This was powerful.

coldplay

What day couldn't be better for an awesomely large dose of Coldplay?

I've recently realized something about myself. So my middle school experience was not a good one, there were good parts of it but overall it was miserable. While I was reasonable confident in elementary school, I became increasingly insecure in middle school. Kids can be really mean, and I don't think the age range of middle school are anyone's best years.
The realization that I had was that though it's been years since I escaped the hell that was middle school, I've still been carrying middle school around with me. I've been carrying around feelings of inferiority with me since then and letting people make me feel inferior. It was a light bulb/eureka moment when I realized this. I'd heard the quote from Elenore Roosevelt many times which says that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission but while it sounded nice, I didn't really know how to apply it in my own life.
I feel like a weight has lifted off my now, I don't intend to take middle school around with me any more. I'm building better self confidence and self worth. I know it won't be a magic wand waved and the problem will be solved, but I'm changing my mind set. I hated the way I felt in middle school and I'm happy to be putting it behind me once and for all.
To anyone out there who may still be struggling with middle school, etc. I wish you the best of luck in being able to leave it behind.

David

Did I tell you how we met this really awesome guy in Italy? In Florence actually, his name is David, he's kind of old but very nice. Meeting him was a dream come true. P.S. That's not really him, the don't let you take pictures of him, but they do let you take pictures of the copy.

KJV

If you haven't heard, this year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible. I don't usually give having the bible in an English version much thought, but with various celebrations of this anniversary year, I've been able to realize what a big deal it is to have it and how many people lost their lives to bring this to pass. I'd like to share some of the things I've heard in conjunction with this year. This program followed this forum at BYU and I found them both quite interesting and both taught me more about the bible and specifically the KJV. I was further intrigued when I came across this article. I really enjoy history and learning more about it, it makes me want to fulfill dreams of being a scholar, to learn languages, read dusty tomes perhaps, and know things that really smart people have known, or people in very enlightened or academic times. Should you have any such ambitions, I submit the KJV to you as a place to start, after all it is a year to celebrate.

Book of Mormon in ASL online

I have the Book of Mormon in ASL (American Sign Language) on a set of DVDs which I've been watching but my computer is older and my DVD player is picky and so I was very happy to find it online here. I thought I'd share just in case anybody else wanted to know.

Lucca

Lucca is a lovely little walled city near Pisa. We stayed there overnight in a nice little bed and breakfast and the next morning we took a walk around the wall before we left the next morning.

Anne Shirley

I've been spending some time with my friend Anne Shirley, I believe I've posted about her before. I really have come to love her, so much so that it seems I read all or some of the books in her series by L. M. Montgomery every year, like To Kill A Mockingbird, but I might actually read that about every six months. Anyway I believe I got my introduction to Anne through the movies made about her, the ones made in the 80s. When Anne and I were first acquainted, I liked the movies so much that I thought it futile to read Anne of Green Gables because the movie covered it so well, I would start with Anne of Avonlea (because the second movie is actually a conglomeration of the next four books or so) and read through to Rilla of Ingleside (I believe the last few books are somewhat lesser known, they're not always included in sets sold and they have more to do with Anne's children than with Anne herself). I loved the movies, and the portrayals in them and I'd watch them over and over. They came out with Anne of Green Gables the Continuing Story, which I also enjoyed, even thought I knew it had nothing to do with Anne, at best it could be derived from Rilla of Ingleside.
I'm getting side tracked, the point is that I had a period where I was not watching the Anne movies every year and I met her more through the pages, I found a strange thing when I again saw the movies - I didn't love them the same way I had. I had previously thought they captured Anne, but now the Anne in the movies is not really the Anne I know, indeed I think it would be very difficult for a movie to really do justice to her. I suppose it's because I've gotten to know her better. I've been reading Anne of Green Gables, the first book that I used to skip and I've been loving it. I would invite you to get to know Anne Shirley as well, remember it's "Anne spelled with and e"

I know I haven't done very good about blogging about Italy, I'm not going to continue the previous post today, this will be about the pantheon. The pantheon is probably one of the oldest churches/temples out there, and I believe it's been in use from its pagan days until present in its life as a catholic church. The pantheon was the biggest dome until the Duomo in Florence was finished. The pantheon was studied by those who built the renaissance domes. It's absolutely beautiful in the Pantheon, the dome is gorgeous and made even more so by the wonderful effect of the light coming down from the oculus. We wandered around a little bit, seeing the beauty and the tombs of important Italians and then we sat for a while, listened to an audio tour and just took it all in. I think it's one of my favorite places that we visited in Italy.

