Volume 6, Issue 2

THE COLUMBIA

fall 2019 vol. 6 | no. 2

A JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES

Dear Columbia,

Reevaluating Hope at Columbia | p. 4

The Point of a College Education | p. 16

our vision A campus that recognizes the subversive character of Jesus and witnesses the reality of the Gospel.

formerly the Columbia Crown & Cross

our mission To proclaim the life and power of God’s truth to the Columbia community and beyond through diverse Christian voices and ideas.

CONTENTS

04

Reevaluating Hope at Columbia

20

A Pale Black Prayer Kyra Dawkins

Tosin Sanusi

08

Is Christianity Intolerant?

Sean Kim

22

Seeking Justice: A Cause Motivated by Christ Jade Thompson

12

Seeking Acceptance

The Problem with Food

Canwen Xu

Anne-Marie Tehn-Addy

16

31

The Point of a College Education Nathaniel Wyatt

27 May Rain Callum Kiser

Dear Reader, editor in chief

Nathaniel Wyatt managing editor

Sean Kim design head

Lina Tian blog head

Jade Thompson business manager

Canwen Xu print

Tiffany Li | Kyra Dawkins | Sunny Chen Sean Kim | Nathaniel Wyatt blog

Daniel Lee | Karis Cha | Benjamin Jaimes Jordan Ordonez | Imani Benberry Jade Thompson design

Blake Jones | Sandra Song | Nadine Wagner Albert Zhang | Claire Lee | Lina Tian staff writer

Anne-Marie Tehn-Addy contributors

It

is autumn once again, and as the summer leaves change color and begin to fall away, a new crop of students will take root on Columbia’s campus: the Class of 2023. Maybe you are one of them!

But no matter your age, arriving here for the new school year is an important occasion, one that reaffirms a particular sense of place; for many of us, Columbia is where we call home.

Within our modestly sized campus, we hatch plans, speak our minds, and take action. Many of our concerns we hold in common: about our job prospects, our grades, our relationships with other people, and so on. Though at times we may feel like our worries are only our own, we can take a great amount of comfort in the fact that everybody here is doing just what we are; that is, trying to get a handle on our wild and precious lives.

The purpose of this journal is to speak to some of the questions you may be holding as you navigate your way through your undergraduate education and beyond.

You will find answers to questions such as, “What is the purpose of college?” and “What does it mean to have hope at Columbia?” We at this journal believe that a Christian perspective adds to our understanding of these issues, and we also believe that such a perspective can enrich the lives of all who think about them, no matter what they believe. That is the reason why we have created this issue.

We are the Columbia Witness, formerly the Columbia Crown & Cross. The theme of this issue is “Dear Columbia.” We hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed creating it.

Tosin Sanusi | Callum Kiser special thanks to

Christian Union

God Bless, THE EDITORIAL TEAM Fall 2019

4 | vol. 6, no. 2

Reevaluating Hope at Columbia Tosin Sanusi

W

henever I am asked why I chose Columbia, I feel like I’m in the habit of giving a different response each time. I came because I admired the city of New York and wanted to experience it in “my prime.” I came because out of all the other schools I was considering, Columbia had the best engineering program.

I came because I wanted to grow as an individual in a separate university from that of my sister. Of all the responses I can possibly give, I feel like there is one underlying message or theme that could summarize all the reasoning behind my choice. I came to Columbia for my own personal benefit. For my family’s benefit, for my children, and beyond. I came because in its own way, Columbia gave me hope. And this makes sense.

Columbia carries a familiar brand, one that evokes awe and prestige. For many, including myself, attending Columbia is a privilege that came after years of hard work, diligence, and sacrifice. Acceptance into Columbia ultimately carried a sense of relief, since it meant that I was taking the next step towards a bright future.

Right after acceptance into an institution like Columbia, the relief does come. And whether we realize it or not, our expectations of Columbia and of ourselves at Columbia start to take on a more tangible form. Thinking ahead

to the four years we spend at this institution, we start off by working towards a greater version of ourselves (or dare I say, a perfected version) as soon as we arrive. We seek to accomplish this through a balanced mix of course material, conversations, and experiences.

Upon graduation, we expect to use this priceless knowledge to pursue all the desires of our hearts. It is in these expectations that a majority of our hopes for the future lie. It is through Columbia that we believe we will lay the foundation for a positive outcome in life.

However, it is in the midst of Columbia that a number of us face an ultimate fear—that these expectations, and these big dreams, may not be fully realized.

And how would we define these dreams that we feel are directly facilitat-

or a sense of meaning. Instead, it leaves them with more questions (though to be honest, this in itself isn’t a bad thing).

Another expectation many of us may have of Columbia is that it will increase our generosity, or, in other words, make us better citizens of the world. This is especially true when considering our institution’s power and position in New York City. Some students come into Columbia expecting it to provide them with better human qualities. But Columbia does not encourage selflessness. The competitiveness of Columbia, more often than not, makes people look out for their own best interests. In fact, there is a silent expectation to not help other people in order to boost one’s own chances of succeeding.

Some students come into Columbia expecting it to provide them with better human qualities.

But Columbia does not encourage selflessness. ed by our presence here at Columbia?

Probably the biggest one of all relates to our life trajectory. So many of us students come into college expecting to “find ourselves” and figure out our calling and purpose. Some of us become disappointed when Columbia neither imbues them with a coherent worldview

Lastly, at Columbia we expect to have good health, in all of its forms.

This is exemplified by the inclusion of physical education in the Core Curriculum. In this, we see that Columbia strives to perfect its students in both mind and body. Does this ultimately work, though? You tell me.

The Witness | 5

Overall, we come to Columbia expecting to become more perfect versions of ourselves. But we soon discover the hard truth: Columbia is a mirror. For many of us, it serves as a mirror that forces us to become aware of our own inadequacies. Every time we fall short, or Columbia falls short, our hope for the future diminishes. And this is the root of our campus’ stress culture—this determination to be perfect, bolstered by fears of “what-ifs.”

proud. Throughout middle school and high school, messages about privilege and money being the solution to all of life’s problems were drilled into the minds of my peers and me. Acceptance into an institution like Columbia served as an affirmation of our intelligence, as well as our societal worth.

The danger in expecting so many things out of Columbia is that . . .

Columbia is flawed. And so are we.

Imperfections can cause us to become

Christians believe in a foundation that is not only accessible to all but also unchanging and stable.

