OGDEN, Utah, April 9, 2007 - The WSU Honors Program has organized a two-week-long book drive with the goal of collecting 1,000 books for Weber County Jail and the Ogden Rescue Mission.
“Reading is most definitely an enriching part of anyone’s life,” said Carlie Sitzman, chair of the Honors Service Committee at WSU. “I think that with this book drive, we can provide people with the opportunity to enjoy books when they might not otherwise have access to them.”
With about 300 books already donated, their goal is within reach. Organizers say that more books are needed, and they have placed collection boxes around campus as well as at the Deseret Book Store at 4151 S. Riverdale Rd., Riverdale, and Smith’s at 1485 Harrison Blvd., Ogden.
The Inmate Service Program at Weber County Jail said inmates are interested in reading mostly English books for men, but those for women and Spanish books are also welcome. The jail is seeking novels such as fantasy, mystery, suspense, sci-fi, and western fiction.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 85 percent of Utah’s inmates in 2005 were men. Utah’s justice system stands out because nearly 60 percent of inmates were held in local jails compared with only 37 percent of inmates nationwide. Organizers say local help is therefore crucial to inmate rehabilitation.
The need for community involvement is great, the Utah Department of Corrections asserts on its website, and the State must focus on rehabilitating inmates for re-entry into the community. The department says that over 95 percent of inmates will eventually re-enter the community.
“We must habilitate, teach the behavior, that is the societal norm, before we can rehabilitate,” said Charles Stuart, founder and president of the National Incarcerated Parents and Families Network. “What we fail sometimes to realize is that the offender has never learned [normal] behavior from the start.”
Stuart said books are an important tool in the effort to reform inmates. “I strongly believe that knowledge is the key to habilitating offenders.” Regarding the book drive, he told the organizers, “I commend you and Weber State for your efforts in supplying this knowledge and tool. Through books, you are making a difference.”
The Ogden Rescue Mission is accepting any type of book with the exception of encyclopedias and magazines. As stated on its website, the mission aims to give “peace, hope, and love” to the needy through rehabilitation services, 100,000 meals per year, chapel services, and free health care at the Seager Memorial Clinic. The organization also provides needy families with food, clothing, and other items.
Counseling services provide the additional service of helping people learn “to serve God and others instead of just themselves.”
Sitzman hopes the book drive will have a similar effect. “When a person is having trials in her life, it is my hope that being able to pick up a book and read will not only brighten her day but also inspire her to become a positive force in the world.”
The book drive will end on Friday, April 13. Anyone who would like to donate books may call the WSU Honors Service Committee at 801-430-0635 for more information.
OGDEN, Utah, March 22, 2007 - The novel idea of “crowdsourcing” is making waves across the country this week, but if it catches on, a search on Google may someday pull up anyone’s driving record, criminal history, and more.
Crowdsourcing is a form of journalism in which many people cooperate online to write news articles. It is a very powerful form of mass collaboration, and the world is starting to notice. Unfortunately, the practice could someday threaten the privacy of every citizen because the nature of mass collaboration and modern journalism may not be compatible unless journalists take enough personal responsibility to protect the sensitive records of individuals.
A modern community journalist writes articles based on extensive research through large databases of information compiled over many years. The most valuable journalist databases include primary documents. These are original documents, such as tax records, that are generated by authoritative sources.
A common newspaper’s database contains many types of primary documents on governments, businesses, and individuals. Many of these databases may even hold information about everyday citizens that one would consider private or strictly confidential.
Governments often release sensitive, “protected” information to the media in order for journalists to research an issue for the public good. On the other hand, if this information is placed online, anyone will be able to search through vast databases of confidential information about anyone else.
The gold rush of mass collaboration
Similar efforts in mass collaboration include Wikipedia, the largest free online encyclopedia. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. Edited by millions of users, Wikipedia’s 6.8 million articles in 250 languages are almost as accurate as the professionally published Encyclopedia Britannica.
The primary downside of mass-collaboration strategy is the practice of placing colossal databases of information online and making them publicly accessible. Many businesses are now placing once-proprietary information on the Internet in order to leverage such a strategy.
Businesses such as GoldCorp have used online mass-collaboration efforts for abundant financial gain, but at the loss of valuable business trade secrets. According to the book “Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything,” authors Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams report that GoldCorp was a struggling business a few years back until drastic decision-making by management altered the company’s course.
