by Lorena Coleman | Sep 28, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Battle of the Sexes chronicles the infamous tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King in 1973. Academy Award winner Emma Stone plays King and Academy Award nominee Steve Carell plays Riggs. This star-studded cast also includes Elisabeth Shue, Andrea Riseborough, Austin Stowell and Bill Pullman. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the film follows one-time Wimbledon champ Bobby Riggs who, now age 55 and ever the gambler, challenges 29 year-old King, currently the No. 1 women’s tennis player, to a tennis match. Riggs claims he can easily beat King because she is a woman. While King initially turns Riggs down, she ends up taking his challenge, not to merely add another win to her record, but to take a stand for women’s equality and the liberation movement. Stone is inspiring as King, and Carell is charismatic as Riggs. Together, they bring an effective portrayal of the sports rivalry to the big screen. You could watch this film just to witness the banter between Stone and Carell, which is the perfect showcase of their expert acting chops and comedic timing. It brings a light and entertaining tone to the movie that at times can also be very dramatic. This drama is brought to life from the very beginning, when we are introduced to the main characters, and quickly uncover both King and Riggs have their share of issues. For Riggs, it’s a bad gambling problem that has led to problems with his wife and family life. For King, it’s being a married woman who is discovering she is falling for someone who is of the same sex. While the trailer...
by Kailey Schuyler and Josh Odum | Sep 26, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
Deep in the heart of Allen Arena, men’s soccer coach Charles Morrow reviews his team’s lineup for Saturday’s game in San Diego. Morrow, a 13-year fixture at Lipscomb still appears far more at home on the sideline of a soccer pitch than he does in his office, surrounded by soccer memorabilia, but this isn’t particularly surprising. Morrow was introduced to soccer while growing up in a predominantly Latino school district near Corpus Christi, TX. “When we went out to play at recess, we weren’t playing football; we were playing soccer,” Morrow said. As a true freshman in 1994, Morrow played for Queens College in Charlotte, which he chose because it was a co-ed school with a growing soccer program. “Good soccer and a lot of girls,” he noted, adding, “It sounded great.” However, Morrow said he struggled in his freshman year with the transition from “a big fish in a small pond” in high school to “the lower half of the roster for sure, if not lower third” at Queens. Despite this, Morrow pointed to this year as the year he realized that college soccer was what he wanted to do. Nevertheless, Morrow said the “party school” atmosphere got old. “In the early nineties, Lipscomb was a school that Church of Christ parents could send their kid to and feel good that their kids would be safe and be taught the right things . . . . What you saw was ‘I’m here because my parents are making me go here. This is where they would pay for me to go to school,’” he said. Morrow was looking for...
by LeBron Hill | Sep 24, 2017 | News Slider, Opinion
President Randy Lowry on Thursday invited the African-American student body to his house for dinner and conversation. I attended, and what I saw that night indeed was insensitive to African-American culture. What stood out to me was the cotton in the Mason jars placed on the dinner tables. Being exposed to it before, I tried to make light of it by seeing the irony — I let go of it, keeping in mind the good intention of the night. We then headed into the president’s house to have conversation. After Mr. and Mrs. Lowry told their story, they gave the floor to the students to share their story. We ran out of time to have discussion, but the president did tell the audience they could ask him anything at the end of the night. The next day, talk began to circulate about what happened. I told one of my teachers professor about it, and he was shocked. At that point, I had no knowledge of the conversations on social media. Later in the day, an apology was sent out to the entire student body. Channel 4 News got word as well, and the conversation surrounding the night grew. During the weekend, many people talked to me about the occasion. On one side, people felt that the décor was more Southern heritage than an offensive material. On the other side, many felt that the decoration was contextually inappropriate and should have not been on display. The conversation continued into the following week. The Diverse Student Coalition facilitated panel discussions featuring students who attended the dinner. I went to one on Wednesday that...
by LeBron Hill | Sep 21, 2017 | News Slider
After several years under contract with Pepsi, Lipscomb is now a “Coca-Cola campus” as announced this Tuesday during the Gathering in Allen Arena. James Franklin III serves as the CEO for the bottling company and spoke to the student body about his commitment to Lipscomb. After he showed a video highlighting his son, James Baak, and his trip to South Sudan, he invited the Coca-Cola Polar Bear to the stage alongside Vice President of Student Life Josh Roberts. Together they told the crowd about the several Coca-Cola sponsored events happening on campus soon. Baak is the founder of SMARD, Solidarity Ministries Africa for Reconciliation and Development. SMARD’s mission is to empower women and children of South Sudan by educating them and giving them the freedom to find confidence in themselves. Born and raised in South Sudan, Baak dealt with great turmoil as a young boy and told the story of how he had to flee to Ethiopia. “The travel in length was Nashville to Denver,” he said. At first, Baak wished to return home. However, it was after a dream featuring a man in white clothing, giving him a bible and telling him to fight onward that he found Christ. After gaining an education and becoming a pastor, Baak went back to his home country of South Sudan and planted a church while helping other churches there reach their maximum potential. He said he hopes that his mission will continue to touch others and raise awareness surrounding the women and children of South...
by Lorena Coleman | Sep 20, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
“My grandmother always told me I have to be extraordinary to be considered average,” Actress Tisha Campbell-Martin told the audience in Collins Alumni Auditorium on Monday evening. “You have to be able to do it all to be great.” Campbell-Martin shared many empowering statements like this during her conversation with guest moderator Shannon Sanders, and she seems to have followed her grandmother’s advice. The multi-hyphenated actress and singer came to speak for The George Shinn College of Entertainment and the Arts presented Actress Insights: A Conversation with Tisha Campbell-Martin. The hour and a half event offered Lipscomb students, faculty and the general public an intimate look into the life of the multi-hyphenated actress and singer. Campbell-Martin, who has been in shows such as My Wife and Kids, Martin and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, had many stories to share over her four-decade long career, starting from the very beginning of it all. She talked about how she got her foot in the door with singing and acting and the moment she realized she wanted to make a career out of it, all starting with a singing competition she entered at age five. Her only goal was to win the second prize in the competition, which was a color TV. “At first, I was mad when I didn’t win second prize,” Campbell-Martin laughed, “Instead I won first prize which was a car. But then, I saw my mother crying and my father jumping up and down, and that was the moment I knew I could help people.” She said she realized then what she was supposed to do as an artist and wanted to make helping people...
by Savannah Stewart | Sep 19, 2017 | News Slider
For the first Media Masters of the semester, Robert A. Jackson, Jr. discussed race communications as well as bias in the Lipscomb community and the media with communication students Monday night in Ezell. Jackson started off the evening by addressing “the elephant in the room” before offering his advice to students and faculty in regards to their future vocation. Last Thursday, Lipscomb president Randy Lowry invited African American students over to his home to discuss their unique experiences on campus. Stalks of cotton were featured as the table centerpiece and “soul food” was served to the students. Several students took issue with this. “Some are wondering if I would speak about the cotton incident last week,” Jackson said. “The answer is ‘yes.’ I have read multiple comments from multiple venues. I have looked at it from several angles.” Jackson went on to discuss how there was much more to this story than “just cotton stalks and soul food.” “There is a suspending issue that is at the center of the problem,” he said. “The situation could have been handled better and concerns from the African American community are being addressed with the president.” Jackson describes himself as a “bridge-builder” for many communities and groups of people to come together. “We have to build a bridge because this chasm is very deep; it is very vast and it is very wide,” he said. To continue, Jackson spoke a reminder to students and faculty that actions and words should exist hand-in-hand. “If we are not looking to help other people rise, then we can forget about what we call religion, because they...