What leads us into these familiar thought patterns? We are misled about what Columbia will give us because of what we are told growing up, all the way through the college application process.

I’m Nigerian, and from a young age (and even now) I was told that the Ivy League was the only way to go—that it would guarantee comfort and success and make my parents and family especially

6 | vol. 6, no. 2

disillusioned and disappointed. And worst of all, they can cause us to lose hope. And what does it mean to lose hope? It means losing your joy and even your motivation. Life loses its purpose and vibrancy, and there is no longer any reason to do anything.

It’s easy to lose hope when the thing we are hoping for is in and of itself our foundation. A foundation refers to

an entity we draw meaning from. It is something we find inherently valuable and worth fighting or working for. It is assumed to be stable. But the sad truth is that nothing in life is constant. Once we lose the thing we’re hoping for— whether that be academic affirmation, a job, or a relationship—hope starts to fluctuate. It becomes even more unsustainable. Thus, people are in desperate need of foundations that can provide them with a sustainable, constant hope.

What are the foundations we typically depend on? We often depend on ourselves or our communities for our foundations. If our foundation is ourselves, we find it easy to assert our self-worth and work to support our own interests. In the case of community, be it a family, a group of scientists, or adherents of a philosophy, our foundations can be seen as something greater than us, and generally more secure.

In the long run, though, none of these foundations, whether they be based on a community or on ourselves, are stable. Disagreements with family values can lead us to reject them if

they are severe enough. Science can be used to do wrong, so it is not a reliable foundation for self-worth either. In the case of the self-sustaining foundation, self-worth is delicate because it is so ultimately dependent on our mental states and circumstances.

So this is where the source of my foundation comes in—my faith in Christ. Christians believe in a foundation that is not only accessible to all but also unchanging and stable. God provides people with an unchanging, inherent worth that is independent of circumstance or other people. This

worth was never earned (and never could be), but rather was given as a gift. In the act of creating us, God gave us our value.

Knowing your value means understanding the one who gave you that value. Thus, belief in God affirms belief in self-worth. It allows Christians to have hope that is sustainable, because the hope of a Christian does not depend on circumstances, but on God. Rather than depending on Columbia, their relationships, or their future projects for their satisfaction, they depend on God and His constant, amazing presence.1 1 Hebrews 13:5

Thus, Christians do not have to despair when things don’t go as expected or planned, and their sense of self worth can remain constant. Regardless of what life throws at them, Christians have the full capacity to be content. It is belief in a God who is never changing and ever faithful that fuels all hope. And this hope, unlike that which Columbia provides, can remain everlasting.

Tosin Sanusi (SEAS’ 21) is a junior in SEAS studying Chemical Engineering. She loves spending time with her friends and family and exploring all that Columbia and the city of New York have to offer!

The Witness | 7

Is Christianity Intolerant ?

Sean Kim

T

he claim that America has recently experienced an increase in political polarization has so saturated the current landscape that it seems cliché yet also unquestionably true. Gone is the time when the Right and the Left would respectfully debate each other in smoke-filled rooms; it is now 2019, and the new paradigm feeds on conflict between increasingly inflexible worldviews as well as a mobilization of identity that reaffirms the old standby: “the personal is political.” New battle lines have been drawn and old ones have hardened: Christians versus Muslims. Whites versus people of color.

The native-born versus the foreign-born.

Whether these groups are actually fundamentally opposed to each other—I would argue they are not—is beside the point; what matters instead is the perception that they are. In other words, the belief that the other side is intolerant of you is the root of polarization and the biggest barrier to communication between the Right and the Left.

8 | vol. 6, no. 2

Intolerance is dismissal; it is the blunt refusal to consider the other point of view. Implicit in any act of intolerance is the presumption that the other view is undeniably false, to the extent that thinking about it at all is bad for one’s ideological health. It is probably safe to say that nobody likes experiencing intolerance firsthand. Yet if we subscribe to the notion that the other side—be it the Right or the Left—is intolerant of us or of those who share our identities, we would naturally conclude that acts of intolerance are bound to occur eventually. Not only that, we may be inclined to believe that there are some people out there who would happily commit such intolerant acts against us, given the chance. But how are we to know for sure that these intolerant people are who we think we are?

Christianity has had no small role to play in the broader phenomenon of polarization, and it also has had a complicated relationship with intolerance.

As a Christian, I’d like to challenge a

belief that some of my peers may have about this relationship; I’m speaking as a Christian because my religion is an aspect of my identity that often draws out misconceptions about who I do or do not tolerate. These misconceptions can be traced back to the fact that Christianity is perceived by much of the American public as a socially conservative institution. Naturally, this means that my left-leaning friends— especially those who have little personal experience with my religion—are quick to associate Christianity with white people, the South, and the Republican Party, never mind that I am neither white, Southern, nor Republican. In these polarized times, identity groups are pigeonholed into either the Right camp or the Left camp, and because of Christianity’s right-wing associations, those who ascribe to the “right-wing religion” are expected to exhibit rightwing intolerance as well. For the record, I do believe that there is such a thing as right-wing intolerance (as well as there

The Witness | 9

being such a thing as left-wing intolerance). As for the claim that some of my peers have, that Christianity itself is an intolerant religion?

Depends on how broad of a brush you paint Christianity with.

If you start with the premise that the intolerance exhibited by Christians today is indicative of a larger rot baked into Christianity itself, then you can safely conclude that the entire religion is irreparably intolerant, and that no amount of explaining on my part can change the fact that Christianity will never accept certain groups of people.

However, I would argue that although Christians over the ages have committed intolerant and sinful acts, a closer look at the ministry of Jesus Christ and the writings of John Locke will reveal a surprisingly tolerant religion, one that I believe should push the modern Church to be ever more inclusive of others, not less.

Human beings do terrible things,

10 | vol. 6, no. 2

and Christians are obviously not exempt from this truism. The medieval Crusades stemmed from an intolerance held by many Christians towards Muslims living in what was thought to be the “Holy Land.� Modern day examples of intolerance include the bombing of abortion clinics and the picketing of funerals by the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. Taken together, what these acts share in common is an unwillingness to accept the existence of people with different beliefs and a willingness to engage in violence or harassment in order to destroy them. And these are just some extreme examples; there are surely many instances of intolerance by Christians towards non-Christians and even towards fellow believers that go unreported. Despite the high visibility of intolerant Christians in our culture, I would hesitate before declaring all of Christianity to be intolerant, simply because there are also examples of Christians that tolerate precisely the

things that others did not. For every crusader, there is a Christian who is able to peacefully coexist with his Muslim neighbor; many faithful Christians are personally pro-choice, and there are many gay Christians as well. It is clear from these counterexamples that the intolerant views of some Christians do not have a monopoly within Christianity as an institution. At the very least, the decision to claim Christianity for the intolerant should be called into question.

