Passing ideas around with words. Words are inadequate, teacher. Paint me a picture. You may use Language. My writing teacher uses certain buzz words over and over and over again, but they have no meaning for me. It's like she is telling me about the ocean, but just keeps saying "ocean, ocean, ocean" and doesn't include "blue, big, beautiful." Let me see, feel, smell what a brief is like, and then maybe I can write it for you. Your words are sailing in and sailing out and my screen is still blank.
I need a Helen Keller moment where I can feel the water on my face and feel someone's hand making the connection between a communicated word and the sensation in my mouth.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
words part II
The president = "just a bunch of words."
"...But, I think that rhetoric can change the world," she said.
A girl in the hall, who I consider one of the most intelligent in my class, said this in defense of Obama to my friend, the skeptic. This friend, the man who equates his religion with his political values, replied that though this be true, he will always vote on principle and never because he just likes someone for what they say. Substantive, always substantive.
"I'm waiting to see when he actually does something before I can tell if he is good or not." Do something? True, speech-giving is a different action than jogging, cooking, and fighting wars. But it is an action nonetheless.
I feel that political promises versus words of direction are hard to distinguish for most Americans. This makes sense, since they are often intertwined. People have come to rely on the evidence of executive programs, military deployments, treaty signings and stamped bills to prove that a president is "doing something."
But, shall we not consider giving credit where credit is due? Granted, it is very difficult to track the impact that a rousing speech can have, or the results of new found confidence in self and country instilled by words, but I think the effects are real and profound.
Maybe people stood up and decided to build something instead of thinking about their problems because the nation's leader's rhetoric pushed them there. We can't determine the effect of a vision that legislators, law students, lifeguards, and librarians alike invested in because someone told them where to look.
"He's just words." Just words? What changes have you made when your church leader spoke to you with Godly persuasion? What do soothing words do to put together a broken day?
Considering the rules of rhetoric, perhaps no one can identify any ethos to give sway to our president's words. But, his experience aside, I feel that we can't underestimate a positive impact inaugural words can have. When is the last time you heard those ideas communicated in such a way? Do we really think, ethos aside, that those in earshot are not affected? This indirect way of making things happen seems almost too ideal to me. Contrast one man's grunt and labor on behalf of a nation to make something happen vs. one man's words moving a lot of people to do a lot of action. Seems more efficient to me. I can respect a leader who can do that.
Words represent ideas and ideas are what we build our lives, nations, and faith on. Now, President Obama did not speak from Sinai. But, I appreciate that "rhetoric can change the world." What we say and how we say it and the hope we can infuse in others' hearts - that can have the sort of impact that stats and news reports may never reveal. What really does a president do but execute with his words? Words are his tool and I pray, literally, that he will wield them wisely.
"...But, I think that rhetoric can change the world," she said.
A girl in the hall, who I consider one of the most intelligent in my class, said this in defense of Obama to my friend, the skeptic. This friend, the man who equates his religion with his political values, replied that though this be true, he will always vote on principle and never because he just likes someone for what they say. Substantive, always substantive.
"I'm waiting to see when he actually does something before I can tell if he is good or not." Do something? True, speech-giving is a different action than jogging, cooking, and fighting wars. But it is an action nonetheless.
I feel that political promises versus words of direction are hard to distinguish for most Americans. This makes sense, since they are often intertwined. People have come to rely on the evidence of executive programs, military deployments, treaty signings and stamped bills to prove that a president is "doing something."
But, shall we not consider giving credit where credit is due? Granted, it is very difficult to track the impact that a rousing speech can have, or the results of new found confidence in self and country instilled by words, but I think the effects are real and profound.
Maybe people stood up and decided to build something instead of thinking about their problems because the nation's leader's rhetoric pushed them there. We can't determine the effect of a vision that legislators, law students, lifeguards, and librarians alike invested in because someone told them where to look.
"He's just words." Just words? What changes have you made when your church leader spoke to you with Godly persuasion? What do soothing words do to put together a broken day?
Considering the rules of rhetoric, perhaps no one can identify any ethos to give sway to our president's words. But, his experience aside, I feel that we can't underestimate a positive impact inaugural words can have. When is the last time you heard those ideas communicated in such a way? Do we really think, ethos aside, that those in earshot are not affected? This indirect way of making things happen seems almost too ideal to me. Contrast one man's grunt and labor on behalf of a nation to make something happen vs. one man's words moving a lot of people to do a lot of action. Seems more efficient to me. I can respect a leader who can do that.
