_Feb. 2012 • A POSITIVE PRESS PUBLICATION • VOL. 2, ISSUE 3
This is not a newspaper.
Daryan Rahimzadah
To be completely honest with you: this is not a
newspaper. It is far from a newsletter. It’s not even a positive press
publication like it says at the top of the page. Sounds a little contradictory,
right? We’re not trying to trick you. We just want you to understand that what
you’re holding is not a concrete, consistent, contrived combination of
thoughts, ideas and stories. It would be hard to categorize all the work in The
Chapel Bell, mainly because every time you open it up, you’re going to get
something different. Whether you’re reading a fresh copy or you’re reading an
article you have already read three or four times, you’ll get something unique from
that experience. The articles on this page won’t expire; they won’t become irrelevant;
they’ll change with time, just as you change with time. Still sounds like a
newsletter to you? Well, let me try to explain.
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My family came down to Athens for Homecoming this fall and as I walked down Broad Street with my mom and her sweetheart Bill, my mom asked us a question: What is that ringing sound? Bill, who went to Georgia in the heyday of Munson, Walker and Dooley, looks at me and we share a smile. We know the story. We know the tradition. We know the chapel bell rings after football victories, and we know that back in the day, that bell rang throughout the night as freshmen took shifts, ensuring that the entire city of Athens, Georgia knew that the Georgia Bulldogs had just claimed victory on the gridiron.Even if freshmen were still required to keep the chapel bell ringing, they wouldn’t have been needed that day. That bell was ringing long before we made it down to North Campus and it was |
ringing long after we left. Just as one couple would walk away, another family would walk up, their pre-teen son repeatedly yanked the rope, desperately trying to make the bell sound. Our chapel bell signifies good news: the kind of news that you want to hear, the kind of news that after you hear it, well, you just can’t help but tell everyone you know about it. That is what you’re reading. You are reading the kind of news, stories, and ideas that, after we hear them, our inspiration overflows into words that we HAVE to share with you! That’s why you shouldn’t think of this as a newspaper. Instead, think of it as an anthology. Think of it as a metaphor. Forget everything that you’ve ever known about reading articles because it’s about to change. |
The Resolve to Reach
the Resolution
Peter McDonald
There’s something refreshing about
January. In juxtaposition to the dreary days, it is a fresh start, a chance to
change our lives for the better. It’s an opportunity to forget the previous
year’s bad habits or memories, and with a turn of the calendar, replace them
with new goals and a healthier lifestyle. It’s a clean slate. A new beginning.
This may sound like your typical “let’s start off a new year” tirade, but if resolutions weren’t something powerful enough to change your life, then why has the “New Year’s Resolution” remained a part of our culture for so long? For those who believe in that power, January is the glorious first month of their New Year’s Resolution. Why then, is it so often the last? A couple Januarys ago, my parents resolved to lace up their hiking boots every Saturday morning, every week, every month, for the entire year. That was a commitment of 52 hikes through El Paso, Texas’s Franklin Mountains. Like most New Year’s Resolutions, I figured their dream would die within a few weeks, a healthy determination |
frozen by an icy road on some wintery Saturday morning. They’d be forced to stay home. Or maybe they’d lose motivation. Either way, it wasn’t going to be easy to do.
Their commitment stemmed from my family’s annual New Year’s Resolution discussion, when my mom would corral us at the dinner table and make each of us commit to a year-long goal before we could leave. I used to pull mine out of thin air. What could be so important that I would commit to it for an entire year of my life? But that passive mentality was exactly why I never completed my resolution. You can’t make change just to make change. You must first find something you’re passionate about. What’s important to you? What is it that excites you, and where do |
you want to take it? How do you see yourself one year from now? Make a commitment to give that passion your time and energy, and the rest will follow.
Oh, and here’s a hint: reward yourself up front. This year, I resurrected an old BMX bike from my closet. It’s like a new toy. My goal is to exercise every day, but it’s not until I’m half-way to class, flying down Sanford Drive on two wheels, that I realize I’m actually exercising. If you can’t find a way to enjoy your resolution, you may find yourself in February thinking about what could have been. So make it fun. And for a little inspiration, consider this: my parents proudly own a new collection photos. It’s divided into 52 sections, one from each of their Saturday hikes. My middle age parents can do it. Now it’s definitely our turn. |
Tech Column: An Introduction
Ellis Edwards
I recently decided to add my
passion for technology to The Chapel Bell. The people who know me best know
that I’m a giant geek at heart. Everyone else sees the nerd-suppressing front I
put up. It didn’t take long to learn that girls don't swoon at my ability to
list specifications for every product in the Apple store. So I play it
cool around most of my friends and save the geeking-out for the few people
who can handle it.
