The Student Review Vol 1 Issue 2

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2 MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

STUDENT

#2 An independent newsmagazine for student thought

2 Student Review

Staff EDITORIAL TEAM Craig Mangum Hunter Schwarz

COPY TEAM Kami Coppins Hunter Phillips

SECTION EDITORS Isaac Bourgeois Derrick Clements Brandon Hurst Andrew Livingston Eden Wen

WEB EDITORS Jordyn Canady Derrick Lytle Alexandra Sandvick

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Erik McCarthy

ART DIRECTOR Nick Smith

PHOTO DIRECTOR Sarah Kay Brimhall

CONTRIBUTORS Joseph Trevor Antley Dylan Chadwick Victoria Fox Sarah Gambles Stephanie Grimes Megan Hollman Justin Hyatt MacKenzie Mayo Erik McCarthy Christopher Michaels Fabiola Ruiz Sarah Smith Jon Uland

PHOTOGRAPHERS Michele Doying Heather Hackney Sean McGrath Spencer Ruiz Annelise White Special thanks to Erika Nash

The Student Review is an independent publication serving BYU’s campus community. By providing an open forum, all students are equally eligible to submit articles to the Student Review. Articles should examine life at BYU, sometimes humorously, sometimes critically, but always sensitively. Opinions expressed in the Student Review are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of BYU, the Student Review or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Letter from the editors

Letters to the editor, cont’d.

Dear Reader, We’re back. Surprised? So are we. More surprising is that we could all attend our classes this month and no one fell ill due to lack of sleep. We thank you readers for that. You read the Student Review and responded to the call to contribute your time and talents to the cause.

We are grateful for those of you who wrote articles to be published and for all of you who were willing take on a greater role as section editors or web editors. We’re grateful to all who wanted experience starting a business and joined the business team. We’re thankful to the graphic designers, the photographers and the web designers. This truly is a student publication.

This is why we once again want to invite anyone who wants to get involved, to do so. We want nothing more for the Student Review to accurately reflect the student body but we can only do so as far as people contribute.

Please join our Facebook group “The Student Review.” There you will find information about weekly meetings and other opportunities to get involved.

Regarding last month’s issue, some students responded that we were not controversial enough for their tastes. We especially enjoyed the annoyance of one who related in his blog that we were like the guys who wear colored shirts to Church and think we’re edgy.

Yet other students, administrators, professors and parents responded by praising us for not being overly controversial.

The reactions of these two groups were near-perfect opposites.

Our response is this: We publish what you (the students) write. Feel like the Student Review isn’t reflecting your views? Then write about them! From the young and the old, the liberal and the conservative, we welcome it all. We compile each issue from your submissions with the sincere hope that we represent the wide diversity of opinions at BYU. Some issues will do it better than others but rest assured that we enter this project with no agenda other than featuring your viewpoints.

Now with this said, enjoy issue two of the Student Review.

Sincerely,

Mocking BYU operators is uncalled for

Craig Mangum Hunter Schwarz

Readers response:

Letters to the editor Note: Student Review welcomes letters to the editor. E-mail all submissions to thestudentreview2@gmail.com Please include the topic of the letter in the subject line of the e-mail. We recommend letters not exceed 300 words. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and style.

Is BYU going less-active?

As I bit into my bourgeois hot dog at the Hunger Banquet last year, I looked down at the ‘poor’ sitting on the floor and noticed that there were hundreds of empty seats.

I wondered if perhaps a large portion of world poverty had been resolved or else ended in starvation. Perhaps it is just because the hunger banquet was relegated to the Smith Fieldhouse or that student interest had waned. The year before, the banquet was sold out for two nights. Recently, I have been worried by the lack of involvement of BYU students.

With the new restrictions on chartering clubs on campus, nearly every activist club failed to reorganize last year. BYU Recycling disappeared. The vegetarian club died. EcoResponse floundered. Parity got shut down. The Student Provo

City Alliance fizzled. There is a natural turn-over in campus clubs, but it seems that we have come to the end of an era.

Graduation and careers have claimed the activists who ran the campus Soap Box, campaigned for plastic recycling, created call centers to promote Prop 8, negotiated for a rewording of the Honor Code to accept same-sex attracted students, fought to save the Women’s Research Institute and saved street parking south of campus.

It is up to us, the next generation, to step up and get involved in making our world a better place.

The mantra ‘Enter to Learn; Go Forth to Serve’ does not imply that service comes only after we graduate. We need to continually seek to improve the world around us. Christ said: “Verily I say, men should

be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.” We cannot just strive through college turning in our assignments and fulfilling our callings; we must proactively seek to support good causes. The Lord goes on, “He that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.” That sounds like a pretty big deal.

By engaging in good causes, we join the rich tradition of activism that built our history. Activists wrote the Declaration of Independence and threw tea into Boston harbor. Joseph Smith ran for president on a revolutionary platform. Utah was one of the first two states to give women the right to vote. Heber J. Grant and Joseph Fielding Smith were vegetarians. As Latter-day Saints, we must lead the world in righteousness and goodness. We cannot coast in cautious complacency.

You can make a difference in the world this semester! Find a cause that you are interested in and join the club that supports it. If you need to, start your own club. And let’s sell out the hunger banquet this year.

Writer’s note: I submitted this letter to the Daily Universe, but was informed that this year, students may not write Viewpoint

articles unless they are Editors of The Daily Universe. I was also told that if I wanted to send it to the readers forum I would have to cut my article down to 250 words. After some major pruning, I sent in a much shorter version. The reply I received said that my letter would not be published; they had checked my facts and “found most of them incorrect.” As I had personally researched the information, I went in to learn more about it. After discussing each part of my short piece with me, a member of the editorial staff admitted that my statements were not false, but because I didn’t explain the details of the demise of each club I mentioned, I might lead readers to believe that BYUSA had unjustly ended them. I pointed out that my letter didn’t even mention BYUSA. I agreed that everyone should know exactly why each of these clubs disbanded, but also reminded her that I had cut off half of an already concise letter to fit within the word limit. She said that I was welcome to rewrite the letter but that she could not guarantee that it would ever be published. Fortunately we have freedom of the press, and fortunately most newspapers will print opinion articles.

—Justin J. Hyatt

I was incredibly pleased to find out a few days ago that the Student Review was about to make a comeback on BYU campus. I am firmly of the opinion that the Daily Universe’s exclusionary methods are not enough for this campus, and there is much more material that needs to be written about BYU and Provo.

However, when I opened the paper and read Jeffrey Stott’s article on Mens’ Services, I realized that the conversation he transcribes was actually a conversation he had with one of my best friends, a BYU operator. All the excitement I had reading this paper immediately died upon reading Mr. Stott’s commentary on what he apparently thought was an amusing conversation with an untrained, naive girl.

The problem was not with my friend, who was simply doing what she does everyday, which is get paid to answer the questions of morons who think it’s funny to mock BYU operators. The problem is with Mr. Stott who finds it amusing to mock people—real people doing the best they can with the information they’ve been given—in a public forum. This behavior is uncalled for and inexcusable, particularly when he is mocking people who would have been inclined to agree with him if they were not in a professional situation. My friend’s comments about empowerment were actually an attempt to communicate in a professional way that feminism is a topic entirely lacking at BYU and women’s services is a meager attempt to take care of women who are undeniably neglected in both this culture and this religion.

If the Student Review is going to assume a tone of mocking anyone who is simply doing their best to do their job, there is no way I or any of my friends will continue reading what I had hoped would be a quality paper with quality articles.

In conclusion, feel free to go to hell.

My entire group of friends—liberals all, unsatisfied with the Daily Universe and excited to read about different, important issues—will not be supporting you, reading you, or recommending you. I’m sorry that I’m so insane with anger, but seriously, if your paper is going to be so lacking in material to the point of resorting to mocking other students for the sake of entertainment, you’re all the biggest jacka**** I’ve ever met; I’ve lived in Provo my whole life, so I feel that this is saying something.

—Kylie McQuarrie

Student Review will fail To the editor(s): Listen. I like clandestine student papers as much as the next kid, but as deep as my love runs for things like the Student Review, I think it will fail.

Most college campuses are pretty transient, but BYU is unique. Students might stay in Provo for more than the conventional four years, but the general community is always changing. First, your freshman dorm besties are torn apart by missions; then slowly you loose your roommates to marriage or (if you are a 21-year-old-ish girl), more missions.

And these people, constantly moving in and out of the BYU community, are so involved with budgeting, dating, reading scriptures and trying to pass Econ 110, that apathy teems on campus like the common cold. Despite our motto about the World that we Learn to Serve (or

whatever), in general, BYU students don’t care about things beyond our own circle of friends.

Can an independent voice survive in a climate where nothing interesting is being said? Yes, Provo has a thriving little music scene, art scene, some cool hangouts (read: Sammy’s, J-Dawgs, Awful Waffle), but so what? Beyond advertising their existence, the Daily Universe and now the Student Review are so scared of offending anyone—some of the bands suck! sometimes Sammy’s takes an hour to give me my burger!—that we never say anything at all.

If the Student Review wants to be an independent voice, it needs to have something to say. And if we, the students of BYU have nothing to say that’s interesting, thought-provoking, maybe a little edgy and controversial, then maybe we should all just go back to reading the Daily Universe just for the Police Beat.

—Lyse Cook, Junior from Portland, Oregon.

Tweet, tweet: What people said about the SR Skyler Thiot (@skylerthiot) tweets: “@YStudentReview is back at BYU, and after one issue, the total number of articles that the Daily Universe would never run: 4. #WellPlayed” Jessica Hernandez (@jessicabyu) tweets: “@YStudentReview Loved the first issue. Keep ‘em coming!

Dillon Fallon (@Dilfal) tweets: “@YStudentReview thanks for opening my eyes about mens services” McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) tweets: “Thrilled to hear about the launch of the revamped @YStudentReview. Even from 3k miles away I can hear the dying gasps of Provo censorship!”

Laura Schmitz (@lauraaschmitz) tweets: “Sincerely happy for the Cougars behind the @YStudentReview.

Independence is a beautiful thing. #BYU #UofU” Andrew Wilson (@awilson525) tweets: “@YStudentReview has a new fan...that would be me. #converted” Joshua Dunn (@cineshua) tweets: “@YStudentReview issue 1 was informative, thoughtful, and intelligent. Thank you.”

Laurie (@lbizz) tweets: “Why is that at BYU I hear about Tall Club and only when I read @YStudentReview I find out about 5 clubs that are changing the world?”

