(OPINION) It’s no secret that the Christian community is shrinking. Headlines like “America’s Christian Majority is on Track to End” and “The Weird Spiral of Declining Christianity in America” grace endless reputable news outlets’ religion and culture sections. It’s also no secret that spiritual practices like witchcraft and astrology have been making waves, especially in the Gen-Z and Millennial communities.
Read More(OPINION) I needed the tiger’s strength, their composure, their fighting spirit. So I finally booked my $25 guided tour at CFAR on a Sunday afternoon. The only thing separating us was the chain link around the enclosure and about five feet of distance. I saw the tiger looking at me, and we locked eyes. Her eyes were the most stunning blend of turquoise and amber. Her face was calm, like she was looking past my eyes into my soul. Some people’s adrenaline levels would shoot up if a tiger ever got within five feet of them. Looking into her eyes, I felt a sense of peaceful reassurance wash over me.
Read More(OPINION) There are nearly 210,240 hours in 24 years, and Adnan Syed spent those 210,240 hours in prison proclaiming his innocence before his eventual release in 2022. Syed’s life completely changed when his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee went missing that evening. Weeks later, her body was found, and Syed became the prime suspect. How did Syed continue to declare his innocence? Two decades after his initial arrest he was exonerated of all crimes, but it is important to delve into the details that made his 2022 release possible.
Read More(OPINION) Last February, my world was folding in on top of me. That was the day the Russian army invaded the eastern Ukrainian city where my grandparents lived. Living with the notion that the people I love are in constant danger of being attacked while trying to keep up with college schoolwork was far from easy and still is sometimes. But this article isn’t about me, Ukraine or any national-level catastrophe. Instead, it's about the unrest happening at The King’s College right now and how we should respond.
Read More(REVIEW) In the late 1970s, Fosse conceived and staged a musical completely his own. It lacked a narrative arc or cohesive theme, consisting of a series of vignettes told mostly through dance (with a little bit of singing mixed in). The spectacle, entitled “Dancin’,” opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in 1978 and ran for over four years. This month, “Dancin’” returns to New York City under the direction of Wayne Cliento, a cast member of the original 1978 production.
Read MoreOriginally staged in 1998 at Lincoln Center, Jason Robert Brown’s “Parade” returns to Broadway this month at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre as the musical event of the season. Set in the deep-south state of Georgia fifty years after the Civil War, “Parade” tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent falsely accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old factory worker. It stars Tony-Award winning actor Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen, The Book of Mormon) as Frank and Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) as his wife Lucille.
Read MoreOriginally set in 19th-century Norway, a new production of “A Doll’s House” – adapted by Amy Herzog and directed by Jamie Lloyd – opens this month at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. The story of “A Doll’s House” is centered around an exploration of the power dynamics between a husband and wife. This production is a bold departure from the dense, maximalist visuals that ordinarily accompany a play set within an affluent Victorian home. Instead, the play is performed with no costumes, sets, props or effects apart from simple lighting, a few wooden chairs and a hidden turntable in the stage floor.
Read More(OPINION) There is another context in which I view these things. King's is a "strategic institution," however overused that phrasing became. It is a point of gathering and departure for many ambitious, capable Christians willing to subject themselves to a formative education. Running a private Christian liberal arts school in NYC is obviously a tall order. But when I was there we had 500+ students, and it seemed only to be getting bigger. Profs would complain about how many sections they had to teach and how many students they had to juggle. What went wrong?
Read More(OPINION) My visits to art museums cause serious fatigue on the extremities, especially my feet. I try to keep my focus from wandering from the art to the pain of walking through the endless rooms of the exhibits. Even when I can focus on the art at hand, my mind should not dwell on its realism. Nobody thinks that the painting of “Washington Crossing Delaware” or the “Mona Lisa” are exact representations of that event or person. Paintings are not considered that realistic. The nature of paintings spans a spectrum from completely bogus (modern art) to realism.
Read More(OPINION) I won’t lie – it’s hard being at King’s these days. As a senior, The King’s College has become home. I’ve been here through the COVID lockdowns, the tension of the 2020 election cycle and the general insecurity of a post-pandemic city. The Community Update on Feb. 13 felt like the breaking point. But I’ve kept coming back to this question that my dad would always ask: Who are we, and who are we becoming? Regardless of our circumstances, we are always being molded and shaped toward something. So who will we choose to be in the midst of uncertainty?
