A Fiery Car Crash with Ice Cream on the Side

Tracking Obama's promises

2009-01-26T11:01:00.003-07:00

This website, put together by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times, is awesome. It tracks all 508 promises that Obama made during his campaign. It shows what promises have been kept (5), compromised (1), broken (0), stalled (1), are in the works (14) or have not yet been addressed (488). I found a few to be particularly interesting.

31. Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges (No Action)
307. Create a White House Office on Urban Policy (No Action)
308. Fully fund the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) (No Action)
310. Establish program to convert manufacturing centers into clean technology leaders (No Action)
314. Increase the supply of affordable housing throughout metropolitan regions (No Action)
315. Establish 'Promise Neighborhoods' for areas of concentrated poverty (No Action)
322. Sign the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act (No Action)
477. Upgrade nation's infrastructure through new partnership with state and local government (No Action)
480. Support high-speed rail (No Action)
483. Invest in public transportation (No Action)
484. Equalize tax breaks for driving and public transit (No Action)
485. Consider "smart growth" in transportation funding (No Action)
486. Will seek more accommodations of bicycles and pedestrians (No Action)
487. Help states and localities address sprawl (No Action)
498. Provide grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes (No Action)

I know that none of these that I take particular interest in have had any action on them, but I figure it's only his forst week, he'll probably get to them sooner or later. I'm just happy to have a president who actually seems to have an interest in our urban policy and how it shapes our world, and I look forward to seeing progress on these goals. Be sure to check the website above and see what's happening with the promises that matter to you.

The list keeps growing

2009-01-22T09:45:00.003-07:00

That list that I speak of is the list of individuals and organizations that bring my boiling blood to my face. The latest addition is the Utah Highway Patrol.

Now I will admit, this problem is mostly my fault. In Utah, cars over eight years old have to be registered every year, and my 23-year-old Darcy certainly qualifies. However, my feeling that Darcy could die at any minute makes me reluctant to spend any money on her, so I failed to get that registration taken care of when last year's expired back in August.

So Holly needs to go to a concert at Velour for a project, and we were leaving from Target in Orem to get there, so we were pretty much equidistant from the highway and University Avenue, so I asked Holly to randomly pick a direction and the one she picked ended up leading us to the highway. I should have known better because Darcy makes deathly noises at over 55 miles per hour, and a car going equal to the speed limit, let alone below it, is bound to attract attention on I-15. Sure enough, we get pulled over just past University Parkway. Of course my registration is grossly out of date, and in addition to that, my insurance isn't valid because it's not at the right address, which is bound to happen considering we just moved in less than two weeks ago. But I guess there's another trip to add on to the list. State Farm, here we come. Anyway, HP man scares the bejeeses out of me informing me that since the registration is over three months overdue my car could be impounded. Lucky for us, the officer took pity on us, maybe because we played the Newlywed card, and didn't have us towed and just gave me a warning on the insurance, citing me only for the registration.

We left the next day for our open house in Pittsburgh, which was wonderful but not a part of this story, maybe something I'll talk about later. We get back and I examine my ticket. It has no fee written on it, but it does say that I have to get it taken care of within 14 days of the violation or else they'll put out a warrant for my arrest, which no one wants. I call up Orem City, find out that the fee is $47, but they'll take off ten if you can prove that you have gotten your registration up to date before you pay, so I run to a mechanic a few blocks from the house and get it properly inspected and registered. Two days later (I don't have time on working days), I make my way to the 4th district court, which is a part of Orem's quite fasionable civic center. I head to the front desk and hand the nice receptionist my ticket. She types a few things into her computer and then says, "Oh, that's not good..." Four words you never want to hear at court. She informs me that the Highway Patrol has yet to send in their form to the city. Wait, so if you want me to get this taken care of ASAP, how can you expect me to do that if you don't report the thing after a whole week? If that little computer you have in your squad car can tell you if I have a real license, if I have any warrants, and almost anything else you need to know, then why can't it send a quick emial or something to the municipality so that we don't all have our time wasted? Well, as it turns out I didn't have to rush to get this done as I had supposed. The nice receptionist lady informed me that you don't have 14 days to get it done, you have 30. Really, Utah Highway Patrol? You can't even put the correct information on your tickets? You put the fear of The Man in me for nothing!

So I guess I have to call back later and find out if the Highway Patrol has done their job yet. I hate Utah.

Breathing in Utah is ill-advised

2009-01-21T09:06:00.002-07:00

So this frigid morning, I took the 830 to BYU and had about a half hour layover before catching the 822 down to Spanish Fork, so I sat down in the den at the Wilk and watched a little TV. On the morning news, I saw that there was an air pollution warning which advised all citizens not to go outside and exert themselves because of the unhealthy air. After I got on the bus and tried to look out accross the valley, I noticed that you couldn't even see a quarter mile or so. On a clear day, because of the lack of terrain in the valleys, you can see to Point of the Mountain. I also just recently read that more than half of Utah's air pollution comes from cars. Utah's commute traffic is notorious, because there is essentially only one route (I-15) that leads to Salt Lake from the surrounding areas. I really wonder why everyone thinks that adding another lane on the one highway will fix things. Really, the best way to address these problems is to take cars off teh road. However, the only way to do that and still allow for commuters to get to where they need to go is to have other options, such as better bus and rail transit, particularly rail because it is faster and usually kept in a better condition. In addition to that, it would also help a lot to encourage transit oriented development, or greater density close to transit stops. There are various cities in Davis County, to the North of Salt Lake, that are doing this, but Utah County has not been able to grasp the concept. I hope that that changes in the future. I'm currently working on a transit oriented development around what is currently the Provo Amtrak station just in my spare time, and I would really like to submit it to the city and see if they would allow something like that to happen.

