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Show Page A2 Thursday, January 6, 2005 Times Newspaper TIMES Submit a Guest Editorial or Opinion at our office, locat-ea locat-ea at 538 South State in Orem. Deadlines are Monday 10:00 a.m. All submissions are subiect to editing tor length, and The Orem-Geneva Times reserves the right to publish or not to publish a submission. pinion COMMENTARY & Q Growing population, diversity attest to the charm of Orem CLYDE E. WEEKS, JR. Time CorreMpondent The charm of a city haw much to do with the diversity diversi-ty of its people, an well as the Hignificant flavor and hoHpitality experienced by those who reHide in it, in addition to the senne of community, as expresned through its neighborhoods and the people who live there. The Orem Summerfest and parade are charming traditions in Orem, which have been held in some form for over a century. They were preceded by early-day celebrations and parades of hay wagons and farm trucks, before the turn of the 20th Century. Ask the many visitors who come to Orem every year, during the last part of August, just how charming they believe the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival to be! Now, staged in Orem for nearly a dozen years, that storytelling event is said to be the second-largest Storytelling Festival, happening in the United States The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival is associated with the Orem City Children's Library, which is charming, and among the most outstanding outstand-ing children's libraries in Utah The charm of live theater is alive and well in Orem, with no less than three ( community theaters in operation, and attracting many culturally-minded people from throughout , Utah County. These theaters the-aters have a reputation for being a training ground for aspiring professional actors. A small, but charming recreation center, known as The Orem-Geneva Times 53K South State Street Orem, UT X405K un edition of j The Daily Herald, a Pulitzer, Inc. Newspaper j Subsui'li"( A Mivrfv Vt.il' " MO i Ncvn A .....'fhiiK I Ud j U i m i I umi! ssumiHT i h'-tMiiii-Mf., uiln USPS 41 1-71 1 I'ulilishfd Thursdays ly l'uliler Ncwspiix:rs, Int., 5.tX South Stale Street. Orem, Utah X405K Periodicals postage paid at Orem, Utah 84059. Postmaster: Send address changes lo P.O. Box 65, Orem, I I X4U.W. Member Audit bureau uf ( irculatiun NHWSS1AND PRK1. SO 50 SUBSCRIPTION RAIL I year - $36 40 On county i (Sunday A. Ihundav plus Holiday deliveries i Huliday deliveries include delivery the week of taster. Menititi.il, Independence Pioneer l-abor, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's I year - S45 40 (out of county) I year - Thuriday Only $36 40 NEWS i We welcome newi tips Call 225-1340 225-1340 to report i newi tip or if you j have a comment or a question I We welcome letter to the editor All letter! mutt include the author i name (printed AND signed) and a telephone number We reaerve the right to edit lettert for clarity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic Trafalga, features both indoor in-door and out-door golf courses and other assorted games is located adjacent to Orern's freeway. Lighted at night, moving and lighted structures at Trafalga attract many children of all ages. Conventional golfers have but to drive three miles to the east to tee off at the charming Cascade Golf Center, located just at the foot of the magnificent Mount TimpanogoB. The eighteen-hole course also includes two back-to-back miniature golf courses. A part of the charm of Orem is the music. There are probably more music teachers in Orem, per capita, capi-ta, than in any other city. Piano teachers, vocal teachers, teach-ers, choral directors, choruses, chorus-es, opera singers, Celtic bands, and the like. Musical performances of some kind are underway, almost every moment of every day and night! Charm? There is no Ronald McDonald statue in Orem, but there are several other, somewhat more meaningful statues, located in Orem. At the Timpanogos Memorial Gardens is a white statue of Jesus Christ. At the St. Francis Catholic Church there stands a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. On the campus of the 25,000-student Utah Valley State College there are several sev-eral beautiful statues, located locat-ed in various areas. On the lawns across from the College President's home are statues of three graceful deer. On the Campus Quad are three statues: two college col-lege students in life-like poses, talking together; a native American in modern dress; and a seated student, studying. Charming! With the City of Orern's population now comprising 10 percent of foreign-born persons, the native-born citizens cit-izens are increasingly enjoying the charm of those people. Many languages are spoken in Orem. Many people peo-ple with charming accents are heard to speak in public places. A large number of Orern's residents, although native-born, are also proficient profi-cient in many foreign languages, lan-guages, as a result of their service around the world as Mormon missionaries. Many charming conversations conversa-tions take place in Orem in languages, unknown to some, but interesting to many. Where's the charm? Step into the Orem Senior Friendship Center, any continued on Page A3 Orem-Geneva Times 538 South State Orem 225-1340 Fax: 225-1341 Kirk Parkinson 225-1340 Publisher kparkinsoniajheraldextra.com Russ Presrwich 225-1340 General Manager rprestwichheraldextra.com Landon Olson 225-1340 Editor lolsonfuheraldextra.com Robert King 225-1340 Art director IT rkingrahcraldcxrra.com Timpanogos Green Understanding Albert For many years, she really had suspected: (From such realities, she was protected.) And yet, her mother's heart had not reacted To feelings there. But then, one Thursday night, Her eldest son stopped by for dinner: such A nervous nomad, seeming quite distracted! Through dinner, Albert hardly spoke. Polite And careful conversation he would touch. But, after dinner, in the living room, Her Albert told his mother of his gloom. The house is