Introduction: Joe

What’s up, everyone? I am Joe Covey, JoeCovey, Joseph Paul Covington III, or whatever I was being called at the time. I will be acting as a guest writer for this blog in an effort to provide my story of how life is outside of Houghton. This is also an effort to keep in touch with a great group of friends that I made at Houghton College.

Tribe was certainly a friend group I held near and dear to my heart throughout my junior and senior (and super-senior semester) years of college. I was brought into Tribe as an outsider by the one Chris Clark (who was my dorm neighbor) and introduced to everyone. This was difficult because before this, my ways of thinking and viewing the world were basically cemented and unmoving. I grew up in (and moved back to) a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania called Athens, where everyone has very conservative views and isn’t accustomed to different cultures/religions/beliefs. At first I found it difficult to fit in amongst this group but everyone around the dinner table knew how to accept and love anyone that was brought to them. So, Tribe made me more social and open-minded and I made some of the best friends a guy could ask for.

Being accepted into this group meant I had to pass a rigorous questionnaire filled with all sorts of extremely logical questions. I also took a Tribal placement test, and I was given the role of Bard (I believe by Jenny). I love music, writing poetry and merriment, and that title fit me well. Also, during our City-State era, I was deemed Educator, due to being an education major. I was thrilled to blend into another friend group at Houghton, and I was truly blessed to have met Chrischrischris!, Jennyyyy, Anya!, Chadwick, Jackieeeeeeee, May-UH (Maya), Gordo, K-Furmzzz (Katie), Laaaame (Lane), JosephChinn (Peace Be Upon Him), Erik teh Bealz, and Natalie Gorff, as well as many other friends of Tribe. Yes, I misspelled almost everyone's name on purpose. I am thrilled this blog will help me keep in touch with all of them.

Awesome photo of (almost) all of Tribe

 ...we're on a boat.                    

During Houghton, I was an Inclusive Childhood Education (ICE) major, with a concentration in English Language Arts. I also ended up having unexpected minors in psychology, writing and communication. I was also involved with Houghton College Shakespeare Players (acted in 8 plays out of my 9 semesters at Houghton), Allegany County Outreach, Teachers of Today and Tomorrow, Rothenbuhler Hall Leadership Council (Treasurer), and Salvation Army Student Fellowship (SASF). Needless to say I was constantly busy, juggling all of my coursework and steady jobs every semester.

During my first two years at Houghton, I was struggling spiritually. My home church had gone through a massive split and I stopped going home to visit on weekends. I did not want to be around any of the drama back home so I decided to stay at Houghton. Everyone and everything I knew and loved about my home had gone to shambles and I was angry at God for it. I still stayed in the Word and listened to church services online, but I felt pretty empty over all.

I hadn’t found a “college church” at all until I met Chris. One Sunday he told me about his church denomination, the Salvation Army, which at that point I thought was only a thrift shop and a food bank. I went one Sunday and ended up loving it. After a few weeks, I joined the Praise Band and helped out with a few other ministries. I was going on mission’s trips and having a great time serving others and getting to know awesome people. SASF uplifted me spiritually, and I even had the privilege of attending the mission’s trip to Pittsburgh in March 2011 and in Ortley Beach, NJ in February/March of 2013 as an alumnus. I gained more of a servant’s heart and attitude during my years with this group, and I strive to complete acts of service in my daily life.

2010 Mission Trip to Philadelphia with SASF

                 NAPKIN ART WITH JENNY!

I have many favorite moments of Tribe, including mealtimes (mainly dinners and expeditions to China Star), the Battle Royales/Brawls, learning NOT to touch Jackie’s nose, making episodes of Wilson and Jeneen, making “napkin art” with Jenny, celebrating my 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd birthdays, moments on SASF trips (Jackie’n’Joey show, taking NYC by storm, the Philly trip, constant laughter until 2 or 3 am, BAJA BLAST, etc.), hugging Gordon, many trips to the Jube/DG (where we often dumpster dove), trips to Charcoal Corral and the drive-in movies, MAYTERMS, agreeing that Natalie’s people have, in fact, suffered enough, Chad’s hips never lying, stubbythumbs, May-UH’s gray cake, creating my own personal FAILblogs, picking up stranded Tribe members in the middle of the night halfway home from Buffalo (where Chris showed me the ring he was going to use to propose to Jenny), driving the “getaway car” when we decided to prank someone, making the long trip to see Natalie get married and officially become a Gorff, swinging on the swings and random dance parties with Katie, a few fourthmeal Taco Bell runs with Katie, making videos for Erik’s classes (the Maya and Lane one was my favorite), many good talks with JosephChinn (Peace Be Upon Him), dinners in the Tribe flat (Jenny’s AWESOME chili), and SO much more that I could write down. I am sitting here tearing up thinking about these amazing years of my life, and also hearing echoes of Jackie and Maya calling me a pansy for getting all teary-eyed and pinching/poking/punching/kicking me in the shins. Anywho…

                                                                                    PARTY @ LAMBEIN!