Clark Monson owes me ten bucks

2008-12-17T14:52:00.002-07:00

My final for Geography 305, Geography of Landforms, was scheduled today for 11:00. I arrived just a little bit early after saying up till 4:00 AM last night studying (I would rather stay up late than get up early, and this test was really important for my grade, so I wanted to be thorough). The first thing that happened was that a girl who sits a few seats infront of me informed me that a chapter that we hadn't covered in class and that wasn't on the study guide would be on the test. Apparently just around Thanksgiving, when no one was here, Professor Monson had handed out a piece of paper about the chapter, didn't even cover it in class, and informed the few people there that it would be on the test. Why it wasn't on the study guide and why he didn't tell us when he handed it out that it was deficient, I don't know. So I thumbed through the book and talked to Igor (he got his visa renewed and was really excited that he wasn't getting deported) while waiting for Professor Monson to arrive with the test. We ended up having to wait for 25 minutes. When he finally arrived he gave us his sad song about how his test wouldn't print and how he needed IT to help him and whatnot, then took a few minutes to explain the test and answer questions. It took me less than a half hour to finish the test (hopefully I did ok), and afterward I ran to the bus stop. I missed it by bus by thirteen minutes. The next bus for Spanish Fork came in an hour. So by being 25 minutes late to HIS OWN FINAL, Professor Monson made me miss my bus, which made me miss an hour of work, which cost me ten dollars. So Clark Monson owes me ten bucks.

This man is a nice guy, but overall the worst professor I've had. He is consistently late to class, and even more often he came unprepared, either having forgot his presentation or not having it set up in a way that would work on the classroom computer. He doesn't often do a good job of writing test qestions or making it apparent what he was looking for, and even when you ask him, he still isn't very clear. On multiple occasions he was asked what he meant by something on the syllabis and he didn't even know what he had written or what his intention was. Despite this lack of clarity, he is a harsh grader.

Now I'm not saying that Clark Monson is a terrible man. I'm just saying that if I held myself to the standard he does, I'd be in big trouble as a student. If I was consistently late to class, sometimes as much as fifteen minutes, I would be in trouble. If I was giving a presentation and came to class unprepared, I would lose points on the assignment. And if I can get docked points on a test for needing to give a more in-depth answer, I think a professor should be able to explain, in depth, just what he's trying to get at. So the long story short is, if you have a choice between taking a class taught by Monson and taking a class taught by anyone else, choose the later.

Something similar to this will probably find its way to ratemyprofessor.com, the head of the Geography department, the dean of the college of Family, Health, and Social Sciences, and The Daily Universe.

Frank Gehry hates children

2008-12-16T23:57:00.005-07:00

So today Dave got this month's edition of Urban Land in the mail at work. It was the annual design issue, so I asked him if I could borrow it for a few days and just thumb through it. As I sat on the bus, looking through the articles, I came across an article that featured a Frank Gehry piece. I hate Frank Gehry's architecture. His stuff is just terrible. There are so many reasons not to like Frank Gehry. First of all, his creative process resembles that of a pot-smoking chimpanzee. The Chiat/Day Building in LA is a prime example.

You see that big gray thing in the middle of the picture? The thing that looks a lot like a set of binoculars? You know how he came up with that? SOME GUY SET DOWN HIS BINOCULARS ON THE MODEL AND HE GEHRY DECIDED HE LIKED IT. The building would otherwise just be another example of the ostentatious postmodern style, but the addition of the binoculars makes it look like a mess on the floor of a child's playroom.

Another example of Gehry's crappiness is the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

This monstrosity that graces the streets of Los Angeles is a monument to the ego of one man and a detriment to the rest of us. The stainless steel panels that cover this building raised the temperature on this one block to 140 degrees during the summer and blinded drivers anywhere within sight.

Gehry's works are not meant to integrate into a city. They aren't even capable, because of their form and materials, of sharing a wall with another building. They have no concern for proportion or symmetry, which according to Vitruvius, "when proportions and symmetry lend [a work] an imposing effect, then the glory of it will belong to the architect." They don't fit into a city. They stand on their own, and not well. They basically say, "Hey, surroundings, I don't care about you, I don't care about blending in to you, complimenting you, being at all harmonious in any way, or making the people around us feel comfortable, safe or enclosed. I'm just going to stick out like the tower of Babylon."

I guess another issue is just our general differences in a classical sense. Gehry's opulence could be compared to the classical Corinthian order, which was the most ornate and effeminate of the orders. Now I appreciate the Corinthian order in many situations, but it's just not me. I prefer the huskier, simpler and more masculine form of the Doric order. The thicker, more basic and orderly decoration and proportions of the Doric are much more pleasing to me, and even if I'm not using columns with twenty flutes or alternating metopes and triglyphs, a simple 1:6 ratio looks stronger, more powerful. So basically, Gehry is an egomaniacal, self-centered sissy of an architect.

Deliciousness

2008-12-16T23:24:00.002-07:00

So today I was thinking about grad school and how different some of the places I'm looking at will be from Provo. The greatest difference, on the unlikely chance that I get accepted, would probaby be Berkeley. Of course going from one of the most conservative to one of the most liberal schools in the country would be a big difference, but more than just that it would be the level of diversity. It would be really different coming from a place where almost everyone is Mormon, white, and upper middle class, to a fairly secularized, racially diverse, and scholarship-funded school. I was reminded of the commentary by Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ. Durring this year's election there was a lot of talk of a "post-racial America." Mayor Booker, who is black, successful and extremely cool, talked about how that just isn't the case. There will always be black and white in America. The solution isn't to forget our race or heritage, but to live with and cherrish each other and our differences. The term that he used to describe the greatness of these differences was "racial deliciousness." So I was thinking about how deliciousness relates to diversity, and I came to the conclusion that living in Provo is kind of like eating carrots every day. You know it's good for you, and it's really not that bad, but after a while you just want a steak or some ice cream or something. Berkeley is more like a buffet. And let me tell you, the longer I'm in Provo, the more tired I get of carrots.

