Heaven help Haiti

I'm so sad to hear about the devastation in Haiti after the earthquake this morning. The pictures in the media are heartbreaking. A poor country already with so many challenges will now have to face additional burdens. I'm so sorry for the people of Haiti and plan to make a contribution to LDS Humanitarian Services which is already underway sending help. The death toll will probably be staggering, along with suffering and loss of services and basic necessities that will follow for months if not years. My heart goes out to those poor, suffering people in Haiti and I pray for their relief and comfort.
Here is a list of reputable relief organizations that are gathering donations to help.

Research of interest II

Teen pregnancy is being studied closely by many different research groups. My boss shared this web site with me and I've spent considerable time reading up on this important social issue. The National Campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy is packed with useful information for teen, parents, professionals and family members. Please take some time to read up and learn more about this important issue that affects us all.

This from the web site:
"Teen pregnancy is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues — poverty and income, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, responsible fatherhood, health issues, education, child welfare, and other risky behavior. There are also substantial public costs associated with adolescent childbearing. Consequently, teen pregnancy should be viewed not only as a reproductive health issue, but as one that works to improve all of these measures. Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect.
Like teen pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy among young adults is at the root of a number of important public health and social challenges. Unplanned pregnancies are frequently resolved by abortion—1.3 million in the United State in 2001, and although Americans differ a great deal in their views about abortion, virtually all of us see value in lessening the need for abortion and would prefer that fewer women have to confront an unplanned pregnancy in the first place.
Mission
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy seeks to improve the lives and future prospects of children and families and, in particular, to help ensure that children are born into stable, two-parent families who are committed to and ready for the demanding task of raising the next generation. Our specific strategy is to prevent teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy among single, young adults. We support a combination of responsible values and behavior by both men and women and responsible policies in both the public and private sectors.
If we are successful, child and family well-being will improve. There will be less poverty, more opportunities for young men and women to complete their education or achieve other life goals, fewer abortions, and a stronger nation."
I'm very impressed with the work of this organization. Here is a list from the CEO of the organization that I thought was very helpful and insightful:
"'Aunt Sarah 's* List ''
Things We ALL Need to Say to Teens and Young Adults

Getting pregnant or causing pregnancy, having babies, and starting families are perhaps the most important things we ever do, with generational effects. These major steps need to be thought about carefully, not stumbled into. We think and talk about so many less important things all the time: what’s for dinner, March Madness brackets, what movie to see this weekend… Surely the event of when to become a parent, with whom, and under what circumstances deserve at least the same amount of time and attention.
1. Babies need adult parents.
2. "If it happens, it happens" is no way to start a family. And "I just never really thought about it" isn’t either.
3. Babies don’t cement relationships; they often put great stress on them. Be sure you are in a solid relationship before you begin a family.
4. Sex has meaning, risks, and consequences. It’s not a casual activity. Take it seriously.
5. Babies don’t give unconditional love; they demand it from the adults around them.
6. Children do best when they are raised by parents who are committed to each other and to years of devoted parenting.
7. To boys and men: Making babies doesn’t make you a man. Being a devoted partner and father may.
8. To girls and women: Sex won’t make him yours and a baby won’t make him stay.
9. Personal responsibility and parental responsibility mean it’s not just about "me" the adult—it’s also about what’s in the best interest of children, communities, and future generations.
* Sarah Brown is the CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned
Pregnancy.

And finally, this indepth research project called "The FOG Zone"
How Misperceptions, Magical Thinking, and Ambivalence Put Young Adults at Risk for Unplanned Pregnancy. It's facinating reading.

After reading much of this information, I'm left with one thought. We need to do A LOT better in talking to our teens about sex and unplanned pregnancy. In this sexually charged culture we live in, we simply have to find a way to teach responsible behavior and moral conduct in using this sacred power to create children and start families the way God intended.

