For Your Consideration: Belmont

Showing posts with label Belmont. Show all posts

Saturday, July 28, 2007

End of Year Shenanigans

And yes, that is the proper spelling of "shenanigans."

The time required for amnesty, as well as my personal safety, has finally elapsed, and I can now with ease of mind post these scandalous pictures. That's right, this is what happens when you are an RA at Belmont and have loving friends.

The full slideshow has been posted on my facebook. Befriend me if you have yet to already!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

ELP

Tis a tid bit late, though apropos in my highly trained professional opinion. And if you don't like it, well...it's my blog and I can do what I want :o). So at Belmont I'm a part of a group called ELP, Executive Leadership Council. We just finished our last event, a campus-wide event we put on ourselves. It was a giant easter egg hunt on the quad along with a wonderful concert by Mark Trussell, Josh Johnson, and the great Andy Davis.

Fun, fun! I just wish I had a picture of Ryan in the bunny costume... And for the sake of nostalgia, here's our first group photo:

Definately a fun first year experience. Glad to have done it. Peace. And Love.

CMT's at Belmont

The CMT Music Awards were hosted for the second straight year at Belmont. Despite the ridiculous frustrations of having the media/set-up crews taking over our campus, it was quite fun to be able to be on the floor for the screening of the show. I'm not a big country fan, but seeing such artists as Carrie Underwood, Bon Jovi, Hank Williams Jr., Chris Kristopherson, and yes, even the freakin' STANLEY CUP was pretty exciting.

The Red Carpet

Bon Jovi

Rascal Flatts

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood -- Video of the Year

Kenney Chesney

An Excited Tim

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Me in Belmont's Greek Sing

This is me in our campus' greek sing this year. Yes, I am in a fraternity. Don't think any differently about me :o) ...ask me about it sometime and I'll tell you why I love it. This performance took home the gold for the event, so I hope you enjoy! Go Phi Tau!!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Belmont in the Wall Street Journal

Belmont University's business school, of which I happen to be a student, has been featured in print and on video in the Wall Street Journal. This time it's for our entreprenuership program. Check it out here!

THIS IS WHY I'M HOT!

I got my copy of Belmont's student newspaper, The Vision, yesterday, and I instantly looked for the article that my friend, Melanie Bingtson, had written. I have fallen in love with her writing of late, and I thought I should share her article. I don't think she'll mind. She deserves the publicity, anyway :o). So please read on, it is worth it! And I promise you will understand my title.

A World Without Spring

Springtime at Belmont is a beautiful thing. The trees around the quad bloom in vivid green, flowers explode into brilliant colors all across campus, and musicians of every sort crowd the lawns and play their songs until the sun sets.

It’s almost spring here and I can’t help but smile as I step outside my door every morning and feel the warm sunshine. For the last week or so, though, there is a sadness that I can’t seem to get out of my head.

We joke about the “Belmont bubble” but it frightens me how transcendent that idea is. I fall into its trap daily, pretending that this is actually the real world and that the middle-school drama that consumes our lives will have an impact six months from now. I’ve been convicted by this false reality recently.

Zimbabwean musician Oliver Mtukudzi penned “Mambasa,” a song that asks wrenching questions:

“Tears run dry/We mourn quietly/Death has now lost its meaning/Funerals no longer have the necessary dignity/ Everyone around us is dying/ Who will sympathize with whom/ Since each of us has death in our homesteads daily?/ Who will mourn whom?/Who will bury whom?”

This is the song that plays on the radio in Zimbabwe – not “This is Why I’m Hot” (Mims) or “Beer in Mexico” (Kenny Chesney). Talk about a reality check.

The inflation rate in Zimbabwe is 1,700 percent. The average life expectancy of a woman is 35. Almost 25 percent of the population has AIDS.

Before you think that this is another spoiled American clamoring for help for Africa, finish this column. In all honesty, you can’t do anything to help the people in Zimbabwe. The government – and the country’s destiny – is controlled by Robert Mugabe, a ruthless and selfish dictator who has his opposition brutally beaten and has sworn off the rest of the world. Governments have tried to oust Mugabe through economic sanctions, which have starved the people of Zimbabwe. Economic sanctions are a traditional method to force rogue leaders to change, but they don’t work.

In the last week or so, Zimbabwe has finally broken into the news cycle. Mugabe has cracked down on his opposition, mercilessly beating leaders who have attempted to speak out against him. According to Mugabe, if Westerners dare to interfere with the situation, they will be removed from the country. (He did not specify whether they would leave alive or dead.)

Zimbabwe makes me sad. But there’s nothing I can do about it but tell you what is happening. I’m not asking you to do anything – Zimbabweans don’t need protests or pity or fundraisers or media blitzes. They need dignity. Hope. Prayer. Remembrance.

Robert Mugabe is 83 years old. He can’t last much longer.

Washington Post journalist Neely Tucker wrote a book called Hope in the Driest Season about his time in Zimbabwe covering all of Africa.Let me close with a passage from that book, which I want you to read.

“More than 1,100 people had flocked into the village’s Catholic church for sanctuary … We stepped on bare spots of the floor that were not strewn with debris. The pews had been ripped out, but the slats that had supported them were still there … I shifted my weight and a foot slipped off one plank, but I continued to write notes, racing to keep up with his account. I rocked my foot back and forth. It began bumping against something. At first, I thought it was a chicken’s rotted bones that had somehow not yet collapsed. Then I leaned down and peered closer. I blinked. It was the splintered remains of what appeared to be an infant’s rib cage. My toe was resting just inside, and I had been twitching my foot against the bowed ribs.”

