jenny_wildcat | The End of the Semester

Oh boy - classes are formally DONE!!! Even though I didn't have as much to stress about as the rest of everyone else, it still felt good to say "Sweet Mother Freedom!!"

But the Political Science class had to give me one last parting shot of stupidity. The topic of today's lecture was "Church and State" and why religion in the public sector has been controversial as of late. The lecture went on with the usual blather about "no one really knows what the Founders intended" and Supreme Court decisions about religion in schools and what-have-you, when some enterprising, "I'm-a-college-freshman-so-I'm-smarter-than-you" twerp raised her hand and asked (oh, and she was from "back East," if that tells you anything) "How do public schools in Utah get away with letting LDS students have religious instruction during the school day?"

The professor (who is from both California and Massachusetts and didn't raise his kids in Utah) confessed he didn't know anything about it, but then passed the judgment: "It's unconstitutional."

For those who don't know, in Utah (and perhaps in parts of Idaho - I'm not 100% sure) there is a program where public high schools allow students to take one class period as "Release Time" and they go off-campus during the school day to a nearby LDS Church-owned building for a religious class known as Seminary. This is completely optional and voluntary, but, as a Seminary graduate myself, it's a favorite time of day where you can just go and get above all the secular BS that exists in public schools. Outside of Utah (and in the little godless corner of Utah where I spent my senior year of high school) where they don't allow Release Time Seminary, they have Early Morning Seminary where high school kids get up early in the morning and go to either the nearby Church building or a member's home and have Seminary there. As far as Release Time is concerned, there is some accountability (like, you actually have to be where you say you're going to be or you won't be allowed to have Release Time anymore) and it's also opened for students who are doing internships or working during the school day. It's not just for religious purposes.

I'm sure something has happened and I just don't know about it - there are so many anti-Mormon idiots in Utah nowadays - but all we need is a Supreme Court case debating whether or not Release Time Seminary is unconstitutional. *sigh...* Some days, I wonder if Brother Brigham didn't have to the right idea when he tried to make Deseret its own country...

Oh well, enough political crap - it's picture time!!! I'm a day late and a dollar short, but here are the pictures from the basketball game on Wednesday (cut for picspam):

This was the line from the Spectrum at 4:00 Wednesday afternoon - it was already cold and the sun hadn't gone down yet. Some of these nerds had actually been there since 2 am Tuesday morning (they were the ones waaaaay in the front with the tent - you can't see them in this picture)

More people in line.

Once I got in and the feeling in my toes came back - had to get a pic of the game. Look how packed the student section is. The campus paper said that they had no idea this many people would show up. To which I say - DUH!!! It's byu - are you kidding me???

Picture of the scoreboard - not the final score by any means. Apologies for blurriness

The Winning Team!

The Losing Team (and their fans - I'm surprised they managed to find Logan, honestly. Thought they'd get confused and head to the Vegas bowl. They know how to get there well enough).

Game Day Shirt!! The back just says : "USU vs. BYU BEAT THE COUGARS" Last year's shirt was better, but they don't sell them anymore. Many I can find one at DI (ignore my five chins)

Sign #1 - People in line loved this one (at least it got some attention outside)

Sign #2 (my apartment is finally starting NOT to smell like magic marker)

Sign #3

I'm trying to listen to the radio on my computer, but my speakers keep fritzing out. I think some internal component of my speakers is worn out. I'll be listening to something and all of a sudden, the sound will cut out. I have to press down on the right side of my laptop until (if) it comes back on. Just one more evidence that I need a new computer (sigh... Well, Chris pointed out that Christmas is coming and I could ask Santa for his credit card and get something nice for myself ^_^)