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Show ™SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE 0OPINION www.dailyulahchronicle.com Wednesday, June 15, 2005 Granddaughter seeks help in recovering priceless possessions Onlin Editor: My beloved grandfather passed away on May 15. Although he was a lifelong Oregon resident, he spent the last 3 months of his life in the home of my mother in St. George. He was 92 years old and lived in a manner that gave new meaning to the phrase "carpe diem." His motto was to live each day as full as he could until there were no more days—"You've got to live until you do die." He was mischievous and full of spunk—his bright, blue eyes never failing to sparkle at some secret joke of his or from a pretty lady (usually one of his granddaughters) crossing his path. It was my grandfather's wish that his body be donated to the U medical school—just another aspect of his wonderful, generous and quirky personality. After attending his memorial service in Portland, Ore., and bringing back some cherished mementos of his life, my mother stayed a few days in Salt Lake City to spend some time with her children before heading home to St. George. The night before she left, her car was broken into and all her valuables stolen—things that might not have meant much materially, but meant the world to our family. Among those possessions were a scrapbook from the 1930s, my grandfather's watch and spectacles, and a painting I had done of my grandfather shortly before his death that my mother had framed and taken to his memorial. This event sent us into a second kind of grieving—the first for the loss of our father and grandfather and the second for the loss of those items which had become synonymous with him. These items might have been carelessly discarded, but they are somewhere out there. In writing this, my hope would be to utilize whatever means possible to recover them. They were stolen around 900 South and 800 East. If there is any information available as to their whereabouts, please contact me at 706-6967. Rachel Hughes What is your favorite Utah-based professional sports team? 35% §Diefineeds to make writing Apriority also plan to ignore the results of the new section score of 1600 on your SAT no longer means that you're brilliant—in fact, it really isn't that pending further evaluation. ^impressive at all. An estimated 400 schools, however, have already .;$'; .; Last spring, the College Board added a third secchosen to adapt the writing section as a component;^ tion to the infamous SAT test, making 2400 the new during the admissions process. Among these schools" \ 1600. High school juniors and seniors will now gear are Westminster and BYU. ?••• up for math, verbal and written essay sections. . -, Regardless of how successful of a predictor the es• The board decided to add the essay section to the say section of the SAT turns out to be, these schools traditional math/verbal format because of concern made the right decision by promoting writing skills y ( that the test was not providing an accurate portrayal in prospective students. • • j,.' of a student's abilities. The ability to perform well on standardized tests *f does not, in large part, reflect a student's ability to. •;> : .' Ultimately, writing skills reveal much more about succeed in college or life. However, writing is an a student's ability to succeed in college than their • incredibly necessary skill in college and not one that phenomenal grasp of obscure analogies. enough students have. ,.;: Despite this seemingly obvious fact, the U Admis: According to an NACE Job Outlook 2005 survey,'-•.?;; sions Office is planning to ignore the new section for many employers say that college graduates lack •>'* the time being when considering potential students. grammar and writing skills and have trouble with fl The fact is that not many prospective U students will be affected by the U's decision to ignore the SAT expressing good ideas without using "like" or "you ' know." essay score. The majority of U students applied with their ACT Writing is one of the most important skills stu- '•• scores. dents need to have—yet the U does not require an >'; admissions essay and has now decided to ignore the -1 Future students who will use SAT scores for adone standardized admissions test that is offering a ~$> -i mission may not be able to use their essay in their writing section. . i •, •; index score, but those who scored well on their SAT essay will also.likely score well on other tests that If the U doesn't want to use the SAT writing secwill allow them to get into higher writing courses as tion, fine. If we want to keep the caliber of students freshmen. high at the U, however, we need to find another way to measure student writing ability during the admisThe U isn't alone in ignoring this new section of sions process. . .-,; •;-•! •"' ;tj;;-:;';;r r: — the SAT—many other colleges across the country .H TO vote goto www.dailyutahchronicle.com Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. Editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page-is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, religion, creed, <• gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited or will not be published. ;• .-: - / ' ^ .. - • -vj.^;;? &•!