Waco

Growing up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, I experienced first-hand our denomination’s tendency to separate itself from society at large. This reality takes on a physical meaning in the form of the Adventist school system as well as becoming a more abstract phenomenon in regards to the Church’s fundamental leaning on issues such as Sabbath keeping and consumption of meat. In the introduction and part one of their book Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventist and the American Dream,…

After Kaczynski graduated from the University of Michigan, Kaczynski taught at the University of California, but according to Maria Haberfeld, author of A new understanding of terrorism, Haberfeld notes that “Kaczynski continued his pattern of having limited contact with others at Berkeley” (Haberfeld, 2009, 38), which furthered Kaczynski’s isolation patterns. In 1969, Kaczynski inexplicably resigned his teaching position with the overriding concern that technology was to enslave mankind. In the…

Environmental conditions can directly impact one’s health and safety. Davis explains, that primary prevention through assessments of the home and community are important in addressing potential risks and/or threats to the health of the family within the home and the community (2007). This environmental assessment is based on the results culminated from using Davis’s Home Environmental Health and Safety Tool in Appendix A (2007). The Latcherie family resides in a 2-story single family home, built…

We would go to a lot of events that would count as community service hours. One of the community service projects that I volunteered for was volunteering my time at a mental hospital in Waco. Some other scouts and I planned a trip to Waco to volunteer here, about 10 scouts came along. Once we arrived at the mental clinic, we walked around and met with patients and spent time with them. I remember meeting a specific patient named John, who suffered from Down-Syndrome…

Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: from Jonestown to Heaven's Gate (New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2000). Catherine Wessinger begins her book with an introduction to New Religious Movements where she stresses their status as religions instead of the pejorative term ‘cults.’ Here she also discusses several challenges faced many NRMs including internal conflict, negative responses from law enforcement, and theologies that promote violence. Wessinger also dismisses…

believe salvation will come soon but only through destruction of the natural present and social order, and salvation will come only by divine action. Examples of Revolutionist sects are Jehovah’s Witnesses, the early 1990s Branch Davidian community in Waco, Texas and the recent Aum Shinrikyō apocalyptic movement in Japan. Manipulationist sects seek worldly goals and do not withdraw from society; they do however seek spiritual means to be able to reach those worldly goals. Examples of…

Cheddars Just another Average Restaurant Ever since I moved to Waco one of the things that I noticed was it has an abundance of restaurants. Cheddars is a rather famous restaurant it has been around since 1979, and has over 130 restaurants’ in 23 states (“Cheddar's Casual Café). When Cheddars came to Waco at the end of January of 2005 it became one of the favorite stops for families and couples to eat out at. As soon as they opened up I remember driving by and seeing people lined up outside to…

Fernando Arroyo recalls that despite being “invisible homeless” when he, his mother, and little brother first came to Waco from Mexico, they would go “from house to house to house to house . . . from family to friends”, showcasing the desire to help one another. Robert Aguilar, when commenting on his inspiration for helping others, cites his mother who would put up “close…

It’s a school of crazy! Wait. What if they’re not crazy? But did you see Elizabeth? That wasn't crazy that was passion. Each person that I saw fade into the northern sunset as they made the trek up to Waco had one thing in common: they were passionate. I was passionate. I pick something that I want or like and I cling to it. I started theatre in seventh grade to escape my crazy band teacher and found myself six years later spending every extra hour…

when she would blame good upstanding women instead of telling everyone what she has done in the woods and getting down with John Proctor. The Oklahoma City Bomber (Timothy McVeigh) sought revenge against the federal government for its handling of the Waco Siege, which ended in the deaths of 76 people exactly two years before the bombing. As well as for the…