Italy thoughts part 1

It may be unsolicited but here is my advice to you should you be heading to Italy soon, or ever.

First advice is: GO! it was so wonderfully amazing to be in Italy, a beautiful country filled with more than it's fair share of beautiful things. When you do go, I would recommend trying to go in the off season, i.e. not summer, so that you don't have to always be surrounded by hoards of people, especially at museums etc.

Moving on, if you want the stamp in your passport, then it needs to be the first place in the EU that you visit. My first and only stamp in my passport is from France because we flew through Paris. It was sort of disappointing. Also, I'm not sure how or why but we never actually went through customs or anything like that going into France or Italy. Odd.
Driving: I would not want to ever drive in Italy, especially not in Rome, we opted not to drive when we went and we are so glad! The rides too and from the airport were a bit terrifying as we darted into lanes at the last second and drove down the middle of the road, speeding up and then coming to sudden stops. If you're going to drive in Italy, make sure that you know what you're in for and that you're up for it. Another reason I'm glad we didn't drive is that parking would have been a nightmare, there's not a lot of parking space. Where do Italians park? The better question would be, where don't they park.


Place to stay: consider renting an apartment, and if you do and you're traveling with a small group, talk to me and I'll find the info about the amazing place we stayed. It was really nice, it was a short walk from the Metro and our landlord was very kind and helpful. Getting back to the Metro, I highly recommend that you find a place to stay that's not far from a Metro stop and that it's on the A line not the B line. The A line goes to most touristy places, and most trains are very nice and air conditioned. We tried to go on the B line as little as possible. We first went on the B line to get to the Colosseum, up until that time we always rode on the A line which is nice and clean and new. The B line train pulled up covered in graffiti, quite full, and non air conditioned. We were not impressed, and the return trip was worse, apparently it was when everyone rides the train, we were amazed to make it in the car and sure we were going to be pick pocketed. After that we avoided the B line like the plague, the only exception was to see Michelangelo's Moses at the St. Peter in Chains church, on the B line. If you must use the B line I'd recommend doing it earlier in the day or trying to figure out when busy times are (I didn't really manage this) and avoid it then.

I'm realizing how long this post will be and perhaps I should make it more than one post but I wanted to make sure and say how kind and helpful the majority of the people were. We many times asked for help and were kindly directed, etc. Thank you Italians for not being fed up with tourists.

A Journey to Italy

I just got back from an amazing trip to Italy with two of my best friends, we went for about 10 days to Rome, Florence, Lucca, Pisa and then back to Rome. It was such an awesome trip! I'll try and blog about it all in the next few days.
This was my first time getting a passport, and going off the continent. We took, what for me was a first transatlantic flight to Paris. The flight was long and somewhat miserable as 9+ hours on a plane can be, there were overhead movies projected, but they were all pretty stupid. Airplane food turned out to be not too terrible, not wonderful by any means, but not to bad for what it was. We had dinner and then breakfast on the flight over. We made it to Paris and that was the stamp we got in our passports (which was sort of disappointing for me, I wanted an Italian stamp). Anyway we were enjoying Charles Degual (sp?) airport and I had a delicious croissant there. Our problems started when our names came up on the screen telling us to report to a desk, this we tried to do but only stood in lines that didn't move. We gave up on the lines and got on our flight to Italy. In Italy we eventually discovered that our checked bags were still in Paris. The man we talked to told us that it was a fairly common occurrence and that we should get our bags in about 24 hours.
I would like to recommend that if you check a bag, you make sure that you have some essentials like socks and underwear in your carry on. Our bags, didn't get back to us until half way through our trip and so we had to get creative with what we had, washing socks etc. in the sink and hanging them up to dry was all too common. When we did get our luggage back we all had a small item or two missing, in my case a brand new package of socks and a tube of sunscreen, we have no idea why that happened. Also be wary of Air France, that's who we had this trouble with.
The plane trip back home was much more enjoyable because we had a plane with individual screens and so we could pick what we watched. Happily our luggage made the entire trip with us on the way back.
More to come on the trip. PS, we had a wonderful trip, but if you ever go to Italy, do it in the off season to avoid sharing the sights with a bajillion other people everywhere you go.

