Carrie Newcomer visits Manchester College

“Just when you think life can’t get any better, you find yourself in North Manchester, Indiana.”

These words were spoken with a big smile (and not so much as a drop of sarcasm) by singer/songwriter/guitarist Carrie Newcomer at the concert she gave last Thursday in Cordier Auditorium. During her visit, the students, faculty and staff of Manchester College (as well as members of the surrounding community) were gifted with her music, wisdom and guidance.

Carrie Newcomer’s visit to MC occurred on April 1st and 2nd. During this short visit, she led a workshop entitled "The Power of Story: Creative Writing for the Terrified," facilitated a discussion on vocation and faith with students in the Pathways program, gave a workshop for faculty and staff on how to incorporate what you love into what you do, spoke in several classes (including peace studies and literature classes), presented a workshop on vocation that was open to the entire campus community and gave a concert performance.

In the “Power of Story” workshop, Newcomer led writing exercises based on simple prompts that helped participants focus on the details of their memories and the present moment. This is an important practice, even for people who don’t consider themselves to be writers: “A regular practice of writing—and writing honestly and with integrity—well, it’s like a muscle you work,” she said. “And the more you practice it, the more it becomes a part of you, enriching your entire life and your interactions with other people.”

“Writing practice is a spiritual practice, and a practice at being present in our own lives,” she continued. “The worst thing is getting to the end of the day and thinking ‘Darn, I missed it.’”

Newcomer has released a total of 11 albums of intricate melodies with profoundly sincere, engaging lyrics. She self-produced her last three albums (The Geography of Light, Regulars and Refugees, and The Gathering of Spirits) at a small studio right here in Indiana.

Students who were lucky enough to have made it to her concert heard a rich variety of songs from The Geography of Light as well as several of her earlier albums. Her rhythmic plucking at her guitar strings resonated with her bluesy, emotion-rich voice, which sang out her poetic lyrics.




After the show, attendees could be heard discussing their favorite lines: one conversation I overheard centered around the chorus of her song “There is a Tree”: “There is a tree beyond this world/ In its ancient roots a song is curled./ I am the fool whose life's been spent/ Between what's said and what is meant.”

She was accompanied on the piano by the talented Gary Walters, who Newcomer has worked with for the last five years. Walters teaches jazz piano at Butler University, and often plays for the Indianapolis symphony: Newcomer describes him simply as “a fine musician and a lovely person.”



While she was in North Manchester, Newcomer also found time to meet with interested students for conversation and to share her experiences as a writer and musician. For instance, she met with MC students Zach Glenn and Ryan Deeter, the members of the fusion-folk-rock band Smoking Window.

“Meeting with Carrie was an excellent opportunity,” Deeter said. “Being able to talk to an accomplished performer and songwriter helped to provide us with a greater insight into the music world. Carrie also related to us how difficult it is to pursue music, and yet how rewarding and necessary it is to follow one's passion.”

Glenn agrees. “It was greatly empowering to talk with someone who practices my two passions, writing and music,” he said. “It showed me that it was possible to follow my heart and the crafts that I am passionate for, and to do so independently while having come from Indiana.”

Newcomer’s music has been described as folk, Americana, country and rock… and, indeed, it is all of these things and so much more. Although she does not write music specifically for a religious audience, her lyrics are influenced and shaped by the ways in which her experiences as a practicing Quaker have shaped her understanding of spirituality.



“I don't want to put the sacred in such a small box,” she said. “We can develop our appreciation of mystery, and find sacred moments in our day-to-day lives. When I write poems and songs, I look for where we connect. Beauty is discovered in the ordinary stuff, right here where we are.”

Newcomer is a native Hoosier who has developed a national and international following with her sincere, heartfelt, and elegant music. Folkwax magazine, the largest weekly magazine in the singer/songwriter genre, named her as the 2008 Artist of the Year, and awarded her newest album The Geography of Light the 2008 Album of the Year award; in 2002, she made a sweep of the Folkwax awards with her album The Gathering of Spirits.



In addition, she has received laudatory praise from such publications as Rolling Stone, USA Today, Acoustic Guitar, The Village Voice, Performing Songwriter and Bowlers’ Journal. That’s right… Bowlers’ Journal, in response to her lively, foot-stomping, hand-clapping, head-nodding tune “Bowling Baby,” off of her album Betty’s Diner.

