Independence and Independence

The irony didn't occur to me until just now, as I tried to think of a title for this post. That is, as we as a nation celebrated our independence, a group of LDS singles between 31 and 45 gathered in the DC area for a conference, and for many of us the purpose of attending was at least in part as a means of seeking a diminishment of our independence. Is there a contradiction here? Not really. Absolute independence isn't anyone's aim, and shouldn't be. I happened to catch the last 10 minutes of a Twilight Zone episode on Friday, part of a Twilight Zone marathon day on the SciFi channel, wherein a man had a stop watch that allowed him to stop time completely, so that everyone became inanimate but himself until he clicked to start the watch again. It enabled him to get out of a little trouble, which he needed as he seemed to be a bit curmudgeonly, but just as he decided to take advantage of the gift and rob a bank, the watch fell, he stepped on it and it broke, leaving everyone inanimate forever but himself. Not much need for the money then, but not much happiness either. We need each other.

This truth is also part of the story of our nation. As part of the conference, one of the activities I chose to attend was a tour of the Capitol. We started this tour by watching a 10-15 minute video presentation with a little bit of history about the building. It was interesting for me to learn that during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln made an optimistic decision about the war by asking that construction of the dome to top the capitol continue. The nation wouldn't be a nation if every state were completely independent. Ours is a history of interdependence.

And so the desire to marry and leave a bit of the independence aside is not so contradictory to the nation's history nor this celebration. Families with united parents, too, make up a big part of the success of this nation.

But independence is, of course, a good value to have. We rightly celebrate our nation's freedom from tyranny and injustice. And as people, too, we can follow this example of seeking and maintaining and being grateful for the independence we have, even as we seek to marry--such as by not settling for someone who will be a tyrant or injust, as well as by being grateful that inasmuch as marriage isn't always possible, we still have several freedoms, including the rights now for women to hold better and better positions and maintain our living,

Also the freedoms to worship as we want to. I found it altogether appropriate to find the statue of Brigham Young in the Capitol, one of Utah's two contributions, but also on the independence day holiday, since he did quite a bit toward the end of our religion's independence, as well as to the growth of the nation. He also had quite a bit to do with the educational growth and thereby independence, of many of the individuals attending the conference. You might even say he had quite a bit of influence, though indirectly, of bringing this group together.

So, moving on. The Capitol tour was only a minor part of the conference and of my 4th of July experience, though it was likely the most patriotic-related thing. After the tour, there was a barbecue at the stake center, with real barbecue--not bbq'd hamburgers and hot dogs, but barbecued pork and beef. Yum. I also watched some fireworks, but due to some of my own mishap, not with the group. Perhaps it was somewhat appropriate for me, given my independent personality, to be a little more independent as part of my independence day celebration. After the barbecue, I went home and did a few things, including reading something and falling asleep. Only, I slept a little longer than I intended, woke up a half an hour after I was supposed to meet people at Iwo Jima, in other words, probably 1 hour and 1/2 after I should have left the house to catch a metro. Well, I thought I could still drive in. It wasn't too dark, and it wasn't in DC. But even Arlington had roads blocked off and I just didn't feel like driving back to a metro stop and huffing it in to catch people at the last minute then getting back onto a crowded metro some short time later. Instead, I went home and watched the fireworks in my neighborhood. I didn't have that bad of a view here either, and I got to watch the neighborhood kids doing street fireworks, which is one thing that kind of makes the 4th feel more like my childhood memories, and which I haven't had the opportunity to experience for several years because of the laws of the places I've been. So, all in all, it was a good independence day. Hope it was for you too!

God's Sense of Humor

About three weeks ago I started volunteering at the local library. The children's librarian was excited to have me as her special volunteer, and I was excited for the opportunity. The first day she gave me a full tour of everything. The library's main part, I was already pretty familiar with, but she took me in the back and showed me everyone's cubicle and told me about all of their functions. That was interesting, kind of. Didn't meet too many of them since it's evening hours, but eye opening still to get an idea of the inner functionings of a library.

Otherwise, my tasks have been fairly mundane, or it would seem. Every time I go I work a little on shelf reading the YA section. That means I look for misplaced books and put them where they go. I also verify that all the books are from Sherwood Hall rather than another branch. See, it sounds fairly mundane. But since I like YA and have heard of a number of these authors, it's interesting to see authors I haven't heard of, or to see books by authors I didn't know they'd written. So, it's kind of exciting for strange little me.

