Cars vs. Bikes - The Unnecessary Civil War

To Urban City Planners:

Heart-stopping situations such as the one pictured
here can be prevented with better city planning.

The ongoing battle between cars and bicycles on city streets has continued to result in anger and a rising death toll. For too long, cities have overlooked the need to keep cyclists safe. Something needs to change.

Cyclists are often seen by drivers as cumbersome and downright irritating on public roads. Whether or not you share this view, the fact is that cyclists can travel safely and quickly without impeding auto traffic. In Provo, UT, where I currently reside, a construction project recently restructured one of the busiest roads in the city to incorporate designated bike lanes protected from auto traffic by concrete dividers. 

Results? The road was never closed during the construction, and the project has since created a safe and convenient way for cars and bikes to travel simultaneously without either coming into contact with each other.

Do stories of bike metropolises like Amsterdam seem too foreign and unrealistic to even be considered goals? Let’s stay at home and look at Fort Collins, CO, a city that can be traversed on bike paths without ever crossing a city street. Yes, you heard that right.

A cyclist prepares to safely cross a city road using a toucan crossing.

The cost of a bike path is significantly less than that of a road. And though it may not be possible in every city to create such an integrated network of bike paths as Fort Collins, there are additional options. Bike lanes paired with “toucan crossings” at intersections recently allowed Fort Collins to create a 5-mile bikeway for under $1 million – a bargain as far as city development is concerned. This bikeway has provided safe travel for cyclists while actually improving the traffic situation for auto travelers.

At the time of the Industrial Revolution when bicycles were invented and beginning to gain popularity, it was cyclists who lobbied for paved roads to replace the deeply trenched dirt roads that made bike travel uncomfortable. It seems this was the only victory cyclists ever had on the road. It’s time to bring the paved roads back to the source from whence they came and give back to the community that made good roads possible in the first place.

Early photos show the possibility of compromise with side-by-side
passageways - trenched, for carriages, and smooth, for bicycles.

All this stands in stark contrast to the words of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who in addition to removing bike lanes from his city, stated that when cyclists are hit by cars, “it's their own fault at the end of the day." This attitude by city officials has resulted in a notably high death rate for cyclists in that city.

In 1817, when Baron von Drais invented the first bicycle, nobody could have known that his contraption would one day be as ubiquitous as a loaf of bread. Now, a car-free city is being built for 80,000 residents near Chengdu, China. 

Bicycling was a fad. It was a stepping stone to women’s rights It was a social movement in protest to climate change. It was a form of exercise, it was an Olympic sport, but now for many, it’s a way of life. It’s an environmentally friendly, viable means of transportation that belongs in cities and has potential to improve city travel for all. It belongs in the very cities that are suppressing its existence.

Sources: 

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2017/09/20/fort-collins-just-built-five-miles-of-bikeway-for-less-than-1-million-heres-the-trick/

https://www.icebike.org/58-milestones-from-bicycle-history-you-must-know/

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17914504

https://app.slack.com/client/TMEBPTJSY/threads

Navigating Transitional Education

Education, Is it Really My Decision?

They say the most formative years of decision begins in high school. What if you’re never given the skills to know how to make those decisions. This begins with the individuals that have the most sphere of influence upon the next rising generations, the high school teacher; to whom I write.

Background

In order to have the ability to navigate the social construct of society, we need to be taught the skills. When eighteen year-olds are sent off to college/secondary education, they are expected to have a plan for a career path, to know what they like, along with the accommodating knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses. As if we are cradled for eighteen years, taught about these fairytale “adult responsibilities", then to our surprise, know not the skills necessary to navigate these decisions. I believe the cure to having a successful chance to navigate the transitional times of secondary education, is a shift in focus. From that of a “major” mentality, to an individual development mentally. A mindset that focuses on the development of well-roundedness.

Is It Wrong to Copy, Paste? Pushing for Human Cloning

Dear Hasting Center:

Several years ago, Thomas H. Murray, Ph.D., Commissioner, and your previous head of the National Bioethics Committee, wrote “Even If It Worked, Cloning Wouldn't Bring Her Back” (Murray). In his article, he wrote a sad, yet powerful story that taught why human cloning should be banned back in 2001.

