The very best part of Christmas time

 For me, the very best part of Christmas time, unlike the song lyrics, is not the presents you give away, though that is on the list of best. For me, the very best part of Christmas time has always been the programs. As a child I LOVED Christmas programs! School programs, church programs, piano recital programs--call me crazy, but I love Christmas programs.

So, this year, there were no Christmas programs in person. But I have been so happy with the Christmas programs I have been able to participate in, as a watcher!

First, there was Nancy's family Christmas recital which was fun to watch live, and I can watch the different parts of it from their dress rehearsal which is posted on Nancy's blog. 

Then, there was my niece Elizabeth's wonderful Christmas program, which was so well-done by the Primary children and their leaders in E's ward. It was really good, and Elizabeth and Bridget each recited a scripture, and the last song was sung by Elizabeth in a duet with another woman and a pianist. So beautiful! Unfortunately, that link was only for two days, Dec. 19 and 20, so I only got to watch it a couple of times, but I did share the link with my sisters and daughters and nieces, so many of us got to enjoy it.

Last of all was my sister Colleen's Torrie Family Christmas Program 2020, which all her family participated in, she and LeRon, all their five children, and their nine grandchildren. It was so good, and filled with pictures of Colleen's family when they were young. I spied my parents in her slide show, too. It was just great! (And I should mention that C&L are in Sweden, Heather and family in Illinois, in a suburb of Chicago, Michelle and family in North Dakota, and the three sons and Eric's family in Alberta. Eric put things together for them.)

I am glad I can re-watch some of these when I feel the urge! (I am going to ask E if there is a way to watch hers again, too!) These Christmas programs have filled that Christmas Program Need that I have!

Another best part of Christmas is getting together with people we love--and that is not easy given the pandemic, but aren't we so lucky (blessed?) to have technology!!

Yesterday, I posted this on Facebook: What goes around comes around: just read this in a family history (of someone not in my own family)-- [name redacted] was born Oct 28, 1918. He was named for [names redacted] but [his naming ceremony] did not take place for a year. [Name redacted] wondered at this and went looking for the reason for the delay and found it was because of the flu epidemic which prevented people from gathering.

I am currently writing about a composer named Maurine Dewsnup, and it was her brother Grant who the above paragraph is about. When I posted this to my children in our family group chat, one of them (David) said "And they didn't have Zoom."

Yuppers! During the flu epidemic of 1918-1919, they wore masks, they socially distanced, I am sure they tried to keep as clean as they could. And they didn't have technology to make it easier!

Last night we had our family Christmas gathering. I invited all the grandchildren but none of them came except for Nancy's older children--to accommodate all the schedules and time zones, it takes some doing!! Easier since Patrick is here, and Hawaii isn't in the mix!!

Nancy took a picture of us:

I dunno--maybe this was even better than the programs!! It was so much fun to spend an hour together playing games! I sure do love all these people!

Breaking our own rules

 We have been super careful about not gathering unnecessarily...

But, in February, as soon as Patrick knew that he had permission to attend a conservators conference that was slated for Salt Lake City in May, he bought a plane ticket. Then, when all the conferences were cancelled, he was able to change his ticket penalty-free, so he changed it to December 21, thinking at the time that this (Corona Craze) would all be over with by then.

As it got closer and closer to December, and he was unsure what to do since things were clearly not over, and then actually getting worse...he kept waiting, and was scared to call the airline...and then he was just getting on a plane and using his ticket. Being super careful, as he has been as a matter of habit.

Kelli lives in Layton, and she volunteered to pick Patrick up at the airport, which was so nice of her. She and Allen had used the airport--which is new, and big, and confusing--already so she was familiar, and Patrick was arriving just at daylight, so I would have had to travel in the dark, and my kids all know that I am not the best at night-time driving. 

Then Kelli hoped to see her son Matthew, so she contacted him, and he said that he could come over here when he got off work, and so we ended up having a nice family dinner that was kind of Christmas-y last night. We were only six people, so we did not break the rules very much--the state rules not at all, because they allow up to ten people. I did not hug Kelli or Matthew or Patrick, though I wanted to--but Patrick did give Matthew a hug. 

So, while Josie and I were working and Dad was sleeping, Kelli and Patrick had a really nice visit, and then we had a nice time working together to prepare our meal (a roast chicken, potatoes and gravy, peas and salad and a cream cheesy dessert that Kelli made and brought with her.)

And then we had a nice visit with Kelli and Matthew until Matthew left, and finally we had to send Kelli home so that we could go to bed. It was really nice to be together! Even though we mostly kept our distance--we are thankful, in this new house, to have a living room big enough that we can pretty much stay six feet away from each other and still be in the same room.

For some reason, my photos would not load from my phone to my computer. Weird. But I could send them to Nancy on Facebook and then recover the photos from there. So here are the photos from the evening:

Notice the sign that Kelli took to the airport to greet Patrick with--I would have been embarrassed, but he just laughed!

The pictures are out of order and I don't know how to fix them. The picture of Dad with the little kitten is because she always turns around in circles on his lap, and she was pretty much upside down. (And no, she does not have the run of the house--but she can be upstairs in his lap. If she starts to act like she wants to get down and explore, she is booted downstairs.)

Family History, I am doing it...

 I had asked my friend Noel how she connects to John Howland, of Mayflower fame, because Noel and I are quite closely related on my dad's side, through the Holdaways. Like I am her mom's third cousin (which in our family is pretty close, because we KNOW our third cousins in many cases) but I descend from John Howland on my mom's side:

So, I wondered what line of my mom's Noel branches from, because clearly we are related in multiple ways. But Relative Finder always chooses the most direct connection, so I was stumped.  Tonight, Noel sent me her charts, and I don't know--the pictures she sent were pretty small, but I see Holdaway on it, and yet it leads to Howland, and so does that mean Dad descends from John Howland, too?

So I needed to find my index. When I was a young adult, I completely indexed mom's and dad's genealogy to find out where they were linked. (Yes, I have always been a hardcore nerd. Of course I enjoyed indexing!) To see if Mom and Dad link on the Chipman line, because I think they do. But I need proof. Maybe there is a way to do it on Family Search, but it is beyond me to figure out how.

And--downside to moving--I can't find the right genealogy book! I have three--one is stories and pictures, one is pedigree charts, and one is family group sheets. The index is in the pedigree charts book, and I found the other two--completely in different places, not with each other, but I can't find the pedigree charts book!! But when I found my teal book--the stories and pictures one--tucked away was a sheet of my mom's handwriting. 

It was the list of ideas about her siblings that she wrote for us for the Family Reunion we did--I think it was the one in the Red Barn in Raymond years ago? I don't think it was the one in Taber, because our theme was World War II, wasn't it?

