Applications available for 2012 Legislative Intern program

Interested in politics and/or journalism? Want to learn about the legislative process through a hands-on experience while tracking bills and interacting with lobbyists, legislators, community activists, and others? Join the Mestizo Arts & Activism legislative internship where you can do all this, and possibly even earn high school credit (depending on your school).

The Mestizo Arts & Activism Legislative Internship Program provides high school students with a hands-on working and learning opportunity in a legislative environment. Students learn leadership responsibilities and develop an in-depth understanding of both formal and informal aspects of the legislative process. Students work with faculty and students from the University of Utah Honors College who will mentor them as they identify and track bills, work with community groups, write policy analysis briefs and journalism stories, and participate in committee meetings and other aspects of the legislative process. Student interns participate in bill analysis and tracking, spot and in-depth research, drafting of position statements, liaison work, and lobbying.

Student interns will meet at the capital on a regular basis during the legislative session from 9:00-10:30 am weekdays (this falls in the 2nd period slot for most schools in the Salt Lake Valley, so students will need to make arrangements for work release or an intern credit with their schools. We can assist with this if we do not already have something arranged with your school). Students may also need to attend specific committee meetings at 8:00 am or 2:00 pm as scheduled (as permitted by their regular school schedule). In addition they may also be required to attend community meetings or other community events as they relate to the bills that the student interns are tracking.

For more information, please contact Matt Bradley (mattbradley@honors.utah.edu, 792-5917)

Maa Legislative Intern App

Qur'an Burning in March and SLC's response by Amber Smith

In response to pastor Perry Jones’ horrific burning of the Qur’an in March, the Salt Lake community is stepping up. Throughout this week the Wasatch Presbyterian Church in partnership with the King’s English Bookstore has distributed over seventy free Qur’ans, the holy book of Islam, to our community.
Included with the book is a bookmark which states, “This book was donated by the leaders of Wasatch Presbyterian Church who are not afraid of truth wherever it can be found”. Also included were handouts from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community which explained the peaceful nature of Islam. Anna Holman, the general manager of the King’s English Bookstore, said distribution of these books is a crucial way to participate in our community and promote understanding. I think this is an inspirational example of religious pluralism and “loving one another”.
This Salt Lake event couldn’t have been timed better either. Isn’t it ironic that the distribution of free Qur’ans in our community occurred the same week as the death of Osama Bin Laden? Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda’s cruel acts of terrorism can be blamed for the powerful intolerance of Islam in the United States today. Under the direction of this Muslim man thousands of American’s lost their lives.
On the other hand, killing Bin Laden will not end our wars, will not cause radical Islam to end, and will not teach our children religious tolerance. Rather, I believe, it will teach future generations that “an eye for an eye” is justice. Are we really just in our patriotic anti-Islamic celebrations that have dominated our T.V. screens this week?
In my opinion, this invitation to seek truth within the Qur’an by Wasatch Presbyterian Chirch is the best way to celebrate this “victory” and is the most important step to ending our conflicts with the Middle East. As Obama said following the death of the Al-Qaeda leader, “We are not at war with Islam”.

An Introduction to Minor’s Rights in Medical Decision Making: Mature Minor By Brianna Lewis

In 2003, a Utah boy named Parker Jensen was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. Since he was only 12 at the time, it was up to his parents and doctors to decide his medical treatment. While doctors recommended chemotherapy following surgery, the parents firmly said no. This disagreement escalated to an all out court war between the state of Utah, by request of the physicians, and the parents of Parker Jensen. The state determined that Parker should be taken into protective custody where he could be given the treatment that his parents were withholding from him. Angry and frustrated with the court’s decision, the Jensen family packed up and moved out of Utah. Years later, the state dropped the case after seeing Parker with no ill effects from the lack of treatment.