4 Student Review

STUDENT LIFE

The hopeless bromantics

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Relationship Q&A

with Joseph Trevor Antley

I’m having a hard time accepting being “just friends” with someone. How can I get rid of my feelings towards that person and ultimately move on? – Sabrina

photo by michele doying

by jordyn canady

For college students in Provo, dating is an almost universal source of stress. Although there are a handful of people who appear to be naturally good at it and actually enjoy dating, the majority of us view the art of courtship as a major struggle. If you are one of the masses who harbors a lot of resentment towards dating, you have probably been repeatedly told to keep getting back on the proverbial horse, to keep playing the proverbial game, that there are plenty of proverbial fish in that vast proverbial sea. You could listen to them, or you could leave the proverbs to the Bible, give up on the whole thing and become part of the sensation that is sweeping Utah County: bromance. Note: this only applies to males. We females already have the girl-equivalents of bromances with whom to commiserate.

How to Be in a Bromance 1. Find bros who are about your equals in hotness. You each need to possess traits that will universally attract every girl in your class and/or ward whether they like it or not. Your bromance is also allowed one funny fat guy for irony, a la Zach Galifianakis.

2. Go shopping (together) at J. Crew and Banana Republic and get matching, tightlyfitted suits and power ties.

3. Never go anywhere alone. If you always have at least one other bro from your

bromance with you at all times, you will never have to talk to any outsiders and risk making a connection with someone who is different from you. If you do end up in a group social situation, stand with your bromance in a tight circle so no one comes to talk to you. Hot girls will approach; you aren’t allowed to remember anything they tell you about themselves or give them your phone numbers, but you are allowed to speak condescendingly to them and receive their numbers when offered to you (as long as you have no intentions of actually contacting them).

4. P.D.A.! This is a major component of an effective bromance. You need to constantly touch each other. And not just arms around each other—get creative! Massages and butt slaps are just some of the ways you can effectively alienate everyone around you. They’ll get the message and know they’re not welcome.

5. Mercilessly tease and/or guilt trip your bromance buddies who get girlfriends. Make them feel stupid until they second guess their desires to date and just come home to chillax and watch “Jersey Shore” with you instead.

There you have it: hot friends, nice suits, constant companionship, hetero-P.D.A., and no dating. Congratulations! The only step left is get to it and start implementing.

Your ex-girlfriend would be so jealous. ▬

Hi Sabrina.

Here’s fact of life number one: feelings don’t go away unless you have something to replace them with. Like rebounds. That’s why rebounds are a good idea and an effective way to get over someone. Here’s fact of life number two: You can’t be just friends with people that you want. It sucks that sometimes people don’t fall in love with you despite whatever awesome qualities you may have (but if you don’t actually have very many awesome qualities— I mean, I obviously don’t know you—then it might actually make more sense). But hey, there’s nothing you can do about that.

Now, knowing those two facts of life, here are your options: you can do nothing and live a miserable existence or you can find a good rebound and completely cut yourself off from the jerk who didn’t welcome your advances. You won’t be happy so long as you’re trying to be “just friends” with this guy. Life just doesn’t work that way. You need to get away from him and everything that reminds you of him. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off.

For best results you will probably need to start advertising for this, so consider posting that you’re looking for a good rebound on Facebook, or maybe put it up on Craigslist. If all else fails, shoot us another message. I’m a pretty good matchmaker.

Don’t want a rebound? Your lot is going to be a bit harder. In this case, you’ll need to find another emotional substitute. Some people start dedicating their lives to school or work. Others decide to create a World of Warcraft account. Maybe you could get a dog. Or a fish. Or a plant. A plant will never reject you. And make sure to give the plant a name, preferably something clever like ‘Lily.’ ▬

Become a Student Review Ad Sales Rep! Student Review is currently looking for students to work as PAID Sales Representatives who would be interested in joining our sales team and selling advertising spaces to businesses.

If you are interested, please e-mail us at thestudentreview2@gmail.com

Cut your hair or stay off camera female broadcast journalism students must meet hair length requirements to anchor. photo by hunter schwarz

For a female BYU student, a $169.00 wig is not a normal purchase. But for Brooke Martin, a student studying broadcast journalism, it was a necessary buy. If she hadn’t come up with the funds for that wig, she would be forced to cut her hair in order to gain the experience she needs as an anchor.

“My hair is to my elbows. Since I’m not getting paid, there is no way that I’m going to cut my hair,” she said.

Each student anchor in the newsroom must sign a statement about their hairstyle.

“Hairstyle should appear professional and not extreme,” the statement read.

“The newsroom lab director will make the final determination as to appropriate oncamera standards.”

The newsroom lab director, Chad Curtis, is enforcing this policy by not letting female broadcasting students anchor on camera unless their hair is no longer than 2 inches past their shoulders. That statement also applies to males. Curtis may suggest that the male students should grow some fullness in their hair.

Martin is not the only one who is using a wig as an alternative to cutting her hair.

Christie Richmond has also been searching for a wig in order to avoid a drastic new haircut. Many of the girls in the major are finding ways around the policy including extensions or pinning their hair up. Lizzy

Early, a broadcasting student, has resorted to pinning up her long curly hair so she can continue reporting.

“I know what my hair looks like short and it doesn’t look professional,” she said.

Elissa Urban argues that she sees reporters on TV that have long hair.

“It conflicts with what we see on TV. We see women on CNN with long hair,” she said. “I cut my hair, but not for the newsroom. I’m hoping people don’t think that I ‘gave in.’”

These girls are not the only ones who disagree with the hair rule.

“I personally do not agree with this policy,” said Robert Walz, a broadcast journalism professor. “In my opinion, it is not the industry standard. All you have to do is turn on the television set. Women have all kinds of different hairstyles.”

Walz, who has over 25 years of experience in the field including working at KSL and ABC 4 News, said he has not noticed a hair standard for about 10 or 15 years.

“I don’t believe that the length of your hair has anything to do with journalism,” he said.

Many female students are frustrated with the rule and are concerned it may

actually limit their future opportunities. A recent graduate from the broadcast journalism program cut her hair while she was at BYU and now works at a news station in El Paso, Texas, where her boss does not want her to have short hair.

“When I got to my station, they suggested to me to grow it out a little longer,” she said. “Every station has its own opinion as to what anchors should look like.”

After hearing this, many of the students are worried about their future careers.

“When Brother Curtis makes us cut our hair now, I think it can potentially ruin opportunities for us later,” one student said.

Curtis emphasized that anchoring is completely voluntary and does not affect a student’s grades.

“If a student chooses not to appear on air, it wouldn’t affect their grade, but it would affect the level of their experience,” Curtis said.

Emotions run high because of this rule and it seems to be creating some drama in the studio.

“I have had dozens of girls crying in my office because of this,” Walz said. “I don’t think some people understand how emotional this is for them. At that age, your hair

is your self-worth, your value,” Walz said.

Everyone interviewed mentioned how great the BYU broadcasting program was and they understand that it give them many amazing opportunities, however, there is a lot of disagreement over the reasoning behind the short hair rule.

Martin laughed when she talked about her expensive wig.

“Thewig even had to get a haircut because it was too long!” she said. ▬ meaganhollman@gmail.com

6 Student Review

Reclaiming feminism

Viewpoint Exploring the Mitch Mayne controversy

by jennifer duqué

The last time I Googled “Mitch Mayne,” the first qualifier my search engine suggested was “hoax” “LDS” and “bishopric” were next in line. Mayne isn’t the first openly gay man to serve as an LDS congregational leader, but he has been the most publically vocal. He announced his orientation over the pulpit. He wrote about his new calling on his blog, mitchmayne.blogspot.com. Since then he’s been deluged with interviewers, from Utah-based gay activist Eric Ethington to CNN. And yet, as evinced by Google, comments on assorted blogs, and a few bemused backlashes after I posted a link on Facebook to Mayne’s blog, many people seem to think that a gay man in a Mormon leadership position is incongruous at best, a hoax at worst. “I don’t get how this is possible,” one of my friends put it bluntly. Given the history of the Church’s stance on homosexuality, perhaps their perplexity is reasonable. It’s precisely because of this history, though, that Mayne’s story should be celebrated and circulated.

On August 14, 2011, Mayne was sustained as the executive secretary in a San Francisco ward – because, not despite, of his orientation. His new bishop, Don Fletcher told the Salt Lake Tribune, “I want to reach out to gays and let them know that they are welcome in the ward, wherever they're at. If they are, like Mitch, living the commandments, they'll be put to work." And lest you think this inclusiveness is rare, Mayne’s former Oakland stake is well known for its concern for gay members. After Prop 8, its stake presidency gave presentations to every ward about how to better love and understands their gay brothers and sisters. In his new ward, which includes the Castro District and Haight-Ashbury, Mayne hopes to continue reaching out to the local Mormon homosexual community.

“I believe every single one of us is equal

in the eyes of our Savior,” he said in his interview with Eric Ethington, “regardless of orientation, ethnicity, gender—or any other marker we use as humans to define differences between ourselves and others.”

The LDS church’s heavy involvement with Prop 8 has caused many Mormons, homosexual and otherwise, to feel unwelcome in their own religious communities. For many, Mayne represents a sort of syncretization: open about his orientation, but a devoted member of the Church. Even when he was in a committed relationship, he wrote on his blog that he still went to church and maintained a calling. And he accepts himself for who he is—no tortured aspirations to pray the gay away.

“I don’t want to be labeled as ‘afflicted’ or ‘suffering’ or ‘struggling,’” he said, this time in an interview with a blogger at Modern Mormon Men, “I do not have an illness that requires my soul be mended.

I want to be recognized, like you, as a whole person, just as my Heavenly Father made me.”

It’s been interesting watching the blogosphere explode over this particular Mormon moment. Although some, notably Religion Dispatch’s Joanna Brooks, laud Mayne’s story as a reconciliatory step forward, there are vehement naysayers.

GetReligion blogger Terry Mattingly attacks the notion that the Church’s stance on homosexuality has changed at all, asking for “the crucial names and titles that make these claims matter.” Even in the LDS Newsroom Blog, Lyman Kirkland echoes Mattingly’s “says who?” demands.

But unfortunately for these two bloggers, ignorance is not a compelling argument. There has indeed been change, at least rhetorically. Call it revelation, call it savvy PR, call it incremental, but the change is anything but negligible, and far from nonexistent.