“When I receive an award or some incredible praise from someone like [novelist] Barbara Kingsolver, well, there’s something very un-Quakerly in taking too much pride in it,” Newcomer said. “So I just embrace it with gratitude. It’s an affirmation.”

“The most important thing is that I allow my writing and music to keep changing, because I’m not interested in making the same album over and over again,” she continued. “Honest writing doesn’t focus on sticking with an equation that’s worked in the past, and it doesn’t censor either the pain or the beauty—because it's really an overlapping of the two.”



Her visit to Manchester College was much appreciated by the college community. “There are certain people that you meet, and instantly you can tell how awake they are to life around them,” Glenn said. “Carrie is definitely one of those people. She writes and performs powerfully, revealing the wondrous beauty and dark magnificence that is present in the day to day. She is both serious and comical, and always passionate and true.”

Newcomer's visit to MC was made possible through the generosity of MC graduate Sara Edgerton, a member of the college's Board of Trustees.







(This article originally appeared in the April 10, 1009 edition of The Oak Leaves. All photos by Laura McSpadden.)

Smoking Window Lights Up the North Manchester Music Scene

When a couple of MC students get together and decide to get something started, there’s just no telling just what could happen and how far they’ll go.

For example, Zach Glenn and Ryan Deeter started off as roomies, hanging out and having fun while engaged in the unending business of being a student. Fast-forward a few years, and they’ve formed Smoking Window, the hottest thing to happen to the Manchester music scene in years.



Smoking Window has gifted audiences with their “fusion folk funk” at such venues as Kenapocamocha Coffee House, The Brewhouse, The Time Out Inn and last year’s MC Peace Week (where they performed as the Deeter-Glenn Connection). They also played a benefit show for the new MC radio station in Wampler, as well as benefits for the Firehouse at the local high school and at The Main View.

The core of their shows is their original songs. They approach song writing as a collaborative effort, more often than not composing their own individual parts (Glenn plays lead guitar and Deeter plays rhythm guitar and vocals) while remaining flexible and receptive to each other’s feedback. “When we write a song, I’m always asking Zach ‘How does this make you feel?’” Deeter said. ‘“What emotion is being moved into being?’ We make sure when we’re writing a piece that there’s coherence between us and the song.”



The first song that they wrote together, “Another Pot of Coffee,” is a beautiful song of hope that is grounded in their shared experiences through their time in college. “We try to make our music real to our lives,” said Deeter. “Most of the music we’ve written has communicated some aspect of our experience or views.” This sincerity shines through in their other originals, illustrating how seriously the two musicians are when they express that their biggest influence is life itself.

Their sets are complemented by some covers of rock hits, referred to by Glenn and Deeter as “crowd pleasers.” “A lot of our covers are 90’s rock because there are a lot of people who know those songs, and we want to be able to reach a lot of people right off the bat,” Glenn said. “But there is an interesting balance between becoming a crowd pleaser and playing what you want to play.”

Even when they are playing a cover tune, they put a lot of themselves into the performance. “On a lot of the covers I improv the entire time, and I don’t play them the same way twice,” said Glenn. “I really like that. It keeps us open and honest, and it keeps playing interesting.”



Deeter agrees, and said that this is the root of the difference between playing live and playing while recording in a studio. “We are much more ‘live’ music people than recording people—we like the aliveness of our songs, the way they’re different every time,” he said. “When recording, you play more cautiously than you do when you play live, because you want it to be ‘right.’”

And when it comes to music, it’s not about right or wrong, it’s about how well the music is able to reach the listeners. “We are fascinated by how one is affected emotionally through music,” Deeter said. “This doesn’t mean the music has to be complex and complicated, but it does mean the music has to capture a feeling, a moment, or a deep honesty.”



In fact, this is the root of their affinity with music and song-writing. “What I love about music is its ability to help people from different backgrounds connect,” Glenn said. “This happens for both the listeners and the musicians. During our show at the Time Out [on November 14th], I looked out and saw all these people really enjoying the music, and yet I couldn’t see all of them hanging out together at one time anywhere else. Everyone in the world is connected to music somehow, which means we’re all connected to each other through this medium.”