Anyways--we were supposed to make a game about all the siblings, and then people were supposed to guess who was being described. We only chose one thing per person, and I don't think I have kept a copy of the game itself, but here is what Mom wrote about nine of her siblings.  There was not so much to say about Mary Beth, since she died so young, and Ila June was rather unique. So she didn't write about them or herself, but here are her descriptions of her other siblings.

At the top she has cautioned: say "they" instead of he or she--she didn't want us to give those kind of clues!

Loren: liked to draw maps. In 7th grade took first place for a map at the School Fair. (She notes that Loren was competing against all the grades, up to 12th grade when he won this honor.) In MIA as a teen, took third place in a speech contest. Sang with the Ricks College Choir at General Conference. Played cello in the Raymond Orchestra and in the Ricks College Orchestra.

Alma: played violin in the Knight Academy Junior Orchestra. [Knight Academy was a church-owned secondary school, later sold to the province and became RHS. N. Lorenzo Snow, who I wrote an encyclopedia article about here, was his music teacher.] Participation in politics led to a special nickname: "Senator." Was mayor of Raymond.

Royal: had picture taken with siblings "on the moon." [Where is this picture? I just looked on Family Search and it isn't there. I wonder if Colleen has it. Taken of just the three oldest children, if I remember correctly.] Rode bicycle, Raymond to Waterton, on gravel roads, with his brothers, to camp and mountain climb. HIs house was struck by lightning in the 1940's. Damaged, but no fire. Trapped two grizzly bears. Their raging screams heard two miles away. [This is such a fun fact, because Uncle Royal was so very quiet and unassuming. Yet he trapped TWO grizzlies! Also, Mom didn't write about his wonderful music talent on piano and organ because he never stopped, so everyone knew that. Whereas not all the nieces and nephews knew about Loren's cello or Alma's violin.]

Edna: almost bled to death when suffering from flu, as a child. Studied dairying at Raymond School of Agriculture for two years. Lived 28 years where it rained nearly every day. (Vancouver) Liked bowling, quilt designing and quilting. Won Provincial award for quilt. Cheered up other cancer patients. [Aunt Edna's granddaughter Brenda just recently posted Aunt Edna's most prized quilt of all on Facebook. This one she quilted for Canada's centennial in 1967, won prizes at the time, and for the sesquicentennial in 2017, Brenda got to display it again at the Quilter's Guild in Vancouver. Aunt Edna brought parts of this quilt on a visit to Alberta, and I sat by her and she talked about her design. I have always wondered what became of this quilt. So glad to know that Brenda has it!]

Earl: When clock was stopped, with siblings ran all the way to school--a mile--[so as not to be late]--an hour early for school. [Earl was early!] Dressed as royalty to entertain at Payson Reunion in Raymond. It led to a special nickname "Duke". [Which was the name he used when entertaining as a one-man band. My mother's brothers were very musical!]

Lillis: was an expert at finger-waving ladies hair. Practiced a song on the piano, all summer. Played it better than her piano teacher. [Her sisters could be musical, too.]

Zelpha: always cheerful and jolly. Special to a young boy (Bruce C.)--collected Nabisco car wheels for him. [I think they were Jello, not Nabisco. After Bruce outgrew them, Arlene and I played with them and LOVED them.]

Leo: Halloween prank: with friends, galloped down Raymond main street (gravel road) with horses and a wagon with rocks. At dairy, lassoed a neighbor (Bob Graham) who had Grandpa Ed Hancock by shirt front, shaking and threatening him. [Bob had Grandpa by the shirt front shaking and threatening him, so Leo lassoed the neighbor.] Has laid more wreaths in one day on graves and cenotaphs than anyone else in the family (in France, June 6, 1999.)

Celia: A leader of fun and games with peers at Raymond Public School recess. Always had lots of friends. A registered square dance caller.

Well, I just wanted to record these somewhere. I think that some people--Miriam, maybe?--might be interested in how musical my mother's family was. 

Noel just corrected me that it is her ancestor who married the Holdaway whose line goes back to Hope Howland, daughter of John Howland. But I still want to find my index!!

Birthday and Bears and Blathering

 Today is my birthday, and I realized that I was a year older than I thought I was. Holy cow, the numbers are getting high!

Happy Birthday to me--snow for my birthday. Oh, goody. My favorite thing.  I was planning to go out and run errands--but I am sticking to the house.

I was thinking about bears, and how I made that Three Bears video for Alexander...I made a different Three Bears video for my great-niece Bridget. Or is it my grand-niece Bridget? I guess it doesn't matter, because she is both great and grand, in my opinion. Such a sweet girl with the most amazing blue eyes! 

In other news, I blather on to say, I have been making tables of all the music content in older church magazines. They can be found here.

Right now, like exactly now, I am going through the 1922 Relief Society magazine, and was very surprised to come upon this headline on a page:

What?!!! I had flipped past the page (451--the pagination is sequential through the entire year and this page happens to fall in August) because it was not music, and I thought, "Did I just see 'God bless my stupid soul'?"  So I turned back to it, and indeed, I did! That surprised me!

One more post for me

Sorry, any readers, but I am just saving this post for me.

By Frank W. Fox, who was the founder of the American Heritage class at BYU. (Which, by the way, I was so happy to be able to take a version of this class for foreign students. I don't think they have that any more. Well, I took it prior to 1980, so it wasn't the same anyway.)

The election is over. Life is moving on. Here is a final word: At the end of the day, patriotism (the love of one's country) is far more important than partisanship (loyalty to a party or cause). When I was growing up (keep in mind that I'm 80 now), Mormons were patriots first and partisans second. In fact, Mormons (that was the word we used then, of course) had a fierce, pioneer-style independent attitude and self-sufficiency even when they participated in party politics.

When my colleagues and I created the American Heritage program at BYU in the 1980s, we were informed by the politics of that moment, the party platforms of that moment. I certainly hope that all BYU students since then grew in their patriotism and reverence for the miracle of American representative democracy. I fear, though, that we left unaddressed certain assumptions that were developing in LDS culture: that there is only one right party, only one right way to vote or participate. If I were designing the course and program today, I would make it clear that LDS people should, because of our commitment to the Restored Gospel, always be patriots before being partisans. 

I don't want any party to think they own me because they can "count on my vote." No, I want to hold a party accountable by always being willing to change my vote if my moral calculus demands it. 

Like the "enlightened self-interest" that we describe when discussing the necessary conditions for free-market economics, this type of "moral political independence" is the necessary condition to sustaining a viable popular government. You see, in American political history, conservative and liberal movements have generally kept each other in check, which usually leads us (that big "Us" that includes all Americans) through our differences to a middle way. (That was the genius of Madison's "large republic.") And our better politicians have performed a similar function: to draw us together in that shared way forward. 

