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Show J A6 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Vernal Express fcpress OPINION WHITE CHRISTMAS o ByKevwAshby ,1: Express Publisher I'll admit right off that I am an old softee when it comes to having a white Christmas. There is nothing like the softness of snow. The loudness of the crunch when you walk through it because all other sounds seem muffled. I like the feeling of being alone when walking through a good snow storm. And then, on the other hand, there is a great feeling of togetherness when you share the isolated, quietness of snow falling with someone you love. For me, snow invites the reverence that is needed at Christmas time. A time when peace and love are tauted and sometimes experienced. It is a time when people seem to think of something larger than this life. Something more important than making money and paying the bills. Something more memorable than gift giving and receiving. Music is also a very much enjoyment for this publisher during the Christmas season. I am a die-hard fan of Christmas carols, singing the Messiah, Mes-siah, singing in the church choir and hearing others sing to their hearts content. Again, it's the peace and love that I desire and music becomes the conduit and Christmas is the season. And then there is family and Christmas. So far, in my short life, I have not had the one without the other except for a two-year visit to Argentina and other family members had to be substituted. I enjoy my family gatherings throughout the year. In fact I wish there were more. But when we gather at Christmas, there is a deeper love and appreciation that seems to be present. Afatherand mother seem just a little more accepting. Kids seem to feel they need to be just a little better. Communication seems to pick up during the holidays. Good deeds are more automatic. Families become just a little more reverent one with another. As we look into each others eyes, I see potential rather than doubt; trust rather than deviousness and desire to do good. And I love Christmas Eve. Our tradition for the past several years is to spend the day light hours on a ski slope. This usually is a form of me providing entertainment for my kids as they watch me ski out of control down the hill, but it is fun. Then it is home time. Home time delivers a chance to make sure everything is ready for Christmas with a time set aside to talk. This is the time set aside for us to remember why we have Christmas. Even with gifts already wrapped and set under the Christmas tree, the importance placed upon worldly gifts is replaced with reading the Christmas story and being reminded of Christ's birth and his reasons for coming to earth. This is a time we hold dear. It is a time we look forward to. This is the time when we remember those feelings brought on by soft snow falling or singing in churches or on someones front porch. These feelings are amplified when put in context with the Savior being born and his love for us spelled out so clearly. We remember the bigger than life reasons of why we are here and our responsibilities to one another. We understand love and peace on a higher plane. As we put the final pages for this edition of the paper to bed I hope we can effectively transform ourselves from busy writers and publishers to Christmas season celebrators who honor Christ and his love for us. - And I hope the same for you whatever your profession. May you slow down just enough to feel the largeness of this season, the feelings of love and peace that come from a loving Father in Heaven he sent for his son who began his life in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. This is the true meaning of Christmas. CURING HUNGER MEANS CURING POVERTY By Bu Ayres Minuteman Media Are food banks necessary? The answer is yes but with an explanation. explana-tion. The U.S. has the largest and most effective emergency food system in the world: food banks supplying thousands of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. Our nation's emergency food providers are there in national, regional and local emergencies. They are also there for people who have personal emergencies ranging from loss of a job, domestic violence to a debilitating illness. Why then is there severe criticism of food banks from within the system sys-tem as well as from others working in the field of social justice? The key word here is emergency. The system is intended to help people in emergencies and it does that very well. The problem is that the system is being strained by having to feed many millions who are not in an emergency, but rather in a long-term economic crisis. Food pantries and soup kitchens feed millions of working poor people who do not make a living wage and cannot support their families. They also support millions more who are about to lose their homes or who cannot afford medical care or their heating bills. There are about 37 million Americans who are officially poor by government standards. There are another 55 million to 60 million Americans who earn between $20,000 and $40,000, called the "near poor," who are not eligible for most aid. But they are poor. They live from week to week and go to food pantries when their families are hungry. They need different kinds of help that go beyond a meal. The answer is not simply building bigger food banks and finding more food at a time when businesses are donating less. The answer is on several levels that food bankers and their affiliates are beginning to address: Self-reliance The root of hunger is poverty. The root of poverty is powerlessness. The solution to poverty is to empower people. Food banks and their affiliates are doing that more than ever. They connect people to services in their community com-munity that can help them get a job, permanent housing, healthcare, childcare, transportation, counseling and more. Many food banks now have job training programs in the food industry or transportation and mentoring programs. The emergency food system today is for many the first step on the road to self-reliance self-reliance but it must take people further and faster. How? Connections Food pantries and soup kitchens are now often the connection to a whole