The Optimist
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Senior embraces unknown future

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It's a feeling unlike any other. It knots your stomach just before a winner's name is announced. It keeps you awake at night before a crucial job interview. It can last a moment, or it can last for days. It can take many forms: jealousy, spontaneity, even depression. It is the unknown. How you respond to it will make or break you. The scent of ... [Read More…]

ACU must expand recycling initiative

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They're not in the dorms, and they're not in the majority of buildings on campus. Nope, they're not even in the Bean. It takes a serious amount of effort and determination to find the sparse population of recycling bins on ACU's grounds and then transport reusable garbage to these locations. Our campus needs more recycling bins, and despite ... [Read More…]

Athletics, Chapel make perfect pair

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ACU needs new ways for its students to reach the magical 55 Chapel credit number to prevent the year-end Chapel rush. The solution is simple: give ACU students Chapel credits for attending sporting events. It makes perfect sense - students need more credits and athletes need more fans at their games. Moody Coliseum is great, but it looks kind of ... [Read More…]

Followers ‘lost’ after series finale

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It's happening. The end of the world is near. Okay, not really, but one of the greatest eras in TV history is coming to a close within the next month, and life as we know it might never be the same again. Judge me if you must, but ABC's hit drama series, Lost, has only four episodes left, and I'm starting to freak out a bit for a few ... [Read More…]

Relaxation found while flying kites

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Anyone living in Abilene, or Texas for that matter knows you can't rely on the weather to tell you when spring has arrived. Instead, I learned early on to find alternative methods. In elementary school I always knew spring was here when we would fly kites. Once a year at Taylor Elementary School we had kite day. As I recall, it wasn't an event ... [Read More…]

Prayer Day should remain on calendar

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Thomas Jefferson said it best. "Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the time for [prayer and fasting], according to their own particular tenets; and that right can never be safer than in their hands, where the Constitution has deposited it." The National Day of Prayer has been an annual tradition since its inception in 1952 ... [Read More…]

Christians fear disapproval of church

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"I can't do this. People are going to chew me up and spit me out and tell me that I'm worthless." These harsh words punctuated an interview in this month's Christianity Today with Christian pop singer Jennifer Knapp, but they had less to do with her singing career and much more to do with her decision to confirm the rumors she is gay. Throughout ... [Read More…]

Travel, near or far, revitalizes soul

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I struggle with my faith. I worry when God seems distant or things seem stagnant. But I found three words that harness the power to awaken and refresh my soul: God speaks Ladin. Not to be confused with Latin, Ladin is an endangered language spoken by about 30,000 people in the mountains of northern Italy. If you traveled to a remote scene and ... [Read More…]

Complaining student grasps appreciation

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I sometimes forget just how amazing life can be. When I awoke from my slumbers earlier today it was one of those chilly spring mornings, where the wind nips at you but could hardly be considered biting. But I didn't know that - I was tucked warmly away in my bed in a climate-controlled setting. I recognized the chill in the air only when I rolled ... [Read More…]

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