£ y ? S f Senior, Consumer & Community Studies At times like this, I miss the porn czar The Utah Legislature needs to stop passing poorly thought-out laws T he Utah Legislature is at it again: passing laws to send the message that Utah is a haven of goodness and light. Last session, legislators passed a law that requires the attorney general's office to create a list of Web sites that could potentially be harmful to minors. Internet providers in Utah would then be required to provide their customers with a way to prevent access to these sites. If providers fail to do this, they could face felony charges. There are so many problems with this law that it's hard to know where to beginFirst, it will be a tremendous job to index all objectionable sites on the Internet. Huge corporations dedicate entire companies to indexing objectionable material. Apparently Mark Shurtleff's office is supposed to pull it off on a budget of $100,000. Second, the state attorney general has no business in the first place to decide what is objectionable material for minors. That decision belongs in the hands of parents. Nick Macey Third, the technical implications of such a list are immense. It will be a nightmare for the staff at attorney the attorney general's blacklist. The general's office to create a list of scenario is not far-fetched; it hapWeb sites and not have it circumpens quite often with the filters sold vented. Or, if they do manage to cre- by companies. ate such a list with their miniscule This brilliantly concocted law funds, it would certainly serve to does not outline any appeals process block innocent Web sites as well. to get my Web site off the list. For example, suppose I had a Web Instead of educating its residents, site with breast cancer information my site is now completely useless in on it. Perhaps my site makes it onto Utah. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, along with a variety of businesses and law firms throughout the state, has banded together to contest this law. They believe that it violates free speech and the interstate commerce protections of the constitution. Betsy Burton of the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City is the lead plaintiff in the case. She is concerned about the implications for her store: As the law reads, she could be charged as a felon because she provides descriptions of adult books on her Web site. Should her cite be censored? Should she be branded as a felon? This law will trample free-speech rights. Courts have repeatedly struck down laws that lead to self- censorship—and in the course of" " trying to avoid problems with this * list many people will end up self* .." censoring. •"•" This law is clearly unconstitu^ _< tional and will be struck down.hV. court—which means a large arhotant of unnecessary legal fees in the "'*.'" meantime for Utah taxpayers, i ••.r-». The Legislature needs to stop" ."•'.' passing laws that are only meant to send a message. There is nothing-" wrong with the goal of protecting children, but it should not be administered by the state. At some point, individuals need to take the responsibility for watdv -i ing their own children. The state**'% Legislature passed that point a?ldhg time ago. o -.'• letters@chronicleMttih.2du Don't be a slave to the cell phone Technology meant for communication can lead to isolation T echnology is great. Because of scientific advances, we have the ability to do things that our grandparents would have considered miracles in their own time. New devices and networks are connecting people worldwide. There is a paradox in this technology advancement, however: While faster connections are made possible through technology, it seems like the individual is becoming more disconnected to society. For example, cell phones have made it possible for us to communicate with people all over the country and world. But now that we are constantly attached to our own personal network, we are naturally less inclined to face-to-face interact with the people around us. Let's say you have a 20-minute break between classes. While walking to the next class, you instinctively pull out your cell phone to check in with a friend who is at home. You have no reason to call your friend, but you'd rather have company during your short stroll across campus. Though it seems like the cell phone has made your life better because you have more contact with your friend, there is a cost to this seemingly harmless face-to-face interaction. While you are on the phone, you pass dozens of people—some of whom are probably at least acquaintances. You still make contact with them by a quick nod of the head, but would have happened had you not been talking on your cell? Dylan Bean Perhaps you would have stopped and talked to one or more of these people. Maybe a short conversation would have led to an invitation to hang out or even a date. We will never know what fate had to offer us all those times that we were distracted by our cell phones. Not only do cell phones cause us to miss out on those random interactions, they also influence the quality of conversation. Think about the most meaningful conversations people have. Most likely these conversations involved actual face-to-face interaction. In this type of conversation, people do more than just talk and listen. They read facial expressions, notice body language and feel emotions. Owning a cell phone means more time talking to voices and less time communicating in person. Unfortunately, real-life contact is becoming a thing of the past. As our time on the phone increases, our conversations become less meaningful. Cell phones cause us to change the way we listen and respond. When talking on a cell, we can't help but multitask. Isn't that the goal of technology, after all? While multitasking is important in the workplace, it shouldn't be • necessary when talking with friends and acquaintances. Having a conversation while checking e-mails, doing the laundry or watching "Seinfeld" re-runs just isn't the type of interaction that brings us closer together. I'm not suggesting that we stop • using cell phones altogether. I -•' would like to propose, however, that when we find ourselves surrounded by people—be they friends, acquaintances or strangers—we try switching the phones off. • We should keep focused on the ' friends we are with and seek more meaningful conversation. We should reach out to the strangers around'us. After all, in the end it's not the relationship we have with our Blackberry that will matter. letters@chronicle.utah.edu |