by Ariel Jones | Nov 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Brittany Barker is not your average student here at Lipscomb University. She has many talents and aspirations and has put those talents into good use during her time here. A graphic design major, Barker has used her graphing design skills outside of the classroom through her involvement with Lipscomb’s Theatre Department. Barker has been associated with productions like Hairspray, Les Misérables and other shows on campus. She is currently set to graduate this fall and seeks to embark on the next chapter of her life after college. Soon after graduation, Barker plans to get her master’s degree in graphic design and have a teaching internship as well. One thing to know about Barker is that she’s a devoted Disney World fan. As a matter of fact, one of her posts on Facebook reads, “NOTHING like Disney,” when she shared a link on her wall about a “fake Disney World” that she had seen online. Barker isn’t only a fan of the Disney franchise. She hopes to join the company, putting her major graphic design to work. “I see myself owning my own business and working at Disney, designing cool logos for them,” Barker said when asked to peek into her future five years from now. Friendships are important to Barker, but the most important relationship she worked on while at Lipscomb was her faith with Jesus Christ. She says her walk with Jesus hasn’t changed much since coming to Lipscomb, but something did change. “My walk with Jesus hasn’t much changed since first coming to Lipscomb University, but my faith has grown stronger since being here,” Barker said. “Lipscomb has helped me...
by Emily Snell | Oct 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
Roller coasters have been a part of Charla Long’s life for many years. Though no longer in the theme park industry, Long says her job as dean of the College of Professional Studies is “a roller coaster every single day.” Long, who previously worked with Silver Dollar City, Disney and Premier Park (which owns Six Flags), said the service mindset that was reinforced during her 10-year stint in the theme park business still influences the work she does. “I think that when you have a service mentality, that never leaves you whatever occupation you have,” she said. “I’m all about, ‘what’s in the best interest of students, how can I better serve my students, how can I show genuine hospitality?’ That’s something that I’ve certainly learned as a Christian. That’s a faith calling for me, but certainly I had that reinforced at Disney. Although they’re not a faith-based company, we had a lot of common tenets about how we treat people.” Long taught in the College of Business from 2002-2003 before moving to Wisconsin with her husband, Allen, who was working with OshKosh B’Gosh at the time. After 18 months teaching employment law at the University of Wisconsin, Long said she felt drawn to return to Lipscomb. “I really missed the opportunity to serve in a different way at Lipscomb,” Long said, “although I love a public education environment because I’m light there. Students don’t seek you out for light here like they do at a public institution. They were always in my office for personal problems because they had no one to talk to. Here we don’t get...
by Cory Woodroof | Jun 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
After Cars 2, I began to wonder if Pixar’s magic was on a brief hiatus. Sure, Cars 2 isn’t a horrible film. It has some decent qualities, but the entire film just lacks the usual Pixar flair. As a frequent movie-goer, I have to admit that missing that yearly feeling of Pixar awe and wonder really left a hole in my cinematic heart. There’s just something about Pixar films that give viewers a special feeling. Thinking back on Ratatouille, I remember the flashback sequence to food critic Anton Ego’s childhood – that moment of serene bliss when old Ego remembers the feeling of a home-cooked meal. It’s one of my favorite moments in any movie ever. It’s what I feel when I watch movies that I love – many of them opening with the Pixar logo. So after Cars 2 disappointed, I began to wonder if that feeling would ever come back. Brave, the 13th Pixar film, brought back a few shreds of Pixar’s warmth, but not the entire feeling. The original fairy tale helped me remember some of the magic from Pixar’s past, but at the end, I just didn’t get full closure. Brave is a very well done Disney movie, but is it a great Pixar movie? That’s the question at hand. Brave is both an experiment and a dance in the comfort zone for Pixar. While this is the studio’s first fairy tale, Brave features so many staple features of the studio’s lineage of hits that it almost feels as if Pixar is treading light water. While Brave could have used the fierce stamp of originality...
by Cory Woodroof | Oct 7, 2011 | News Slider, Opinion
If you’ve ever met me, you are likely to pick up within the first fifteen minutes that I kind of like movies. Movies have been an integral part of my life ever since my childhood. I distinctly remember my first movie experience- seeing The Lion King during its initial release in the summer 1994. I would have been around 2 years old. Over the past nineteen plus years of my life, I have seen countless films, written countless reviews, and have spent countless hours increasing my knowledge on the subject I love. Everyone has to have a point where they form their passion- a sort of love at first sight. I remember when I first truly fell in love with film. I was 3, the time was around Thanksgiving 1995, and Toy Story had just been released. I remember seeing Toy Story. It was the first time I really loved a film. For about a year or so, I was obsessed with everything Toy Story. I had a cowboy poster print around my walls. I had Toy Story bed sheets (with matching comforter and pillow covers), countless Toy Story toys and memorabilia (including the lunch box with thermos included), a Woody outfit for Halloween the following yea, and my own Woody doll with my name written on the bottom of Woody’s boot. After seeing Toy Story, I decided that movies were really my “thing.” I started to see everything I could under the sun. That personality trait has helped develop me as a writer and as a person. I always look back to Toy Story as the match that...