Anyone who has been to one of their shows will look forward to their next one. So, when you see them around on campus, ask them when and where they’re playing next, and make it a plan to go.

Several of their songs can be heard on their Myspace profile; just search for “Smoking Window,” send them a friend request and sit back to enjoy the tunes.



(This article appeared in the November 21, 2008 issue of The Oak Leaves)

Outdoor in Indiana: Ouabache State Park

It’s that time of the semester: everyone on campus is walking around with a preoccupied expression, an outward manifestation of their daunting to-do list that is likely at the forefront of their attention, and questions regarding how someone is doing are invariably answered with a simple, one word reply: “Busy.”

I confess that I was taken in by this frantic state of mind. Luckily, I remembered my own advice from my “Outdoors in Indiana” articles from last year, and I knew just what I had to do: retreat to the wilderness for a bit of peace and quiet. Within just a few hours of the end of my classes on Friday, November 7th, my van was loaded and I was on the road, heading towards Ouabache State Park.

“Ouabache” is derived from French and Native American languages. It is a word indicating a thing which is bright, light, and/or natural; the anglicized version of this name is the more widely-recognized “Wabash.” Although it is pronounced by modern-day speakers as “Wah’-bash,” it was originally pronounced “Wah-ba’-che.”
Ouabache State Park is located just outside of Bluffton, at 4930 E State Road 201. It is just barely over an hour’s drive from campus.

The park offers 47 primitive and 77 electric camping sites; fishing; tennis, basketball and volleyball courts; boating; five hiking trails; cross-country ski trails; a nature center; a paved bike trail; swimming (during the warmer months); a nature center; a fire tower and shelters that can be reserved for picnics or events. Although there is boat and canoe rental available, they do not offer ski rental; so, if you want to hit the cross-country ski trails, make sure you bring your own skis.

I chose to stay overnight at one of the primitive campsites. Although there were plenty of people at the electric campground, I was the only person in the entire primitive campsite area, a situation which suited me just fine.



For one thing, I could take my pick of the campsites. After all, some sites were not as large as others, or else had rocky, uneven ground. I chose one that was at a higher elevation (important if there is precipitation in the forecast, which there was) with a large, flat area that was relatively free from roots and rocks.

Secondly, it was quiet and very conducive to contemplation. My only companions were the forest animals and the campfire; after I finished setting up my tent, I was able to truly relax, free from the distractions that are all too pervasive within the world-at-large. I watched my campfire burn down to embers before retreating into the warm comfort provided by my tent.



And, yes, it was cold that night: the low was 35 degrees, and there were light, drizzly showers. However, I stayed toasty and cozy with my hoodie, Under-Armour and arctic mummy sleeping bag.



I suppose that many people could find a situation in which being warm requires such effort to be rather distasteful, but there is an important lesson to be learned from such experiences: it becomes patently obvious that the best place in the world where you could be is right where you are. Such complete contentment with things as they are can be hard to come by in day-to-day life.



The next day, after I ate a hearty breakfast and packed up my campsite, I set off on a hike. The park’s hiking trails range from one to six miles in length; all are rated as either “easy” or “moderate” in difficulty. I hiked trail four, a three-mile-long trail that wound around Kunkel Lake, through the forest, and around a “Wildlife Exhibit” of live bison.



The shorter trails are extraordinarily easy to hike on: the paths are wide and flat, and could be easily hiked by children and individuals in poor physical shape. However, they do not get very far from the buildings and campgrounds, and don’t provide the “lost in the wilderness” feel that I like so much. For this reason, I would recommend that anyone planning to hike in Ouabache State Park take either trail four or trail five, which meander the most deeply through the woods.



I drove back to Manchester in higher spirits than I’ve been in since the first week of classes. I had done some reading for my assignments and gotten a good night of sleep, it’s true: but more than that, I had been out in nature, active and attentive within the simplicity of the outdoors. It is amazing how little it takes for us to put all the complications of life back into perspective: all we have to do is decide that it’s important that we do so.

Remember: the world is right outside the door. Let’s go!


















(This article originally appeared in the November 14 issue of The Oak Leaves)

Black Student Union Hosts Clothing Drive

BSU is currently sponsoring a clothing drive to benefit foster children in northern Indiana. All students, faculty and staff are asked to donate gently-used clothing to the campus Intercultural Center (across the street from the Administration Building) by November 21st.