Placing 400 megabytes of its once-proprietary gold-mining information online, the authors write, the company organized a contest to reward anyone who could predict valuable gold deposits by analyzing its geological data. GoldCorp’s effort rapidly surpassed its initial goals and has already resulted in the discovery of over $3 billion worth of new gold deposits, largely due to the power of online mass collaboration.
GoldCorp’s highly regarded success is proof that mass collaboration works very effectively at bringing in large profits at minimal expense as individuals around the world are empowered to solve complex business problems. The strategy opens up a world of enormous profit potential for savvy entrepreneurs.
The age of mass collaboration has already changed several industries, and it will probably change the field of journalism forever. Meanwhile, if journalists in massively collaborative efforts do not act responsibly, the Internet could be converted into an Orwellian nightmare.
(Image credit: Bob. Some rights reserved.)
The Weber State University men’s basketball season has just concluded and already head coach Randy Rahe is being contacted by other universities as possible candaites to take over their men’s basketball program.
The University of Wyoming has asked Weber States permission to talk to Rahe and Weber State has given Wyoming their blessing.
In Rahe first season as the Wildcats head coach, he turned the program around winning the Big Sky Conference Championship as well as an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament as a no. 15 seed.
The Wildcats were unsuccessful in their quest of upsetting the no. 2 seed UCLA Bruins.
It has also been rumored that Rahe may be considered for the University of Utah as well as Colorado State University’s head coaching position.
Andrew Aragon of the Salt Lake Tribune confirmed with Rahe that Wyoming is indeed interested in his services.
After such a memorable 2006-07 season, the Wildcat faithful should be a little nervous of Wyoming’s courting of Rahe.
Wyoming is a much bigger school playing in a much better conference. Opportunities like these do not come around very often.
With only three Wildcat players leaving due to graduation and a few new players next year joining the team that can make an immediate impact according to the Wildcat coaching staff.
After Joe Cravens was fired in 2006, only two players returned to the Wildcat bench. Rahe and his coaching staff brought together a team of junior college recruits as well as other college transfers to make up what was the 2007 Big Sky Champions.
Can lightning strike in the same place twice? Sure it can, but will it? Lets hope Rahe sticks around so we don’t have to find out.
OGDEN, Utah, March 14, 2007 - Despite an audience more sparsely populated than usual, last Thursday night’s Honors talent show gathered performances as varied as Mozart, Christian pop music, a cover of Jimi Hendrix, a harpsichord-viol duet, and more.
Pianist Carlie Sitzman opened with Mozart’s beautiful “Moonlight Sonata” to abundant applause. She is a double-major in Architectural Design Graphics Engineering and German and a senior in the Honors Program at Weber State University.
A Christian songwriter and pianist from Liberty Christian Church in Layton then played a few works of uplifting Christian pop music.
Cristine Jennings arrived toting her viola da gamba, or “viol,” the head of which portrays a carving of Dante’s visage. With WSU senior Paul Edward Clayton on the harpsichord, Jennings played a duo from J. S. Bach’s Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Keyboard No. 2 in D major.
The viol’s soft sound was brighter than a cello and mellower than a violin. The duo’s harmonic sonance gently lit up the room “like butterflies dancing on a pond,” said Sitzman.
Jennings is a WSU graduate, a staff member in the Math Tutoring Center, and an adjunct instructor in the Geosciences and Physics Departments. “It’s an honor for me to be a part of this program,” she said. “I was really impressed with everyone.”
Moving from the harpsichord to the piano, Clayton proceeded to introduce and play Romantic-era selections from Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s Opus 17, a collection of short songs and dances. With each number, Clayton’s exact finesse recreated the emotion and setting of a lighthearted Norwegian folk tune. He is a member of the University Honors Program and an English major with a Creative Writing emphasis.
Stuart Child, a member of the band “Busted Child,” played three songs: “Mistake” and “Desideratum” by Child and bassist Tyler Nickl and “Blind Date” by Child. His smiling, energetic, fun-loving style beamed joy into the audience as he poured his heart and soul into his electric acoustic guitar. The humorous lyrics of the song “Blind Date” prompted frolicsome laughter from the audience.
Local band “Skinny Bob and the Blue Dawgs” debuted Thursday night. They performed covers of “The Sky is Crying,” originally played by Elmore James, “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, “Lay Down Sally” by Eric Clapton, “Pride and Joy” by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and “Move it on Over,” initially written by Hank Williams.
