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Show 2007 W Th^Otah Statesman The Collect of Science Hpnoi> Top Smdcnt.s §i Faculty LAST CLASS From page 12 on them and most of those are the ones God probably wrote back when he was drunk in Leviticus. Fortunately there seem to be very few, if any, hate crimes committed against left-handed people and not enough legislation in Congress to condemn them. Either it's because they haven't thrown enough parades or Republicans haven't tapped this rich resource of hate yet. Either way, I fully support the development of a left-handed community if you think it is necessary - schools and businesses are already catering to your leftiness with left-handed desks, and what have you? What would I know, I am just some white right-handed dude. What I do know is what I have observed in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender history. Most gay people don't have a hard time finding ally friends these days, and wnile the percentage of hate crimes committed against them is once again on the rise, it's not some- thing they have to deal with to the extent that past generations have. Greater acceptance generally leads to less political motivation and community identity unfortunately. I suppose blaming open and proud homosexuals for violence and bigotry because they are open and proud would be akin to blaming a Mormon victim of a hate crime for the violence because he/she wore a CTR (Choose the Right) ring or was speaking about return missionaries, Moroni, Hinckley or Kolob. A final disclaimer: None of my comments were designed to minimize left-handed people or Mormons for that matter. If something looks like it was made in jest, it probably was. You probably have moments of inconvenience and have read a column written by some jerk who said that God doesn't love you. Frustrating huh? Welcome to the club. Just understand and recognize the difference between living in a predominantly hetero- A place to mourn for generation MySpace gone. A profile is a snapshot that people leave online, a look at what they love and hate and are bored by or find funny at one particular moment. Profiles, on MySpace anyway, can stay up indefinitely unless a family member requests removal. A profile is a good single spot on the Net for people to return to time and again for comfort. I started my Web site after reading an article about two teenage sisters who were killed by their father. I found MySpace pages for the girls and read the heartbreaking postings by their friends. I wondered now many more MySpace users had died ^nftgen young. After reading of a few even more local deaths, I started to Other Voices before notice that the majority of the major news organizations deaths were the result of autoreported official victim informa- mobile accidents and drunktion. driving. I founded my site with Since December 2005, the hope that it could be an when I started this site, which eye-opening experience for links to MySpace profiles of the teenagers and might save a few recently deceased, I've come lives. to see firsthand how online Based on the number of visimourning is crucial for grieving tors we get per day - between young people. At Virginia Tech, 15,000 and 20,000 unique the magnitude of the tragedy is visitors and more than 200,000 different from the nearly every- page views - other people day calamities my Web site are also interested in seeing registers of young people killed MySpace pages that function as by drunk drivers, involved in obituaries. gang violence or taking their We have our critics, peoown lives. But the links to flash- ple who e-mail to say that animated, multicolored interac- what we're doing is mortive memorials serve the same bid or exploitative. We also important purpose for friends receive many notes of support. and relatives. Commenting on Relatives who have lost loved a deceased friend's MySpace ones write to say how comprofile is a lot like group ther- ments from complete strangers apy. Friends of the deceased helped in the grieving process. can find some sort of comfort And those who haven't been in reading thoughtful messages directly affected by loss write as from others who are equally well. One mother of three teenupset. agers told me she had found I've thought a lot about the her way to MyDeathSpace and easeofgrievingonlineaslspend was floored by the number of time coding links to the profiles teens killed in tragic, preventof the recently deceased - often able automobile accidents. She