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JAN 23. 2004 WWW.GUILFORDiAN.COM Quakers speak on Apocalypse Taleisha Bowen Associate Editor Taleisha Bowen/Guilfordian Ben Pink Dandelion Janet Melnyk and Ben Pink Dandelion were on campus Jan 14-16 as J. M. Ward Dis tinguished Quaker Visitors. Melnyk and Dandelion spoke on various subjects and con cluded their stay with the an nual J. M. Ward Lecture. This year's topic was "A History of the End of the World: The Apocalypse in Quakerism, Christianity, and Culture." Guilford welcomes transferring students mid-year Sarah Weiser Staff Writer For some students, the win ter holiday was a mid-year break, but for 15 students, it was the beginning to a new college and a new life. The transition period for the spring semester students is quite different from the Com munity, Health, Advisement, Orientation, Service (CHAOS) program of the fall semester. Instead of taking place over five days, all of the information sessions, math and foreign language place ment testing, registration and moving in happens in one day, First Year Advisory Di rector Shelley Crisp said. Fortunately, CHAOS lead ers for the upcoming fall se "Quakers don't talk theolo gy, they talk history," said Mary Ellen Chijioke, Director of Hege Library, who attended Thursday's talk. Dandelion, with his British accent - his meeting has a clear view of the original Pen die Hill - kept his audience's attention as he talked about history, revealing the connec tion between early Quakerism and apocalyptic thought. "Christianity is all about waiting for the Second Com ing," he said. He argued that Quakerism is no different. George Fox and the early Friends taught that the Second Coming was internal and happening in the mid-seventeenth century. Dandelion then said that the next generation of Quaker be lief was a step removed from the first: the Apocalypse had n't arrived but was still immi nent. "If the first Friends heard the alarm clock of the Second Coming, the seventeenth cen tury Friends sort of pressed the snooze button," Dandelion said. mester are available for the transfer students. Additional ly, the Student Health Center, the Career and Community Learning Center and the Aca demic Skills Center had an exhibition within the past week in Founders Hall to an swer new students' questions about campus resources. The timing of the arrival of the transfer students coincid ed with the returning classes this year. In previous years, new students arrived two days before the beginning of the spring semester and saw an empty campus, without the vital signs of human activ ity. The social atmosphere has made the beginning of the new semester easier for two NEWS Melnyk concluded with the Book of Revelations. The Apocalypse story illustrates the problems John saw with the Roman Empire. "Apocalypse stories are writ ten during times of storm and stress," Melnyk said. "When a culture reaches a level that vi olence is entertainment, there's a close connection be tween that culture and Rome." "It was nice to learn some things that I hadn't really con sidered before," said Sally Stevens, a senior concentrat ing in Quaker Studies. "It was really neat to study the topic from an analytical perspective as opposed to a theological one." The evening concluded with the typical question and an swer session. An audience member asked what true modern American Apocalypse stories have to say. Melnyk's response? "Well, they feature a lot of donkeys and elephants," she said, smiling. students, first-year John Owusu-Ansah and transfer student Charlie Clay, lighten ing their difficult transitions into attending the college. Owusu-Ansah, a native of Accra, Ghana, applied to about 20 universities interna tionally, but finally chose the college because he got the impression that it was a place where one could "really be come what you want to be". Though he is still learning his way around the communi ty, he had already made many friends in his dorm hall quite quickly. "Everybody re spects each other here," he said. He plans to double ma jor in computer science and economics, and his other in terests lay in music, especial Cole links past to present Continued from Page 1 Dean Adrienne- Israel. Various students and fac ulty members were respon sible for the variety of cele brations on campus during the holiday. One group that helped take much of the re sponsibility was the student organization Blacks Uniting Society (BUS). "Just his birthday is not enough to recognize him [but] any part I can do that makes people more aware of the problems going around and makes people celebrate him in anyway shape or form, I want to be involved in," sophomore Kristi Matthews, a member of BUS, said. The night ended with a candlelight vigil on the steps of Dana Auditorium where the community gathered and sang the Black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice ly the guitar and piano. Clay transferred from Rochester Institute of Tech nology (RIT) in upstate New York. When he first applied to colleges, he applied to Guil ford, but chose RIT when they accepted him. So why the big change? " I left after the first quarter," he said. "RIT was a total mis match for me. They have one track in their approach to ed ucation; there was a set path for everything. Guilford helps you find your own way, to re ally own your education." Clay says he was sure that the college was a better match for him, and he wanted to get here as soon as possi ble after his first-quarter ex perience. Clay's parents sup PAGE 2 GREENSBORO, NC and Sing". As Monica Walker, a visiting instructor in Justice and Policy Studies, said in her welcome, "For some of us [Martin Luther King day] will never be more than a holiday." To the crowd that gathered on Monday night, however, it was obviously more than a day off from school and work. I Guilford a w 4 i> l ! ' *■ j Emily Mann/Guilfordian Dr. Cole ported his decision to transfer to the college, which holds more opportunity for one-on one work with teachers, which was not an option at RIT, a technical college with an undergraduate population of 7,000. Though the adjustment process is not completed for these students, they both look forward to a productive semester. Even though they have not experienced the same amount of CHAOS as students who enroll in the fall, they receive the same amount of friendly support from campus members and official resources.
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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