Firsts!

Not too long ago, I made a mental list of things I'd never done and wanted to do before graduation (which is in exactly 4 weeks, fools!), and these past couple of weeks, several of them have come to pass.

For example, I've always said that I wanted to lose my voice. It had never happened, and for some stupid reason I've always thought it would be kinda fun. No matter how much I've screamed or anything, my voice has treated me very well and stayed intact. But after three straight days of fun, laughter, loud-mouthing and singing with three of my best friends in Saint George (a picture post of that weekend is forthcoming), my voice was shot. I could still make noises, and the quality fluctuated throughout the day, but I was pretty hoarse. It was kind of awesome.

That same week, I ate at the Cannon Center for the first time, met B-Money--he told me to keep it real-- got an obnoxiously bright yellow Choose2Give shirt, and heard the "we're kicking you out of the library now" music. I must say, though, that I was kind of disappointed. I was expecting something like the Indiana Jones theme or something adventurous like that (people have always called it "adventure music"), but it was more like, kind of Enya style. Now, I like that stuff, but it wasn't exactly conducive to running slow-motion up the steps and doing a combat roll out the door like I wanted to. Oh well.

Some other things on my list:

Ride a tandem bike
Hold hands with a boy
Make flying paper lanterns like the ones in Tangled
Kiss a boy (These last 3 could be combined into one event. I'd be down with that.)
Fly a kite
Win a jackpot at the Nickelcade
Score over 200 at the Wilk's bowling alley, thereby winning a free t-shirt

What else do you think I should try to do before graduation? I'm up for adding fun things to the list

A new hero

I have officially added another person to my list of heroes. Dr. Condoleezza Rice came and spoke to us in a forum here at BYU a couple of months ago. (I've been meaning to type this up and post it for a while but I just haven't gotten around to it until now.) She is an amazing speaker and had so many wonderful things to say about our country, democracy, education, optimism and finding your passion.

Here are some of my favorite things she said (quoted as closely as possible, but most likely somewhat paraphrased):

"Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same." She went on to talk about what we should do to ensure that history's judgment is a good one, that people can look back on what we have done as a nation and see our good intentions for what they were.

"I remain optimistic because of things that at one time seemed impossible and in retrospect seem inevitable." There have been so many times throughout history when things have fallen into place even though it seemed like the goals were hopeless. My interpretation of this is that miracles happen. All the time. I've seen the truth of this in my own life's experiences. Look for it in yours. When you overcome something difficult, look back and see what lessons you've learned from it. Oftentimes they'll be lessons you needed to learn and that will change your thought processes and the way you will react to other difficult circumstances for the rest of your life. That process of learning and redefining your perspective on life is inevitable; reflect and see how miraculous those changes are.

 "America's biggest threat is not Al Qaeda, but America-gone-bad." We should fear the America that does not reaffirm its identity as a country with beliefs and ideals. We should fear the America that does not recognize certain things about its character, which embodies the values and ambitions that people associate with our country. We should fear the America that forgets that "it doesn't matter where you came from; it only matters where you're going." The America that loses sight of those things will also lose its power--and I don't mean political dominance, but rather strength. I believe that this is a promised land, "choice above all other lands," and because of that we can be a strong nation, but only as long as we reaffirm those values.

One of those values is democracy. Dr. Rice said, "We promote democracy not only because we believe it is a moral right, but also a more practical and safer solution than authoritarianism." She told a story about a dictator of Romania. He delivered a speech after which one lady -- just one lady -- expressed her disagreement. From that one small dissent, a riot began, and the helicopter pilot that was supposed to deliver him and his wife to safety instead turned them back into the crowd. The dictator and his wife were killed by the angry crowd. "Dictators," Dr. Rice said, "fear the day when their people no longer fear them." In a democracy, our political dealings should not be motivated by fear, but by trust and a drive to cooperate and improve society. One of my favorite scriptures of all time is in 1st John, Chapter 4 and verse 18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." You might think this sounds cheesy, and I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about politics, but I think that if we would all do a little better about learning to love our fellow man, we could begin to cast out the fear that so many of us have--that of destruction and disintegration of the economy, government, world, whatever--and instead, cultivate an attitude of cooperation and hope.

