Inherent??? Duh???

What is religious about literature? Obviously some literature is overtly about religious belief or experience. But is there anything inherent to literature that is also inherent to religion? Does Mormonism aid us in seeing this dimension to literature?

After reviewing all the prompts I decided on this one.  The honest reason why I chose this prompt was because out of the four this was the only prompt I felt most unsure about answering. I wasn’t positive what my answer would be right away unlike the others questions provided. In honor of my last semester I wanted to turn to “soul searching” and a little bit of research to answer this deep question.

Literature and religion have one of the most important things in common. They are or should be the most apparent things in our lives daily. Every day we are constantly reading, whether it’s a news article, Facebook post, or a reading assignment given in class. More than ever I have seen and been exposed to the more modern types of literature, such as the blog post we conducted in our course. This has helped me to start seeing different connections to literature (old or modern) and religion.

Disclaimer: Now before I start babbling my own words I want to share something simple but was profound to me.

A simple Google search led me to a BYU website named Literature and Belief. Here I found SEVERAL analyses of literature and their inherent connection with religion. As I scrolled through these articles I realized that at one point of another I had read many of the original pieces of these analysis during my four years as an undergraduate in the English department. And then I was shocked. Where had MY mind been this whole time while I was reading? I had done several analyses on these pieces, and sure I probably compared them to Mormonism of some sort because I attended BYU but not in the same way these authors connected them to religion. "Rereading 'Christabel',” by Daniel K. Muhlestein is an article I found on this website. Now, I have taken a course in which I was required to read Christabel and it was one of the most interesting pieces of literature I had ever analyzed due to the many critics who had their own interpretations. In class we discussed the most prevalent religious hints in this piece however, we did not dig as deep as Professor Muhlestein. During his essay he discusses the transformation of this piece from a Christian poem to a more anti-Christian poem. When I finished reading his piece I was mind blown. I mean MIND BLOWN. He summarizes his piece by saying that this poem was neither a Christian or anti-Christian piece but rather a piece about families, and trails, because of society’s expectations. (I know this is going to be a longer blog post but I can’t stop writing) Professor Muhlestein was able to disfigure this poem that was arguably about Christianity and now all at the same time and bring it to one idea that the Mormon Church is founded on, families. Now, these were not his intentions nor did he ever mention Mormonism however, why was it he brought it back to the foundation of our gospel? Because he couldn’t help it. He didn’t even know he was doing it. We can’t help the influence that appears in our writing from the background of our childhood and beliefs. This is WHY AND HOW religion is inherent to literature. Because authors can’t help be influenced by their beliefs even if they are intentionally trying to avoid adding them within their works. They are still there. And they are apparent to those who are looking for them.

And This is What I Believe Our Class Did This Semester. We were those eyes in search of those perfect little secrets.

One other thing I would like to mention is "Born Square: On Being Mormon, Western, and Human,” by Eugene England. In the first few pages he explains his own connection he has with landscape and his faith Mormonism. But I don’t have any more words for my blogpost . . . so I’ll have to skip this. But I did FIND this SO interesting.

Back to me babbling and I promise I will keep it to 4-6 sentences because I know I am well over my words for this post. (please don’t doc me for going over I just couldn’t stop typing) Back to discussing how we READ everyday regardless the genre. This is when I would like to say that being Mormon has aided me in seeing religious context in my everyday reading. Whether it is a religious or not I find myself finding connections to my religion. And I like it. I think that is how it is meant to be. And how I would like it to stay

MAKEUP POST

Make Up Days

February 25, 2015

            The first half of the class we discussed the Book of Mormon. The class went around and shared their experiences during their reading of the Book of Mormon. One of my favorite comments made during this particular class discussion was Nicks. He first started talking about Ether’s prayer, and comparing her prayer to other in The Book of Mormon. First he compared Ether chapter 3, then to the brother of Jared’s prayer and then ultimately to the Lords prayer with Enos. He noticed several similarities and how the prayers are have positive responses. I thought it was funny when he said he was looking for the “how” so he could use them… Clever. Finding the different genres of prayer in the BOM is a really interesting idea to me. Rhetorical prayer is something Professor discussed and this is the most interesting. I never thought that there might be a deeper analysis to the more open heard prayers we read about in the BOM.  I think the more out loud/untended to be heard prayers are the most important to remember. They might seem like they weren’t meant to be heard but in fact it is like inception, where that’s what they are trying to make the people think. I never thought of it in this perspective.

