BYU hates its students.

Tom Holmoe and I need to get into a fist fight.

That is what I have decided.

That or he needs to listen to my ideas about how to improve sports profits while improving the experience for everyone involved.

Have you heard about the ROC (Roar of the Cougars) pass?

It is what Big Brother has decided to rename the All Sports Pass.

Seating at the football games has now moved into a Utah MUSS sort of thing; Seats are given on a first-come first-serve basis.

Not only that, but they have halved the amount of seats given to students.

I have used my amazing photoshop skills to remove the color from the other seating sections so that the student section changes stand out more.

(I didn't remove it from the west stands because Students do not sit there)

This was 2012

(blue = Students)

This is 2013

(creamy/salmon is students)

Do you see the difference?

I have more to say on this matter, but I think this will be my first year without buying an All-sports... *sorry* a ROC pass.

It is very disappointing. I am greatly saddened.

A House Divided

BYU is a house divided.

This was my thought as I watched BYUTV's "Granite Flats" and the rest of their "quality" programming.

(feel free to watch the Pilot and entire series here)

This show is terrible. Really it is awful. I watched the entire pilot by concentrated power of will and nothing else; not a shred of enjoyment. I then watched the second episode. Why? Because pilots are rough no matter who you are. I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Was I rewarded?
If you consider an hour of the worst televesion show that I have ever watched the entirity of a "reward", then yes I was.

If anyone wants to see a period piece that uses child actors done properly, please watch "The Wonder Years" on Netflix or other video streaming service.

Now interwebs, here is my insider information. Granite Flats has a budget of $800,000.00 an episode. BYUTV does not make this money back. BYUTV has NEVER broke even, let alone posted a profit.

The Church feels that BYUTV is a miracle (How we even got a channel was sort of miraculous) and the Brethren feel very strongly that we should keep BYUTV running. Thus we funnel sacred tithing funds into BYUTV. I feel fine with supporting the Brethren's decision to keep BYUTV up, I do not however support BYUTV's decision to produce such garbage shows.

"Hey they are doing the best that they can" I hear you argue.
Are they really?

BYU adamantly refuses to tap its largest talent pool; students.
Yes I am serious; students.

We have students here majoring in creative writing, students learning to act and to direct, learning to write screen plays, and , yes, TV shows.
NO! These students will not all produce home-run ideas, but they will have creative ideas that you can turn into working and successful concepts! Not only that, but you can get their ideas so cheap, that the STUDENTS WILL PAY YOU!

The students who are here to learn how to write TV shows or Screen plays would LOVE a chance to write something that a TV Exec would then consider producing. Imagine if all of your classes didn't have homework assignments that would be graded and that was the end of it, imagine if your assignments were future achievements on your resume, future job openings, and a legacy to be proud of.

Suddenly students would be interested in each assignment. They would be interested in the lectures given on how to improve their work, and you wouldn't even NEED finals to see who was applying and retaining their knowledge.

Let me give you another example.

When I worked the desk at the Harold B Lee Library there seemed to always be a survey going on by the different departments. Each department in the Library is unique. They do their own hiring, ordering, statistics, and have their own processes. Needless to say it is a very inefficient way to run a library; constantly butting heads with different departments.

One of these departments within the library is the Statistics Department.
There is an old man who organizes the library's student employees and has them run surveys throughout the year, which he then analyzes and makes recommendations based on his findings.

I was (un)lucky enough to be one of the student employees last year. The surveys were absurd, useless, and time consuming/wasting. I was amazed that anyone in their -assumedly- right mind could think that the survey would be of use. The issue was that these were Librarians making surveys, not statisticians and actuaries. 

Now, if ONLY we had Statisticians and Actuaries looking for some real life work experience, some real projects to use their new-found knowledge, and the opportunity to apply it in a real situation. OH WAIT! We have PLENTY!

Imagine if the students had the responsibility of finding out that information, of choosing how to gather it, and then making recommendations based on it. All of this would be supervised by a professor who was well educated in the field. I think that students would EXCEL! Seriously it would be off the charts!

BYU exists despite itself. It excels despite itself. We could do so much more, but because people - academics especially - do not know how to work together, it probably will never happen. I would like to make it happen, but I don't know how.

There is my rant for the day.

Now for something enjoyable!

Here is one of my favorite quotes of all time. It is by C.S. Lewis in his work Mere Christianity.

"We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity-like perfect charity-will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's  help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being  given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps  us towards is  not  the virtue  itself but just this  power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or  courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this  process trains  us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection."


God Bless you all.