The clothing is being given to KidsPeace, which is, according to their website, “a private charity dedicated to serving the behavioral and mental health needs of children, preadolescents and teens.” Their mission is “to give hope, help and healing to children facing crisis.”

Indiana’s KidsPeace locations provide therapeutic foster care for individuals from birth to 21 years of age. As a result, clothing of all sizes is being collected, with an emphasis on garments for children and adolescents.

The clothing drive was conceived of by the current BSU executive board. “Unfortunately, through the years BSU has been known mostly for its parties and social gatherings,“ said John ‘J Bird’ Sams, MC junior and president of BSU. “We wanted to do something active to really help out those people who are in need.”

The decisions regarding what kind of fundraising to do or donation to make and whom to give the donations to were made very carefully. “When you’re dealing with money, things can get corrupt,” Sams said. “Clothes are just clothes. They’re not going to a corporation—they’re going right to the people who need them most.”

This was an important point to Jordan Tyson, MC junior and BSU’s vice-president. “We chose KidsPeace over Goodwill because Goodwill sells the clothes, rather than giving them away, and we could never be sure whether or not the clothing went to someone who was truly in need,” he said. “We wanted to be sure the clothing went to the people that would be most helped by them.”

Sams emphasized the significance of the donations going to foster children. “We wanted our focus to be on children, who can’t really do much to help themselves,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t even have good foster parents.”

This is not a problem that is far removed from life at Manchester College. There is an MC student (who asked to remain anonymous) who has been through foster care and has directly benefitted from the donations of a charity similar to KidsPeace. “I remember when I went to a foster home the first time, all I had were the clothes on my back,” she said. “These programs help foster kids not only with clothing but also with a sense of style and joy that they often need.”

This student hopes that many members of the MC community will decide to donate some of their clothing to KidsPeace. “Programs such as the ones BSU is working for help to make foster children's lives a bit less stressful, and make the child feel welcome when they are scared of the new environment,” she said. “Foster homes are often a scary thing for someone to experience.”

Participation in an event such as the clothing drive also serves to strengthen the sense of community here at MC. “In order to respect people as a whole, you need to unite with those who have it rougher than you,” Sams said. “You need to be willing to go outside your comfort zone and make some sacrifices.”

Tyson agreed. “BSU is here to unite people, at least as far as respect goes: you need to respect those who are different from you,” he said. “And to come together for a common goal is one way of uniting. Whether or not we like each other, let’s come together and show respect for each other so we can meet a common goal of helping people out.” The clothing drive offers the MC community with a chance to do exactly that.

There will be a second clothing drive sponsored by BSU to be held during the spring semester.

(This article originally appeared in the November 8, 2008 edition of The Oak Leaves.)

Debate Watch: Biden and Palin Square Off in VP Debate

Anyone who has tried to watch a political debate in a dorm, with roommates or with a group of friends knows how difficult it can be. Jokes and sarcastic comments usually abound, along with requests for chips and, potentially, a mid-debate run to Lance’s.

Entertaining, perhaps, but hardly the best way to get the most benefit from your debate-watching experience.

Enter MC’s Debate Watch. On October 2nd, the vice presidential debates were shown live in Flory Auditorium. Despite the prevalence of televisions in dorm rooms and student-rented apartments, 94 members of the Manchester College community showed up to watch the only debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin of the 2008 election in a relatively distraction-free environment.

Following the debate itself, a non-partisan discussion was lead by Dr. Mary Lahman, associate professor of communications, and Dr. Leonard Williams, professor of political science.

One of the discussion topics was the ways in which the vice presidential debates differed from the first presidential debate. “In many ways, it seemed like the candidates used the vice presidential debate as PR for their respective presidential candidate,” said senior Jason Adams.

It was also noted that issues such as foreign policy, civil rights and liberties and education were not as much of a focus in the vice presidential debates as they were in the previously occurring presidential debate. However, the vice presidential candidates did touch upon the subject of gay marriage, something that was not addressed by the presidential candidates in their first debate.

Another issue that was up for discussion was the relative degree of freedom that vice presidential candidates have relative to presidential candidates to voice firm opinions. This was particularly noticed in the candidates’ answers to questions regarding interventionism.