Even if Christianity can credibly dismiss claims of intolerance based on individual cases, the only way for it to completely put away general accusations of intolerance is to present a positive argument for tolerance. I can think of no better example of what tolerant Christianity looks like than the life of Jesus Himself, and we can find plenty of evidence for Jesus’s tolerance by approaching His ministry from a cultural perspective. Jesus was not

on the Right or the Left politically (at least not according to our 21st century standards), but he was a Jew and a rabbi, which in His time meant that it was a cultural taboo for him to associate with certain kinds of people. But Jesus did not let these restrictions get in the way of his ministry; he engaged with Samaritans1 (who were looked down on as an inferior people), prostitutes, tax collectors2 (think of the IRS), and “sinners.”3 Not only was Jesus open to associating with such people, He went out of His way to do so; translated into today’s culture, His actions would be the equivalent of looking for new friends in the nearest crack den or maximum security prison. Jesus chose not to judge the outcasts of society and even commanded His followers not to judge them either, lest they themselves be judged.4 Through this commandment, Jesus made it clear: tolerance should not be limited to the tolerable but must be extended even to the intolerable. This among other lessons became part of the doctrine of the Christian church.

Jesus’s life and teachings set a doctrinal standard of tolerance for Christianity to follow, but as Christianity spread to the east and the west, it became clear to the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke that a Christian culture of tolerance was also necessary for its integrity. During Locke’s lifetime, new denominations of Christianity were developing, each of which had its own ideas on what to believe and how to observe Christian traditions. Locke was concerned that the ruling authorities were becoming influenced by certain denominations to discriminate against other, less favored ones. In response to this phenomenon, he wrote A Letter Concerning Toleration, which fleshed out his argument in favor of religious toleration. With regards to how he thought Christians should express their beliefs, Locke wrote, “If the Gospel and the apostles may be credited, no man can be a Christian without charity and without

that faith which works, not by force, but by love . . . Every man has commission to admonish, exhort, convince another of error, and, by reasoning, to draw him into truth.”5 By encouraging the use of reason rather than force to change people’s minds, Locke reestablished tolerance as the guiding principle by which Christians should behave. Locke recognized that to force one’s moral beliefs on others was un-Christian because it contradicted the way that Jesus and his followers conducted their ministry. Although Locke was addressing conflicts between Christian denominations, the lesson of tolerance here can easily be applied outside of the Christian faith. The way of Christian tolerance, in Locke’s telling, is the only way to engage with others because it orients both parties towards seeking the truth and not each other’s destruction.

Though Locke’s ideas on tolerance are centuries old and Jesus’ even older, many Christians have yet to fully embrace them. On some level, asking why Christians are not completely tolerant is like asking why human beings are not kinder than we were a few centuries ago. People are morally flawed, and despite our best efforts at progress we may never be fully satisfied with our human condition. However, I do think that since Christians claim to follow the teachings of Jesus, they ought to walk the walk. This means not just abstaining from intolerant actions but actively trying to associate with the marginalized. It means having the courage to discuss sensitive issues with people you might disagree with. And it means bucking the political trend of polarization and treating people as people, not as caricatures of the opposing party. By rejecting intolerance and embracing discourse, I believe that Christians throughout the world can play a decisive role in healing the scars caused by polarization and fulfilling Christianity’s inherently tolerant nature.

1 John 4:1–42.

2 Luke 19:1–10.

5 Locke, John. A Letter Concerning Toleration.

3 Matthew 9:10–13.

4 Matthew 7:1.

Sean (CC ’20) is a senior studying biology.

He likes to watch movies and read the New York Times.

The Witness | 11

seeking acceptance canwen xu

C

onfidence, Confidence, Confidence, I thought as I walked into the Faculty House elevator one evening, in preparation for yet another corporate information session. As soon as the doors closed, I pulled out a pair of heels from my tote bag and took off my sneakers, quickly glancing at the reflection of myself in the side mirror. This was a task I had done a million times before, in preparation for every finance recruiting event on campus. The rules are easy, but executing them is hard: look nice, but not flashy.

Wear enough makeup that it doesn’t look like you’re wearing makeup. Form a personal connection with each person, and ask for their business card. Hope they remember your name.

Every semester, dozens of financial service firms visit Columbia’s campus to recruit for their summer analyst classes. For any student interested in pursuing a career in finance, an offer at one of these firms is a golden ticket to Wall Street. During recruiting season every spring, interested sophomores will often attend multiple information sessions

12 | vol. 6, no. 2

a week—each a networking opportunity to impress recruiters and secure their dream junior summer internship. Last year, I was one of these students. For two months, my desk was covered with flyers about application cycles and business cards from alumni. I routinely checked my phone for email replies, hoping that I had successfully scheduled another networking phone call or coffee chat. Throughout the recruiting process, it often felt like I was taking an additional three-credit class, in addition to an already full course load.

During the recruitment process, it was important to impress recruiters with not just my resume and intellect but my personality as well. Although I am naturally extroverted, I still found it difficult to maintain a bubbly demeanor through an entire ninety minute networking session. What made it even more difficult was having to superficially form commonalities with people. For instance, my upperclassmen mentors encouraged me to underscore my interest in skiing to make myself seem more relatable to the “typical finance

crowd.” This made recruiting feel all the more personal—I knew that I was not just judged based on my grades or work experience, but based on how much these people liked me as an individual.

This made rejection all the more difficult. If someone did not respond to my email, I wondered if it was because I came across as awkward or incompetent. If someone I had coffee with didn’t push for me in the interview process, I wondered if I just wasn’t charismatic enough. At times, it was also hard not to feel like I was competing against every other student in the room. After all, there are hundreds of applicants and only a few spots. In the end, it wasn’t just about being good but also about being better than other people. As a result, some of my friendships with other students felt instrumental and toxic. I could tell some people only wanted to talk to me to find out information about the firms I was interviewing for.

