by Erin Franklin | Jun 8, 2016 | News Slider
This week at Lipscomb, an Air Evac helicopter landed and students lay strewn across campus with gruesome-looking injuries. Despite the emergency scene, students were all smiles; they were getting first-hand simulated medical experience at this year’s Lipscomb-HCA/TriStar Health Care Academy. The academy drew 26 high-schoolers from across Tennessee — and even one from Honduras. The academy’s activities on Tuesday included first-aid training and even a live simulation, featuring Journalism Campers as “victims.” “I think this is a wonderful experience for high-schoolers to come and dabble in health care if that’s going to be their profession later in life,” said Sarah Neller, assistant professor of nursing. In the training, there were different stations set up for different types of medical treatment, and the students rotated from station to station. The training involved bandaging, cold liquid appliances and the removal of possible infectious materials such as dirt or grass in the wound. While this was going on, teachers were prepping the “victims” outside the Burton Health Sciences Center. Tamara Baird, an IT Nurse, was in charge of creating the victim’s “injuries.” Baird used tools such as Vaseline, costume blood, make-up and hydrogen peroxide. “I create accidents to make them look realistic for the medical trainees,” Baird said. Then, the students were given first-aid kits and instructed to go outside and examine their patients’ condition and properly treat them. Each victim was given a specific injury and role to play during the simulation; injuries ranged from minor sprains to serious lacerations and heat stroke. Baird said that the benefits extend beyond textbook knowledge. “If you get used to the wounds in this environment,...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 4, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
A live-action remake of the classic Rudyard Kipling tale, The Jungle Book is the rare family film that engages viewers of all ages, providing timeless storytelling and forgoing typical crude humor. Most of us have seen the original lighthearted Disney cartoon (1967) directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, who also brought us the beloved Disney films Robin Hood (1973) and 101 Dalmatians (1961). I naturally wondered how Disney would stay true to this original film and the Kipling story, while still putting an original twist on its reboot. This sounds like a daunting task, but director Jon Favreau accomplished this with creative skill. One of the film’s biggest assets is its visual beauty. Set deep in the jungle, the film is uniquely and solely portrayed (other than Mowgli) through impressively realistic computer-generated imagery (CGI). It stays true to its Disney roots, too, incorporating beloved songs and characters from the cartoon, such as Baloo’s number “The Bare Necessities” and chief monkey, King Louie (both not in Kipling’s original story), yet, overall, it is loyal to Kipling’s coming-of-age tale about a boy finding his place in his jungle home. The film stars newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli, who got the part after auditioning with over 1,000 other children. Sethi is the only non-computer-generated character in the film (other than a brief flashback with baby Mowgli and his father in the jungle), with all other characters portrayed as magnificent CGI animals. The Jungle Book does bring in well-known names as voices for the jungle creatures, such as Bill Murray (Baloo), Ben Kingsley (Bagheera), Idris Elba (Shere Khan), Lupita Nyong’o (Raksha) and Scarlett Johansson (Kaa) to draw viewers. However, much of the film’s success must be given to Kipling since he is the author...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 2, 2016 | News Slider
The name of the relatively unknown David French, a Lipscomb alum, has exploded across the Twitter universe after Bill Kristol’s Twitter announcement that there will be an “impressive” Independent candidate in the upcoming 2016 presidential election. Kristol, a political figure, journalist and one of the biggest advocates to stop presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, has been searching for a candidate to run as an Independent to put an end to Trump’s campaign. French is not Kristol’s first attempt at trying to help mount a conservative in the effort to keep Trump and Hillary Clinton from making it into the Oval Office. Kristol also courted Mitt Romney, but to no avail. Romney, however, applauded French’s character on Twitter on Tuesday. “I know David French to be an honorable, intelligent and patriotic person. I look forward to following what he has to say,” Romney tweeted. Lipscomb’s Provost, Dr. Craig Bledsoe, knows French personally. Bledsoe spoke highly of his friend, praising his character. “The thing I think people should know about David is that he is a high-quality individual who not only talks the talk but also walks the walk,” Bledsoe said, as he thought about the one thing he thinks the American people should know about French. “He is a person who truly believes his convictions and lives out those convictions. He’s not just somebody who says what he thinks; he actually lives what he thinks.” French was one of Bledsoe’s first students when he started his career as a political science professor at Lipscomb. “He was a great student — extraordinarily smart. He was one of those students that faculty like because when he walked into...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 1, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Although it wasn’t quite “grizzling or horrigust,” The BFG just might be categorized as a “grunicous” (as BFG would say) film to sit through for anyone who’s graduated from elementary school. Moviegoers can’t help but to expect an E.T.-like film upon hearing Steven Spielberg was directing another story about a child developing a friendship with a fantastical being, but The BFG (The Big-Friendly Giant) falls short of the storytelling magic E.T. possesses that we’ve come to expect from Spielberg. The film focuses on Sophie, an orphan, who is snatched by a giant from her bed. The tale continues with an unlikely, yet lovable friendship between Sophie and the giant, whom she dubs “BFG.” BFG isn’t the only giant in the world, though; there are several other giants, who have terrifying names, “Bloodbottler” and “Maidmasher,” for example, who eat children such as Sophie. The rest of the story tells Sophie’s and BFG’s quest to end the terror the other giants inflict upon “human beans,” and even BFG himself. BFG is not entirely without merit. The budding young star, Ruby Barnhill, delivers an admirable performance as Sophie, the orphan who travels to Giant Country. Mark Rylance also provides a wonderful voice performance as the title character. The CGI in the film is striking as well; however, this year’s The Jungle Book’s imagery is much more so. With today’s CGI possibilities, it seems that the scenery could have so much more depth — “Giant Country” is dull and lacking compared to the intricate and detailed jungle in The Jungle Book. Despite Barnhill and Rylance’s performances, older filmgoers may begin to suffer from boredom...
by Erin Franklin | May 28, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
No. 4 Lipscomb (31-27) played valiantly in the ASUN Championship, but it suffered a final loss in the double-elimination tournament to No. 5 FGCU (25-31) by a score of 8-6 Friday night at Ken Dugan Field. Coach Jeff Forehand said it was an “abrupt” end to a good season. “When you put so much into it all season and then play such a good game this morning and then battle in this game too, it’s tough to see everything end in one day like this,” Forehand said. In the weekend series against the same Florida Gulf Coast team earlier in the season, the Bisons won one of three. They scored a victory the first game 5-4 but lost the latter two games 19-4 and 7-4. The Bisons started the day off with an extra-innings 1-0 loss against No. 2 North Florida, causing the later game against FGCU to be an elimination game. Redshirt freshman Kyle Kemp started the game for Lipscomb, allowing five hits and four runs, striking out three and walking two in five innings. Forehand brought in senior reliever Kyle Weller after the fifth. The Bisons’ bats may not have been hot in their morning game, when they had just two hits, but they came through with several solid hits against FGCU. In the first inning, Lee Solomon managed to beat out an infield hit before advancing to third due to a throwing error. Adam Lee then belted a homer, giving the Bisons an early 2-0 lead. The FGCU Eagles returned in the third inning to score four runs, two of which were due to a fielding error. The Bisons came back in the bottom of the...
