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On Friday, June 1, more than 70 students and faculty filled the Alice Holst Theater in Stauffer Hall to celebrate the release of Quicksilver, the annual student art and literary journal at Pacific Union College. At the event, guests indulged in homemade ice cream and strawberries while Quicksilver contributors gave a poetry reading. Zach Dunn, a senior television and film major, acted as master of ceremonies for the event. He wore sunglasses and black clothes in classic beatnik style and led the audience in snapping their fingers after each reading. This year, student editor Elizabeth Rivera decided to publish the the journal with a color cover. She wrote to alumni who were published in past Quicksilver journals,requesting donations. Alumni, along with Main Street Books in St. Helena, donated $600 toward the publication. For Rivera, the most rewarding part of editing Quicksilver was “seeing people pick it up and read others’ works slowly, seeing that there is an artistic community at PUC, and being able to encourage that.” Quicksilver, established in 1933 as Crater Verse,features poems, short stories, essays, collages, paintings, and photography. While it is a student publication, faculty and staff poetry has been featured in past issues. Issues of...

On Saturday, May 26, the Pacific Union College visual arts department will host the opening reception for the senior thesis projects exhibition in Rasmussen Art Gallery, from 7 to 9 p.m. The thesis projects will be exhibited through June 17. This year’s exhibit includes photo-documentary work on diverse subjects from vineyard workers to skateboarders to an autistic girl. Students have also created fashion and art photography, a website, a cookbook and posters about revolutionary leaders. Senior visual arts majors work on their senior thesis projects all year long. They choose a subject and work closely with a faculty advisor to create what art professor Thomas Morphis calls “an ambitious, consistent body of work.” Rasmussen Art Gallery is located on the Pacific Union College campus. The gallery hosts six shows each year and features work from invited artists as well as from faculty and students. ...

President George W. Bush has nominated Colonel Loree K. Sutton, a Seventh-day Adventist, for appointment to the grade of brigadier general. Colonel Sutton is commander of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood, Texas. She assumed command of the center in July 2005. "Colonel Sutton would be the first female Adventist to ever obtain that rank," said Gary Councell, associate director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries located at the Adventist world church headquarters in Silver Spring. He added, "Only 8 percent of people ever make colonel and out of all the general officers less than 1 percent make it to brigadier general." Colonel Sutton has received numerous awards including the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Order of Military Merit and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. She has served in a variety of operational positions both in the states-side and overseas, including deployment to Operation Desert Storm. Sutton holds a medical degree from Loma Linda University and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Pacific Union College....

Following a riveting presentation on the human rights violations of prisoners in Guinea Conakry, Pacific Union College students, faculty, and staff donated $18,745 to aid a prisoner advocacy program. Kim Osborn, a young social activist who graduated from PUC in 2004, spoke to the campus in March about her past work in the western African country and her decision to return after hearing reports about further violations in the prison system. According to Osborn, the International Committee for the Red Cross recently stated that about 27 percent of the 800 men, most of who have been illegally detained, are severely malnourished. “If things continue at the rate they are going, one in ten men entering this prison this year will die because of starvation,” said Osborn, who helped to establish the prisoner advocacy program in Guinea Conakry. She encouraged the college to give donations to go towards medical aid and for court processing fees. It costs $50 to hospitalize a malnourished prisoner and save their life and only $15 to put someone through the court system so that they can be released. “If everyone here donated the amount that you spend on one Guigni’s sandwich, think of the amazing thing...

Pacific Union College’s 15th annual Malcolm Maxwell Golf Classic, a charity event that raises funds for PUC scholarships, took place at the Silverado Country Club May 16. The tournament, which is PUC’s biggest community event, raised $50,000 for the second year in a row. In recent years, the Malcolm Maxwell Golf Classic, named for the former president of the college upon his retirement, has become a major source of funding for PUC student scholarships. Proceeds go to “Golf Scholarships,” which are awarded yearly to students based on need. One hundred and forty-four golfers teed up in teams of four under a cloudless blue sky, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and rotating holes until they had all finished the course at around 4 p.m. Teams kept their own score throughout the 18-hole tournament and turned in their scorecards at the awards dinner. The scores were tallied while the golfers ate and took part in live and silent auctions. When the results were in, the winners were announced and given their prizes. The day-long event was funded completely through donations and sponsorships, allowing all proceeds to go directly to student aid. PUC holds the event for more than fundraising purposes. For any college,...