-Casey’s World-

Foolish Teens

Casey Wood

I have decided that a high majority of us teenagers living in Emery County are idiots. We are all stupid in some way, such as my inability to avoid arguing with my parents’ genius plans, or my magnetism to other vehicles. Some other teenagers are far less intelligent than this. Teenagers actually want to leave their homes. Not only that, but they want to leave Emery County.

I don’t understand how teenagers can have even the slightest desire to leave home and no longer live with their parents. At home you have everything you could want. As soon as you leave you have to take on a lot more responsibilities. At home your parents give you everything you could want or need. When you leave you have to pay rent, buy your own food, pay for utilities, pay insurance, pay bills, and make sure that everything fits together and works right. You no longer have the assurance that your parents have given you for your entire life that they will take care of things. You have to put on the pants and do it yourself.

Not only do these dumb teenagers want to leave home, they want to leave Emery County. They see a lot of negative things about it, which in reality are good things. They call Emery County small. I call it close. They call Emery County secluded. I call it safe. They call the people of Emery County “hicks”. I say the people are respectful of their heritage.

Emery County is full of all sorts of people with different hobbies, talents and opinions. That makes our county a culturally diverse area, which lets us experience different kinds of things on nearly a daily basis. It opens opportunities for us to grow and learn to accept different things and ultimately prepares us for our futures. The most extraordinary thing about Emery County, though, is the people. We have been put in countless situations that are hard to handle, but our close-knit society grows closer, works together and gets through our trials. No matter what differences we face, when worse comes to worst, we bind together and do our best to make everything work out. Countless situations prove how important the wellbeing of others is to the people of Emery County. In the past year, two huge events have brought our community together and helped us to realize the importance of others, and to each new situation we responded in a way that shows that we care for our own.

Yes, teenagers in the area are idiots. All members of our community need to realize what they have, be grateful for it, and try to make this already wonderful place even better. We are so lucky to be able to grow together and help each other, but many have always been here, always had this, and don’t realize how good it is. Emery County, this is the place.

-Annalee’s Corner-

A Decidedly Different Spring Break

Annalee Thayn

Some college students like to head south for Spring Break to a famous place like Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. In Utah, there is biking around Moab, hiking on the San Rafael Swell, or playing on the dunes near Green River.
Two Green River students, Christy Bowerman and Savannah Black, spent their spring break in New York for a decidedly different Spring Break. They traveled to New York as part of Alternative Breaks, a service organization at Utah State University. Instead of the usual Spring Break activities, they were in New York from March 8-15 giving service.

A focus of Alternative Breaks is feeding the homeless, but other projects include: weeding gardens, visiting the elderly, assembling wooden cars for orphans, and playing basketball with special needs children.
To get to New York, the students funded their own trip. One of the fund raisers was cleaning the Spectrum, at USU. They were paid by the size of the audience that attended the previous event.

After arriving in New York, they were under the direction of Youth Service Opportunities Project. The USU students met others from Virginia and Canada.

One day they served food in a homeless shelter in Manhattan. In addition to serving food, another requirement of the service is that they also spend a little time getting to know the people they served in the shelter. Bowerman and Black visited with a homeless man who wasn’t too sure he knew where Utah was. Another day they repackaged large food packages into family sized quantities. One of the employees of the New York food bank told Bowerman that without volunteers they wouldn’t be able to ship the food out as soon as they do. He also told her that YSOP groups prove to be the hardest workers.

While in New York they were put up in a hostel where hey shared a room with seven other students.
Besides the service, the students also were able to see the sites of New York. They saw the Brooklyn Bridge, Ellis Island, Times Square and Ground Zero. They also became familiar with the subway system.
They got to see the Broadway play “Hairspray”. Black said that her favorite part of the trip was Central Park. They went when the week was nearly over. After all the hard work and noise of New York she enjoyed the peace and quiet of Central Park.

Bowerman is a junior at Utah State University and is studying Dietetics. Black, a senior, will major in Speech Pathology.

-Swell Recipes-

No Shortcuts to Great Food

Kathy Ockey

Do you know how pearls are formed? They are formed inside the shell of an oyster as a response to an irritant in the shell and develop into a beautiful pearl - so it is with Kathy Perkins. She has had many trials in the past year and has also developed into an amazing individual.