In the past, methods on human cloning have not been successful because of various reasons (United States). As a result, the debated on human cloning has slowly died after a decade since Dolly’s birth in 1997.

Ever since the debate on human cloning has stopped, you too have closed the case on human cloning as well. However, I suggest that you should open up the issue again because of a recent success in China.

Inclusive Education: A Must-Have

General Education teachers,

There have been great strides in the more comprehensive acceptance of our students that have disabilities. In fact, in 2010, President Obama signed a bill to remove and replace the term “mental retardation” or “mentally retarded” with “individual with an intellectual disability” in all of the federal health, education, and labor policies. That set a precedence for there to be a higher level of respect, greater attempts to understand, and more complete inclusion of people with disabilities. While it’s important to recognize progress, there is still a lot to be done as far as acceptance goes.

People with disabilities (especially school-age) were majorly benefited by the civil rights social movement. When the "separate but equal" clause was deemed unconstitutional in the court case Brown v. Board of Education, segregation of all types in schools was made illegal. Prior, people with disabilities were marginalized, schools denied education left and right, and they were often put in institutions that didn't give them the supports that were needed. But because of advocates for change in the civil rights movement at large, as well as those fighting in the disability rights movement, secured the fact that people with disabilities need to be taken into account in this world. From there, several laws regarding people/students with disabilities have been passed, creating a better world for everyone.

Students given special education services are federally mandated to be placed in their least restrictive environment (LRE). There is a gradient of placements that range from general education (least restrictive, full-inclusion) to a self-contained classroom to even a special school or home/hospice bound (most restrictive, no inclusion)--all based on their frequency of interactions with students in general education. While it’s not always cut and dry what the perfect placement ought to be, it’s best to put students in contact with their non-disabled peers as often as possible. This is a major key to their rights to an appropriate education. A way that special educators can ensure that our students are getting the education they deserve is by implementing inclusion. Inclusion (distinct from mainstreaming) is a way that students can access the general curriculum and be amongst their peers while still getting the supports and accommodations they need to succeed.

Introducing students with disabilities into parts of the proceedings in your general education classroom may seem daunting, potentially distracting, or maybe even uncomfortable. However, through the help of co-teachers, aids, peer tutors, apt assistive technology, adjusted curriculum, etc. it should be a seamless and worthwhile transition for all students and educators. A classmate of mine, Emma Crisp, wrote, “Ableism is so ingrained into everyday life that it’s almost completely invisible if it doesn’t affect you. . . even when your disability isn’t inherently debilitating, every roadblock abled people don’t think about because it doesn’t affect them is another setback, and another sign that you’re a second-class citizen.” Keeping students with disabilities from learning and growing in an inclusive setting inhibits their potential, stunts some social skills from developing, and reinforces the fallacy that they’re second-class.

Our students receiving special education services get to learn by example when they’re exposed to peers in general education. Several studies have shown the powerful positive effects that inclusive education has in the classroom. Maladaptive behaviors decrease, academic success increases, general increases in educational engagement, etc. And, despite popular belief, the presence of students with disabilities doesn’t compromise the academic or social outcomes of students in general education. Across the board, inclusion is a great tool to aid both students with or without disabilities by providing them, at the very least, meaningful experiences.

A persisting theme in society since the Renaissance is humanism. Humans have incredible potential, humans are enlightened and have reason, we can create, are inherently good,

and can accomplish unimaginable things. Since the dawn of time, our species has been proving this to be true! At the risk of sounding theatrical, I don’t think that anyone in this day and age would exclude people with disabilities from the category of “humans.” Therefore, they have incredible potential too. They have so much that they can bring to the table too. They can accomplish unimaginable things too. We could all be a part of every one of our students’ success.