A Passage for Thought

I'm reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and I was very struck by this passage that I just read. Jane has decided she must reject the man she loves, despite his attempts to dissuade her. Jane is thinking to herself about her decision.
"'I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad- as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth- so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane-quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.'"
That was found on page 325 of my Barnes and Nobel edition. I hope to have such courage and clearness of thought should I come to such a crisis in my life.

Fictionist

So I know I recently said I wouldn't be blogging much anymore but I just realized that I believe I've failed to mention Fictionist to you. Rolling Stone is doing a competition to find an previously unknown band, the winner of this competition will get to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, and get a contract with Atlantic Records. I'm telling you this because I recently learned about Fictionist and I've really loved their music. The keyboardist is in my YSA Ward (which is how I came to know about them). So go to their website and check them out, if you like them you should vote for them and rate them etc. here. They're in a good position to win the competition, especially if more people vote for them. Plus if you do like them, you can go to their website or find them on facebook and download some of their songs for free.

King's Speech

I saw The King's Speech, last nigh and I really loved this movie, it was well made, well acted, great plot, and I don't feel that I missed out on anything by seeing the edited version. This movie has been rather infamous for it's "one scene" which caused it to be rated R, where, as part of his speech therapy, Colin Firth's character swears repeatedly, using the F-word several times over (at least so I've heard, in the edited version we only had one F-word). I understand why the scene was included, it is very much a part of the movie and it probably would not have been all that terrible to see it unedited. On the other hand, I do not feel as though I missed anything, I knew that the extra swear words were there, I knew why they were being said, and that it was not with the feeling that a swear word might normally be said; all that being said I'm just as happy to have missed some of the ugly words, even said as I mentioned above. It was a wonderful movie, very powerful, sometimes it was hard to watch and at one point it brought me close to tears. I think people should see it, whether you see it edited or not is up to you. I think that perhaps a bit to much fuss is being made over the swearing scene, on both sides of the debate. At any rate, see this movie.

Aside from the movie, I realize that I haven't been blogging much lately and that is because I've had a lot of other things going on and frankly I don't find blogging on the top of my to do list. For now I believe I'm done with blogging. I'm not going to get rid of my blogs but I'm just not going to worry about them, maybe at some later point I'll start blogging again. We shall see.

Bella dominica

This has been a really nice Sunday. I learned a lot. One of my callings in church is to teach in Relief Society (the women's group in my church) the second Sunday of every month. We're studying gospel principles right now and today's lesson was on service. I got a few major things from the lesson, the first was that service and love are sort of synonyms; that didn't really stand out to me in preparing the lesson but as we discussed service and it's various aspects, it became very clear to me. The second thing that really stood out to me was that it isn't me that does the teaching, it's the Spirit, the Holy Ghost; I feel sheepish after I've taught and people tell me that it was a great lesson, I've prepared yes, but what makes a lesson great is the comments and discussion that occur, the things that I don't bring to the table. I'm always so grateful when people are willing to comment and I love hearing comments that bring me back on track or take us in directions that had never occurred to me. I'm not a great teacher, but the Spirit is and I'm grateful for that.

I heard this program yesterday about the worth of degrees in the humanities, those talking felt there was quite a lot of worth in them and I agree. I'm a bit biased of course because I got my degree in art, and that's another area that's been under attack.
I feel that for a lot of people these days, if something doesn't add up and put money in one's pocket, it's not worth pursuing. These are certainly difficult financial times but I believe that only looking for a profit causes one to miss out on a great many things. A price cannot be put on everything, but such things may be lost if we cannot appreciate what we have before us.