So why am I suddenly publicizing and leveraging my innermost geek? Well, at first the idea seemed insignificant. I wasn’t sure my interests could have any lasting impact. I mean, what is so inspiring about the phone in my pocket? What about a laptop motivates anyone? But as these questions turned over in my mind, I realized there is value to my hidden passion. Many of us sit in class every day with a few thousand dollars worth of tech in arm’s reach. The goal for this column is to shed some light on the full potential of our gear. If you there were a way to reclaim your hard drive space and speed up your computer in 30 minutes, wouldn’t you do it? If there’s a $2 app out there that could double the usefulness of your $300 phone, shouldn’t you at least know about it? My natural geeky tendencies keep me tuned in to innovative apps, handy productivity tools, and new uses for common items. |
At the end of the day, my goal is to highlight technology that can enhance and improve the stuff we already own. I want you to get the most bang for your buck. I want you to know the secret tips and tricks. I want you to have every tool at your disposal use them to share about your own passions!
Read the next edition to learn about a few iPhone apps that will come in handy for Valentine’s Day. Can’t wait to share! |
You are a human. You want things.
Nick Toomey
Your current lifestyle is the sum total of all the desires you've had in your life so far and how you acted upon those desires. You got here by making choices. You choose how well you do in school, so that you can choose what university to go to, so that you can choose to do well in school again, so that can choose what to major in, so that you can choose an awesome internship, so that you can choose an awesome job, so that you can choose what awesome lifestyle you want to lead in the future...
And along the way we get nervous. All too often the winds of responsibility and necessity blow us off course and we get freaked out about it. People make plans for us, we settle into habits, and we forget why we're doing any of this in the first place. Take some time this week to think about where you are today. Take inventory of all those things that you're invested in right now. What runs your day? What thoughts are constantly running through your mind? What emotions are you experiencing most often? What questions are you constantly asking yourself? What do you really want above all? And most important of all, what is your driving force? What is your "why"? If you can justify your "why", the "how's" will present themselves abundantly in front you. |
#TrendingTruths
Katie Sorrells
Trending topics
on Twitter are typically good for what? A laugh? A pop culture update? Well how
about a self-realization? You’re right, that’s FAR less common but Sunday
night, it was true for me all the same. Bored and procrastinating, not atypical
for a Sunday evening, I stumbled upon the trending topic #ImReallyGoodAt and
was shocked by most of the answers. Instead of people proclaiming their
passions or strengths, the most repetitive answers were “#ImReallyGoodAt hiding
my feelings,” “acting like I don’t care when I do” and “pushing people away.”
Recently The Chapel Bell (@TheChapelBell) tweeted a link to a TED talk called “The Power of Vulnerability.” I was immediately intrigued by the title that initially struck me as somewhat of an oxymoron. How could there be power in something I so often viewed as a sign of weakness? The video, featuring Dr. Brene Brown, ended up staying with me long after its conclusion and was the first thing I thought about when reading the #ImReallyGoodAt tweets.
I took two main concepts away from Dr. Brown’s talk. The first is that we all deeply desire connection, which can only truly be achieved through authenticity and vulnerability. The |
second is that although “vulnerability is the core of shame, of fear, and of our struggle of worthiness, it is also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, and of love.”
Brown also discusses how we try to numb ourselves to vulnerability. As part of a generation that, as apparent through those tweets, applauds ourselves for being able to keep people at a distance or be the only ones who really know what we’re feeling, I found this to be true. In fact, and what might even be worse, is that these twitter confessions prove that not only do we hide behind our personally erected walls, but we also hide behind technology- behind our smart phones and computers that allow us to admit more online or via text message than we ever would in person. This, my fellow tweeters, facebookers, and friends is what we need to change. Coincidentally, another common tweet was people saying “#ImReallyGoodAt giving other people great advice but not taking my own.” Many people, admittedly myself included, would like to be viewed as having all of their “ducks in a row” or to be candid, their crap together. We, even unknowingly, pursue this impossible idea of perfection even though no one is perfect. We all make choices and inherently, we all make mistakes. But we’re all together in that, unified in our humanity and beautiful because of our imperfections. So my self-realization triggered by a trending topic is that despite what I used to believe, strength is demonstrated by allowing yourself to be vulnerable- not by hiding your feelings, acting like you don’t care when you do, or pushing people away. Admitting that we are all imperfect works in progress while still knowing we are worthy of connection is a liberating part of life’s grand adventure. We all need to embrace courageous vulnerability and as part of that, we all need to #BeReallyGoodAt just being ourselves. |
Athens Events to Look Out For
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