Share the road, share the responsibility.

I love mountain biking, I head out for a quick two hour ride all the time. I just put in my headphones and ride. I know the basic safety rules I know uphill has the right of way, I know stacked up rocks means that’s where the trail is when cruising on the slickrock, all in all I know my stuff, well at least I thought I did. During a nice quick ride I rode up to some old women on horses about my grandma’s age. I gave a nod and started riding past then I heard yelling over my blaring music, I took my ear buds out and noticed that their horses were getting pretty nervous and moving around with anxiety, the women started telling me that horses think you’re a predator and riding past them can cause them to kick you or buck us off their back. I felt pretty stupid and I was very apologetic. I told them that no one ever explained to me this and I wont ever do that again. I continued on my ride but I didn’t forget about my stupidity and that’s what led me to my revolutionary idea.

Requiring licenses to operate anything that can cause risks on public roads and public lands this includes but not limited to, road bikes, dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and mountain bikes. I’d like to start out my argument by first off not by explaining my idea but by talking about past laws and regulations that it relates to. When cars came out it took a while for us to realize there was a danger behind them, people started getting hurt and killed due to negligence. Even with all these dangers It took them till 1913 to mandate the first license for the operation of a car that’s 25 years after the invention of the gas powered vehicle. The similar story goes for airplanes and forklifts. So if we as a society felt like it was a priority to regulate activities that can cause risk and injury to ourselves and others I believe we need to start regulating and issuing licenses to all gas powered vehicles and bicycles who use public roads and public lands, and enforcing it by tickets to citizens from park rangers and police.

There is two ways I can think we can change this, one is going through the government lobbying for a change and getting laws passed so that on our driver’s license we will have it marked what type of vehicles we are qualified for whether it be mountain bike, road bike, 4 wheeler, dirt bike..etc. The other route we could take is through the private industry. We could petition the idea of insurance company’s providing classes on four wheeling, road bike safety etc. If we could prove that education on these inherently dangerous recreational activities lowers injuries and deaths then insurance companies would agree that it is in their best interest to educate their customers.

They could do this three ways, providing a lower insurance rate to those who have taken the courses, Making it mandatory for them to have taken the course in whichever activity they got hurt doing for their accident to be covered and finally the most ideal insurance company’s could save even more money if the courses were required by law since the expenses of implementing the idea would be on the government not them and since industry has a better hold on the laws passed they could lobby congress to pass laws requiring courses to be required.

What exactly do I have in mind for a course? Well it’s not some long expensive class like a regular drivers course. It would just be a simple 4 hour course similar to hunter’s safety. Once we are qualified we are qualified for life, this is a easy change and that four hours course could do wonders for the environment. Most environmental damage is done in negligence; we just aren’t educated on what is right and wrong. in a simple short course it could teach everything someone needs to know. Its just another benefit and selling feature for insurance companies to require the course that they care about the enverment and are being active in finding solutions to help. I should make it clear the first priority of the courses would be safety, how to handle the vehicles correctly and teaching right of way.

The road cycling course would cover simple maintenance like how to fix a flat tire, how to tune a brake and gears. Since cars have to work properly to use roads why would bikes be a exception? The course would also cover rules of the road, right of ways and the importance of helmets and protection. There’s a common saying among cyclists they say “share the road” I would say that is only half of a sentence the rest is “share the responsibility” Share the road, share the responsibility. If cyclists break traffic laws they should be held just as accountable as a motorized vehicle. With traffic tickets, mandatory lights and helmets.

Four wheelers, motorized dirt bikes and mountain bikes would have a course that would stress the importance of staying on the trail and inform the riders of the consequences of breaking that rule which would include the fine information and a explanation of the environmental damage it causes. It would also teach a few basic skills to improve riders off road skills. All of these could be taught together and under a off road vehicle course.

All in all there might be a few things in my argument that they could say should be changed or fiddled but I think as a whole we agree that a change needs to happen. Safety and the environmental are getting pushed to the side just because we are too lazy to give some initiative and change things, we need to get educated.