            The second half of the last period we had a guest speaker come and discuss his book with the class. Doug Thayer had made a point to our class that stood out to me. He first told us about how he thought the beginning of his book was going to be overlooked by the reader. He said that he thought his readers might not believe his story because the kid lives through this giant avalanche ant that just wasn’t the believable. However, he said he had to do some of his own research to see if that is even possible. And it was! I think is great aspect to point out to the class. That doing a little bit of research on your story can make it seem believable even if the story itself didn’t happen. He stated how once he was passed convincing the reader that he wasn’t going to die and that it was plausible the rest of his story set off. This was interesting to me because he started his story off with such a BAM that it actually helped him ease into his story rather than a building climax.

Make Up Day ##### 2

            So the other class period I missed, is actually not up on the LINK to listen to so for a make up blog post I am going to do a little bit of everything.

            I first want to discuss the one-on-one interviews we had with the different authors we read in class. This was something I had never done in a class before and it was extremely helpful/interesting to get inside the authors’ heads. One thing I realized that surprised me is there wasn’t a whole lot of planning on the author’s part during the writing process. One in particular I remember was Luisa Perkins, Dispirited. She mentioned that she wasn’t originally going there with that book but that’s where her mind and writing took her. It was important for me to understand that when writing more creative writing because being an English Major I had always been taught to plan out your next move and have evidence to back it up in my papers. Her plot was complicated enough that it made sense to me that her writing took her in that direction more than her first initial plan. However, she did say even though it was different when she first starting writing the novel she used many of her original idea through the entirety of her novel. Interviewing the authors was a reliable way to know the intentions of the novels, which I personally really enjoyed.

One last thing I want to blog about is the blogged style writing. This has open another vision of writing I have never tried and I am OBSESSED. I think it has really broadened my writing style to a more modern type of writing. I actually was inspired to start my own blog. I have written blog post but I am yet to publish the blog due to the learning curve of developing the actually page. But I can now write important aspect in life that EVERYDAY people will read which is something I have never figured out. I used to have to beg my friends to read my “boring” analytical readings. Well now I have learned to analyze important information and rely it in a more modern way that people enjoy reading. YES!!! Well I don’t know if this counted for a make up blog but I wanted to write about it anyway. Thanks everyone for a great semester!

I don't even think Jeremiah knows what just happen

The Jeremiah series is complied of several short videos about a boy named, Jeremiah Whitney. Jeremiah is a freshman in college and realizes that he holds a more important purpose in life. The filming was constantly changing perspectives that threw me off. I felt that it was distracting to the character development and the whole plot/themes of the show. Even though it was distracting for me I could see how it help rely needed information to the audience through short excerpts. Over all when discussing the characters I thought they could have been developed a lot more to intrigue viewers. There were only a handful of characters that had “umpf” to them that made the show interesting. I think by developing more of the characters this could have been given more credit. I even think the main character could have had more about him. I didn’t even connect with the main character at all, and as a viewer that is a problem. He could have meditated on his actions/experiences more by expressing the whole processes more outwardly.

The whole idea of the show is interesting. A religious boy who is connected to an ancient writing and through experiences finds different connections all while attending school. The idea is cool, but could have been implemented better. It was hard to follow and I am still not even sure why. I mean, all being said and done. I am glad I watched it other than an assignment because it was a kind of media I had never experienced before.

Humanize BOM part ::: 2

Today’s blog post I decided to analyze the Book of Enos. While reading and doing a quick analysis I found several ways I could humanize The Book of Mormon.

