Rant Thursday: Too Discriminate or Not To

T-Bird Nation,

        As Cedar always tends to be behind in most things going on in the rest of the nation apparently anti-discrimination policies are one of the most apparent, especially with the constant coverage by the Journal. I understand the major demographic in Utah is White and Mormon. That is fine but the majority should never be able to oppress the minority.
       The Queer-Straight Alliance and the SUUSA Senate have both pleaded with the city council to pass a Anti-Discrimination Policy concerning work, housing, ect concerning LGBQT members of the community. Twice now the policy has been voted down by most of the council members, excluding Georgia Beth Thompson (Bless her soul). The council has told the club and SUU that their own anti-discrimination policy should suffice and that many of the Cedar Constituents would be upset if such a policy was created.
      First off, SUU is not it's own city. Just because we have a policy it doesn't protect those people once they leave campus which is not fair. Furthermore, since when should the University be the leaders of the community and have to make these choices, that is why we have a town council. The policy isn't ludicrous, it just asks members of the community not to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Not that bad.
      Secondly, Cedar City needs to get with the times and realize this is just different form of the the same problem we have always delt with through out our history with minorities. Why should a minority be treated differently and worse just because they are different. That is pure ignorance. So I urge you, Thunderbirds, make your voice heard in Cedar and help protect your other students!

Multi-Cultural Appeal

سيداتي وسادتي (Ladies & Gentlemen-in Arabic),
         I was privileged enough to see and hear some pretty amazing things last night on our fine campus here at SUU. Last night was the closing banquet for the Multi-Cultural Club. If you have never seen there sick t-shirts and asked them what they are all about, let me give you the low down. The club was started for lack of a better phrase "break up the white" that is going on in Southern Utah. Obviously, if you have ever been to So. Utah, you know 98% of the community is White & Mormon. SUU has started an amazing global outreach program but the students who get here are extremely traumatized by the overwhelming lack of diversity.
        The club was created to celebrate diversity and different cultures, but not only to celebrate but to educate. The club would spend a whole week learning about on of the members cultures and they would cook food associated with the culture, learn basic phrases, and even learn dances. The club seeked to spread knowledge and they did just that. With a total of about 50 members it was a great start. All because of one man, Shaka Richardson. He, sorry for the pun, "had a dream" and he pushed until he saw it fulfilled.
        As I sat in the Great Hall last night, watching them talk about their accomplishments and honor their members, i realized this may be the best club on campus and one of the most needed here at SUU. As a Saudi student was honored with a certificate from my table, you could tell it meant so much to him and he was so honored. Throughout the rest of the night he took pictures with many of the members but the certificate was always proudly presented and one could tell it was now one of his most cherished possessions. Americans tend to take certificates so lightly and just toss them out, but he was truly honored and that club/his new family made his experience here at SUU memorable and amazing.
       I encourage all of you to at least participate once in Multi-Cultural Club next year, as I know they have many plans. Learn about something that you aren't familiar with and step outside of your boundaries, you will be surprisingly pleased in the end.

Rant Thursday: University Journal- News or Not?

This last Friday, Brian Regan, one of the most popular comedians in the country and one of the biggest activities on campus for the whole year performed in the Centrum Arena. However, you wouldn't know it because instead the Journal is giving  entire pages to themselves of ineffective advertising to join their staff and reporting on stories that could be put off until next week: i.e. how Power91 is cooler than last year.

Furthermore, the most prestigious awards ceremony on campus, The Thunderbird Awards, was on Saturday and got one picture, not even of any of the awards recipients, with a caption. The Journal has been know to frequently misquote or misrepresent the quotations/stories they are given. I know several people on this campus who refuse to do a verbal interview with the reporters of the Journal because they do this, instead they will only interview via email so they have document proof of what was said.

I think it is a tragedy when our "New Source" doesn't report on these important things happening on our campus. That I can't trust what I read because I know how often the stories are misconstrued. I think there needs to be a higher standard and expectation for the Journal and until I see that improvement, I think it might be better to just save a tree and recycle your next copy.

