Form and Meaning

The more I learn, the more I understand about myself and everything else I've ever learned. I remember sitting in Sophomore year chemistry and learning that yes, there are positive electrons and that totally blow my mind. I went around for days saying that "Everything I know is a lie!" My senior year, I took AP Chemistry and suddenly, all the half learned principles of sophomore year came into focus and gained true meaning. Now that I'm a college student, all the chemistry falls into place in my bio100 class. Wow, Mitochondria works kind of like a positive electron cell! Cellular respiration is a combustion reaction!

Chemistry isn't the only background knowledge that's helped me. I learned to love Calculus my senior year: how it made sense of all the numbers and graphs in life. Economics also wiggled it's way into my heart with how it explains human behavior in terms of marginal cost and marginal benefit. At BYU, I've learned how to use some calculus to make more sense of economics, and I've used economics to make sense of my personal behaviors now that I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder.

All knowledge is interconnected: math, science, history, art, language. When we approach a subject one way, all we we see is one view, but by looking at it in terms of another subject, then our view is expanded; suddenly, it's not floating in a sea of nothingness but is anchored to all we already know. It has form and meaning, a reason for being. What's the point of knowing something, if it has no effect on you? I find joy, in the unity of knowledge and the continuity of truth.

Illegal Allien

        Coming into the United States illegally is wrong. I understand the need for a better life but the only right way is to do it legally. A lot of these families crossing the borders will eventually have children, and these children did not have a say in such decisions so therefore they should not be punished for their parents actions. I think that the state in which they live should allow them to have the same rights as everyone else. I believe this should be like that, unless the son or daughter have had problems with the law. The right for a college education should be base in terms of their goals and achievements. They would have to prove that they are good and abiding citizens.

The Power of Empowerment

Empowerment.
It is such a central idea to Social Work, International Development, Crisis Lines, and even life in general.
In my Social Work class we constantly talk about the importance of working to empower the client to make their own changes. Too often the person in need gets blamed for the position they are in, but as a social worker it is your job to help both society and your client realize that that is not necessarily the case. Until the client believes that they have enough self worth and value to be able to come out of hard times, they will never progress.
This same concept applies in participatory development. This theory emphasizes the importance of finding solutions through the people, and not simply imposing foreign ideals on a local community. Effective change can only come from within the community, when they are invested in the project, knowledgable about its functions, and put in charge of its operation. Even handouts can be destructive to a community. As the old saying goes, "Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime". This same concept can be applied to making clothes, building wells, preventing disease, and nearly another other developmental project; You are most successful when you are no longer needed.
I am currently volunteering at a Crisis Line, where these same concepts apply. We are most successful when the callers no longer need us to work through their problems. We are there to listen, and help them work through their problems, NOT to solve them for them. Only they can solve their problems, we are just there to support and assist.
Through these many different perspectives I have learned the importance of empowerment, and seen the greater power in empowerment. 

Realizing Your Mission

Everything that ever came to be was made for a reason, and to fulfill a purpose. Every person that ever lived or ever will live has a specific and unique mission. Do you believe that of yourself?

When thinking about your mission, do you separate your career and other temporal aspirations from your personal development? You shouldn’t. Your purpose and mission overlap into all parts of your life, temporal and spiritual. The Lord knows the directions you need to take to become who He would like you to become.

Can you recognize what your gifts are? Listing the positive traits one possesses can be uncomfortable. For this reason, many don’t realize what they truly have to offer this world. So much focus is put upon position and highly compensated vocations. In my Career Exploration class, we have been taught to view our future work as a way to provide service to the world. We will be serving our best if we recognize our gifts and the things we truly desire out of life. The Lord knows us best, and as we fulfill our mission of becoming like Him, He will lead us and give us the assurance that our decisions, temporal and spiritual, are pleasing to Him.

If you want to feel guided by your career decisions, your lifestyle, your family’s pattern of life, your economic decisions, and every other choice you’d ever need to make, then seek the Lord. He cares about all of it. All of these things bring purpose to your life. Keep the commandments, and feel the peace and direction that the Lord has promised us.

Recent scripture in my Book of Mormon class:

1 Nephi 17: 13 “And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.”

Do It Now

Ryan Smith is the 33-year-old CEO of Qualtrics, the young, 200+ employee, Utah startup responsible for any survey you'll take at BYU. He got the company going while he was studying at BYU. He's a champion.

He lectured in my Entrepreneurship class today and taught us that nothing happens in the harbor. That means that no matter how excited you are about your boat, if you never leave the dock you're not going to go anywhere. In life we need to set sail--take action--if we want to reach our goals.

The enemy to action is procrastination. Procrastination is nasty, especially for students. It feels like the hardest part of homework is just opening the book and getting into it. It's easy to say, "I'll do it later." But anyone who's done that knows how quickly later turns into too late. Midterms and assignment due dates seem to come out of no where and pretty soon our little procrastination turns into big time frustration.