Conservative and liberal impulses can each have their moments, and they can provide a sort of yin-yang creative tension for making sense of the quantity and quality of our government. What's surprising is that when one movement becomes too extreme, the other can actually become more extreme too, and the balance is shattered. And it's painful—for all of us—when that balance is lost.

Cougars, if your big "takeaway" from American Heritage was "always vote Republican," then I have failed you. But I don't think I failed based on the thousands of thoughtful engagements we've had in the past two months. I hope that what you take from American Heritage is: 1) Always vote! 2) Always feed your conscience with good information (history and current issues) from a variety of good sources—think of President Nelson's recent teaching that "that good inspiration is based upon good information." 3) Vote your conscience, committing to yourself that you'll be a patriot before being a partisan. Please, please, don't confuse the two.

It's true that Donald Trump's presidency and the prospect of his reelection caused me to speak up from my retirement, but I hope you see that in my messages and efforts I've tried to refocus the conversation on the foundational premises of American government. On the non-negotiable, evergreen themes of Truth-telling and Civic Virtue. On patriotism. This is SO much bigger than Trump or Biden. 

If anything, I hope that my efforts have provided a call to action. I'm in great health, but I likely won't be around in 20 years. For those of you who will: Get involved sooner rather than later. Vote, run for office, volunteer, help. Do it for your love of this amazing country. Work through whichever parties you must to be morally whole as you make your best contributions, but transcend the pettiness and nastiness of this unsustainable partisan bickering. Don't settle for fool's choices. If BYU is meant to be "a light on the hill" as we often say, then you can be emissaries of that light as you bring your best selves to our rare, miraculous form of popular government. I hope you will.

Books Read November 2020

 Six books in November. 

1. Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden. 

Essie is the daughter of a successful black prostitute in 1880's Savannah, GA. Her mother owns her own place and has a couple of girls working for her--but Essie does not want that kind of life for herself. She leaves home to take a menial job as a servant in a boarding house. She is poor but treated well at her job. One of the frequent guests, Mrs. Vachon, takes an interest in Essie and invites her to Boston, where the story turns into a Pygmalion tale--Essie is educated, clothed, changed into a new girl, and is forced to break all ties with her past so she can become a new person. She chooses the name Victoria for this new iteration of herself. She has a love/hate relationship with the transformation process! She wants to be educated and never to be forced into prostitution through poverty as her mother was--but she misses the people who are dear to her back in Savannah. 

This story was really interesting to me because of the black/black divide it highlights. Where money and lifestyle is what divides; not race. Clearly, we have the same divide in the white world. It was just looking at race through a different lens, so it was very interesting to me.

2. The Sisters Grimm book four: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley

Having made a hole in the shield that surrounds Ferryport Landing (the shield keeps the Everafters trapped there) the Grimm family heads to New York City to find the fairies, so they can heal Puck from the terrible injury he sustained at the end of book three. The fairies live in an underground kingdom that is under Central Park. Who knew? They do manage to get Puck cured, but his father Oberson is killed by the Red Hand. The Wizard of Oz figures into this part of the Grimms story. Another cliffhanger ending as the family heads back home.

3. The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan

By the same author who wrote The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, a book that I enjoyed reading a few years ago. I really liked that the main character was not really a very likeable person, and that her evolution, her discovery of herself and how to be a nicer person, was an important component to the book. I loved the way she and her daughter's landlord team up to find her missing daughter, him mostly against his will, but he is just too nice not to help. Some of the things that happened toward the end were a little too deus ex machina for my liking, but overall I liked the book.

4. Back to The Sisters Grimm--book 5: Magic and Other Misdemeanors

The Queen of Hearts (Mrs. Heart) is the new mayor of Ferryport Landing. She and her new Sheriff (of Nottingham) are not the city leaders that most people hope for--taxes are rising steeply as they try to force all the non-Everafters to leave town. And what has happened to Prince Charming? Ever since he lost the election, nobody can find him. Snow White is heartbroken. The Grimms discover that there is a rip in time, and meet their future selves. Can they get back to their own time and make better decisions? 

5. Straw into Gold: Fairy Tales Re-spun by Hilary McKay

This book was delightful. It is a collection of retold tales. Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella and The Princess and the Pea were my favorites. I will use Cinderella as an example. This Cinderella is so honest--like, of course if she REALLY fell in love with the prince she would just be able to talk to him freely, right? Which she does. When she is dancing with him, she is also noticing how hard it would be to clean certain places in the palace, and talking about it. He knows all about her. When she runs away, one of her glass slippers breaks, cutting her foot. Like, this Cinderella is real. 

6. Americanized: Rebel without a Green Card by Sara Saidi

Probably my favorite read this month, this memoir tells what it was like for a child brought to the US at age two on a visitor's visa. They deliberately do not return to Iran (it was during the reign of Khomeini) and apply for asylum, and while they are waiting, the INS loses their application. Rather distressing to find that out! They then have to apply for adjustment of status, which they do using two different sponsors--Sara's grandmother, and her uncle. The parents both have social security numbers from their student days years earlier, so they work, pay taxes, build a small business--all while knowing that they could be deported at any time. When they are advised that the grandmother's sponsorship might be the fastest route, Sara's parents actually get divorced so that her mother can be single, a better state for her to be in for her mother's sponsorship. Then her mother dies, so that path is cut off, so they have to quickly get remarried so they don't ruin the other sponsorship path. The various rules are CRAZY. Like, the legal paths are a bit nuts, honestly. After 15 years in the US, the Saidi daughters FINALLY get temporary work permits so they can get social security numbers and work. It is 17 years before Sami, the oldest daughter finally gets her Green Card, literally DAYS before she turns 21 and would have aged out of her family's application, and she would have had to start over. (Their mom gets hers at the same time.) Two years later, Sara and her dad finally get theirs. But the wait is not over--Sara cannot be completely sure about anything until she gets her citizenship five years later--leaving the country on an Irani passport always leaves a person vulnerable at passport inspection, so traveling is something you just don't want to do in that situation. 

Between chapters, Sara answers frequently asked questions, and has a whole section of advice to young undocumented people such as she was for so many years. Like, do not EVER do anything wrong. She smoked pot a few times as a teen, for example--that was a very bad move. Especially in today's zero tolerance America--do not do ANYTHING that might get you even a small misdemeanor charge. Your American friends might be willing to take that risk, but you have too much to lose. Just don't. And other good advice for kids like her, who feel American, but aren't.

