Blog

Solitude Billboard

Do you ever have the feeling that there isn’t enough time in life to do all the things you want to do? Lately, as I’ve been learning more and more about economics, inequalities, and corruption in government and throughout the world, I have been feeling outraged and saddened. How do you choose what battles to fight? Everything about our current state of being is heavily influenced by the power in the hands of a few. Everything from what food we eat to what clothes we wear to how we conceptualize our existence.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “…governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

As my days tick by, and my heart beats a numbered beat, and September dissolves into October, I feel this sense of urgency, like we must quickly organize and take action to shape our world into a place where future generations can survive and flourish—for my unborn children, and their children. I fear we are headed on a path to destruction. My heart and my mind races as I contemplate my next move.

They say that ignorance is bliss and knowledge is power. However, as I go about my studies, on the continued path to intellectual enlightenment, I feel depressed and powerless. I feel that government is no longer a problem solving tool and this “experiment in democracy” that our founding fathers started is really a disguise for global domination. Conspiracy theories start to make sense to explain the current state of our nation. Sometimes, I really don’t know how to deal with this wealth of information at my fingertips. Part of me misses the blissful days of elementary school US History class, where we never learned about the Mexican-American War, and never spoke of Native American massacres.

So anyway, enough on that random tangent. On another note, keep your eyes peeled around the Salt Lake Valley for Solitude’s billboards. Here’s the one that I’m on:

Solitude billboard

Hinckley Institute of Politics, Recent Forums

My American National Government class professor, Tim Chambless, has been encouraging all of his students (with extra credit points) to attend many of the forums as the Hinckley Institute of Politics on campus.

As an aspiring politician and lawyer, I’ve been trying to attend as many as possible.  On Monday this week, I attended one on the current national (and global) economic situation.  The official title was “Views on the Current Financial Crisis: Depression, Panic or Bump in the Road?”

The discussion panel included Hans Ehrbar, an associate professor of economics at the U who holds a Ph.D. in both math and economics, Lance Girton, another professor and former staff economist at the Board of Governors for the Fedreal Reserve, and Tishun Deng, the chief China strategist at Goldman Sachs.

Overall, the debate was lively and incredibly informative.  Up until this point, I had been convinced that the $700 billion government bailout was necessary in order to prevent another Great Depression.

However, Hans offered a great perspective.  He urged us to look at this crisis in conjuncture with another looming crisis, the mother of all crises, climate change.  He thinks we should be engaged in a crash program switching to mass transportation and energy consumption.  It’s not being done because in our economy, such a switch is too painful.  But we cannot continue on a path of high fossil fuel usage.  We need to respond to climate change.  We are heading to other environmental breaking points: overfishing, food insecurity, natural disasters, diseases.  The financial crisis is only one of a series we are facing in the next decades.  We need to embrace this partial breakdown instead of resisting it and use taxpayer money to jumpstart the economy in the right direction with renewable energy.  If the Wall Street assets are so complicated that they can’t be regulated, they must be wiped out.  The debt overhang is depressing our economic activity.  We must reform politics to include: single payer health care, bankruptcy reform, green job initiates, public funding for renewable energy research, nationalized reform for businesses that are to big to fail, and electrification of our railroads.  This is what we should do we the $700 billion dollars instead of throwing good money down the drain.  This partial breakdown is our only change to remove barriers for the next generation.

For me, I really enjoyed getting a fresh perspective on this and was surprised to hear this from an economist.  Stay tuned for more updates from these lively debates and discussions.

Snowflakes and Roller Skating

This past week I managed to sneak up to Alta and Snowbird to meet with the resorts, show off some pictures, and check out the snowfall on Monday morning.  On the drive up at 8:30 am, it was dumping.

IMG_3515

Go get your season pass!

IMG_3520

IMG_3522

“If all the snowflakes
Were candy bars and milkshakes
Oh, what a snow that would be!
Standing outside, with my mouth open wide
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
If all the snowflakes
Were candy bars and milkshakes
Oh, what a snow that would be!”

However, it warmed up quickly and by the time I left around noon, here’s what it looked like outside:

IMG_3528

IMG_3536

The rest of the week I spent doing copious amounts of homework.  I’m taking 17-credit-hours this semester at the U of U.

Here’s what I’m taking:

Labor Economics

American National Government

Evolution of the Human Diet

World Prehistory

Quantitative Analysis

Acting for Film/TV

It’s a heavy load.  I still managed to find time to go roller skating on Friday night at Classic Skating in Orem.  I love to get dressed up!  To me, life is just one big costume party.

IMG_3551 IMG_3557

IMG_3556

Snowbird National Ad Campaign

Be sure to pick up a copy of Powder or Skiing to check out Snowbird’s national ad campaign.

Skiing mag IMG_3479

Snowbird shot crop

This is a Brent Benson shot of me taken in mid-January at a top-secret spot at the ‘bird.  I like how it looks like it was taken from a ladder or helicopter.  I am so stoked that Snowbird decided to run it because it might be one of my favorite shots of all time.

My new box!

So anyone who knows me and has ridden in my car realizes that I am prepared for anything.  Whether it’s rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, or hucking myself into the pool at the water ramps, I like to have everything I could possibly need in my car…which tends to be a problem sometimes, especially when I decide I want to carpool with people, and I have to move around the ten pairs of shoes, skis, helmets, gloves, and other crap I have floating around in the back or my car.

Solution: a giant Thule cargo box, so I can put everything up top!  Pictured below is the Thule Atlantic 1800.  This sick puppy can hold 6-8 pairs of skis and can be opened from either side.  As you will see, I could even sleep (comfortably) in the thing.  Needless to say, I am STOKED.

IMG_3507

IMG_3509

Now, I will be able to transport all my friends and their skis to and fro the mountains and have an entire wardrobe at my disposal so I can go anywhere, anytime.  It’s a perfection organizational solution for a wild girl who’s constantly on the go.