Short Explanation: Finals

To my followers, yes you one or two people who read this blog sparingly, as you know this is the last day of classes this semester and finals week is coming up. I apologize for the lack of posts, but you know how it is. I hope to be back to posting soon, but for now please don't give up on me, it's jut for a couple of days!

Short Trip: the Top of the Mountains Bowl

Saturday I went with my dad to watch Eastern Arizona College play Snow College for the Top of the Mountains Bowl trophy in football. It was held at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, UT. It was excessively cold. Good thing EAC had two suites to watch in the game in comfort. We lost but we had a great time. I was impressed with the loyalty the gila monster fans showed by showing up in Utah.

I was really impressed with Brother Palmer. He is probably the best fan of EAC sports. He has probably done more for EAC than any other individual the colleges history. I have great respect for him because of how he treats others and how he treats his family. One of my favorite people is his daughter, Mellani Larson, who I got to know when I attended Thatcher High School. She was one of the secretaries, and by that I mean she kept the place together. Another one of my favorite people is Molli Norton, his grand daughter. She is a great example of being cheerful even when it is hard and she is a great leader. Brother Palmer even showed his lighter side. I hope Santa grants his Christmas wish...

Short Film: Tangled

I have been sick for the last few days and have found comfort in watching endorphin inducing movies. Unfortunately, my all time go to sick movie, Gone With the Wind, was not on Netflix, so I searched around until I found Disney's Tangled. This is probably the fifth time I've seen it; my reaction to it has been consistent. I do not feel like I learned anything too new about the varieties of human expression, nor did the movie take a cathartic effect on me, until my friends brought out some differences of opinion.

Some of them argued that Rapunzel showed an unnatural reaction to her mom's, Mother Gothel's, death. They argued that the woman had raised her, taken care of her, as any mother would have. They quoted the line where Gothel says, "I love you," Rapunzel responds, "I love you more," and Gothel says, "I love you most." How tender. One argument I have heard is that little girls around the world are going to think that their mothers are villains because Mother Gothel is not overwhelmingly, nor overtly evil.

My answer to these statements are that no person is intrinsically evil. Also, I would expect a child to revolt against parents that are blatantly sarcastic and passive aggressive. I would encourage children everywhere to combat this. Mother Gothel repeatedly calls her daughter stupid, dumb, fat, weak, and overall inadequate, followed up with a laugh and "I'm just kidding!" and "This is why I love you," or "This is why you need me." It is some of the most disgusting verbal abuse and I applaud Disney's decision to show this kind of behavior as villainous, and to not show the remorse that Rapunzel might have felt from the antagonist's death.

All of this aside, because I had taken theraflu nighttime I had no trouble falling asleep throughout and after the film. In my dreams I had the most curious power of healing people when I cried on them. It took me a minute to realize my adventures and powers were not real, but it started me thinking on how they could be. I feel like we can help people heal as we cry with them, to be "Willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9) is a special power. Anyone would say if they had a super power, they would use it as much as they could. We all do have super powers with our individual gifts to serve, relate to, comfort, and cry with. Let's use them. Let's use our natural human power to help, and by doing so, allow ourselves to be helped in the same way.

Tangled is a film by Disney. The scriptural quote is from The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Short Trip: Finding Simple Peace at the Templenacle

Last night I took an accidental solitary pilgrimage to the future site of the new Provo Temple, in Provo, Utah. I have stopped there before to show friends from out of town, or just to look and be excited. Yesterday was different. I meant to drive by, but the building beckoned me to take some time to ponder near it's walls.

I remember the day the edifice burned. I could smell smoke from my apartment six blocks north. The air was hard to breathe and my bus to work took a detour.

For months the sad building stood, while it's future was decided. There were many rumors. Some said they should destroy it, sell the bricks and build another one, others said they could leave it as it was and create an outdoor museum, still more people thought it could make a good cannery, park, community center, etc. Nobody could have guessed what this broken building would become. This October, President Thomas S. Monson, the Prophet of the Lord, announced that the Tabernacle's walls would be restored and used to rebuild the building. This is not reconstruction, but construction of a Temple.

As I looked at that broken building last night, I thought about how I felt. In some ways I am broken, burned from life's experiences, and in desperate need of reconstruction. But what will I become? I could throw out all of who I am and independentlty rebuild myself into a successful person. I could do nothing and accept my lot in life. I could mold myself in a way that counselors, friends, society, etc would. Outside influences might not know what I can become, but the Savior of mankind has plans for me. By allowing me to be cut down, He can now build me into something greater than anyone, especially myself, would have guessed. This can only happen if I allow my life to be rebuilt by that most holy carpenter, Jesus Christ. This is not reconstruction, but it is construction, a work in progress in purification as I allow the Lord to create a Temple of my life.

When you feel broken, torn, with your heart failing and full of despair, seek in yourself Faith that things will get better. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer I have overcome the world." John 16:33

This is an artist's rendering of what the new Provo Temple will look like when it is complete. Unfortunately, I do not have an artist's rendering of myself, although I think if there was one I would have six pack abs on the outside and a whole lot of awesomeness on the inside :)

Short Devotional: "Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

I had a wonderful time in Denver. Michaela, Jarrod and I commented on how "real" the people we talked with are as opposed to the "happy valley" personalities we find in Provo. Last night I talked to several different friends and realized that we are all moving forward. My roommate and best friend, Logan, and I talked into the night. He told me he needs to be more independent and move on...as in move out. This won't be next semester, but it will be soon and I welcome it. I need to grow. I need to be more independent. I depend heavily on my friends, maybe this is what I need to grow by myself. They will always be there to catch me if I fall, but they don't need to hold me all the time. Everyday is a time to change and grow, but some days it comes in spurts. I am excited for the future.

I love the talk, Remember Lot's Wife, by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. I attended the BYU devotional that January. I will never forget what I felt and I continually learn from these words. "Faith is for the Future."

The BYU Devotional Talk "Remember Lot's Wife," by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland can be found on the BYU Broadcasting website.

Short Story: "The Peripatetic Coffin" By Ethan Rutherford

The narrator is Ward Lumpkin, a lame soldier on the gray side of the American Civil War. The story explains how a group of misfit confederate soldiers volunteered to pilot the doomed H. L. Hunley, a primitive submarine, and successfully destroy a Yankee ship.

The conclusion of this tale presents an emotional scene. The submarine is sinking. Lumpkin is up to his neck in water. The spirit of his dad comes to visit him. They talk about what it means that these few sailors volunteered to die, when the Confederacy was so close to capsizing. With vicksburg and New Orleans in Federal hands and the Charleston Port under blockade, a mission to sink a Yankee ship in the harbor was suicide. They discuss the idea that in 100 years people will point to the optimism of the would be heroes. Lumpkin argues that their motivation was closer to Desperation.

It is Thanksgiving Eve and I am in Denver, Colorado with my good friends Michaela and Jarrod. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with some of Jarrod's friends because Denver is closer than my parents' in The Gila Valley, and Jarrod and Michaela's families in Seattle, Washington. Jarrod served a two year LDS mission here. I have loved the day. This is my first trip to Denver. However, I am terribly homesick. Denver is wonderful. The weather is perfect, our host family is interesting, and my friends are the best company anybody could ask for, but something about Thanksgiving without family is troubling. I've celebrated the holiday away from home twice before, but It was as hard then as it is now. My family may take the vestiges of my Thanksgiving Vacation to be a college student's whim by going to Denver and being spontaneous. What I really want is some sense of family. Just as the people who judge the wreak of that submarine, they see optimism, and I feel desperate.

This short Story comes from: The Best American Short Stories: 2009 Edited by Alice Sebold.