As an encore, the band executed a stunning rendition of “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. A guitarist for 43 years, Robert Barney, alias “Skinny Bob,” even played with his teeth at one point, a feat reminiscent of Hendrix himself.
Barney is an English major and a co-minor of Music and Communications at WSU. He has written several original works, including the album “Storm Haven,” recorded in Hollywood, Calif. in 1992.
The “Blue Dawgs” include bass guitarist Rusty Larson, pianist Zoltan Vegvari, and drummer Darren Ewing. Barney and Larson are both songwriters. “I’ve written hundreds of songs,” Larson said. “That’s my gift.” He became a bass guitarist because most of the bands he has joined needed one.
Regarding the band’s excellent performance that evening, Larson said, “I praise the Lord to be a part of that experience.”
Ewing is a student in the Honors BIS program with emphases on Communications, Multimedia, and Theater. He also works for the Salt Lake Tribune in multimedia and web development.
29-year-old Vegvari’s elite piano skills, along with Barney’s guitar expertise, repeatedly drew spontaneous applause. Vegvari said, “I’ve been playing since I was 12. I love to get together with people and just jam.”
Skinny Bob and the Blue Dawgs will be playing in Ogden at Angelo’s on 130 25th St. from April 13 to 14 at 9pm. They will also play at the Rock Bottom club at 317 Washington Blvd. on March 30 starting at 8:30pm.
The melting snow has uncovered a semi-serious problem on the north end of Building Three. A pile of soggy cigarette butts lie at the base of a favorite spot for smokers. There are other places with old cigarettes, to be sure, but it would be difficult to find one that rivaled it in both size and proximity to classrooms. Not only is this littering, but the pile’s located about five feet from a sign that prohibits smoking within 25 feet of the building.
“It’s too bad that people disrespect the building like that,” Weber State University student Nichole Leigh said. Other students have noticed the smoking problem and agree with her. They have also noticed that it is not just students doing the smoking.
There are several courses of action that can be taken. If Weber State decides that enforcing the smoking restriction would be unrealistic, then they could provide ash trays for easier clean up. Either way, it’s something that needs to be addressed; the sooner the better.
OGDEN, Utah, March 2, 2007 - WSU Honors students Clayton David Gerrard and Paul Edward Clayton have both received notice that their works will be published in the 2007 Edition of Scribendi magazine.
Clayton received official notice last week that his mid-length poem, “ambulatory peregrinations,” will be published this spring. The work is part of a poem cycle he is writing entitled “Orphan at 27.”
Scribendi asked him to make several changes prior to publication. His poem is unmistakably set in Norway. Clayton said, “I combined an English word ‘glisten’ with the Norwegian word ‘glitrer’ to create ‘glister,’ which gave a much better sound to the line than ‘glisten.’ The context makes the meaning clear.”
After pointing this out, the editor said the poem will be published as originally submitted.
Gerrard’s short story was also selected for publication. “Jenny” is a tale of a four-year-old girl. Gerrard said, “All she wants is her daddy’s attention, but she cannot get it. She has to pretend to be something she’s not in order to get it.”
There was one difficulty with his story’s publication as well. “I tried to make the dialog true to northern Utah colloquialisms. They wanted it grammatically accurate, but I said ‘No.’” The magazine’s staff deferred to his experience.
The 22-year-old literary magazine published only 10 works of prose and 15 poems last year. The 320 submissions to Scribendi this year are limited to University Honors undergraduates. Gerrard and Clayton are friends and seniors in WSU’s University Honors Program. Gerrard is an English major, and Clayton is an English major with a Creative Writing emphasis.
The University Honors Program “has made my time here at WSU much more meaningful,” said Clayton. “In Honors, I’ve met some of the most brilliant minds on campus—both students and faculty—and those associations have been very helpful.”
Gerrard said, “I’m honored to be published with my friend Paul.”
The 2007 Edition of Scribendi will be introduced at the Western Regional Honors Council Conference in Fullerton, Calif. on April 12.
Scribendi is a publication of University of New Mexico’s Honors Program. It accepts several hundred submissions per year from 220 accredited schools in 11 western states. Last year, the magazine published 48 works of art, including digital art, essays, photography, poetry, short fiction, and visual art.
Editor’s note: Michael Fisher is also enrolled in the University Honors Program at WSU.
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