Posts by Guest Authors

Every now and then I ask a friend or colleague to write a post for my website.

A Letter from a Father

By Bryan Zhang on December 7, 2011 • Viewpoint • 7 Comments

This is a guest post by my friend Bryan Zhang. Bryan is a graduate of the FSU Film School. He’s the director of many short films that have appeared on my blog, including those in the Campus Safari series and the Generations series. Actually, Bryan has shown up in a lot of my blog posts, much as he tends to show up at my house unannounced. If you like this post you should check out his website. You can find him on Twitter as @realbryanzhang.

I’m 22 years old and I have the whole world in front of me. I live in a world of infinite options and possibilities. And I know I’m not alone. My generation is filled with people who look at their future and frown at the gaping question mark. I remember being asked what I would do after graduation. What a horrible question. And we all know the drill for answering that question – put on a meek smile and vaguely reference some “opportunity-somewhere-that-might-work-but-then-again-you-don’t-know-and-then-humbly-say-you’re-open-to-whatever-God-wants-you-to-do- but-you-don’t-really-know-what-that-means-because-you’re-scared-out-of-your- mind.”

I’ve come to realize that God’s not going to spell out my entire life for me. In fact, it really seems like He’s primarily concerned with the work being done in me over the work done through me. So what does this mean? What’s God’s desire for my life?

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You were you – Even at two

By Brittney Harlacher on November 21, 2011 • Viewpoint • 2 Comments

This is a guest post by my friend Brittney Harlacher. Brittney is a stay-at-home mom, married to the love of her life, who also happens to be her high school sweetheart. Their three incredible daughters fill their home with laughter and glitter. She is currently homeschooling their eldest child, pre-homeschooling their middle child and answering forty-two “why” questions a day for their youngest child. Before God blessed their family with these bundles of joy, Brittney worked as a Speech Writer for the president of Florida State University.

Back in the days of yore, when I was in college (before iPhones, Google or texting), there was a very popular personality test making its way around my group of friends. It was called Myers-Briggs, and with four simple letters it told you who you were and how you viewed the world. INFJ, ENTP, ISFP, ESTJ – suddenly it made sense why other drivers on the road made you crazy or why putting together a bicycle from nothing but bolts and tubing was super easy or why you chucked that doctorate degree to pursue acting. But your mom and dad could have told you that and you wouldn’t have wasted an hour bubbling in a questionnaire.

Before you could suck your thumb, roll over and smile (HUGE milestones when you are new to the world…go ahead look at a new parent’s recent photos of their little bundle of joy and see how many shots of the first “smile” they have…and yes I am guilty as charged) you either liked the attention of many or preferred the cuddling of one; you got over things quickly or put on your best pouty face for a couple of hours;  you moved on to the next, new, interesting thing or preferred to stop and smell the flowers.

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Creative Spaces: The Key to Creative Productivity

By Patrick Gines on November 18, 2011 • Viewpoint • 1 Comment

This is a guest post by my friend Patrick Gines. Patrick is a graduate of the FSU Film School and a talented filmmaker. I had the privilege of helping him out with his social media presence during the production of his thesis film, When the Waters Rise. If you like this post you should check out his website. You can find him on Twitter as @patrickgines.

In order for me to produce creativity, I require creative space. I am the creative director at Four Oaks Church Tallahassee, and a prime example of this came when I switched offices this year. In January of 2011 I had an office located on the staff wing of the building. It was one of the earth-toned, four-walled boxes finished off with a drop celling and automatic fluorescent lights. By March I was no longer doing any work in my office because it made me feel as unattractive and lame as it sounds. Now, when I say this, I am not ignoring the importance of buckling-down and being productive where you are; yet, I will argue that in order to sustain continued creative product, creative space is required, and what that creative space should ensure is a creative feeling to work from.

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To Be Known

By Zack Latham on November 16, 2011 • Imagination • 0 Comments

This is a guest post by my roommate Zack Latham. Zack is both well-read and well-spoken, qualities which serve him well as a writer of fiction. You may remember him as Lionel Worthington, star of the Campus Safari videos. If you like this post you should check out his blog. You can find him on Twitter as @Sandpapery.

Guns were just a formality.  Everyone at this impromptu meeting carried one.  And everyone also pointed their firearm at someone.  And everyone also had one pointed at them.  But no one was going to shoot.  It just felt familiar and (perhaps) a bit impolite to not involve weapons in this gathering given the circumstances.

After all, the two groups facing off in this room didn’t really know one another.  Not that trust was the key issue here (like I said, “…no one was going to shoot”):  this is just how strangers negotiate.  No one could fathom the idea of one of the groups showing up to the meeting unarmed.  That would indicate that the group had either no respect for their abilities in combat (in which case the other group, had they known this, would not have agreed to participate in this meeting) or that they thought that the other group were docile cowards and therefore they had no need to be armed (a huge sign of disrespect).  In either case, the armed group would have blown the other group away, just to be safe.  Guns simply made these situations safer.  It was a typical protocol that had to be maintained to uphold the confidences of the system.  Like bowing before a king in his court or paying the delivery guy for your pizza:  simple things that if you elected not to do (if you go to high-five the king instead or shoot the delivery guy) would contribute to unraveling the mores of society.  Once we have done away with societies’ norms and niceties, we also see that we have done away with society (what else makes up a society other than the trusts we have in one another to follow the rules?).  This was the bond that these two groups meeting here had:  this was a society of combat – and guns ready to kill one another was the norm.  Guns represented respect for the rules.  They indicated that you cared not only about yourself, but also about the man on the other side because you confirmed the reason of your being here in your pointing your weapons at one another.

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