Students Voice Their Problems with BYU

*written for my media writing class. Enjoy.

Students voiced their concerns with issues such as widespread campus closure for devotionals and the online financial website on Jan. 22, 2010.

“I think it’s wrong that workers in the Cougareat, for example, have to stop what they’re doing for an hour every Tuesday, yet if they wanted to watch General Conference, they wouldn’t be able to,” said Jennifer Tanner, 24, from Apache Junction, Ariz., a junior, majoring in linguistics.

Rebekah Hartshorn, 21, from Orem, Utah, a sophomore, majoring in history, said that that sometimes she gets hungry or has to run errands on Tuesday mornings. She sometimes just forgets that everything is closed, and ends up frustrated for having to wait an hour before being able to do anything.

Another problem several students said they face is BYU’s financial website. Tanner said she finds it hard to navigate and thinks the interface is confusing and not very user-friendly.

“It’s basically no help at all,” adds Guy Zimmerman, 24, from Pendleton, Oreg., a junior, majoring in Portuguese.

Zimmerman, sporting a growing beard, also said he had a huge issue with the shaving policy.

“I just want a beard,” Zimmerman said. “Is that too much to ask?”

Another issue that Zimmerman brought up was his problem with BYU contracted housing. He said he had never had a roommate from BYU before, and that if a BYU student has to sign with BYU approved housing, then BYU should be more stringent with who can live there.

Hartshorn, who lives at home, doesn’t have an issue with BYU housing but does certainly have a problem with rising textbook costs.

“I spent $300 for one class alone last semester,” Hartshorn said. “This semester I bought them online because it was much, much cheaper.”

So the highlight of my day was....

watching A Knight's Tale on my laptop while eating cookie dough ice cream. God, I need a life.

I Should Be Doing My Homework...

but who cares about that stuff, anyway?

So this weekend has been pretty fun so far, and it doesn't end tonight! Thanks goodness for good' ol Martin Luther King Jr, huh? Yesterday I went to the basketball game (we dominated) and to a dance (where I also dominated). Today was just your typical Sunday but Kailee made some really delicious Guatemalan food called paches (don't test me on how that is spelled) which were heartily enjoyable. Tomorrow I will finally put my Costco card to good use and get some lovely cleaning supplies and food in bulk. Yay. But my roomies are also going to have a girls' night tomorrow night, which to those of you who don't know the secret to a successful girls' night is a simple math equation. Chinese food + chick flick + ice cream + gossip = girl bonding time. That's all there is to it :)

On another note, I got called to have an interview for an RA position! It'll be on Thursday, and I'm kinda freakin out. From what I heard, it's supposed to be this way intense, 20+ minute thins where they ask deep probing questions and random scenarios that an RA might find herself in. I also have to prepare a 5 minute "Community Standards Meeting" where the interviewers will act like heathenistic children and try to rile me up. Joy. If anyone has any good interviewing tips, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, I'll let you know how bad it went afterwards.

Where the Wild Things Shouldn't Be - On a Movie Screen

Ok, I'll admit that it has been like 12 or so years since I first read that little gem of a children's book, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. But if I remember correctly, it is basically a ten page book where Max, some boy in a silly wolf costume, goes to a far off land, becomes king of the Wild Things, romps and plays with them for a bit, and then returns home. Now obviously in order to make this classic into a feature length film, it has to be expanded a bit. I get that. But the question is, should it have even been made into a movie at all?

When I saw this movie last Saturday at the dollar theater, I was pretty excited. It's a classic children's story, and I was hoping to escape into a cute little movie. Not so. Like at all. In fact, if I was a parent, I would not take my kid to see this movie. Most of the kids in the theater were flat out terrified or very very bored. And I was a bit, too, I have to admit. Where the Wild Things Are is a dark, psychological movie with themes and symbolism I never remembered hearing about from the book.

The visual effects were wonderful, I admit. And as a lover of "deeper meanings" and literary concepts, I could certainly appreciate the symbolism going on. (Carol = Max, KW = sister, the wild things all show a certain part of Max and his psycho personality, yada yada yada) But the overall quality of the movie just didn't work for me. It got really incredibly slow in the middle, almost to a point where I contemplated leaving (and I NEVER do that during a movie) and it catapulted into this angsty climax where nothing made sense and some bird's arm gets torn off. And he doesn't even care. (Actually that was my favorite line in the movie - "Hey that was my favorite arm!" I think some kids screamed at that part) I feel that the movie was trying to accomplish too much at once - trying to be both a children's movie and a deep thinking piece of art - that it was pretty much lackluster in both areas. Sorry. I know people loved this movie. But both Brittany and I walked out of that theater thinking that 1) that was the wierdest movie we'd ever seen and 2) we think we'll just stick to the book next time. Where no arms are ripped off and not everybody wants to eat each other.

I finally got my laptop back!

Happy '010 everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile, but I've been laptop-less for quite some time now. The weekend before finals I accidentally dropped it and the LCD screen broke. I just barely got it back. Thankfully I got the warranty my mom told me not to get. She obviously didn't realize that my clumsiness knows no bounds.

So a new semester has started. Christmas break was alot of fun; it was good to go back to good ol' Ohio and eat my favorite foods (I miss you Timmy!), see my friends and family, and just relax and not have to worry about anything. One of my favorite parts was iceskating in Fountain Square with some of my friends. Here's a picture of me, Allie, Emily, and Anna. Oh how I missed these chicas :)

I also got some pretty cool gifts - a Costco card, money, (500) Days of Summer DVD, a camera, and a pink Snuggie! Yay for the true meaning of Christmas.

So now I'm back at snowy cold Provo. My classes are Biology, Book of Mormon, Media Writing, Intro to Public Relations, Principles of Journalism, and Bowling. I like them all so far - all my Comms classes are really interesting and bowling is my second love after movies, food, and sleep, so you know, it's looking to be a good semester. And a good year :)