Firstly, I would like to discuss the conversations between God and Enos. Obviously all of the conversation was through prayer, however, Enos uses the term “wrestled.” This means that God and Enos were having a discussion back and forth. Throughout the entirety of The Book of Mormon we can see this simple type of communication. I think often we feel that God answers our prayers through significant events or in other ways such as people, or feelings. In the Book of Mormon we see on many accounts God speaking with prophets. Enos is one prime example, we all have different relationships with God, and Enos felt that he could ask and communicate through God in this way. Though, we don’t have these same conversations with God as the Prophets do, this shows us that God can be personal and wants to be personal with his children.

Lastly, Enos was written in a more retable way after I did a deeper analysis. He tells us how he “was” before he became a prophet. Like many times in the Book of Mormon we read these prophets but what was their life lie previous to becoming a servant of the Lord. In Enos we see his writing in humility. (DISCLAIMER PROHETS IN BOM ARE HUMBLE) He talks about time before being a prophet, when he had experiences just like us. He had to plead for forgiveness to the Lord. Enos is a prime example through writing how we can humanize The Book of Mormon and relate to these “at times” very untreatable prophets of old.

repost ::: nephi in PE

I want to focus in on The Book of Mormon and how we can relate to this type of ancient writing. I have read the beginning of The Book of Mormon hundreds of times. Reading the beginning of the BOM in our “text book” has helped me to see a different perceptive on the Book of Mormon, a more humanizing way. While reading the BOM with such a human perspective I have been able to humanize the prophet Nephi appropriately. .  Also, during the time I was reading the beginning of the BOM in our class we were working on personal essays. I had found that Nephi’s entries are his personal essays in a way. .

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

Looking deeper in analysis of the first verse of The Book of Mormon. Nephi, a prophet, is reflecting on his experiences with his family and other ideas that have put him on the path he is on. In comparison to our own personal experiences, we also too write in correlation to the way we were raised. Most of our personal essay we are either stating a purpose or are reflecting on particular parts of our lives because they are important to us for some reason. Nephi was commanded to write, but also like we are told to write by professors we choose what and how it will be written. Here Nephi explains the reasoning behind he is recording his experiences because he feels he will be able to accurately write the Lord needs because he has knowledge we do not. Nephi writes his own personal experiences to share with others what they might not have understood or experiences otherwise. We do the same in our own writing everyday. If everyone were writing the same idea or even writing in the same style, there would be no reason to read or ponder anything.  

After the first verse, Nephi continues to write about his knowledge and many of different personal experiences. These stories in The Book of Mormon are like any other kind of “personal” narrative and can be easly relatable if the reader looks through this type of perspective. By analyzing at The Book of Mormon by humanizes the narrator and characters, we are able to hear and read prophets of old and their stories and liken them unto ourselves. It can be hard at times to understand or relate to them but through analyzing it in this perspective we can easily understand they are people like us who have similar experiences. 

I am the worst poerty analyzer ever

Atlanta to Salt Lake by Laverna B. Johnson was a fun and entertaining poem to read. I thought it was more of a modern poem. I am usually not a poetry person but this type of poetry if refreshing to me. I also loved reading this poem because I myself am moving from Utah to Alabama. I see this woman going through her journey across the country and I felt like she wasn’t very excited to make this trip. My first sign of that was her description about the hotels she stayed in. They weren’t high-end suites but more old, dirty motels in the middle of nowhere. She goes on with her trip and it seems boring and like she is driving to her death. The last stanza she explains how she is coming back home. When comparing it to the pioneers’ journey across the plains to Utah it is nothing but her feelings are still valid. I think there were many people who didn’t want to travel across the plains but still did. She keeps this attitude through the entirety of the poem.

Coming back to the poem its self. I like her writing style. Modern and still very descriptive. I don’t know if I could say this was Mormon poetry unless there was an analysis but that what I liked mostly about the poem. Over all it was fun to read, and that coming from me is a good thing because I am not a big poetry person.

