Sarah: My Eight-Year Old Perspective Changer

The semester ended. Finals are all finalized. Projects are punctuated. As great as it was, in some ways it kind of leaves me wondering what it was all for. What does it really matter if I now know how to calculate a Reynold’s Number or if you can _______________ (fill in something from your major or job) or what my grade was in ___________? Now, after it’s over, so what? 

It took an eight year old to bring it all into perspective again for me. I got to be part of a small program this semester where college students are partnered up to be mentors for children in the community. Once a week my partner and I got to meet up with Sarah* and take her to do something fun. I signed up thinking this would be a good way to give back to the community. But, despite the cliche-ness of the phrase, I got back so much more than I ever gave. 

Sarah, and the weekly activities we did with her were oases of perspective for me. Just forcing myself to remember what kinds of things are fun for an eight-year-old when my partner and I brainstormed what to do each week got me far outside the mindset of my research lab. 

We did things I never would have done by myself - played soccer in a park and then tag on the jungle gym, got ice-cream cones that were way too big (ok, I might have done that by myself...), visited a dinosaur museum, and watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!”. These outings refreshed my mind and soul and reminded me of the simple joys of childhood. 

But more than just diverting my mind away from my school-work for a while, Sarah reminded me why what I, or any other person does at their job is really important. From a scientific perspective, here’s the abstract of what she taught me:

• Galvanized steel pipe and weather resistant plastics are important because they make playgrounds and soccer goals for girls like Sarah. 
• Refrigeration cycles and copper forming techniques are meaningful because little girls like Sarah can eat a lot of soft-serve ice-cream. 
• Discovering a new species of sauropod is vital so Sarah can be fascinated when she sees it. 
• Lasers and optics have significance because Sarah needs to laugh when she watches Linus, Pigpen, and Snoopy on DVD. 

All the different things we study and work daily at, even when we enjoy them, have to be linked to a greater purpose if they are to really have any true meaning after we’re done doing them. That greater purpose almost always has to do with the people we love and the relationships we have with them. 

So thanks, Sarah. I don’t know if it would make any sense to you if I tried to explain what getting to know you this semester did for me. But in the end, I think it was me that needed to understand things a little better anyway. 

*name changed

A Different Kind of Political Discussion

A Different Kind of Political Discussion

The upcoming election is a big deal. Not just because it's all over Facebook, TV, and YouTube, but because for us, people in or close to our twenties, whoever ends up being the next president will affect the rest of our lives in very big ways. That only increases the irony that so few of us, including myself, like to pay much attention to it. 

Despite the fact that politics can be unpleasant (with all the shrill, accusing voices), and the fact that the media rarely speaks directly to our generation about politics, it's important for us to give each candidate in this presidential race a fair evaluation and then go vote. I tried doing this on my own and quickly found out just how hard it is to cut through all the half-truths and propaganda. So, I decided that instead of spending hours and hours trying to figure it all out myself, that I would be lazy and get someone else to do it for me. 

I promised a couple politically savvy friends of mine that if they would do all the leg-work, I would make them rich and famous (by posting their work here on my blog). It was a campaign promise, so they can't really be too disappointed, right? The least I can do is share their hard work with all of you. 

Really though, Grady Nye and Edgar Perez have both put in a lot of work to come up with all the info they present in the articles below. I respect these friends of mine immensely and hope you will too, whatever your political leanings may be. They've provided links to all their sources so that you can figure out more for yourself if you want.

My hope with this post is that after reading both articles you'll all leave insightful, thought provoking comments that can help us to have a different kind of political discussion than is the norm now. Let's leave name-calling and rude remarks out and talk about how we can make the future better for ourselves, and maybe even whoever comes after us. Thanks,

- Brett

Coin toss to see whose article goes first: 

Nye (for Romney)

Grady Nye is from Pittsburgh, PA, and is currently a second-year law student at Stanford Law School. As a member of the LDS Church, faith is important in Grady's life. He says, "My faith teaches me how to preserve the liberty I fight for in politics." Apart from his interest in politics, Grady loves college football (he cheers for BYU), major league baseball, art, and music. One thing he does not love is spaghetti. 