After Houghton I went through many life changes. Since I was a December graduate, I spent the next semester being a substitute teacher searching for a full-time teaching job. I found one for the 2011-2012 school year at a small, private Christian school in the county I lived. It was one of the roughest experiences of my life being around supposed “Christian” people who acted out and enjoyed causing stress in people’s lives. It was not what I envisioned a Christian school to be, and I quickly learned that some Christian schools ended up being worse than public schools. I ended up staying there for two school years.

During my two years at this Christian school, I noticed changes in myself emotionally. After completely falling apart during April/May of 2013 (a few months after seeing the devastation in Ortley Beach, NJ—what triggered it all), I had been given the label of having bipolar disorder. I had seen patterns of it all throughout my adolescent years in high school and in college as well, and I guess I had just been fighting it the whole time. I have declined medication and I have found natural ways of handling these ups and downs. I have turned to God more and have used music as my release. I have taught myself to play piano and I have been playing every Sunday morning at my home church leading others in worship. I have also turned to walking and running and have been working on losing all the college weight (blah) to get back down to where I was physically in high school. My friends and my family have been supportive of me during this time and I have been working through the tough times one step at a time.

I am currently working three jobs, from 8-5 every day with weekends off. I am a reading teacher in the morning at my hometown school district (a public school, where I am certainly called to be), a private one-on-one tutor for a kid with high-functioning autism from 1-3 in the afternoon and then I work at a daycare from 3-5 to round out my day. I am involved in my church choir and worship teams and practice almost every evening for these ministries. I am blessed with a lot of teaching and musical experience and I hope this plays to my advantage in the coming years.

Since leaving Houghton, I have also received my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction: Elementary Reading from Grand Canyon University online. I attended this program from June 2011 to November 2012. I finished with high honors (a 4.0 GPA) and induction into Phi Lambda Theta Honors Society for Educators. I am currently seeking a full-time teaching position and I am willing to relocate to teach.

Other than rambling and reminiscing, I will most likely contribute discussion on topics such as education and music to this blog. I could also contribute editorial-like writings with some humorous anecdotes thrown in here and there. I am looking forward to being a contributor to this online community and keeping in touch with all members of Tribe!

Alas... the future of Tribe. Well, more than half of us...

9 Insane Reasons Why the Internet is Too Stressful to Handle (Number 6 will blow your mind!)

I've been into making lists recently and it seems to be the internet's favorite format so I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing. What is necessarily a bad thing is just how stressed out I have been lately and just how much the presence of the internet in my life has contributed to that stress. So in order to express that I've made a list on the internet. Feel free to comment on that.

1. It's always there.

I have a smartphone. It's not a very good one but it manages to give me the two basic functions I need: GPS and Facebook. As much as it is useful to constantly know where I'm going and who liked whose status it can also be incredibly tiring. I'm constantly getting tweets and messages or notifications and it's not so much any one of those things so much as that there always is one more thing to look at that tires me out. Even without my phone the internet is a constant presence. I go to work and there's a computer in my office. I come home and I have my computer. No matter what I do the internet is always there with one more thing for me to think about.

2. Everything wants you.

Whether it's friends inviting you to like their page (how many amateur photographers can I actually like?) or Facebook suggesting that you add this friend, join that group, or go to that event there is always something that wants you and your click. In the war for my time and attention I just feel torn between things that I really, really don't care about. This feeling of all these little things tearing at me is extremely stressful to me and has me avoiding reading Facebook messages or notifications just in case it's one more thing trying to pull my attention it's way.

Check these CWR guys out.

3. Constant controversy.

Like it or not I'm a Christian. And I mean whether I like it or not, not you. Sometimes I really, really don't like being a Christian and this is a large part of why. I think a large part of it is just the friends I have (socially conscious revolutionaries and such), but I am constantly bombarded by information about some big church embarrassment (see right) or some big argument. When I see these things it is impossible for me to avoid a blood pressure raising gut reaction, whether anger or sadness or disappointment it always happens. I'll go from happily clicking through pictures of cats in boxes to stuttering in rage over the shameful behavior of the world. It really just stresses me out.