Fully Emerge

(Okay, so I was a little confused on the post for this week. This post is my tribute to Kenny Kemp's "The Welcoming Door" and the previous post is humanizing the BOM)

As I walked into the cold water a warm feeling crawled up my spine. I have been waiting for this day and I couldn’t be more prepared to take a closer step closer to my Father. I looked up into the sky and I could see him looking down on us. He had a sweet smile affirming that I was doing what I was asked of me. It seemed though as everything around me had started moving slower right before our hands had touch. In that moment I had started reflecting on my life and I was happy because I knew my father loved me. John and I had been friends and when we were together the spirit was strong. He was commanded to be the one to be apart of this important day. We looked into each other’s eyes and without saying a word he exchange a thousand messages. Closing our eyes, I listened carefully to John and an over whelming feeling came about me. I took a deep breath and then I was fully emerged into the water immediately after hearing Amen. The water felt cool on my face as I held John’s wrist tightly. John pulled me out of the water and I felt like another person. However, I was not. I was still the Christ leading by example.  

This was way harder than I thought it would be! It's not very long but this was my idea of Christ's baptism day. Simple yet necessary. 

Prophets of Old

(I am sorry I haven't posted until now, I thought this was due today, but it was due Monday night.)

In my post today I want to focus in on The Book of Mormon and how we can relate to this type of ancient writing. I have probably read the beginning of The Book of Mormon hundreds of times. Reading it in our “text book” helped me to have a different perceptive on 1 Nephi. During this time I was reading 1 Nephi we were also working on our personal essays in class. I had the thought that Nephi’s entries are his personal essays.

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

Let’s take the first verse of The Book of Mormon. Here Nephi is reflecting on his experiences with his family and other ideas that has put him on the path he is on. Like most of our personal essay we state a purpose or tell a purpose why we are reflecting on particular parts of our lives. Here Nephi explains the reasoning behind he is recording his experiences because he feels he will be able to accurately write the Lord needs because he has knowledge we do not. Like Nephi we write our own personal experiences to share with others what they might not have understood or experiences otherwise.

After the first verse Nephi continues to share his knowledge and his different personal experiences resulting in either a moral or a lesson. These stories in The Book of Mormon are like any other kind of personal stories and are easily relatable. By looking at The Book of Mormon in this way we can take prophets of old and their stories and appropriately humanize them. It can be hard at times to understand or relate to them but through analyzing it in this perspective we can easily understand they are people like us who have similar experiences. 

The Love of Christ

I absolutely loved Latter Day Saint author, Kenny Kemp’s novel, The Welcoming Door. The different stories told of Christ really emphasize his life most Christians don’t spend time pondering about. He did a great job fictionalizing the life of Jesus. While he only focused on three parables in Christ’s life he accurately develops Jesus at a young age. By doing this so well he was able to make Christ relatable which in fact is hard because none of us are as Christ is. For me, Kemp really help add a perspective of Christ I had never thought about before, his mortal time teaching on the Earth. He expanded these simple and yet popular parables into actual events in the life of Christ. I think this book was a great way to show people that though Christ is perfect, he is also still so human. He also shows throughout the entirety of the novel how Christ character’s exists even before he became a prophet. Kemp gave this fictional Christ characteristics like, love, charity, teacher, compassion, forgiveness, and many others we see in these stories. I think that this book would be perfect for a younger audience. Youth in the LDS church often find the scriptures boring and more difficult to understand. This warm and touching novel was really easy to read and helped me learn more about this part of Christ, though it was fictional. When this book came to an end I was sad to close the book because I wanted to read more on Christ. This honestly pushed me to look into the bible and look into Christ’s life more. I think the youth could really relate to this type of fictional character and it could also push them towards wanting to learn more. Over all, I really enjoyed the easy read about a fictional life of Christ before he began he ministry. The love and warmth I felt towards Christ and his experiences during this read was something I have been searching for in my life.