Why you should vote,

and why you should vote for Mitt Romney

At Brett’s request, I am writing to explain why I’m voting for Mitt Romney and why other young Americans should have the courage to do the same.  This election represents more than just a debate over which policies work and which ones don’t—although that is a part of it.  This election is a choice about what kind of country we want to be—a nation of freedom and opportunity, or a nation of division and entitlement.  The problems of our generation are serious, and the solutions cross party lines.  In 1964, Ronald Reagan said, “You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right.  Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right—there is only an up or down” (Republican Convention Speech). 

Our national debt approaches $16 trillion, eclipsing our annual GDP (the amount of money made by the country as a whole) of just above $15 trillion.  In 2012, Americans will pay over $4 trillion in taxes.  That is about $152 billion more than what we will spend on housing, food, and clothing combined.  Increased government spending and our current tax burden are like ankle weights on an economy that is already struggling to swim.  And the longer we ignore our national debt, the longer we have to stay in deep water.

The choice between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is not a choice between right or left, but a choice between up or down.  For almost fifty years, ever since Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” liberal Democrats have promised that their government programs would alleviate poverty and hand a better future to struggling Americans. But now, with the poverty rate above 15%, unemployment hovering around 8%, and at least 46 million Americans on food stamps, liberals claim that we just haven’t taxed and spent enough.  To garner support for their programs, they divide people into groups and pit them against each other.  President Obama resorts to the argument that the rich don’t pay their “fair share” of taxes while the rest of Americans struggle.  We have reached a state of political discourse where, as Ronald Reagan said, people “can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one”.  If liberal government programs really worked, shouldn’t we have seen better results by now?  

Mitt Romney can accomplish in four years what President Obama never will in eight.  Instead of taking a larger cut of small business payrolls, like President Obama—instead of saying “you didn’t build that!” —Mitt Romney promises to cut the taxes of small business owners, allowing them to grow and hire more people.  While four more years of President Obama will bring the same economic stagnation that we have seen for the last four years, Mitt Romney will turn this economy around and get people working again.

To be clear, no single president can wipe out the national debt and completely fix our entitlement programs.  But you have to start by creating a strong economy.  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a 5-point plan for creating jobs and increasing take-home pay: 

1. establishing energy independence, 
2. increasing access to education and job-training, 
3. supporting free enterprise and fair trade practices, 
4. cutting the budget deficit, and 
5.  bolstering small business 

What do these 5 points do for you?  As a package, they are a prescription for an ailing economy.  I am a 26-year old law student with debts to pay off and a career to begin, and there is nothing more important to me than living in an economy that is strong enough for me to find a job and support myself.  Rather than asking, “But what does cutting the budget deficit do for me?”  I ask, “What will make the economy strong so that I can do things for myself?”  Part of our generation’s challenge is to stop seeing the federal government as a vending machine for political favors.  Just like the greatest generation sacrificed their lives to defeat the tyranny of fascism, we must sacrifice our culture of entitlement to defeat poverty and economic stagnation.

For a more detailed explanation of how Mitt Romney’s plan will grow the economy, I encourage you to read more about it directly from the source.

Let’s change the course of our country this November by choosing up instead of down.  No economic or political system in the history of the world has done more to create prosperity than a free America.  Let’s choose freedom and responsibility instead of blame and coercion.  Let’s be a nation of “haves” and “soon-to-haves” instead of a nation of “haves” and “have-nots.”  Whatever our individual economic successes or struggles, let us always be good citizens, preserving by our willing moral conduct the freedom to determine our own destiny.

~ ~ ~

Perez (for Obama)










 

Edgar Perez was born in Mexico City, but now calls Portola, a small town in Northern California, home. He's a senior studying Political Science at BYU-Idaho and is currently serving as president of the BYU-I Democrats. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, faith is an integral part of Edgar's life, and something he says has strengthened his views as a Democrat and a liberal. Edgar enjoys defying stereotypes, being out in nature, movie soundtracks, and learning how to dance. "Yes," Edgar says, "Real men dance!"

“Go Left, Young Man!” 

By Edgar Perez

As a political science student and you study the political process in depth, you become more aware of the power that citizens, young and old, have in shaping our country. That is why you’ll find us out in front of stores with clipboards or canvassing door to door.  Every vote, regardless for whom or for what party, ultimately decides the direction in which the country goes.

Both candidates in this race recognize the role that we young adults play in this election. They know we are the engines of the American future. According to data from the latest census, people ranging from the ages of 18-24 make up nearly 10% of the total population.

 Should everyone in our age group vote this November, we could have the ability to decide the entire election! 