Dr. Rice also has a great sense of humor and told some wonderful stories to illustrate her points. For example, she said that her grandfather had a great sense of the transforming power of education. He had worked extremely hard to save up enough money to go to college. After his first year, he had run out of money and had no way to pay for another year. He overheard someone talking about some students who were receiving scholarships to study to be ministers. He asked someone about it, who told him, "If you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, you could have a scholarship too." Dr. Rice's grandfather said, "That's exactly what I had in mind." She then reported that her family has been Presbyterian and college-educated ever since. 

In urging us to finding our passion in life, she told us about her aunt, who had a Ph.D. in Victorian Literature. Condi said, "She wrote books on Dickens. When people say that they think what I do is weird for a black person, I point them to her." She went on to encourage us to take time during college to explore things we're interested in and learn all we can, even if some of the subjects or classes do not come easily to us. "You'll be more fulfilled by overcoming something that's hard than succeeding in something you're good at." This is why I am such a big fan of BYU's General Education requirements. Those classes weren't always my favorite, nor were they always my best grades, but putting my best foot forward and working hard has always been rewarding. 

Condoleezza spoke to us toward the end about the responsibility that we, as educated people, have--to remain optimistic about what we have. The opposite breeds feelings of entitlement and aggrievement. As Dr. Rice said, "You might not be able to control your circumstances, but you can control your response to your circumstances. If you can keep that in mind, you will not give way to aggrievement and entitlement, both of which rob you of your ability to control your own life." The problem that I see with those feelings is that they are all selfish and about what the individual has or does not have--and no family, friendship, relationship, or government can function with such selfishness. In my opinion, coming from a spiritual standpoint, that selfishness is so poisonous because it interferes with our ability to communicate with the Spirit and follow promptings to serve others. If we are constantly worried about getting what we think we deserve, we are in no position to help meet the needs of others. Be optimistic!

Finally, I'll close with a compliment she gave to BYU as a private religious institution. She praised us for being people who integrate our knowledge of what is with our faith in what might be, which she said is the essence of human beings. "Intellect and faith are not enemies," she said, "but integrated in your being." As I'm wrapping up my final semester here at BYU, I am so grateful to have had so many opportunities to integrate secular and spiritual learning. Everything I've learned in school has testified to me that there is a God, that He is Almighty, and that He is my Father. He is the master of the elements--he's a master chemist, botanist, artist, musician, writer, speaker . . . you name it, He knows it. He's also a master linguist, which I think is pretty sweet. Yet of all His talents, all His creations and of the things He has inspired men to do on earth, we are His most precious creations. He is the one who has given us everything we have, and He wants us to gain all of those things as well. I'm so grateful that I've been able to complete at BYU what is only a beginning of my lifelong journey of learning and growth. 

Marius, Part 2

I've written about Marius before, and now it's time to do so again. In a couple of weeks, his story is going to be told in a special documentary put together by my friend Mark and his team. I, for one, am really excited to see it.

A lot of exciting developments have been made in the last couple of weeks. Here's a link to the movie's website so you can see what all they've been working on.

As always, donations are welcome as they are putting the finishing touches on this project. I don't know if the little widget on the side of my page is working, but just know that you can donate right there on the site or through cash or check made payable to CardMark Enterprises and mailed to 2244 N. Canyon Road #116, Provo, UT 84604. 

If you're going to be in town on April 5th, please come! Just in the minimal way that I've been involved (which has been pretty limited to just spreading the word and making food for Mark while he's working insane hours to get the editing done), my heart has been touched and my perspective changed by Marius's story. Entry is free, but they want everyone to register for tickets so they know how many people to expect. They've actually had to change to a larger venue because of the enormous response. Let's pack the JSB Auditorium for this event!

Thanks, three-day weekend. You sure were good to me.

Here's a quick recap of the highlights of last weekend.

Friday night I went with Maddie, Debra and Maddie's friend Alicia to Heber City. We got there around 8 and walked around Main Street for about an hour. The only thing open after 8 was Family Dollar, so we went in there and pretty much mocked every item in there. We bought candy, which we smuggled into the theater when we went to see I am Number Four. I put the large bag of peanut M&Ms in the top of my coat and you couldn't even tell it was there until I shimmied a little. The movie was awesome, but probably not for the reasons the makers wanted it to be awesome. It was more hilarious and ridiculous than suspenseful or creepy. Plus we were the oldest people in that theater. Yay high schoolers! We then went to Alicia's aunt's house and stayed the night.