people who are younger than said that she sat her three teens I am at 26. If my friend were down in front of the family to die in another country or computer and made them click another state and I were unable through numerous pages conto attend that friend's funeral, taining deaths of teens the exact I would find some measure of same age as her own. She said comfort in visiting their online something along the lines of, profile. Many young people ^Look how precious life is" and seem to feel this way too. I've made them promise always to read again and again when vis- wear their seat belts and never iting the profile of a deceased drink and drive. friend, it is as if that friend's I no longer look up names of presence can still be felt. His the deceased on MySpace. Just favorite song is still playing on as was the case last week after the profile and his blog is still the tragedy at Virginia Tech, all there, the inside jokes or every- deaths we link to are submitday ramblings easy to access. ted to the site - by strangers, Visiting a cemetery, to me, friends, acquaintances or even would have the opposite effect. family members. It's become Touching a cold gravestone and an automatic reflex for some to reading the etched letters of a mourn the person they've lost close friend's name seems dis- by connecting with the profile tant, painful and final. Visiting a they left behind. deceased friend's online profile, Michael Patterson is the you might laugh when clicking founder of MyDeathSpace. on photographs, and it might com. not feel as if your friend is truly Fall 2006 Valedicronan-Cnrli C. Potter—Mathematics &. Statistics Spring 2007 Valedictorian—Melody R, Anderson—Biology Scholar oT the Year—Elizabeth A. Lund—Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate' Student Researcher of the Year—Jan Marie Andersen—Physics Graduate Srudent Researcher PhD—Justin E. Heavilin— Mathematics & Statistics Graduate Student Teacher of the Year—Matthew Bailey—Physics College of Science Undergraduate Research Mentor ot the Year—Joseph Li—Biolo;^1 College of Science Researcher of' the Year—Piotr Kokoszka—Mathematics &. Statistics College of Science Teacher of the Year—Lance Scticldt—Chemistry ex Biochemistry College of Science Advisor ol the Year —Scott Ensign—Chemistry ex Biochemistry OKL=Y patagonld I . i r ' . i My parents' generation grieved in graveyards. People my age mourn online. Less than 24 hours after the Virginia Tech shootings, as people used our "submit a death" link to send more victim names to my Web site, MyDeathSpace. com, our server crashed. We had just updated to a host that was supposed to be able to handle a much larger daily traffic load, but even that wasn't capable of containing the surge, which at one point hit 50,000 visitors. We had a dozen of the victim profiles the night of the shoot- Bid on this $779 bike at www.tticsportsmanltd.ccHn Btt<e , auction Camelbak Charm Reg, $40.00 See w«b*lte for details, You could buy this bike for *399! Now •19.99 Camelbak Slipstream Raleigh Mojave 2.0 • Great for kids or smaller riders • Q1 Speed Trigger Shlftef • Aluminum frame Nat'lView FRIDAY NIGHT ACTIVITY Awards Program *SL Reception April 25, 2007 3:30- 5:30 pm Eccles Con Terence Cenrer Auditorium, ECC 216 Reception following in ECC 205-207 sexual or right-handed world that assumes certain things about your handedness or sexual orientation (until they are informed otherwise) and being discriminated against. Political correctness, like anything else, when taken to its radical extreme, becomes ridiculous. I won't get in a huff if you ask about my girlfriend if you promise you won't be offended if I reach for your right instead of left hand when we meet, Agreed? My work here is done. Have a good summer - class dismissed. Matthew Blackham is a junior majoring in sociology. Comments can be sent to matblackham@cc.usu.edu. (A Reg. $50.00 Now •24.99 Reg. $250 $ Now 179 • V 2 • Merit 4 Udles frames m* • full Shlmano drive train 5/^1 • Double wait rims Camelbak Clouclwalker Simple Reg. $60.00 Reg. $350 r Now *2 Haro V4 • Shlmano LX 27 spd drive train • Tektro disc brake • ftockshox J1 Fork Now •29.99 Men's Gunnison Reg. $95 Now »59.99 Reg. $580 Now $399 WomensJ-41 Hanna Reg. $89.95 Women's Amsterdam Reg. $85 Now '49.99 Now •39.99 Womens J-41 Sideline Reg. $85 Women's Madison Clog Reg. $85 Now »49.99 lW SOUTH MAIM.UKMN, U'Att H4.UI 141tr<iMU1T FAX M 3 5 ? J i O H J Now •39.99 129 N. 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