My personal interest in the medical rights of minors started after reading the Jody Picolt book “My Sister’s Keeper”. In this story, a family with two daughters, one sick with cancer, wants the healthy daughter to donate an organ to her sick sister. For many reasons, the healthy daughter refuses. This disagreement between daughter and parents goes so far as to become a court case. In the book, the court determines that the parents are too invested in the one daughter’s problem (cancer) and that they are not making the wisest decisions for the healthy daughter. Therefore, the court appoints a non-related person to make the healthy daughter’s medical decisions.

The main question in these cases is, where do the rights of the state overrule the rights of the parents? An underlying issue is, when does a minor have the right to make medical decisions for themselves. Whether a minor is allowed to make these decisions on their own is ultimately up to the state, but is always determined based on the minor’s maturity level. I believe that this is good compromise between minors’ rights and those of their parents or the government. It allows for a medical decision to be made/reviewed by several parties, leading to a possibly more favorable outcome.

Finding Family in Gangs, by Gaby Rodriguez

Young people today face different challenges than the ones their parents had to face. Some daily challenges they face are: staying away from sex, drugs, and alcohol, and above all, gangs.
Gangs have become one of the biggest problems the youth of Rose Park, SLC face in their daily life. Sometimes, you don’t need to be a part of a gang to be affected by gang activity. Dressing like a gang member or wearing a gang color can cost you your life. You could be jumped, assaulted in drive-by, or simply harassed.
The dictionary’s definition of a gang is three or more individuals that associate themselves with a color or sign. Society criticizes individuals involved in gangs, but we don’t realize that behind their involvement lies a story that caused them to find a sanctuary in gangs. From my experience growing up in Rose Park I’ve seen many gang members come from minority groups that either live in a low-income areas, or belong to a conflicted family.
I interviewed kids at West High that are involved in, or associated with gang activity. I asked them what they thought the main reason was that would cause someone to consider joining a gang. They expressed to me, “that a gang is like a family, they protect you.” The sense of family is something I think a lot of gang members like about the gang life. In gangs, along with the protection also comes the risks, but the consequences are something these kids in gangs have a clear vision of. If anyone desires to leave the gang life, their ticket out just might be there life. Even though the consequences of gangs are very severe, youth prefer the family protection feeling than taking the risk of not being in a gang. I think they prefer the risk because they don’t know what it’s like having family and when they join a gang they discover that feeling.
A recent Salt Lake Tribune article stated that right now there are 4,000 registered gang members in the Salt Lake area. In 2010 there were 3 gang-related homicides and in 2009 there were 5. Gang-related homicide is a serious issue that has to be addressed. Kids in Salt Lake are losing their lives because of their involvement in gangs. If we want to see growth and positive changes in our community, we should promote different ways for youth to identify themselves, rather than joining a gang. These young people deserve a chance to see the world in a different way and they deserve the opportunity to succeed in life.

http://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/gangs/summary.html

"Friday" media portrayal

Hey everybody guess what! Apparently it's now awesome to be awful! At least that's the case for thirteen year old "pop start sensation" Rebecca Black and her infamous "Friday" song. After Daniel Tosh posted her song on his Tosh.0 blog it caught the media's attention which sparked its popularity. The message of Rebecca Black’s song leaves only one question to ask ourselves, What has our society come to?

Pop has been criticized for sounding similar, however I think "Friday" definitely reached a new low. We've gone from lyrics like "I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been to sit with elders of gentle race" by Led Zeppelin to lyrics like these "Yesterday was Thursday, today it is Friday, tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards,” by Rebecca Black. If I do recall correctly, I listened to songs about the days and weekend on a show called Sesame Street.


It is sad to see that people no longer become famous for being talented but instead for being exactly the opposite. To be fair, we shouldn't blame the media's craze on a thirteen-year-old girl. Realistically, any other privileged thirteen year old could easily be target by the media. So I believe that it is unfair and unrealistic to blame this on Black. After all, our society proved that as long as you have a computer, money, or a video camera then you too could become the next big thing.