Nuke Provo

2008-12-08T23:48:00.002-07:00

I hate Provo. Provo is a terrible place that should be turned into a landfill, and all of it's former residents, at least those who liked it, should be sterilized. And every once in a while, I start thinking Provo is okay, and that BYU isn't that bad of a place. Then I go to Salt Lake, and on some occasions to the U, and then I realize how much I just want to burn this whole place to the ground. Salt Lake is just infinitely cooler than Provo. Neighborhoods like Sugarhouse have so much more character than all of Provo put together. And this is the first time I've ever gone to the U's Architecture and Planning Building. Let's start there. They actually have A BUILDING. We don't even have a floor. They actually have A COLLEGE. We have an emphasis in a department in a college that is set up for girls who just want to go to college and get married and never contribute to society in any way other than reproducing, which depending on the caliber of their offspring may actually be detrimental, yea, embarrassing to society. Their building is a textbook example of Brutalist architecture. Now generally speaking, I am not a fan of Brutalism, nor any other offshoots of the modern movement, but I do recognize the emphasis that the style exhibited on college campuses in the late 70's and early 80's, and even more, I recognize it as SOMETHING. BYU lacks so much of anything compelling architecturally. The City Beautiful of the Meazer building is pretty much the only example of a building that isn't guilty of facadism, and then the Brimhall (Art Deco), Joseph Smith (Modern), and Eyring (Modern) buildings are the only ones that exhibit distinctive facades. The JFSB is a move in the right direction, but other than that, we stink. I'm going to finish this article by saying "I HATE PROVO!" one hundred and one times.

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My Blog, Summarized

2008-10-25T21:01:00.002-06:00

Here is my blog run through Wordle.net:

It appears more political than I originally planned.

We need to be better citizens

2008-10-25T02:52:00.003-06:00

This weekend I went to an awesome play, “God for President,” which is still running this Saturday and Monday, anyone in Provo should go see it (www.newplayproject.org). The main idea of the play is that a group has decided to campaign for God, but they discover that God means different things to different people. Despite that, he is an integral part of the American nation and people. It sort of tempered some feelings I’ve been having recently. I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated with the political atmosphere of this country, particularly this year. I’ve become disgusted with the candidates themselves and with our citizenry and how they all seem to be willing to lie and mislead to support their candidate and discredit the other. I’ve been thinking, is there any way to resolve this? Should I just leave for a more politically friendly country like Canada or Denmark? I almost feel like the west and south of our country have stolen what we in the North East have worked so hard and sacrificed so much for. I almost feel like we should secede so we never have to deal with another president from Texas keeping us from doing what we want.

What the play reminded me of is that when it comes down to it, most Americans are good people, and we have two great candidates running. I support Barack Obama because I checked out where he and McCain stand on the issues on CNN.com and I agree more with Obama, but I still think McCain is basically a good person. What I’m afraid of though is that the candidates and the people at large are demonizing not just the other candidates, but also their supporters. We are dividing ourselves, and I’m afraid that it may lead to violence. We all need to realize that neither of the candidates are anything we should be afraid of. John McCain is not a traitor who doesn’t care about the environment, a limitless hawk who is in the pockets of the oil companies, a Bush clone with no executive experience, an economic lightweight who doesn’t support women’s rights, an immigrant hater who wants to privatize social security, an opponent to stem cell research who wants rape victims to pay for their own exams, or a 100% negative campaigner with a cracked-up education plan. At the same time, Barack Obama is not a non-patriot who was sworn into the senate on the Koran, a secret Muslim who hasn’t passed any legislation, a white-hater who condones the words of Louis Farrakhan, a future enemy of Pakistan and future friend of Iran, a greenhorn communist, an anti-Israeli or anti-Christ, a first amendment destroyer who wants to raise everyone’s taxes, a funder of Kenyan terrorism who has ignored climate change, a crony of Castro or Rezko, the reason for high gas prices who wants to disarm our country, a massive government grower who has never crossed party lines, a sexist who wants to teach sex education to kindergarteners, a second amendment opposer who stands against clean coal, a small business destroyer who wants to kill abortion survivors, or a domestic terrorist sympathizer who is involved in voter fraud (all rumors are from the false or “pants on fire” attacks against the candidates on politifact.com). Neither candidate means the end for America, and I think both of them would be good. I of course think Barack Obama would be better, but if McCain does get elected, I’m not moving to Canada right off the bat.

I think it’s on us as citizens to behave like adults and be respectful and respectable. I think in the future we need to truly demand the same from the candidates, possibly even introduce campaign legislation against attack ads. And we need to discuss issues, not superfluities. If you want to talk about Obama’s tax plan and what it actually means in economic terms for the nation, that’s great, but if you read on someone’s blog that he punched a nun when he was fifteen and that’s why he shouldn’t be president, you need to learn a few things about journalistic integrity and grow up a little bit. From this point on, I’m not going to discuss things that aren’t real issues, although I would be glad to discuss things that actually matter if you feel so inclined. Now go see the play, think about how respectable your behavior has been, and change appropriately.

Why We Suck at War

2008-07-17T18:11:00.011-06:00

Sully and I have discussed many a time why America has not really won a war since World War II. I think I've figured it out. Back in the first part of the century, when the United States still had a strongly agriculture- and manufacturing-based economy, the boys we sent to war were like this:

Now the people we send are more like this:

America's service economy has created generations of sissies. The army is not made up of a solid core of tough soldiers but of a few good men among misguided people who could barely graduate high school (check out this story for more information). In my opinion, we need to send over the original doughboys - Idaho farmers and Detroit manufacturing workers. We need to send the FFA and the AFL-CIO to Iraq. And forget all the complicated computers and weaponry. We need to give each of them a six shooter and a sledge hammer. Then we just need to send some guy from a Ford factory in with a fork lift to clean it all up. That's my military strategy. And that's why I'm not president.

