John Brown University's Student Newspaper
In 2021, Twitch streamer and content creator Steven Flavall, aka Jorbs, spoke with John Brown students at length about creating and maintaining a brand. Two years later, Flavall is publishing a book on the underbelly of content creation. In his memoir, Before We Go Live, he delves deeply into some of the traumatic experiences he and his coworkers have faced during their time in content creation.
In September 2022, the Pew Research Center published an updated article on its findings on religious disaffiliation in the United States. The results have changed little since The Threefold last published on this topic, but the results are still staggering. The Pew Research Center article states “about 64% of Americans, including children, were Christian.” This is down 26% from the historic high in 1972 and also down 14% from 2002. The following article will be split into two parts, possible reasons for the decline in the church and what JBU students should do in light of religious disaffiliation.
On Feb. 6, 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck a southern part of Turkey and parts of Syria. In many highly populated areas, this triggered what is known as a pancake collapse. In the case of Turkey, the floors of the building fell on top of each other, crushing the contents of the floor. As of Feb. 17, the death toll is nearing 44,000 and is expected to rise significantly in the coming months, as rescuers continue to find remains.
As of Feb. 7, the John Brown University Esports club has over 140 Discord members. Located in campus facilities, the JBU Esports club competes with other schools in tournaments hosted every single night of the week. Starting next semester, a varsity Esports team will officially start and some students will qualify for scholarships based video games skills. The process of getting a club to this level took several years. Esports faculty advisor Kim Johnson disclosed this journey in an interview.
On January 10, 2023 John Brown University announced two additional majors to the roster, Game Design and Mechatronics Engineering. Both are slated to officially start in fall 2023.
Lent is the 40-day observance before Easter that marks a time of sacrificing luxuries and worshiping Christ. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Maundy Thursday. However, Lent does not include Sundays until Holy Thursday as every Sunday should be a time to pause and fast. For many, Lent is a wonderful time of self-sacrifice and returning to God what is rightfully His. This practice is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible, yet it remains a core tenet of Christianity.
This has been a consistent issue of mine during my higher education. I have found with almost all my classes that, if I do the bare minimum and turn in assignments complete and on time, I get a 100% on nearly everything with zero constructive feedback. This leads me to wonder if completing an assignment or mindlessly writing to make word-count leads to true academic growth? Furthermore, does it lead to real critical thinking? After three years of college, I do not think so. Paper after paper I have written with my instructor’s bias in mind, and, largely, I cannot say that I am better for it.
The past few years have proven tough for the world of public education. COVID-19 kept many out of schools, and parents flocked to school board meetings to argue about mask mandates and school closures. Two of the major problems that arose from this increased amount of involvement and questioning was a divisive conversation about what content and curriculum is provided to students, with topics like Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ+ representation making it into the spotlight.
Microplastics are defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as “small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life.” Essentially, microplastics are tiny chunks of plastic that flow uninhibited through the food chain and water systems which are not always visible to the human eye. A newly developing field of scientific study around microplastics show that they have negative effects on humans including increasing the risk of type two diabetes, impairing immune health and lowering fertility rates.
In Dec. 2020, Josh Duggar, an individual who openly admitted to molesting five children during his teenage years, was found guilty of downloading and possessing child pornography. This long-standing case, with first arrests dating back to 2019, is coming to an end with Duggar facing up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 for each count. Amidst all this, his wife stands by him. The Duggars, a popular family among the Christian community, lead us to ask ourselves an important question: As Christians, how should we respond to similar instances of abuse?