Rant Thursdays: The Automation Nation

Greetings my fellow Blog-o-sphere members,
             This week's rant actually come from some female members of my office in the SUUSA offices. While I have had only a small encounter with this rant topic I have been assured that this is a major problem on our campus. We are taking a journey back to the bathrooms of SUU.
             As many of the members of Thunderbird Nation know, most of our toilets on campus are automated and flush automatically once the motion sensor determines you have stood up after finishing your business. While this can be a nice deterrent to the spread of germs that tend to be found around the porcelain throne. My first issue is that this is a depressing snapshot of our country in that we can't even muster up the energy to pull the handle of a toilet in order to flush. However, I do see a much larger benefit to stopping the spread of germs.
              Now while we have the automatic flush there are some serious issues with the calibrations on some of the toilets on  campus. The number one complaint I have heard from the girls in my office is that the flush is WAY too powerful, because it splashes and the water droplets from the small hurricane in the bowl gets all over the seat. While most men don't have to endure this issue very often due to our evolutionary prowess at being able to stand and to get things done, girls have to deal with this issue every time they are in need of the facilities. So the tiny droplets of toilet bowl water on the seat always can create little surprises that you weren't expecting.
            Furthermore, the timing on the toilet is just a little too fast. As soon as you stand up the toilet flushes, even if you may want to blow your nose (which forces you to have to make the toilet flush agin to get rid of your tissue) or haven't quite moved away to the safe distance that will keep you from being speckled with the water from the bowl. It is almost like a grenade where you have a safe zone about 15 feet from the bowl in order to avoid the explosion.
            One quick applaud for the campus is the water-free urinals that are starting to make appearances in some of the buildings on campus. I fully support the green initiative here on campus and would love to see many other changes like this to help cut down on our waste.
           Check in this next week for more events, observations, and rants about SUU!
            

Thursday Rant: Blizzards

Welcome back from Spring Break SUU! Most of you more than likely went somewhere exotic and warm as I did. Arizona was t-shirt and shorts weather, even in the evening it didn't much colder than 60. A week of relaxation and joy.

Then we return to Cedar City to a mini tornado like weather and the following morning SNOW! As I write this blog entry now I can look out my window and see the soft white flecks falling and building up on my car. The whole year has been fairly light on the snow all the way thru the winter. Then we hit March and Cedar City decided, "Hey, I completely spaced it was supposed to snow earlier this year so here you go"

However, while this is a rant, I offer the following fun ideas to try to take your mind away from the bitter thoughts associated with snow in Cedar:
1) Go make a snow angel, relive your childhood and get a little cold
2) Start a snowball war in your apartment complex, what better way to meet new friends tha tlive nearby than to toss a snowball at them at a high speed.
3)Sit on the corner of 800 W and University. Watch all the Las Vegas students try to figure out what this white stuff on the ground is and how to drive on it. Much laughter to be had.

So as the blizzards will more than likely continue until SunFest, I will be depressed and annoyed. But use my above tips and try to party it up a little while you can.

Thursday Rant: Hate Crimes

Greetings Everyone,
           This week I come to you with a story that I have known about since Monday but wanted to wait till the Thursday Rant to discuss. The Journal on campus as well as a few major newspapers nation wide are running stories on this same subject. This week were SUUSA elections campaigning and voting. The Voice Party consisting of Dallin Crane, Brynn Peterson, Noel Miller and Payden Adams ran a fun campaign. However, when people are different there are those who are ignorant that persecute them.

          Payden is homosexual and not afraid to tell people. However, he also isn't running around hitting on every single man that crosses his path. Well some ignorant and stupid person or group of people decided to tear down all of the posters with his face on them and many of those posters were found with the words "Queer" and "Fag" written on them.

         Now I understand being afraid of what you don't of something new but THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I can't believe Cedar City and SUU would have someone that would do this. We are in the 21st Century and I thought we had gotten past the stage of burning the witches, slavery, and treating people that are different as less than human. We are college aged students and we should at least understand that while that lifestyle may be different than ours, there is no excuse for vandalism and such prominent hate.
          
         Whoever you are, that did these crimes, I hope you someday can come to understand and tolerate people that are different from you. And to all of us, I hope we can increase our understanding and try to pull together because ultimately we are all human, and why should we treat any other human worse than we would want to be treated, just because they are different.

Thursday Rant: Construction

"Wait for the opportune moment" - Jack Sparrow

Unfortunately, SUU failed to wait for said opportune moment to start such a major construction in the middle of campus during the middle of the semester. Above is the picture of the construction zone located behind the Heat plant which has now spread all the way across the sidewalk and has divided the Centrum Arena and Tech building from the rest of Campus. Furthermore, I like the parking lot that is located next to the tech building as most of my classes are located over there and my office is in the Sharwan Smith. But now in order to access my 2 classes on the other side of campus I have to literally cut through the Sharwan Smith and come out and around to access those other buildings. Not cool.....who's bright idea was that and what could not wait until the Summer.