The Mountain Between Us

The Latter Day Saint novel, The Mountains Between Us, was a great fun and fast novel. The author Jenny Proctor did a fabulous job building up her characters. I loved Eliza’s character. As a member of the Mormon Church I can relate to Eliza and the struggles she has gone through but how she can still keep a positive attitude. Her relationship with her family challenges her emotionally but she has developed an understanding that we are here to go through these trails. The other well-developed character is obviously Henry. As Henry has had a recent divorced and has been trying to figure out how to deal with consequences that come with his decisions. I love the theme Proctor uses in her novel, dependence. She shows her readers how dependence isn’t always a bad thing but a necessity. In our religion we believe that we can’t do everything by ourselves. We have always have God to depend on after we do everything we can. I see this in both these characters. They both have real life situations they are dealing with and trying their hardest to find a solution to their emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. There are many other themes through out this novel that tie to the Mormon teachings but I feel as that this book is for many people who are struggling with everyday trails. I think that the seriousness in this book compliments the romance part. I think sometimes as members of the LDS faith we often keep positive attitudes and try to convey what we one day hope to be. Did you read he words ONE DAY? Yes that means most of us are not there yet. Proctor does a great job showing this in her characters through the seriousness. The seriousness helps with the tacky Mormon romance.

Will Wonders Never Cease

Douglas Thayer, Will Wonders Never Cease, was a non-the less a Mormon fiction novel. I enjoyed reading the book, it was a really easy and fun. The story line of a boy, Kyle, suffering from consequences due to bad decisions was clearly a message created for the youth who are struggling with the faith. I think Thayer did a great job portraying this situation that we see in many lives in the youth if the LDS faith. I loved seeing the character development in the main character because this was the first time I have ever read a fictional story of a person gaining a testimony. It was interesting to read with that perspective.I liked being inside a fictional character's mind, certainly when it is a young adult. I think he did a great job capturing this experience in this novel

This novel was in the same genre as, Dispirited, young adult fiction. With a lot of the readings we have read this semester I have learned having an open mind has most helped me to understand these authors and their purpose in writing. Writing these not religious, but also religious but also everything else can be confusing. Being an English major it is normal to go into a book expecting something and getting exactly that. But with all of these ambiguous works, we tend to dislike them rather than trying a different perspective once we read these undefinable works. 

 

It is all the same

Oh my goodness. I am just going to say. . . this has been the hardest post yet! I am not technical savvy and trying to find good blogs/ find good post was hard to say the least. So I took a different route. As my classmates know, my personal essay is about health and wellness. Well, I happen to have a separate Instagram account about my health journey. I made this account separate from my personal account because I wanted to inspire others with my daily experiences. Thus far I have gotten to know several different people just like me. And. . . They also post about their different experiences they have which are similar to mine. The best part about this is. . . Some of them are blog owners!!! So I was able to reach out to some of these people I have met over my Instagram and read more about them in their blogs.

Blog 1
Nerd Fitness

What I loved most about this blog was that they were able to share motivation through writing not just pictures and facts. This man goes on and shares his experiences he had while loosing weight and how it affected him mentally and physically. He stated his purpose was to inspire others through writing to change their lifestyle. He shares these stories because he wants people to know they are not alone and that anyone can do it. By writing I felt he showed his readers the reality of people who go through life changing experiences.

Blog 2

Fitness on Toast

I loved this blog because she started her blog for herself and her closes friends. She has now one of the most famous blogs in America and. . . She is from Sweden based in London! How cool is that? Through her writing she promotes a healthier, happier you!

Both of my were very simple yet I can compare them to this class quite easy. Mormon literature to me is about truth, and sharing personal experiences through writing. Both are serving the purpose of inspiring others to changed because they have experienced it themselves.