Words represent ideas and ideas are what we build our lives, nations, and faith on. Now, President Obama did not speak from Sinai. But, I appreciate that "rhetoric can change the world." What we say and how we say it and the hope we can infuse in others' hearts - that can have the sort of impact that stats and news reports may never reveal. What really does a president do but execute with his words? Words are his tool and I pray, literally, that he will wield them wisely.
words part I
sifting through pages of prose and sighing at pleasing passages, she said "i wish that i read more." cath said this to linds and me while we were browsing internship options on our laptops. she then committed us to re-read The Great Gatsby, which we both promised to do.
i'm sitting at my carrel right now. and i look up and see i have an entire shelf of books. my books. law books. i smile. i own books about law. i own books, period. is that awesome?
yet, like cath, when i look at these books - though i feel an honest, true feeling of gratitude for such an opportunity to even know the things contained therein - i feel like i am in the shallow end of a pool the size of the planet. there's a quote on this blog somewhere...scroll up or down maybe a little... it's on the right. it's about learning. it explains the sentiment.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
predictions for 2009
this is awfully embarrassing. i haven't been to 'the common' since november. i think i've been away because of fear. i was afraid of how long it had been - i had to re-enter and reclaim my blog land and i wasn't sure if i could do that. i think i was also afraid of letting all of my insecurities and uncertainties spill into the posts that i had been contemplating. but, i found a great way to have a neutral comeback, and that is to post things that were written by someone else.
linds johns (short for lindsay johnson) and i had a birthday party last night to celebrate three holidays: Christmas, New Years, and our birthdays, which happen to be on those two holidays. linds was born on Christmas day and i was born on New Years. so, we held a post-holiday party and suggested that our guests write up on a huge board the predictions they had for the year 2009. we told them it could be anything from international to personal predictions, and what we got were a few of each and then a lot about dating and stuff. we shouldn't have predicted that - a party where single college kids are asked to write stuff on a big, public board... it will inevitably turn into a conversation on dating.
i wrote each down verbatim, so if there are grammatical errors, it is due to two possibilities: the original author wrote it that way, or it was written in a foreign language and i couldn't quite decipher the handwriting. (another advantage of putting someone else's writing up on my first blog back - no accountability.) and, the parenthesis are comments that someone else wrote about that prediction.
okay, as i was reading through these, i decided to add a few comments. those you will find in brackets. i couldn't resist. i just couldn't. and i take full accountability for it.
Predictions 2009:
linds johns (short for lindsay johnson) and i had a birthday party last night to celebrate three holidays: Christmas, New Years, and our birthdays, which happen to be on those two holidays. linds was born on Christmas day and i was born on New Years. so, we held a post-holiday party and suggested that our guests write up on a huge board the predictions they had for the year 2009. we told them it could be anything from international to personal predictions, and what we got were a few of each and then a lot about dating and stuff. we shouldn't have predicted that - a party where single college kids are asked to write stuff on a big, public board... it will inevitably turn into a conversation on dating.
i wrote each down verbatim, so if there are grammatical errors, it is due to two possibilities: the original author wrote it that way, or it was written in a foreign language and i couldn't quite decipher the handwriting. (another advantage of putting someone else's writing up on my first blog back - no accountability.) and, the parenthesis are comments that someone else wrote about that prediction.
okay, as i was reading through these, i decided to add a few comments. those you will find in brackets. i couldn't resist. i just couldn't. and i take full accountability for it.
Predictions 2009:
- The dollar will become stronger than the British pound - which won't be very strong.
- Love is friendship on Fire! [? - thank you alex.]
- Lindsay will get an A in a class.
- Trisha will turn into a zombie (and eat yo brains)
- There will be NO snow in Utah in the winter of 2009
- Dave Marriott will start a company
- Miller is going to explode [that's where the party was]
- Russia will become a new super-power
- The Israeli-Hamas conflict will end in February
- Alle Morwomen heirateu iue Jahr 2009, auch Trisha!
- Jana will take up off-road unicycling
- I will go to the big apple. [this was mine]
- The 787 will fly.
- Give me money. [this is a demand, not a prediction.]
- Mina genki ni naru [japanese for - "everyone will be happy and healthy"]
- Watashitachi wa chiizu ga tabemashou. Yum! [japanese for "let's all eat cheese."]
- Mitt Romney will be president...Elder's quorum president.
- Laura will have her 1st slurpee and love it
- Glen Andersen will get married 2009
- Obesa cantawit!
- Chris Newton will finally kiss a girl.
- Re vera, potas bene.
- Goff will date a Korean.
- Jana will give people the best kind of hugs.
- Julie will meet Bob Ross and convert him (isn't he dead? P.S. this bodes poorly for Julie)
- Trisha will drink orange juice with pulp and LIKE it!!!
- Jana will find her zen.
- I will become rich and then you will all say you're my friends!
- "I will consume 40 bags of cereal!"