array of government programs like Food Stamps, child nutrition programs, Earned Income Tax Credits, heating assistance and federal housing programs. There are still emergency food providers who say, "That's not my job. I'm too busy getting people food." Gradually, that attitude is changing. Servers are realizing that they must connect their guests to government programs and local poverty programs that can get to the root causes of poverty. Advocacy In the past, food bankers were reluctant to advocate for federal hunger programs. That is no longer true and America's Second Harvest, the association associa-tion for food banks in the United States, has become a major force in the battle for long-needed improvements in Food Stamps and other federal programs. Emergency food workers and volunteers are the sleeping giant in the hunger movement. The giant is awakening. Good food for all An often-heard criticism of food banks is that much of the food is not high in nutritional value. That too is changing. Many food banks today have community gardens, farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), farm to school programs and state supported programs that pay family farmers to supply fresh local food-to-food banks and their affiliates. This is a growing partnership between food banks, community food advocates and farmers to provide good food for all, especially the poor. America's emergency food system is a dynamic system that is promoting promot-ing self-reliance and good food for all, and is a leading advocate for improved local, state and federal hunger and poverty programs. All of us who care about the obscenity of hunger in America need to support the courageous and visionary vision-ary food bank leaders who are changing the face of food banking. "I started wearin' this when I realized how much money there Is in ethanol." Public Forum - Letters to the Editor What is your opinion? The Vernal Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions on contents, if in good taste and not libelous or vindictive. Letters may be edited for length. All letters must be submitted exclusively to the Vernal Express and bear the full name, signature, phone number and address of the writer or writers. Letters for the sole purpose of expressing thanks to individuals or groups will not be printed in this forum. Submissions may be mailed to 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078; faxed to 435-789-8690 or sent by e-mail to editorvernal.com The name or names of the persons submitting letters must appear on all published letters. Letters express the opinion of the writer or writers and are not necessarily the opinion of the Vernal Express. BERTHA BUTTERBEAN Shake and Bake By Dam Cqlqvich Guest Writer I have noticed no-ticed that in order for two people to get married to each other, there has to be a great disparity in their comfort zones. Have you ever seen a married couple who both liked a room or a car or even a bowl of soup at the same temperature? It can't happen. hap-pen. Temperature preference must be one of the functions of attraction. You know, sort of like "opposites attract." No, exactly like that. Well, there is that other maxim that declares "the longer lon-ger two people are married to each other the more the look like each other." It's been a long time union for the But-terbeans, But-terbeans, but you can always distinguish the two of us I am the one who is mostly blue and Mr. Butterbean is the one who is dripping. I am the one who is wearing a sweater while Mr. Butterbean is the one standing outside in his underwear. And there is no respite. The battle of the thermostat goes on all winter and the car-window car-window war is waged during spring, summer and fall. The throwing-off-the-bed-covers controversy continues all year long. First let me tell you about the winter battles. I walk in the house and turn up the thermostat. He walks in and turns it down. I sneak in and turn it down, he waits until my back is turned and turns it up. I go and dry a batch of clothes, he turns down the thermostat. I turn on the oven and bake something; he turns down the thermostat. I turn up the thermostat and stand guard with a wooden spoon. He creates a diversion and turns it down. I go to the store and buy a new sweater. Then there is the s jmmer trip to the mountains!' Mr. . Butterbean is1 always the person driving. (I could get lost.) So his window is always open fresh air and all that. Does the pristine and frigid air from his window blow through his hair or in his ear or down his neck? No, it funnels around the back of his head, picking up speed and volume while cooling further and pours onto me like the proverbial Arctic blast. I shiver all over, while his elbow barely catches a breeze. At bedtime the dispute becomes dangerous. I like the covers right up to my earlobes, and that is where I try to keep them. But when any coverings at all become too much for the Misplaced Alaskan, mine and his are swept up into a knot which is catapulted and lands somewhere down around my ankles. Retrieving them is a little like untangling clothes from the washer. Only throw in a few arms and legs besides. be-sides. And do it in the dark. And do it in a rage. For the same reason, it is wise for me to get into bed after Furnace Man does. Not only does he already have the bed warm, but I won't have to go through the inevitable freeze that occurs when he gets into bed after me. He hasn't figured out how to get aboard without throwing back all the covers. When he flings, all of the frigid air that was hovering just above the bed falls onto me in an instant like an atomic bomb cloud in reverse. When I die, expect my obituary to say something like: "She strangled in a tangle." Or "She succumbed to flash hypothermia." At least I will have died in bed. If there is a solution for the temperature preference disparity, I deserve to know it. I have been cold for forty-two years now. However, I can say . that times are getting better. I like my new Ford Explorer. It has dual heat controls and a seat warmer. A part of me can be warm while the window win-dow is down. And at home I have my space heater which I carry around a lot. Excuse me now. I need to go and find a warmer jacket. |