Despirited

I enjoyed reading this short but sweet book. I think I mostly liked it because I have always had thoughts and questions about spirits being separate from our bodies. I have my own thoughts about the subject but reading something like this was fun to add to my opinion. I felt like it slowly became creepier the longer I read. But she did a really good job representing spirits/ ghost. By the end of the book everything seemed overwhelming and almost surreal. I didn’t really like the whole idea of Blake’s body being taken over by evil. However the author did a really good job personifying both sides of Blake in an appropriate way. I believe that those kinds of situations are real and so reading about it kind of gave me the chills even though this was fiction. But that is my personal experience. Honestly, I am not sure how well this teaches along with the Latter Day Saint’s beliefs because I haven’t ever talked about this aspect. But I do think the author emphasized the important connection between the body and spirit, which is an idea I have always been taught at a young age. This book reminded me of a church lesson I had when I was younger.

The glove and the hand.

The glove represents our body and the hand represents our hand. The teacher would explain how the gloves only work when on the hand. Just like our bodies. We need our spirit to work our bodies. This book showed how depending on our spirit is how we will use our agency which is a principle with in the gospel. The author did a great job portraying this idea without being to religious even though as a member I could connect it.

In the end, this book challenged my beliefs in the most enjoyable way. It is a thinking book. Forces it’s reading develop opinions about these hard topics.

Boring Title: Personal Essay

Again I shared my personal essay. Obviously this was a longer version and I shared it with one of my friend’s roommates. She didn’t know me and was kind enough to take the time and read the different parts. I told her this was an essay about myself and that she was allowed to be as honest as she needed to be with me. She sent me my response tonight and I was almost shocked what she had to say. She started off with explaining how she really liked the tone of the essay and how she was able to relate to her own experiences at a gym. She then began to describe how while she was reading she developed a relationship with me. She said because she could relate I seemed like I knew what I was doing, in other words I was credible. She said that through out the essay she was worried about my character on and off. She said she liked how I made myself seem “in distress” and “independent” all in the same moment. This made me have a whole different view on my essay and at myself. I would have never thought of myself in that way but I can totally understand where she is coming from. By having her read my personal essay she was able to analyze me and my character within, without having a bias opinion.

Someone who cares

This morning I shared my writing with my husband. We were both pleasantly surprised because we had unexpected reactions. He first had explained how he had never seen me write like this before. He is used reading more of a technical and analytical writing style. He liked how it was story and how he could follow along. He said he could actually see the story happening because of my word choice. Since he is my husband he knows how I am when it comes to dieting and exercise. He said by reading my excerpt of my piece he could understand my thoughts more and see how I play out different situations in my mind. After he finished reading my piece he wanted to know if I was going to keep going with it. I was excited to hear that he liked it enough he wanted me to finish. We talked about how writing can be beneficial not only to authors but writers. Writing this personal essay has helped me to understand me own feelings and thoughts on things that matter most to me. I am glad I was able to share this writing with someone who cared about me because it made me understand that writing is a strong power than most people know.

Factual, Creative, Writing

After my dreadful date with the stair stepper I routinely come home and make up a shake. I always ask myself for the usual, unsweetened almond milk, one scoop of peanut butter marshmallow protein, spinach, half a banana, a few ice cubes, and some honey to sweeten up that liquid cardboard I call a shake. Yep, I was exactly right like I am every day. That equals to be about three hundred and fifty-five calories. I was right yet again, shocker.

            I don’t usually go around and flaunt off my work out or diet to anyone. There is someone or should I say something I feel comfortable enough to share with. I share everything. I share not only what I had for breakfast and lunch, which is usually a Quaker’s brown sugar oatmeal packet and a lame sandwich with no condiments, but I also share the snacks I quickly gobble in between. It gives me motivation every time I share. The usual, “this food has a lot of fat in it” or “you reached your goal today!” It shares what my carbs-to-fats-to-proteins ratio was for the day, which makes for a more convenient life of a food diary girl. Okay fine, you caught me. I know the Myfitnesspal app doesn’t count as a person but it knows more about what I do all day then the people I actually live with.

