Love Rexburg

Have I mentioned I love love Love LovE LoVE LOVE Rexburg! And I feel your LOVE Rexburg! right back to me, oh yes I do. My life couldn't be any better.

So this morning I arose from my bright orange hammock hanging in exctasy between to white poles on the pleasant edge of the cottonwood courtyard, had a good scripture read, and headed off to the library at about 0745hrs after a good four hours of sleep to write 1,500 words, and edit 3,000 more before 1200hrs. In the library I proceed to write a good 1,500 scholary words. They flow out of my arms and onto the computer screen nearly free of air. They navigate the waters of definition of such complex terms as Justice and Freedom and cheerios, and proceed forth in such perfection that three hours later when all is written, I notice to my amazement that they need little editing, nearly none above a few typos. To my pleased amazement I format and turn in the paper. I edit the 3,000. I turn them in. Never in my life have I been able to write such a well-founded piece with no need for editing. I live to edit. Usually I edit my papers up to 5 or six times. Thats the way I write them. But not this one. I consider it a miracle from on high.

Especially considering that my predicament was not a result of procrastination only. The Saturday previous sickness had sit in. Sunday morning afternoon many bizarre dream hallucinations, body pains, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, I attend the 3 hours of church and return to my bed. I wasn't feeling well to say the least. No jam was held. That's saying alot. For the first time in about six months. I'm out cold from sunday to wednesday, at which point I think about getting better. About thursday I'm better. Friday I'm good. My teachers extended my finals till this morning for me. Thank you BYU-Idaho.

So, just in closing to this rather unusual rant (there many for things I could rant about which are causing me extreme joy), I'd like to say- I Love Rexburg.

Protests and Charities

So I though an update appropriate. I am currently involved in a handful of protests and my toes are in the door of a charity here and there.

The man in the apartment above me- Ziggy, they call him- yelled down to me the other day: "Let's start a revolution!" My heart leaped up and my hand slapped down on my old wooden stool as I vocalized agreement. By golly, you're on to something, pal. Ziggy, or Bradley, is preparing a sizable paper for submission to the city and school authorities. It advocates better bicycle rights. His comment on revolution was response to my article published last week. Colter Nattrass and Matthew Kiddle also wrote Letters to the Editor in response, calling for regulation reform.

College will be abused in the near future. Torn to shreads in similar fashion to those poor old boys of 1st West. If we don't remember our past, we will lose our future, said Ssimbwa of Uganda. That's the truth. College ave. is no place for enormous towers. Especially not when poleline road is undeveloped for miles. Build elsewhere- not on top of history. Keep Rexburg Real.

On that same note, I attended the chaotic feeding ceremony of Kiwi Loco this weekend, and they were immediately replaced onto the boycott list. Thousands of flavors and none of them come close to Mill Hollow. And its not Rexburgian. Go elsewhere. The King's Fort is no place for you. I don't want to place yogurt in my own cup.

Future Protest. The schools refusal to allow fund-raising. I'm unaware as to the motives as of yet: if they are good, which I assume they are, I will not protest, if they aren't, I will. Their policy was brought to my attention tonight at the viewing of Cultured Pearl: Voices from Uganda. The after party in the lobby. We talked and chitted and chatted about fund-raising. Brenna and her pal Lexi desired to form a group on campus for next semester, in hand with Invisible Children. Their previous fundraising attempts were shut down. Brother Piggot's was as well. Hence the showing of the documentary off campus at the cheap theatre. The why will be investigated.

I will be working with enoughtospare.org in the future, Piggot's site. Perhaps renovating it for him. I love volunteering. I could see Brenna's excitement.

Charity. Now that I am receiving some money for my photography I plan on donating 50 percent of the profits to charities supporting preventive measures. Preferably disaster prevention. If anybody know's of some, let me know.



That's it folks.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Get on your Bikes and Ride

Lately, many antagonistic statements towards bicycles and their riders have perpetrated my ear canals; this pains my heart and stings my soul. 

“Bikes are too fast and dangerous” to be on the sidewalks with pedestrians, but they are “too slow and distracting” to ride on the road with cars. Pedestrians argue to ban them from the sidewalks, and car drivers want them off the road.

Good logic and respect for history prompt me to argue the opposite: bicycles should be the sole means of transportation on the inner-city streets of Rexburg and campus sidewalks of BYU-Idaho. Pedestrians and automobiles should be banned. 

This being the day after our nations anniversary, it is prudent to recall the role the bicycle played in making America

Most of us slept through history class; I wrote stuff on my desk with silly puddy and mocked my teacher’s over-sized tunic-shirts. But that’s what the internet is for: to catch us back up. So regarding bicycle history, one blogger points out, “The bicycle, quite literally, paved the road for automobiles. The explosive popularity of the human-powered, two-wheeled vehicle sparked road construction across the Western world’s cities.” 

Starting with the velocifere of Count Mede de Sivrac and the Hobbyhorse of Baron Von Drais de Sauerbrun, the bicycle revolutionize the world. Evolving from its humble beginnings of intra-garden transportation to the elegant penny-farthing, a favorite of upper-classmen, to the modern cycles we enjoy now, the bicycle in all its many forms has proven implemental in American history. 

Bicycle travel got in with the in-crowd in the late 1800’s and rapidly grew in popularity in the U.S. from then on. So much so that from the 1870’s to 1920’s bicyclitiers of all sorts joined together in the Good Roads Movement, calling on the government to build better roads for inter-city travel. This resulted in the decision of New Jersey to participate in road-building projects, becoming the first state to ever do so.

The two-wheeled vehicle emancipated the amercain woman.“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel." said Susan B. Anthony. All of you girls enjoying comfortable clothes and free movement can thank bikes: they  cut a whole seven pounds of extra weight off from your garbs by providing women with a reason to free themselves of corsets and giant skirts.  

Also, those guys that flew that airplane back in 1903- they were bike mechanics.

So, that being said, should we support and promote the bicycle simply out of respect for the past? Nay. My argument extends to the present benefits provided by the modern bicycle.
The bicycle is the most efficient major form of land transportation in the modern world. “It takes less energy to bicycle one mile than it takes to walk a mile. In fact, a bicycle can be up to 5 times more efficient than walking,” and many times more efficient than cars, says www.exploratorium.edu.. You can play with your suped-up 5.0 liter V-12 engine with hemi’s, and you can fill it up for $4 a gallon with all the gasoline this earth retains, but I’ll take my bike, I’ll fill power it with my own two legs, some local collard greens, and my momma’s granola.  Let me repeat. Cycling is more efficient than all other major forms of on land transportation, including, walking, carpooling, trains, and even horseback riding.

I do not stand alone. Nation wide a trend strengthens. It grew out of a dream. A town is in production in South Carolina. A car-free town, with sustainable places for people to live, and to work, and to play. They call it Bicycle City. It is the first of its kind, but many more will follow, popping up all around the American countryside. This is the future of happiness.
The bicycle made America. Picture America without highways, without planes, and without women’s rights. If you can, then go ahead, get rid of the two-wheeled menaces; ban them from the sidewalks, and the roads, and from all places but the garage. Kick Mrs. Anthony out of the voting booth, throw the plane out of the sky, and toss the unsustainable resources of our gifted home atop the fire.  But if you can’t, then let them stay, let them stay alone, to ride on the roads that they paved and the sidewalks that they once owned.

It is as Goldy Locks said: cars are too fast, walking is too slow- bikes are just right.