Beautiful Book

My friend and former classmate is having a give away/contest on her blog for a beautiful book that she made. The idea behind this is to motivate people to do what they can to help with the disaster in Japan, by donating money or something to help these people out. The details are on her blog but you should check it out, a chance both to help other people out and a chance to win a beautiful book, she really makes beautiful books, much cooler than the ones I make.

Reading and Liberal Arts

I was looking at the newspaper this morning, which is somewhat of a rarity for me, and even more surprising is that I actually read several articles. The article that drew me in was one questioning the value of the liberal arts, things like English, humanities, communications, etc. I was drawn into this article because I attended a liberal arts school and received my degree in the arts, specifically visual arts (and that is about the most stereotypically useless degree there is, we perhaps English (no offense English majors, I didn't say it was useless, just stereotyped that way)). I saw this article happening all around me. I could count the male students that I had art classes with on two hands, through all four years. This did not stem from a male lack of interest in art, but rather a lack of belief that there was a living to be made with a degree in art. The story could be told with almost every branch of the arts.
It always made me sad to think of people going into something just for the money, as if that were the most important thing in life. Yes, money is important, and very useful, but it is not the only thing in life. Isn't doing something you enjoy and which fulfills you also important.
The article I read today touch on this, and others I have read have centered more on it, while sciences and math are areas where a job is more likely to be available upon graduation are a good thing, they may be pushed too much. The article pointed out that the reality is that the majority of people will not end up working in their fields of study, that we don't really even know yet the sorts of jobs that will be out there in the future. I also think about an event I attended sponsored by the Italian Club, it was to encourage people to major in Italian if they enjoyed it. In this day in age a bachelors degree is not the final destination of most students, in applying to grad schools, etc. and it was pointed out how being an Italian major made applicants stand out from the crowd in an advantageous way.
The liberal arts are still a viable commodity, it may not be emblazoned in red letters but there is still importance and relevance behind them.
Another article that I read struck me and tied in to the above article indirectly. I read an article about literacy and how important it is to develop that. The tie in to the liberal arts is that even in math and science fields being able to write well and to read and understand is very important. Literacy is a huge issue, one that I think is largely put on the back burner. I was told a few years ago that literacy levels in schools are declining to where individuals can graduate from high school and still be largely illiterate, perhaps only literate to the point that they could fill out a job application.
In the article I read today, other issues of illiteracy were pointed out to me. The point was made that an illiterate mother can progress the cycle of illiteracy and that illiteracy can lead to all types of problems, form crime to poor health. On the issue of health alone illiteracy can cause problems from not reading up on nutritional needs for children, etc. to not knowing understanding the instructions for a medication, etc.
Read with children! Help children and others become literate, it could be such a simple way to make a huge change in our world.

Little Women

Little Women, I got to see this opera recently and I was skeptical. I knew going in that it was not your average melodic type opera, it was more modern and 20th century type music, if you're familiar with the composer John Adams at all, that's the type of music I was expecting. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw, though parts of the opera were more modern music-y, and in 12 tone (if that means anything to you, it doesn't really to me) other parts were quite melodic. A big difference in the opera was that I don't really recall songs or arias that much as one might with other operas, what I did take away were there phrases "things change Jo" and variations of "things were/are perfect as they were/are" Those were the main themes focused on in this opera, Jo and that she wanted things to stay as happy and perfect as there were to her, and people in turn telling her that things changed and had to change. So I quite enjoyed this opera and I'd recommend it. I compare it to Aaron Copeland's music, I heard once that though his music was so modern, it was made relateable because he worked so much with folk songs, things that people knew, this opera's plot line is one that is near and dear and well known to so many, I think that's part of the reason it's so popular. Anyway those are my thoughts.