Research of interest I

I'm surrounded by interesting research in my daily work. Every day I read and learn something new. Some of it isn't that interesting, but some of it is very interesting to me. Just think how it would be to do research in an area that could change public policy and thereby changes lives for the better. I think it would be amazing to be involved in something like that. Such is the case with a BYU professor who I have known for any years. I mentioned her work here a few months ago. She is in the headlines again and is making tremendous strides in the area of raising awareness of women's issues around the world.

"Look closely at the way women are treated, says Valerie Hudson. Look at the nonchalance with which a nation's men beat their wives, or the dismissive way a country condones genital mutilation. These are clues, she says, about that nation's likelihood of waging war.

Hudson, professor of political science at Brigham Young University, is lead researcher of a seven-year study looking at the connection between the treatment of women and the peacefulness of nations.

The project is called WomanStats, and although the name suggests an arid landscape of demographics, the project reveals vivid layers of pain and injustice — marital rape and the infanticide of baby girls, sex trafficking and prohibitions about owning land, government exploitation of women and the cultural belief that a wife can be "inherited" as if she were property.

It has been widely assumed that other factors are more predictive of whether a nation might be unstable or aggressive. The three most likely candidates were poverty levels, lack of democracy, and the nation's adherence to Islamic values. But the WomanStats project offers a fourth predictor of a nation's instability. Violence against women (VAW, in the shorthand of WomanStats) trumps the other explanations, proving to be three times more predictive of a nation's instability than whether a country is Islamic, and one-and-a-half times more predictive than whether a country is undemocratic, Hudson says.

Hudson is a gentle, energetic woman, a feminist in a culture that has often felt uneasy about feminism. She is a groundbreaking researcher, and a mother who has seen her share of heartbreak."

I admit that I have some feminist leanings and that is probably why I like Valerie's work so much. I'm always going to be an advocate for women and girls who oftentimes are at the mercy of some overbearing men. Rick thinks I should volunteer at the Women's and Children's justice center in our area. It think it might be a good fit for me at some point in the future.

And an honor that she recently received:

Prof. Hudson was named in Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers for showing that gender imbalances have global consequences. See the link here.

97. Valerie Hudson

Political scientist Brigham Young University Provo, Utah

Hudson's indispensable 2004 study Bare Branches may have been partially responsible for the scaling back of China's one-child policy; the book, written with Andrea den Boer, explored how unequal sex ratios in a country might augur war, social unrest, and other problems. This year, Hudson used her knowledge of the impact of sex ratios on society to explore not just the widening gap in China but also the impact of the Great Recession, which left millions more men than women unemployed, with potentially disastrous implications for security worldwide.

LDS Youth web site

These is a great new web site that has recently been launched for LDS youth. The link is here.
It has some great information to help young people and their families.

Uniting Latter-day Saint youth around the world by giving them a sense of the gospel rolling forward is an aim behind a new youth-oriented Internet site the Church has just launched.


The "Testimony Wall" is a feature of the "For the Strength of Youth" content area in the Church's new youth-oriented Web site. Visitors can click on a picture and read a testimony written by the individual in the photo.

In fact, the homepage has links to Web content for both the Young Men and Young Women organizations, as well as other links to such sites on lds.org as the scriptures, the New Era magazine, the Gospel Library, the Family Proclamation, Church Music and FamilySearch.org

It's a great new resource for youth and their families. Check it out and see if you can get your young men and young women to take a look. I think it has real potential to help a lot of teenagers get some answers to their questions and to get messages of inspiration every day. I hope they get the sense that they are not alone and that there are LDS youth all over the world facing similar challenges in their lives and who are striving to follow the example of Christ. It is very well done and I hope it will reach a lot of youth in the church with this quality site and valuable information.

letter to Orem City Council

If you live in Utah Valley, you might be interested in this letter I wrote to Mayor Washburn and the city council. I don't think area residents are aware of this proposal that the city council is considering. As a friend of SCERA, I think it will have a negative impact on SCERA if passed.