- Crazy dance moves will be popular - rock on tiny dancer! [this writer may or may not have been witnessing ian shepley's dance moves at the moment s/he wrote this]
- (chart of Ramen Inc. stock going up with an arrow at the bottom of a large increase saying "buy now" and the 'x' axis labeled: The Great Recession)
- Jana, Thanks for the setup! Jana you stud from your "sister song" we love you! J+C [i set these two cute kids up - James and Christy. yep, i'm a stud.]
- Peter will try (again) and fail (again) to blog more than Jana. :) [okay, but really, i don't blog that much, so i'm pretty sure that you will beat me. i mean, really.]
- I will own all Apple's stock and die rich. [die? this year? you know that?]
- Ev will come to life. [this may have been intended to say "Eve" but i'm not sure]
- Karahashi shimai wa Jana shimai ga mou sugu kekkon suru to yogen shita deshou? [Japanese for "Sister Karahashi prophesied/predicted that Sister Jana would soon marry, didn't she?]
- I will be awesome! [first prediction on the board that night by my incredibly awesome brother, Dallin. this is an accurate prediction.]
- They will get married [who?]
- I will use a lama's spit to style my hair!! [um...]
- Love is coming for your through the floorboards. [probably alex again]
- Jana will win the state of Delaware in a lawsuit.
- Jana will fall in love with the hot young law student('s younger brother) three carrels over [written by austin's little brother who said that his grandma talked about me for 4 days.]
- People will make predictions. -[this may have said Aaron, or Anon. I couldn't read it. very insightful]
- Jana and Linds will make someone's day fantastic! [aw...]
- Jana will go on a "hot date" (with Scott Walsh) and never be the same again! [chris newton offered the parenthetical here. he called it "writing on the wall."]
- Derk will get married. Jana too. (Not me) [Derk mentioned how uncanny it was that both of our names were in such a prediction. hmm.....]
- Random dance parties will occur! Bkuz of Anna. [i sure hope so]
- Tah we, fiernno lo?
- I will stop doing drugs (then Jana will be out of clients) [skinny, i know you wrote this. 1) because it was the closest to the ceiling and you were the tallest there and 2) because i just know.)
- Someone will invent an autonomous barnacle-crushing robot. - Aaron
- The wall between you and I... Delenda est!
- Don't tell my mom! [sorry, this may be out of context, but it's what was on the board...]
- Everything will be fine in 2009!
- I will leave my job
- Nerd5 w1ll B3 popul4r! [YEAH!]
- I will get asked out and can't go. :(
- Blue (Green) will be the new Black (Brown) (someone crossed out blue and black) [we all know that green is the new pink]
- Let's raise to another level! - Niedersmanzer
- -Vogt- ya glar naia shishka. Shmmoltri muy smeli pup. [there is supposed to be an umlat over the u in pup. i don't think i want to know what this says.]
- Bently Snow will date half the women in this room.
- Make It Happen - Paul+Lindsay (in a heart shape) = soft hands Marry Me? (absolutely & Linds will start accepting Amy's dares for $1.00) [great story. ask lindsay.]
- Baruka wa kotoshi ni wa to totemo suteki na otoko no ko to kekkon suru shi, kazoerarenai hito zu no kodomo wo umu to yogen shimasu! Ai shiteru yo! [heart] baruka ga daisuki da yo! [Japanese for "i predict that Barker will marry a stylish/good-looking young man this year, and have numberless children! i love ya! ....um, a heart.... i love barker! (or barker is my favorite...)]
- Lindsay will ADMINISTRATE the public MASTERFULLY [i believe it]
- Dave will compete in clogging
- Linds will be President of the United States of America!
- Lindsay will get MARRIED!
- Tyrel Handby will buy a tank off eBay for cheap! - Aaron
- Jana will get the 4.0 in torts, property, civ pro, con law, contracts, crim law etc. She will be on Law Review and be offered the world's best job. She will fall in love and get married. - Em [okay, em, i said predictions, not fantasies.]
- Choi [some kind of symbol] will marry an American.
- Snoop Dog will really be a member.
- Jana will marry Abe N.
- Orangutano will conquer Burger King. - Aaron
- "Eetodawkimas" every day, every hr! Happy Birthday Ladies!
- Someone will graduate - Aaron [what a risk-taker on those predictions, aaron. you sure about this one?]
- Linds, Jana, and Cath, and Eve will have a joing quadruple wedding Sept. 2009! (Sonner if Bentley has anything to do about it.... (And I will...)) [oh, cam.]
- Chris Brown Rocks!
- Love, baby, love. - Bethany
- The spelling bee wil become and olympic sport. -Aaron.
- [Something in Arabic.]
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