I've also done a few other things--preparing carts to be shelved by putting them in order--Dewey for nonfiction and alphabetical for fiction. Also fairly mundane, bu I get a little pleasure out of it, I guess. I've always been one for order. Some might look at my bedroom and disagree, but really I like order. I remember a friend in junior high called me Tidy Heidi because I straigtened things in a grocery store.

Anyway, so I'm contemplating getting a Master of Library Science degree, though I'm somewhat hesitant to go back to school, but working in a library might not be such a bad thing for me. So since I kind of need work now, I've been praying a lot for the best opportunities, and even said, "like maybe in a library" a few times recently.

Well, I haven't gotten any library jobs, but fortunately I have had some small opportunities for a little cash.. I created a profile for Wyzant tutoring quite awhile ago, and finally I've been getting close to tutoring some people. Yeah! It's kind of interesting because I'd supposed the school year would have a greater demand for such. But it turns out, I'm having more luck now that school is out. Not that I'm complaining.

I actually even got my first tutoring gig through Wyzant this last Saturday. Yeah! It was for a nice Korean girl, college-aged, who needed some help with some writing assignments. Since I'd worked with Koreans at FSI a few years ago while they were creating Korean Express and Out & About Seoul, I had some experience and looked forward to helping her. It went really well, too. She was a good learner and better in English than she gave herself credit for, though I could understand her frustrations.

We met in the Fairfax County Regional Library, which I'd never been to, but that was fine. It's quite the library! Anyway, as I was driving home, it occurred to me, I'd just had a job in a library. My prayers were answered. Very funny. Thank you Heavenly Father.

Mom and Dad Visit

Last weekend my parents came out to visit me! I'd been looking forward to it for a very long time, and it was well worth the wait. They arrived on Thursday night then left the following Tuesday afternoon, so we had a few full days to fill. I had to work on Friday and on Monday, but they got themselves around on the Metro those days and took in a few museums and the memorials. Saturday and Sunday, though, I had all day with them.

On Friday afternoon, I picked them up from the King Street Metro and drove us up to the temple, a beautiful drive, and we did a session, which was pretty nice. When I graduated with my B.A. they came to Provo to celebrate and we did a temple session then, too. Curiously, though, both then and at this one, a hearing impaired person was in our session so we got to watch the sign language video. I wonder if that will happen again if I get another degree?
Anyway, they took a picture of me in front of the temple, too, but it's pretty funny looking, so this one will do.

Saturday, we went to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum over by Dulles Airport. I hadn't been to that one yet, so that was a good opportunity for me, too. But it was undoubtedly most enjoyed by my dad. His dad was a pilot in WWII in the Canadian Air Force, and my dad himself had at one point wanted to be a pilot but his color blindness wouldn't allow for it. He's obviously studied a lot about the aviation field, nonetheless, because he had quite a bit to share about just about all of the airplanes in that place, and some that weren't. Mom's comment was approprite--he was in hog heaven! When I asked, he said he wouldn't mind being a tour guide, but he wouldn't want to live out here. Too bad!

Aside from the tour my dad gave us of the museum he'd never been to before, we also saw an IMAX movie about fighter planes. That was pretty interesting. Those people have some pretty rigorous training. A real eye opener. The whole tour of the place was kind of an eye opener. When we were coming out of the space air, my mom made the comment" "You know how sometimes they say, 'it isn't rocket science?' Well, this is." It was a funny comment, but it made me think a little more as I wandered around looking at the engines that otherwise didn't do much for me. To think about making those, coming up with all of the intricate parts and finally get them to work, all together is pretty amazing, even if they did have to do a thousand failed runs. You remember how I was talking about different smarts? Well, um, I think there's a lot more smarts than I had in mind going on in the making of these machines. In fact, I would have to say that there's so much smarts that it had to be inspired. Except the guy who was showing us the rocks that were asteroids that he claimed came from the Big Bang. That wasn't inspired. Saying they were millions of years old would have sufficed.