Doctrine and Covenants 1:18

2008-06-24T19:40:00.005-06:00

That verse quoted in the title reads as follows.

"And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets..."

So, world, are you ready to be proclaimed to?

I know that making a statement like this is a little out of character for this blog in particular, but seeing as I don't have a ton of people to share this with here in Provo, I hope that maybe I can touch someone out there in internet world with my testimony. I know that there is a God, that he is our Father, our creator and or overseer, and that even with disasters and wars and troubles throughout the world, he loves us and has a plan for us, even though we may not understand his mindset all the time. As part of his plan, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die as a sinless propetiation for our sins, so that if we repent and make covenants with Him, we can be forgiven of our sins and return again to his presence. I know that despite the confusion and error in the world, God has not left us to argue on our own about what he may or may not want for us, but has established his church again, the same way it was in Christ's time, on the earth, through the work of a prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., who translated another volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon, to testify of this restoration and to give us added guidance in these days. I know these things not because I read a book or heard a preacher or was otherwise convinced by earthly means, but because I came to a point where I felt I needed to know, I prayed, and I received revelation myself from God. And just as no earthly power convinced me, no earthly power could ever convince me otherwise. Even with all my frustration with members of the church and with the way BYU is run, I know that the gospel upon which it is based is true, that the church was organized by God himself through his servants, and I am so very grateful for the blessings that I've received. If you have questions, email me.

Iceland Is So Cool, it's Cold

2008-03-18T08:40:00.004-06:00

Now I don't want people getting the wrong impression and thinking I don't like America, because I do. I'm just saying, I'd like to give Iceland a try after the UN's 2007 Human Development Index was published. Having the 12th best quality of life isn't bad, but why not go for number one?

Iceland 0.968 (▲ 1)
Norway 0.968 (▼ 1)
Australia 0.962 (▬)
Canada 0.961 (▲ 2)
Ireland 0.959 (▼ 1)
Sweden 0.956 (▼ 1)
Switzerland 0.955 (▲ 2)
Japan 0.953 (▼ 1)
Netherlands 0.953 (▲ 1)
France 0.952 (▲ 6)
Finland 0.952 (▬)
United States 0.951 (▼ 4)
Spain 0.949 (▲ 6)
Denmark 0.949 (▲ 1)
Austria 0.948 (▼ 1)
United Kingdom 0.946 (▲ 1)
Belgium 0.946 (▼ 4)
Luxembourg 0.944 (▼ 6)
New Zealand 0.943 (▲ 1)
Italy 0.941 (▼ 3)
Hong Kong 0.937 (▲ 1)
Germany 0.935 (▼ 1)
Israel 0.932 (▬)
Greece 0.926 (▬)
Singapore 0.922 (▬)
South Korea 0.921 (▬)
Slovenia 0.917 (▬)
Cyprus 0.903 (▲ 1)
Portugal 0.897 (▼ 1)
Brunei 0.894 (▲ 4)

By the way, I'd like to point out the fact that Ireland, the West Virginia of Europe, is number five. Erin go braugh!

How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight?

2008-03-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

From the twisted mind of my cousin Seth. Apparently he can take four more than I can. He's big, but I'm crazy.

A Short Investigation of Mormon Conservativism

2008-03-04T14:31:00.003-07:00

Is this article biased? Yes. There, now you can't accuse me of being biased, because I admitted it. But it is an interesting and though provoking article. My dad sent me this from a forum he subscribes to, I think in Yahoo Groups, called LDS-left. Check it out.

Utah was invaded by a military force under a Democrat (Buchanan), not a way to engender good feelings. James G. Blaine, a Republican maverick, was a big help in Utah statehood. Prior to 1891 almost all church members were members of the Peoples Party which dominated the non-churchy Liberal Party. As a tactic toward making statehood happen, both the Liberal and Peoples parties were disbanded and the state Republican and Democratic parties replaced them. The division in the 1890s was roughly even, with a slight preference toward Democratic leaders late in the decade. From statehood to 1907, no elected Senator was accepted from Utah by the Senate. Reed Smoot, a Republican, was the first to break down resistance to admitting a Utahan in the Senate. From then on, Utah has been solidly Republican. Most of you seem to forget that in the first decade of the twentieth century, the Republican Party was more liberal than the Democratic Party, so this was for the first generation of Utah GOP, an appeal of a progressive and tolerant party. It wasn't for another generation that the Republican Party moved to the right of the Democrats, a trend that was finally sealed in the mid-sixties with the 1964 Voting Rights Act, the defection of the Dixiecrats, the Johnson-Goldwater campaign. As to how individuals come to associate intolerant politics with righteousness, consider the following. A child who is told that worldly, urbane people are evil, will try to avoid them. But we don't say that, we have taken the shortcut, saying its the Democrats. The idea of Democrats as the party of evil is new to the last 50 years, its a meme adopted by the neoliberal Republicans that gave birth to the neoconservative movement of the last 25 years. The neoliberals rebelled against the permissive attitudes, the isolationist politics and the unrest accompanying the changes in the status of women, Blacks and homosexuals. Their resort was to a style of ad hominum politics, moral legislation and order above liberty. It used fear of the different to gather support. In general, Democrats have been less zealous in adopting this idea. So we have conservatives trying to change the legal framework to some mythic ideal where women accept responsibilities but don't change the power relationships, Blacks are citizens but don't have political power and heterosexuality is the litmus test for justice.