The culture surrounding finance recruiting is symptomatic of Columbia’s larger reliance on status. It is easy to seek out external validation at Columbia, since being a student here is itself a form of worldly validation. Columbia is a world-class institution, famous for its academic prestige and intellectual rigor—and many students, upon acceptance, continue to seek out that status.

This culture manifests in different ways, whether it’s through grades, graduate school acceptances, Greek life and social status, or, of course, internships.

Finance recruiting is no exception. In the process of applying for summer analyst positions, I felt that my self-worth had become strongly tied to my success in finding an internship. My self-image oscillated in response to the number of interviews I got or whether a particular networking event went well. For a while, I completely deleted LinkedIn off my phone and banned myself from

In a pre-professional environment like Columbia, your resume becomes an indicator of who you are.

browsing through the website, knowing that it would just dig me into a deeper hole. In a pre-professional environment like Columbia, your resume becomes an indicator of who you are. During social gatherings, people will often be introduced by their name, followed by the company they are interning at the

following summer. At Columbia, a job isn’t just a job; it’s a personality trait, a representation of a person’s existence.

It seemed like the only thing that maintained my sanity during this time was my close relationship with God. I prayed to Him about the stress and anxiety I felt, the emptiness that came

The Witness | 13

from relying so much on worldly measures of success. While I trusted that He had a plan for me, I was still scared for the future. I constantly felt like everyone else knew more than I did, that I just wasn’t good enough. But at the same time, it felt wrong to pray for the “best” job in terms of prestige or status.

Instead, I prayed that God would lead me to the path that would bring the most fulfillment in my life—even if it meant abandoning finance altogether.

After all, Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Even though I was uncertain of the future, God had a plan for my life.

In the end, God listened to my prayers. After exploring different fields in finance, I ultimately decided to pursue a position in real estate instead of banking. Working in real estate made

14 | vol. 6, no. 2

me feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself—and I appreciated the tangible, community-building aspect of the position. Although my role was still finance-related, it was a much

God’s love for me is unconditional.

It is not predicated on anything that is external to my soul. different job than the ones I recruited for in the spring. In the end, I realized that God had been watching out for me the entire time. If I had gotten an offer earlier in the year, it would have been unlikely that I would continue to look

into roles outside of what I had known about at the time. But exploring new industries made me discover a passion that I had not known about before.

As I finish junior year, I recognize that Columbia has offered me countless opportunities—personal, professional, and academic. Through my three years at this institution, I have formed lifelong friendships, gained a world-class education, and broadened my worldview. But Columbia, in all its greatness and prestige, can also be status-obsessed and toxic. It seems this culture permeates all of student life. Not all Columbia students are pre-professionally focused, but most Columbia students feel the pressure to obtain social recognition—whether it is through graduate school acceptances, fellowship offers, or leadership roles.

I recognize now that the satisfaction from external gratification is fleeting and finite. There will always

another hurdle, another step that you must reach before you think you will be truly satisfied. I began to recognize this as well. During high school, I thought that the ultimate goal in my life was to attend a prestigious university—and that afterwards, I wouldn’t feel as much pressure to succeed. During college, I thought that my ultimate goal was to secure a good job. But then I began to ask myself—what comes next? A promotion—retirement? When do I actually get to be happy?

I had always known that the only true validation was through God—but I did not fully grasp the implications of His unconditional love until the point in my life when external validation seemed like it was all that mattered. During the internship search, every form of validation is conditional. Your interview is conditional on your resume. Your offer is conditional on your interview. But God’s love is completely unconditional.

God does not care if I’m wearing sneakers instead of high heels, if my pantsuit is too small or too big. He doesn’t care

if I wear makeup, and He doesn’t even have a business card. With God, I am unconditionally accepted.

The secular antidote to society’s reliance on external validation is “selflove”—but I have found that self-love is indirectly reliant on external validation as well. For instance, a common response to the social pressure to have the perfect body is to claim that that all bodies are physically beautiful. But it seems that this response is still conceding that beauty is a prerequisite to acceptance—all bodies are beautiful, which is why all bodies should be accepted. But why do we all have to be physically beautiful? Often self-love is also manifested through material indulgences, such as face masks and shopping sprees. But do these indulgences really lead to self-acceptance?

Or are they just another way to rely on external gratification to fulfill internal desires?

In the past, I desperately tried to shower myself with self-love, in hopes that it would allow me to reach

self-acceptance. But in the end, all of my self-love still felt desperately conditional. I told myself that I deserved to be loved because of my intellect, or my looks, or my success—but if the basis for my self-love had disappeared, then I would have be left with nothing. By contrast, God’s love for me is unconditional. It is not predicated on anything that is external to my soul—not my resume, not my interview, and not my professional attire. And while I have cherished my experience so far at Columbia, I recognize that its value, like that of my finance internship or my resume, is external. Only God’s eternal, unconditional love can be the everlasting basis for my self-acceptance.

Canwen (CC ’20) is majoring in political science and minoring in computer science. She is the business manager for Crown & Cross and an avid public speaker on Asian-American issues. When she’s not pondering her faith, she enjoys cats, movies, and frozen yogurt.

The Witness | 15

The Point of a College Education

Nathaniel Wyatt

At

a university such as Columbia, where an undergraduate degree garners more attention than those of most other institutions of higher education in the United States, it is easy to become blinded to the fact that many Americans are questioning the utility of a college degree at all. A 2018 poll discovered a significant generational gap in the way that Americans perceive college, with only 40 percent of those under 40 tbelieving college is worth attending

16 | vol. 6, no. 2

compared to 70 percent of Americans over 40 believing the same.1 And this should be no surprise either when you consider that student loan debt is now the second highest consumer debt (right behind mortgage debt) and amounts to a collective tally of about 1.5 trillion dollars.2 The college degree, then, seems to be in a bit of an identity crisis, with 1 WGBH. “New Poll Finds Americans Believe

College Is Worth Attending, But Not Necessary To Get Ahead.”

2 Friedman, Zack. “Student Loan Debt Statistics in 2018: A $1.5 Trillion Crisis.” Forbes.

degrees being distributed at an all time high while the belief that degrees are worth anything is shrinking. My goal in writing this is not to offer an explanation for why this has become the case, but to propose a recalibration of what the purpose of a college education actually should be.

First, however, I should clarify what a college education should not be and what many people unfortunately believe a college degree has become. An undergraduate program should not be

how to become a historian but rather how to think like one.

A college degree should also not be a job certificate, although once again, many people believe this to be the case.