It's a good day

 Today was a good day. I was in a very pleasant mood in part because of all the gratitude posts on Facebook this week. They were so pleasant to read! I was also in a happy mood because last night we had our first ever Family Game Night via Zoom, with all of our children. That made me so happy, to see all of them together. Even after first Bruce, and then me, left the "room" they stayed and chatted with each other for like an hour. That was such a high for me, since we have not had all our children together in one place since 2001!! February 2001. So, even though we are scattered around in different places and countries, it was so great to be together. I love them all so much, and even more for gathering last night and spending happy hours together. Abra took a picture of the six of them together:

We are hoping to do this again in December. I am hoping to try to get them all together once a month--or at least once a quarter, or something. Some of them really need the connection. 

So, then I woke up to Bruce in the shower repeatedly trying to turn the water off. Off--then on--off--then on--repeated many times. Oh no! I knew the shower handle was going, but it sounded like it was gone. I had actually tried to make contact with a plumber (repeated many times) in recent weeks without success. I have used Told Plumbing before and liked them, so I even filled in their on-line form, listing all the plumbing issues that we need to have fixed. I am hoping that the fact that I tried, and they didn't contact me back like their website promises, might result in an ever so slight discount from the emergency price.

But I don't even mind the emergency price because it happened when we were home, so that it didn't turn itself back on and empty gallons of water down the drain to make an astronomical water bill. And it is a relief to know it is fixed.

I got the mail, and there was a refund check from the dentist. Not a lot compared to how much we spent to get four implants for Bruce, but enough to make the difference between a regular plumber's hour and an emergency plumber's hour.

Not to be outdone by the shower, the washer decided it needed a rest. I have been very thankful for my washer, and have been thinking a lot about how dependable it has been for the last 17-18 years. Never a problem. (I guess I should have complimented it out loud, and not just in my head!) When the washer we inherited with Judy's house gave out, it did so with a full tub of water, and it was a pain to get the clothes out. Had that happened in this house, it would have been easier because we have a laundry tub beside the washer. However, this really great, stupendous washer was kinder than that: It gave out after the spin cycle that followed the wash cycle. So the clothes were clean and wet but not soaking wet, and they just needed a rinse and then I could dry them in my lovely new dryer.

So I went to my friend Janice's house (she of the Mexican, Caucasian, East Indian heritage) and she has a cool space age washer that rinsed the clothes super fast, and I bundled the damp clothes back in their bag (which was really a fitted sheet) and trundled them home to dry. Nobody even knew I was gone, it was that fast.

And I can call someone about the washer on Monday. It was not an emergency--I had already washed mine and Bruce's clothes. And all Josie's darks got washed, plus all her masks. So she is good, too.

So, even though there were a few set-backs today, overall it was a good day. It was really nice to stay calm during the storms of today, feeling still very happy because it really was not that bad. I am thankful to be able to say that. I can remember when a day like today would have made me feel like I was falling apart. So, I am glad to feel like it was a good day.

Neurodiversity

Wow, sometimes you would think I never have something to say on my own, but that I am always just saving on my blog the words of other people. And this is one of those sometimes.

My friend James Goldberg, who is an amazing author of books and poetry and plays, is about the age of my son David. He is also my friend Janice's nephew, and since he is from her family, that means he is a poster child for racial diversity just given his own genetic mix of  Caucasian, Mexican, Indian (Sikh, from the Punjab region) and in his case, Jewish, which Janice lacks because James gets that from his father's side. In this post, he speaks of neurodiversity, another kind of diversity that perhaps is undervalued.

"I want to talk today about neurodiversity. 

Liji and Leif [James' two sons] love playing with each other. They’re two grades apart in school, but Leif used to spend his first few minutes of recess waiting for Liji to come out and they’d play together every day. At home, they’re constantly creating worlds together. The only times they don’t talk or play or squabble are early in the morning or late at night. They have shared toys and candy and ideas, but never shared a sleep schedule. 

Leif naturally wakes up between five and seven every day. Getting Liji out of bed at eight sometimes takes significant coaxing (which can devolve into shouted threats). Liji can easily still be up hours after bedtime. Leif zonks out almost comically fast. There are nights when I feel his body go heavy while he leans on me during prayers. 

There used to be some fights over this. Sometimes Leif would get lonely early and pester Liji to get up and play. That seldom went well. Sometimes Liji would be really into an evening conversation and feel neglected when Leif abruptly dropped his end of the discussion--for the rest of the night.

 
But then, last year, they talked about it and decided that if they lived in the wild, it would be a huge advantage to have Leif alert to watch for threats early, and Liji alert well into the night. Since living in the wild is their favorite fantasy, that settled it. They neither see each other as quite so defective, because they see how their individual differences could serve the group. 

Our brains are all different. Some people, for example, seem to specialize in responding to suboptimal conditions. For a group as a whole, it’s easy to see how it could be helpful to have someone who is good at discontent, who can serve as a catalyst for change. It’s also not hard to see why it might be useful for that person to sleep a lot in the winter and only push for migration come spring. 

For a group, it also seems really useful to have a few individuals who fixate on certain specific problems or challenges. It’s honestly an added bonus if their brains are built to insulate them from other people’s obvious lack of interest in their obsessions. We benefit as a whole if some people march to a different drummers’ beat and are totally mystified at what the rest of us are doing. 

It makes sense to have people whose brains make wild and unusual connections, people with imaginations so vivid it’s hard to tell their inner world and the outer world apart. It makes sense to have people who are extremely conscious of moral or physical dangers, who over-anticipate consequences and can give the rest of us warning—just as it makes sense to have some people who are reckless and able to take huge risks because their brains have a different way of processing fear. 

In practice, of course, navigating a world with so many different kinds of brains can be complicated. A lot of our systems are designed with one sort of brain in mind, and that can put huge strain on others. And I’m not convinced that better systems will ever solve things. Some brain differences will create relationship complications under almost any conditions. Navigating the things we call mental illness can be a staggering challenge and heartbreaking drain for everyone involved. 

I don’t want to say this is easy. I’ve read research that suggests schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and autism spectrum disorders may share closely related genetic roots. In my family, we’ve had all of them: I am a witness to four generations of struggle with some intense neurological difference from the human norm. It’s been rough sometimes. I have not always handled the tumult in my own mind or the minds of people I love with grace. 

But I’m also a huge beneficiary of that loaded genetic inheritance. And so are you. We all live in a world that is better because of the things difficult minds saw that others never would have on their own.
Sometimes gratitude is a feeling. Sometimes gratitude is a hard-earned insight. 

I am grateful for neurodiversity."

I loved that--the insight of his two young sons that their differences are beneficial!  Oh, how we need this insight in our world of division! 

Scammed

 Seems to be a good season for scamming. Bruce's debit card number was used in Ohio one day this week while he was sleeping. His bank caught it and quickly stopped the card. He had to get a new card, but no financial damage was done.

Josie's entire Disney account was switched over to an email address that was not hers. She had to call them and get that straightened out. And I think that was one of three scams for her in recent days.