“I was surprised that Biden seemed to imply that a government that commits genocide against its own people [re: Sudan and the War in Darfur] forfeits its sovereignty,” said senior Laura Dell. “Do vice presidential candidates have more room to take strong stances than presidential candidates?” Not all students agreed that they do.

Those who challenged this assumption included junior Jon Largent, who noted the precedent of individuals changing their voting decision based upon vice presidential nominations, and Jared Baker, who hypothesized that Biden’s assertive image and stances during the debate were intended to help balance Obama’s softer public image.

Senior Milagros Ridoutt commented on the non-verbal communication of the two candidates. “Biden’s non-verbal communication seemed to be focused on creating a very strong image, the image of a ruler,” she said. “But what was up with Palin’s winking? What was she saying with that?”

Professor Williams, at this point, encouraged the attending students to examine whether it seemed as though the candidates were trying to appeal more to voters’ intellects or emotions.

Although no student unequivocally stated that one candidate seemed inherently more logical or qualified than the other, it did seem as though the audience’s sympathies were with Biden. For instance, in response to Palin’s consistent appeal to her middle-class roots, a “fact-checking squad,” armed with their laptops and wireless connections, found details regarding her less-than-humble financial assets, implying that (at least in this regard) her appeals were more emotional than factual.

Several students, when considering this point of fact-driven versus emotion-driven arguments, noted how Biden consistently repeated facts that he considered of great logical importance, while Palin seemed more rushed.

Whether this was good or bad was up for debate; some students appreciated the passion that they saw in Palin’s determination to share as much information and as many perspectives as she was able to in the allotted time, while others expressed that she seemed to come across as less focused.

The main consensus that was reached by the attending students was that both of the vice presidential candidates did well, and that it therefore seemed unlikely that many people would change their votes for the presidency based upon the vice presidential debates. “I appreciated the chance to see Palin speak up for herself and improve her image; I think that she was successful,” said senior Mary Cox. “However, I was also greatly impressed by Biden: I hadn’t had much exposure to him before, and he really reached me.”

The Oct. 15 presidential debate will be aired in the Lahman Room of the upper Union.

(this article originally appeared in the October 10, 2008 edition of The Oak Leaves.)

Prison Abolition: Not Only Does It Matter, It Makes Sense

When I tell people that I am an abolitionist, they tend to get a bit confused. After all, slavery was abolished with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, way back in 1865, right? Then I provide clarification... I believe in the abolition of the prison system.

In 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released figures that confirmed that the United States incarcerated 751 of every 100,000 residents; this is more people per capita than any other of the countries that were studied.

This rate is even higher than in countries with struggling political systems and poor human rights histories, such as Iran (212:100,000), Libya (217:100,000) and China (119:100,000).

This situation is made even more unsettling by the fact that the prison system is filled with people who have either plea-bargained or been convicted within the structures of the U. S. justice system, a system which is to this day steeped in racial and economic biases.

For example, a study conducted by the National Council on Crime and Juvenile Delinquency in 2000 revealed that “minority youth are treated much more harshly than white youth at each stage of the
U. S. criminal justice system....When minority and white youth were charged with the same offenses, black youth who had no prior arrest record were six times more likely to be incarcerated than white youth with similar backgrounds. Hispanic youth were three times more likely to be incarcerated....”

Another study, issued by the Washington D. C. Leadership Conference on Civil Rights revealed that “black youth were 100 times more likely to be arrested for selling drugs than white youth, although drug use rates among black youth appear to be about equal those of white youth,” and noted that “blacks who killed whites were sentenced to death 22 times more frequently than blacks who killed blacks and seven times more frequently than whites who killed blacks.”

These facts reveal a chilling secret: the U. S. justice system continues to perpetuate the long-standing myth that America was built upon, that white people’s lives are worth more than the lives of blacks and other minorities. And this is the so-called “justice” system that determines who will make up the population of U. S. prisons.

The Human Rights Watch points out the consequences of this state of affairs in its report “Incarcerated America.” “The high and disproportionate rate of minority incarceration… exposes and deepens the racial fault lines that weaken the country; contradicts principles of justice and equal protection of the laws; and undermines faith among all races in the fairness and efficacy of the criminal justice system.”