We had planned to go from Udvar Hazy out to the Arlington Cemetery, but we had a bit too much fun out there, so we came straight back to Alexandria, did a little shopping and came home to get ready for my graduation party. Yeah me! I don't think I took any pictures of it though. Dang. Carrie had put up some cute little graduation window stickers on the back door and the front closet mirror. Cute, Thanks Carrie! And she also made some chocolate-covered pretzels that were a big hit. My mom made some chili which was awesome, and then after a little relaxation, we had about 12 or so friends come over and we chatted for awhile and played a couple games. Good times it was.

Sunday, then, we did make it to Arlngton Cemetery. We had planned to do the monuments tour, but we couldn't find parking. That's why they did that on Monday instead of more museums. Oh well. I've actually been to both before--the Cemetery and the monuments, so it didn't make too much difference to me. I was glad to go to the Cemetery though, I'll confess. It just felt a little more Sabbath-like. The monuments would have been fine, probably. Still free, and historic stuff, but with so many people wandering around it felt too city-like. There were a lot of peeps at the Cemetery, too, but it still felt a little more reverent. Anyway, so we saw JFK's site and the unknown soldier's changing of the guard, and even this time to Arlington House, which I hadn't seen before. It was all right. Not spectacular, but I got to hear a little French boy there oohing and awing in French over the number of pebbles he was collecting. Yes, indeed, as a follow-up to my last post, children are children wherever they may be.

Monday after work I had intended to take my parents to the river front in Alexandria, but they were beat, and I was beat. The school I'd worked at that day had broken A/C, and as always, I'd been on my feet a lot. My parents had walked at least 4 miles hither and yon around DC, so we took the evening to relax and watch some movies.

After the movies, around 12:00 or so, I still didn't have a job for the next day, so I assumed I'd have the morning with my parents. Yet, for some reason, I got a call around 8:30 on Tuesday morning, and I found 4 job possibilities online for that. Dang! Well, I was a little stressed, distressed, and my dad pulled mom into the kitchen and they said they'd pay me to teach them that day. Aren't they the best? Well, I think so, but I'm a little partial. We went down to Mt. Vernon, hoping that I could at least show them the view if we didn't do a tour, but since I've been down there, they've built a big entry thing so that you can't even see anything unless you do a tour, so we just wandered around the bookshop for a bit, which was fun anyway. They had some fun children's books that teach a bit of American history that I found delightful and my parents bought me one: We, the Children--straight text from the preamble to the Constitution, but with pictures that told a modern childhood story. Very cute. Then we went to the Post Office and to Subway and that was about all we had time for.

As with any vacation, there's always so much more to it than the events that give it structure. I had some great conversations and learned about my parents and my family, too, things I'd never known before. And the feelings shared, of course, are the highlight of it all. I love my parents so much! How blessed I am to have them.

Substitute Teaching

I haven't written much in awhile, and I do kind of miss it. It's not that I've been too busy. It never is, of course, though I can always hope. :) But I have the past couple weeks had a job that has kept me off the computers, and I'm actually quite grateful about that. It's a little rough to be on my feet as much as I am, but I'm pretty grateful for the opportunity to be subbing again, now in the Prince George's County Public schools. I say again because I did it about 10 years ago in Alpine School District, which is the northern half of Utah Valley, Utah--from Orem to Alpine.

I have to confess I expected some differences in this area, and I've met up with a little bit of that, but there are definitely similarities. Kids are cute and have a lot of the same antics from one side of the country to the next, though it seems they start a little younger with some of the antics over here. There are students who are really bright, really eager for approval, really eager for attention, really eager for doing the right thing, and those who don't care quite as much everywhere you go.

Aside from the stresses of handling different classrooms of kids every day and spending the first half of the day trying to get everyone's name down and the second half writing those names on a a paper or the blackboard for later discipline from their teacher, it's also a little stressful not to know from day to day if I have a job, as well as to know that this is only until the end of the school year, therefore for about three more weeks. But the Lord has provided me with work as I've needed it, well, for the most part. I've had times when I could have used a little more income, but I've learned important lessons from those times as well. In any case, I'm sure things will work out.

What does it mean to be Smart?