4. If I'm online I can't be "off the clock."

This particular point is more applicable to me personally than your average internet junkie. I'm a youth pastor and I'm Facebook friends with many of the youth I work with as well as most of my adult coworkers. I spend all day trying to plan good programs for them and worrying about the well-being of these people and when I get home I just want to shut off and not think about those things for a little bit. But with Facebook that's impossible. I see their updates, and even when I'm not in the office, I still end up being "at work." I don't really think there's any way around this, but at the end of the day it's just exhausting.

5. The badness of the world is overwhelming.

A little while back Facebook added a "trending" section showing the most posted new stories and topics. It's a pretty good idea, and if I'm honest it's where I get a lot of my news, or at least find out what people are talking about. But what I hate about it is just how upsetting a lot of the topics can be just because the world is such a bad place. On the left is a screenshot of  the trending things at the time of writing. Apparently there was a possible suicide at a Navy hospital. Now I'm sad and stressed about something I can do nothing about. Some days almost every single trending item is depressing, scary, or upsetting. I just get so overwhelmed. Again, this is only made worse by the friends I have. My wife's passions include fighting human trafficking and sexism, both of which are extremely daunting opponents. Almost every day I hear some new thing about trafficking or gendercide or how women are oppressed and it just reaches a point where I don't feel like I can take anymore.

6. Click bait.

As you've probably noticed I am intentionally mimicking the style of those many"click bait" articles that overwhelm Facebook newsfeeds. "Oh, if only I knew what number 6 was. I mean, they said it's mind blowing..." No. It never is. This coincides a little bit with feeling grabbed at by all those pages wanting my clicks. I just feel so manipulated by these articles that exist solely to get clicks. The internet was full of fluff articles before, but now people have made an industry out of it. Not only do I get tired of this stuff filling my news feed but I also get tired of this terrible cycle I get stuck in when I do give in and click:
1. Okay, just this once I'll click.
2. You moron, what a waste of time. Why did you click that?
3. Okay, I'll never do that again.
4. "12 pictures of children in war torn villages. NUMBER 4 MADE ME CRY" What, number 4 made that person cry? Well, I guess I can click just this once...
I. Hate. Click bait.   

7. I constantly feel the need to impress people.

The problem with social media is that other people exist there, and they can interact with what you post. Maybe it's just a personal flaw of mine but I constantly find myself trying to figure out how I can get the most likes. Not only that, but if I post a status that I think is really good and it doesn't get many likes I get upset about it. Again, this might just be a major flaw of mine that no one else shares but it's actually something really stressful for me. Facebook and Twitter give me performance anxiety. I'm like, "Look, I'm funny! I'm smart! I'm a good person!" and if no one affirms that I just get bummed out.

8. It reminds me how lonely I am.

This is a big one for me because, well, I have no friends. Really. I have people who I am friendly with and I have friends who are far away (when I say friends I mean the other authors of this blog and that's almost everyone), but in my area I have almost no one. What the internet does that makes that worse is remind me that not everybody else is spending as much time on the internet as me. Other people post pictures of themselves with their friends, or share things on each other’s walls, or invite each other to things. People update their status about going out and doing whatever. It just reminds me that I go to work and I come home and I do very little beside that. Now, that just may sound whiny so here’s something a little more specific. What really gets to me is when I see interactions that I could be a part of that I'm not. I see events I could have been invited to. The internet reminds me that the burden of making friends rests on me and me alone. Nobody will reach out to me and even when I reach out to them it's not guaranteed to pay off. It's okay for me to be lonely and it's okay for me to not have tons of friends or be invited to everything (or anything) but what really gets me down is that it's rubbed in my face. Thanks internet.

Replace "Research Paper" with "Literally Anything" and it still works.

9. It's distracting.

I saved this point for last because—Excuse me, this Buzzfeed article requires my attention.

As I was saying, I think this is the big—Sorry, did you see this video? I have got to share this.

Okay, seriously, I’ll stop now despite the fact that Facebook just pinged and this point would look better with some kind of an image and—I’ll be right back.

There, see that comic? The internet provides for my every image need. I think that this point is probably the most universal of any that I've listed. This is just the nature of that kind of work and work environments the world has now. The internet is an ever-present, ever compelling force. That distraction is to me the biggest stressor of all. Why did I run short on time? I got distracted. Why can't I focus? I'm distracted. Why am I so stressed? I'm distracted by all the stressful things in the world.

The Story of Chaddams

            Greetings, fellow citizen. My name is Chad, and today I shall tell you the story of the founding of our great nation. There were two initial founders, Chris and myself, that decided to establish a city that would last for generations. We had been raised in the forest by a she-squirrel from the time we were young, and upon the arrival of the year of our Lord 2008, we decided it was time to set out for conquest.

