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Show OPINION Wednesday, March 28,2007 Page 6 The U should keep its golf course T CHRISTOPHER PEDDECORD/77wDai7>- Utah Chronicle Plans for expansion of Primary Children's Medical Center in coming years could mean a loss of holes on the U golf course. he days of the U golf course may be coming to an abrupt end. Primary Children's Medical Center is planning to expand within the next two to five years, and the land currently occupied by the course is set to be overtaken in the expansion. I think the loss of such a valuable commodity to our campus would be extremely unfortunate. When I first took a tour of the U, my brother drove me along Central Campus Drive, and I remember being pleasantly surprised to see that the campus had a golf course right on school property. Not only did it make the school seem peaceful and relaxing, but it also gave the campus an open feeling, unlike the trapped sensation I felt at so many other universities. I later found out how accommodating the course was to both students and the general public. It had ridiculously inexpensive green fees, no tee times and no need for golf carts. Over the years that I've attended this school, I've had the opportunity of spending many warm days swinging the sticks on the U golf course. Always tie up the lose ends Don't take off with unfinished business W hen we are young, we tend to ignore our own mortality. We think we have an invincible gene that licenses us to do anything. We drink 'til we have the flu. We turn our backs on people because it's easy to ignore them for the moment. We take a lot of things for granted when we shouldn't. I thought I was going to die on my Spring Break trip. My journey started in Inglewood, Calif., and ended on a speck of an airplane that I thought was destined to go down. Each day, something more awful than the previous day's events occurred. At the end of the trip, I found myself wanting to tie up every loose end in my life. It shouldn't take the fear of an unlikely plane crash to get me to call my ex-boyfriend to make amends and my mother to tell her I love her in the same hour, but it did. The trip was a whirlwind—getting lost in scary cities, replacing brakes and rotors on the car we used and even seeing a drug bust in the hotel room three doors down from ours. It was not your typical Spring Break, and to be honest, I looked forward to getting back home. LINDSEY SINE On the morning before our flight back to Salt Lake City, my friend asked me an odd question: "Do you ever have a day where you feel like you're actually going to die?" She wasn't sick or tired; she really felt as though she was going to die that day—and I was supposed to be flying with her. Being in a plane crash is one of my greatest fears. I spent most of that day trying to keep the thought of dying out of my head, but it wasn't until we were driving to the airport that the thought began to stick. As if my fear of flight weren't enough already, our group got into a minor car accident that involved our automobile running over a median. We pulled into a parking lot in a questionable part of Las Vegas—there were gentlemen's clubs and liquor stores as far as the eye could see—and had to ask a much stronger stranger to help us change our tire. I wondered if we would make our flight, but the realization of a second flat tire on the car made me wonder if something worse was going to happen. Two flat tires was not a coincidence; I wasn't supposed to get on that plane. My friends tried to assure me that we would be safe as they called for a cab, but I couldn't shake the thoughts of all the things I still needed to say and do. The plane and I made it back to Salt Lake City, but not without a commitment on my part to try to mend situations in my life and to do so in the future without a catalyst. It was silly to be rude to the ex, and I need to tell my mother I love her more often. It shouldn't take thoughts of dying with unfinished business to push me toward doing that. It is spring, a time when everything starts anew. It is my hope that we all take note of this and set commitments to ourselves to start anew, as well. Whether your problem is as easy as making a phone call to say hello or as hard as fixing a broken friendship, I suggest you take care of it because none of us is invincible. letters@ chronicle.utah.edu LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Kirk was spot on and then some Editor: I am writing in response to Andrew Kirk's column ("Don't dread the big question," March 26). First off, I know how this feels. I think just about all students, not just humanities majors, get asked what they plan on doing with their degree. I, admittedly, am a psychology major who plans on doing absolutely nothing with the degree. When I get asked the "big question," I usually laugh and say, "I have a bachelor degree in something that interested me." Interesting it was; career path for yours truly it is not. The point is to further support Kirk's plea to "follow your passions." I would end that sentence by adding, "Don't let your degree be your path—let it be a tool to help you forge your own." My favorite example is the one that finally stopped my father from asking me the "big question." He got his Bachelor of Science in biology, did medical/surgeryrelated research and was going to go into medicine. Shortly thereafter, when he ended up in business school and got his Master of Business Administra- tion, the director of the business school said they preferred t mixed backgrounds. Plus, like