This is my response to this article that I found through Wilson Quarterly:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=452772

I'm guilty of confessing that I sometimes think I'm smart, even this week. But reading this article and only the first sentence of the first comment at the bottom really made me wonder what people mean when they refer to smart people--particularly when they're surprised or perturbed that supposedly smart people can't figure something out that seems clear to them.

I suppose it got me thinking because I don't like insults. But also because the context made it somewhat clear why supposedly smart people couldn't figure something out--the smarts referred to were quite different. Science smarts vs. artistic smarts. Not a person on this earth knows everything, nor is wise about everything, nor understands everything. Particularly there is no one who has all of these wrapped up together.

In Church, we often look at the verses describing the body of the Church in Corinthians 12, as we talk about the different gifts of the Spirit, and the application is clear that we need each other because of our different talents. Because it's contexted to the Church, it's fairly easy to apply it to our callings, but it seems the lesson should extend beyond the body of the Church. We need scientific minds as we need artistic minds, as well as all other kinds as well. So when we write about our specialties, we should treat the others with respect and understanding rather than with contempt. Right-o?

I think this idea of "smarts" was also on my mind because of last week's Sunday School lesson on the law of consecration. One thing I really like about the law of consecration is that it equalizes everyone. Not just financially, but for value of their talents. I'm not surprised that the United Order failed, not only because of the imperfect people within it and their various levels of pride, but also because it was not entirely independent. Being dependent on an external society with an economic and social system that did not equalize all of the members, kept ideas imbedded in the members of the United Order's minds. Additionally, not having a large enough population nor area so as to account for every needed talent and resource, even had the people had perfect hearts, they could not have thrived. But if they had been independent and had sufficient resources and people, then such a system as would recognize the value of every member's abilities would certainly have thrived such as the one did in the Americas following the reign of Christ, as recorded in 4 Nephi where there were no poor among them.

Presently, however, there is not an economic system in place on the Earth that really treats every member of its governing society equally. In capitalism, with which I am most familiar, and which my society does tend to value, even though men are free to develop their own talents, the pay scale people receive based on the supposed value of their contribution is so unequal as to set up ideas in way too many minds that some talents and skills are more valuable than others.

This is in fact, probably the basis that got these commentors into the line of thinking that certain people were smart and yet not as smart as they should be. They had succeeded in their field, made good money, so they must be intelligent. Right? This is the line of thinking that led Stanley Fish, to whom the writer of the article is responding, to state that the humanities are a useless field because they do not produce valuable commodities as the sciences do. Commodities and progress toward ease of life equals intelligence. Right?

For these reasons, I really liked the author's, Wilfred McClay's, response, particularly her use of Huxley's Brave New World. Very appropriate.

If I would add anything, it would be to respond to the logical fallacy in Fish's thinking that if the humanities were of value then humanities professors or professionals would be the most humane people, and yet they are not. I was actually along this line of thinking myself a few weeks prior to reading this, particularly pondering some English professors who are not nearly as goodly-hearted as I would have hoped their literary studies would have led them to be. Nonetheless, there is error in this thinking.

We face this question often as members of my Church, actually, though on a non-parallel level, which I'll explain in a minute. Some would say that if the Church is the only true Church on the Earth than its members should be better than those of any other Church. But this is not true. And we would never say it was. There are many people outside of the Church, though we would warmly welcome them, as anyone, into the Church, who are better than many of the members.
The test of the Church's truth isn't in the "better"ness of the members than of those in other churches. The idea of such comparison is based on competitive thinking, which has connections to capitalistic thinking, but also tends to be an unfortunate human tendency.

Life is not a competition! We are not on Earth to compete against everyone and be better than everyone. And God does not and will not judge is in relation to other people. The point is to be better than we were.

If the humanities have value, or if parts of the humanities have value, it is because they make the people who ponder them better than they would be without having studied them. If the Church is true, then the people who apply the principles are better than they would be.

Of course, it seems such tests are fairly unproductive. Many churches make people better than they would be, so how can we know if the Church is the only true one? Perhaps the way to judge this isn't through the people but from God. Although the people will definitely help, God will be the one to tell you.

Likewise, I would add, that if the humanities are of value, then one should ask God. He does know all, unlike any human, and can tell you what is of value and what is not.