Today, I got an email that I thought was from Amazon, only it was telling me about the order for a TV purchased for someone named David Kohler in Eureka, California for $696. I checked my Amazon account, and there was no such order there. Josie suggested I check our bank accounts, and there were no matching payments.

So then I was stupid--I called the number they gave in the email. I was on hold for a looooong time. (I just put the phone on speaker phone while I waited.) Then the guy got on the phone. He said, okay I have your phone number here 801-422-4334, in case we get cut off. Is that correct? I said it was. Then he asked for my name, which I gave to him. And then he asked me to give him the long number for the order, which I did. He said, "This order is for a TV (described in more detail but I don't want to type it all here) and is going to David Kohler at this address (he said it) in Eureka, California."

I said, "Yes, that is what this message says, but I have no idea who David Kohler is, so why did I get this message?"

He said, "I will have to check on that for you. How strange. So, let me verify where you are. I have you at zip code 84057, in Orem, Utah. Is that correct?"

And THAT is finally when the alarm bells went off for me, and I looked more closely at the email address for Amazon -- it had .co instead of .com for one--and I realized that I HAD FALLEN FOR THE SCAM BY CALLING THE NUMBER. I felt so stupid!! I don't know why I thought it was actually Amazon's number.

I HAD looked for a way to contact Amazon, but only had found less than helpful help on their help screen, as is often the case.

But I said to the guy, "You know, I think THIS is the scam!! I am going to hang up now."

So I hung up, googled Amazon instead of looking on Amazon's own page through my account, which I had done before. I got their 888 number, called them. I reported the scam. They sent me an email that instructed me how to send them the phishing email, which I did. They also asked me to report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission, which I did. And, since the email came through BYU's server, I also sent the phishing report to BYU's online security people.

So. In the end, I saved myself, but at first I was taken in. Which is embarrassing, but I am so glad that I had the alarm bells go off.

Per Amazon's instructions, I changed my account name--which I didn't even know you could do--and password. So I think I am safe, until the next scam comes along. Which, judging from this week at our house, might happen sooner rather than later. Hopefully I will be even more vigilant!!

Voter Fraud NOT

Media literacy: Post-election news roundup, 11/11/2020 from Mormon Women for Ethical Government

Now that we are past the election, we want to continue to provide you with a compilation of news articles from reliable sources to help you navigate the transition period. Our focus will be on the transition and ethical issues. This is by no means meant to be an authoritative list of important news. Please feel free to post in the comments any articles from reliable sources that you think we may have missed.

The New York Times has reported that it contacted election officials in 45 states, and all of them agreed: there was no widespread voter fraud in this election. Here is part of the story:

“Top election officials across the country said in interviews and statements that the process had been a remarkable success despite record turnout and the complications of a dangerous pandemic.
‘There’s a great human capacity for inventing things that aren’t true about elections,’ said Frank LaRose, a Republican who serves as Ohio’s secretary of state. ‘The conspiracy theories and rumors and all those things run rampant. For some reason, elections breed that type of mythology.’
Steve Simon, a Democrat who is Minnesota’s secretary of state, said: ‘I don’t know of a single case where someone argued that a vote counted when it shouldn’t have or didn’t count when it should. There was no fraud.’”

This is a testament to our country, its election processes, and our election workers.
Info:
The president and his allies have baselessly claimed that rampant voter fraud stole victory from him. Officials contacted by The Times said that there were no irregularities that affected the outcome. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/politics/voting-fraud.html?referringSource=articleShare
AP Explains: Election's validity intact despite Trump claims
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-elections-courts-f67b847f656e08a6019dcb308f2b4451
Here are the GOP and Trump campaign’s allegations of election irregularities. So far, none has been proved.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-irregularities-claims/2020/11/08/8f704e6c-2141-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html
EXPLAINER: Why do the media call races in US elections?
https://apnews.com/article/why-does-media-call-races-us-elections-20e9b5688aa0b7404648ea74b1c2f4dc
'There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,' Pompeo claims
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/there-will-be-smooth-transition-second-trump-administration-claims-pompeo-n1247309
Trump fundraising for new 'Save America' PAC while still contesting election results
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-fundraising-save-america-pac-contesting-election-results/story?id=74128659
Trump campaign sues Michigan to prevent certification of Biden win
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-legal-challenges-michiga/trump-campaign-sues-michigan-to-prevent-certification-of-biden-win-idUSKBN27R2AT?il=0
Georgia to conduct a full recount of election ballots
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-georgia-recount/georgia-to-conduct-a-full-recount-of-election-ballots-idUSKBN27R2B9?il=0
Election breathes new life into false ‘dead voter’ claims
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-pennsylvania-media-michigan-fc7ba254fd37059f63ea764c18c2a4cb
GOP senator says Trump should cooperate on transition
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/525428-gop-senator-says-trump-should-cooperate-on-transition#.X6tDl6RUjWs.facebook
Posts falsify ties between election tech firm and Democrats
https://apnews.com/.../election-2020-joe-biden-us-news...

Thank you to Wendy Dennehy, Danica Baird, Kaitlyn Brower Dressman, Sarah Broat, and Jennifer Akerman Sall for helping compile these articles.


Also this, from the CBC:

Is there any evidence of voter fraud?

The president's accusations of widespread voter fraud in key battleground states has some CBC readers wondering if there is any merit to them.

The experts say no.

The head of an international delegation monitoring the U.S. election said his team has no evidence to support Trump's claims about alleged fraud involving mail-in ballots.

Michael Georg Link, a German lawmaker who heads an observer mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), told German public broadcaster rbb that "on the election day itself, we couldn't see any violations" at U.S. polling places they visited.

Link said he was "very surprised" by Trump's claims about postal ballot fraud because the United States has a long history of this method of voting going back to the 19th century. The Vienna-based OSCE, of which the U.S. is a member, conducts observer missions at major elections in all of its member countries.

"We looked into this," Link told the German broadcaster. "We found no violations of the rules whatsoever." This is from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/ask-us-election-presidential-powers-1.5793057?fbclid=IwAR2mxFfNRRs5ccYoBU4Qqc0mV6gp2umyCht7NWDunwIlb49avWgbBgTvDbk

And the full report from the OSCE observers: https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/9/6/469437.pdf 

To give or not to give...that is the irony

 In the past, it was very typical for the music library to get large gifts of someone else's books and scores--retiring professors or other professionals would want their massive collections to go to good use. As the years have gone by, there has been more and more rigidity in this process, which means we say no to many collections.

Recently, we have been allowed to accept up to 60 items without having to seek permission. I usually always Just Say No. But a few things have snuck in. I have two small piles on my desk that have been there for almost a year. I don't know what I have been waiting for, but taking care of them did not seem very pressing.