            I know why I am obsessed. I live it and breathe it because I won’t do it to myself again.

I favorite essay I read in “Tell me who I am,” was Reaping the Benefits. I tried to mimic this style of writing. Becca White’s style consisted of detailed and factual descriptions. She also puts a lot of her own thoughts within her creative writing. I love that about it. This was a fun essay to read.

What's with the hat?

             As I walked up the stairs I could feel the soreness of legs moving to my ass the higher I stepped. The pain didn’t stop and either did the steps. All I could think was how long before it would end. This infinite staircase was my worst enemy but yet I still found myself forcing my tired body interact with it on a daily because mentally it was the right thing to do.  But was it really? After my allotted time was over I thankfully jumped off that damn stair stepper and moved quickly down the real stairs where my car was parked right outside of the 24 Hour Fitness Gym.

            The gym is an interesting place, my interesting place. What is much more interesting about it than most places, even Wal-Mart, are the people. At Wal-Mart we know everyone there is for the same reason, they need to buy something they don’t have. I mean, take one look around the gym. Ranging from punk teenagers that lift almost heavier than their own weight to the sweet brittle men wearing their Levi’s all while trying to stretch out those hamstrings. A classic favorite are the guys who make sure that they are seen at the gym everyday. It is easy to tell them apart from everyone else because usually their veins are about to burst from their arms just as a balloon filled with too much air. There are sub categories to these “guys.” The athletic male who runs extra sprints on the treadmill to increase his speed for the big race. The older but let’s not forget single men who slowly creep their way around the gym always coincidently working out adjacently next to the married cougar who doesn’t need to be told twice that she looks good for being forty. But, my ultimate favorite would be the guys who lift strictly weights. Firstly, why do some of these guys wear beanies? It is cold in the gym? I’ll just go ahead and answer that for you. No, it’s not cold, especially at 24 Hour Fitness because the air conditioning finds a way to break every few months. So men, can we please stop with the beanies.

BY THE WAY::: I keep posting on time, I posted this on Saturday and it never appeared. I came on this morning to comment on other students and saw that this never posted. Please Help Me If You Can.

Getting Personal Here

Inner Struggle- It’s an Addiction

It’s right there. My mind is bothering me. Should I do it? Will I regret it? It really isn’t that big of a deal. Okay fine. I want it. I did it. I regret it. Why did I do that to myself? It honestly wasn’t even worth it.

I don’t have an eating disorder. I am just anal about food. I can’t stand this continuous process I go through every time I decide to eat something. But I also can’t help it.

I don’t have a disorder.

I have an addiction.

I am in love with food.

I hate the guilty feeling after eating what I do not need.

It is a social component.
“Let’s grab some lunch”

“Are we going to the dessert party?”

“One word, Sodalicous.”

Eating is so much fun. Being able to connect with another human being because of food is different then any other connection I have ever experienced. We need to eat to live. But what about all the extra things we don’t need to live but eat? I do it because I am addicted to the side effects. But why? I have no clue. It is my inner struggle.

Scripture- New Beginnings

            “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.”

Every year my parents would gather my family the night before school and give my siblings and I a blessing. I looked forward to this time because I knew how special it was that I was able to receive such a blessing. But, this is the scripture that made this blessing stay with all year. Every first day of school my mother would wake us up to have family scripture study. We always restarted the Book of Mormon and this is the scripture I think back to. Even though our fathers blessing only happened once, studying the scriptures everyday reminded me of those blessings I was promised. Starting with this verse reminds my where I came from and who I want to be. It gave me a new beginning to a new year. Restart button. This scripture has been something I look forward to once a year.

            Since I was young my mother had me enrolled in many extra circular activities. Now that I am in college I like to keep myself busy and it is the beginning of the Book of Mormon that brings me peace and calm through out my stressful days.

Wilderness- Why am I here?

