"Safety for the Soul"

In the October 2009 General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gave a bold and powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I would like to echo his testimony. You can read it here.

An Explanation and a Question

The post below was due to an assignment that my class and I were given in our Composition Pedagogy class this morning. The topic of the day was rhetoric in new media. We were given ten minutes to choose a mode of new media (facebook, a blog, powerpoint, ect.), create a brief argument for which is the best social event in Provo, and construct it with the use of two visual aides. My group chose to discuss BYU football through the use of my blog.

Traditionally, the role of a first year writing class has been to train students to write for the academy. We teach them the research and writing skills they need to succeed in their various majors. However, because the use of new media to interact with "real world" rhetorical situations is so prevalent, do we now have a responsibility to teach students how to use and interact with new media? Does the use of Twitter in the classroom have an academic justification? Do students already know how to use blogs and facebook effectively? Perhaps even more so than many of their professors?

What do you think?

Engl 610 Assignment: Best Social Activity in Provo

Nothing brings Provo together like football. Food, family, and friends get together for a memorable shared experience.



Better than eating out, better than sitting in a dark movie theatre, studies have shown that the best social experiences for strengthening a bond arise when adrenaline meets fear or anticipation. The BYU v. Oklahoma after party that flooded the streets of Provo demonstrates the shared community experience invoked by football. Whether or not the game is at home in Provo or far away in Texas, football moves beyond the stadium.

Secrets

This morning Joey made us some toast and scrambled eggs while I was doing my hair and getting ready for the day. The eggs were topped with cheese and were quite tasty.

Joey turned to me and asked, "Want to know what I put in them?"

I said, "Yeah, how did you make them?"

He says, "I'm not tellin'. It's a secret."

I was confused. "Why did you ask if I wanted to know what you put in them if you weren't going to tell me?"

He replied, "What good is a secret if no one wants to know it?"

I gave him a look. I did not like that response.

He told me the secret.

My thought, what good is a secret if you can't tell anyone?

Romance Never Dies

Whoever said that romance dies after the first year of marriage had not met Joey.

Example #1: Joey was at work on campus in the late afternoon. He called me and told me to look outside. Above Y Mountain was a beautiful rainbow that he just didn't want me to miss. Though my camera did not capture the image very well, it was quite a sight.


Example #2: Last night Joey took me up to Sundance for the full-moon chairlift ride. With cups of Steven's hot coco in hand, we soared above the mountains and underneath the stars.

Where Distraction Meets Productivity

As I have mentioned before, I have been having trouble concentrating on one thing at a time lately. I find my mind bouncing between my classes, my teaching, Joey, my calling and various other things going on with family and friends. It makes if difficult to read dense work, such as literary or rhetorical theory, which poses a problem since I am reading a lot of that these days. However, this afternoon as I sat down to read I decided to embrace my distractions. I read almost two pages in my book on teaching rhetoric and then my mind wandered to a paper for my cowboy class. I paused my reading to write down my thoughts on that paper, which turned out to be some good brainstorming. Then I read a few more pages until I found myself realizing what I want to write my research paper on for my Composition Pedagogy course, and brainstormed for a few minutes on metacognitive learning. I found that it made my reading more effective to be able to concentrate just on reading while I read, and pause when I am distracted to make that time useful as well. I suppose that distraction is not always a bad thing.

Chili Cheese What?

I saw a commercial for this and wondered if anything could be grosser. I decided maybe something could, but this would certainly be a contender. On the Sonic menu it is listed under “Wraps & Salads.” Not really what I picture when I think of a wrap. With this "wrap" weighing in at 669 calories, I think I might have gained a pound just watching the commercial. However, it is only 99 cents, so maybe that is compensation for whoever buys this. He or she may have wasted a good portion of their daily calories, but at least they didn’t break the bank to do it.

FRITOS® Chili Cheese Wrap from Sonic


Chili you can eat in your car. It's brilliant and tasty. A generous serving of meaty chili with cheese and FRITOS® corn chips* all wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla. And if onions are your thing, you can ask for those too. *FRITOS is a trademark of Frito-Lay North America, Inc.