New Years Eve

Choir Music

Last night two of my sisters and I had the awesome opportunity to sing in the University Chorale concert together. It was such a fun time being together with so many of our friends in the audience, and getting to sing so many beautiful Christmas songs of praise! How is it that music has such power to move you? I don't know about everyone else, but for me the Spirit was strong throughout the experience. Said percussionist Mickey Hart, "There's nothing like music to relieve the soul and uplift it." Couldn't agree more!

Here is a different choir singing one of my favorite songs from the selection: 

And the Jones girls after the concert: 

What Shall We Give?

I love December. The next couple of weeks are some of the most stressful of the year for us students, but all of that is alleviated a little by the hot cocoa, the cheerful tunes, the carolers at our doorsteps, the lights twinkling from cozy homes and bare trees. Life is crazy, always crazy, but the Christmas season carries with it a sort of magic so unique to this time of year. It's a chance to come out of ourselves in spite of all the hectic this or that, to spend a little time making a difference in others' lives, and remember someone who makes all the difference in our lives. Two Christmas Devotionals ago, President Monson said: 

"If we are to have the very best Christmas ever, we must listen for the sound of sandaled feet. We must reach out to the Carpenter's hand. With every step we take in His footsteps, we abandon a doubt and gain a truth....My prayer is that at this Christmas season and all the Christmastimes to come, we may follow in his footsteps."

An important reminder for us all. Happy December! 

User Reviews: I Ask the Impossible

My mom has always been big on researching user reviews before she buys things. That ranges from books to movies to cameras to computers to sleeping bags to pitcher water filters...everything! She does her homework, and she always ends up getting the best bang for her buck. I've been surprised by how often the most popular brand is not actually the most functional/long lasting/well liked of the choices. And it is rarely the least expensive. And then again, sometimes it is the best deal. But you never know, until you read what the people who actually use the product have to say about it.

We have talked before about how we never write user reviews ourselves, in spite of how helpful they are to us. American author and poet, Maya Angelou said, "When you learn, teach, when you get, give." In this case, we have been learning and getting, but not teaching and giving!

And so, when I learned about my assignment in one of my English classes to purchase, read, and post a review online about a book written by any of the authors we've studied this semester, a little part of me was excited to contribute to the online world that has been so useful to my mom. (And this all ties in with being active participants in the media...it's a simple way to use the media in order to share your thoughts about the media, among other things.)

I read the Ana Castillo's poetry collection, I Ask the Impossible. Here is the review I wrote about it, which I posted on Amazon:

Ana Castillo's collection, I Ask the Impossible, is a lovely statement about being a Latina in an American world, about motherhood and womanhood, family and relationships love and loss, mythology and war. Her tone is one of endurance and triumph. She has experienced hardship both personally and vicariously through the experiences of her ancestors and her people. But she does not play the victim; her experiences have strengthened her, have made her stalwart (as in her poem "Women Don't Riot") and independent ("La Wild Woman"). And yet she maintains a tenderness, even an innocence, in spite of the severity life has handed to her from time to time, which appears in many of her poems. She about lovers ("I Decide Not to Fall in Love"), about family ("El Chicle"), about womanhood ("A Nahua Woman's Love"), about death ("Death Is Only What It Is"), and etc. She also incorporates her Mexican-American heritage throughout the collection by use of the Spanish language and various Latin American references. One of my personal favorite poems from the collection which utilizes the Spanish/English dichotomy is "Poeta en Santa Fe." This simple poem uses beautiful form and imagery in both languages to describe the lonely emptiness of a person's absence. The jump between the two languages sends the powerful message that love lost if a universally painful experience, which is both melancholic and poetic at once. The poem is only ten lines long, and yet it accomplishes its purpose with a satisfyingly relatable ease, as if speaking the plain words that have been in readers' minds, which they have not yet put into coherent thoughts. All in all, I Ask the Impossible was a delightful read. Definitely recommended to readers looking for a meaningful perspective on the human experience.

Letter Assignment

Dear Mr. Oliver,

  I recently discovered your television show about your “food revolution,” and I am highly impressed by your mission in the United States! I am a college student at Brigham Young University, along with two of my younger sisters. Though our family could not profess to be the picture of perfect diet, my mom brought us up on daily home cooked meals using fresh ingredients. We sit around the table together for dinner almost every night of the week, and every meal involves a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, protein, grains, etc. My sisters and I have done our best to incorporate our food upbringing into our kitchens at school, but we are each surprised by how many of our roommates have not! 

   The college meal stereotype has held strong at BYU, even among a student body of faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which values and teaches about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Said the current president of our church, Thomas S. Monson, “‘The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are’ (1 Corinthians 3:17). May we keep our bodies--our temples--fit and clean, free from harmful substances which destroy our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.” (Our church’s beliefs about healthy diet can be found in our scriptures, in Doctrine and Covenants Section 89.) Even so, many of my college friends’ diets have consisted predominantly of pb&j’s, Ramen Noodle Soup, Easy Mac, Hamburger Helper, McDonald’s, and Little Caesars pizza. I don’t think any one of those menu choices is bad on occasion, but when they comprise the entire diet there is a problem! 

  If our Sunday school lessons aren’t getting through to us, then I think the issue stems from a more fundamental level: habit. My friends eat what their parents and schools taught them to eat. When I was in elementary school my mom packed turkey sandwiches on wheat bread, carrot sticks, strawberries, and the like in my lunches. I always drank water or Juicy Juice. My “desserts” consisted of graham crackers and a home made frosting. Nearly all my friends, on the other hand, ate Lunchables, Capri Sun, Doritos, and Oreos, or else bought lunch at the cafeteria. And you know how that goes. I learned things about diet that my peers never learned, even without formal lessons in school, simply by the things I was fed. 

That being said, I think the “food revolution” must take place in homes and in school kitchens. If kids learn what to eat by what they are fed, then I don’t think any number of classes, lessons, or demonstrations will change their thinking. The only thing that can bring about true change is an alteration in their teacher: the food on their plates and in their lunch boxes. I love that you are going into schools and helping them improve their menus. I love that you go into people’s homes and show them how to feed their children healthy, inexpensive, easy to prepare meals. When kids eat healthy foods as they grow up, they develop a lifestyle which they will continue into their independence. They will then pass it onto their children, and so on. 

Unfortunately the stereotype of the fat American hasn’t popped out of thin air. But I believe there is hope for change, if people could only get the education necessary to provide their kids with an optimally healthy lifestyle. Thank you for your mission in our country! I believe your work has and will bless the lives of many children and families, for generations to come. 

Sincerely,

Catherine Jones

Coca Cola Security Cameras

My roommate showed me this wonderful video...maybe there is hope for humanity after all! Coke always has good advertisements. This one warmed my heart. :) Enjoy! 

The Perfect Poet

Here is one of my favorite poems. I have often considered how God has created each small element of this earth with such grand precision, how everything has an exquisite delicacy beyond man's comprehension. I couldn't put it into better words than Robert Browning did when he said, "God is the perfect poet." I am sure Joyce Kilmer would agree.

Trees

Joyce Kilmer 

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made my fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.