However, as to the question about the humanities vs. the sciences, the rationale isn't on a parallel to comparing churches to churches. Churches to churches may be apples to apples, but humanities to sciences is apples to oranges. Both the sciences and the humanities can make people better than they would be without them, and yet we can and should have them both.

So how can we know if the humanities are valuable? While I will not interrupt your prayers about the subject, I will add that the Lord usually tells us to study things out in our minds before we ask, so I'll give you a little to think about--the body.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the ^ahead to the feet, I have no need of you.

22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be ^amore feeble, are necessary:

23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same ^acare one for another.

26 And whether one member ^asuffer, all the members ^bsuffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

It would seem to me that everyone needs both the sciences and the humanities.

Repetition

Two weeks ago I taught primary for the first time in probably 10 years--so probably before the 9-10 year olds I was teaching were born. But it was fun. I don't know if I had enough material for the time, or if I didn't prepare well enough, but it turned out okay. They were pretty good kids.

The lesson was interesting--included some stories I didn't remember or may not have heard before. It was about the Saints moving to Ohio because of the prayers of Brother Whitney. This story was familiar--when Joseph arrived in Kirtland, he went into Brother Newel Whitney's story and said to him: "Newel K. Whitney! Thou art the man! . . . I am Joseph the Prophet. . . . You've prayed me here; now what do you want of me?"

So why did the Lord choose to answer Bro. Whitney's prayers by bringing the prophet to him? Well, as the lesson went on, it was because the saints in Ohio, mostly recent converts from missionary efforts, needed some training in the running and operations of the Church, so they needed the prophet to teach them. One of the object lessons that I chose to use for this was to bring some yarn and needles to the class, hand it to a child and tell them to knit something for me. So I handed it to the poor 9-year-old boy and told him to knit me a scarf. He looked at the yarn and needles a little dumbstruck, as expected. So I took it back. Yes, even though you know that yarn and needles can knit a scarf, doesn't mean you know how to do it. So the Saints, though converted, didn't necessarily know how to make everything work.

King of cool story, and neat object lesson. The boys weren't actually too interested in learning to knit, but in the spare time we had after the lesson materials were covered, I showed the four girls how to knit, and they generally really enjoyed it.

Then, last week, I taught Relief Society, as it was my Sunday to do so. This lesson was about a different migration of the Saints, from Missouri to Illinois, because of persecution. The title of it was "Responding to Persecution with Faith and Courage." The last lesson I taught in R.S., the month previous was, "Valiant in the Cause of Christ" and the lesson the previous week, when I was in primary, had been, ""God Shall Be with You Forever and Ever": The Prophet in Liberty Jail." Basically, slightly different approaches, but all three lessons about handling persecution.

I do appreciate lessons about that. It's always helpful to remember, and it did come at an interesting time in my life, as well. I also think, in general, I have some fears about missionary work because of some slight persecution I've felt when trying before--nothing as serious as the early saints in this dispensation experienced, but some negativity and verbal abuse anyway. So, being reminded that it's not my fault--that I'm not doing something wrong and even will be blessed for my righteous efforts to promote the truth, does help give me faith and courage and help me to be valiant.

Still, although it's a good topic, I was still struggling with how to make this lesson unique from the previous two. Sure, the historical pieces were different and the quotes were different, but I wasn't sure how to extract the significant points from the quotes in such a way as to make the lesson feel different. And particulary when it came to class participation, I was having a hard time coming up with questions for discussion that would yield fresh comments from those already shared last month.

Well, I gave the lesson, and we had some participation, and some of it was indeed the same stories from class members that they shared last month. Fortunately, they didn't seem to mind. And there were some new ones too, which was nice.

So moving on. Yesterday was a stake activity, a picnic with some outdoor games, mostly for kids, though there was a "Pace N Race"--walking race, for everyone. I didn't do that, mostly hung out with the other families from my ward who came. One of those families was a family that I'd babysat for back in December, and from which one of their little girls had been in my primary class. She had seemed particularly interested in learning to knit because she was into other yarn crafts. So I asked if she'd done any more knitting. She said she'd tried to do it again, but it was hard to remember everything so it came apart. That was actually really understandable because, since there were four girls and not a lot of time, none of them got a lot of one-on-one time to engrain the lessons, and I explained that to her, understanding.