I should clarify that I am not saying that certain occupations should not require college degrees or that degrees should not be considered in the hiring process.

Rather, I believe we are living in a time in which multitudes of directionless students just out of high school have been inundated their whole lives with the idea that college is to high school what high school is to middle school; that the only way to find success is to spend four years and thousands of dollars on a ticket for a job that may or may not be available when the college days are finished. The problem with this approach (which is hardly the fault of the students anyway but rather that of the institutions who have become obsessed with systematically fast-tracking education for the sake of a growing labor force) is that the actual process of being in college is designed to foster more abstract learning goals such as problem-solving and critical thinking, not to distribute pieces of knowledge that have some inherent meaning or utility.

That is, the college learning system is set up such that students complete most of their work independently. Of course, they go to lectures and seminars to receive the material with which

a vocational program, which is to say that a college should not teach one the technical skills required for a job like a trade school would. Rather, a college education should be directed in general toward the development of critical thinking skills and more specifically toward the development of problem solving methods needed for a given choice of major. That is, a pre-medical student does not really learn how to be a doctor, but how to think like a doctor; a history major similarly does not learn

they work in order to learn, but the burden of education ultimately falls on the student. The skills that one learns in college, therefore, concern to a great degree ones that are conducive to critical thinking: how does one take information and manipulate it in order to solve a problem? The other side of this coin might be something like a trade school or an apprenticeship where the student works with a learned master and slowly comes to learn the trade themselves through hands-on experience.

I am not making any value judgment on which form of learning is better, for each form is more effective for learning certain skills than the other; the problem comes when employers (and perhaps many aspects of society) expect hard skills out of a student whose whole educational experience was directed to learning soft skills—critical thinking, socialization, and so on.

We have established that the skills which are produced in the college learning process are generally the soft kind.

But wait, aren’t you reading a Christian journal? How do soft skills relate to the demands of the Christian lifestyle? To begin to answer this question, we must look at the apostle Paul, a figure in the Bible who not only had a clear understanding of his role in the kingdom of God, but also a strong intellectual grasp of the ideas behind his faith as well as the ideas that opposed it. In one of his

If students are to engage in a rapidlychanging and seemingly too complex world, it is more important now than ever that they spend their studies ultimately focused on problemsolving and communicating.

The Witness | 17

letters to the church in Corinth, Paul writes of himself, “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law . . . To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”3 In other words, Paul had both the textual background and the intellectual ability to be able to meet people on their own level. If someone was a Jew, Paul could speak to them with knowledge of Jewish theology and tradition; if they were a Roman, he could speak to them with a full understanding of the inclusivity of Jesus’ covenant.

“Being all things to all people” meant that Paul could fully communicate the power of the gospel to anybody, and this ability only came as a result of his education—not only in the philosophical material itself, but also in the soft skills necessary to negotiate a complex argument.

Another key example of Paul’s ability to communicate the gospel based on his education can be found in his missionary work in Greece. At a point during his ministry, Paul visits the city of Athens to spread the gospel, where he unsurprisingly begins to debate Jews and God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue; while in the city, however, he also contends with a number of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.4 The ideas of the Epicureans and Stoics, while not completely unlike some of the ideas of Christianity, are nonetheless distinct from the theistic philosophies of Christianity and Judaism. Paul would have had to have known a great deal not only about the teachings of orthodox Judaism, but also about other philosophies present in that time period. The point, however, is not that Paul knows these ideas, but that he understands their relationship to his own argument and is able to be a stronger proponent of 3 1 Corinthians 9:20–22.

4 Acts 17:18.

18 | vol. 6, no. 2

Christianity as a result.

When we think about our roles, Christian or otherwise, in the modern university setting, it is important to realize that the university should not be a factory for information. Universities are complex systems that depend on several factors to operate and to create their goals, but at the end of the day, it is the level of the students’ commitment to their education that is the driving force behind a university’s culture because that is the primary function of a university to which all other functions must submit. If students are to engage in a rapidly-changing and seemingly too complex world, it is more important now than ever that they spend their studies ultimately focused on problem-solving and communicating rather than taking the easiest classes possible just to make it through. University is a difficult time for students across the nation, but it is crucial to understand that we have always had the greatest success when we cooperate; it is only by learning to be all things to all people that this cooperation can be brought to fruition and humanity can be convinced of its own likeness to a loving God.

Nathaniel (CC ’20) is a senior studying American Studies and English. He loves learning when he’s sufficiently motivated to, and he is still not fully on board with shampoo-conditioner combos.

The Witness | 19

A Pale Black Prayer Kyra Dawkins Dear Heavenly Father, I have to confess I have been running away from You Because You are the only One that sees me when I am alone.

I am afraid of the words I do not have, To be reduced to groaning.

And the few words I do have?

Why do the words I use to worship You Taste like blood?

Why has my mother tongue been ripped From my mouth, Uprooted from my heart?

I want Your Word to be enough for me.

But do these very words Betray Your grace, The way violence taints Stained glass windows, With The ever-looming fear Of being shattered, Of becoming broken?

I want to understand who I am to You. I want to understand myself in You. But I cannot make sense Of my own groanings And my words, These pale black Words Are double-edged swords, Protecting and wounding My fashioned sense of self.

You call me soldier, I want to be ready for the fight for You. You call me child

20 | vol. 6, no. 2

But I cannot stop waging War within myself To accept the peace that Comes With dependence on You. I want Your call to be enough for me.

I want to believe I was enough for You For Your mouth to be filled With Your own sacrificial blood And the cry of the forsaken Reduced to groaning, That I was enough for You To become broken to lay Foundations of my becoming One With You. My words still Taste like blood, And You see the shame I feel In groaning, but You Tasted blood and groaned For me and I know That is more than enough For me When I think I am alone.

I know that You have plans for me To prosper and not to harm me Because I am learning to trust You And I know that I belong to You.

African Americans do not really have a mother tongue since the violence of slavery estranged them from their African roots.

As an African American woman, this really saddens me and makes me question the very language of my worship or the words I use to understand God and myself. So, this poem is a recognition of my pale black heritage and knowing that God’s love and sacrifice meets me in the midst of it.

Kyra Dawkins (CC ’20) is studying Medicine, Literature, and Society. When she is not writing poetry or doing something pertaining to school, you can find her binge watching a lot of cooking shows, even though she just recently learned how to successfully boil water.

