt they…
One of my best kept secrets is that I’ve actually been writing something that I someday hope will become a book. I’ve not been brave enough to really show anyone…
Loyola University Chicago is no stranger to making history. According to the Chicago Tribune, it began in 1963, when the Loyola men’s basketball team broke the “gentlemen’s agreement” among coaches…
I swiped away the notification that had popped up on my screen from Facebook saying I had memories with my cousin Robann Brown “to look back on today,” March 28, and…
During spring break a few weeks ago, I spent a few days as an assistant landlord. My mother owns some rental properties in Georgia, and I just happened to be…
I do not remember the last superhero movie I watched. Partly because I struggle to follow all the Marvel and DC characters, but mostly because I have fallen asleep during many…
The history of music in baseball games can be traced back to 1918, when “The Star- Spangled Banner” was played at the beginning of the World Series. Today, walk up…
I once congratulated Dr. Jack Ryan on a fantastic Sing-A-Rama. It was a rookie mistake. I was a first-year faculty member — unfamiliar with all things Searcy — and my sister…
Musa rolled up to me while I was walking with a friend to our temporary apartment in downtown Jinja, Uganda. He was a young man, probably in his 20s or…
There are six more weeks left of this semester. I counted. Six more weeks until my junior year of college is officially over and I’m one year from graduating. I’ve…
I take a step back and look at what little I know about softball, or women’s sports, for that matter, and it is disheartening. We put such a high priority…
In case you don’t remember the Brooke Shields cameo in “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” let me set the scene. Kermit is working at a diner while he’s trying to break into…
Last week I sat on a metal folding chair around a bonfire with church members in Kayenta, Arizona. It was a cold desert night, but I don’t remember the temperature…
This past Tuesday, 76-year-old renown scientist Stephen Hawking died. After the news alert went out on Twitter, I scrolled through the tag and read the plethora of inspiring and humorous…
Rivalries are what make sports. If it weren’t for fierce competition, they would not be fun to watch. That feeling of getting to play your rival, and the desire to…
One image from the second grade lingers in my memory. It was the day our principal ate lunch with us in the cafeteria. On the surface, Mr. Weil was hardly…
Last weekend I decided to do something a little different. I traveled with a group of friends to Beebe to receive new ear piercings, which was like eating candy to…
My roommate Hollee and I were sitting in her room, trying to think of something to talk about. It wasn’t the first time we’d talked long enough to run out…
Last Friday, I was standing in front of my dresser in my dorm, shoving a pair of jeans into my duffel bag to go home for the weekend. Despite being…
One of my favorite stories from the vaudeville era involves the magician Frank Van Hoven. There’s no reason anyone would know his name today, but a century ago he was…
Tererai Trent grew up in a rural town in Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, during colonial rule. She did not have the opportunity to go to school. Instead, she was…
I think spring is a hard season mostly, because it is a time of growing. The fall semester is easier – you are excited about school still and, at the…
My junior year at Harding, I faced a lot of trials. I was broken from the ending of several relationships. On top of that, I was overwhelmed with trying to…
In high school, I took a class called “Experiences in Writing,” where the teacher had us try our hands at various types of poetry. That’s when I wrote my very…
I did not know anything about grief until I began to experience it myself. I’ve never heard a lesson, sermon or chapel talk on it. I’ve never been taught what…
I had a friend in ninth grade named Tamara. I remember her bringing a lunchbox full of candy to gym class so that she could share it, and I remember…
If there is a time for everyone in the world to come together it is during the Olympics. From Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, the world will be watching this…
A few months ago, my roommate Hollee and I talked about a joke we saw that suggested changing your Twitter handle to your biggest character flaw and favorite food. I asked…
I’m sorry to say, it didn’t work out. It all started last December, when I took my Intel laptop in for repairs. Things weren’t working right: web pages weren’t loading,…
I used to be an athlete, back in the day when Bruno Mars made his debut and UGG boots were still in style. I loved high school sports, and I dedicated…
As a kid, I was always yelled at when running laps: “Don’t cut the corners!” It taught me that giving your all should be a discipline exercised in every aspect…
One of the most iconic scenes in movie history features a woman in a white dress standing over a subway grate. That scene has been memorialized in many forms like…
Scott Rogers of Edmond, Oklahoma made the national news last month when something odd happened in his own house. His 6-month-old baby’s pacifiers kept disappearing. Now that is hardly news…
My parents started dating their senior year at Fraser High School, back in ‘84. They met at a Halloween party that my mother attended with a different guy — one…
It’s a wonder I wasn’t heckled more in elementary school over this, but one of my prized possessions back then was a Pigs in Space lunchbox. Every day as I…
My family just purchased our first artificial Christmas tree. I am not sure how I feel about it yet. I cannot imagine coming home to a pseudo tree in our…
“D is my egg,” my roommate Hollee said as she held up a piece of fried egg with her chopsticks. I could feel my eyes starting to water from laughing so…
Everyone loves to cheer for the underdog- the Cinderella story, Rocky, the Harding Bisons. The campus has been buzzing with energy of the historical success from the football team. Nobody,…
