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Show Free Press - Wednesday, July 14, 1993 - Page 3 Editorial Language remains a fascinating subject Search volunteers I first became aware of my interest in the English language when I was in the seventh grade. The details the classroom, the teacher, and my friend that made fun of me when I asked a stupid question about a sentence we encountered in the lesson. I really knew the answer, so I guess I was just trying to smart off, but that incident has given me a drive to learn all I can about our language. The sentence involved the use of "relish" not as a noun but as a way to describe how the action was done, as in, "He sang the ' song with relish." My interest grew to the point that I had decided to become an English teacher. Those plans have changed drastically throughout the years, but my interest has continued to grow. After I returned from Japan, I taught Japanese atCommunityEducation classes.' In one lesson, I showed my students how a small change in one part of a Japanese sentence could make a great difference in English. Usingjust three words - eat, chopsticks and a word in between to describe the action - the students saw that the inserted word could make the sentence mean "I eat by usingchopsticks," "I eat, and the chopsticks eat with me," or "I am eating the chopsticks." We became very aware of our native Utah language and usage when we lived in Maryland. They don't have license plates on their cars, they have tags. Plates belong in their go the extra mile Anyone driving through American Fork Canyon this weekend would have been under the impression that a major search and rescue operation was underway. It was. Local search teams from the were Michael lookingfor the body of Fenton who fell in the American Fork River on Thursday and was swept downstream to a certain death. But Michael's small body has not yet been recovered. This was the search operation undertaken by dozens of men and women throughout Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The efforts of these volunteers border on the heroic and bear notice. Searchers included members of the Utah County Jeep Patrol, Utah County Search and Rescue, Uinta National Forest, Timpanogos National Monument personnel and the Utah County Sheriffs Department. A Pleasant Grove Rescue unit stood by to provide any needed medical support. Also lending support were Searchers were members of the Alpine Fire Department and K9 dogs from the Sheriffs Department, State Prison and Rocky Mountain Rescue. They were volunteering their time and energies for the search. American Fork River is not usually noted as a treacherous body of water -unless we are facing a year like this one, when the deep snowpack from last winter keeps the river raging well into the summer. Then American Fork River's unique qualities present extraordinary hazards for swift water search and rescue efforts like that being carried out for Michael. Despite its shallow appearance, fishermen know that this river has many nature that deep holes and acanyon-lik- e makes it very hazardous. Any of these deep holes would hide the body ofa 6 year old and each is hard to reach because of wet-su- it buddies. My closest pal was Eddie Simkins. He lived on the same street and we walked to school together. His father was a coal miner. So, like me, he had very little spending money. He didn't talk much but was a good listener. We didn't talk much about our future plans. He, like me, knew that soon we would work at the coal mine; we didn't think that was too bad because that's what boys did. As I think back to those boys, I realize they did have an effect on my future life. Take Scrummy Chislet as an example. Scrummy was not his real name. He earned it by his personal appearance and habits. He came from a large family. His father was a coal miner and spent most of his spare time at the pub. He was one of a large family and his mother was a bit slovenly. So Scrummy came by his nickname quite naturally. Why we accepted him as a pal is hard to under- stand. One day we heard he was ill, then came the shocking news that pal Scrummy had died. His family was not affiliated with any church so the question was who was to conduct the funeral service. Gerald James, the captain of the Salvation Army, volunteered to conduct a graveside service. What did Scrummy mean in my life? Regardless of the station in life there is a need of friends and companionship. and sick, Till rising and gliding outlwander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air- , and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. -- Walt Whitman Okay, okay. This is the poem I wrote about last week in a column about Dr. Stephen Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University and one of the most learned people I ever plan on meeting. Only I couldn't remember the poem. Heck, I couldn't even remember the name right, or who wrote it, oranything like that. Now, in all fairness, I probably could have found out easily enough, since I had a good idea about when the thing was written, and that it was written by an American poet and stuff like that. A trip to the library could have sol ved my problem in short order. But it was tough to get to the library last week. After all, it was the Fourth of July weekend we were closed Monday and so was the library and I hadn't written my column yet and I didn't get to hear the "learn'd astronomer" until Sunday, when the library wasn't open, so the column idea wasn't there before that, either. And Tuesday, we were under the gun -coming off a holiday and all and still expected to get the paper out by deadline with a day less of work. So I went with what I knew instead of what I could find out. The name, for example, was wrong. I V I By TOM GRIFFITHS One of my friends was Dai Dent. Dai was big and strong and fearless. He was destined to become a professional football player in later life. When he was with us we were not afraid of anyone. Even Pooky Davis, the village bully, left us alone. I must mention Ronnie Goodfellow. Many would say he was effeminate. I knew him to be gentle. He was the boy soprano who sang with us at Christmas. He was also a soloist with the choir of the Baptist Church. He was the kind of kid who would bend down to pet a strange cat or dog. From him I learned that it takes all kinds to make a world. So, my grandsons are all different. A few years ago I stood