Contrast, for instance, the pamphlets Hope for Transgressors (1970) and New Horizons for Homosexuals (1971), with the pamphlet God Loveth His Children (2007). All were published by the LDS Church, and were/are read as inspired guidelines. The former two were quoted on the prominent blog Times and Seasons in a post entitled, "Evolving LDS views on homosexuality." They characterize homosexuality as a disease (albeit a curable one), recommend “therapy” programs (like Evergreen or hetero marriage), and deny that homosexuality has biological

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components. The latter stresses that orientation, as something neither learned nor chosen, should not induce guilt. It emphasizes God’s love, stating, "attractions alone do not make you unworthy."

Or take the Church Handbook of Instructions, which was quoted on the blog, Doves and Serpents. The 2006 edition says that simply having gay thoughts or feelings mandates repentance. The 2010 edition states that gay feelings are fine – as long as they’re not acted upon.

And unlike the 2006 edition, it explicitly states that gays can receive callings and hold temple recommends.

I realize that this deplorably brief survey represents a cultural shift, not a doctrinal shift. True, LDS Church leaders nowadays are less likely to say homosexuality is a contagion caused by bad parenting, masturbation, and rock ’n’ roll. But this rhetoric has merely been replaced with “love the gay, hate the gayness,” meaning that homosexual relationships are still verboten. For many members,

this change is either unperceived or inclusive enough. For others, more change in the culture would be welcome.

But for the sake of my still-Mormon gay friends, I’m glad that authoritative discourse is at least shifting its weight away from outright condemnation and towards a more compassionate median.

I’m glad for Mitch Mayne, and believe he’ll continue to facilitate this cultural shift. We definitely need it. In a letter to Mayne, a 14-year-old LDS boy wrote, “your story has enlightened me with the fact that me having these attractions is not the end of the world. You are a hero in my eyes. Thank you so much for telling your story.” Thank goodness this boy has resources other than Hope for Transgressors, and thank goodness Mayne’s story is not, in fact, a hoax.

All viewpoint articles represent the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of Student Review or its editorial board. Have a response to this article? Please consider writ-

The “faux-po” beat We all love the Police Beat. Here are some other Provo “crimes” that “happened” “often” at “BYU.” (Those “quotes” are on purpose).

Federal agents raided the BYU bookstore after finding out that its management was overpricing textbooks in order to purchase more cocaine-laced chocolate-covered cinnamon bears.

A worried Provo citizen called police about what she believed was severe domestic violence occurring at her neighbors. It turns out her neighbors were only watching Jersey Shore.

Police officers arrested a couple for watching Jersey Shore.

A “street walker” was reported as making her rounds on the corner of Ninth and Ninth across from the Creamery. Police officers investigated only to find out that it was a UVU student on an evening jog.

A hate note was found within the BYU YSA 32nd ward’s “Nice Note” Jar. It was properly disposed of.

A married man accidentally wandered into the church services of a singles ward. BYU security was called in to remove him; however, he voluntarily left the moment he realized what happened.

A student was removed from the JFSB after English Department officials overheard him use the word “literally” when referring to a hyperbole.

by victoria fox

Women, do you understand that you’re being attacked?

The expectations of how a woman should act are rooted in our culture, stifling in ways we don’t realize until we break those expectations. We have defined womanhood, particularly women’s sexuality, with a cartoonish narrowness. To be a powerful woman is impossible in such a climate, so the first step to change is to step away, to do something unexpected.

If an attacker were to put a gun to your side on a crowded bus, trying to make you get off with him, and you fell to the floor and faked a seizure, what options does he have? He expects you to follow his threat quietly, but your break from the expected attracts unwanted attention.

Ladies, the best way to defend yourself is to be a freak. Of course you should kick, knee, bite and slap whoever is trying to hurt you, but do so with the understanding that a woman is unlikely to out-strike an attacker once the confrontation gets physical. Surprisingly, the best self-defense is verbal.

Despite the leaps and bounds achieved by our feminist foremothers, we still live in a society where women are expected to be hot 24/7, where being called a “girl” is derogatory, where our daughters are complimented on their cuteness and curls instead of their bravery and brains, where princesses and fairy tales tell them that they should want to be the “fairest of them all,” where magazines and billboards then

photo by sean mcgrath

tell them how to achieve it through clothing, hair and surgical mutilation of their bodies. Female Olympic athletes, women who worked and sacrificed to achieve the highest level of athletic excellence in their field, pose nude in Playboy. Yearly breast enhancement procedures increased from 32,607 in 1992 to 264,041 in 2004. Pole dancing exercise classes have become all the rage in America’s major cities.

In “American Electra: Feminism’s ritual matricide,” Susan Faludi wrote “The women’s movement cycled through a long first ‘wave’, and, in increasingly shorter oscillations, a second and third wave, and some say we are now witnessing a fourth. With each go-round, women make gains, but the movement never seems able to establish an enduring birthright, a secure line of descent—to reproduce itself as a strong and sturdy force. At the core of America’s most fruitful political movement resides a perpetual barrenness.”

Sure, our foremothers of the 1960s and ‘70s didn’t agree on every issue, but for a time, there was a general feeling of unity among women’s rights activists. And that unity was powerful. The FDA approved the birth control pill in 1960. In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act. That same year, Betty Freidan published The Feminine

Mystique. The National Organization for Women was founded in 1966. In 1972 the Supreme Court extended birth control rights to married couples and both houses of Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1976 Nebraska became the first state to criminalize marital rape.

What happened? What does feminism mean anymore? Hugh Hefner calls himself a feminist. Hugh Hefner! Faludi reported women’s rights activists of our generation using the term “Lady Gaga feminism.”

It seems we’ve forgotten that the feminist movement was once revolutionary, something “momentous and unwieldy: nothing less than the overthrow of patriarchy, which had to start in the minds and bedrooms of Americans as well as the workplace—change from the inside out,” according to Ariel Levy in Female Chauvinist Pigs.

Many women of our generation, perhaps in response to the bureaucracy, stubbornness and red tape inherent in activism and legislative change, have decided “if we can’t beat them, join them.” We’ve accepted

porn stars and strippers as models of sexual liberation and praised pornography as free expression of women’s sexuality.

We’ve given in, backed down, rolled over and let patriarchy continue to define not only our work relationships, but our most intimate personal relationships as well.

It’s time for us to fight again. It’s time for women to get freaky, to be loud and crazy, radical and assertive. To call attention to a society that has attacked and continues to attack women.

In a society where we can’t be feminine and powerful, we need to redefine power, to take back our identities as women—professionally, politically, sexually.

Sure, it’s an uncomfortable tactic, but I trust you. I trust you to embrace your inner freak and let loose when it matters most.

Article adapted from a blog post at womanstats.org ▬

8 Student Review

9

President Samuelson released from calling— now what?

Cycling

photo courtesy of eustress

Trend or tradition? photos by heather hackney

Unlike that one band that used to be obscure but is now profaned by being on the radio, hipsters are not the first people to think bikes are cool. Despite what many people in V-necks and cropped jeans might try to tell you, the bicycle did not spring up into existence as their beloved track bikes.

These track, or fixed gear, bicycles, have no freewheel, meaning that you cannot coast and the only brake you have is a backpedal.

Although this switch from increasingly sophisticated bikes might seem like swapping your Facebook for a Myspace, to others, it is the only true way to don two wheels.

As impractical as it might seem, the road to what we now know as the bicycle is littered with many impractical contraptions that, despite their popularity with the socially elite, were downright illogical.

Throughout the last two hundred years, there have been champions of the bicycle’s coolness no matter how nonfunctional it was. For example, the most primitive of bicycles, the Laufmachine, was developed in Germany in 1818. Also called the dandy horse, the Laufmachine was just a bike without pedals, and generally made its riders look like something between a circus performer and Fred Flinstone. Despite this,

the dandy horse enjoyed a whole summer in the limelight as the vogue in recreation.

Even though this crotch-crutch with wheels wasn’t an enduring fashion, the bicycle soon resurfaced in the 1880s as the Penny-farthing. This model catapulted the bicycle into the recreation of choice for the culturally adept of both Europe and the Free World.

The New York Times was quick to cover the popularity of the bicycle with its headline: “The English Aristocracy Is Fond of Cycling, and Women of Rank Ride—Prince of Wales Set the Fashion.”

Despite the danger of face-planting from heights as tall as 6 feet, people of the nineteenth century were still dying to get their hands on one of these dangerous fashion trends.

The enthusiasm for bicycles was so great that the 1890s was given the title of “The Golden Age of Bicycles,” and a section of the New York Times was called “Gossip of the Cyclers.” Ernest Hemingway even praised cycling by saying, “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,” which is perhaps why present day hipsters feel the need to quote Hemingway on their Tumblrs.

Then, the most uncool thing happened to the bicycle: they made it practical. Thanks to J.K. Starley, the bike now had a chain and pedals that would propel the front wheel without being connected directly to the

wheel’s rotation. The “safety bicycle” allowed riders to get from place to place in the quickest and most unadventurous way.

Gone were the days that socialites would get together and talk about the best routes or the newest tweed cycling jackets, because, much like In-N-Out coming to Utah, it just wasn’t the same any more.

So the bicycle stayed in the arsenal for those who were boring and practical, like parents and teachers, or those who were deeply committed to the craft; for the most part, it remained an activity confined to the cul-de-sac.

Then something magical happened: the hipsters found a way to make it impractical again. Now that the fixed gear bikes have resurfaced, hipsters have a reason to separate themselves from those people that pedal their mountain bikes with functional New Balance shoes.

With their “authentic fixie” bike, and their custom spray-paint job, the stylistically elite of BYU campus can now enjoy the liberties of the bike without being hindered by the possibility that someone might think they’re riding a bike to campus because it’s faster than walking and more realistic than driving. But don’t worry, the next time you’re listening to someone going on and on about a bike that is older than you are, just envision them huffing up the Brick Oven hill in their Toms and messenger bag—that is, if the bike ever makes it out of the decorative position it holds in the living room of their apartment. ▬

“Then something magical happened: the hipsters found a way to make [bicycles] impractical again.

Now that the fixed gear bikes have resurfaced, hipsters have a reason to separate themselves from those people that pedal their mountain bikes with functional New Balance shoes.”

This month in sports...

–Alexandra Sandvik

photo by michele doying

Many students were surprised and maybe a little confused after President Henry B. Eyring announced during General Conference that BYU President Elder Cecil O. Samuelson was released from his duties as a General Authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Many have wondered if this means the university will be getting a new president soon. According to a news release, Samuelson “will continue to serve as the president of Brigham Young University.” Although the most recent presidents have been General Authorities, it is not a requirement.