            I remember the beginning like it was yesterday. It was a cold night in the fall of 2008 as Chris and I set out for the Campus Center. It was there that he introduced me to his friends from Lambien Hall (the one we were supposed to get dates from because we lived in Rothenbuhler), and they were sitting at a high table. Although I initially took offense to seeing the bottoms of Maya's boots, I knew that the four of us, Jackie, Maya, Chris, and I, would be good friends. Within a few weeks we had doubled in size with the addition of Anya and her roommate Jenny, my roommate Gordon, Natalie, Katie, and sometimes Lane. Thus, the City of Tribe with its founders had been formed.

            Did I just rip off the story of the founding of Rome? Yes, yes I did. I wasn't really raised by a wild animal with Chris just as Romulus and Remus were raised by a she-wolf, but the rest of the story is true. From what I remember, the tribe sort of...happened. Our core members formed together at mealtimes and decided that we would make a set of rules upon which to found our great republic. For one, any new member had to be subjected to an entrance exam, upon which, if they passed, they would be granted citizenship. Each person had a specific role. I was the tribal engineer, Gordon was the storyteller, Chris was the hunter, Jackie was the bait, and Anya was our tribal mother who frequently told us, "No!" Over four years our tribe was the spectacle of the lunchroom--a shining example to the rest of the tables that were there.

            It was the tribe that caused chaos and brought order. We initiated the first "Red Night" by marching on the quad to protest the ban of marching on the quad. We watched movies together, went on adventures to the Genesee River, and participated in all sorts of mischief and fun. I believe that we had more fun than any Greek club ever could. It was also during that time that the Great Prophet, Joseph Chinn, Peace Be Upon Him, descended into our realm to deliver us the Silver Scrolls.

            Peace be upon the Prophet who brought us the secret knowledge! Blessed be the one who wrote the Book of Face and allowed us to communicate more efficiently via the internet! All must join the Chinnists and seek the approval of our Prophet, Joseph Chinn, Peace Be Upon Him. At the end of times, we shall ascend into heaven on his spaceship and avoid the world's destruction for a small contribution of $12. Please send the payment via check or money order as we do not accept credit. All checked baggage will be charged $25 per bag under 50 pounds. Thank you for your cooperation, and we will see you on the flight.

            The Joseph Chinn religion that Chris, Gordon, and I participated in was one of my favorite memories from Houghton. I tried to gain a few converts at work, but I only succeeded in becoming a persecuted religious minority. Actually, I wasn't persecuted, but no one wanted to join my religion. My only regret was that I couldn't stay in Houghton to see the last two years. Instead, I departed for the Land of Enchantment.

            My experiences in the Land of Enchantment as a citizen and founder of the City of Tribe were eye opening. I grew up a lot. While in Houghton I could still be juvenile, do my homework, go to classes, and have fun with my friends. All of that stopped when I moved here. With the absence of all the grants that I had been getting to fund college, and not qualifying for work study, I had to take a job off-campus at 25 hours a week. I wound up working in a call center, and for the first time in my life, I had trouble finding time to do my homework. I had switched from Physics to Math to Computer Science, and programming was a real bitch. I didn't have any friends because I had left all of them in Houghton, and I never really formed friendships with the people my age in my church. The tribe acknowledged all third culture kids, and it was helpful to be around people who had the same experience. No one here had that. So, I had no friends who shared my beliefs, and I had to look for them outside of the church bubble that I had once been in. For the first time, I had stepped out of my comfort zone where I was surrounded by Christians, and I started making friends at work.

            I got to meet a lot of people who did things that I had been told to stay far away from. Some of my friends were stoners or drunks. I had found a new group of friends that weren't as good as the old ones, but I guess they would have to suffice. After a few months, I managed to put money together for a visit for the Tribe's graduation. It was fun seeing everyone again, but I was sad that I had missed so much. I wished that I had stayed. After I returned to the Land of Enchantment I joined the party scene and started drinking at clubs. I realized that getting drunk was fun for a few hours, but it really sucked the next day. I made lots of friends in that time that I partied with, and I met all sorts of people. I cut off my trademark long, curly hair so I would fit in, and it worked because all the girls started hitting on me. I had new friends that I got to have fun with. However, I started drifting away from school and focusing more on my job because I needed the money, and I didn't see myself finishing college. I failed two of my business classes, and I dropped out the next semester to work full time.