I happened to listen to this devotional today and it really resonated with me. It really made me think about my life, how it is now and how I might like it to ideally be in the future. I think that I and that we all could benefit from more sophistication and refinement in our lives. Life in this day and age is often crass or vulgar and perhaps it's not always seen because it's what we've become accustom to. I hope to do my part to elevate my own life and hopefully the lives of others.

Coming fast

Life's been coming at me fast lately, it feels like I've gone from low gear to high with nothing in between. It's not a bad thing it's just an adjustment and when those come with force and speed they can take some getting used to. Meanwhile I am listening to U2, I haven't for a long time and I've missed them.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is well renowned as a beautiful and powerful song, but there is also a movie by the same name, I first heard about it a few years back as part of a final for my persuasive writing class. I put the movie somewhere on my list of movies to see, but clearly I wasn't in a huge hurry to see it. Recently the movie has be brought to my remembrance a few times and I recently borrowed it from a friend. I watched the movie yesterday and it was amazing, a wonderfully made movie about a powerful and captivating story.
The movie chronicals the movement to abolish slavery in England, focusing on the life of William Wilberforce who was one of the most integral people in the movement. Wilberforce was a member of parliament (MP) in the house of commons and he and those who he worked with, worked for years to abolish slavery, despite being shut down time and time again. After watching this movie I wanted to have everyone I knew see this movie. I wasn't conscious of it being Black History Month when I watched this movie but apparently it is and I think it was a good way to commemorate this month. It's also striking to me that as far as I know, this movement to abolish slavery was mostly peaceful, unlike our own civil war, fought largely over issues of slavery.
Wilberforce found religion, so to speak, at a point in his life when his political opportunities were stretching out before him and he was torn as to whether he should serve God or continue in politics, and it was put to him that he could do both by working to make the world a better place. While the rest of us may not have the same opportunities or challenges as William Wilberforce, we have the same opportunity to use what we have to work to make the world a better place.

I haven't blogged in a while, I've thought about it at times but I didn't, I've been spending more time over on my art blog. I'm changing some things in my life and I'm adjusting to those things. I'm working towards some exciting goals, and sometimes not working towards them at all. I've tried some new things and I'm really enjoying going to church on Sundays. That's not wildly exciting but I'll try and make up for it some time. There are big things looming in the future.

This weekend has been a weekend filled with art and other good things. I don't remember if I mentioned this earlier but I've been wanting to get out and actually see things that I've thought would be cool to go and see or do, some of these things have been on the to do list for ages and I did some this weekend. On Friday I went to see a gallery/museum that I'd recently heard about and which seemed to have quite a nice collection of art. I hadn't expected to need to pay to get in but I went on in anyway and was happily surprised when the lady at the desk let me in for the student price even though I'm not a student and informed her of such. Other than the employees I had the place to myself and enjoyed a ramble through the building, which is pretty cool in it's own right, looking at art from the 17th and 18th centuries, maybe the 19th, I didn't really pay attention to that. I happily looked on prints by Rembrandt and Albrecht Durer and paintings by several other artists who are not really known to me. I was especially drawn to the gallery by their claim of having works by Carl Bloch, I did see wonderful prints and drawings by Bloch but was a bit disappointed to learn that their Bloch paintings were actually reproductions, as were a lot of their other pieces (I decided that they must make reproductions). Despite so many reproductions I felt that I'd seen enough to be worth my price of entry.
Friday evening I went to a few galleries participating in the local gallery stroll; as part of my goals for art I've been wanting to go to gallery stroll more and to see more of the local galleries. I went to two galleries and decided that the one was not one I would be interested in working with and the other I would be. It was good to get out and to see them though.
Saturday was the biggest art day this weekend. Two of my friends and I went to see the big Carl Bloch exhibit at the MOA, us and at least a hundred other people. I was really excited to see this exhibit, I'd heard it was wonderful and I admire Bloch, especially as I've been learning more about him and his work. Having so many other people there really made me appreciate how nice it is to be at a museum or gallery with a lot less people, it's quieter and you can view works better without fighting to see them. Anyway I really enjoyed the exhibit, they had several alter pieces that Block painted as well as many other paintings he did. It was interesting to talk to one of my friends after, she had had a very spiritual experience (as well she should because most of the works in the exhibit were religious, focusing on Christ) but for me, while I enjoyed the spiritual nature of the works I was viewing them more as an artist, in the presence of works that were so beautiful, I was analyzing how and why they were so beautiful, composition etc.
I hope that I can have more weekends like this.