Only four of the twelve BYU presidents have been General Authorities and only the two latest, Elder Merrill J. Bateman and Samuelson, served concurrently while they were in office at the university. Bateman served from 1996 to 2003, followed immediately by Samuelson. Both were called to the First Quorum of the Seventy during their tenure.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy after presiding here. Elder Dallin H. Oaks never served in the Seventy, but was called to be an Apostle after his tenure at BYU. “President Samuelson views his position

as an assignment from the BYU Board of Trustees, which is presided over by the First Presidency and includes members of the Quorum of the Twelve and general auxiliary officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” said University Communications.

Starting with the appointment of President Bateman, the Board of Trustees began searching for candidates for the presidency under new criteria: That they had exceptional leadership experience both in administration and in the Church. This may explain why the last two presidents at BYU were also members of the Quorum of the Seventy during their tenure.

A careful look at press releases and articles from the Church about the BYU Presidency will show that words such as serve and preside are used when speaking of the president’s role.

The tenures of the presidents have lasted anywhere from less than a year to twenty-four years. There is no real pattern as to how long a president presides over the university. Historically, presidents have been released from the office either because of resignation, retirement, or a calling to a position the Church such as the Quorum of the Seventy (Holland), Presidency of the Seventy (Bateman), or the

by christopher michaels

Perhaps the most surprising turn of events in Cougar sports is not the play of Riley Nelson against Utah State, which is a remarkable feat nonetheless, but, for this writer, it has to be the accomplishments of the women’s volleyball team.

This team has been a lackluster performer in recent years, however with the coaching change and a sense of renewed dedication from the players, these girls have become the team to beat going into conference play.

Among the reasons for this is the outstanding play of Jennifer Hamson, the twosport athlete. She proved this season that as long as she is on the hardwood she will deliver. With a month of conference games remaining, she has already surpassed her season totals and averages for kills from last season. In addition to that she was named the WCC player of the month for September and will more than likely earn herself a conference honor by season’s end.

Alongside her is solid play from Christie Carpenter and Nicole Warner who have each totaled over 100 kills so far this season. All in all, this will be a team to root for so if you haven’t gotten out to a match yet, grab an all-sports pass or a few Washingtons and get a ticket to the next contest.

Just outside the court lies the soccer field where women’s soccer continues an interesting season. With a roller coaster start the team seems to have found their stride and just in time for conference play. As a star-studded team it’s impossible to single one out as standing above the rest, which is exactly what makes them so dangerous. True the weather’s cooling off, but don’t let it stop you from watching these girls light it up week after week.

Now football. The team has caused more panic in its fans than most expected. Unfortunately, that panic might not disappear anytime soon. This is not to say we won’t finish out the season strong, but serious blow outs, like in the good ole’ days under Hall and Beck, are unlikely.

And given Bronco seems unafraid to pull one quarterback in favor of the other if it means a win, the quarterback situation will probably to remain in flux. The players to watch though are not under center but at wide out with Apo and Hoffman.

These two will continue to be play makers for the cougars and make even the tensest games worth every time out. ▬ wmichaels16@gmail.com

10 Student Review

Athletes sport pink

Utah a soccer stronghold by hunter schwarz

Sandwiched between a subdivision of tract homes and the shore of Utah Lake in Lehi is Northlake Park. It’s late afternoon, and two youth soccer games are in play as the sun moves lower in the sky, blinding players whenever they chase the ball down the west side of the field. Parents watch from the sidelines, yelling.

“Preston, sprint! Don’t jog!”

“Nathan, be ready for the pass! Where do they want to pass?”

Utah isn’t usually considered a soccer stronghold, but it should be. The Beehive State has more youth soccer players per capita than any other state, and Salt Lake City is the smallest market with a Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake.

Soccer is big here, and there are many reasons why.

“We did it because it seems like a really good option for a girl’s sport,” said Machelle Bateman, a mother from Highland.

Her daughter’s team of eight and nineyear-olds, the Arsenal Strikers, weren’t victorious today, but the Bateman’s don’t have time to mourn the loss. Her and her husband are packing up their chairs so they can drop their daughters off at dance.

Utah Youth Soccer, the state’s largest league, boasts 41,000 players. Even more play in club teams and leagues geared specifically towards Hispanics.

“It’s a more accepted sport now,” said Morgan Gilliam, a Utah Youth Soccer spokesperson. “We have way more kids playing soccer than many other sports.”

Soccer is relatively inexpensive. Instead of dropping hundreds of dollars on equipment, parents only need to shell out for a pair of shin guards and cleats. It also doesn’t require as much technique in the beginning stages that other sports do, enticing many parents to sign their kids up for youth soccer as their first sport. But many kids don’t play for too long.

“Once a kid turns 13, our numbers drop off significantly,” Gilliam said.

Many kids elect to play other sports when they hit their teens, while those dedicated to soccer can join more competitive teams and hone their skills. Despite the dramatic drop off in youth participation at age 13, Utah certainly isn’t lacking soccer fans.

NEWSWORTHY

(above) kyle beckerman, team captain of Real Salt Lake, talks to reporters after practice. (below) Parents watch a youth soccer game in northlake park in lehi photos by hunter schwarz

Real Salt Lake was only founded in 2004, but they already have an MSL Cup under their belt and a dedicated following. The lack of professional teams in the area certainly contributes to Real Salt Lake’s popularity, but regardless, the team has proven it can hold its own when pitted head-tohead with other sporting events. The night of the BYU-Utah game, they managed to sell out Rio Tinto stadium, their $115 million home in Sandy, for their match against Sporting KC. “Part of that stems from the international flavor of the population,” said John Koluder, assistant director of media relations for Real Salt Lake.

Koluder points to Utah’s “growing Hispanic population” as well as returned missionaries who spent two years in foreign countries where soccer is wildly popular.

“They come back with an appreciation of the sport,” he said.

Utah’s soccer heritage has deep roots, dating back to the late 19th century. The

sport “came to Utah, as it did to most other places in the U.S., with immigrants,” said Roy Webb in his book The Forwards Darted Like Flashes: The History of Soccer in Utah.

Teams comprised mainly from immigrants from England, Norway and Germany competed in the state and achieved considerable success during the 1930s.

“Media attention to soccer games and players reached a level that would not be equaled until the advent of Real Salt Lake in 2004,” Webb said.

The demographic changes of World War II nearly killed the sport, but over the next several decades, soccer made a slow comeback. The influx of Hispanic immigrants coupled with the growth of women in sports played a major role, as did the explosion of youth soccer. Utah’s unusually large number of big families has been vital to youth soccer’s popularity.

“There’s a lot of multi-kid families here,” said Ryan Schmidt, a father from Lehi with a daughter who plays on the the

Arsenal Strikers.

Schmidt, who coaches youth tennis, noted how expensive and difficult it would be for a family of eight to get all their kids into tennis, a problem soccer doesn’t have.

The draw for large families to get their kids involved in soccer is evident in the parking lot of Northlake Park. Minivans and SUVs outnumber sedans by a wide margin.

“Part of it is cultural too,” Schmidt said.

“You go through the neighborhood, and everybody gets into soccer.”

In a suburban paradise like Lehi, soccer becomes an important social outlet. Kids join teams with buddies from their neighborhood, school and ward, while parents make friends on the sidelines.

While soccer’s popularity in Utah might never reach the fever pitch of some foreign countries, it’s here to stay. ▬ dhunterschwarz@gmail.com

Millions of dollars are raised in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, including athletes who sport pink to raise awareness, but some say the efforts are in vain and not much ground has been made in the search for a cure.

Breast cancer kills about 40,000 women each year and is the second-leading cause of death in women in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.

“In spite of all the money that’s been raised, mortality rates are as high as they ever were,” said Samantha King, author of “Pink Ribbons Inc.” “Women basically have the same options for treatment they had 30 to 40 years ago.”

King has studied the Pink Campaign for more than 15 years and has tried to explain why the search for the cure of this cancer has garnered more attention than others.

“It allows us to say the word breast out loud,” King said. “It’s a symbol of the breast which symbolizes motherhood.”

Some view all-star athletes sporting pink for the cause as groundbreaking and heartrending. BYU’s football team sported pink athletic tape against Central Florida two weeks while the cheerleaders who clapped pink pom-poms to raise awareness of the disease. Two years ago, BYU’s basketball team partnered with Nike to have an all-pink game with shoes, uniforms and basketballs with pink accents.

However the gear totaled to about $6,000 for apparel the team would only use once according to an article by the Deseret News. Although some of it was signed and donated, the players kept most of the equipment for themselves.

“I think it’s cool they’re making people aware, but it upsets me that the team buys all this stuff that they only wear once,” said Ashley Llewellyn from Soda Springs, Idaho, studying elementary education.

Llewellyn said she would rather see the team honor actual breast cancer survivors at the games over seeing the players sport pink to just raise awareness of the disease.

It’s not just sports teams abusing the pink ribbon to make a profit. Many companies slap the label on products knowing consumers will be more likely to choose it because the consumers assume profits go to a good cause. However, according to King, the pink ribbon does not require corporations to do anything for breast cancer. She advised those wanting to help with the cause to research companies that donate most of their profits from the pink products or to just donate directly to a non-profit organization.

“I’ve certainly done interviews with breast cancer survivors that feel like their experience gets exploited for financial gain,” King said. “Breast cancer isn’t pretty.

It isn’t cheerful. I’ve talked to breast cancer survivors that tell me they hate Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

A spokeswoman for The Susan G. Komen Foundation, the largest breast cancer movement in the world, said their partnerships with Major League Baseball, the Dallas Cowboys, NASCAR and other professional sports have increased exposure and publicity about breast cancer.

“Our partnerships with professional athletic teams help us do a couple of things, raise awareness in the community and with the TV audience,” said Carrie Glasscock, director of corporate relations. “They offer a public forum for celebrating breast cancer survivors.”

The foundation tries to offer a bucket list type experiences for breast cancer survivors through their partnerships. For example, on Mother’s Day, breast cancer survivors can be nominated to be bat girls for MLB games where the pink bats are used.

“I really think it is getting people involved in the breast cancer movement that is comfortable for them,” Glasscock said. “So many people are passionate about professional sports and are also passionate about the fight against breast cancer.”

The organization has made great strides, however the partnership with MLB brings in $100,000 per year, which sounds like a lot, but for a $1.2 billion industry, it seems like a small effort to produce bats every year used for only one game that only generates a $100,000 donation. ▬ sarahngambles@gmail.com

11

“I think it’s cool they’re making people aware, but it upsets me that the team buys all this stuff that they will only wear once.”