While I was in the temple later yesterday afternoon, watching the same video I've seen hundreds of times, since I've been endowed since 1995 and, with the exception of my mission, been to the temple pretty much monthly at least since then. Of course, sometimes I don't do an endowment when I go, but anyway--I've still seen it a lot. Other people have seen it more, however, and yet for them as for me (most of the time), I still feel the Spirit and am glad to do it again and again. I even learn new things a lot of the time. But as I was sitting there yesterday, remembering what I'd told my little would-be-knitter and the lesson that prompted my teaching her to knit in the first place, and my frustration about teaching a similar lesson in R.S., things started to come together. We're preparing to be gods. We know it can be done because God has told us so, but we don't know how to do it, so we need lessons, and yes, we need the same lesson over and over, hundreds of times, particularly with a bit of one-on-one time. And sometimes, it's even better if those lessons are close together because they sink in a little better that way. So, yes, I'm glad I had a little of that one-on-one time as I feel when preparing a lesson, as well as some group time, with the class.

Thesis Complete!

Let's see, after how many years? It's kind of an interesting story, so I'll tell it to you, even if I have before. I mean, some of it is interesting, and some might bore you, but I'll write it anyway for history's sake:

Having had wonderful experiences at Monticello apartments just off BYU campus, during my undergraduate years, I had some "meeting scenarios" in my head--some romantic, some more humorous and some even awkward, I guess, for many years--probably since I lived there. Some of these were scenarios that I hoped would work for me, to be "my story." Some were real, some imaginary and would make good stories. But obviously, none of the real ones ever amounted to anything, they just stuck in my head as beginnings only.

Well, driving home from work one fall evening in 2005, after my first summer at Hollins, I was thinking about what I could write about, knowing that I needed to start whetting my whistle to creative writing again, I had an internal conversation that went something like this: "No! I will not write a romance novel. I have not had any success in romance. I don't think I have enough experience to capture romance successfully." I think things like that were repeated to myself several times, for effect. But as I pulled up in front of my house, I finally told myself, "Maybe I'm having these thoughts because the Spirit is prompting me. I don't know, but fine, I'll try writing a romance novel." So I wrote a few pages. Then stopped.

Those few pages sat in my computer untouched after that night --until the following summer. In my first creative writing class at Hollins, the professor, Hillary Homzie, assigned us to bring 10 pages to class every week. Well, I was going to write picture books, so I brought a few attempts of that type. But it just wasn't flowing like I'd hoped. So on the third or fourth week, I think, of the 6 weeks, I was scouring my computer for ideas and things I could work on and happened upon those few pages. What the heck, I told myself, what can it hurt? I flushed those few out into 10 pages, thinking that would be that, and I'd try something else for the rest of the time.

Well, lo and behold, my peers and my professor actually liked it. I mean, it needed a lot of work. I'm not sure anything remains of those first few pages, actually--which I think I have written about before. But anyway, the concept was interesting to them--even though none of them were members of the Church and this was a story clearly about members in the height and depth of our own culture.

So I wrote ten more for the next week, and ten more for the following week. And before I knew it, I had motivated myself to keep writing during the normal year, away from Hollins, so that by the time I returned the following summer, I had over 100 pages of working text. I'm not remembering well all of the sequences of events, but it had some work in the motivation of my choosing to switch from the MA to the MFA, although I didn't know for sure that this would be my thesis. I wasn't sure it was "young" enough for children's literature, nor that I could successfully finish it.

Well, I had the same professor again for my creative writing seminar that summer, and this time, because it was a more advanced class, we had to write 20 pages per week. I was kind of set, with those 100 pages. Actually, of course, what I'd written required reworking, and although we didn't bring in rewrites through the term, the suggestions for changes based on class discussions did translate into changes into the following pages as well as the pages discussed. And for six weeks, I needed also the last 20 pages, which might have come in the middle. In short, I made progress.

At the same time, however, I had an idea for a much younger book, about a duck with some magic, and a little boy. It flowed out pretty well and I submitted it piece by piece for my other class that term. One of my fellow students was in both classes and she much preferred Dave the Duck. I liked it too. But I also knew it would be shorter, so I'd have to come up with additional stories to get it to thesis length. But it was definitely under the rubric of "children's" literature. So, I talked to Hillary about it, showing her that manuscript, and her opinion was very firm that my BYU story was the better fit for the thesis. Wow. So there you have it! I registered it with her as my advisor shortly after that.