Dear Mayor Washburn and Council Members:

I appreciate the opportunity we had a couple of weeks ago to meet with you, Mayor Washburn, along with council members Mark Seastrand and Margaret Black and council members-elect Brent Sumner and Mary Street. It was a good chance to sit down and share information and to talk about concerns we at SCERA have with the proposed Center for the Arts and Story. It was enlightening to hear the concerns city leaders have with SCERA and to find out other concerns that have been voiced to city leaders about SCERA scheduling and space availability. It seems to me that many of those concerns have resulted from poor communication and from old preconceived notions and biases that have plagued SCERA for many years. Whether these concerns are real or imagined, I hope that we can continue to have an ongoing interchange of information and ideas to help SCERA succeed as the Cultural Arts arm of Orem City as outlined in the agreement of 1983. That is an essential part of this whole situation that needs to be addressed as we discussed in the meeting. As we continue to strive to improve our image and the services we offer to the citizens of Orem, it is critical that we have the support of our city leaders.

I voiced some of my concerns at the meeting, but I wanted to put those concerns in writing and to distribute them to a wider audience, including all members of the City Council who will be voting on this proposal.

As I mentioned in the meeting, I tend to look at this proposal rather simply. I wonder why the city leaders would be considering a proposal to build a center for the Arts and Story at the City Center when the SCERA center for the Arts already exists a mere eight blocks away from the site of the proposed addition. In these austere times, do we really need two centers for the Arts in our community in such close proximity? Why city leaders would be seriously considering an additional center for the arts in Orem is baffling to me and many others. I don’t think that the citizens of Orem will look favorably on this use of taxpayer funds and, if left to them, I seriously doubt that they would vote to build or expand the library/story/arts center. The citizens need to be properly informed of this proposal. Unfortunately, the decision isn’t left to the voters, it’s left to the city council. Based on the discussion a few weeks ago, it seems like an argument was made by city leaders that we need more performing arts space in our city. Is this determination actually based on fact or on hearsay? Since the decision to build more space is supposedly to accommodate more performing arts requests, why isn’t a more thorough study done of the existing space and the use of that space first?

The decision to build a new center for the Arts and Story would make it necessary for SCERA to compete against the city for donations, for programming, and for sponsorships. Let me illustrate:

You mentioned in the meeting and again in the newspaper article last week that the city had a $1.5 million dollar commitment to build the new building. Karen Ashton’s (and other’s) donations are generous and I congratulate her/them for their philanthropy. However, why would that $1.5 million dollars then pull another proposed $6 to $13 million in future contributions into a center for the Arts and Story when those same community contributions are needed at the SCERA Center for the Arts? With all due respect to the donors, why would $1.5 million hold so much sway? Why would the story telling festival, which has been in existence for 20 years, trump all other arts programs with its multimillion dollar price tag, especially an existing arts center and program at SCERA that have been a going concern for more than 75 years? Don’t we need to honor our history and our past and all the donors who have contributed to the building of SCERA over all those years by protecting that legacy? We are in fact competing for the same community donors to accomplish our goals at SCERA. Since there aren’t unlimited resources in our community, I feel that those donations could be coming our way when in fact they would be going to support a new city arts building. This doesn’t make any sense to me.

We can’t compete against the city and its resources for funding. If city leaders authorize the building of this center, then various arts groups will surely use it for their productions. Why would they come to SCERA to rent space when they could use the space at the new proposed center free of charge? Since the new center would be staffed by library paid personnel, heated by tax dollars, and lighted by tax dollars, there would be very little overhead. At SCERA, we must pay our staff, pay our own light bill and so forth. Why would patrons pay to come to SCERA when they are offered an event free of charge at the proposed center?

If the CARE tax will pay for the remainder of the new building, is this really the brick and mortar building the city wants to build and is the best location for such a building adjacent to or connected to the library? I suspect that the city council is anxious to build something tangible with the CARE tax dollars they have been accumulating and to have a visual brick and mortar building as evidence to Orem residents of good use of CARE tax dollars. Why not build it on or near the SCERA center for the Arts? This idea should be more fully explored which could unite an Arts district for the city. Why not build on the established arts center what we already have? I know the city is limited in building on SCERA-owned property, but why not build near it in the same area? This concept was discussed as part of the General Plan. Is it still part of the General Plan? Why not follow the recommendations of the AMS Study and truly explore the possibilities of building a structure that will complement the 75 year-old city icon that is SCERA, and add to its long tradition of providing arts and entertainment in our fine city?

