by Jayme Foltz | Mar 14, 2021 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Like the more recent Disney Princess films, Raya and the Last Dragon follows the story of a daring and adventurous heroine who embarks on a journey to save her world. Raya’s tale is one of empowerment as an independent young woman embraces change and modernity. The storyline is familiar in some ways, but what is unique to the film is the Southeast Asian representation. Kumandra, the film’s fantasy world, is heavily influenced by Southeast Asian culture, and in fact, Raya is Disney’s first princess from that region. Raya and the Last Dragon was directed by Disney veteran Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada and written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim. The film featured the talented voices of Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina as Raya and Sisu, respectively. In Kumandra, humans and dragons lived united in peace until shapeless monsters referred to as Druun began to ravage the land and turn everyone to stone. To save their world, the dragons sacrificed themselves and left only a remnant of their magic behind inside the Dragon Gem. 500 years later, a young girl named Raya (Tran) is tasked with protecting the gem, but a dramatic betrayal leaves the gem shattered and lost, allowing the Drunn to escape. A few years after the monsters have returned to her world, Raya with her hybrid pet Tuk Tuk, seek out the last dragon, Sisu (Awkwafina), to help her destroy the monsters yet again. She must travel to the other kingdoms to find the stolen pieces of the Dragon Gem. Along the way, the duo will assemble their own ragtag crew. After all, what better team is there...
by Micah Kennedy | Mar 13, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons took the first of back-to-back games against Kennesaw State in a dominating 3-0 sweep. Coming into the game, the Owls were undefeated with 10 wins, all in the ASUN. The Lady Bisons went into the game with 10-2 record, 7-1 record in the conference. The top two teams in the conference came out with speed and aggressiveness. They traded blows, but Lipscomb took an early lead 9-4 benefitting from two Samantha Rubal kills. The Owls upped the defensive intensity with a few consecutive blocks to cut it to 9-7. Lipscomb held the lead till the late part of the set until the teams found themselves tied at 23. Kennesaw State players Claire Parsons and Dani Ballou both scored two kills leading to the tie game. The set ended with a 25-23 score in the Lady Bisons favor after a Kamryn Bacus kill and a double touch on the Owls. In contrast, the second set was all Lipscomb from the first serve. The Lady Bisons started with a 4-0 burst including a Garrett Joiner kill and Megan Kuper ace. Throughout the set, the Lady Bisons’ offense was very effective, and the Owls struggled with errors. The Lady Bisons led by as many as 11 in this set and led by a score of 21-10 at one point, finishing the set in a dominant fashion by a score of 25-13. The biggest separating factor after two sets was hitting percentage, with the Lady Bisons at .273 and the Owls only at a .074 clip. After losing two sets for just the second time this...
by Hannah Cron | Mar 13, 2021 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
It’s almost spring, which can only mean one thing: it’s time for the Grammy Awards! I know some don’t care that much about award shows, but I’m a music enthusiast, and I love to see my favorite artists perform and be recognized for the amazing work they have done in the past year. For you sports people, I’d say this is the musical equivalent of March Madness. Of course, awards are not the only indicator of success, and there are certainly plenty of artists every year who are snubbed (most notably The Weeknd this year), but it is fun to watch regardless. For each category included, I’ll list all of the nominees and then my picks for who will win and who should win. For some of these categories, the award goes to the producer or writer as well as or instead of the artist. For sake of ease, I have only listed the artist, but you can check out the full details on the Grammy Awards website. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the 2021 Grammy Awards. Record of the Year “Black Parade” – Beyoncé “Colors” – Black Pumas “Rockstar” – DeBaby featuring Roddy Rich “Say So” – Doja Cat “Everything I Wanted” – Billie Eilish “Don’t Start Now” – Dua Lipa “Circles” – Post Malone “Savage” – Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé Who will win: I think there are a few ways this could go, but I think Beyoncé’s timely “Black Parade” probably has the best chance of winning. However, I can also see “Say So” or “Savage” taking home this coveted honor. These songs...
