BYU Newspaper The Daily Universe

I just received this email earlier today and was glad to think I was not the only one who thought the same about The Daily Universe's constant bashing on Obama. I am glad that my friends in the BYU democrats club agreed with me at least a little bit about the negativity and I would like to here what you think.

Viewpoint: Choosing to hope

By Hyrum Salmond and Steve Pierce

Jan. 20, 2009 will go down as one of the seminal dates in American history. The inauguration of Barack Obama as our first African-American president is a landmark moment for a country once stained by the dark mark of slavery and subjugation, regardless of one's political preferences. The American people should be rejoicing in this moment; in fact, many across the country are doing just that. Yet, for some reason, such cheer and optimism has not been on display at BYU, particularly in the pages of The Daily Universe.

We could not help but notice that the "Voice of the Brigham Young University Community" has been singing a decidedly minor tone of late. For example, take Jeff Nielson's recent diatribe of acid-tongued faux optimism. Mr. Nielson would have us believe that President Obama is a real-life "Manchurian Candidate," created and fostered by a vast media conspiracy, who will undoubtedly show his true colors and destroy our country within moments of taking office. (Miraculously, we are all still here.) Likewise, numerous other items in recent editions of The Daily Universe have been cool to the president (at best), while always adding a hasty and seemingly insincere postscript of "hopeful support."

For these naysayers, we have only a few questions: Why so blue? Why attempt to cut the man down at the knees before he even takes his first steps? Shouldn't we allow the man to make a few decisions before proclaiming certain doom for all humanity? All American presidents win their fair share of critics: it is the nature of the position. When one man is given the responsibility of making so many tough decisions, some people are bound to be disappointed and even downright angry. However, is it really prudent (or fair) for us to hamstring the man before he has the opportunity to either delight or disappoint us?

For a relevant analogy, imagine yourself newly married: the certificate is signed, the vows exchanged, the cake consumed. Now imagine waking up on the morning after the wedding, rolling over to face your spouse in bed, and promptly informing him/her that you think the marriage is going to be a complete and unmitigated disaster. When your spouse, obviously taken aback, asks in bewilderment what he/she has done to warrant this prognosis only one day into the marriage, you respond by saying that you find him/her simply incapable of carrying on such a relationship. When asked why you feel this way without any correlative evidence, you can only respond with a juvenile variation of "Because I said so."

Apply this marriage analogy to our new president: He has been in office for one week. He has not yet passed any major policy initiatives, issued any highly controversial executive orders or probably even flossed his teeth. In short, he has not been given the opportunity to actually do anything to merit criticism. And yet, we still have our own personal chorus of cynics predicting political Armageddon in the pages of a student newspaper. The question remains: Why?

The real truth is that cynicism is easy. Optimism and faith, by definition, require hard work and perseverance. The naysayers simply aren't willing to make those sacrifices. It is far easier to sit in a dingy dorm room and contemplate fantasies of imminent destruction, regardless of rational proof. It is harder to hope: to get out and do your part, to believe that you can make a difference and that things can (and will) change for the better. These things are difficult and they take time, but they are ultimately rewarding. We choose to believe in these principles, to hope for a better tomorrow and, in so doing, to believe in America. We hope that our fellow students will join us in this belief.

Hyrum Salmond is president of the BYU College Democrats. Steve Pierce is the vice president.

Crown Apartments

Over the past six months or so I have been living in Crown Apartments #2. It has been one of the best and worst experiences of my life. This has been my first time living out on my own and not staying with my sometimes overly emotional and strict parents and not being under their roof has been a little nice and relaxing. Another great thing about living at crown was that I had the opportunity to live with one of my best friends Cherie. Everyone warned me about living with a friend but if there was anyone I could have lived with it would have been her. We had a great system to everything from food, to clothes to bathroom time etc. It was also really great to watch her meet Brenden her new husband and spend hours at night when we would get back from hanging out with Warren and Brenden and just talk. But once Cherie moved out and the magic of freedom from my parents wore off I began to realize how crappy of an apartment Crown really was.

Most people would say that all student housing is bad but Crown is so bad that they lost their contract with BYU and now most of the girls in the complex are moving out. The management is horrible to try to get a hold of unless you bring your scary father and have him yell at them and tell them to do something. And even then they only just put down a plastic sheet over a huge leak. So here is my evidence of the horrible condition Crown Apartments is in.

Pic of my door that does not close due to the water it has absorbed (the bathroom door doesn't close for the same reason)
This is a pic of the huge bubble that popped and drops mold on you when you shower
Hole in the wall that they just cut to see if there was mold in the walls. Guess what there was in every one of the 3 holes they made.
Some of the floor that is soaking wet from the leak that has been there for 3 weeks now and they still haven't come to fix or even come to look at it for over a week now.
Now I did not include pics of the mold spores growing on the walls or the yellow wall in our kitchen or the many many more things at the apartment but i'm sure you've got the point. And I can't wait to move out.