As basketball season is kicking off, head coach Jeff Morgan already has his hands full. But Morgan said would not have it any other way. Morgan was named the new…
When I was in sixth grade, I came home from school one day with an “F” on my report card for the first nine weeks. It was in reading, which…
I once got a letter from Fred Flintstone. It must have been about 1980, after I had long been a loyal consumer of Fruity Pebbles cereal, which the commercials assured me…
I used to think I would change the world. I was a blissful, naive high school kid. I thought saving the world was simple: be kind and be like Jesus. I…
Halloween is over, and the holiday season is already in full swing. Not only is it the most wonderful time of the year (in my opinion) because of Thanksgiving and…
The football team did not have much hope for the year starting out 0-3. Anyone who knows football knows that every game is crucial, and that even if you lose…
I read in last Sunday’s paper that former President Barack Obama has been called for jury duty in his home town of Chicago. Imagine that. Twelve men and women in the…
Yoga is an odd experience. I recently participated in my first professionally-led yoga session. The instructor asked the group to sit up unnaturally straight and spread our toes, to stand…
Last week I wrote about the importance of challenging your beliefs in order to grow stronger in the faith. To participate in that process, one has to be open and…
If you’ve been to the first week of chapel at Harding, you’ve heard the famous talk from Dr. McLarty and Dr. Burks over camaraderie. If you haven’t had that honor,…
There are many moments in sports history that will be remembered forever, and the anticipation that something crazy and mind-blowing will happen is one of the many reasons why we…
It’s well known that the eccentric playwright Oscar Wilde had a pet lobster. While he was a student at Oxford in the 1870s, the Irishman used to tie a string…
Mrs. Cook was her name. She was my creative writing teacher in 12th grade. I remember walking into her classroom on the first day of school. She had a scarf…
I cannot stop thinking about Las Vegas. I worked at WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tennessee, from 1996 to 1998 as a camera and sound operator, during which time I helped bring…
Sometimes we can be too afraid to ask hard questions in regards to our faith. Whether we’re afraid of the answer differing from our current beliefs or intimidated by questions…
Every athlete and sports fan knows that the home advantage is a real thing. As an athlete, you have more fans, you’re more rested and you often have referees who…
I had a conversation recently with a woman in her mid-20s who was excited about the idea of self-driving cars. She couldn’t wait to get one, dreaming of the day…
I had the honor of meeting one of my greatest role models this month. Her name is Katie Davis Majors. She moved to Uganda at age 18 to teach kindergarten…
One of my Bible teachers this semester ends several of his lessons with a personal assignment. It’s never graded or anything, but I think it’s more spiritually important than educational.…
What happens when you go to college but you are not good enough to play the sport that you once loved? Maybe you played in high school and were the…
If you visit my neighborhood just about any time of day, there’s a good chance you’ll see them. Walking up one side of the street, and then down the other,…
Sixth grade was a good year. It was the last year in elementary school — the cool class. We were the only kids allowed to ride our bikes to school…
There’s this small park beside the train tracks that run through Kensett, and when I feel like life is too crazy for me to deal with, I disappear to that…
A lot of the time, university students may feel that they are insignificant or their opinions don’t hold much weight- especially student athletes who are so focused on going to…
I think it was my second year of writing for The Bison. Back then I shared space on the opinions page with several others, including a student columnist who was just…
Growing up, I always had children of different races in my classroom. I never thought anything different of my classmates, and I was never told to treat them differently. Perhaps…
My roommate Hollee and I were sitting in those relatively comfy chairs in the front corner of Starbucks the other day, taking quizzes to find out which BTS member we are,…
You may not know this, but over the last few decades I have made over three dozen acceptance speeches at the Oscars. Each has gone something like this: The Best…
John Dau was just 16 years old when he was separated from his family. His Southern Sudanese Christian village was attacked by Northern Sudanese Arab soldiers. The militias beat him…
Second semester of sophomore year, I realized that the time had finally come for me to make some decisions — you know, the big ones that will ultimately solidify my…
The second I sat down in chapel on Monday morning, my phone vibrated in my hand. The notification for the tweet held several hashtags containing Korean characters, the letters “BTS”…
One of the running jokes on the classic TV show “Seinfeld” involves Jerry’s infamously short-lived romances. Girlfriends seldom last for more than one episode, and quite a few actresses got…
“Give me money. I am poor,” the young Rwandan boy said to me. It was not even a question; it was a demand, an expectation. A few other Harding students…
This past summer I spent three months in Georgia after my mother had knee-replacement surgery. She traded a 1934 model knee for a 2017 high-flex titanium implant. I tried to…
It was move-in week. Race Street was backed up with bumper-to-bumper traffic headed east toward Walmart. I had just finished a well-deserved, post-move-in brunch at the beloved Waffle House and…
At the start of a new school year, I am reminded of how difficult it is for me to reach out and talk to someone I don’t know. For most…
My vantage point for “Spring Sing: Curtain Up!” was not a great one. In fact, I never saw the show from the front. The only vocals I heard were the…
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