Today, Janet and I arranged with Debbie Bagley to get scans of her grandmother's manuscripts to put in an envelope and put in Special Collections. That is only about 8 or so pieces of paper. So not a big gift. And then, I got an email from David Day asking me if I could go to a storage unit and look at some dance books that came with a big LP collection. He is passing the collection on to Internet Archive, but he thought I might want to look at the books. I should have just said no!!! 

David appeared in the library and brought me a box of books from long retired Dr. Powley--probably 30-40 books. Like, today of all days!

And then I went to the storage unit and chose about 15 books, and quickly drove back to the library to make a Zoom appointment I had with a student. I left the books in the car so I could hurry. (I was still late!)

When I checked my email after the appointment, I noticed that I had an email from Frank Asper, asking me if we would consider taking his father's library of music--he sent me an inventory list which is really rare and very helpful.

And then I had a meeting with my student Abby, and after that, we all got an email from the university librarian that, effective immediately, ALL GIFTS HAVE TO BE APPROVED BY HIM. Not his idea--a mandate from above this head.

And I was just like--Really? TODAY? When all these gifts have come out of nowhere, on this day, that mandate?

I emailed my immediate supervisor, who told me that the things I already had could be processed under the old rules. Since I told him about the 15 books that were still in my car, I thought I had better run out and get them, so at least they were in the building. I left via my left-hand door, and was gone 5 minutes. Ten minutes top.

When I got back, I kid you not, there were FOUR boxes of books piled at my door!!!!! Like, why?!!! Who???? Where did they come from???? Oh, the irony of MORE gifts appearing on today, of all days!!! 

Serendipity

 So, I have been busy this year writing encyclopedia entries for the Mormon Arts Encyclopedia, which they (Glen Nelson and Richard Bushman in NYC) have been trying to figure out how to rename it after President Nelson's church name advice--when the scholarly community has Mormon Studies as a thing (chairs bear that name in various universities, like University of Virginia, Claremont Graduate University, etc.) and so they are used to using Mormon. The Library of Congress has subject headings and call numbers that are Mormon. What to do? It's a puzzlement. 

Nevertheless, I have been writing entries. I wrote the first one, about Bob McMullin, in 2018, after I had written other articles about him. Because why not? I had already done the research. And then I did Newel Kay Brown because I was friends with him--made friends with him over a little harp and flute piece that was performed at one of my concerts. He is my friend Emily Brown's father-in-law, so I connected with him, and ended up buying lots of his music for the library, and had numerous phone conversations with him, so why not do an article about him?

So, then I researched Mildred Tanner Pettit, because I couldn't BELIEVE there wasn't an article about her! She is iconic in our church--"I am a child of God" is such a sung song!! She was so interesting that I got sidetracked from writing the encyclopedia entry about her because DANCE! Who knew that she wrote dance music and choreography that was used in church festivals for decades? That was news to me! And also--she was Virginia Tanner's sister, and in the dance world, Virginia Tanner is a Known Name. So I ended up doing a poster session about the sisters at Utah Dance Educator's conference last fall, and then I finally finished the encyclopedia entry, but then the site was broken so even though I submitted it in January, nothing happened with it.

And so I moved on to Marie Manwaring Anderson. I chose her because there was a super short entry for her, but it was under TERESA Marie Anderson, and who even is that? She never used her first name. Arlene and Marie and I used to sing her song, The Temple of the Father, at wedding reception sometimes, so she was familiar to me. 

I should add that part of the fun for me was connecting with families! Like, I have corresponded with Bob McMullin's daughter Pat for years, and think of her as a friend. I could not have found Pat without Mary Rose McMullin in Raymond, who I have known for years, and who is married to Bob's nephew. For Mildred TP, I somehow found her daughter-in-law Betty, who is a very old lady herself now, and who I was planning to take for lunch at the Sky Room until COVID-19 happened. Betty is the only one of that generation left in Mildred's family. For Marie MA, I somehow found her daughter Beth Hulet (I usually find people's family through obituaries, honestly) and I thought Beth lived back east, but turns out she and her husband retired to Utah. So it has been easy to talk to her. 

After Marie, I somehow decided to research N. Lorenzo Mitchell, and I don't even remember what about him tweaked my interest...I think it was the Tooth Bugs song in the 1939 Primary Song Book. And then surprise--he lived in Raymond for about 16 years, and was Uncle Alma's music teacher at the Knight Academy. By the time our mother came along (since she was born several years after her brother finished high school) the Knight Academy was no more--purchased by the province, turned into Raymond High School, and no more orchestra classes. Not ever since. (I always wondered how Uncle Alma was so lucky to play the violin, when our mother never had that opportunity.) I got kind of caught up in "Snow" Mitchell's (that was his life-long nickname) family history because he has this sister, Peggy, who was quite the actress at the University of Utah in her day, and she is so much younger than the rest of the kids that it is pretty unbelievable that she is their sister. AND YET the census records side with me. I added her on Family Search to the children, and someone removed her!!! I am going to have to re-remember her husband's name so I can find her and put her back into her family. Like, there are newspaper articles about when she was living in San Diego with her niece who is older than her. I guess that seems fishy to some people, but not to us, right? Because that is normal, right? 

And then I did Georgia W. Bello, because of Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree. I didn't have to contact any of her family because that song is popular enough that there were plenty of articles about it to draw on for the article.

Now I am writing about Irene Ellen Nelson Christopherson Tempest. And I had a hard time figuring out who she was with all those names, but I found her on family search, and then I found one of her grandchildren  because she was the one who posted Primary Penny March on Family Search, and I have been having a delightful time getting to know Debbie Bagley, her granddaughter. We are related to the Tempests, a long ways back, but the "show your relationship" feature revealed to me our very distant cousin relationship. Irene only wrote three songs that were published, but the Primary Penny March was apparently sung every week in Primary, and children would march to it! Until 1949, when the first birthday song was introduced. (I guess the emphasis started to shift from GIVING your pennies to GETTING your birthday recognized.)

I have had great moments of serendipitously finding things. Like, when I got to "know" Irene, it became pretty clear to me that her marriage to Dr. Christopherson, who was 26 years older and a Very Important Person, was super unhappy. And that her marriage to Golden Tempest (what a name, eh?!) was super happy! And I felt bad for her that all her music was published under Christopherson, because she thought of herself as Tempest. And then somehow I found one song published under TEMPEST. I don't even remember how I found it! But it made me so happy--also it made her granddaughter happy!! (All her grandchildren are from Tempest.)

On Sunday, Debbie Bagley was playing the Primary Penny March for her son and he said "Wouldn't it be cool if we could get some primary children to sing this song and record it, so we would always have it the way grandma Irene wanted it to be sung?" And on Wednesday, I was eying the record that has the Tempe Stake Primary Children of about 1965 singing that song (among others) and decided to get one of the students to record that track, and so I did!