by the grave of Scrummy. His real name was Myrdoin, which was Merlin in English. I thought of all the Scrummies there were in the world and their need of love and kindness. The years have passed and my boyhood pals have departed to another world, but their memory lingers on. Poul ' 1 African-America- -- home-grow- O 1991 Lm Angeles Times Syndicate all three were defeated. And two of those were in California, which has most to lose. Eighty thousand Chinese illegally in the United States as of July 1 were granted permission to stay and another 20 shiploads are on the way here. In Garden Grove, Calif., three gangsters force their way into an apartment, hogtie and savagely rape two women and rob them of $500 and some jewelry. In nearby Yorba Linda another armed gang smashes through a glass door into a private home and binds and robs six reign of terror. people during a gun-wieldi- six-ho- Editor's Column lecture-room- Left QFS By MARC HADDOCK called it "I Heard the Learned Astronomer," when the real name of the above poem is "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." (Reverting to habit, I even edited the title to make it acomplete sentence and I corrected the misspelling of learn'd - well, if it's not misspelled, it is certainly not proper newspaper style.) Then I tried to guess at the name -Emerson or Longfellow, I think were my guesses. I'd look it up, but I'm out of time today, too. And I was wrong. It was written by Walt Whitman. I heard first about this from Mike Robinson, who works as director of public relations for the Alpine School District and does a lot of other writing on the side -istuff for radio and the nspirational-type like that requires a working knowledge of old poems that most of us will never use again. Mike knew the author, the poem (probably has it memorized), the style, the period into which it fit and more about it than I know about any poem. "But of course we don't expect you newspaper types to know about this stuff," Mike told me as if talking to a very slow child. Well, it all sounded familiar when he spelled it out for me - Fd heard all this stuff years and years before - probably in junior high school, I figured. -- -- til bicycle? The people I talked to insisted that the bike be next to the building because the building is bigger and it is stationary. I listen carefully to the way my children speak. I have heard so many examples of "We was going somewhere" or "He don't know no different" that I want them to be very careful when they open their mouths. So naturally, I used to worry when one of them would say "I goed to the store." Later, I found out that even though the exact verb is incorrect, putting it in past tense shows that they are developing a sense of the language. Of course, then they come up with words like "Dj what?" Maybe you've heard that one before from an excited child who is trying to say "Do you know what?" I've decided we "hafta" be careful about the way we speak. If we are not, we're "gonna" teach our children that it is acceptable to used words you "ain't 'post ta" use. Do it "fer" them if not "fer" yourself. Remember that the next time you see "five old Lithuanian Shakespearean Editor: foot-stompi- well-deserv- fun-fille- In both cases the victims were Vietnamese. In both cases the intruders were also Vietnamese. Across America, Asian gangs are targeting their own people. They stalk and beat and threaten their victims to be sure that the crimes will go unreported. Meanwhile our government is opening our doors to thousands from Somalia and to thousands from Haiti, some of whom have AIDS. ; In Europe, one nation after another is slamming the door. In Poland, Sweden, Denmark and what was Czechoslovakia - the now policy is "Immigrants keep out!" Germany is deporting those already within its borders because they are too much of an economic load on that nation's social services. England and France have pulled in the welcome mat. Only the United States persists in the masochistic policy of encouraging a potential "slave trade" whereby outsiders - more of them than not become indentured slaves for the smugglers who brought them in. We get so soon old; so late smart. , Round-u- p delicious Bar and hilarious Cowboy Poetry Gathering and two spectacular parades and the full Saturday Fun Day, this "Round-up- " of activities provided a memorable week that will highlight our entire summer. On beh alf of the Board of Directors of the Lehi Civic Improvement Association, a hearty vote of appreciation is especially B-- Once again, as the dust settles from the fast-pace- d dancrodeo and ing of m any happy celebration participants, thanks is extended to the a many dedicated citizens of Lehi who made the 56th Annual Lehi Round-u- p a success. d From the Monday night picnic and entertainment in the park, through the That estimation was verified the next day when I got a photocopy of the poem itself compliments of Dee Sparks and all the English teachers at American Fork Junior High, who not only recognized the poem, but knew exactly where to find it in their texts. Apparently kids are still reading Walt Whitman after all these years. And I suppose Dee and all the teachers at the junior high school figure I am a real dunce for not remembering the details of this poem. But I want to take another slant on this, because apparently, at some time in my past, some teacher touched me with this simple poem because after all these years, I still remember the gist of the poem, was close on the title, and would have listed Whitman as a third or fourth choice to have written it. That's pretty good, because I haven't seen this poem since those deep, dark days of my youth. (I won't say how deep or how dark, but next year I have my 25th high school class reunion.) But I have thought of it often. It was taught to me in some way that gave it special meaning. It was a part of my life experience on which I could draw when the time came to compare the poet's experience with the "learn'd astronomer" and my own life's experience. And that's what a lot of this education stuff is all about. Kids complain all the time about how they will never need to use math or science or English in their later lives because they are irrelevant. But nothing in life is irrelevant not really. Everything adds color and texture and meaning - even the stuff you learn in the 7th and 8th grade. So, to all of the people out there who recognized this poem