Then continued working at it for the next several months and finally mailed a complete ms to her in the late winter/early spring of 08. She had it back to me with lots of revision suggestions just in time for me to work on it at Hollins last summer, then I mailed it back to her again by September, a deadline she'd given me, which was actually really good for me, to push me. She had a few more suggestions, but otherwise said she trusted me to make the changes and said it was good to go!

And that was the easy part. Well, not entirely. But to some extent. It was definitely not over though.

When I started at Hollins, students in their last term had to take a comprehensive exam, so you had to buy all of these books in case there might be questions involving them, covering the major critical approaches and significant books in the history of children's literature. So I had bought many of them, but then last year they got rid of the comps and replaced it with an essay. Those who had been in the program for a couple years, like myself, were given the option of still doing the comps. But having time to look over what I write and with it only being 10-15 pages, I thought it not a huge deal to write a paper comparing my book to others in the field.

Still, it was a little tricky, particularly since I was not all that familiar with other LDS works. I mean, I knew some, and I regretted knowing more than those that I liked. But it was a good opportunity for me to familiarize myself with the genre, so over the past year I bought a few books (I think I read up to 10? t's still not a huge genre--somewhere around there) and eventually pumped out a first draft and emailed it to my second reader by November 30.

I didn't get it back until February, which was a little disheartening, and discouraging, particularly since the comments weren't making a whole lot of sense to me. I discussed them a bit with the reader and eventually found that an entirely LDS approach would probably work better than what I had done, so almost completely re-wrote and submitted near the end of March.

Well, he liked this version much better, though he still had a few reservations, but he finally said if my director accepted it, he'd be fine. Well, Hillary said it was fine with her, so by mid-April, just a month before "graduation" I'm officially good to go! What a relief.

April Birthdays

I have been very negligent about acknowledging my siblings with April birthdays. David's was the 5th and Susie Q (no longer Q, actually) had hers the 16th.

I'll start with David, since he's older and his birthday was first. David is my one and only big brother. At only a few years older than me, when we were growing up, we had an interesting love-hate relationship. Sometimes I idolized him, and sometimes I fought with him. Maybe I fought with him because he didn't (and who could?) live up to my idol standards. But time and prayers have worn away the scars and now I think he's a great man. Some of my favorite memories with David include some nice gifts he made for me at Christmas exchanges. One was a little wagon that I kept on my dresser until it fell into complete direpair, and the other was a doll's bed for a baby doll I coveted and got for Christmas maybe the same year, maybe the year before. I still have that bed, though it might be at my parents' house. Another fond memory would be driving to Greeley for some youth leadership meeting in his dinged up, old yellow truck. Greeley being about 20-30 miles away, across mostly bare open highway at that time (though there's been a lot built there since that time), we probably had the road pretty much to ourselves so he showed off for me by taking the truck faster than the speedometer could record. Probably not the best thing to be doing on our way to a Church thing, but I enjoyed laughing with him.

Now, he's a mature father of two baby girls and fathering two of his wife's children--all of them adorable. He loves hunting and fishing and pampering his dog, and weren't we surprised when he first told us about Sariah, shortly after they met, that she loves hunting too! It was a match made in heaven.

Now for Susie Q. She's kind of my middle child. I mean, not really, but since I'm third and she's 6th, she's in the middle of the five children younger than me. While I was growing up, she was just a kid, so I had fun babysitting her and passing on my hand-me-downs to her. But before too long, she seemed to catch up to me and we even worked at the same place for awhile, her just after high school, and me just after college. She was actually the one who got me the job, even, at Kids' Harbor. After that, she moved to Provo to go to college and a year or so after that, I returned to Provo, too, for a graduate program that I didn't finish, so we were adults there and hung out sometimes. We had some good memories there, making sock monkeys Mom gave us kits for so we could do something together, and she was good about remembering the holidays and giving me cute gifts.

After awhile there together, I moved out East, but she stayed there and got to know Mike, got married and now they're the proud parents of three cute little girls with a fourth on the way. But not only do they have children to tend, they're also now helping Mike's parents with some sheep farming! I love hearing about their adventures with the sheep and little girls on the farm on our myfamily site.

