Thirteen reasons to speak up

Suicide – it’s a scary word, one many of us cannot even muster without crinkling up our faces. It forces us to think about experiences that wipe the smiles from expressions. Suicide – just the word has the ability to make the strongest person’s heart sink.

As you wish my Princess Bride

One movie sticks out through my childhood – one that brings my brothers and me together even when we are in the worst fight. What is this miracle movie called you may ask. The answer: The Princess Bride. Even though I love this movie the book is even better.

Insurgent will throw you for a loop

With Insurgent coming to theaters in a matter of days, some students are scrambling to get their hands on a copy of the book to see what’s in store.

I would be scrambling myself if I hadn’t plowed through it shortly after finishing the first book, Divergent. If you are on the fence about reading the book, let me put my two cents in and see if that helps you make your decision.

When it comes to abuse there are no “Shades of Grey”

“Fifty Shades of Gray” is described as a harlequin romance fantasy. A book that satisfies women’s fantasies with no harmful effects because no one would really let their fantasies get the best of them. That right there is a fantasy. Yet, both the book and the movie are selling on the top of the charts. The fact of the matter is that violence and abuse is not something that should be taken so lightly, especially since sexual violence is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in our society.

An exploration of science, evolution and belief in God

“God Is Here to Stay: Science, Evolution, and Belief in God” is a 2014 publication written by Thomas R. McFaul and Al Brunsting. The chapters consist of scientific findings that support the idea that humanity is structured for knowledge, spiritual experiences, justice, and universal morality. These findings, the authors argue, support belief in a God rather than non-belief.

In the opening chapter the authors glance over general versions of the cosmological, teleological, ontological, and moral arguments for the existence of God. Each argument is summarized in a couple of paragraphs, then they are dismissed. It is concluded that the lack of consensus

Book Review: Comrade Chikatilo

With the 1993 publication of Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia’s Notorious Serial Killer, authors Ol’gert Ol’Gin and Mikhail Krivitch clearly divulge the life of prolific killer Andrei Chikatilo, the grisly fate of his victims, Russia’s exhausting and seemingly futile manhunt, and the tumultuous trial that led to the Red Ripper’s death sentence.

With an upbringing in a famine impoverished, World War II entrenched Ukraine, young Chikatilo lived under both the very real threat of German artillery and the possible threat of being cannibalized by fellow starving citizens, which was purportedly to be the fate of his older brother. Later in life, from adolescence into adulthood, he suffered from impotence that led to self-contempt and attempts at suicide.

Book Review: The Cleanest Race

Since North Korea’s inception in the late 1940s, the rogue state’s history has been inseparable from mystery and misconceptions. Known as the Hermit Kingdom due to its sequestered nature, it remains an incredibly bizarre, anachronistic nation that seeks unification—by force, if necessary—of the two Koreas. Its continued secrecy has guaranteed a lack of access to information concerning the worldview of many North Koreans. Thankfully, B.R. Myers’ The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters serves as a thorough guide that spans the pre-WWII Japanese colonization of Korea to the closing chapters of Kim Jong-il’s reign.

Book Review: Going Clear by Lawrence Wright

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief is a 2013 publication by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Lawrence Wright. Covering an extensive amount of material, Mr. Wright explores Scientology’s origins, tenets, attacks on critics, the treatment of newly enlisted members to high profile veterans such as Tom Cruise, and the life of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Scientology’s status as a relatively new and secretive religion has opened it to a large amount of speculation and criticism. Unlike other religions that openly declare tenets, the Church of Scientology makes its sporadic tenets public in a begrudging manner, occasionally due to various internal breaches of Church documents. However, where the majority of the public’s knowledge of Scientology ends, Mr. Wright fully explores its remaining dogma, including Scientology’s origin and its unorthodox role in religion.

The dogma