Furthermore, the justice system is undeniably biased towards those who can afford more experienced and effective legal council. Many impoverished and innocent individuals elect to plea-bargain for a reduced sentence due to their fear of what effective council could cost or because of their correctly-placed cynicism regarding their chance for a truly fair and impartial trial.

The prison system thereby becomes a holding-cell for those who have experienced American injustice the most intimately, keeping them disenfranchised and denied of many of the rights of democracy. In such a case, it is ethically questionable to assert that the ends justify the means.

Furthermore, the ends of this situation cannot even be described as effective. Although prisons are ostensibly “correctional facilities,” they fail miserably in providing corrective measures that would allow for the healing and rehabilitation of convicted criminals.

Calvin Malone, a prisoner in Washington state, has written several books about his experiences in state penitentiaries. He tells about trying to find peace amongst his fellow prisoners, many of whom are “notorious for sexually and physically assaulting the vulnerable.”

In fact, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has determined that in the course of one calendar year, more than 70,000 U. S. prisoners were sexually abused by either their fellow inmates or by the prison staff.

In Connecticut, prison staff are allowed to use dogs “to terrify and attack and bite prisoners to force them to leave their cells when they won’t do so voluntarily,” according to Human Rights Watch and an article published in the New Haven Register.

The American Civil Liberties Union has documented numerous cases of girls in the New York juvenile detention centers being sexually abused and harassed by the staff of the prisons.

That is hardly the sort of environment that would enable those amongst us who have fallen into realms of violence and fear to correct themselves. One of the reasons prison recidivism is so high is that many individuals convicted of non-violent offenses are eventually released after having endured months or years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, angrier and more damaged than when they went in.

Another source of prison recidivism is found amongst those whose original conviction was the result of illegal activities motivated by the need to survive while immersed in poverty– namely, petty theft and prostitution. If they are not provided with the tools of correction such as counseling and education, they will experience even greater difficulty in finding gainful employment as a result of their conviction, and the cycle will continue.

In fact, despite increasing prison populations, crime has not dropped over time. Is it possible that, by subjecting violent individuals to sustained levels of further abuse, we are creating a self-defeating downward spiral towards an ever more fearful and violent society?


(the author, Laura McSpadden, with Angela Davis at the 2008 MBLGTACC, aka "Big Gay Conference")

Angela Davis, one of the pioneers of the prison abolition movement, emphasizes that that the abolition of prison is a long-term goal that will involve a massive amount of social reform along the way, including a basic restructuring of how we as a culture perceive crime.“In order to imagine a world without prisons... a new popular vocabulary will have to replace the current language, which articulates crime and punishment in such a way that we cannot think about a society without crime except as a society in which all the criminals are imprisoned,” Davis said. “Thus, one of the first challenges is to be able to talk about the many ways in which punishment is linked to poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia and other modes of dominance.”

Such a reframe, which acknowledges and takes responsibility for the social causes of crime, would lead to a re-chanelling of the billions of dollars that currently go into the prison system into community-based economic resources, educational services, community forums for dispute resolution, medical and mental health care, rehabilitation systems and community services for adults and children– a conglomeration of services that would deserve the term “correctional facilities” in a way that prisons never will.

Quite frankly, I am not comfortable with the fact that the society to which I belong condones an industry that promotes and spreads suffering.

Whether it be by becoming involved with a prison pen-pal program, writing to your elected representatives, volunteering for a community-based outreach program or rehabilitation center, educating people about the realities of the prison system (which, incidentally, we condone and fund with our tax dollars), or any number of other ways, I encourage all to speak up for those who have had their voices silenced.


(this article appeared in the April 25, 2008 edition of the Oak Leaves)

Indecision Day 2008: An Opportunity for MC's Prospective Students

On Friday, April 4, MC offered a new way for prospective students to experience what the campus has to offer, “Indecision Day.”

Indecision Day was designed for prospective students who are unsure about what area of study they want to focus on during their collegiate career. It combined a typical campus visit with career testing and a department fair that showcased the different areas of study available at MC.

Indecision Day was largely conceived of and promoted by senior Tish Bitner. Bitner, who formerly worked within the admissions department, is a psychology major who now has an internship with the career services department.
She came up with the idea along with Rusty Coulter-Kern, a faculty member in the psychology department. “The idea for Indecision Day made a lot of sense for me,” Bitner said. “It is a program that brings together my experience in admissions with my work in career services and within my major.”