Saturday morning we slept in till after 9 (first time I've been able to do that in a while) and took our time getting ready before eating breakfast at The Hub, which is this diner in Heber that kind of reminded me of Cracker Barrel, just tastier. It had started to snow big old flakes by the time we were finished, but we still made the drive up to Park City to shop in the outlet mall. We walked around the entire thing and stopped in every store worth stopping in (and some others). About five hours after we started, we were finally done, exhausted and famished. We ate dinner at the Red Rock Cafe, which was so delicious that we didn't even finish our meals--the appetizers were too good to stop eating them and save room for the real food. We then stopped for shakes at Dairy Keen in Heber on our way home. I was ten different kinds of full at that point. When we got home, we popped in a movie and slathered our faces with various mud masks (mine was chocolate!) and did other girly things, like painted our nails and whatnot. We were all knocked out before midnight.

Church on Sunday was fantastic, as always. The lessons and talks were all extremely uplifting and encouraging, which I've needed because of all the stress I've had lately. Also, my best friend Kaitlin has now moved here and will be living in my ward, so she came to church with me. I just love that girl to pieces! After church we played inflatable Monopoly, made apple strudel, and played some hilarious games with some great people in the ward. Kaitlin's car also ended up getting booted that night, but that story is for a different day.

Monday morning, even though I didn't go to bed until almost 3, I woke up at 7:30 to get ready and meet my friends at their apartment for an all-you-can-eat french toast breakfast at Kneaders. Seven of us piled in Michael's car around 8:30 to head over. Right as we arrived, a group of 8 or 10 guys who were waiting in line decided that they weren't patient enough to keep waiting, so we got to move right to the front of the line at the same time another group of 8 was leaving their table. We got to sit down and eat that heavenly french toast. Later on in the afternoon, my roommates and Kaitlin and some friends from the ward went ice skating. I love ice skating, but this was only my third time. I still only fell once, and that was when I was standing still up against the wall and Sam decided to "bum check" me. We both ended up falling in a laughing heap on the ice. The other exciting thing was that Kevin and I got to help Kevin's friend from Honduras learn how to ice skate. In Spanish. It was the first time in a really long time that I've used Spanish outside of a classroom setting for more than just a few minutes, and it was so much fun! It helped that his accent was really clear and that I was on my A-game, but whatever. After ice skating we went home and watched Cool Runnings. The rest of the day I did random stuff, but I was so worn out that I mostly dragged my feet everywhere. I was exhausted just from having fun!

This weekend was exactly what I needed, but now we're in it for the long haul.
Days till graduation: 59
Days off of school (not weekends) between now and then: 0.

K. Ready, set, go.

The first creative writing post

I haven't posted any stuff from my creative writing class yet for a few reasons.

1: I'm busy out of my brains.
2: I want to edit them first.
3: As much writing as I've shared with y'all, I'm kind of scared to share this stuff. Don't ask why.

Something I'm not scared to share, though, are my limericks. Ever since fifth grade, I have loved writing limericks. They're just so dang fun, and I feel like I'm pretty good at them. See, unlike all the other poems my teacher wants us to write, these don't have to be really deep and philosophical. None of this "add an extra layer of meaning with your words" stuff. I mean I'd like to be able to do that and all, but I prefer silliness. (The last poem I turned in was about how to change dirty diapers, but my "deeper meaning" layer was about repentance. We'll see how much she likes that. ha.) Anyway, the great thing about limericks is that they're allowed--yea, even expected--to be funny.

We're supposed to come to class prepared to write a limerick on the board today. So I wrote several. Of the six and a half limericks that I wrote yesterday, this is my favorite:

My peeps said, "Can't no white girl bring da heat
And bust some rhymes, rappin' gangsta on da street."
SHEW. They be buggin'. I got rhythm!
And they'll see I ain't messin wid 'em
When I'm in da hood and throwin down dat beat.

I love my creative writing class. The end.