After viewing the music video, it was apparent to me that the underlying messages were not only stereotypical but also very obvious. The first thing that I MUST point out is the fact that the children driving this convertible are probably not any older than Rebecca's age, which is three years younger than the legal driving age. But that’s not the only thing wrong with that image. Did anyone else notice that these kids are driving a convertible? Thirteen year olds driving a CONVERTIBLE... Hmm sketchy. No wonder in today’s society there is an urging need among teens to look older.
Last time I checked, you never saw 13 year olds portraying high school students in movies probably because they only showcase twenty year olds as high school teenagers. Throughout the video, Rebecca sings about “Getting down on Friday” and the video went as far as to show Black at a “party” singing on stage, objectifying her and placing herself above everyone else. Are these truly the type of images we want to exploit to young viewers?

Another very disturbing and stereotypical aspect of this video was the fact that they showcased the only African American in the video as a male rapping about “getting down on Friday”. If the actual image of watching a 30-year-old rapping along to a 13 year olds’ cheesy song is not disturbing enough then what is?
Also, has anyone else noticed that songs and music videos in today’s culture only portray black males as rappers? Of course, to make my point clear, I don’t have anything against talented rappers but it’s interesting to see that the media stereotypical portrayal of African Americans as rappers. As if this is the only role they could have in society.

Our society has come to such extremes that thirteen-year-old girls or even younger must view themselves as teenaged, privileged sex symbols as an actual way to gain popularity. And, this always seems to lead us back to the media that ultimately targets the young population. But if we allow these images to be accepted and adapted into our society we set these standards or images of what is accepted.

Personally it is truly horrifying to see that the music industry is in such bad terms. I think that future generations will view the objectification of young girls as horrendous. In all seriousness, what will future generations think of us? We are a generation in which our "role models" strip almost every piece of clothing on TV, a generation in which women are mostly seen as sex symbols, a generation derived not only by the media but also by the rich, a generation where you are targeted not by your intellect, but mostly and almost always on your looks.

Racism at Alta High School, by Amy Novoa

During my elementary school years, in Kearns Utah, I remember waking up in the mornings and looking outside during the wintertime to see a strange “X” grafted into the snow on our front lawn. I asked my mother, “What is that? Who did that?” Her only response was, “It wasn't us.” She didn’t explain what the Swastika meant, or why it was on our lawn multiple mornings during that winter.Was that an act of racism?

In Sandy, Utah, at a recent Spirit Bowl Assembly at Alta High School, a bi-racial student, Larz Cosby, was taunted by a classmate wearing a white suit and a KKK hat. Cosby told the kid with the KKK hat to take it off. The kid jumped around him and continued taunting him. Cosby took the hood off from his head and threw it behind him. The administration didn't attempt to stop him from taunting Cosby until he stepped onto the basketball court and started "heiling" Hitler. Larz Cosby posted a blog on the internet where he explained the incident, reflections from past experiences, and also mentions the talks he has had with his family about racism. "Who in their right mind would plan to blatantly enforce their hate for others in a large gathering in a public school? How is it a joke? How is that funny?" Cosby asked on his blog. I agree, this is not a joke, it is not funny. The goals of the Klu Klux Klan consist of racial segregation and white supremacy. The KKK is a group of hate; hate is shown through jokes, humiliation, etc. This is what the classmate was doing. Cosby says, "If your child has to attend Alta High School and they are nonwhite just know that the chances of being treated unethically are very high."
We have a long way to go for equality.

The blog post has received over 1,000 comments. Out of 1,000 comments, over 500 were violent and racially offensive. A comment posted by a person using the username “the real kkk member” says: “take the tampon out, because if this was a kkk deal you would’ve been wrapped in barbed wire, beat with a bat, dragged behind a car, and shot in the head.” Many of these types of comments were posted by students from Alta High School.

Does a murderous act have to take place in order for it to be considered racism?
Why do people consider racism as only physical abuse? Racism can be any type of aggression towards an individual based on that persons race that can affect them mentally or physically. Physical damage might be more obvious than mental damage, but they are both hurtful.