Thankfully, the Writing 150 class is all way past procrastinating homework, right (I say that with my tongue tucked firmly in my cheek as I write this blog entry near midnight on the day its due)? Even so, what else are we putting off until later--maybe a later stage in life? I reflect on his advice in terms of the life goals I have that maybe I'm waiting for life to become less busy to start on. Or the goals I'm waiting to start on because I feel like I'm not fully prepared in this stage of life. Here's what I realize: This is one of just four September 21st's I'll have in college. I only have three left because I just traded one in for everything I accomplished today. Judging by my first two decades of life, things are only going to get busier and more difficult. If I don't start now I squander the small window of opportunity I have.

I don't know how much of a "genetic" connection this call to action is, but the idea was stirring enough for me to make some changes. I will make it a habit to do things now instead of tomorrow because at the end of my college career I don't want to look back and say, "I wish I would've."

Economics Has Expanded My Political Views

My experiences in my economics class have greatly influenced my thinking and views of nearly every aspect of my life and life in general. Most notably, the principals and concepts I've learned in economics have greatly affected my views of contemporary politics. Before taking economics I had very strong conservative views on how the economy should be run and I believed the government only interfered with business, government involvement in the economy hindered economic growth, and I saw government programs as a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. In many ways the concepts I’ve learned in economics have strengthened these views but in other ways they’ve shaken my views and altered them for the better. To a large extent, it’s true that laissez faire policy in which the government doesn’t interfere with business is best for economic growth. It allows businesses to run more efficiently due to the lack of red tape. I’ve also learned in economics that free trade between self interested individuals will automatically mutually benefit both parties without any coordination or altruistic behavior. Thus my belief and support of the free markets has been affirmed in those ways by my economics class. However, my economics class also helped me realize that there are some necessary services that the free market can’t provide effectively such as protection from crime and health care. The government is needed to step in and provide police to keep cities safe and provide health care for those who are dying and can’t afford it. Due to the concepts I’m learning in economics, my political views have transformed. My views of politics were narrow, limited, and basically just inherited from my parents without me putting much thought into them. Today my vision of politics has broadened and my scope of contemporary politics has expanded. My economics class has supplied me with extra knowledge and I therefore expanded my political views.

The Quest for Perfection

It seems that everyone searches for perfection. Whether it be the perfect body, the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect family, etc. But the quest for perfection is never-ending. It seems that at the moment you achieve “perfection” in one area of your life, another area is lacking and the cycle continues on. Many feel as though perfection is the way to gain happiness. In Matthew 5:48 it even says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” So shouldn’t we be striving for perfection?

In my Humanities class today we were talking about the great philosopher Aristotle. He believed that happiness could be achieved when one reached the end product. For example, an architect finds happiness or good, in a completed house. The word for this end is the Greek word telos. It also means function, full potential, or full function. My professor said that the word telos is found in the New Testament and in the exact verse I mentioned above. With the new definition, the verse in Matthew takes on a whole new meaning. All we need to do is strive to reach our full potential. Perfection is impossible, so why waste our time trying to reach it? It is much more productive to try for our own personal best.

A Very Convenient Forum

On Tuesday, obviously we had the
forum where Gregg Easterbrook talked about his two books. In the middle of his
talk, he mentioned globalization directly. He talked about two different
categories that globalization would have a major impact in. Those two
categories were economic growth and the network growth. In economic growth, he
talked about how all of our economies are overlapping, in part because of importing
and exporting. He also talked about how the two major superpower countries of
the world-China and the U.S.-are mainly cooperating, and they are starting to
develop together. He also talked about how our network is starting to develop
globally, rather than independently. Even developing countries are coming out
with new and innovative ideas that everybody can utilize. Everybody is going to
start interacting and learning together, and that is how globalization is going
to be seen in the modern day. Another interesting point that he mentioned was
that no individual is leading the global economy. Everybody has a part to play
and a voice in the global economy. The President is not in charge of it, the
Chairman of the Federal Reserve is not in charge of it. He said, that this
might be the reason why the global economy as a whole, is starting to do rather
well. So, it is important that we all understand globalization and the impacts
that it has, not only upon ourselves, but the rest of the world.

This is Jamey Jones, by the way

A Very Convenient Forum

On Tuesday, obviously we had the
forum where Gregg Easterbrook talked about his two books. In the middle of his talk, he mentioned
globalization directly. He talked about
two different categories that globalization would have a major impact in. Those two categories were economic growth and
the network growth. In economic growth,
he talked about how all of our economies are overlapping, in part because of
importing and exporting. He also talked
about how the two major superpower countries of the world-China and the
U.S.-are mainly cooperating, and they are starting to develop together. He also talked about how our network is
starting to develop globally, rather than independently. Even developing countries are coming out with
new and innovative ideas that everybody can utilize. Everybody is going to start interacting and
learning together, and that is how globalization is going to be seen in the
modern day. Another interesting point
that he mentioned was that no individual is leading the global economy. Everybody has a part to play and a voice in
the global economy. The President is not
in charge of it, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is not in charge of it. He said, that this might be the reason why
the global economy as a whole, is starting to do rather well. So, it is important that we all understand
globalization and the impacts that it has, not only upon ourselves, but the
rest of the world.