I am a liberal Democrat and I support President Barack Obama. In these past three and a half years, he has made it possible for more students to attain a college education, lowered taxes on poor and middle class families, and has given more Americans the ability to obtain healthcare.  The President is moving this country forward and with that in mind, I want to give you 5 reasons why President Barack Obama is the better choice this November.

#1.  President Obama has put college education within reach for millions more young Americans and their families by putting an end to wasteful subsidies to banks acting as middlemen in the federal student loan process. Much of the savings has been used to double funding for Pell Grants. Thanks to this, the maximum Pell Grant will rise from $5,350, which is the current maximum, up to an estimated $6, 900 in 2019.

#2.  Under this administration, responsible borrowers and people who enter public service fields like teaching, nursing, or public safety will see their federal student loans forgiven after 10 years. Income-based repayments on federal student loans will be capped at 10% of dispensable income as soon as this year, any debt after 20 years will be forgiven.

#3. This administration has overseen 29 straight months of job growth during which more than 4.5 million private sector jobs have been added to the economy (Link1, Link2, Link3, Link4). Although there is more work to do in this regard, this is a step in the right direction for the United States toward a stronger economy. In addition to this, President Obama is strengthening the middle class by providing tax cuts to 98% of working Americans.
 Therefore, by putting more money in the hands of more Americans (Link5, Link6, Link7, Link8, Link9), our economy and our country will prosper. 

#4. In the three and a half years since he assumed the presidency, Barack Obama brought our troops back from Iraq, and troops from Afghanistan are beginning to come back to their families here at home with a complete withdrawal by 2014 (Link10, Link11). In a form equal to the service and sacrifice given by these veterans, President Obama stands with our men and women in uniform by ensuring that they do not fight for a job in the country they fought to protect. As part of his jobs bill, President Obama has allowed for an increase in tax credits for employers who hire veterans (Link12, Link13, Link14). 

#5. Under the Affordable Care Act, young adults up until the age of 26 will be able to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans. This is particularly important for young Americans as they enter the workforce and cannot afford full health insurance, or lose coverage as they leave school or change jobs. As many as 2.5 million more young people have been insured thanks to health care reform, and millions more will be covered once this law goes fully into effect (Link15, Link16, Link17).

Since he assumed the White House, President Obama has been committed to the welfare of the American people, particularly the young and the elderly, and will continue to do so over the next four years. Through the policies enacted in this administration, Barack Obama is determined to give young Americans the best fighting chance in an increasingly competitive economy and to ensure that the elderly are able to retire with dignity and safety. As you decide whether or not to vote this November, remember that in exercising your vote, you are deciding the future course of the country. More than that, you are choosing your own future. Now go out there, Vote!

Climbing in "The City" and "The Castle"

Leaning backwards off the tiny ledge into the open air, 100 feet up on a vertical granite wall, there was only one thought running through my mind. “This is gonna make a great blog entry.” 

There are a LOT of rocks to climb here. All the rocks in this picture are less than half of the rocks in the park. 

The sun blazed down on me that afternoon as my long-time adventure companion Geoff and I worked through the two-pitch sport climb known as, “Between Heaven and Earth” in the Hostess Gully at Castle Rock in South Central Idaho. 

Geoff and I started our adventures together by joining each other’s Boy Scout troops on snowmobiling and snow-cave camping trips into the Island Park, Idaho area when we were both about 12. As time went on, we gravitated towards backpacking, and managed to pull off some fantastic trips, each worth their own blow entry. We summitted the Grand Teton, Mt. Borah, and too many other places to mention right now.

So, when Geoff suggested that this summer, instead of our traditional purist, intense backpacking quest for a mountain peak, we try spending a few days at the rock climbing Mecca known as “City of Rocks” I was skeptical.

There were tons of little crags and places to boulder and play around on.

He explained that instead of taking everything we needed in on our backs, we would simply put stuff in a vehicle, drive to a pre-arranged campsite, unpack, and then drive to different rock formations and climb to our hearts’ content. 

“You mean car-camp?” I asked, my voice obviously tinged with skepticism. RV’s, KOA campgrounds, and the like don’t normally qualify as “real camping” with Geoff or I, and I was worrying just a bit about the friend with whom I had logged so many miles on the trail. 

Geoff. Good guy. 