–Ashley Llewellyn

On the other hand

Political cartoon by Andrew Livingston. For more visit crustaceansingles.blogspot.com.

Calendar 12 Student Review

Event: BYU Forum: Senator Joseph Liberman

Date: 25 October, 2011 Time: 11:00 am Location: Marriott Center Description: Sen. Joseph Lieberman will speak at a Brigham Young University forum Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center. A question-and-answer session will immediately follow the forum. The title of his address will be “Faith and the Public Square,” related to his recently published book, “The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath.” The forum will be broadcast live on the BYU Broadcasting channels and online at byub. org. Rebroadcast and archive information will be available at byub. org/BYUforum or speeches.byu.edu. (Source: BYU news)

Event: Breaking the Silence: Understanding SameGender Attraction

Date: 27 October, 2011 Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm Location: Provo Library Rm 201 Contact Information: Temple Square Events Ticket Office (1–801–570–0080) Description: Do you have a family member, friend, neighbor, classmate, or co-worker who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender?

Do you have questions? Come to the discussion panel and ask questions about same-gender attraction. The event will be a safe environment for an open discussion on what it’s like to be gay (and more specifically on the processes of accepting one’s attractions and then telling others about them). (Source: Facebook event page)

13 13

One of the most common complaints we hear around Provo is that there is simply not enough to do. We humbly beg to differ. We believe that there is plenty to do in Provo

October

if you know where to find it. In attempt to dispell this vicious rumor, behold: the 2nd Student Review monthly calendar. If you are interested in finding out more about a

30

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

25

26

27

28

29

8:00pm Open Mic Night @ Muse Music Cafe

11:05am BYU Forum: Senator Joseph Liberman

8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Cat Fashion Show with Jokes

2:30pm Ambassador of Afghanistan to speak at UVU

Scott Holden, Piano performance. Madsen Recital Hall, HFAC.

10:00am Provo Farmer’s Market

6:30pm Breaking the Silence: Understanding SameGender Attraction, Provo Library Rm 201

8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Radiation City, Michael Gross and The Statuettes, Don Juan.

6:30pm 3 Doors Down.

Utah Valley University.

8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Muse Costume Show with Mighty Sequoyah/Lady & Gent!

8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Wired for Havoc, Gerade, TBA (hard rock)

10:00am Provo Monster Mile & 5K 8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Muse Music Cafe: Image Down / Milo / Playing in the Streets / Whilmington

If you have an event you’d like to see in the event calendar, e-mail us at thestudentreview2@gmail. com

31 7:30pm Halloween Marimba and Voice.

UVU 8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Deathly Hallows II Show / Change Lewis & Apt.

Event: Provo Monster Mile & 5K

Date: 29 October 2011 Time: 10:00am Location: Riverview Park Description: The Provo Monster Mile is the best Halloween race in the valley! The race, benefitting the Academy for Creating Enterprise (ACE), has evolved into a full–blown event this year, featuring the costumed one mile and 5k races as well as live music, and costume contests for runners and children! We invite you to register and come along for a great time! (Source: http://provomonstermile.com/)

November MONDAY

SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY

TUESDAY

1 6:00pm Transportation Symposium 8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: $5 Bluegrass Night: The Lucky Crickets, The Sinners, Crazy talk

Paid Advertisements:

WEDNESDAY

TUESDAY

24 Pioneer Theatre Company: The Tempest (Will be performed until November 5th. Visit pioneertheatre.org for specific times.)

Event: Transportation Symposium

Date: 1-2 November 2011 Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm Location: Maeser Building Auditorium Description: Hosted by BYU’s EcoResponse club, the symposium will feature speakers from the local government, as well as local businesses and agencies concerned with transportation in Salt Lake and Utah Valleys. Speakers will include Provo Mayor John Curtis, Utah Valley Regional Manager of UTA Hugh Johnson, Provo City Councilman and Chair of Provo Transportation Committee Sterling Beck, Mountainland Association of Governments Senior Transportation Planner Shawn Seager, Utah USDOT Program Development Leader Steven Call, Chair of Provo Bicycle Committee Zac Whitmore and Utah Valley Earth Forum Representative Don Jarvis. For more information, Like EcoResponse on Facebook.

(Source: Facebook event page)

MONDAY

SUNDAY

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For more events and event information visit thestudentreview.org

2 6:00pm Transportation Symposium 8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: $2 Aerobics

THURSDAY

SATURDAY

FRIDAY

3

4

5

7:30pm Muse Music Cafe: Starvist tour kickoff

7:30pm The Elephant Man opening night.

Margetts Theatre, HFAC.

8:00am Circling the Wagons: A Conference for LGBTQ Mormons and their friends, families and allies 11:00am Women’s Self Defense Workshop

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7

8

9

6:00pm CES Devotional for Young Adults

8:00pm Open Mic Night @ Muse Music Cafe

11:00am BYU Devotional: Bill Eggington, Linguistics and English Language

8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: The Crylics, Bird

by Bird, The Trophy Fire, Jared Pierce, James Belliston

10 8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Desert Noises w/ Elizabeth Arynn, Our Lady, Lake Island

11 11:00am Saints at War Conference 7:00pm Divine Comedy show 7:30pm Savior of the World opening Night.

Conference Center, Temple Square.

9:00pm Divine Comedy show

12 10:30am For Kids: Second Saturdays at the Museum of Art 7:00pm Divine Comedy show 8:00pm Muse Music Cafe: Feel Good Music Coalition (Hip-hop/ R&B) w/ Young Slim & more $6 9:00pm Divine Comedy show

15

The controversy surrounding illegal immigration is often told is statistics, but behind the numbers are people. Their stories are set not in faraway border towns, and the debate effecting their future isn’t limited to Washington, D.C. They live among us and sit next to us in class. Though labelled “aliens,” their hopes and dreams aren’t all that different from ours. These are their stories.

by sarah smith

Statistics

Behind the

members of the Utah Valley DREAM Team make posters during a recent meeting. photo by heather hackney

The Story

IMMIGRATION:

14 Student Review

A

ccording to the American Immigration Council, children account for 15 percent of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now living in the United States. Of these youth who graduate from high school, it has been estimated that only between five and 10 percent will go on to attend college. What of those undocumented students that want to attend BYU? Are they here, and if so, what are the stories of these silenced voices?

Immigration & the Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement earlier this year reminding its members of gospel principles that should govern attitudes and behaviors regarding immigration. Far from unfamiliar

with mistreatment and mass expulsion, the Church reiterated the axiom: “Treat each other as children of God.” The statement called for a solution on a federal level, maintaining that if undocumented immigrants remain “unchecked and unregulated,” society would not only become destabilized, but unsustainable.

Without a specific policy about immigration from Church leadership, one is left to wonder what becomes of undocumented students hoping to attend a Churchoperated school.

Dr. Enoc Flores, Director of BYU International Services, explored some of the issues affecting undocumented students applying to BYU. When asked if BYU accepts undocu-

mented students, Flores replied that it does not do so knowingly. Until this month, BYU had an unspoken “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, according to Flores. But at the request of the Student Review, BYU admissions released a statement regarding undocumented students.

“The University considers for admission any individual who meets all of the University’s admissions standards and submits a completed application within appropriate deadlines,” the statement said.

“There is no specific question in the admission application requiring a disclosure of an applicant’s legal status. In the application the prospective student is required to designate a home country. If the home country is anything other than the United States, information is provided to assist the applicant in understanding immigration requirements for acquisition of a student visa. Also, if in the application process international educational credentials are submitted, questions concerning visa status may arise.”

BYU is required by law and university policy to ask for citizenship only when an applicant is requesting financial aid or seeking employment. Undocumented immigrants are usually faced with significant financial challenges since federal, state,

and university need-based financial aid and scholarship funds are not available to them. Additionally, undocumented immigrants are limited in meeting financial concerns because they cannot legally work on or off campus and have no legal way to work in the United States after graduation.”

There are about 2,500 international students currently attending BYU, 200 of which Flores estimated are undocumented.

Jorge Vasquez, BYU junior and undocumented (some names have been changed for purposes of identity protection), admitted he was worried about getting accepted to BYU because of his legal status. “I decided to put it in the Lord’s hands,” Vasquez said. “I knew that if it was His plan for me to be here I was going to do just that. I had a strong desire to attend a Church-sponsored school where I knew I could get an exceptional education in an environment that was wholesome and invited the Spirit.”

Undocumented students are unable to work on campus because they cannot provide a work permit, social security card or green card.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m limited in the things I can do here,” Maria Martinez, a senior from Mexico said. “I can’t work so I don’t have the money to do many extra activities. It has been a struggle being un-

documented at BYU, especially when I hear about internships or study abroads that I can’t even apply to because of my legal status. Receiving scholarships has also been a problem because I’ve qualified for many of them but can’t accept them because I’m not a U.S. citizen.”

Martinez described the strain that being undocumented has placed on her personal relationships, citing “only a handful” of her friends that know about her legal status.

“Being an undocumented student has definitely separated me from certain people here at BYU,” Martinez said. “I have to be careful about who I hang out with and what their beliefs are towards immigration.

I hate coming up with random reasons why I don’t work or go back to Mexico to visit. I don’t know how some of my friends would react to learning about my status; they might not understand or they might judge me for it.”

A New Policy The Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security recently announced a new policy to systematically review all current 300,000 deportation cases, dismissing those with a clean criminal record and even providing them a work permit.

While the policy provides hope for those currently in the deportation process, it appears to be little more than an empty promise as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (commonly referred to as ICE) moves forward with deportation proceedings.

Deportation is still a very real possibility for Salt Lake Community College sophomore and aspiring pastor Deyvid Morales, who made headlines this year speaking out against ICE’s blatant disregard for the new policy.

Morales was on his way to Bible school in January when his bus was stopped at an Immigration checkpoint. Unable to provide proper documentation, Morales was detained and held in prison for two and a half weeks.

The Obama Administration’s Executive Order should have protected Morales— who has no criminal record—from the deportation process entirely. Instead, he has been launched into a series of court dates and restrictions, and was explicitly instructed by ICE not to discuss any aspect of his deportation proceedings with the public.

Regardless, Morales faces his uncertain future with unwavering faith.

“The only thing I know for sure is that

16 Student Review

tal hygienist, but she admits the prospect often feels unrealistic.

“The way things are now, that’s not going to happen,” she said. “Just to get the crappy jobs you have to know someone who knows someone who’s willing to hire someone that’s undocumented. But I have to stay positive and work toward becoming a resident.”

