“I would look in the mirror and not like what I saw,” said one Trinity Western University student, who has struggled with an eating disorder. Her effort to change her body became an obsession, “Every thought was about food: when are you going to eat next, what you need to avoid eating.” She wouldn’t eat all day, or would only eat grapes or something with little or no calories. Then she would binge at the end of the day because she had been starving herself. This style of eating took her on an emotional roller coaster. “After I would binge, I’d start to hate myself,” she said. “I’d feel like a failure because I couldn’t just stop myself from eating,” she said.

Students at Trinity Western University can sometimes have the problem of finding a niche to apply what they’ve learned in the real world. For Darren Wiebe this challenge stuck with him through his four years at TWU. Wiebe, 2007 TWU alum, switched his major at different points in his school career, from Pre-med, to social work and finally settling on Christianity and Culture.

However, he discovered that his major didn’t really translate into many things he was interested in, which left him bewildered as to where his next steps would take him. Despite his major, Wiebe has been interested in occupational therapy and psychosocial development and hopes to eventually do his Masters in Occupational therapy.

As the rainy season starts to roll in and papers begin to overwhelm us, it’s easy to lose momentum. Over the last four years I’ve resisted noticing the obvious effects of this dreadful period. Walking across campus on most rainy afternoons I often sense I’ve walked onto the set of a bad zombie movie. I am positive there is nothing worse than staring at the same books day after day as the rain attacks your spirit like a plague. So what can you do to get your head out of the murkiness? Simple: get out and escape. Grab the next bus or carpool and find some ambiance that is worthy of your academic wanderings. One golden rule on the study habits of the wise is that there is nothing more refreshing than a change of scenery.

“I’m worried about people thinking I’m not as good as they are, or thinking that there’s something wrong with me,” says a second year Trinity Western University student, who has been diagnosed with depression and bi-polar disorder. “I’m worried about people thinking that God is punishing me for the sin in my life and that’s why I’m having these issues,” she said. “Some people think if you pray and honestly believe in Him, God would take [the mental illness] from you,” she explains. She does not believe in this view, stating “I wouldn’t be sick if that were the case.”

One weekend I went on a class field trip to Mbale, a Muslim hub city near the Kenyan border. Mbale featured beautiful mountains, scattered raspberry bushes and a pink clock tower made possible by Zain, one of the local cell phone empires. The purpose of our trip: to witness a circumcision.

Job Title: Head Cashier and Candy Buyer
Where you’ve seen her: Warmly greeting you as you enter the bookstore and helping you out with any of your bookstore needs.

Most of us here are children of the early 1990s: the time when Saturday morning cartoons featured less Sponge-Bob and more Duck Tales and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These were times when the “family” sitcom reigned supreme; where Family Matters, Full House and Step by Step were more than just re-runs on Nickelodeon. Instead, these formed the basis for the über-popular TGIF (if you don’t know what this is, look it up) and popularized the stereotypical family archetype.

From the readers:

– Tired & Stressed at TWU

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Dear Cranky,