The Witness | 21

Seeking Justice:

A Cause Motivated by Christ Jade Thompson

C

olumbia is home to some of the most radical liberals and progressives in the country. As students who regularly lead efforts to advance social justice, we can see that it is a prominent subject for dialogue on campus. From global food equality to fair policing to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, students can find clubs that address almost any issue they feel passionately about. But everyone has a different perspective on what justice looks like. In the eyes of most Columbia students, social justice includes impartiality to the LGBTQ community, equal pay and respect for women, and equitable reparations for disadvantaged races.

Students on campus are decidedly opposed to beliefs that threaten this vision of universal equality.

Christianity, as I have learned through conversations with friends and classmates, is often considered one of these threats. My black friends occasionally ask me, “How can you support the white man’s religion?

Their white Jesus was the single greatest ideological weapon for the enslavement of millions of black people.” It is true that the image of a white God empowered those who resembled Him over those who did not. The image of a white Jesus allowed for the maintenance of a master-slave hierarchy that would have been undermined if Jesus had been depicted as a man of color. Moreover,

the white color of Jesus’ holy skin advanced the idea that whiteness equals purity while darkness implies evil. This view was used to devalue and even demonize people who look like me as “dark and evil threats” whose depraved influences must be tamed by way of enslavement. Many Christians today, both white and non-white, understand that Jesus was not white and do not condone the attitude of superiority that many European Christians once held. Needless to say, the black community’s suspicion of the “white-washing power schemes” associated with Christianity is valid, considering the role institutional Christianity played in sustaining a toxic racial hierarchy.

In a similar vein, the Catholic church’s historical ostracization of queer people has legitimized a widespread distrust of Christianity among the LGBTQ community. Starting from my first semester at Columbia, I lost three friends simply because I identified as Christian. Although I made it clear that as a Christian I don’t hate queer people, they were still offended that I observe a religion that views homosexual practice as sinful. There is such a deep-seated hurt among members of the LGBTQ community that many don’t wish to be around Christians, out of fear of judgment.

To many members of marginalized groups, Christianity is intolerant to the core. Such people understand

The Witness | 23

IS FREEDOM

“

Christianity as less of a faith with the capacity to peacefully unite people and more of an institution that has instrumentalized Scripture to disenfranchise people. However, I would like to reiterate that there is a difference between Christianity the religious institution, which relies on hierarchical legalism, and Christianity the faith, which is centered on the life and words of Christ Jesus, who transcended race, social class, gender, and all other labels that serve as means for social division. Professor Edward J. Blum of San Diego State University writes, “Jesus transcended race, and he mattered ‘not in His color, but in His unique God-consciousness and His willingness to surrender His will to God’s will. He was the son of God, not because of His external biological makeup, but because of His internal spiritual commitment.”1 And Jesus calls Christians to see the world through this perspective, valuing people not based on their gender or race, but by the fact that they are created in the image of God. This very identity as children of God is 1 Edward Blum, “The White Man Jesus,” https:// aeon.co/essays/was-jesus-a-white-man-and-thedevil-black.

24 | vol. 6, no. 2

what grants all people the right to be loved radically and unconditionally.

In fact, it is actually my Christian faith that informs my acceptance of all communities, identities, and practices. Many people are shocked when I share my stance as a proponent of legalized same-sex marriage and access to abortion; they imagine that I am a bigot who wants to force all other people to subscribe to the values of my religion. If this were true, I would be ignoring Jesus’ clear instruction to love others as and above myself.

Would it be love to deny the next person their right to marry who they please or use their body the way they wish, while I retain the ability to lie, steal, or commit adultery? No. Instead, I wish for same-sex marriage and abortion be legalized because I believe a necessary component of love is freedom. From a biblical perspective, freedom is the power of choice.

It is the ability to make choices in a way that enables us to be held accountable to ourselves and our communities. Following this doctrine of free choice, I believe all people should have autonomy. I wish for all actions to be permis-

sible, so that people can believe and seek goodness wholeheartedly rather than conforming out of coercion, fear, or legalism.

Obedience to God should come from love, not force. A person cannot genuinely choose to honor God by refraining from same-sex marriage or abortion if there isn’t the option to do otherwise. God did not force us to worship Him, rather He gave us the ability to choose. If God so respects the freedom of humans, we should respect one another’s rights to choose.

I think many Christian efforts to prevent same-sex marriage and abortion may be done with good intentions, but I believe the act of prohibiting by law is the wrong approach.

God does not call us to simply write His law in the Constitution, but to write it on our hearts. For Christians to merely pass laws banning same-sex marriage and abortion is a notably lazy way of preventing someone from doing wrong.

Christians who do not wish to see homosexual marriages or lives cut short at the hands of abortion should instead labor in love to help others actively seek

T P

O

virtue, rather than prohibiting sinful actions by force. Without this change in approach, Christianity will still be viewed as a religion of bigots and oppressors, rather than one of people who genuinely want to see goodness and justice on earth.

Truly, we all want to see justice. My own work against police brutality and the abuse of textile workers in Bangladesh stems from this universal desire for justice. This past semester I hosted two on-campus events: “No More Names,” a panel and art showcase about police violence

and youth activism, and “Women, Clothing, and Climate,” a panel, workshop, and clothing sale promoting sustainable fashion and raising awareness about the exploitation of textile workers in Bangladesh. I felt passionate about organizing events surrounding these issues because I still am deeply hurt that these people are being treated as less than human.

Because we as humans are created in the image of God, we are inherently valuable beings, and therefore should not be treated as if we were not. An innocent man should not be shot by a police officer simply for being black, nor should a rich boss subject a Bangladeshi worker to egregious conditions simply for being a woman or for being poor. I recognize that through Christ, we have all been established as equals in Him. As I gave a speech at the “No More Names,” I could not help

THE POWER

OF

but think of this scripture: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”2 This verse calls for a spirit of unity across cultural, sexual, and economic differences. For Christians, our identity in Christ transcends bids for segregation and stratification.

Furthermore, the Bible not only calls Christians to seek justice, but it gives them the motivation and inner joy necessary to devote our efforts to bring about change. The beauty of God’s grace in Christ is what leads Christians powerfully to do justice and care for others. They should be inspired by the love of Christ to go forward in hopes of sharing the same love they have experienced from our Savior. When Christians pray that “God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven,” they should hope that the promise of a better—eternal—life, an end to all pain and suffering, can extend to those who are seeking a better life now.