Queen Klutz

(Pic of Cut on my face from falling into a wall)

The other night having a conversation with Warren I started thinking about myself and how I am very klutzy. Warren was nice enough to put it as “I don’t think you’re a klutz, I consider you just as very unlucky and if you slowed down you would be fine”. It made me think of how inconvenient it really has been to always be falling, tripping, dropping things, running into innocent people, inanimate objects and more. So, today I have started really paying attention to this and realized all of the things that I have to do in order to make sure I don’t hurt myself on a day to day basis.

It began in the morning on my way to work. I had to take a longer way around my apartment to avoid the ice because I always slide around as always, and walking up the stairs I had to hold on to the bar and focus on every step If I looked up I was for sure going to face plant. While at work I had to make sure I always had to double check my footing when washing the floors and pick my feet up extra when walking across the textured carpet (And yes I do trip on textured carpet as pathetic that may seem). This continued throughout the rest of the day from having to make sure I had something to hold onto when stepping up on a chair to get something just incase I lost my footing (which I did) to checking my shoe laces every ten minutes while walking around campus. I had never really noticed that I naturally took so many precautions.

Honestly I didn’t even notice that I was very klutzy until I started dating Warren about 8 or 9 months ago and he would always point out my numerous “spills” where as everyone else I knew would normally not even think twice because it was so frequent. I noticed that I did trip and stumble more than the people around me but I never really noticed that it was so much more than normal.

So, in conclusion I have made it one of my goals for this year is to become more coordinated. This seems so silly being a dancer and all and not being graceful except for when in dance shoes but I think with enough determination I can do it. So please wish me luck, because I will need a lot of it!

Random Observations

In my life I have met hundreds and thousands of people and I love observing them all. There are so many things that I have picked up on by watching--my favorite is to find out things my friends will do. I have one friend who loves to tell me stories and I can always tell what is going on in her life because the stories she tells become more descriptive the closer they parallel her life. It's also true with the parts of the stories that come with explaining how she feels. This has always fascinated me.
There are though, certain people who abuse that they can see other’s weaknesses. After leading them on and gaining a trust with you, they begin to talk as a friend to you, giving you advice in such a way that is really just one insult after another. I'm sure this is weak attempt to build themselves up. I once gained a friend who did this to me and I am glad I realized it before he hurt me too badly emotionally. He instantly drove into our friendship asking me personal questions that didn’t push me away but made me believe that he sincerely cared for me.
People truly fascinate me. The way everyone reacts differently to a same situation, the way people present themselves to others, the way that one forms an opinion-- it all maddens my imagination and I love to think and figure out how everyone works.
Right now I am sitting at a table across from someone who fits the BYU pretty boy stereotype perfectly. Great gelled hair, an fashionable Aeropostal shirt, jeans with perfectly placed holes--obviously purchased that way. He just got off the phone with someone and it seemed like a very serious conversation. Now he is sitting silently listening to the piano playing in the background and staring off with his arms crossed with a completely blank look on his face. I cannot tell if it is sorrow, remorse, worry, anger, or just lack of interest that makes him so taciturn. It is people like these, along with the eccentric and overly flamboyant people, that make me want to write millions of novels.
I find myself looking at strange people much too often and telling those with me that I want to write about them. This often freaks them out and I hope I haven’t done the same to you in this blog. I love people! I wish there were more to see, remember, and capture in my mind.

Beauty

What makes someone really attracted physically to others? I know that there are all of these things that draws people to the beautiful, but what really creates that desire to be around those who look 'good'? Why is it so import to want to date, be seen with, become friends with and marry attractive people? Is it really about the aesthetics or is it embedded with pride?

I understand that people enjoy looking at the people they are with, but other than that, why do we crave to surround ourselves with the most perfect looking people? Why do we spend millions of dollars on looking 'good'?

The average American an will spend $130 per month on clothes alone. Now I am not really one to talk when it comes to buying clothes because I do like to look good. (Again, who doesn't?) But there's no way I spend that much on clothes.

Sometimes I get the feeling that people think of me as trying to look good because I am trying to prove something to others--like I'm just trying to impress everyone. The truth is that when I feel like I look good, I feel good. I actually spend a little more time getting ready before I take a test. It gives me an extra boost of confidence and makes me feel good. Because of this, I'm more apt to understand why people like to look good. I don't, however, think I could ever come up with a good of enough reason for why people are so addicted to beauty and why we obsess over it.

All I can hope for, is that one day I won't ever become obsessed and driven by the need to look beautiful or surround myself with those do. I do hope that the world will realize how in love they have become with something that changes every season. I know it won't (I'm not that naive). The best I can do is to not become a beauty monster myself.