We LDS are isolationist in our daily lives. We tend to avoid what we don't like. We only play with kids from families with the same "standards", usually deduced by church activity rather than discussions of ethical and moral principles. We have adopted the business model of homogenization rather than the economic model of diversification in our public affairs. As a result we grow up thinking different is bad and variation brings decadence. In Utah and adjoining states this is melded with a history of paternalistic to antagonistic relations with other races, particularly Native American and Hispanic, but also the rarely encountered Black. The church has not strongly taught tolerance or cultural awareness in over a century, but neither has it ever taught intolerance or xenophobia. These are cultural affectations bred from early isolation (Utah was in the middle of nowhere until the 1950s), a certain amount of arrogant certitude in moral issues, a largely rural culture and chance political history. After all if a person (or his ancestors) has the wisdom to choose the right church, doesn't it follow that he will also choose the right party, the right culture, the right language, and the right thoughts? Too many have accepted their heritage without question and continue it without critical thought.

Xenophobia is a lazy man's way of dealing with reality: what is unfamiliar is bad, what's new is less than what was, change is never positive, differences come from moral insufficiencies. That none of these is true doesn't detract from their appeal.

I Was Kidding About the Baby Thing

2008-01-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

I was in my GIS class today, working on a project, and when I went to pull something out of my binder, I saw the "I Voted" stickers from the 1996 election that I had raided from the city attorney’s shredder. I laughed and turned to my neighbor to tell him the story. I started with, "OK, so I'm campaigning for Barack Obama..." and got about that far before I got the "What?! You're going to Hell!" discussion. He actually mentioned how he couldn't believe that I wasn't voting for Mitt Romney (international fraud, and any wrong moves would give the church a black eye on an international scale), and even more so that I was voting for a democrat. His dislike for Obama basically hinged on one thing; abortion. OK, Mormons, let me tell you why your hang-up on this subject makes me want to go on a murderous rampage.

So first and foremost, you can't let one issue determine your support or lack thereof for a political candidate. And of all the issues, I don't understand why this is the single hang-up that all Mormons seem to have. Is it about the sanctity of life? If that's the argument, then why is the life of an unborn child valued more than that of an American Soldier, or an Iraqi citizen, or anyone else for that matter? Not that I'm saying by any means that either of these groups are more or less important than another, just that if all you're worried about is people getting murdered, I would think that the war in Iraq would be as much or more of a concern than abortion.

Second, it is not the position of the church that abortion should be outlawed. It is that it should not be performed except in extreme cases such as rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is threatened, and even then you are recommended to consult with your bishop before doing so. I see this as the only reasonable position. But even in those extreme cases, it is very important to have a qualified medical professional performing the operation. Otherwise you get people doing it themselves with wire hangers, and I'm much more disturbed by that.

Third, it is not the role of the President or any politician to be a saint or uphold the values of the church, as we can see by the records of many of those who I would consider our better politicians (Jefferson, Franklin, Kennedy, etc.). Their job is to uphold the law, especially the Constitution, which we as Mormons believe is an inspired document. Yes, that does include a certain measure of decency, especially honesty, which unfortunately many of us don't feel that any of our politicians possess. But as far as upholding federal law is concerned, Roe v. Wade is still the standard, whether you like it or not, and must be upheld.

On the subject of Roe v. Wade, everyone talks about having it repealed. Now I will admit my ignorance on the subject, but is there any way that a state can make regulation around Roe v. Wade? I personally agree that Roe v. Wade is not the best law. It is my opinion that, since one of the root arguments about abortion is whether or not it is murder, it should be left up to the states to decide, since murder is a state and not a federal law.

So just to clarify my personal position as far as being pro-life or pro-choice, I'm not sure my opinion fits either of those categories. I feel that abortions are terrible things. I knew girls back home and taught ladies on my mission who had had abortions, and not only does it end the life of the fetus, but in many ways it plagues the life of the mother if not both parents. The one time in my life that I had the opportunity to talk to a friend of mine who was considering having an abortion, I advised against it. That being said, I don't see it as my position to say that someone must comply, by law, with my beliefs. I am very lenient in my interpretation of the 11th Article of Faith: "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." Also, I am somewhat strict in my interpretation of the 12th: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." And as I have previously stated, Roe v. Wade is the law right now. Sorry.

I don't see it as the position of the state to regulate these sort of things. I think the real problem with increasing abortion rates is decreasing spirituality. As I mentioned earlier, women in this country who have abortions remember it for the rest of their lives, and often wonder what things would have been like had they had the child. I think that this is because most people in our country are generally good. They realize that they have ended a life by their actions, that they have done something bad. I see the increasing lack of spirituality in our country as a more underlying factor. If you look at the former Soviet Bloc, where God was forgotten, that's where you see the real problem. In Romania, for example, the average woman has five abortions. Let me say that again. The average woman has five abortions. That means some have more than five. They don't realize that what they're doing is bad. They think they're doing a good thing for themselves rather than a bad thing for the child or in the eyes of God.

To conclude, we can't fight the symptoms and not fight the disease. If you want to overcome abortion, just don't have one yourself, advise those you know against it, and share the Gospel. I love the words of President Benson: "We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family." So change the world that way.

Can We Fix It? Yes We Can!

2007-12-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so first I'm going to start with some things, mostly positive, that I neglected about BYU and Provo. Julianne was very right in commenting on the dollar theater. It rocks. I remember freshman year I discussed opening a chain of dollar theaters throughout California with Phil. I still think we should do it. On architecture, I went inside the new alumni building for the first time today, and that place is beautiful, especially from the interior, which is particularly rare at BYU. The use of wood and fine stone combined with the current holiday decor give it a very warm, almost homey feel. And then the Museum of Art is pretty nice too, except right now they have a lot of romantic impressionist landscapes which bore me to death. The Japanese nuclear commentary pieces are really cool, though. And I just did a report on restaurants in the Provo area, and there is a great variety of very good ethnic restaurants here. I'll give a shout out to Sam Hawk and Bangkok Grill. Give them a try.