Enjoy this season at Belmont. Walk outside, feel the sunshine and the breeze. But as you laugh and live and enjoy the blessings that God has given you freely, pray for springtime to come to Zimbabwe.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Uno, Dos, Tres!

1) GO BELMONT!!!! Once again, they have locked in their place in the big dance by winning out their tournament this weekend. Looks like we're starting a trend. Also, I would just like to point out that my team KANSAS has ascended to the number 3 slot in the country and have pretty much guaranteed a number 1 seed in the tourney. Now that's something to get excited about! Can' wait for March Madness...

2) I started my new job today :o). I am officially a Laser Chase Marshall. Oh yes. It's fun. I basically get paid to hang out with kids and play laser tag. I can't really complain. So go to the new location on top of Southern Ice in Cool Springs and hang out with me.

3) I'll be heading out on the first of 2 trips that I will be on for Spring Break tomorrow. I don't know if I will have internet access, so this may be the last post in a while. Monday morning I should be staring at the beautiful Atlantic Ocean at Myrtle Beach. We are also spending at least a day in Charleston, which I have heard is one of the most interesting and fun cities in the U.S. I am incredibly excited. I'm armed with some great music, podcasts, and books, and I intend to do some damage. I just had a conversation with a friend about our Spring Break trip last year, and I can't really believe it's been a year. We seem so much older and alltogether just different people. I'm so glad I'm where I am today, but I'll be happy to see a day where us old friends can come together (hopefully on a similar trip) once again.

Thanks for tuning in!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Dr. Laffer at Belmont

This week was a big week for me and lectures at Belmont. I had the honor of seeing Dr. Arthur Laffer, and I think it is safe to say that the crowd received him very well. I was incredibly impressed. Dr. Laffer is known to some as the "Father of Supply-Side Economics," as he was Reagan's primary economic advisor and the brain-child of "Reaganomics," an economic theory that has been in place in our country for the last quarter century and that is (many say) responsible for our economic prosperity since that time. Among his mile long resume is also the creation of the Laffer Curve, known to any first year economic student, which led to the many well known tax revolts in the 90's. Needless to say, this was going to be a pretty big lecture.

And he delivered. He spent the first part of his speech chronicling British and American history, dividing people into two groups. The first group, the "redistributionists," believe that money should be taken from the wealthy and given to the poor. Nice warm fuzzy feelings, but it doesn't actually work and encourages unproductivity. The second group of people are the "growthists," or people who believe that all people of a society benefit from a healthy economy and that the best welfare program is a sustainable job. So that's a little simplification of what he said, but you get the point. He did a wonderful job of separating specific political parties from the label of either groups, giving examples of how both parties have been both "growthists" and "redistributionalists" at some point.

Dr. Laffer was an extremely funny person, but that actually spilled over into his outlook on our country currently, which is surprisingly optimistic. Not too many people today have such a good view of America. In the second part of his talk, he said some interesting things on some hot issues, which really made me think:

-The trade deficit is not a trade deficit. It's a capital surplus. Without American dollars leaving our country buying other goods, our products can't sell globally.

-If immigration were cracked down on, legal or illegal, our economy would collapse. They provide cheap and quality labor.

-The democrats have been pretty much handed a golden platter for this election. Nevertheless, they won't stop the tax cuts. There may be talks of it, but it won't happen because there is too much at stake. If they do, the economy will take a serious downturn and a republican will be in office again in four years.

-Foreign companies on our soil being profitable aren't a bad thing. Would we rather have our companies on foreign soil being subject to foreign laws or foreign companies on our soil being subject to our laws?

-China isn't the devil. Our economy wouldn't last without China.

-Our country has a ridiculous employment rate. Ridiculously high. 94% is incredible. Compare that with other countries, throughout history and even today and you will be surprised.

So all in all, a good lecture. He's local in Nashville now, so I hope to hear from more of him sometime in the near future...

Friday, February 02, 2007

It's SNOWING!!!

"It's SNOWING!!!"

The shout came from outside my hall at 1 AM. We all knew what this meant. A call to action.

I rushed outside my dorm to look out of the window on fifth floor Maddox. To my wonder I saw a beautiful sight before me:

The task was before us. We suited up (coat, hat, gloves) and ran in mass down the staircase to partake in the most sacred of adolescent games: the snowball fight.

First Task: Hit anything moving in sight, check.
Second Task: Gang up and tag the cars coming by, check.
Third Task: Hit the police car, check.
Fourth Task: All, at once, charge the police man who just got out of his police car and peg him with snowballs, check.

And finally, the war began.

In a heroic manuever, the Maddox team charged the other freshmen dorm on campus, Pembroke, and thus the great snowball fight of 2007 commenced:

The war zone is no place for photography, and my camera was doing little use. It had to be put away so I could sacrifice my blood and sweat for the good of Maddox.

"Charge!! Charge!!" "Hold the Line!!!" "Keep pushing forward!!!", and then the dreaded V-formation: "Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack!!!"

I think we all know who came on top in this battle. Remember, Remember, the 2nd of February. (not as catchy as V's line, but it works).

Just thought I'd let you in on a little bit of my college days. And thus, I am posting this at 2:30 AM. Enjoy!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

My First Semester: Presented in a Musical Fashion (Part 1)

If not humanities or mathematics or anything else, Belmont has at least taught me this: Music can never be under-emphasized, under-played, or even under-worshipped. Music is, more or less, a close second only to God on the Belmont social construct of status and worth.

Thus, in that same spirit, I have chosen to present my first semester to the blogosphere by means of a playlist that I have compiled. It will be unveiled in four parts (or movements, if you will) over the next short while. I hope they fit your fancy.

1.