As a young child I saw different shades of skin color, but I never saw superiority vs. inferiority. I grew up playing with many diverse kids in a diverse neighborhood without racial hate. How did I begin to classify racism if I didn’t have an exact definition? After the incident of the Swastika grafted into my lawn, I started observing people's differences like; skin color, or the language's they spoke. We are used to defining racism as words, or actions like "nigger," but we don’t talk about the institutional racism that students and everyone experiences from work or teachers. A teacher once pulled me out of an advanced placement class because I was obviously one of the few minorities in the class, so I was seen as incapable of succeeding in the class. Our administrators need to be more aware of the issues going on in our school in order to prevent these incidents from occurring and not only promote awareness, but also equality. Race is something humans invented. Ethnicity is what is in our blood as humans. We are all of the same race, the human race.

Women in Islam, by Amber Smith

A major concern about Islam from the western world is that an Islamic woman is oppressed. Many westerners view the fabric on her head as a human rights violation, without really understanding the veil’s meaning. At East High school, I sometimes hear slurs about Muslim women supported by hurtful misconceptions; it makes me sad to hear such ignorance.

The first, and one of the largest, misconceptions about a women’s veil is that it is required. Islam the religion does not force a woman to cover herself, although the cultural traditions and the society she lives in might. I recognize that some authoritarian Islamic nations commit multiple human rights violations, but I would like to define how the doctrine of Islam differentiates from these societies. Veiled women today are associated with alienation or fundamentalism, and are looked upon with pity by “liberated women”. The veil in reality is a measure to maintain modesty and a symbol of devotion to Allah.

The Quran says:

"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw upon them their over-garments. That is more appropriate so that they may be recognized and not molested." [Quran 33: 59]. Notice this verse says “recognized and not molested”.

The veil is worn to protect women from being considered sexual objects and to demand respect as the intelligent individuals they are.

Islamweb.com describes this well:

“Why does one need to show a semi-clad woman in a car's advertisement? Why do we not see a veiled woman? In the first case, because the advertisers are trying to sell the image of the woman with the car. Unconsciously, you buy the car wishing it will provide you with such a "babe." In the second case, the woman has refused to be treated as an object for trade and has worn the veil, a sign of dignity rather than humiliation.” (www.islamweb.net).

Last year my friend from the United Arab Emirates and I discussed her veil. She flicked her veil as if it were so insignificant and expressed to me that it was just a piece of fabric, not an oppressor. When she removed it and unleashed her beautiful dark curls, I better understood why the veil protected her from unwanted male attention.

Other misconceptions include that Muslim women can’t inherit property (they can), can’t keep their name (the practice of adopting the males last name actually came from England), and that the veil must be worn at all times (it is only worn in the presence of males outside of the family).

This week I had the privilege to speak with Imam Shuaib Din from the Utah Islamic Center about the significance of women in Islam. He explained to me that women are “highly respected and honored” because they have the ability to “fulfill the important role in society that makes life complete and whole”. He also explained to me that Islamic women are encouraged to get an education, but are privileged because they have the “right to refuse work”. By this he means that it is the man’s job is to provide for the family, but if I woman desires to also seek a career, she may, as long as it does not prevent her from fulfilling her duties within the family.

Islam is not the only religion to request women to wear veils either. For example, this quote from the bible states in is a disgrace for a woman to pray without her head covered.

“Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered disgraces his head. But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head” [1 Corinthians 11:14-15].

Mr. Din also explained that unlike Christianity, Islam does not blame Eve for tempting Adam with the forbidden fruit. In Islam, it is said that the devil caused both man and woman to sin.

Next time you see a veiled woman in the car next to you or checking out at the store, don’t pity of fear her. In my opinion, oppressive societies and governments abuse the Muslim woman, but the oppression is not justified through Islam as a religious philosophy. In Islam, women are “spiritually equal (to men) in the sight of god” (Imam Shuaib Din).