You see, there are no other examples of Irene's music to listen to. I don't know yet if the Mormon Arts Encyclopedia can attach a sound file--I hope so--but I thought, at least I can share it with Debbie. And so I did, and she was like--"We were just talking about wanting a recording on Sunday!!" So. That was a very cool moment of serendipity.

You can find all of my published articles through this index, if interested. http://www.mormonartwiki.org/index.php?title=Category:Mormon_Composers

Books Read October 2020

 Made it to five books this month!

1. I finally finished a non-fiction book that I have been reading slowly for months: Religion of a different color: Race and the Mormon struggle for whiteness by W. Paul Reeve. This book was recommended to me by David and Donna Dalton. It was not an easy read, but it was an interesting and informative read. Though it puts the Mormon prohibition on the priesthood for blacks into context, and shows how protectionist policy played into that, it also looks at all races and how they were treated by and within the church. People sure make a lot of mistakes, was my take-away. A very well-researched book written by Dr. Reeve, who is a history professor at the University of Utah, this book won multiple awards.

2. Hurray! A new Vanderbeekers book! The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser was delightful, as I knew it would be. This time, the children make a royal mess of things for their mother, both literally and figuratively--and their rescue attempts often fall flat (or make things worse) but in the end, they do rescue their mother's business from disaster. Now it will be a long time until there is another Vanderbeekers book, since this one was only recently published.

3. Then I read the first in Michael Buckley's NYT Best selling book series about the Sisters Grimm. He does tell his stories well AND he leaves each book with a cliff-hanger so you feel like you NEED to read the next one. So this one was The Fairy Tale Detectives.

4. And this one was The Unusual Suspects

5. And the last book I read, just finishing it yesterday on Halloween, was The Problem Child.

And now I feel like I need to hop right on to Book 4  There are something like 9 or 11 books in the series...(but I am reading a different book right now, because of course, I do not have Book 4!)

Great Opinion Piece in USA Today

Jesse Jackson inspired me to become a committed voter; Trump made me a principled voter.

The process of choosing who and what earns my vote requires more work because I no longer rely upon a political party as my main source of guidance.

Emma Petty Addams

Opinion contributor

Some may find it surprising that the Rev. Jesse Jackson greatly impacted the political life of this white, suburban  Latter-day Saint woman.

In 1995, he came to Stanford University and delivered a stirring address to 2,000 students. As Jackson spoke, I felt the solemn weight of citizenship and a pressing need to never take it for granted.

I’m a little embarrassed that his message about bigotry, war and segregation was lost on me that day. But I am profoundly grateful that at age 19, it was burned into my civic consciousness that it is my privilege and duty to vote at any cost and to encourage others to do the same.

For the next 20 years, I voted (often with a baby or young child in my arms) as a Republican in every election, using that party’s platform and candidates as a guide for completing my ballot.

My children are older now and my county in Omaha, Neb., automatically sent vote-by-mail ballot applications to all residents for the 2020 election. For me, the act of voting has never been easier or more convenient.

But the process of choosing who and what earns my vote now requires more work because I no longer rely upon a political party as my main source of guidance.

This is because my run as a mostly Republican voter came to a screeching halt in 2016. Muslims are not terrorists, and Mexicans are not rapists. There was nothing so sacred about conservative policy or Supreme Court judges that justified allowing hateful rhetoric to shape public policy.

Take time to listen, learn

After the election, I listened more closely to my liberal friends and to politicians I had previously ignored. I read book after book to try to understand systemic racism. I asked a lot of questions, seeking out voices of immigrants, refugees and those whose American experience was starkly different than mine.

I began to realize my previous votes had been cast mostly out of self-interest, with little consideration for how they might affect those around me. I felt the earth shifting a bit beneath my feet.

During this time, I also joined Mormon Women for Ethical Government, a unique nonprofit full of women from all along the ideological spectrum. We discuss and analyze politics, taking advantage of lively discourse and diverse viewpoints, and then seek to proactively make peace in the public sphere by advocating for the issues we care about.

Many, like me, had been lifelong Republicans but were entering 2017 politically homeless, frustrated and fired up.

As we studied and learned together, I discovered that though I have always had free and easy access to the polls, there are many in my country who do not. My focus turned from my own vote and toward the rights of others.

I began volunteering part time for MWEG and eventually joined its leadership team. This gives me a front row seat to the sort of innovative thinking that happens when the tension emerging from conflicting viewpoints is harnessed for good.

In MWEG, we call this peacemaking! Now I can articulate what I believe I had known all along — that no political ideology has the corner on truth and that we need to hold our elected officials accountable at every turn.

Evaluate each candidate

I feel a responsibility to be a principled voter who evaluates candidates and policies against a set of ethical principles rather than being taken in by personality or tribalism.

This ideological journey toward principled voting has brought me back full circle to the day Jackson inspired me to be a committed voter. I feel that same passion when I think about the power of an individual, casting her vote in a profound act of duty and love for her country. But now I am voting in a far more expansive way.

I still tend to lean conservative but no longer believe that ideology to be morally superior. Less unencumbered by party loyalties, I see in 2020 that voting should be more than just about me and my rights.

As a citizen and a Christian, I am excited to use my vote to help assure and defend that right for all Americans.

Principled voting requires more work on my part. But I believe my country is worth the effort.

Emma Petty Addams is a mother, musician and the executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. She lives in Omaha, Neb. with her husband and three sons.

Andrew Maxfield on FB today

One of my composer friends, Andrew Maxfield wrote this today:

Okay, I’m about to violate two of my facebook rules: I’m going to talk about my religion (just a little) and I’m absolutely LIVID while writing. If you didn’t know I can be livid, well, yeah. 

Yesterday, United States Senator Mike Lee (from Utah, a Mormon) headlined a Trump rally in Arizona. It is a strange election indeed when a Republican presidential candidate can’t count the majority of the Mormon vote as a gimme—but this is such an election, and strangely enough the Mormon vote might actually matter. (Trump could never, not in a million years, count on my vote as I’ve explained previously, but I’m a minority both in Utah and sadly among Americans of my faith.)

In introducing Trump, Mike Lee compared him to “Captain Moroni.” For my many friends who aren’t Mormon, Captain Moroni is depicted as a good dude in the Book of Mormon, sort of a righteous tough guy—the kind of army general you’d like to follow in a battle.

Keep in mind, treasured friends far and near, that I don’t care if you read the Book of Mormon as fact, fantasy, fanfic, or not at all. The point is that Mike Lee just crossed a line for me.