The first activity of the day was SDS, a “self-directed search” examination that is an abbreviated version of what career services offers to currently enrolled students. The prospective students also completed values sheets.

Concurrent activities were offered to the parents of the prospective students. Parents could attend either a workshop on how to support a child who is undecided, a panel discussion that offered parents a chance to ask questions to representatives of different college departments (such as security, residential life and athletics), or a session led by Leonard Williams on collegiate academics.

The benefit of separating the parents and their children at this point was that it provided the students with a situation in which they could explore and think on their own, at their own pace.

After the testing, students and their parents took a tour of campus and had lunch, during which conversations with athletic coaches were an option for interested persons.

The afternoon began with individual feedback sessions between the prospective students and current psychology students before taking part in a group activity designed to help them learn more regarding how their profiles from the student directed testing apply to them at this point in their education.
The last major activity of Indecision Day was the department fair. At the fair, there were student representatives from most of MC’s academic departments.

Prospective students were able to move around the room at will, asking questions of the current MC students and gathering pamphlets and information.
Parents were also present, and of course were likewise able to ask questions of the current MC students.

The MC students were all majoring in the area of study that they were representing. “We presented the idea at a department chair meeting and to staff members,” Bitner said. “All of the students who presented at the fair were nominated in some form by either staff or faculty members.”

The feedback that has been received so far has all been positive. “One prospective student said that it was the best visit day he had been on,” Bitner said, “because he left having learned more than just basic information about the school.”

Bitner also emphasized that the benefits of Indecision Day extended beyond those offered to prospective students. “Admissions was able to provide an experience that will help them get students to attend MC,” she said. “Furthermore, the psychology students who participated were given a chance to actually practice some degree of counseling, rather than just discussing the issues with their peers.”

Although there are plans to have more Indecision Days in the future, the date is not yet set for the next one. “We are discussing the merits of holding it in the fall or winter,” Bitner said. “This would hopefully allow us to get more prospective students to participate, but it would also help the high school students as well.

Not only would they have more time for gathering information; it could also help bring them to an earlier acceptance of their indecisiveness at such an early point in their college career.”


(this article appeared in the April 11 edition of the Oak Leaves)

Outdoors in Indiana: Chain O' Lakes State Park: How to Plan Your Perfect Adventure

My outdoor excursion this past weekend was a canoeing trip at Chain O’Lakes State Park with my friend Ally.

Those of you who have followed this series from its beginning will know that Chain O’Lakes was the first place that I wrote about, way back in the fall. So, this is not going to be yet another write-up of the benefits and beauties of the park itself: anyone who is interested in reading about that can refer to the September 14, 2007 edition of the “Oak Leaves,” or check it out in my blog’s archives.

Instead, this is going to be an exploration of some different approaches to outdoor adventures in hopes that it will help people to plan an outdoor adventure most suitable to them. Alone or with a friend? Overnight or a day trip? On or off the water? It’s all up to you, and there are benefits and complications to each option.

You see, for almost all of my trips during the fall semester, I travelled solo. I like being alone in the wilderness. It’s simple that way… I eat when I’m hungry; I sleep when I’m tired; I hike when it’s sunny; I read in my tent when it drizzles; I listen to the critters when they chirp, scurry and howl; I write when I’m inspired. Everything is at its most basic.

And, if you haven’t figured this out on your own, reading is not the same when you do it alone in the forest as it is when you do it inside the library or your dorm. Different things in the writings seem important; you will notice beautiful words and interesting ideas that you hadn’t before; you will like things that hadn’t previously made sense.

But there are a few things you can’t do when you’re alone. It’s hard to tell jokes to the forest, at least not if you expect to get a laugh. I have never yet managed to play a guitar duet while sitting alone by the campfire. And it’s easiest to canoe if you have two people; when alone, a kayak is the way to go.

I also tend to prefer overnight trips to daytrips, except that it’s hard to find the time for them during the middle of a semester. In fact, lack of time is about the only thing that will keep me from an overnight camping trip on the weekends.

However, even those lucky individuals who have way too much time on their hands should consider a few points before finding a campground.

