2008 Woodie Awards
This Week in History
Same-sex marriages introduced, first electronic television made
Irene Nino
Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: Detour
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Two years ago this week, the California legislature voted to legalize same-sex marriages. This was the first legislative body in the Unites States to do this without a judicial order. Governor Schwarzenegger, however, vetoed the bill later that month. Twenty-six states currently have constitutional amendments explicitly barring the recognition of same-sex marriages, confining civil marriages to a legal union between a man and a woman.
Two years later, students at Saint Mary's are still deeply concerned about this issue. Jeffrey Morgan '10 said, "The sacrament of marriage is sacred, and was made to be between a man and a woman." The current constitution does not permit a legal union to be made between those of the same gender.
Junior Alex Bettencourt finds this unjust. She said, "All human beings should have the same rights and gay people are fellow human beings."
Samantha Yeates '10 agrees. She said that gay marriage is "a freedom people should have and we shouldn't have the right to control [that freedom]."
The Bush Administration tried to amend the United States Constitution to clarify the definition of marriage, in effect outlawing same-sex marriage.
Opponents believe marriage is a personal decision that each individual should have the option of making.
Morgan supports legislation regarding same-sex marriage. He said, "The Government was founded on religion, so separation of church and state is impossible." He stressed again that "God set out marriage as a union between a man and a woman."
People of Iowa and California are still fighting for and against legislation concerning gay marriage and Saint Mary's students are willing and able to participate in this issue.
September 7, 1927:
Four score ago this week, inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth succeeded in making the first electronic television system. The television systems that were being experimented with at that time consisted of spinning disks that had a myriad of holes and mirrors, designed to convert light to electricity.
These disks and mirrors gave a poor resolution. Farnsworth realized as he was mowing hay in rows that an electron beam could scan a picture in horizontal lines, reproducing the image instantaneously.
Farnsworth called his device an image dissector because it converted individual elements of the image into electricity one at a time. He replaced the spinning disks with an element that emits electrons when exposed to light. At the age of 21, Farnsworth applied for a patent on the television he developed. His electronic invention is the basic television model we still use today.
Without Farnsworth's invention, college students like Yeates would be living very different lives. "[Television is] a way I can keep connected to society," Yeates said.
Farnsworth's improvement of the television 80 years ago contributed to what now helps students stay in touch with the outside world and encourages them in times of stress.