First, because Lee just prostituted scripture. Let me be clear about my language: prostitution is selling something that isn’t supposed to be sold. In speaking Mormon-ese to a rally with Mormons (and other Christians) in attendance, not only did Mike Lee position his endorsement as a very special kind of sales pitch, but he co-opted scripture to do it, for the off-limits purpose of calling darkness light. Captain Moroni isn’t for sale. Neither is the Bible for photo ops. But Lee is a quick study, and Trump knows plenty about prostitution.

Second, because Lee comically, pathologically misread the very chapter to which he referred. Again, friends, I don’t care what you think of the Book of Mormon, but dig this. Alma Chapter 46 (excerpt pasted below) relates the rise of a would-be autocrat, Amalickiah, against whom the aforementioned Captain Moroni reluctantly raises an army in defense of domestic tranquility. Amalickiah wants to be king. He surrounds himself with sycophantic, enabling “lower judges” who also, it turns out, want power. He is a master of propaganda (that’s the old word for “fake news”) and sowing dissension. He doesn’t claim to be a stable genius, but it doesn’t take a stable genius to follow the Populist’s Power-Grabbing Playbook. It’s a classic, and Trump follows it. And how. If this chapter of scripture teaches us anything, it teaches about the moral and political dangers of demagoguery!

Sure, I’ll play the Book-of-Mormon-metaphor game: call the adulterous, lying, opportunistic vulture of a would-be dictator what he is. Behold, oh Arizonans, your future King!

All the same, I’m not going to say that Biden is Captain Moroni instead. How absolutely stupid. That plays into the delusional dichotomy of extreme partisanship. If anything, Captain Moroni might be an invitation to each of us to resist the Amalickiahs who present themselves, one after the other, throughout history and into the future. Studying sacred texts should enable us to know them when we smell them. Further, the Book of Mormon is, itself, a cautionary tale about partisanship! It ends badly when warring factions lead a civilization through civil war into total destruction.

I acknowledge that some Mormons will draw opposite conclusions: no, don’t you see that Biden is the bad guy and Donald is here to raise the Title of Liberty? Such is life, religion, and metaphors. Mark Twain intuited this intractable irony when he wrote The War Prayer. Why do I stick with a religion if such people are in it, you might ask? Partially because such people are in it (and we get along quite well in so many aspects of our lives), partially because I fear what the community would become with less diversity of views within it, and partially because I choose to read the Book of Mormon as scripture (yes, along with the Bible) and have found purpose and meaning in church fellowship.

Oh, how I wish that yesterday’s rally were an SNL skit! (Could Jimmy Fallon be Mike Lee, please?) Then it would be uncomfortably funny—like the Book of Mormon musical or Mitt Romney trying to crack a joke—and we could all just go home. 

No, this was a blasphemy of NASCAR-megachurch proportions, and it is as uncomfortable as it is embarrassing and just plain wrong.

Shame on you, Senator Lee. May your flattering prostitution buy for you what it will, and may God spare us all from Captain Trump.
===
ALMA 46
…
3 Now the leader of those who were wroth against their brethren was a large and a strong man; and his name was Amalickiah.
4 And Amalickiah was desirous to be a king; and those people who were wroth were also desirous that he should be their king; and they were the greater part of them the lower judges of the land, and they were seeking for power.
5 And they had been led by the flatteries of Amalickiah, that if they would support him and establish him to be their king that he would make them rulers over the people.
6 Thus they were led away by Amalickiah to dissensions, notwithstanding the preaching of Helaman and his brethren, yea, notwithstanding their exceedingly great care over the church, for they were high priests over the church.
7 And there were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of Amalickiah, therefore they dissented even from the church; and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi exceedingly precarious and dangerous, notwithstanding their great victory which they had had over the Lamanites, and their great rejoicings which they had had because of their deliverance by the hand of the Lord.
8 Thus we see how quick the children of men do forget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do iniquity, and to be led away by the evil one.
9 Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.
10 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake.
11 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah.
12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.
13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—
14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church.
15 And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.
16 And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored.
Sure, read the whole story in context and see what I mean: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/.../bofm/alma/46...
Image credit from a Twitter user I don't know or follow: https://twitter.com/travisshumate/status/1321629549830918144

Tara Westover at UVU

 Although I was a half hour late due to sign up difficulties, I finally got into the stream to listen to Tara Westover's chat with President Astrid S. Tuminez of UVU. Very interesting. I will have to watch the entire thing, including what I missed, when the recording is available.

A few quotes: "Education should be associated more with inquiry than with certainty."

About the internet: Tara talked about where people get their news--often from social media sites or other information-providing sites. She said, and I am probably quoting imperfectly: Their whole business model is based on making us hate each other. Love sells, and awe sells, but nothing sells like hate. At some level, you all need to realize that there are people making money off of your hate. And you need to decide--do I want to be a part of that?

She talked about the "breaking of charity" which is associated with the Salem Witch Trials--when a point is reached where people can't believe that "the other side" has anything positive about them. Demonizing, as it were.

Books Read September 2020

 Apparently moving makes for a month of not much reading. Also, I may be guilty of watching too much of a couple of Canadian TV shows that I like a lot: Republic of Doyle, set in Newfoundland; and Kim's Convenience, set in Toronto. So, what little free time I had for reading was not used very efficiently. Maybe when a person is really tired, even reading takes too much energy!

So--I only finished four books, and two of those were from listening. And they were the New Testament and the Pearl of Great Price, which I listened to while doing my planking and other exercises.

So I only read two actual books, and both were YA. So, overall, not my most ambitious month of reading ever!

I read Under the Banyan Tree by Toni de Palma. It is about a girl who has been blessed with not the best of parents. She runs away to Florida where she lucks into meeting wonderful people who give her a job and a place to live and a pseudo-family. Ernest Hemingway figures into the story. It was an easy and warm-hearted read.

And I read Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari. Mira goes to India to meet her mother's relatives and learns a great deal about herself as well as her family. I had read the earlier book about Mira's family a year or two ago (ahaha! make that 6 years ago--I checked in Google Drive, and the earlier book was in fact read by me in 2014!) and it was a good read. This one was, too.

And that's all folks. An abyssmal record of reading for me, honestly.

Thoughts on this day

 1. I am so glad that I am not a full time teacher. I have been doing a lot of Zoom sessions over the past few days, and I acquired a sore throat and a headache from all that talking! I am a pretty quiet person, and honestly, I am so grateful that I do not have to talk THAT MUCH all the time.

2. I am the person in charge of hiring a new department assistant for myself, and honestly, 70 candidates is about 60 too many!! What a difficult, time-consuming task we have before us. And, hiring is juggling people's lives a bit, too, and that feels like a big responsibility.

3. I have been making Zoom videos for my grandkids, and that is actually really fun! (Though it does involve talking...)