by Spencer Boehme | Mar 12, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
By many metrics, this was a good season for the Lipscomb Lady Bisons basketball team. For a program that had won four combined conference games in the past two seasons, Lipscomb improved with a winning record in ASUN play and an undefeated home record. That successful season came to a close with a 59-44 loss against the No. 1 seeded FGCU Eagles on Friday afternoon. 13 points from center Dorie Harrison and 11 from senior Taylor Clark were the highlights, as Lipscomb played close multiple times but could never really sustain momentum. Surprisingly, the troublemaker for FGCU was not sophomore transfer Kiersten Bell, who came in with nearly 25 points a game. She managed nine points on 3-of-17 from the floor. Rather, it was Aaliyah Stanley, whose 25 points led the way for the Eagles. Lipscomb went 16-of-57 from the floor, while FGCU went 16-of-58. But FGCU made 11 three-pointers as opposed to just four for the Lady Bisons, and Lipscomb struggled from the charity stripe (8-of-14). The game started out with a major stalemate, with neither team scoring until the 6:31 mark in the first quarter off a layup from Bell. Lipscomb used an 11-0 run to take a lead of 18-15 with 6:06 left in the second but got shut out going into halftime with a 26-18 deficit. The third quarter wasn’t much better, with Lipscomb down 39-25 after a Stanley triple with just under three minutes left. Lipscomb used an 8-0 run early in the fourth to narrow the deficit to just nine with 6:48 left in the fourth. That was the closest the Lady Bisons would...
by Camryn Given | Mar 12, 2021 | News, News Slider
On Feb. 25 Lipscomb held a Day of Giving to invite members of the community to help the school reach its fundraising goal. You can read more about what the events held here. On this single day, the university took in more than $850,000 from donors. At the beginning of 2019, Lipscomb created the LipscombLEADS program, an initiative to raise $250 million by the end of this year. Thanks to the 47,000 donors through LipscombLEADS and the money brought in on the Day of Giving, Lipscomb has reached its goal early. In response, President Lowry said. “We have successfully reached our $250 million campaign goal, which is the largest and most ambitious in our history, during one of the most challenging times in our world with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic. It is a testament to the passion of our donors to support Christian higher education and for Lipscomb University.” The funding will be used for scholarships, teacher recognition awards, a performance arts center, and more. The initiative won’t be over until Dec. 31 and LipscombLEADS will continue to fundraise for these programs. “And we aren’t finished yet, because there is still work to be done,” said...
by Kathryn Farris | Mar 12, 2021 | News, News Slider
A year ago, crowded nights in Allen Arena and smiling faces in Bennett Student Center used to be the norm. However, in the time since, the Lipscomb community has become all too familiar with masks, social-distancing and virtual learning. The changes from the past year are causing students and faculty to evaluate: What exactly awaits us in the future? Just one year ago, on Thursday, March 12, 2020, the university sent out an email to students officially extending spring break another week. Lumination covered this day as a part of a live update series. COVID was developing across the nation, across Nashville even, and no one expected the extended break would turn the campus into a ghost town for months to come. LIVE UPDATES: Lipscomb extends online instruction for rest of spring semester, cancels commencement and closes dorms The next weeks saw canceled Singarama, Mission Trips and live music events. Slowly the culture shifted, creating a new bubble of Tiger King and Zoom calls. COVID halts 57th annual Singarama, but participants discuss informal staging and the relationships they established Music gets muffled by COVID-19 pandemic; Festivals, clubs and even Rolling Stones silenced These changes left the Lipscomb administration reeling for solutions, even as information about the virus was confusing and scarce. “There was a huge cross-section of representatives from different disciplines in the university,” said Kim Chaudoin, Lipscomb’s vice president for public relations and a member of the “IMT” (the Lipscomb taskforce for incident management). “We were meeting to just decide, ‘OK; what do we do?’ about classes, employees and the management of this pandemic,” she said, as news...