But what exactly separate Christians from other advocates for justice? This question can be addressed by considering a story about Jesus 2 Galatians 3:28.

choice. ”

The Witness | 25

and a marginalized woman. Jairus, a ruler of the Galilee synagogue, asked Jesus to heal his twelve-year-old daughter. As they were traveling, a woman in the crowd, sick from chronic bleeding, touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed of her sickness. Prior to her being healed, the woman was regarded in Jewish law as a menstruating woman, and therefore ceremonially unclean. According to the law, in order to be regarded as clean, the flow of blood would have needed to stop for at least seven days. However, because this woman experienced constant bleeding, she lived in a continual state of uncleanness, which brought social and religious isolation upon her.3 After Jesus felt the woman touch his cloak, he stopped and called the woman out of the crowd to tell her that she was healed because of her great faith. He wanted the woman and the crowd to know that the strength of her faith, and not his garments, had caused her to be healed. Despite the taboo associated with touching an unclean woman, Jesus boldly made it known that they made contact and humbled himself to help the woman, without fear of condemnation or reproof. Moreover, in his action of stopping to tend to the sick woman, Jesus undermined the power of Jairus to show him that his daughter’s healing was not more important than this poor “unclean” woman’s. Not only did Jesus relinquish his own power to help the woman, he also humbled a ruler who had an attitude of superiority to teach him that the woman’s concerns were equally important.

In this same way, Jesus calls Christians specifically to surrender our power to empower others. This is what a Christ-centered social justice strategy looks like. It is not simply a political strategy or a fad. It is to risk being unpopular for the sake of others.

Jesus was a man who was repeatedly ridiculed for his association with the outcasts of society. He made it his point to develop a relationship with the marginalized: the poor, the drunkards, the 3 Luke 8:43–48.

26 | vol. 6, no. 2

physically and mentally afflicted. He did these things to set the example for how Christians should act. Christ calls Christians to activism by true sacrifice.

And this is not necessarily an activism working to perfect politics or society on Earth but one that points people towards a loving relationship with God. In closing, I cannot deny that many evil things have been done in the name of Christianity. It truly hurts my heart that this history serves as a barrier to people seeing the faith for what it truly is—good news proclaiming charity, love, joy, peace, kindness, and eternal life. But the pain caused to others “in the name of Christianity” should say less about the immorality of the religion and more about the state of human hearts. We are all sinful and sometimes do the wrong things. But Christianity itself is a powerful force that can be used much more for good, on Earth, in hearts, and in Heaven as it has been used for bad. I encourage Christians at Columbia to allow Christianity to be used for good; to recognize the way Christians have been imperfect and to proceed with increased dedication to both spiritual and social transformation. And for those of you who still hurt, be reminded that God promises to be “near to the brokenhearted and to save the crushed in spirit.” I encourage you to look at the character of Jesus with hope that Christians today will be more like Him. Although “Christianity” has disappointed, Jesus hasn’t—and he never will. Each day Jesus is working, even through us—broken vessels—to fulfill his greatest commands: to love God and love others.

Jade Thompson (BC ‘21) is a New York native who plans to double major in Economics and Sustainable Development. One of her greatest aspirations is to organize a nonprofit to build environmentally friendly tiny homes for the homeless. She spends much of her free time designing clothing, hanging with friends and thinking of new ways to save the world.

Jesus calls “ Christians specifically to surrender our power in order to empower others.

This is what a Christ-centered social justice strategy looks like.

”

The Problem with Food Finding Solutions to Modern-Day Suffering Anne-Marie Tehn-Addy

I

t’s the age-old question—Why does God allow suffering? The truth is, I don’t have an answer, and in my research most of the answers I read were unsatisfying. Yes, it is true that God works in mysterious ways. It’s even true that God weeps and feels pain related to suffering.1 And while it can be comforting for some to understand why suffering exists in our broken world, I believe it is more practical for us to direct our energy towards finding solutions to alleviate suffering in communities around us.

A more concrete way of understanding suffering can be found through an examination of health equity as a part of the greater push for social justice. The American Public Health Association (APHA) defines health equity as “everyone [having] the opportunity to attain their highest level of health.”2 Simply put, suffering occurs when not everyone has this opportunity. More often than not, people are prevented from attaining “their highest level of health” because of some social injustice. Though there are many disparities that contribute to this compounding issue, food swamps are the most notably egregious.

Food is a big part of any community.

Food moves through and connects different communities, food creates 1 John 11:35.

2 “Health Equity.” American Public Health

Association.

The Witness | 27

opportunities for people to gather, and food impacts the outcomes of people’s lives. Think about it: the nutritional value of the food you eat drastically impacts the outcome of your life. The type of food you have access to in your community can affect you even more.

Take Columbia University, for example.

As you walk along Broadway, you see Sweetgreen, Dig Inn, and Junzi, which

are all relatively nutritious and pricey fast-casual restaurants. When you walk a few blocks up into Harlem, however, your options expand to McDonald’s, Popeye’s, and many other fast food establishments. Their relative nutrition and price speaks for itself.

If you live in a community where food is only available to you in “establishments selling high-calorie fast food

28 | vol. 6, no. 2

and junk food, [rather than] healthier food options,” then you live in a food swamp.3 If you live in a food swamp, you are more likely to suffer, specifically through adverse health outcomes.

Food swamps are unlike the more widely known food deserts. The former demands access to an abundant amount of cheap and poorly nutritious food, the latter arises when there’s a lack of access to cheap and nutritious food. Food swamps, I believe, create a more insidious form of suffering because the cheap food is so readily obtained. This suffering is compounded by the fact that if a person lived in an area where the food establishments were healthier, then they would be less likely to suffer from preventable diseases.

Let’s consider a hypothetical case of two different people. Person A lives in city A, where most of the fast-casual places at their disposal are nutritious. Then there’s person B, who lives in city B, where most of the fast-casual places are actually fast food establishments. Of course, this situation is complicated by access to health care, doctor-patient relationships, genetics, and other problems. After a couple years, person A and B both go to their primary care physicians for a routine physical. Person B and other people living in city B suffer from more preventable diseases like heart disease and diabetes than Person A and other people living in city A. Furthermore, people in city B are more likely to be obese, because “food swamp measures [indicate] a positive effect on county-level obesity rates after controlling for food 3 Kristen Cooksey-Stowers, et al, “Food Swamps

Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts in the United States,” Int J Environ Res Public Health 14, no. 11 (2017): 1366.

deserts, physical activity, and key demographics.”4 The nutritional level of the food you consume greatly predicts the outcome of your health. Quite frankly, this sucks, especially because so many people live in food swamps and lack access to nutritional food.

