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Show Class Ads Get Read. Page 6 AggieLife Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 Living the Sharp life Professor brings foreign experience to USU H]Z hVnh! »9d Ndj I]^c` LZ She says, ‘Ah, Can I get Your Friend’s phone number? H]djaY HiVgi L^i] V EgVnZg4¼ She says, ‘Ah, Can I get Your Friend’s phone number? By JEN MILLET staff writer Submitted by 6h]aZn A^c[dgY 6h]aZn A^c[dgY Marianne Poulson "We and SellinTextbooks LookBuy for answers, this issue! Every Day" Smart Aggies always end up at .... Where your Textbooks are CHEAP & Your Lunch is FREE! “I came down the steps of the plane, tripped and fell on national television,” said professor Steve Sharp of his experience as a hostage escort in the Iran Contra Affair. “It was my 15 minutes of fame. I was on the front page of The New York Times, and I appeared on CNN just because I was attached to the story.” Sharp traveled all over the world, living in Saudi Arabia, Damascus and Syria as an intelligence officer for the Army. “At that time one of the methods of fighting involved kidnapping hostages,” he said. The actions that followed led to what is known as the Iran Contra Affair. In a complex series of trades, the United States supplied a group of Iranians with weapons in exchange for hostages in Lebanon. “The U.S. government claimed they would never deal with terrorists but they were selling firearms to Iran and soon there after the American hostages were released,” Sharp said. Sharp was chosen to escort the men to safe ground, but his moment of fame was short lived, the journey to such a responsibility was not. Growing up in a military home, Sharp graduated from high school in Germany and came to Utah to attend Brigham Young University. While he enjoyed his time down south Sharp said he was glad of his decision to transfer to USU. “I happily transferred to Utah State where I received an excellent educational experience,” he said He continued at USU to earn a master’s in political science. He began in the United States Information Agency where he worked with both foreign and domestic press and media exchanges. “We were the propaganda boys,” he said. “It was our job to reach out to the population so they could get to know the real America, not just what they see in movies.” Working with foreign services was an ideal opportunity for Sharp. “I had a passion for learning and instead of me paying a university to learn, they paid me to study Arabic while living abroad,” he said. Sharp’s job in foreign services led him to his role in the Iran Contra Affair, but the continuous movement became hard on his young children, who had to start over with each move. He and his wife eventually decided their family needed more stability and he has been at USU ever since, where he took a counselor job in the Financial Aid Center. “There wasn’t much of a demand for Arabic speakers,” Sharp said. He now works as director of the Financial Aid Department and teaches American government and comparative politics as an adjunct professor. “There is nothing better than seeing a student understand a new concept,” Sharp said of his teaching opportunities. “Comparative politics is a great class,” It’s a terrifically fun subject and I have a great class of bright and engaged students. We get students from all over campus in the polysci department, which gives us wide-ranging perspectives. Not many American’s have thought deeply about other politics.” Sharp said many Americans carry the “best in the world” view of international politics, thinking American ideas are superior. “My hope is that by the end of the class my students realize that kind of attitude doesn’t help us or the rest of the world,” he STEVE SHARP BEGAN in the United States Information Agency where he worked with both foreign and domestic press and media exchanges. TYLER LARSON photo said. “Teaching lies closer to the passions of my heart, there is a satisfaction in leading a talented group of people. Three-fourths of the students at Utah State come through our office.” Last year, Sharp said the office was able to award $90 million to students, mostly through federal grants. Sharp has been working hard to improve the accessibility and ease of working with his office since his introduction, and based on surveys his department conducts, it seems to be working. “In my opinion we’re the best Financial Aid Office in the state and maybe in the region or even the country,” he said. While Sharp said he admits applying for financial aid is still “a maddening process with stupid rules” because of its federal ties, his office works to help students “focus on school not financial aid” through personal phone calls and prompt e-mails. Sharp’s ambitious personality led him not only to success in his professional career but also carried over to his personal life. Sharp built his own house and he said he went through a temporary insanity. “USU doesn’t pay a luxurious salary and my wife wanted to live closer to her parents so building it myself was the only way to afford it,” he said. While Sharp acknowledged it was a good experience he admits he would never do it again, saying it took five years of his life. And though he had the help of his teenage sons as free labor he said it was an awful lot of manual labor. Similarly, in his professional life, Sharp’s unconventionality has led to trip ups and falls but as with the accomplishment of his home, it has all been worth it. – jen.millet@aggiemail.usu.edu Aggies around the world Eye-opening experiences in Japan The flight was some 12 hours long. I’d gotten to know the girl sitting next to me: She was returning to Japan from vacation. I was a contradiction of excitement and nervousness as the plane neared landing. I said to her, “I bet when we arrive, I’m going to pull something stupid and offend someone.” Later, I would be surprised to find my prophecy come true inside a train, as was the girl whom I seem to have sexually harassed. My rolling pack tipped over when I clumsily pulled out documents from my pack. Horrified, I found the handle of the pack on a female passenger’s buttocks. I quickly pulled it back but perhaps too quickly. When she turned around, the closest thing to her butt was my hand. My face grew hot with embarrassment. I thought she was somehow burning the word “Pervert” onto my forehead with the glare she gave me. Train groping is a considerable problem in Japan – there are individual carts designated to women and children during peak hours. It is in all my sadness to say that the first offense I committed in Japan was a pseudo-grope. After that I was picked up by my friend, with whom I would stay with until fall semester began at Kobe University. We took an hour-long bus ride to Sannomiya district, a transportation hub in Kobe. Immediately, I could feel the social atmosphere. Everyone seemed to move fast, like they all had some deadline to meet. To-be passengers would suddenly pick up their pace, or even start jogging at the sound of an arriving train. Yet, no one lacked common courtesy or politeness. It was like everyone understood each other’s need to be somewhere at some time and so stood on the right side of the escalator if they were to remain idle or quickly apologize, with just as quick a forgiving response from the other side, when causing someone an inconvenience. While we dragged our cumbersome luggage through the busy streets, yellow squares in the sidewalk irritated me, as they had lines of protrusions that made difficulty for navigating the heavy luggage. My friend later explained to me that those were lined throughout all the main streets as means of navigation for the blind. At crosswalks, some 20-30 people would face 20 -30 people on the other side, buzzing to cross. When the lights were just about to change, everyone shifted at once as if getting ready to sprint across. They didn’t sprint. But they did pour out into the road like a flashflood. I was suddenly reminded of scenes of wildebeests crossing rivers from the Discovery Channel. Busy streets eventually became distant as we walked into small neighborhoods, where normally only one car could pass, but that is not much a problem for the many compact cars in Japan. Hsin Wang is an English major with an emphasis in technical writing and is a part of the USU Study Abroad program. |