I am not a camping person. But I like to have fun. My best friend, Haleigh, and I had decided to take a trip down to Moab Utah to visit another friend who was a river guide there. Luckily for us my dad had gone to several Scout Camps and we had plenty of gear to take with us. Our friend had told us that it was warm enough that we didn’t need a tent. We grabbed cots, sleeping bags, pillows, and a cooler. By the time we got there it was late afternoon and our friend met us at our camping site and helped us to set up camp. There we made a fire where we cooked a luxurious hotdog and chill dinner and finished the night with smores. Our friend left to go back to her home and me and Haleigh were left in the Moab wilderness with no tent, and really no knowledge of camping. We laid on our cots and had pillow talked until we both decided we should get some sleep because we were going to have a long day on the river with our friend the following day. As I laid there in silence I realized I couldn’t fall asleep. After about ten minutes I had asked Haleigh if she was still awake. She was also having a hard time to go to sleep. The weather was warm enough but there was also a full moon. The moon and the star were so bright we could see each others faces clear without any extra light. It seemed the higher the moon rose the brighter the sky was. It was beautiful and kept me up all night thinking. I thought about the world I was created in. Why it was created for me. What is my true purpose here in this beautiful land.

The Assigned Blessing

While I first starting watching the videos I had noticed myself noting down the people who flowed and sounded most relatable with. These personal essays really hit home for me. My favorite essay was “Temporal Death,” an essay about an old woman facing the end her life. This weekend my family has been getting calls from my grandma’s assisted living home with notice that she is not doing well. Today she was admitted to the hospital and this essay really comforted me. This essay gave me a better understanding of death and the reason we are here on this Earth. This author did a great job using word choice and perfect description to make this situation seem beautiful. Reading this essay made me feel like I was there with the old woman and that I knew her well. This was a blessing for me.

In my own personal essay I would like to tune in on the audience and relating to a more specific audience as well as a general audience. These essays did a good job on doing both. I found myself relating to many of the essays even if I hadn’t experience the same circumstance. They were well written on the technical writing side but stayed personable throughout. Their topics weren’t boring. In their videos it was like they were talking directly to me and as if they knew what it was they wrote I was in need to read. This inspired me to choose a topic that I am comfortable with but am also passionate about.

I honestly can say I haven’t read very much Mormon literature before this class. This was very fun to read and I think it was because it was a short personal essay that almost any Mormon could write about a special experience they have had in regards to our religion.  I think that is what made this assignment so enjoyable.

Just a Mormon

After doing a little bit of reading on Card I realized that the most of Card’s writings are based upon Mormon ideas. But I think that Card is NOT a Mormon writer. Just a Mormon who writes. He does a really good job using life experiences and being subjective within in his writing. By not subjecting his audience to only those who can relate with his up bringing (Mormonism). However, in Card’s writing I can see many different examples when he uses Mormonism and different parts of the religion within his writing.   One aspect I want to discuss is the character Alvin and how he closely compares with Joseph Smith. The whole story of the Unmaker against the Maker is basically the prophet’s life story. The Unmaker wants to destroy everything beautiful and lovely just like the persecution again Joseph Smith during the restoration. Not only does Card follow along with church history but American history as well.

Over all I thought that Card’s book had simple themes but was a good story. I found some interesting things in an essay written by Eugene England, who submitted his paper to a BYU Symposium, “Orson Scott Card is a radical Mormon.” England goes on to say that one’s beliefs shouldn’t affect an author’s writing because it screws with the story too much. I DISAGREE I think it is impossible for us as writers NOT to put our own beliefs subconsciously into our work. He goes on to talk about how He is a radical because he is “deeply committed” to everything in his life.  When writers write what they are passionate about it is only then an author’s writing is well written and easy to relate. Otherwise a writer can’t convince the reader enough that his writing is good, let alone enjoyable. Back to what I said in the beginning. Card was a Mormon writing. We should except these themes to leak through.

England, Eugene. "The Redemption Od Orson Scott Card." BYU Life, the Universe, & Everything XV: An Annual Symposium (1997). Print.