If the city decides to only hold story and multi-use civic and library events in the proposed new building, then why would CARE tax dollars be used to build a building for civic use events? Why would CARE dollars that were designated for ARTS programs be used for civic uses? It seems like an unwise allocation of arts tax dollars for such an expensive multi-use civic building when those dollars are needed and were designated when the CARE tax passed for use in the community for the arts. We may never get this chance again to build something with taxpayer funding that will benefit the ARTS. Please be judicious with these precious dollars and make sure they are used for the purpose for which they were intended that will benefit the larger good of promoting the arts in our community.

It would surely muddy the waters in our community and confuse people as to what is going on in regard to the arts if this proposed center were built. Would there be rules or guidelines established to determine what could be performed at the city center and what could be performed at the SCERA Center for the Arts? Who would make these determinations? Would it be determined that only “story-type” events could be held at the library and that all others could be done at SCERA? It would surely boil down to money. What could be done free of charge and what could be done for a price? How would SCERA compete against “free of charge” or “minimal charge” productions done at the city center? Even small productions would chip away at our financial base. Why were all the arts organizations in Orem surveyed if the city didn’t intend to offer dance, drama, music and story at the proposed center in the future? Now an expectation has been established with those small arts programs that free or low cost space will be available to them at the proposed center. This will undoubtedly negatively impact SCERA.

After expressing this list of concerns, I do have some proposals and suggestions! I believe we need to keep the discussion going between city leaders and SCERA. Please don’t be too hasty to make a decision now in the first part of this new year. What’s the rush? As you know, this is an important issue that has long-term implications. I suggest the following:

*Send a committee to meet with SCERA staff and board members on a regular basis to discuss concerns and problems. I believe that the board is more than willing to address concerns that are brought to them by city leaders and others. They are open to suggestions and concerns and we will act on them within reason.

*Reinstate a city council member as a member of the SCERA board. I believe it is important to have this ongoing interchange.

*SCERA decision makers can look at programming needs (that generate revenue we need to survive) and find more time and space to make available to smaller community arts programs so that they can use their CARE dollars to rent space from SCERA.

*Work with city leaders, library staff and the storytelling organizers to coordinate more storytelling events at SCERA during the time of the festival and during the entire year. Look for ways to use the SCERA Park, the SCERA shell and possibly Theater I and Theater II inside SCERA for events that would be scheduled in advance. Can’t we cooperate and work together all year long?

*Continue to work toward getting out of the movie business at SCERA and more into the performing arts business. Continue to make plans to convert Theater I into a full scale performing arts theater for our community. Thanks to the generous support of XANGO and the Noorda Foundation, great progress has been made and SCERA has been upgraded, expanded and improved. Their vision, support and generosity have been awesome. Give us a few more years to raise the money needed to finish this conversion, and it won’t cost the city of Orem anything.

*Consider moving the Orem Heritage museum into an adjoining building of its own and free up that space for smaller groups to rent for performances, practices or community gatherings – maybe even build a new building using CARE tax dollars to house the museum and/or a veteran’s museum.

*Fully explore with professional planners the possibility of making the area surrounding SCERA into the cultural arts district of our city. In my opinion, cultural arts should be centered around SCERA, not the library.

I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs at SCERA. Right now SCERA is up, but sponsorships are down. We are in a precarious position in certain ways. SCERA is making its way, but I sincerely fear for its future if this proposed city arts center is built. If we don’t succeed in the ensuing years, quite literally, one of our options would be to come to the city council at some point and turn over the keys to the SCERA Center for the Arts to the city. Then the city of Orem would have two centers for the Arts, eight blocks apart and I imagine that the citizens would be very displeased with that state of affairs. I would think that it would be in the city’s best interest to do everything it could to see SCERA succeed as a non-profit organization without building another structure that will compete against it.