The Trouble With Harry

The Trouble With Harry, it's a movie by Hitchcock, apparently one of the "lost" movies that he bought the rights back to. I can't quite but my finger on why I enjoy it so much but I just love this movie. It's a black comedy but it doesn't feel like one, not like Dr. Strangelove or something like that, it's bright and sunny and very funny, but not in a laugh track funny though. I recommend it, it's a bit satirical and a bit of a crazy slice of life.

snow and cultural divides

I have always lived where it snows in the winter and I've loved the snow. I went sledding in the winter, build snowmen and had snowball fights. I learned how to ski when I was eight and dreamed of learning how to snowboard before my enthusiasm for skiing waned. As a kid one of the few winter sports I didn't try was ice skating, I didn't do that until I was 12 or 13, but I took to skating pretty well because I'd learned to roller blade in younger days.
I didn't give to much thought to these things for much of my life, the people I knew lived the same place I did and had a lot of the same experiences. In my freshman year at college I had some experiences that made me think more about my winter experiences; one day my roommate came in and excitedly told me that snowflakes really did have those patterns on them. I looked at her like she was stupid, did she think that people had made that up? She was from California and had never seen much snow. How curious it is when other mind frames or points of view collide with our own.
This week I was once again made to think about the differences in my experiences and the experiences of others. My ward went ice skating for an activity and it was a first time for two of the people in our group. The two first timers had unique differences, one was a guy who'd grown up in the states, and the other was my friend who grew up in Ghana and then lived in Arkansas when she moved to the states. The guy was a shaky skater but he was skating pretty well on his own by the time he left, he'd roller skated or bladed at some point in his past. My friend had a very hard time, she'd never roller skated, etc. and had a hard time getting used to the feeling of being on skates. She was a good sport, she made it once around the rink going slowly and holding the rails and later in the evening she let us take her around being pulled by one friend skating backwards and someone to spot her from behind. It was interesting to think about, and hard to try and think how we could help her get the hang of skating, I couldn't remember how I really learned how to skate because I'd done it so long ago.
I was talking to my friend and she thought maybe skiing or snowboarding would be easier since there wasn't a blade to balance on, remembering my own experiences skiing I wasn't so sure but I suggested that she might like sledding, no balance required. She agreed to try sledding and we went yesterday, she loved it! It was fun to see it through her eyes and remember sledding when I was little, how thrilling it was and still is. It's interesting the experiences that we take for granted, for me skating and sledding were a part of life; my friend baffled me when she told about things that she'd taken for granted in her life, walking to the store/market every day and cooking from scratch.
I think its good for us, good for me when I can see differing realities from my own.

PS A friend took that picture in Alaska

I really appreciated this talk.

Piano Puzzler

There's a classical music radio show called Performance Today, it's an enjoyable show but my favorite part of the show happens on Wednesdays; the piano puzzler. The host of PT and Bruce Adolphe (a great pianist) get together with a listener (via the phone) and the listener's job is to guess the song and who's style it's played in that Bruce Adolphe plays; an example: a Beatles song in the style of Mozart or a tune from West Side Story in the style of Chopin. I like to play along at home, I can quite often get the song but I'm usually lost on the composer who's style it's in. I've improved as I've gone on listening. Listen, see if you can solve the puzzlers.

Do you ever feel like good things are just falling into your lap? I'm feeling that way now.

Working on goals

I'm not really into New Year's resolutions because I think that sort of limits one's fresh starts but I do have some goals that I'm working on. Some are goals that I've started many times before however as a song Michael Buble and others have sung says, "It's a new dawn, it's a new day," each new day is a chance to start over again. I'm feeling pretty good about these goals so far, I've been working on them for a while and I think I've found a good source of motivation. Wish me luck and good luck with goals you may be working on.