By the way, Julianne pointed out the harsh contrast of the red on black, so I changed background colors. Happy now?

Okay, so to be frank, my last entry was mostly whining, right? And what good is whining? NONE! So what I wanted to do is maybe discuss ways that we can fix these and other noted problems with Provo. Here are my ideas. Some of them, most of them, are very large-scale, but hey, we've got to start somewhere, right? Okay, so here's the issues I identified in my last entry:

BYU is the best place is the world.
...Yeah, I don't know about this one. Any ideas?

Bad architecture.
Okay, here's my plan. I want to find out, if you make a contribution to BYU, do you have any say as to for what purpose your contribution is used? I hope you do, because if so, I will do everything in my power to raise millions of dollars to get every building on campus refurbished(with the exceptions of the JFSB, alumni building, MOA, testing center and Maeser building). In many cases there's no real structural changes necessary, just superficial ones - replace the ugly wall materials, both inside and out. Now, of course, the problem is that that's a whole heck of a lot of money. I'm not getting into actual plans right now, I'm just speaking theoretically - What do you think?

Hedges about the law.
More religion professors who actually have a pair, like Paul Hoskisson, who tell their students that their pseudo-religious beliefs are uninspired, at least for those not under their jurisdiction, and they need to get off other people's backs. That's all I can really think of. Maybe if we sent everyone to missions where they had to deal with a lot of anti and people actually have to learn their religion, it would be better. Go Idaho Boise Mission!

Intellectual conversation.
Everyone becomes English majors? I'm hoping by moving out of my current complex and in with a very smart friend of mine from my Freshman year, I may be able to find more people to talk to/argue with.

Coming to college to get married.
...Again, not sure.

Diversity.
Also not sure how to fix, but an interesting commentary on the subject: Bryce, who almost became my room mate this semester, told me about his BYU elitism theory. BYU, as the flagship school of the church, is the best as far as providing education opportunities and, as such, the hardest to get into. This attracts a large group, then, of white-bread, upper class, captain of the football team/president of the home-ec club type people, or a Mormon elite, if you will. This, in turn, turns away a lot of people who are equally as intelligent and qualified, but not a part of this culture. I saw this while visiting Idaho and talking to a lot of friends who I can easily say are smarter and more qualified than myself, but would never go to BYU because of its culture. So to up the diversity we either need to somehow encourage those of the other group to come, or find a way to make the base group of BYU less overwhelming so as not to drive away those types. How does that work? Uh...

Provo is small and boring.
Well, small takes decades to fix, and it involves attracting people to an area, mostly by jobs and other factors that will make it a better place to raise their family. Part of this in Provo at least would involve building up more than out, because we've sprawled over this entire valley all the way to Payson. This is indeed happening, as we can see with new, taller buildings with higher density dwellings, such as the Wells Fargo building downtown and the new condos going up on Freedom Boulevard and State Street in Orem. Now, to take care of the boring thing. Personally, I'd love to see more of a local music scene, club scene, and better architecture and design throughout the city. I'd love to see New Urban ideals like having all of your daily needs within walking distance (I hope by moving closer to University Avenue I'll be able to walk more). And I'd love to start a punk rock band. Who's with me?!

Bad drivers.
Note: On the way home today I was almost hit by a UTA bus that ran a stop sign. One time I drove from my apartment (700 E 500 N) to the Wilk (roughly 750 E, 1000 N), not quite six blocks, and saw seven traffic violations on the way. Now, as many of us know, Provo police are freaking Nazis, especially about parking, so that isn't discouraging anyone. I think Seth was very right in his comment on the last post, that it's the wide streets and their illusion of safety that make people drive faster. So lets narrow up those streets and slow people down. And if anyone gives me the line, "But Brigham Young said to have wide streets," I will hunt them down and slap them, for the following reasons:

Brigham Young's inspired design was for Salt Lake City, not Provo. And no, it's not the same, because Provo is not meant to be a state capitol or the center of the church. God also inspired the design for the New Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40-48), and it's not the same as Salt Lake, so it's safe to say that God doesn't want all cities built that way.
In Brigham Young's inspired design, the streets were either to be lined with trees or have the buildings right against the street with just a small sidewalk in between. The enclosure of trees and buildings also causes drivers to slow down. So either do both or neither. Don't be lukewarm.

So that's what I got. How about you guys?

I Hate Provo

2007-11-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so whenever I talk about how I don't like Provo 1) people make a face that I would expect to see if I had just said I would like to try eating raw baby and 2) I can never organize my thoughts and feelings coherently. So from now on I think I will direct them to my blog so I don't have to waste my breath. This may be a continually updated post.

I guess I should start with the reason I'm at BYU. It's cheap. Cheaper than Pitt or Penn State or any other in-state school worth going to. Considerably cheaper than most private institutions I'd be the least bit interested in. And that's really about it. I will admit that there are a few other unexpected positives about this place. I doubt I would have gone on my mission if I had gone anywhere else, although I owe all of that to the opportunity it presented me to meet Biz and not in the least bit to this institution. I also appreciate the fact that I don't have to worry about my room mates doing drugs or having sex around me. But those are about all I can think of for positives.

As far as cons, the only question is where to start. First of all, the overwhelming idea that BYU is the only place on earth that may be good for anyone to go to. I honestly feel like Danny Kim is the only person I can have an intelligent, intellectual discussion with because whenever I talk about how I don't like it here I immediately feel like I'm being attacked. BYU isn't the only good school. There are a lot of good schools. There are a lot of schools that are better than BYU, especially for my profession. I had a friend go to the counseling center and talk about how he hates it here, how he feels like he doesn't fit in, that he's not growing as an individual and is being cheated out of a college experience. At the end of his visit he asked the counselor if they get a lot of visits like this. He says they almost never do. Well hell, if we're the only ones that don't think BYU is Zion, maybe we really should leave!