when I referred to it last week, remember that you have a teacher to thank for that knowledge. And if you are a teacher, you probably have a teacher or two to thank for that, as well. - -- GdOfifi!? Thanks to all who made Are we still in the slave business? Americans after five generations are berated by others and themselves suffering guilt relating to our country's slave trade 200 years ago. Much of the ferment among today's reflects resentment of the manner in which their ancestors were misused. We're about to make the same mistake again, subjecting today's illegal immigrants to servitude in a manner which will surely boomerang. If all the illegals now in the United States could be found and rounded up, it would cost more to detain and to export them than the entire budget of our Immigration Service. But if they are not rounded up and sent home, we can't afford that, either. Twenty-si- x percent of the inmates in our federal prisons are illegals. With easily obtainable fraudulent documents they collect health benefits, schooling, food stamps, housing - andor they can displace tens of thousands of n American workers. The Clinton Administration is promising 'new restrictions." Don't bet on it. In the last election only three candidates dared to oppose illegal immigration and were arrested." Although the lawyer could be of either sex, we can only hope that the "pretty blond secretary" is the opposite. I'm reading a book called "The Miracle of Language," and I am amazed that we are able to learn the language, most of which seems to come to us naturally. I have been giving everyone little tests from the book to see if the author's theories are correct. Here's one for you: Picture in your mind five scholars. These people study Shakespeare, they are very old and they come from Lithuania. Now, using one sentence, describe the , the How soon unaccountable I became tired Browsing 1 st "politically correct." I can see how easy it is to make comments about one gender that would be absurd when spoken of the other gender. The author gave an example of saying "The lawyer and his pretty blond secretary When heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, wereranged in columns before me, When was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in mind. But that goal seems to spur them on. This is remarkable dedication and concern. One of the volunteers was heard to remark, "It's a good thing this is volunteer. They couldn't pay me to do it." That seems to sum up the attitude of all these volunteers. They deserve our thanks. great-grandso- Non-sexi- He gave another example about word order with an example of a bicycle parked next to a building. Couldn't there be a valid reason for the building being next to the Someone always knows how to find poem I The I -- I have a goodly number of grandsons and and I love everyone of them. Each has a different personality and to me they are the answer to life. Recently, after a visit with a few of them, my thoughts turned to my boyhood days in Wales and to some ofthe boys who were my wallets and purses so they can charge things when they go to the store. After I started writing for the paper I bought a book called "The Handbook of Writing," in order to be more -- slowed down. It is unknown where the search efforts will lead from here, but Utah County can be proud of the men and women who have spent countless hours of their own time trying to help find this young boy's body, knowing that the satisfaction of a successful search will be bittersweet at. best - the search can come to no good end except to give the family peace of Planet ByRUSSDALY -- foot-by-fo- ii Daly j Every grandson has his own personality a few IT - the swiftly running water. None of these factors has prevented the volunteer rescuers from extending themselves to the limit to help locate the clad young boy. Friday, the divers tried to search the river while secured with tethers, but the water thwarted that effort. K9s units trained in underwater search techniques were brought in to identify likely pockets where the boy's body could be lodged. Saturday, the volunteers mounted a painstaking and exhaustingsearch from inflatable boats held in place on the river by ropes manned by other volunteers. The volunteers exhibited great expertise, remarkable patience and incredible endurance as they spent themselves physically in this search of the swiftest part of the river. The search extended to Sunday in a daylong effort that left searchers battered, worn out and frustrated. But they never just visualized. The author claims that we inherently learn to put those words in a certain order. I was surprised to see how the words really did fall into place when I tried the experiment. people you a success extended to Analese Evans and Shelly Smith, chairwomen of the Lehi Parade and Special Events Committee, along with their many committee members, and to each and everyone who added in any way, giving of their time, talents and efforts. It was a great Round-up- ! -- Lehi Civic Improvement Association Board of Directors Betty's column is missed Editor: For years we have enjoyed the Lehi Free Press and especially Betty Fowler's weekly column. We will miss the experiences and remembrances of her youth and what was happening around the country and world during those years. When she tried to explain the exploits of the "silver foxes" and their school spirit(not just Lehi High School but other schools and universities and activities), we really hooted and realized we all could get excited about events and referees, no matter the age. however mundane, and make it interesting and humorous and help us to be more appreciative for the many things we take for granted. Thanks for all the informative and fun insights we gained from those columns and wish her luck in traveling, visitingher children and grandchildren and, also, writing an occasional piece. Maybe she will compile her many writings into a book like Dan Valentine! "You'd Better Believe It." ' -- Colleen Madsen Manning (former American Fork and Lehi Chuckle. She could take one item or current item, Policy on letters to the editor We welcome letters to the editor. All letters should be typewritten and double spaced. Letters must also be signed, and must include the writer's name and telephone number. Please send letters to Editor, Newtah News Group, P.O. Box 7, American Fork, Utah, 84003. resident) Littleton, Colo. |