Read More(OPINION) So far, most of the coverage by mainstream news outlets of The King’s College’s financial woes has oddly focused on King’s donors such as Bill Hwang, the DeVos family and interim president Stockwell Day. It would be smart for reporters to dig more into Canadian businessman Peter Chung and his involvement with King’s in the past two years as well as his other business ventures through Primacorp Ventures Inc. and the Emanata Group. Could it be true that Chung was a philanthropist and a savior for King’s during a time of crisis of the Covid-19 Pandemic? Or could it be true that Chung's failed vision and turbulent strategy for King’s has contributed to King’s weak financial position and potential for closure?
Read More(OPINION) In February 2022, I attended a press conference where Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams and other key leaders in New York addressed the spike in subway crime and homelessness at the beginning of 2022. One year later, it’s time to see what has actually changed. Did our elected and appointed leaders do what they promised to do? If so, did it work? The short answer: barely.
Read More(OPINION) If you hear a teenager on TikTok describe their faith, chances are they’ll say they’re “spiritual, but not religious.” More and more young people are choosing to believe in a higher power, yet relegate that higher power to a secondary role in their lives. Even Christians within our generation have grown less likely to invest in a church and more likely to surround themselves exclusively with secular peers. With the problem established, I can present my thesis: become an active member of your local church. Doing will surround you with the right people and help you take the right actions.
Read More(OPINION) As recently reported, many of our activities at King's are now looking and feeling very different. This moment in King’s history is fraught with uncertainty. Day advised the student body on how to respond. Day’s allegorical instructions, while good-intentioned, deeply misrepresented biblical processes of grief and scientific literature on how we as human beings feel. A constant grief of mine is a thread of “wack theology” that creeps in time and time again: negative emotions are ungodly. In light of the new updates and alterations to our student experience and institution as a whole, lend your ears as I aim to untangle this self-spun web of emotional suppression that stifles our relationship with sorrow and hope alike.
Read More(OPINION) Few current political issues are as emotional, tumultuous or polarizing as abortion. Approaching the topic inevitably evokes deep pain and a sense of injustice from both sides of the aisle. Recently, the mainstream press has begun to scrutinize a specific facet of the abortion issue: ectopic pregnancy procedures. Wanting to protect the lives of expecting mothers is basic common ground and should inspire legislative clarification instead of provoking further division.
Read More(REVIEW) “Everybody in New York hates cops. Even cops hate cops,” says Pops, a retired police officer and the protagonist of “Between Riverside and Crazy,” a 2014 play making its Broadway debut this season at Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theatre. The play is about the complex relationship between the New York Police Department and the African-American community in New York City. While the story has a lot of potential, it can’t seem to get many plot lines off the launch pad.
Read More(OPINION) The King’s College can always do a better job addressing, acknowledging and celebrating events such as Hispanic Heritage Month. However, many students, staff and faculty happily and eagerly embody those values. There are evidently two sides to minority experiences at King’s. This does not mean the adverse is not true—that negative experiences between students, staff and faculty are nonexistent. It does, however, mean that many minority students do find acceptance in the present community.
Read MoreMost people familiar with modern art in New York City are probably familiar with painters Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. This season, Warhol and Basquiat appear on Broadway, portrayed as artists collaborating on a series of paintings that reflect the convergence of their contrasting approaches to art in “The Collaboration.”
Read MoreSix-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald returns to Broadway this holiday season in “Ohio State Murders,” a dark tragedy about the racially motivated murder of a new mother’s infant African-American daughters. “Ohio State Murders,” is directed by Kenny Leon. This play is a short seventy-five minutes on stage, but McDonald gives a tour-de-force performance as Alexander that is spell-binding to witness.
Read MoreThis December marks the finale of the two-month running of “Straight Line Crazy”, a play written by David Hare and directed by Nicholas Hytner on the legacy of the one and only Robert Moses. Moses, a larger-than-life enigma of a man captured for the stage by British star Ralph Fiennes, is portrayed as an eccentric genius of a builder hampered by the inconveniences of American democracy. However, Moses’ legacy has a darker side.
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