When potential employers ask for a license during the application process, many undocumented immigrants will say theirs was lost or stolen. Carolina Gonzales, another undocumented student at SLCC, figures most employers see through the lie.

“I think they know what’s really going on,” Gonzales said. “They just choose to turn a blind eye, because who else is going to do that job at minimum wage?”

photos by heather hackney

God will protect me, no matter where I end up,” Morales said. “Even if I am deported, that doesn’t mean God has given up on me.”

Morales’ grand hearing is set for December 8th when he will either be released or sent to Mexico.

Dispelling Stereotypes Stephany Lopez, 22 and a student at Salt Lake Community College, came to the U.S. with her family when she was eight years old. Lopez expressed the paradox all too familiar to her and her undocumented friends as an individual raised in the U.S. but without the same opportunities afforded to her peers.

“I grew up in America so I feel very American, and I have this mentality that anything is possible here,” Lopez said. “I’m thinking like every other college student: that when I graduate, I’ll find a good job.

But there’s a dark cloud in the back of my mind that’s getting harder to ignore.”

In Lopez’s case, that cloud takes the

form of her legal status preventing her from earning more than $7.25 an hour.

In order to work, undocumented immigrants must obtain a work permit or a social security number, which are routinely bought and sold among the undocumented.

Lopez purchased hers from a close familyfriend with the approval and assistance of her parents when she was 16 years old.

As she continued to work, Lopez often wondered where her social security came from: had it been stolen from someone, or was it simply a fake number?

“My old job had a system where you had to enter in peoples’ social security numbers to get certain information,” Lopez said.

“So one day I entered my social security.

Nothing came up; it wasn’t stolen. In that moment, I regained some of my identity. I was not stealing anything from anyone. My social security was just a made-up number.

It was mine and I was using it to earn a living, pay taxes and contribute to society.”

Lopez hopes to someday become a den-

BYU Perspectives Many immigrants enter the United States with visas—as opposed to passports or green cards—which are typically extremely difficult to access. In order to obtain a work or travel visa, immigrants must prove that they have a reason to return to their country of origin through their financial assets like homes, jobs, salaries and family members staying behind.

Sang Lee, a pre-med student at BYU who was born in Korea, expressed his frustration at the path to residency. Lee’s family submitted applications for working visas in 2006.

“My case in particular is taking so long because my dad’s skills in engineering make him a class three immigrant,” Lee said. “If you aren’t classified as a first or second class immigrant, like investing, which brings a lot of money into the U.S. economy, the process takes longer—years longer. All the first and second priority immigrants are up-to-date. But I hear Immigration is processing applications from June 2005 now, so hopefully it’ll be my family’s turn soon.”

Despite his experience as an international student, Lee pointed to his LDS mission as the ultimate eye-opener into what lies at the heart of the immigration issue: the people.

“Before my mission I really thought it was their own fault that illegal immigrants were here and that they all had bad intentions,” Lee said. “But working with them and getting to know them on my mission helped me understand why they moved here and that they’re left with no solution. I now support figuring out a way to help them.”

Mitchell Steed, a BYU student studying accounting, also had undocumented companions on his mission.

“I think illegal immigrants have a right to pursue and preserve their happiness,” Steed said. “The preamble to the Constitution talks about life, liberty and

Why you should join my club: Utah Valley DREAM Team by fabiola ruiz

Every year, about 60,000 to 70,000 young immigrant youth will graduate high school, but be stalled after such a victory. They will hit a wall in either finding a resourceful form of employment or pursuing college. These young immigrant students hit this wall because they’re undocumented.

They were, more than likely, brought to this wonderful country by their parents who were also in search of a better life. However, due to the ignorant bureaucracy of our politics, a law that could actually permit them to enter school and find the skills they need to do great things in this world has been avoided for the past ten years. This law is the DREAM Act, and a small group in Salt Lake is determined to pass it.

The Salt Lake DREAM Team is a non-profit organization composed of undocumented students and their allies. Formed in 2010, the Team began as a grassroots effort to raise awareness and support in Utah for the DREAM Act. This proposed piece of legislation would create a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented youth through higher education and military service. Last year, the bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives but unfortunately fell five votes short in the Senate. The failure to pass this law has only motivated Salt Lake DREAM Team members to fervently continue in their advocacy for the bill to pass on the federal level. Since its inception, the organization has continued to grow and promote its message of equality and human rights for this marginalized group of our society.

Several weeks ago, The Utah Valley DREAM Team was created in order to accommodate the many students and residents of the area who wanted to get involved. It is modeled after the Salt Lake DREAM Team and will focus on organizing various events within the Provo and Orem community. During the opening meeting last week, the four goals of the organization were outlined: 1. Raising awareness, opposition and mobilization against HB 497.

2. Organized an undocumented voice in the LDS community in Utah County.

3. Educate and prepare for support for any of the civil action and peaceful demonstrations occurring in Salt Lake DREAM Team.

4.

Performing our own civil action in Orem and Provo.

While the Salt Lake and Utah Valley DREAM Team understand the scope and complexity of the American immigration debate, they also recognize the cause as one that is much more than political; it is personal. Millions of undocumented youth arrived in the United States as children, never remembering another home.

These individuals grew up being American in every way but their legal status. The passage of the DREAM Act allows these individuals to continue growing and contributing to our society long after their college graduation.

The Utah Valley DREAM Team holds a meeting every Tuesday in the Orem area. For more information, search for the Utah Valley DREAM Team page or group on Facebook. ▬

17 17

Pastor's ‘cult’ remarks reveal anti-Mormonism on the decline by hunter schwarz

It’s hard for us as BYU students living deep in the heart of the Book of Mormon belt to fathom this, but Mitt Romney isn’t all that popular right now.

For us, the former Massachusetts governor and BYU graduate is the second coming of Ronald Reagan. In the BYU College Republican’s posterboard and marker poll of the candidates, Romney was the runaway winner, but much of the rest of the Republican party has hoped in vain for an alternative candidate. To their dismay, Bachmann blew her lead, Christie confirmed he wasn’t running and Perry peaked in the polls. Now Romney is starting to feel like the inevitable nominee, but it doesn’t mean Republicans are getting in line behind him yet.

Ask a BYU student the reason why, and you’re likely to hear that it’s because “they don’t like us.” Our persecution complex as Latter-day Saints is deeply ingrained and stems from our ancestors who were driven across the country with an extermination order on their backs. I remember as an elementary student in Arkansas hearing about a teacher who didn’t like Mormons, but I didn’t understand why. That was something I learned knocking doors in California for two years as a missionary.

We are a “peculiar people,” and we have our share of critics who disagree, mistrust and yes, “don’t like us.”

So when Romney announced he was running for president again along with fellow Mormon and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, we braced ourselves for another round of anti-Mormon bigotry. But weeks went by, and it never came up.

The only mention of Romney’s religion came a few paragraphs into nearly every story about him where reporters would mention how his Mormonism could be a liability in the campaign, but that was the extent of it.

It wasn’t until the Values Voter Summit earlier this month that the prophesied anti-Mormonism reared its head, but the way it unfolded was unlike what anyone had predicted.

After Evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress introduced Texas governor Rick Perry at the conference, he told reporters Mor-

mons aren’t Christians.

“I think the decision for conservative evangelical Christians right now is going to be: Do we prefer somebody who is truly a believer in Jesus Christ or somebody who is a good moral person but is a member of a cult?” Jeffress said.

The pent up anticipation for such a statement erupted into outrage. Many Latter-day Saints, used to defending their faith, took to social media to profess their belief in Jesus Christ, but soon found they were not alone.

News anchors interviewing Jeffress grilled him on the use of a loaded term like “cult” and asked him what classifies a Christian. One of the most viral clips was Anderson Cooper’s interview of the pastor.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints … they consider themselves Christian,” Cooper said. “And on their website they say they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, their Redeemer.”

On Wolf Blitzer’s program, Huntsman labeled the pastor’s remarks as “outrageous” and even called him a “moron,” and no one seemed to disagree with him.

Presidential candidates who are running for a second time often benefit from a reduced interest in once controversial issues.

Because Romney’s Mormonism was discussed at length during the 2008 election, it isn’t as newsworthy this time around.

Voters are also becoming more comfortable with a Mormon candidate. A June 2011 Gallup poll showed 23 percent of respondents would either not vote for a Mormon or be less likely to do so, down from 36 percent in December 2006.

Although anti-Mormonism is still alive, it’s receding. Maybe if we post more status updates on Facebook convincing others we’re Christians, we can eradicate it though. Get to it, guys. ▬

18 Student Review

19

Occupy Salt Lake City

Mormonism and the death penalty

Movement draws hundreds to state capitol, Pioneer Park

by stephanie grimes by mackenzie mayo

SALT LAKE CITY—As the Occupy Wall Street movement neared its fourth week, some Utah residents proclaimed their solidarity with the demonstrators by organizing an event of their own in Salt Lake City.

The Occupy Salt Lake City movement started Oct. 6 with a march beginning at the state capitol that passed through the city’s financial district and ended at Pioneer Park where tents were set up and the official “occupation” began.

Hundreds of people marched down Main Street to the beat of a protestor’s drum, demonstrating against what they view as the government’s failure to represent the American people and combat corporate greed and corruption. Signs displayed what they were fighting for: everything from immigration reform to job creation to limits on big business. Many repeated the popular refrain, “We are the 99%,” a phrase intended to send a message that only a small percentage of the population controls most of the country’s wealth.

Chants of “USA! USA! USA!” rang out in the background as Calvin Tribby, a student at the University of Utah, explained why he was participating in the event.

“I think corporations have too much influence in politics,” Tribby said. “People have to show they want change. It may start off symbolically with small events like this, but it’s important to show up. It will grow into something larger.”

Tribby said he believes people must be actively involved in the political process but that simply voting and letting elected leaders do what they want isn’t enough.

What began as a small, quiet group of five people huddled in the 40-degree weather and pouring rain became a group of hundreds who rallied around a caped man who delivered an impromptu speech

photos by hunter schwarz

decrying the “crimes of Wall Street.”

“Their trail of money is burning the hearts of the American people,” he said. “It is burning their spirit away. We are here to stop it.”

Two women observing the march from a nearby restaurant wondered aloud, “What on earth will they do all day?”

Some of the demonstrators didn’t know the answer to that question themselves.

Without a set of concrete goals in mind, many came simply to show solidarity with compatriots elsewhere in the United States.

“I’m tired of Congress using the Tea Party as an excuse to do the bidding of that notorious one percent,” said Cynthia Eastwood, a participant. “It’s time we stand up for our brothers and sisters across the nation. We need to raise awareness.