I always say, what degree is more intimidating to put down in a conference room than a psychology degree? "I'll figure you out and crack you down, I swear it...Now, tell me about your mother." I just read Kirk's column and felt like it needed a follow-up of some sort on the issue of the "big question" as a whole. The answer should be, "Does it really matter?" Jake Miller Senior, Psychology MATT PATTON I love it. You can come out of class and realize it's a perfect day, call up a friend and tee off within a fiveminute time frame. Oh, and it costs a measly four bucks on weekdays for students. It has spectacular views and challenging greens, and it's perfect for all ages and skill levels. There aren't many courses where you can see a grandparent taking the time to instruct their grandchildren in how to play the game of golf. Nor are there many courses where a group of io-yearold boys can have a fun day of golf without an older person grumbling over their obnoxious play. Simply put, it's a rare course where the young and poor can get out and have a good time, and the pros and skilled can sharpen up their short game in less than a couple hours, and all at the price of a value meal. I can understand why it is important to expand such an important facility as Primary Children's, but there must be another location. I think the best solution would be for the hospital to build a large parking garage in the parking area beside the Huntsman Center that could be used for both the school and the hospital, and then they could take over the current parking areas to the south of the golf course. The hospital would then have additional parking, the school would have additional parking and Primary Children's could expand to somewhere other than the golf course. So there's one idea. I'm sure if the right people got together they could come up with a better plan to figure out how to expand the hospital while avoiding the destruction of the golf course than that of a Chronicle columnist. Groucho Marx once said, "I'm not feeling very well—I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course." Kind of ironic, isn't it, that if someone Were to ring the nearest golf course for Marx they may soon actually get a doctor. letters@ chronicle.utah.edu Don't feed the beast Try walking around campus T he worst idea that has Not to mention that obefloated around the U sity is being labeled as a this year is construct- national epidemic. ing a parking The Cenlot underters for neath PresiDisease ANDY dents' Circle Control and or the Park Prevention THOMPSON '< Building. reports that more than 32 Greg Geilpercent of mann, director of Kingsbury Hall, told Americans between the ages The Chronicle that the parkof 20 and 74 are obese. ing situation was "the No. 1 This number is at an allcomplaint" that he receives time high partly because of from patrons attending "perthe nation's reliance on the formances at Kingsbury Hall automobile. and David P. Gardner Hall. By appeasing these people The attendees are unhappy who can't walk three blocks about the long walk from the for a concert where they will Rice-Eccles Stadium parking sit for two-and-a-half hours, lot to the venues. They also the U is contributing to a do not like riding the shuttle national health crisis. that connects Rice-Eccles to Pedestrians have long Kingsbury and Gardner. been overlooked during Because of this, the U is the design of communities, studying the viability of a and the same will be true if visitor parking lot underthese parking structures are neath the U's oldest and approved. What's the next most esteemed areas, said step—putting a parking lot Norm Chambers, assistant outside each building on vice president of Auxiliary campus? Services. Besides placating the "The Kingsbury Hall advisloths that patronize Kingssory board has wanted more bury and Gardner Halls, a parking for years," he said. parking lot underneath PresiThere are already parking dents' Circle would diminish meters (which are free after the beauty of the area. 6 p.m.) lining Presidents' Though Chambers insisted Circle and a lot for the disthat the pristine landscape abled adjacent to Kingsbury. would not be compromised Is there really a need for for the project, the increased more parking? Hopefully, congestion and traffic to the those attending a perforarea will surely be an eyemance at the U are here in a sore for the most historic leisurely capacity—it's not spot on campus. 'like they have to rush for For pedestrians, the 600 court. additional vehicles that a I walked the long road Presidents' Circle lot would from Rice-Eccles to Kingsaccommodate would only bury—it took me about six mean more dodging drivers minutes, which is probably yapping on cell phones. quicker than waiting for the The U should take the $5 shuttle. million to $7 million that a There is also the visitors' new lot is estimated to cost lot next to the bookstore that and put it toward educational is about a-five-minute walk purposes. from the performance venGive it to the College of ues. Granted, I might be a bit Health and the College of more fit than some of those Architecture and Planning to attending performances at find ways to combat obesity the two halls, but maybe it's and to design beyond sprawl. because I don't mind a stroll, The U should then tell along one of the more pleasKingsbury Hall to tell its ant places in Salt Lake City. patrons to take a walk—they At the most, those attending might actually enjoy it. a performance at the U have letters@ to plan 20 minutes ahead. chronicle.utah.edu |