Just over a year ago Kathy was working, taking care of her family and had a full, active life. She also developed serious blood clots throughout her body, had three major surgeries and consequently lost her right foot.

Kathy went through a series of hospitals and ended up in L.D.S. Hospital where the surgery to remove her foot was performed. She said the hardest part was the night before the surgery. Her son was serving a mission at the time and she felt a special need to talk to him. Her husband received special permission for them to call him. They laughed and talked about the past but her son also gave her great encouragement and strength telling her he knew she would be OK and could share her experience with others that needed a helping hand. He gave her the strength she needed to go through the procedure. After the surgery, she went through many different emotional stages, but also experienced a point of happiness when she realized life meant more than ever.

Kathy went to the University of Utah Hospital for her rehabilitation. She told her young case manager she loved to cook and had always wanted to become a culinary chef. She was devastated when the case manager told her she would never be able to achieve this goal. She became very depressed and her therapist asked her why. She told him about her experience with the case manager and he convinced Kathy to prove her wrong. Though she had many trials, she started cooking again in her own kitchen. Local therapist, Scott Labrum, has helped her both emotionally and spiritually to gain confidence and use her cooking skills. She said there has also been support from many friends, family and church members. Kathy now knows she can achieve anything she makes up her mind to do, despite the physical restrictions.

Kathy’s father was of Mexican descent and this is her favorite style of cooking. She also prepares everything from scratch. There are no mixes or shortcuts in her kitchen.

With the struggles Kathy has had to face in the past year, she has used the trials to turn into a real “pearl.” Following are some of her wonderful recipes.

Red Chili Enchilada

4 chicken breasts
2 dozen tortillas
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 1/2 cups grated colby jack cheese

Sauce
1- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt 2 TB cayenne chili powder
3 cups water 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup bacon fat or Crisco

Boil chicken, shred apart, place in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and set aside.

To make sauce: Put bacon fat or Crisco in frying pan over medium heat. Add chili powder, salt, garlic powder and stir. Add flour, mix well and add tomato sauce stirring continuously. Add water one cup at a time until it thickens.

Fry tortillas one at a time in 1/2 cup hot oil and place on a paper towel.
Place the cooked mixture on the tortilla, roll and place stuffed side down in a 9” X 13” pan. Continue until all of the ingredients are used.

Place in a 350 degree oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Tortilla

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 Tbl shortening
1 cup hot water.

Mix ingredients well and fry in a cast iron griddle or skillet. Roll then out thin for best results. Keep the dough warm. Place tortillas in a lint-free towel. Place them in a zip-lock bag to store them. They can also be frozen.

Guacamole

3 ripe avacados
1 bunch green onions
1 jalapeno pepper
3 cloves garlic - minced
1 1/2 tsp salt 1 lg tomato - diced
Optional - 1 cup salsa

Mash one avacado at a time and stir until smooth. Finely chop green onions and jalapeno pepper.
Add minced garlic, salt and diced tomato.
Add salsa if desired. Serve with chips of your choice. (If you know of someone who has a great recipe they would be willin gto share in Swell Recipes, call Kathy Ockey at 749-9192 or The Emery County Review at 748-2541.)

-My Ride-

Ready for the Trail

High school sophomore Jacob Davis has been counting the days until he gets his drivers’ license and can be officially unleashed on the city streets with the old car he is working to get road-ready, but his dad, Jon Davis, has already given him the keys to a vehicle he plans to try out not on the city streets, but the four-wheeler trails.

When his dad upgraded his four-wheeler to something more in tune to riding the trails than leaping the trails, he decided to give Jacob his 1987 Yamaha Warrior. But the 21 year old four-wheeler needed some sprucing up first, so he had Jay Fausett of Orangeville give it a new coat of paint and some art for a little attitude. So the Warrior will now fly down the trail with flaming skulls leading the way and across the tank it is branded Jake’s Ride. With spring finally here Jacob, plans to give the Warrior a good run on the trail as he continues to count the days until he has a drivers’ license in his hands.