They’re lowering taxes for the wealthy and doing away with regulations we need in order to protect society.”

Others thought the demonstrations had a more specific purpose.

“I hope this becomes a new way of life,” said Alex Loseman, a volunteer organizer.

“People can just come together to live in peace and explore a different type of community. I hope it lasts.”

Event organizers plan to make it last, at least for now. They are currently attempting to obtain a 30-day permit so the demonstration can remain in the park.

Local officials say participants have been cooperative and have done nothing to jeopardize their continued occupation.

The Occupy movement originated in New York City on Sept. 17 to protest social and economic inequality, corporate greed

and corporate influence in politics. It has since grown to include dozens of cities nationwide.

The movement has drawn criticism from some for a perceived lack of focus on the part of participants while others have lauded it for its level of grassroots activism not usually seen in the United States.

A recent Time magazine poll found that 54 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the protests, while 23 percent have a negative view. It is uncertain whether the protests will be the catalyst for political change many participants are hoping to see. ▬ stephaniegrimes@byu.edu

The recent execution of Troy Davis, made controversial by what some considered a lack of sufficient evidence for his conviction, raised difficult questions about the death penalty and its role in American culture. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints weigh this controversial topic, they can look to Church history, to scripture, and to modern commentary for arguments both in favor of and against capital punishment.

The current Church statement regarding the death penalty, which can be found in the LDS Newsroom on lds.org, reads: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regards the question of whether and in what circumstances the state should impose capital punishment as a matter to be decided solely by the prescribed processes of civil law. We neither promote nor oppose capital punishment.”

Some of the earliest discussion of capital punishment in the Church revolved around a teaching called “blood atonement.” The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, a Brigham Young University publication that can be found on the Harold B. Lee Library website, states that “the Atonement wrought by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is efficacious for the sins of all who believe, repent, are baptized …

and receive the Holy Ghost … However, if a person thereafter commits a grievous sin such as the shedding of innocent blood, the Savior’s sacrifice alone will not absolve the person of the consequences of the sin.” Brigham Young, it continues, taught that “the Lord could require the voluntary shedding of a murderer’s blood … as part of the process of atonement for such a grievous sin. This was referred to as ‘blood atonement.’”

The article emphasizes that “this view is not a doctrine of the Church and has never been practiced by the Church at any time.” In 1978, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle, wrote a letter on behalf of the First Presidency to Thomas B. McAffee of the Utah Law Review, responding to questions about whether blood atonement is an official doctrine of the Church. The letter was quoted at length in Martin Gardner’s essay, “Mormonism and Capital Punishment: A Doctrinal Perspective, Past and Present,” published in 1979 in Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought.

In the letter, Elder McConkie wrote: “We do not believe that it is necessary for men in this day to shed their own blood to receive a remission of sins ... There is no such a doctrine as blood atonement in the Church today nor has there been at any time. … You asked if the statements of our leaders of the past, including those found in the Journal of Discourses, represent the official stand of the Church. The answer, as indicated in the comments above set forth, is that they do not.”

However, in the same letter, Elder McConkie wrote, “If by blood atonement is meant capital punishment, then any proper analysis of the subject would call the matter by the name capital punishment and not by the name blood atonement. To use this latter term is wholly misleading and stirs up the idea that we believe in that which we most emphatically do not believe. We believe in capital punishment.”

More recent commentators have expressed opposition to the death penalty on religious grounds. In an episode of the Mormon Matters podcast, Ken Driggs, a public defender who has worked with numerous death row inmates, and who contributed research to this article, brought up the question of forgiveness. Several scriptures were cited during the panel discussion, including the John 8 account of Jesus declaring, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” The Sermon of the Mount also advocates forgiveness; Christ says, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill…

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment….Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies.”

The Book of Mormon discusses more directly the ethics of taking human life; it opens with the story of Nephi killing Laban.

In 1 Nephi 4, Nephi finds himself at the feet of a drunk and incapacitated Laban. Nephi says, “I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban, but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.” Nephi spends the next eight verses working through what it would mean to kill a man, what it means that the Lord was telling him to do it, and how his

faith in God could help him navigate that decision. He ultimately kills Laban and takes possession of the plates, but apparently not without some misgivings.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider their feelings about capital punishment, they can look to Church statements about political decision making, which advise members to vote with their consciences.

In a letter before the 2008 Presidential elections, a letter from the First Presidency stated, “we urge you to register to vote, to study the issues and candidates carefully and prayerfully, and then to vote for and actively support those you believe will most nearly carry out your ideas of good government.” It supports this request in its statement on Political Neutrality, found in the LDS Newsroom, where it acknowledges that “members of the Church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan politics.” Dallin H. Oaks gave more direct advice to members of the Church in his September 11, 2011 Church Educational System fireside. He says, “Believers should not be deterred by the familiar charge that they are trying to legislate morality…our civilization is based on morality and cannot exist without it.” ▬

20 Student Review

21

RELIGION

How I wish Mormons interacted with my Evangelical self by derrick clements

It’s a common perception that people who choose to study at BYU either are already Mormon or become so by the time they graduate. About one percent of the student population at BYU are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a number that amounted to 461 in Fall 2010, according to BYU’s official Y-Facts, which relies on student self-reporting. But that’s not how it was for recent graduate Sarah Taylor. She came to BYU as an evangelical Christian, and remains one to this day.

Taylor, from the small farming town Dodge Center, Minn. is the oldest of four girls. She grew up in an Evangelical Christian family and majored in philosophy and minoring in logic. She currently attends Fuler Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. where she is halfway through a two-year master’s degree program in intercultural studies.

The Student Review asked Taylor to respond to questions about her experience at BYU. Q: What’s it like to be a “non-Roman” in “Rome?” Did you feel that way?

A: I’d say I felt that way for my first two years at BYU. I went to ward activities with my roommates occasionally, but I was pretty involved with the church I attended and spent much of my free time there. Because most of my relationships with Latter-day Saints were pretty undeveloped at that point, the fish-out-of-water feeling was heightened; people seem to fall into missionary mode more easily with people they don’t know well, so I felt continually aware of being different. For the last two years I was there, though, I didn’t really feel that way at all. I was taking lots of philosophy classes by that point, so I was seeing the same people every day, and I had a close group of LDS friends by my third year. To them, I was just Sarah, and that made all the difference for me. Beginning that year, I felt completely at home at BYU. Q: Did people try to get you to join the LDS church? If so, how did you respond to that?

A: There were people who talked with me about this with honesty and without a trace of manipulation or condescension, and when that happened, I loved it.

I’m not offended by people wanting me to

This I believe by erik mccarthy

join the Church, and in fact, I really enjoy having these kinds of conversations, as a general rule. In fact, it was the people who expressed this sentiment in a non-controlling way that I became very close with in my time at BYU. The people to whom I reacted the most poorly were people I’d just met who seemed to change immediately upon discovering my non-member status. It felt like they couldn’t see me as anything more than a non-member. There were times when complete strangers and I would make small talk, it would somehow come up that I wasn’t LDS, and then they would bear their testimonies to me. That’s not a position I enjoyed being in, and I usually just thanked them and ended the conversation. It felt a bit dehumanizing.

Q: What did you know about BYU when you applied, and why did you decide to come here?

A: I lived in Provo for a year before applying to BYU. LDS missionaries came to my door in Minnesota in the winter of 2004-2005, and through meeting with them, three of my friends and I became so interested in Mormonism that we moved to Provo that summer. I was the type of kid who read an English translation of the Qur’an when I was twelve and picked up Jehovah’s Witness literature from a stand at the post office every time I went there, so the prospect of living in a mostly-LDS town for a while was really appealing to me. I just wanted to understand Mormons.

I grew up being taught that Mormonism was a cult, but that word never sat well with me; I feel that by placing that label

photo by annelise white

on a group, we’re able to write people in that group off as foolish without actually engaging their beliefs.

Q: How did your personal faith change, if at all, while in college?

My faith changed in many ways, but perhaps the most notable was my relationship to the Bible. Pre-BYU, I viewed the Bible as the most foundational aspect of my faith.

I believed in God because I believed in the Bible. After a series of long conversations with a good LDS friend of mine, I abandoned this line of thought. My friend believes in the Bible because he recognizes God within it—he knows God, and he finds within the pages of the Bible this God he knows. That struck me as far more true to my experience than the way I’d been thinking of it. Put another way, I used to believe that God followed from the Bible, for me: if the Bible, then God. The way I see it now, the Bible follows from God. This was a major paradigm shift for me. I believe I was putting the Bible in the place that only God should occupy. I love the Bible, but I love the Bible because I love God, and not vice versa.

Q: Are Mormons Christians?

For me, Christians are people who have been so transformed by God that in a sense, they can no longer be considered the same people. I don’t mean that they become instantly perfect, or close to it; rather, that their hearts begin to beat in line with God’s heart, however imperfectly, and they are continually made more into the image of Christ as God’s heart within them continues to transform them from the inside out.

As a friend of mine put it to me years ago, Christianity isn’t intellectual assent to a set of propositions; it’s receiving a new heart, and it’s the adventure of a life that follows from that—the life that comes from being a disciple of the beautiful, holy, wild God who kills everything in us that is killing us. ▬ derrific@gmail.com

There I was on a stranger’s couch—me and my 115 pounds of spiritual fury from the MTC were now treading water.

When you’re backed into a corner, Preach My Gospel says you can lean on your testimony of the Book of Mormon, but to be honest, what our investigator Luke was reading to us stung. Joseph Smith wouldn’t have said that, would he? The Brigham Young I had always known was stern but kind and definitely not the type of man presented before me at that time. But with every quote, Luke could cite a source from the Church’s own records.

We promised Luke that we would find answers. His sources had to be be incorrect, we assumed, or at the very least, taken out of context. However, it only took about 30 minutes of study at the local library for us to conclude that for the most part, what Luke had said was accurate. After another visit of being asked questions for which we had no answers, we parted ways with Luke. We could not help him.

I went on with my mission and worked hard, but secretly, a part of me felt betrayed. Part of me was afraid that there was a dark underbelly of history within the Church that threatened what I valued most. For a while I indulged in what Allen Barlow, an LDS scholar, described in his essay “A Personal Revelation” as a “semiconscience determination to remain ignorant of [historical problems].” But eventually, my curiosity and my interest in the truth demanded more.

Because of the Internet, members of the Church are exposed to difficult historical issues that, in times past, were comfortably inaccessible. While some can shrug off difficult historical issues, others feel concern when they discover the history of the Church is much more complicated than what is taught in Sunday School.