To be simple and vain, I would say that the architecture is terrible. With the exception of the Maeser building and to a lesser degree the JFSB, the buildings are all of a modernist design used with tacky, ugly materials from the mid-20th century. Ew, ew, ew. It is amazingly apparent that there is no architecture department here. And the sidewalks are highly reflective, which in such a sunny environment is bad for your eyes. The Maeser building is of a nice classical design, and the JFSB is a slightly more bearable take on modernism with its use of glass and large arcs and less of an emphasis on poo-colored bricks. And I'll admit a bit of a fondness to the SWKT, but only because if its height. Every day I walk past the Widstoe building and want to gouge my eyes out with a pool cue.

One of my biggest problems is hedges about the law. Allow me to explain. Lets say a commandment is like a cliff. You keep the commandment, you stay on the cliff. You break the commandment, you fall over the edge. Now, some of us try to come as close to the edge without falling off. Those people usually slip. So, to keep ourselves from slipping, we build fences, or hedges, about the commandments. The good thing about hedges are they keep us from breaking the commandments. The bad things are that you must build your own hedges - what helps one person may not be the best thing for another; and the hedges are not the law, but some have the habit of mistaking them as such. BYU rampantly puts up hedges and expects people to go along with them. Whats worse is that those who choose to mistake them for the law and persecute those who choose different hedges. I can't get a Dr. Pepper at any of the vending machines on campus because they don't sell caffeine-free 20 oz. bottles. If you actually read the word of wisdom, it has nothing to do with caffeine, and the official church doctrine about it is not that it is outlawed, but to use good judgement. So I, who don't care about caffeine because it's 5 AM right now, I'm drinking a Dr. Pepper, and will be perfectly able to go to bed when this is done, do not have the opportunity to get my favorite beverage on campus because of someone else's hedge. This is also where I have a lot of problems with the honor code. I can't have girls in my room. What if I want to show them something on my computer? That's innocent enough, isn't it? I mean, the fact that a girl is in my room does not mean that I am going to have sex with her. That's the commandment, right? No sex before marriage. Not no girls in your bedroom. As far as the honor code, I keep the word of wisdom and the law of chastity because I have a testimony of them as true principles of Jesus Christ's gospel, not because they're a rule here and I'll get in trouble. Plus, the honor code doesn't stop a lot of people who don't have testimonies of the said principles. And while we're at it, why in the Hell can't I have a beard? No one has as of yet given me a least bit satisfactory reason.

I don't feel like I can ever have a deep, intellectual conversation with anyone. And I don't know why that is. It makes no sense at a university where the average student got a 30 on their ACT. I feel like the only thing I can talk about is the scriptures, and even those I only talk to the Scotts about (I thank God daily for my room mates). I'm not even going to try and explain this one. It's just a very odd phenomenon.

I didn't come to college to get married. I came to college to learn. I fear that I may be in the minority. And that of course influences how people date and their coed relationships. Holly VanWoerkom and I are good friends. We hang out a lot. She's one of the few people I feel comfortable talking to, and I at least hope she feels comfortable with me. But we're just friends. Apparently though it's illegal to have friends of the opposite sex here that you aren't dating or interested in. It wasn't more than a week or so before Holly and I started hanging out frequently that the rumors started flying about our ward (one of the reasons I'm so intent on leaving it). As another example, I actually tried the Utah, creative date thing one time, and it was the worst date I've ever been on. I just hate the dating dynamic out here. I hang out with large groups, and if I like someone after getting to know them in a group setting, I ask them out. I don't ask someone out so that I can get to know them, that's a waste of time and money. I don't have near as many dates, but they go a lot better. At the rate I'm going I fully expect to graduate without getting married, because I'm meeting very few women I can even stand. I fear that my general dislike for Mormons and the culture that comes with them means that I'll have to baptise someone before I can get married, which of course is very hard to do here. Plus, in all honesty, I think a lot of people really do just get married for sex. A lot of young married couples would disagree, at least two professors I've talked to would agree. Keep it in your pants. Grow up.

There's a sign on the first floor of the Wilk that celebrates BYU's diversity, and I laugh every time I walk by it. Diversity? Where? From the smattering of Asians and Latinos? This place is the most homogeneous I've ever seen, and I feel like certain measures, the honor code especially, just encourage and enforce it. BYU was on the Princeton Review's list of "Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative." I have had more than a handful of friends feel alienated for being different. As one who is considered different, I can say I have never felt alienated anywhere except BYU. Face it, most people here at BYU are white, middle class conservatives, and those who aren't are persecuted as such. I cite the Dick Cheney protest of a while back. The few who participated were sequestered to a small area, a limited amount of time, intense scrutiny from the institution and campus security, and weren't even allowed to take their signs home. The Burma protest of this year? That was popular, everyone loved it. They had no such troubles. The status quo is to be maintained at all costs. Heaven forbid someone want to be different. One kid with a mohawk and the next thing you know we're all on the high-speed roller coaster to Hell.

Provo is small and boring. Nothing is open late, and as a night owl and graveyard shift worker, I have very few places to go at night, and eating at Denny's and then cruising Wal-mart in the wee hours of the night gets old fast. There isn't much of a local music scene, which is surprising considering like 90% of Mormon kids play an instrument. I guess having a generally boring life leaves you with little to write songs about. Plus very few of the bigger names come to Provo, the only big venue being the David O. McKay convention center at UVU/UVSC. I was really surprised when my mom said she saw the Doobie Brothers at BYU. When did BYU stop being cool like that? To go see concerts you often have to go up to Salt Lake, and if you're going up there every weekend you might as well live there. I never thought I'd like going to dance clubs, but after going to one in Boise with McCurdy I actually had a lot of fun, although I'll admit most of the fun comes from watching drunk kids who think they're cool make idiots of themselves. They're a great place to people watch.