But, I admit, the idea of having a cooler (which meant we could take a huge variety of backpacking-prohibited foods), a big tent, foot-thick air-mattresses, a sun-shelter, a big propane cooker, and various other normally contraband commodities eventually started appealing to me. Maybe I’m starting to get old. 

Sometimes though, you really can have your cake and eat it too. Adventure was never in short supply on this trip, and adrenaline rushes went arm-in-arm with warm showers and drinking water we didn’t have to filter from a remote mountain stream. 

When we arrived at Almo, Idaho, the tiny one gas-pump town that caters to visiting climbers, it was night. Despite the nearly full moon, it was hard to distinguish anything out of the ordinary in the fields beyond the barbed-wire fences. Then, after a couple of miles driving down a dirt road, the first one crashed into view. The size of a three story mansion, Camp Rock, where hundreds of passing pioneers signed their names, loomed imminently in the suddenly eery moonlight. 

The next quarter mile of driving made us feel as though we had been entered the world of “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” as dozens of rocks, some larger, some smaller than Camp Rock, engulfed the black and white view of our new existence. And it wasn’t just the sheer size of the rocks, but their shape and character that made our jaws drop. Some rocks jutted defiantly at odd angles into the air, others looked like giant pancakes stacked high and waiting for their colossus makers to come eat them. Others were pocked and smoothed like swiss cheese. Our campsite itself was cordoned off on one side with a granite wall that could have been designed by a whimsically dreaming Fernand Petzl himself. 

The rocks next to our campsite. Yeah, they were pretty fun. Maybe too fun...

Back to the tiny ledge where I stood a hundred feet up, working hard at concentrating my abundant adrenaline on belaying Geoff as he started up the face while the sun worked hard at trying to get through the SPF 50 sunblock all over our necks and arms. On this, the third climb of day two of our adventure to City of Rocks and Castle Rock, I was trying to avoid thoughts of what might happen if my anchor, a couple bolts epoxied into the granite wall, were to suffer an unlikely catastrophic failure and pull loose. Soon though, Geoff let me know he had anchored into the top and I was too busy remembering my knots and adjusting clips to think about anything else.

At several points on the way up to where Geoff now waited, it honestly looked like it would be impossible to keep moving up. But with some lay-backs, heel hooks, fingertip holds and the occasional faith-filled lunge and grab toward a hoped for hold, I found myself emerging onto a small, scoop shaped repository where Geoff and the top of our climb waited. The view from the top vindicated the climb’s name for me. Earth, or the base of our climb, was a jumbled, narrow, chasm full of trees and bushes. Heaven, or the top of our ascent, gave us an elevated view of the entire landscape on either side of the narrow stone spine, and the feeling at having reached the peak was exhilarating. 

Looking back, it was during that climb that I started trusting the rock, my climbing partner, my equipment, and especially myself. There is a lot to learn from those silent, unforgiving, but steady rocks. For example, if there is no possibility of complete failure, can there be any true chance of genuine success? Facing that possibility made learning how to use our tools, partnership, and faith, essential. 

Another key element of managing that risk and reaching the top was learning how to look at the circumstances presented in the environment one finds oneself in as opportunities instead of impediments. I was amazed at how much physical energy seemed to melt away when I allowed myself to entertain thoughts such as, “Well that’s a horrible arrangement for those rocks...” or “How am I supposed to get up there without a solid hold?”  When instead, I commandeered my reactions and dictatorially proclaimed to myself that I would not stop until I reached the chains at the top, I was surprised at my increase in energy and the boldness of my moves on the rock. 

Geoff had me lead my first climb. This was a 5.8/9 and was a blast.

Rappelling down off my philosophical perch, the rest of the trip was better than I had expected in a couple ways. City of Rocks and Castle Rock are technically two separate parks and a five dollar per vehicle entrance fee is charged for Castle Rock (no charge for City of Rocks). Despite the entrance fee and being geographically smaller, Castle Rock features a greater concentration of bolted “sport” climbs than City of Rocks, and the entrance fee also gives the occupants of your vehicle exclusive potty privileges at the nearby RV campground with its shower facilities. Nothing feels as nice after a scorching day of climbing as showering off the dirt, sweat, and sunscreen in a real, hot shower. 

Driving from place to place (our longest hike was probably around 2 miles one way), access to running water, hot showers, and cooler chilled Powerades may not be my idea of a purist backpacking adventure. But, going to City of Rocks and Castle Rock was sure a great guilty outdoor pleasure that I now heartily recommend.