You should either have proper gear (don’t forget a decent sleeping bag!) or enough knowledge of knots and survival skills to be alright without them. You should be willing to go without creature comforts, such as temperature control, mattresses and indoor plumbing. And you will have to have a plan for all of the meals you will need during the duration of your trip.

If you are lacking in any of these categories, this does not mean that you should waste away indoors; get out anyways! Exploration and exercise are great, even without a forest sleepover.

I am also unequivocally in favor of taking trips on canoes and kayaks whenever possible. For instance, on the canoe ride that Ally and I took this week, we saw the forest from a perspective that otherwise would have been impossible. We spotted over a dozen turtles who were sunning themselves on branches and rocks in the river, and literally dozens of couples of Canada geese bathing themselves and building their nests. These are sights that would have been denied to us if we had stayed on dry land.

Nevertheless, it is of some import that Ally and I are both good swimmers with experience on the water. We had a map of the lakes with us in the canoe, and lifejackets along in case of difficulty. I would discourage poor swimmers and people who are unfamiliar with the local waterways from heading off down a river or lake without gathering further knowledge about these two critical aspects of boating.

This is by no means to insult the great activity of hiking. Hiking offers new and constantly shifting perspectives due to changing elevation and terrain. And, because there are so incredibly many hiking trails at the parks of Indiana, there is always an element of feeling like an intrepid explorer, bravely seeing what will come next on the long and winding trail.

So, there are many ways to do the great-outdoors adventure thing. The specifics aren’t the important part; the important part is simply the doing. After all, the world is right outside the door. Let’s go!

(this article appeared in the April 25 edition of The Oak Leaves)

Outdoors in Indiana: Turkey Run State Park

On March 29th, my friend Ally O’Neill and I took our first journey to Turkey Run State Park.

It is the furthest away of the many locations I will be writing about this year. Although it is an approximately two hour drive from campus, it is well worth it if you have the time.

Turkey Run does not offer primitive campsites. However, they have over 200 electric sites that are spread out over a wide area, so we had no trouble locating one that was both beautiful and off of the beaten path, site 170.


170 sat atop a steep valley, providing a lovely overlook when we sat by the fire.

Although it was on an out-of-the-way loop of the Turkey Run campground, the park was full enough that there were campers at a few of the nearby sites. However, this became a positive situation. Some of our neighboring campers, down for the weekend from Purdue University, joined us for dinner and conversation.

It just goes to show that, even if you’ve fled to the wilderness, friends will find you in the darndest places.

The following day, Ally and I packed up our campsite, drank a couple of cups of coffee, and headed off to the main part of the park.

The only disappointing part of our trip occurred at the park’s Saddle Barn. Although Turkey Run State Park does offer guided horseback rides through the park, the employees there said that they could not take us out due to drizzling rain. So, we decided to go for a hike.


Turkey Run offers 11 hiking trails, ranging in difficulty from “Easy” to “Rugged” and in distance from 0.5 to three miles. We decided to hike down trail 2, a “Rugged” trail only one mile long that is described in the park’s brochure as a trail that “follows under cliff edges. A trail for the more adventurous. Be careful!”

We knew we had found the trail for us.


One of the highlights of our hike was the so-called “Gypsy Gulch.”

Within the gulch was one of the most unique and colorful waterfalls I have ever seen. Although much of the water flew over the side of the cliff in an expected manner, some of it simply trickled down the sides of the rock. The oxidation effect that resulted on the stone below resulted in streaks of red, green, black, brown and orange.



Because the water that poured further out from the rock was moving at a high velocity and wide angle, it was possible to stand directly underneath the brink of the cliff where the waterfall began without getting wet. The perspective of the forest offered from that vantage point was as relaxing as it was beautiful.


The ruggedness of the terrain provided Ally and me with many opportunities for climbing, scurrying, dangling, and jumping. It certainly wasn’t a trail for the faint-hearted or poorly-balanced, especially considering the slickness of the rocks and moss in the drizzle. Nevertheless, our excursion truly felt like an adventure of the highest order.


In the end, it was an experience that could not have been improved upon, and it was worth all of the time and effort that were involved.

Turkey Run State Park is located on S. R. 47, two miles east of S. R. 41.

Remember… the world is right outside the door. Let’s go!









(This article appeared in the April 4, 2008 edition of the Oak Leaves)