Marisa brought something to my attention, and that is the terrible drivers in this town. I don't really know who to blame this on because most Provo citizens aren't from Utah, so the Utah driver designation doesn't necessarily fit. Maybe it's just so many young, aggressive drivers. But origins aside, I have never lived in a place with so many bad drivers. Is it really that hard, people? At a stop sign, you stop. When the light turns red, you stop. You don't cut people off. You let people merge. If I drive by and wave my middle finger at you, you're doing something wrong.

Something that has come up since I've written this post: I e-mailed the help desk asking if there was an official BYU forum or something that I could post this on and get responses, because when I typed "BYU forum" in on Google I mostly got sports forums and anti, which I don't want to associate with. I think this is indicative of the lack of open discussion about things at BYU. Why would we want/need to talk about issues at the school? This place is great!

Another update: as many of you know, I'm not wild about the honor code. I sort of felt like if it was an inspired document, if someone had actually prayed about it and received revelation that that was the correct set of principles, then I would be able to swallow it a lot better. Well, turns out, it's not. It was first created by a student committee in the late 1940's, and has since undergone various changes as far as content and institutional involvement. I find it a little ironic that what some call "the Lord's university" settles things by councils the way the apostate churches do.

So that's what I got for now. I honestly want people to critique this. Tell all your friends. I want you to argue with me so I can see what I may be missing, and I want you to tell me if you feel the same way or if I left out any other sucky things about BYU. Thank you for your time.

Pittsburgh Rocks

2007-09-03T14:22:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I've got hardcore Pittsburgh pride. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got home from Idaho. I just felt so happy every time we came around the hill heading down to downtown. One of the first things I did after coming back was go to the Andy Warhol museum on the north shore.

The seventh floor was not the best thing to see after returning from a mission (WAY too many penises), but the rest of the place was pretty cool. It just reminded me that art really isn't anything too hard or complicated, if you just put the effort into doing it, you can become a great artist.

Later in the week, we went on another little tour of downtown. We started in the Strip District, where we parked right next to St. Stanislaus'.

We had lunch at Kaya, an awesome Jamaican restaurant, and then started making our way to the Monongahela Incline. On the way, we passed the Allegheny County Courthouse

and the City County Building.

After a short walk around Station Square, we rode the incline to the top of Mount Washington and went to an overlook. From there you could see all of the town, including the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt,

the USX Tower, the tallest building in Pittsburgh,

the Mellon Bank Center,

5th Avenue Place,

and probably my favorite building downtown, PPG Place.
It was an awesome trip, and it was good to see home again. I'm already missing it here in Provo.

PROvo and CONvo

2007-09-03T08:26:00.000-06:00

Provo, UT: conservative stronghold, Mormon theocracy, devoid of artistic expression and free speech, and home of some of the worst drivers and dumbest pedestrians on the planet. That being said, there are some wonderfully nice people in this town.

Last night I attended a cake party at Becca's house, where I was privileged to see a bunch of the old friends, including Whipple, Biz, Josh, Neeman, and others. However, I had to leave around 8:30 so that I could truck up to Orem, pick up my laundry from Grandma and Grandpa, and still have time to make it to ward prayer at 9:00. As I was on my way, the speakers started crackling in and out and the lights both inside and outside the car were dim. Low and behold, my car stalled at University Avenue and University Parkway. I turned on the emergency flashers and waited for a lull in the traffic. When it came, I started pushing the car myself, and before I could make it a car length, three kids from across the street helped me push it to the gas station on the corner of the Parkway and Canyon Road. Shortly thereafter, an absolutely beautiful girl named Katy showed up and let me borrow her car for a jump. While we were talking, a guy from a visiting Australian football team came by and we had a fun conversation. He also mentioned, "Why's everyone so nice here?" Well, thanks to Katy, I was able to get my car started and it made it all the way t the exit of visitor parking before it stalled again. So it's definitely an alternator problem. Well, I pushed it off to the side and called Grandpa. While he was on his way, two more guys offered to help me push the car somewhere. Kim Thompson called me as well and asked if I was coming by. Grandpa showed up and soon thereafter the cops came and pushed me into the next parking lot. From there we called Triple A, and a tow truck showed up about a half hour later at 10:00. The Eastern European truck driver was awesome. His English was choppy, but he was extremely nice, and he was huge. He pushed my car around like it was made by Hot Wheels. Grandpa took me back to my place where I dropped off my clothes and then Kyle, Becca, Katy and someone else picked me up to watch a Russian movie in the woods. So my car isn't operative, but other than that, yesterday was a very pleasant day.

Dancing

2007-09-02T08:41:00.001-06:00

Last night I went to a dace party with Jeremy, Marie, Kara, Taleah and Holly. Frst of all, let me say that rap music makes me want to do this:

I hate rap music. I've heard people tell me that that would put me out of touch with urbanites, since the rap culture is an urban culture, but that doesn't bother me. I can live without it. I just don't find it interesting to listen to music about commiting crimes, having sex or dancing nasty. I'd rather go to a dance with techno, 80's music or Euro discotech, because I don't feel like people take those as seriously and its easier to have fun.

But other than that, it was a pretty good time. I really haven't danced much. Susan forbade me from dancing a few years back and I was jut fine with it. But the longer I was there the more apparent it became that no one there knew how to dance, so I just started wiggling and giggling and having a good time. I did a lot of variations on Irish step dance, since that's all I really know how to do. But it was a good time.

Hello

2007-09-01T21:03:00.000-06:00

So I've never written a blog before. In fact, I've only read one blog, my cousin Seth's, unless http://www.maddox.xmission.com/ counts as a blog, since it seems to have similar elements of what is described. Anyway, it sounds like just a place to vent and comment on the world, so that's probably what I'll do.