As a side note, not so much on the rant line of thought, the new Science Building is well on it's way to completion. If miss staring at it's awesomeness, you can always get a peak of it at the SUU Website. It is looking pretty amazing and I assume that those students in the Science's are very excited to have a new asbestos free building to work in, with a fun new basement for you to study Astronomy in....which is somewhat of a oxy-moron and ironic. Tune in next Tuesday for the weeks events here at SUU and Wednesday for new observations and finally Thursday for another rant about something happening on campus.

Event's at SUU this Week 2/22 - 2/26

In the famed words of Snoop Dogg "Greetings Loved Ones, let's take a journey",
        

This is a great week to be on SUU campus as far as events are concerned. First off you should know that today (Wednesday 2/23) is the last day to get discounted tickets to Brian Regan before the community can buy and the ticket price goes up. SO GO GET THEM BEFORE 5:00 PM. If you don't know who or what Brian Regan does above is a sketch about health care.

The Black Student Union and SUUSA present the 7th annual Step Show in the SUU Auditorium on Friday at 7:00 PM. It is definitely something you will wanna come out to see as there are a lot of students and professionals that will be performing and is something pretty unique in Cedar. There will also be a dance after words in the ballroom. Admission is only $2 to get into both events with a valid t-card.

If the step show isn't your thing, Friday there is also a SUU's Got Talent competition in the living room from 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM. It promises to be something epic.

Finally, on Saturday there will be TWO free showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt.1 in the Sterling Church Auditorium at 7:00 PM & 10:00 PM. Life is good at SUU this week. Check in later today for this week's observation and tomorrow for the Thursday Rant.

Rant Thursdays: Phones and Follies

Now I have been involved in some awkward situations and complained about some annoying things but I feel as if this week I have something to really rant about. When one takes a journey to the rest room it is always fairly appropriate, especially for men, to just get in, follow the one full urinal stall away man code (ladies if you are confused by this read rule 2.1 at http://guycode.wordpress.com/), take care of business, wash the hands and leave. Now another part of this is that men don't talk to each other while in the bathroom.

So as I was in the bathroom the other day, going to take care of business, I was confronted with a seemingly increasing problem from what I hear. I was one stall away, as dictated, from this other gentle man and there was another gentleman on the porcelain throne. Then the guy on the throne, let us call him Max, gets a call on the phone. Now, social rules would say, let it go to voicemail and call them back when you are in a more appropriate venue. Not Max though, he decided right here and now was appropriate for him.

Now the major problem is that everything echos in the bathroom. Even the quietest sounds are magnified ten-fold in the restroom. So me and the other guy at the urinal both froze up once Max decided to answer. It is awkward to have people hear you relieving yourself especially someone you don't know. So Max is chatting it up enthusiastically with someone who I believe may have been female. Urinal User #2 and I have both at this point given up on finishing do to performance anxiety and so we both have quietly moved to the sinks to wash up before attempting to leave ASAP. Then things get weirder because Max starts taking care of his business in a VERY LOUD fashion while still on the phone with undisclosed female, which of course is magnified. Now I personally would be mortified, but it is just amazing to me that this guy wasn't discussing anything life threatening and felt the need to be one the phone in the bathroom. Completely absurd.

So my advice for the week is please, please, PLEASE do not join this growing trend. Save your cell phone calls for when you are out of the bathroom and not making everyone in there uncomfortable. Plus there is an increased possibility of dropping your phone in the toilet by doing this activity which would just be terrible all around. Be classy!

V-Day Approaches

With Valentine's Day approaching I thought that this observation has become increasingly apparent around the campus. PDA! (Public Display's of Affection)

Specifically, there is this one couple that sits outside of the Vice-President's Office in the Rotunda EVERYDAY. The problem is that this couple is disgusting. I am an understanding individual when it comes to wanting to show affection to a significant other. The issue is this couple is really awkward and doing thing that maybe even married people don't do in the privacy of their own homes. Lets call them Bonnie and Clyde. They sit in a (singular) chair together that overlook the stairs that lead to the C-Store. At that point they just go at it, her sitting on top of him and just ravishing each other. The main issues I have is that, 1) they are not good kissers and 2) no person ever tells them, "Hey that is gross, get a room".