Just want to print my paper.

The library could be great place to get on a computer when you’re in a hurry to print something for a class, however it doesn’t even fulfill that one basic need. There’s nothing like being in a hurry to print off a assignment only to find out I have to give them a nickel or go downstairs to get my paper printed off. I don’t understand why they can’t figure out how to configure the system so I can use my print credits on the computers upstairs. I am positive I’m not the first student who has been late to a class because of this odd set up the library has. This needs to change I don’t know of a more important time for a student to want things to run smoothly at the school than the ten minutes you have to print off a major paper before its due for class. When things go wrong then you feel as if the worlds going to end. The Dixie State College should be doing everything they can to make it easy to find a printer and get assignments turn in on time.

Party at the Hazy.

I’m making the argument of the best place to study on campus. I am confidant you after reading this will agree with me, I am saddened however that in writing this I might give up my secret study spot to other students. The location lies inside the Udvar Hazy School of Business on the third floor by the north stairwell, there’s a door that goes outside onto a patio with about 20 chairs and a few tables. There’s also a grill out there but I have yet to get the courage to turn it on and cook something. This place is private and quite I have never had anyone go out on the patio while im studying. It has always been just me and the sunshine. Another plus is people watching the patio faces towards the cafeteria and the diagonal so you can see people walking around and no one ever knows you’re watching, yes that’s a little bit creepy but everyone knows it’s a fun distraction from studying to look at other people doing productive things. You might be worried that you can’t study in direct sunlight because it’s too bright but the way the patio’s positioned it almost always has some shade even during those hot months of school. I bare witness this patio is the most relaxing, quiet and entertaining spot to study on campus

Down East, Mormons and Women.

 The DownEast Tee.

               Shade Clothing, Down East Outfitters  and Knee Shorts just to name a few are Utah clothing company’s specially marketed towards Latter Day Saint women. Their success in business comes from a religious community or in other words niche group of people needing a specific need. This niche group’s need is to stay modest and follow their religious guide lines. They still however want to fit in with the rest of their community and to not stick out as different so they find ways to alter the trends at the time to fit in with their ideals. The clothing is however noticeably different than the average shirts and shorts found at department stores. It has a longer length to cover the midriff at all times and the neck line on the clothing is a lot higher than the average shirt. They also sell shorts that go down to the kneecap otherwise called bermuda’s to satisfy summer clothing needs for the latter day saints. In different communities the success is varied I lived in Provo Utah and the majority of women seemed to wear these brands constantly they were the “it” clothing and there was more Down East stores then the gap one of the world’s largest clothing company’s. Here in Saint George there are Down east stores but the majority of women don’t wear them on a daily basis. Provo Utah has a unique market where every one’s social ties are found in their religious communities. So the success of a company depends on how it's marketed towards that religious group.

The down east shirt symbolizes more than modesty it show’s a person’s religious views and what they value, and they value getting married to a returned missionary and having children. I am generalizing of course but I have yet to meet a girl that wears down east type clothing and doesn’t have latter day saint views and a determination to get married if they aren’t already. They wear down east shirts to provide modesty to dresses that would otherwise show off cleavage. During my last trip to the university mall in Provo Utah I saw a even newer and more blatant company called MODBOD their name itself means modest body. There’s even a shirt that cuts off right under the breasts and its only purpose is to provide modesty to other clothing.

I think these shirts are a cultural artifact because they are a perfect example of a everyday reminder of a religion and community. The people inside of this community don’t think anything is unique about the clothing and that is exactly what the company’s want they want. Their clothing to appear as normal as possible. The most successful modest clothing stores keep a distance from showing off that there whole purpose for being a store is to provide modest clothing to Mormons. They market themselves like a specialty boutique store and have sleek advertising. No one wants to go into a store knowing there only shopping there because their LDS and they have to wear modest clothing. They want to feel hip and with it, but if you look close most of the Latter Day Saint women dress a lot different than the average American.