Letter to the editor

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: < 1 minute The primary reason for Utah being last in terms of per pupil spending is the high ratio of children to adults. Utah is among the top states in terms of percentage of the state budget allocated to public education, but by the time that amount is allocated to students, the per pupil amount is not […]

Utah’s Energy Future: Smoking or Non?

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: 2 minutes As a society, we have decided that it is important to ban smoking indoors because of the serious health effects of secondhand smoke. This ban, of course, is protested by Big Tobacco junk scientists who claim no relation between cancer, lung disease, and smoking. But we know better.

No new student center

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: 3 minutes Last year among myriad other edicts and appropriations, our indomitable student council voted to fund the preliminary stages of building a new student center. Preliminary in the sense that no such student center will as yet be built. Rather, the idea is that $1 per student per semester will be taken from student fees and put into a fund which will be used at a future date to construct a new building where students can chill, hang, relax, chillax, etc. Things like, for instance, bowl, swim, climb fiberglass imitations of cliff faces and eat. Our administration has for some time been wildly in support of this idea, from the Dean of Students Bob Rasmussen (who was kind enough to explain all this to me), to our former presidents and (hopefully) our new president.

Plight of Utah’s Deaf Students, Part 1

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: 3 minutes After a corrective surgery, six-year-old Adam’s cochlear implant had broken. As an intern for the Utah Schools for the Deaf, I joined Adam on the rug for story time. When the teacher asked Adam in spoken English what color the turkey was, he looked around confused before looking to me. I signed COLOR, WHICH? Adam sat up and excitedly signed YELLOW. I responded RIGHT! … but when I looked up, I saw that I was in trouble. Apparently, I was forbidden to sign with Adam. His Individual Education Plan stated he must communicate using spoken English. His teacher kept him from recess to teach him how to say yellow. She made Adam touch her throat as she said a slow yeellloooww while his peers played outside for an hour.

Top 10 reasons it’s awesome to be a Senior in a sea of Freshmen

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: < 1 minute 10. You know Hollister clothing was cool in high school and frosted tips still look stupid. 9. Seniors have realized that you can call your teacher Bill and not Professor. 8. You know the location of every hot tub in Orem / Provo, closing times, how to get into the closed ones and you effectively hop all of them every night.

Take 6 takes the stage on Labor Day

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s okay to admit it. A cappella is pretty damn cool. Take 6 is one of America’s most famous modern a cappella groups, incorporating jazz, R&B, soul, pop and gospel into their extensive repertoire. If that’s not enough guilty pleasure for you, consider that they’re basically a boy band.

Tell me a story

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: < 1 minute From the “Once upon a time…” beginnings of childhood to the “… and that’s when she broke up with me,” endings that are all too familiar to college students, nothing engages the imagination like a good story. We can’t avoid them – stories are the basis for everything from movies to job applications.

Staff infection

August 31, 2009

Reading Time: 2 minutes I collected baseball cards, but I had to use them to start a fire when I was trapped in the wilderness. – Kyle Jellings, Managing editor Painful and awkward memories. The collection got bigger. – David Self Newlin, Opinions editor I was a fully fledged member of the official Get-Along-Gang.