            It was during that low in my life that I had given up on everything. I figured that I had no hope of getting out of that job, and that I would always be working in a call center. I got promoted to one of the trainers, and I figured I would just teach people my specialty. It was then that I met my future girlfriend, Victoria, who was one of my students. I liked her from the first day we met, but I didn't think she would like me back. One of her friends took the role of "matchmaker," and she approached me and asked if I had a girlfriend. After telling her that I did not, she mentioned that someone from the training class liked me. I got one of my friends to get her to talk to him, and he told me that it was Victoria that had put her up to the task. With my secret knowledge, I proceeded to show off my skills at call center work. I put on a show to impress, and once she finished training, I asked her out, and the rest is history.

            It's been a year since then, and now I'm at the highest point in my life. Victoria got me to see that I wasn't destined to work in a call center forever. She got me to see that it was just some job, and that I had lost my focus. I had made the job a priority rather than my education, which I had abandoned. I realized that I could finish college if I put my mind to it and if I let go of the temporary. So, I left my job at the call center, and I went back to school. Now, I'm a History major, and for the first time in my life, I'm learning stuff that sticks. I might use what I learned about teaching others from the call center in a future career teaching History at a university. The sad thing is that I haven't heard or talked to any of the friends I used to party with, and I doubt they even miss me because I'm not into that anymore. Perhaps they weren't my real friends. It made me realize that my true friends were the ones who I don't have to drink with to have fun.

            Nevertheless, although I don't know where the future will take me, I will always look fondly upon my memories with the tribe. It was a pleasure knowing all of them, and I know that we will still be connected despite living in the diaspora for years to come.

....It's the last semestser.

Sometimes, there are just too many thoughts to compile together to make into a decent blog post with one subject. So, here’s a list of things that have been on my mind. It won’t be anything deep or anything like that. They’re just thoughts. So, sit back and enjoy the ride that is Katie’s mind. (God bless you if you continue reading).

• I ate bacon cheese fries at 11 last night. It was delicious, yet so so bad for me. But I don’t regret one single moment.
•  I’m currently in the middle of writing a sermon that I have to preach on April 16^th. It’s due tomorrow – at the latest. I only have 2 points written. I’ve had such a struggle writing this and I’m getting frustrated that it’s taking me so long and worried that I won’t get it done in time. Plus, it’s the only Holy Week chapel, so there’s that added pressure because I was chosen for it. I just hope the Lord is glorified through the process of writing and preaching it.
• In my class, we’re learning about church fraud, and a mug shot showed up of an old lady who embezzled over 90 thousand dollars from her church. Is it bad that I laughed when I saw her picture?
• Last week, I decided that within this last semester I have at school – just 9 more weeks, praise the Lord – I’m going to keep to myself. I hate knowing everything about everyone’s lives. I want people to have their privacy. Just because I’m in close community doesn’t mean I need to know. And so far – I’ve found that I have a lot more joy. I’m happier, day by day.
• The Palisades Mall took out my favorite FroYo place. They betrayed me. The Palisades Mall is now the Benedict Arnold Mall. It’s dead to me. (Kind of. I gotta eat sometimes).
• I’ve stopped wearing eyeliner on my bottom eyelid. It’s incredibly freeing. I actually look my age with just light, natural eye shadow and mascara. It’s crazy how that one little decision had opened my eyes to see how beautiful I truly am without heavy makeup… and how much happier my bank account is going to be.
• This weekend, I get to go to Hershey for a mandatory single’s retreat. Thaaaaaaaaaat’s right. Single’s retreat. Whatevs. I get to experience a weekend away from school, in a nice hotel right down the road from Chocolate World (HOLLER) and Organic Chai Chocolate bars. 
  
• Can I be married now?
• My brother-in-law is really cool. I finally get the brother I always wanted. He doesn’t hold anything back; always saying whatever comes into his mind. I love it.
• My dad’s teaching an Ethics Class at the school. I’m not allowed to be in his class, though. But like, doesn’t the school know that he was my basketball coach once and he was harder on me than anyone else on the team?
• I really just need some coffee.

So, that’s my life right now. Seriously, though, God bless you for reading. Go buy yourself some ice cream. You deserve it.

Tuesday April 1st, 2014. Sad News Today.

It is with great lament that we announce the death of the entire tribe. Unfortunately, everyone is dead, including the core founding members. Due to some horrible coincidence of nature, every single tribe member died today from a wide array of causes. The death certificates of each tribal member will be posted as they become available. Without further ado, here is the first one for Chad Adams.

     Next is Chris Clark:

Update @ 1:15PM MST:

We have received several more death certificates. Oh the humanity!