The other thing that I have begun to notice is there has been a lot of preening/strutting of all the single individuals around campus. The stigma of being alone/ or not in a relationship can force people to get a little more desperate around Valentine's day.

So my advice for the week is as follows: 1) If you ARE in a relationship please think of the other people around you before you decide to make out in the middle of the Rotunda. 2) If you ARE NOT in a relationship, don't get so desperate for attention and a relationship that you make a fool of your self. Just be patient and when the time is right you will find someone, whether or not that is on or before Valentines Day is up to the fates. 3) Between 12:00-1:00 PM check the second floor of the Rotunda for Bonnie and Clyde. If they are going at it like rabbits, just yell for them to "get a room". Slowly they may catch on and I will probably here said comment from my office and it will bring me great joy.

Poetry in Motion

Next week, Jon Goode, a spoken word artist, will be performing in the SUU Living room. I thought you might enjoy getting a little taste of how amazing he is.

This piece is entitled "Hell Naw" and describes one of those girls or sometimes guys, everyone has seen them, that has been just a little too friendly with too many people and had a few too many. So I hope the next time you have some one who is just a little to persistent, that this clip can bring you some happiness. Come see Jon next Thursday February 17th.

A new post coming on Thursday about observations seen or heard at SUU.

The Rhythm of the Night

This weeks entry is a actually from a few weeks back but it was too priceless to not share with everyone. As an event manager at SUU I had planned a dance for the Friday of Welcome Back Week or the first week of the second semester. Now, as I was supervising the dance in our commons area (aka the Rotunda) from the second floor balcony I was able to see a very interesting situation unfold.

As the music pumped and the bodies gyrated and danced in a large mob of sweat, I noticed a shorter (5' 9") somewhat nerdy (hardcore glasses) and awkward (scrawny) looking man dancing with about 2 other guys that fall into the same genre of person. Definitely an introvert but more than likely freshman that were wanting to try and branch out so they decided to hit up the dance. Now the interesting part is this young socially inept freshman, lets call him Milhouse because he reminds me of Milhouse from the Simpsons, was about to get so much more than he had hoped for this night.

He is dancing with his friends, mostly just goofing off with some really bad disco impressions, when a very attractive blond approaches the group. Now at first, the group almost seemed like a herd of gazelle on the Serengeti range sensing a cheetah in their midst, very skittish. The girl's, Kat's, confidence and strut gave off an air of intimidation that the men just assumed she wanted to get by so they began to move over, but she really turned their world upside down when she started to dance with Milhouse.

Now when I say dance I don't mean like a stake dance style of moving your body where you have to have the book of Mormon between your respective bodies. This was full contact and poor Milhouse was just trying to keep up with what was happening to him as he was ravished by this wildcat. After about 90 seconds of this she turned around, looked deeply into Milhouse's eyes, and just PLANTED A KISS on Milhouse. His shock was apparent even from the second floor from where I made this observation. His body tensed up and his hands were clamped awkwardly to his sides. As she pulled him in for a little bit deeper kiss he started to attempt to awkwardly embrace her but only for about 5 seconds. This whole kiss lasted about 10 seconds, then Kat spun sharply on her heels and ran off giggling into the mass of people and the rhythm of the DJ's sub woofers.

Now the way the kiss looked to me, I would have to say that Milhouse may have very well gotten his first kiss that night. While I don't know if he even caught Kat's name or had any idea who she was I gotta say that it is one heck of story for a first kiss, even if it was just a stupid dare. The things that happen on the campus of Southern Utah University, tune in next week for more interesting observations from SUU.

Jesse

SUU Gymnastics Meet

       History in the making occurred last Friday in the Centrum Arena on SUU Campus. Besides the obvious fact of the the SUU Gymnastics (nationally ranked 20th) team upsetting UCLA (currently 5th) to beat the current national champions with a total score of 194.750 to 194.425.
       However, my first post of this hopefully successful blog is of an observation I made during this epic meet. The Centrum Arena was filled with over 5,000 people for an athletic event, which again is an impressive feat. Those 5,000 people (community, staff, and students) did a full wave all the way around the arena.....3 TIMES!
       Congratulations SUU Gymnastics but also congratulations Cedar City for accomplishing something of tremendous importance in the sports fans history at SUU.
       I would surmize that this may have been the most people ever to do the wave on SUU Campus. I believe this is a worthy post to begin a semesters worth of observations. Come with me on a journey.