So, although I'm a little bit late, I hope you both had wonderful birthdays!
(Pictures coming soon)

Spring Pics

I finally used my camera for the purposes for which I had it kept in my car....
Tuesday and Wednesday I took walks around Old Town Alexandria during my lunch hour and was able to take some spring pics. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to the Relief Society!

So I'm a little off as far as the date goes, but it's pretty good of me to recognize this birthday all together on here, I think, especially since it's not a sibling. But the truth be known, I happened to have my camera in my car because it's spring and I've been contemplating spring shots. So when I saw it on my seat on my way out of the car to this birthday celebration, I thought that sounded like a good idea to bring it. The pictures didn't turn out terrifically, but at least it made me think to post them here.

So, a little history. The Relief Society's birthday date, which we were reminded of in a trivia game we played, is March 17, 1842. It was organized because the men working on the Nauvoo temple needed shirts to wear for their work, so the women organized themselves and got Joseph Smith, Jr., the prophet, to thinking and praying on the subject, and from that came an organization with far broader purposes than its origination imagined. Currently, it's the largest women's organization in the world, and it's been around for quite awhile too. Every female member of the Church who is 18 years or older, or who is married, if younger, is a member. If a younger woman has a child, she is invited to join, but she does not have to.

The motto of the Relief Society is "Charity Never Faileth," taken from the Book of Mormon, the Book of Moroni. As the words indicate, the purpose of the Relief Society is to bless lives. The way this is done is manifold. The party indicated in the pictures above is from an Enrichment night. Every quarter (four times a year), each ward unit's Relief Society has an Enrichment night and in March, it is to be in celebration of the R.S. birthday. Enrichment activities are typically a night for women to get away from the daily grind and socialize with each other. Often, they involve dinner, a craft, and a little lesson. Sometimes they might involve a broader service project. Sometimes, particularly around Christmas time, it's predominantly crafts. (These are often, too, in the morning, rather, so the meal is breakfast.) In addition to these quarterly activities, there are also "groups" or "clubs" of special interests for the sisters to attend. Some common ones are book clubs, play group for mothers to bring their kids together, excursion groups, dinner groups. All women are invited to all of these, but usually because they're focused on special interests, attendance is pretty small--it's just nice to get together with a few women, get to know them better, learn more, be enriched, you know.

Another thing the Relief Society does is Visiting Teaching. Every woman is assigned a visiting teacher from her ward unit. Ideally, she has at least two, and sometimes even three--but at least one. Most women are visiting teachers, too, though if someone doesn't want to be one, they don't have to. As a visiting teacher, a woman has at least one sister, typically around 3, but depending on the size of the ward or branch, she may have more sisters, whom she is assigned to visit and teach a lesson. (The general presidency and committee in Salt Lake put the lessons together in each month's Ensign, the Church magazine.) If she's not able to visit, she can also write a letter or call the sister(s) just to see how she's doing and kind of be a friend. It's a neat program and blesses a lot of people when it works well.

The Relief Society also has a Compassionate Service committee in each unit, a group that helps provide meals, most commonly, to new mothers and others with health needs. They are often also in charge of making sure each sister's birthday is recognized. Other things might fall under this category depending on the imaginations and inspirations of the particular members.

Each ward/branch unit also meets every Sunday and has a lesson and sings together.

So you're wondering, if everything is done at the ward/branch level, how is it the largest organization? Isn't it more like thousands of small organizations? Well, no. It really is organized and run from Church headquarters. The general presidency speaks to the entire Relief Society once a year, a week before the general conference of the Church in October. They also prepare training materials and give training sessions for the unit leaders. Then, in addition to the general level, there is also the stake level--the umbrella over a group of wards/branches, between 5 and 12. Prior to the general Relief Society session at the end of September, the stake leaders usually organize a dinner and activity and a service project. Also, they visit each ward once or twice a year, as well as the leaders meet with the ward level leaders on a semi-regular basis, for trickle down training as well as for area-specific counsel.

Anyway, most of my readers are probably familiar with all of that and might not have read this far, but I think a few people who aren't members of the Church might visit, so what the heck. In any case, it's a great organization, and I'm glad to be a part of it. Happy Birthday Relief Society!