While issues like peepstones and abandoned doctrines often cause struggles, some believe most of the pain comes from feeling that troublesome issues are being hidden from them. Many in the Mormon historical community believe that some sort of inoculation to difficult issues in a faithful context would help build a stronger immunity to difficult issues and remove the feelings betrayal.

Terryl Givens, a renowned LDS scholar, said in a recent interview “the problem is not information. The problem is betrayal ... Nobody really leaves the Church because there isn’t enough information available to answer a question ... people leave the Church because by the time questions arise it is too late. If you’re 45-years-old and you learn for the first time that Joseph translated the Book of Mormon looking into a peep stone, you have every right in the world to feel betrayed.”

One possible reason difficult issues are avoided in a traditional setting is that they have often been seen as counterproductive and unnecessary.

In the talk “The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” Boyd K. Packer states, “There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful.”

Others have argued for letting the chips fall where they may.

B.H. Roberts, an LDS leader and author of the Comprehensive History of the Church, wrote, “The only way [writing Church history] can be accomplished, in the judgment of the writer, is to frankly state events as they occurred, in full consideration of all related circumstances, allowing the line of condemnation or of justification to fall where it may; being confident that in the sum of things justice will follow truth.”

In his essay, “Faith and Knowledge: Products of an Open Mind,” E. Gary Smith argues against ignoring difficult issues because, he says, the act contradicts the Plan of Salvation.

“I have been taught that those of us who are here on Earth are those who chose to accept the struggle and to avoid Satan’s offered protection from our own struggles,” Smith writes. “Yet, if we here choose not really to choose, are we not insulating ourselves from the very process for which we opted?”

One former BYU student said the term inoculation is not very accurate because “it implies that history is somehow harmful to the church, like a virus.” He explained that we claim truth and truth should not be seen as harmful when it does not fit our preconceived ideas.

In my case, studying Mormon history over the past few years has transformed my beliefs. The security and comfort of a black and white faith has been replaced with the adventure of working though the gray. Recognizing the human limitations of our leaders means that, for me, appealing to authority is no longer enough to end the discussion. Instead, thought, prayer, dialogue and study have become necessary companions to listening to the teachings of the leaders of the Church.

My struggle with historical issues has led me to reevaluate how I interpret my spiritual experiences. That means recognizing I have been somewhat conditioned by my culture to interpret my spiritual experiences in certain ways. While stepping back and reevaluating sacred experiences has led me to a little more ambiguous and a little less dogmatic conclusions, the beauty and awe of the experiences remain.

This process has meant losing a belief in the mythical do-nowrong Joseph Smith of my youth. However, through the historical messiness I have gained an admiration and appreciation for Joseph Smith, the man and the prophet. Learning about his shortcomings alongside his moral courage has helped me discover a rich sense of humanity in the founder of my religion. Through his struggles and

“In my case, studying Mormon history over the past few years has transformed my beliefs. The security and comfort of a black and white faith has been replaced with the adventure of working through the gray.”

–Erik McCarthy

22 Student Review

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

23

MUSIC REVIEW:

Believe Hope Endure: EFY 2011 Lessons learned from the walking dead by andrew livingston

photo by dan steinbeigle

“In these stories, we pit ourselves against our fears, and wonder if and how we would survive the same situation. These stories reflect our need to band together with fellow survivors.”

–Andrew Livingston

The dead are walking, and they are hungry. They feel no pain or remorse.

They are unstoppable. They also provide a compelling look at the values, fears and fascinations of our generation. Bad guys used to be simple, but since the beginning of last century, what the western world calls ‘evil’ has grown more complex. Authoritarian governments, terrorists and conforming masses bent on crushing capitalism seem to be growing ever more ambiguous and difficult to fight. We often suspect that we ourselves are becoming evil.

Cue the zombies.

It’s no stretch to see the zombies as one giant metaphor for our more difficult enemies. The living dead have a human form, but they are no longer human. Any spiritual and emotional capacities present in human beings are replaced by a mindless, insatiable hunger. They can’t be reasoned with or manipulated, only decapitated, and one of the risks of fighting them is to be bitten, then to become one of them.

“All of my zombie films have been about the humans,” said George Romero, director of the 1968 film “The Night of the Living Dead.” Zombies in film were, from the sixties to the early nineties, portrayed as slow and shambling in their clumsy but violent quest for brains. Those were the days of the Cold War, when our ‘bad guys’ were a slow threat. In 2002, when we were reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “28 Days Later” broke new ground by depicting fast zombies, which were able to run and leap but which were consumed by the same violent hunger as their slow counterparts.

In these stories, we pit ourselves against our fears, and wonder if and how we would survive the same situation. These stories reflect our need to band together with fellow survivors.

“The Night of the Living Dead” is marked by many as the starting point of the flesheating, mindless re-animated corpse and the idea of a zombie apocalypse, but Jasie Stokes, a BYU MFA graduate whose master’s thesis is titled “Ghouls, Hell and Transcendence,” claims the concept now embodied by the word ‘zombie’ has its ori-

gins in American Gothic writers like Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. In recent decades, zombie literature has experienced a renaissance. For example, the ‘literary mashup’ Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features Jane Austen’s beloved characters loosely following the plot of her original novel, except that it takes place in an alternate England where the dead are rising and attacking the living. Readers who loved Pride and Prejudice without zombies may well ask, “Is nothing sacred?” To the zombies, no. Nothing is.

Max Brooks’ 2003 The Zombie Survival Guide offered “complete protection from the living dead.” Its well-researched, factual tone paved the way for his far more chilling 2006 effort, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. In this documentary-style novel, an interviewer tracks down survivors of humanity’s struggle and hard-won triumph against the zombie outbreak that brought civilization to its knees. The novel becomes terrifyingly realistic if one accepts the basic premise of a human-borne disease that robs victims of their humanity, turning them into mindless, cannibalistic creatures. Brooks writes so convincingly that the premise is not an issue and one is left to focus instead on the demographic and social structures of our world that allow it to spread and the staggering global implications of such an outbreak.

Zombies are now found in music, from band names like White Zombie to Sufjan Stevens’ song “They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!” That particular song translates into music the relentless march of the undead hordes using a steady synthesizer pulse, then an emotionless layer of vocals as though the zombies themselves had a voice. There’s even word from USA Today that “Producers have acquired the rights to bring Michael Jackson’s Thriller (complete with dancing undead) to the Broadway stage.”

Apparently no medium is immune to the zombie apocalypse. ▬

by jordyn canady

EFY’s much-anticipated 2011 album, “Believe Hope Endure,” represents a collision of what is old and what is new. The result is a bizarrely redemptive cast of new singers mingled with the best-known EFY celebs of the last decade in tunes that we’re not sure are in fact different than those in the last 10 years.

For example, “Love Comes Back,” written and sung by Stephanie Mabey, is catchy, almost excessively sweet, and sounds exactly like any given Colbie Caillat song. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be hearing “Love Comes Back” in dentists’ offices across the Utah County area any day now.

The two standout tracks on the album are Jenessa Buttars’ “He Knows Me Better” and Jenn Blosil’s “Take It Home”. “He Knows Me Better” has surprising depth to its sound and is unexpectedly haunting--not an adjective you usually see in descriptions of EFY music. Thanks to Buttars’ unique voice, the track has a darkly pretty sound while still being as optimistic as the rest of the album.

“Take It Home” is another unexpected track featuring a singer with a unique sound. Blosil’s voice is refreshingly different from the usual EFY vocals: if you mixed Adele, Ingrid Michaelson and added a pinch of Demi Lovato for some pre-teen angst, you’d get Blosil’s voice. Her fresh, pleasant sound keeps this slower track from getting boring.

The album’s low points are the two stinkers: “No Regrets” by Chad Neth and “Hallelujah” by Justin Williams. Both are very slow, and neither Neth nor Williams has an interesting enough voice to keep the listener’s focus. Neth’s sound is so similar to Zac Efron’s in High School Musical 2 in both tone and sappiness that it’s distracting, and not even the sweeping key change in the middle of “Hallelujah” can make the song at all interesting.

Despite its general mediocrity, “Believe Hope Endure” has a few pleasant surprises, which in itself feels like a triumph.

“Believe Hope Endure” is available for sale on iTunes. Seriously. It really is. ▬

photo by sean mcgrath

Surf pop in your living room by dylan chadwick

Three musicians clutching guitars stand at the front of a living room, a bay window and a small kitchen behind them. The guy in the middle sports a Smurf-blue coif, smiles and cups a microphone. He’s flanked by a girl to his right and a broad-shouldered boy on his left. They’re shoeless, too. This is Don Juan.

“I’ll give every one of you $5 if you stand up!” he snickers, flicking his azure mane towards spectators planted on a love-sac.

Rumor has it he lives in a deli, selling sandwiches in exchange for sleeping quarters.

Three strums and the band launches deftly into their singular blend of serrated surf-pop, an electronic drum machine clicking behind them. They’ve been practicing.

Blue-Hair’s warbling falsetto sounds hearty, impassioned— maybe even a bit caustic. Behind him, the twin guitarists lurch and sway in hypnotic tune to their own swelling bombast, their foreheads glistening, with lips tight and wrists curled in ardent precision.

The song ends and Blue-Hair thanks the crowd. “We’ve only got a couple more,” he says sheepishly, a subtle reminder that they are one of Provo’s newest bands.

A synth stick-count signals another tune, and the trio clatters into motion. Blue-Hair arches his head back, spinning lazy

circles to the electro-drum twitter. I look at the gathered patrons about me. College students, photographers, art types and prepubescents all hum and bob to the unseen beat. I spy a family portrait on a mantelpiece to my right, and slight absurdity creeps back in: people actually live here.

The clamor swirls to a stop. Blue-Hair mumbles something about “Echo” and “The Bunnymen” and strums excitedly. The room is surprisingly calm, though. No bouncers. No security. No tacky cigarette odor and no snooty club-owners telling patrons when and how loud they can speak. It’s just a great band, playing great music to an appreciative crowd in someone’s living room.

Shoelessness ain’t gross, it’s etiquette. ▬

House shows rock. Why? Lower door prices, no obnoxious drunks ruining the fun for everyone else and maybe even a comfy couch to nestle into between sets. The setting for the Don Juan show is called The Deer Nest, an on-again, off-again quasi venue at 165 North 300 West. Find it on Facebook and stay tuned for potential shows that slip through the cracks. Also, for potential house show leads, be sure to check out local bands like Back Chat, Don Juan and Apt. They’ll help you stay up on it!

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