The Strength of a Union

To Utah Lawmakers and Representatives: 

The History of Film

As I have been learning in school, thanks to the Golden Age of Hollywood back in the years of World War II, the United States of America has become the home of the biggest film industry in the world. Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta--all as the main producers for some of the biggest content watched today. In the last half century or so, Utah has also had a growing name with it’s every expanding welcome to the filmmakers trying to make a big film with less of a budget. Because of Utah’s film incentive programs offering up to 25 percent tax credit, many larger productions have found the Beehive state more appealing than others to production budgets. 

Current Impact

Films such as High School Musical 1 and 2, National Treasure (2004), Footloose (1984), The Sandlot (1993), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, are just some of the many iconic films made in this diverse state--production companies such as Sundance, Disney, and Hallmark making this a home base for most of their produced content.

Because of the growing nature of the industry in this state, it is important to constantly develop ways to help these films keep wanting to come back--and not only that--but workers need to want to work here too. 

Potential Positive Progression

The idea of a union was first brought to the spotlight back in the age of Modernism, where social movements brought the Romantic idea of individualism to the forefront: Humans had value; therefore, they should make changes to help the masses succeed. Individualism was the idea that the individual person is not anymore just a piece in the larger framework of society, aiding in the sustenance of the bigger picture, but an individual person asserting their own importance, their uniqueness. 

Without the union, and in Utah’s current state of legislation, employers, particularly film producers, are able to hire and fire at will. Not taking into consideration a person’s qualifications and impact on their reputation in the industry. If a set is non-union, it gives the employer the sole power over wages, benefits, and schedules.

Because of this idea that people have value, changes were able to be made from movements like the civil war and women's suffrage. This push for reform being the way people are able to better navigate and control their lives. 

Utah has a unique position of being the fastest growing state, and still being a right to work state. Utah is among the top of the list of states that pushes toward the most anti-union movements. Because of this, many film productions rely heavily on the fact that they can choose unethical shooting schedules, pay, and benefits. The worker has no voice, and if they try and speak up, they could face potential backlash like immediate dismissal.

Unions give an employee purpose and drive on set. A union allows for bargaining with a contract, and the biggest thing for film set that it allows: SAFETY.

Many people who are not familiar with film set etiquette, would be surprised to find out that with union shoots in big-shot places like Los Angeles, union laws keep people safe. With union laws, a Production Assistant (PA) is not allowed to touch anything that has to do with the electric and lighting department. So much that, while reading up on my studies (I am a current film student emphasizing in Cinematography and lighting) people have been fired on union shoots were an unknowing PA plugged in a coffee machine without consulting with the production’s Gaffer (Head of lighting and electricity department). This resulted in a blown circuit and the need for rescheduling. This equaled one fired PA, and one very mad gaffer who then had to explain the need to postpone filming—which meant more of all the costs associated—and why.

Now, that isn’t the only scenario where union laws keep crew and cast members safe. Let’s say an electrician notices that the camera seems precariously placed, and touches said camera, trying to stabilize it. Little did he know, this camera was set up on a rig and the only people allowed to touch camera equipment are Assistant camera crew and the Director of Photography. Because of this electrician’s mistake, the camera falls and hurts his leg. Unions keep workers safe.

Because of this idea that people have value, changes were able to be made from movements like the civil war and women's suffrage. This push for reform being the way people are able to better navigate and control their lives. 

Utah has a unique position of being the fastest growing state, and still being a right to work state. Utah is among the top of the list of states that pushes toward the most anti-union movements. Because of this, many film productions rely heavily on the fact that they can choose unethical shooting schedules, pay, and benefits. 

If Utah were to change its stance on unions, and help employees receive fair working conditions, it would not only help the individual person, it would also give the state strength in numbers. Meaning, “Unions are associated with higher productivity, lower employee turnover, improved workplace communication, and a better-trained workforce” (unionplus). So, if we were to see an increase in the way we treat and perceive and welcome unions here in Utah, the film industry would find itself progressing. Not only would it help the progress of the individual’s success—but also that of the industry in the state as well; this shift then would bring more work and more qualified filmmakers to this, the Beehive state.

Links to websites used for research and quotes: 

https://www.unionplus.org/page/benefits-union-membership

https://utahemploymentlawreport.com/utah-right-to-work-laws/