Unanswered Questions by Karen

[I published this narrative essay in Segullah Journal, 2008]

“How would you describe your classroom management...philosophy?” I asked her awkwardly, trying to read my own handwriting.

“Love and logic,” she spat out just as casually as if I'd asked her what time it was. She was mostly occupied with gently pushing away the four-year-old tugging on her sweater sleeve.

Great, I thought to myself. This is perfect, I'm supposed to write a three-page paper on a real English teacher's comprehensive answer to a single question, and all she's got for me is a four-syllable slogan. On the other hand, she did use alliteration; maybe I could take up a couple of double-spaced paragraphs by analyzing that...

“Oh, interesting,” I inserted as a verbal filler; I was grasping for a way to get her to explain without letting her know how clueless I was, “and ...”

“Maddy, go find your shoes, please, we'll go home in just a couple minutes—”

“...and how does that philosophy literally... play out in your classroom?” That would have to do, I sighed.

Immigration Emancipation by Justin

An old friend of mine on facebook recently asked what was the big deal with the infamous Utah illegal immigrant list. I really didn't want to reply to a few closed-minded, prejudiced responses, but the disgust rankled and fermented, leaving plenty of rhetorical energy for me to write the following impromptu essay in response. I'm narcissistic enough to put it up here in fear that she might delete it, and that even more people can see how good my writing is.


*****

Letter to Rep. Clark Regarding HB 107

Dear Representative Clark,

Thank you for your HB 107. It is always encouraging to find a voice
and a measure of temperance, especially in the disillusioning pork and
hardline tactics of the Utah legislatures. As a resident of the state
I hereby believe in your conviction and tenacity to secure a petition
for human dignity. Perhaps Lady Liberty stands far away in New York,
but why should we, so far away from her noble gaze, succumb to
predefined ethics forced upon us by mediocre laws when our hearts and
our compassion inspire us to be more humane and true to those seminal
American principles that keep hope in the hearts of millions
worldwide? The basic fact that we exist and still function ostensibly
as a democratic republic is the bright bastion of liberty in this dark
and mundane and turbid world. After all are not laws made by
legislatures composed of imperfect, prejudiced, fallible, improphetic
people? Let us forget our prejudices and others' trespasses and work
together for the general benefit of humanity. That is the essence of
American principle, and the superior cause of any American dream.


Justin

Letter to Senator Bramble Regarding HB 107

Senator Bramble,

I am a resident of Utah County asking you to please vote yes for HB 107. As a sociologist myself, I understand more than most seem to admit that research is essential for good legislation. SB 81 has some admirable goals, but unless a community and local economy is able to handle such severe changes it could become just another "Intolerable Act." Please make the decision that will best support the economy.

There is a hope among many that SB 81 will force many illegal immigrants to move out of the state, which would suddenly provide more jobs for others. This may be problematic for the following reasons:

1) Many illegals will stay rather than going; many these illegals who are currently working with no SS#, or with a completely bogus one may choose to actually steal someone's identity, which is currently unnecessary and rarely practiced.

2) The many illegal immigrants who use Tax IDs (free, currently legitimate ID numbers for employment) are currently paying income taxes that support our government funds; sending them away means losing those funds.

3) Illegal immigrants make up a huge and important portion of our consumer economy. If there is an argument that this contributing portion is insignificant, there should be research to back that up, not just hearsay.

4) Forcing many businesses to drop hundreds or thousands of employees does not cause a problem only for the individual businesses in question. It puts a rift in the entire economy. For example, slowing or halting production at a factory creates chaos very quickly at the distributer level. We need better-informed projections of how these business complications could hurt us before we decide if we're ready to make that gamble.

5) Bringing regular police enforcement into the immigrant deportation scene could easily break the local police enforcements' relationship with significant Hispanic communities. If a legal resident family of immigrants gets burglarized they won't contact the police if they distrust them because of how the community feels about them in general. The police force's goal should be to protect the community, legality aside. Over the years I have taught English to hundreds of Hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal, adult and youth--I know from much experience that they tend to band together, support each other and share common attitudes regardless of legal status. Wouldn't it be helpful to know how police departments currently feel about this potential community problem?

6) Some say that ridding an area of it's illegal immigrants will solve it's poverty problems. I contend that it would not. Many people who argue that immigration hurts an area usual fall back on the problems of associated poverty. But poverty just happens. Social scientists recognize that there is always an underclass, no matter how many types of people a society purges themselves of. I think this kind of mythology needs to be researched seriously before any kind of volatile legislation like SB 81 is put in place.

Letter to the Editor

Thursday, 12 February 2009

Not a simple matter

Daily Herald http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/299283/56/

Chris Herrod rejects the new guest-worker proposition, SCR-1, because it is "amnesty," which we all know is an evil principle. Yet a guest-worker program is the most logical answer. This is not a simple matter of law broken and punishment affixed. More than 100 years of slack enforcement of immigration law means that our country has been sending a mixed message for decades -- the message that we allow illegal immigration here and there when we feel like it. No wonder generations of immigrants have known that their informal welcome here is more dependent on the economy's open arms than on the government's permission. Hence, an absolute Rule of Law take is illogical, all things considered. Chris's idea that a guest-worker program for illegals would be unfair because it was difficult for his wife to do it the legal way is an emotional response rather than a logical one. "Get in the back of the line!" is the attitude I expect from a child in the school cafeteria, not from a man who is meant to represent my community with more depth of character and intellect than the common people.