When we look at the news, our modern American understanding of suffering, in relation to health equity,

offers a bleak outlook for the future.

I’ll be honest. I just unloaded a bunch of information that appears to show 4 Ibid.

Jesus has everything to do with finding solutions to suffering, even in relation to health inequity.

just another example of why our world is broken. Plus, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with God. Well, this is not just another essay that simply states the facts and then leaves them on the table. This essay is about finding a better approach to alleviating suffering, which we can never fully realize without understanding the inextricable link between God and social justice as evidenced through the ministry of Jesus Christ. He has everything to do with finding solutions to suffering, even in relation to health inequity.

Whether we’ve experienced suffering ourselves, seen it happen to loved ones, or simply care about social justice, suffering has touched the lives of most of us. The unfortunate reality is that suffering will continue to exist in the future. Our outlook on suffering, however, is important. In “Food. We Need Food,” Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses suffering, especially as it relates to food swamps, stating:

Christians have a different approach to understanding and responding to suffering. future in relation to suffering. In the realm of bleakness, however, Coates claims that he is “not a cynic” in his book, Between the World and Me.7 Yet

There is a culture to being fat, and putting fresh veggies in the hood isn’t enough to counter it. The culture is complicated—and it’s more American than it is hood. I would encourage people to think about all the negative ways we cope. The upper-class may not be fat . . .5

Coates’ words strike to the core.

They speak to the problem in food swamps, that even when “perceived access to healthy food improves, diet quality and body mass index (BMI) do not.”6 The interesting thing is that even though Coates makes valid claims about suffering related to health equity and food, he makes no mention of how we should combat the problem. Moreover, by encouraging “people to think about all the negative ways we cope,” Coates underscores the bleak outlook for the

his cynical outlook is furthered when he says, “You have been cast into a race in which the wind is always at your face and the hounds are always at your heels.”8 I brought this statement into light because Coates, like many writers, offers no solution for alleviating suffering. Though he is not obligated to find a

5 Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Food. We Need Food,” The

7 Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me, (New

Atlantic, (2009).

6 Cooksey-Stowers.

8 Ibid.

York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015).

solution, it’s important to acknowledge that by caring about social justice and health equity, we should also be trying to find the best way possible to support people with our actions and not solely through rhetoric. This includes the current generation and the ones to come in the future.

We can see this aforementioned support happening in the modern church, especially in regard to food swamps. Rev. Heber Brown III, a pastor at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, eloquently explains the importance of exploring this kind of suffering when he says, “Spirituality and agriculture have a deep relationship that is outlined in sacred scripture and that is practiced in weekly gatherings in worship spaces.”9 In response to this, Brown “launched The Black Church Food Security Network—a grassroots initiative that empowers black churches to establish a sustainable food system to combat . . . disparities that plague black Americans,” which include “diet-related illnesses.”10 Unlike Coates, Brown addresses the problem of suffering in food swamps by providing a tangible solution that has created a change in his community.

When finding a solution, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that whether we witness or experience suffering, we are expressing that there is some state of affairs from which a particular situation has devolved into suffering. In the case of health inequity, the state of affairs that serves as a basis for comparison is the aforementioned 9 Rachel Nania, “‘I wanted to do more for people than just pray’: Pastor blends faith, farms to end food insecurity in black churches,” //www.wtop. com.

10 Ibid.

The Witness | 29

health equity in which “everyone [has] the opportunity to attain their highest level of health.”11 This speaks to why Christians have such a different approach to understanding and responding to suffering. Christians, like the prominent theologian N.T. Wright, believe that the future holds “a new world as a beautiful, healing community; to envisage it as a world vibrant with life and energy, incorruptible, beyond the reach of death and decay; to hold it in our mind’s eye as a world reborn, set free from the slavery of corruption, free to be truly what it was made to be.”12 Although any attempt to create this new world by our strength alone would be in vain, this does not mean that Christians should not care for those who are suffering. In fact, Christians are specially called to 11 “Health Equity.”

12 N. T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, (Illinois:

InterVarsity Press, 2011), 118.

30 | vol. 6, no. 2

care about suffering, because “the new life of the Spirit . . . in the present age, is not a matter of sitting back and enjoying spiritual comforts . . . but consists rather of the unending struggle in the mystery of prayer.”13 This “new life of the Spirit” that comes after professing Christ as Lord, demands Christians to grapple with suffering.

Wright’s words and Rev. Heber Brown III’s actions underscore the difference in the Christian approach towards alleviating suffering. Unlike in the secular community, taking care of suffering is ideally fundamental, and not extraordinary, in the modern church. Honestly, seeing this level of care implemented in food swamps around Columbia University’s campus would be difficult, because it calls us to enter communities where people are 13 Ibid, 119.

suffering and sacrificially provide for them. This sacrifice can mean helping to set up a farmer’s market, creating a community garden like Rev. Brown, or educating community members on the essentials of healthy eating. It’s not impossible. By adopting a posture of servitude for everyone, especially those who are suffering, we can undercut the insidious nature of food swamps.

Battling suffering one food swamp at a time.

Anne-Marie Tehn-Addy (CC ’21) is a junior at Columbia College studying Neuroscience & Behavior. She loves to dance, talk about Long Island, and watch Law and Order SVU.

May Rain Callum Kiser A raindrop fell on my head the other day— small and cold, a tiny burst like an explosive Soon, that drop became millions, a rainstorm from a silver sky and I was smiling “It only rains when God is crying!” my friends back home would say; I’d ask myself, then, why I would smile at tears— From Jeremiah: “Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this” Now, when the clouds roll deep gray and send down showers, I don’t feel guilty for smiling— the trees are bathed, the grass nourished, the flowers bright and glossy, and I am in awe of the one who does it all

Callum (CC ’21) is a junior in Columbia College studying English. A native of Los Angeles, he loves theater, movies, books, and nature!

The Witness | 31

Join The Witness!

Get editorial experience.

Write something that matters. columbiawitness@gmail.com facebook.com/columbiacrownandcross

32 | vol. 6, no. 2

For More Information columbiawitness@gmail.com | crowncross.org Š 2019 The Columbia Witness All rights reserved.