empty. Dad is working late, But Albert has a message that won't wait: "Dear Mother, try to understand my heart. There is a part of me that I must share. I need to let you know that I am gay!" The room is silent. Worlds are pulled apart. No one can know the tender tension there. His mother's mind seems very far away: His high school prom. The pretty girl. Her dress. The ripe relief her son can now express! For dating had bewildered him a lot. The sadness in his eyes she had forgot! She, often, wondered where their sparkle went. Unhappy and confused, he never told His mother and his father of his plight. He only knew the price it would present. The truth Was more than Mother's heart could hold. She quenched a wrenching sob. Her face went white. His mother, slowly, reached for Albert's hand: "I love you, son. I'll try to understand!" The moment passed. She reassessed her dreams: No wife or child for Albert, so it seems. His homosexuality would loom, Like some intruder in her heart. How could She still accept her son, complete and wholly, The way she always had? The living room Received his father, home from work. He stood, And saw his wife and son. He uttered, slowly, "Please tell me what is wrong!" The news would stun! His father said, "I love you, still, my son!" Lost dreams of parents, placed upon the shelf; The conflict, hidden, deep within himself: The hunger of the heart may still remain; The echoes of "what might have been" resound. Yet, undiscovered wisdom of the soul Is called upon. The unremitting pain Such revelations bring, is most profound. The words are written on a sacred scroll, To sooth the spirit of this chosen child, Who must confront humanity, beguiled! The guilt, the anger, penitence and blame Of parents; even those who suffer shame Is manifest in painful revelations. Recriminations, still, obscure the cause. The question, bravely, quivers in the brain, But no one, really, knows in all the nations, The How and Why? And where is the applause? May those this shadow touches, yet obtain! The hearty hand he clutches wears no glove: No single tie more binding, than our love! It i7 HIP DAILY HERALD PUBLISHING CO. Hannah Hill 225-1340 Office Manager ' 1 V t 1H DEADLINES Because of the increase of new stories & advertising submittep to the orem-geneva tlmes, our deadline for NEWS & ADVERTISING IS 1 0:00 A MONDAYS ITEMS NEED to be brought to the orem-geneva tlmes at 538 South State, Orem. Entries may be edited for length and content. If you have any questions please call our office at 2254340 I . 0" I "iw , , ,! Euryan Thayne Euryan Thayne signed up for the Marines while he was still in high school, went through boot camp and School of Infantry (SOI) training for several months, drilled with a reserve unit in SLC for a short time, then went on an IDS mission to Portugal. After his return, his unit was activated, and Euryan participated in the invasion of Iraq. Marine boot camp has a reputation for being rigorous. Euryan humorously contrasts that experience with being a missionary in the Missionary Training Center. I went to basic training at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, for three months. You basically stay with your platoon the whole time, and there are four or five drill instructors that stay with you. They train you and yell at you constantly! Sometimes they get mad at you, but the most part, it's just yelling. (The reason for the yelling becomes more clear in Iraq.) The only personal stuff we had was letter-writing gear, though I had my scriptures. Everything else was taken away. You can't even bring your own shaving gear. Sunday mornings were the only times you had any free time. We were busy all the time. You hit the bed and fall asleep immediately every night. The whole thing is pretty intense. In the SOI (after basic), we slept out every night, humjied around every day carrying our heavy packs, and shot weapons. It gets hot carrying and wearing all that stuff (a Kelvar vest and helmet, flak jacket, ammunition magazines, and other stuff), and you get prickly heat a lot Your skin just can breathe. A log of the guys got heat exhaustion, and when you got dehydrated, you'd throw up. And the profanity is constant. When you first get home from boot camp and SOI training, that's all you can think of and the guys who are just getting out of boot camp always tell their boot camp stories and they've got tons of them. Everyone's got that "one guy," or that "one drill instructor," who was so hard. Those who've been back awhile are just like, "Shut up!" When we do weekend training here in Utah, it mostly consists of training with your gun, or urban combat. We train out near Dugway, up by the Point of the Mountain, and sometimes we hike up in the Uintas. We can never shoot up in the Uintas, because of the rules. But I could imagine if they gave us ammo-all ammo-all the squirrels and chipmunks would be dead. Then I found myself in the MTC, and it was like a dream, compared com-pared to my Marine training. When I heard missionaries complaining com-plaining about stuff in the MTC, I was just like, "You have no idea, man. I don't know what you're romplaining about." One time my companion was complaining about everything: his bed was too, small, he was cold at night because the heater wasn't working right, and on and on. I remember thinking to myself "If this guy had any idea ..." I had just come from sleeping outside in the rain, in the mud, freezing my butt off sleeping sitting up in a fighting hole. "Dude, these beds are so nice, you have no idea And we actually have a room to Bleep in. That's pretty nice, you know." So he never complained anymore. But I didn't try to rub it in his face. I just tried to make him realize, "Just look for the good, don't look for the bad, because of course you're going to find something to complain about." The MTC was awesome. I can't imagine anything more opposite oppo-site from boot camp than the MTC. They are almost complete opposite in every way. Next week, Euryan's platoon rotates as the spearhead in the invasion of Iraq. 1 POOR |