The Freedom in Limitations

Nobody likes dealing with limitations.  Let’s face it, rules seem to make things much harder than they would be if we were just left to our own devices.  Here at BYU, we at first seem to have an unfortunate number of those annoying rules.  No other colleges make people shave their beards or kick their friends out of their apartment at the stroke of twelve!  As if rules weren’t enough, we all have to deal with personal limitations as well.  Everyone is faced with things that they wish they could do, but don’t think they have the ability to do well.  People are always telling each other that they can’t do math or draw or write well, and tend to avoid trying to get past the mindset of “I can’t do this.”

After attending my Freshman Seminar class last Thursday, I was introduced to a new way of looking at limitations.  Our speaker told us that restrictions are a form of freedom, because they “force creative solutions.”  In his sculptures, for example, he limits himself to one medium: wood.  To most people, it would seem like there isn’t a lot that you can do with only one medium.  Our speaker looked at it differently.  He explored the different things you could do with it, and challenged himself to use the limit of having one medium to push what could be done with it and find new ways to use it.

Other limitations can be looked at in the same way.  We might seem to have a lot of rules at BYU, but those rules allow us to become better people.  Not everyone is talented in everything, but they can experiment to find out what their limits are so that they can expand those limits.  While at first seeming suffocating, limitations are simply a way to let us breathe and grow.

Individuality Shines Through

I have been having serious thought as to whether the LDS church is the only place that you can find true happiness. In the devotional on Tuesday, September 20th, 2011, the speaker brought up that you need to feel like you have purpose in life to be happy, and that an atheist or someone of another belief can have a personal fulfilling and happy life just as well as someone of our faith that feels that they have purpose. I liked what he said because so many times it seems that people of our faith feel like other people are not truly happy when they really are. If in their mind they feel like they have purpose and enjoy life, they are just as happy as those in the church that in their mind have a purpose and enjoy life. I personally think that everyone has to find their own purpose in life, and I feel that my classes in college and life experiences at this moment in my life will help me find that purpose. 

Everyone is a unique individual with different thoughts, mannerisms, and appearances(usually: besides identical siblings). With these differences also comes a unique individuality with that person. I feel that each and every person has their purpose in life where they will be truly happy. Their happiness may seem odd to others, but it is their own life, and wherever they feel happy is where they will shine the most, and be able to express themselves fully and be happy with their life. 

People may find it odd when a persons ideal of happiness differs from societal ideals of happiness or even when it differs from an organization's ideal of happiness. Conforming to other persons ideal of happiness limits the individual and does not allow them to be fully open and true to themselves and their sense of purpose is lost. Many people are born into churches, ill situations, and into trials in their life and conform to what they have been raised in even though they personally reject what they have been raised into. Living without a purpose, happiness, leads to depression and in "rare" situations suicide. The third leading cause of death in the nation is suicide. 

‎"Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death, and more than five of six people who commit suicide are men. Each day, 10 young men kill themselves! Despite this high risk, friends and family consistently speak of their "complete shock"..men successfully conceal their vulnerabilities." Will Courtenay

Cold and Hard Like the Mountains

We all know what it feels like to come to a new area. Unfamiliar places, Unfamiliar faces and all sorts of new things to learn. I'm from North Carolina and have just about stayed in and around "the south" my entire life. It wasn't until I left NC that I realized other states were so different. Where I'm from I was raised to love everyone and treat them like family. I can think of many instances where I walked up to someone on the street, or in a resteraunt and began talking like we'd known each other our entire lives.

One day at Cookout(a local burger chain kinda place). I was waiting for my order when a man, probably in his mid 40s, walked in. He had a cool t-shirt on so I let him know I thought so. We start talking and I find out he's a teacher, but teaching is his second love. His first love is olympic kayaking, his son and him have been all over the world to different rivers risking their lives in plastic shells. His son, at the time, was in Brazil on a particullarly tough river and he couldnt make it because it was the end of school.

On my way out to Utah I was told that not everywhere had Southern Hospitality. Lots of people who have been to Utah told me the people were "cold and hard like the mountains". I arrived with this engrained within my brain. Expecting everyone to be mean, less than out going and not open to meeting new people. At times I've felt this to be true but I've come to realize that people here are just as kind, theyre just not as open to expressing how they feel as the people I've grown up around. It takes a little bit mroe effort and time to get to the core of a person here in Utah but the effort is well worth it.

Thank Heavens This Actually Works

Music, dance, film, theatre, poetry, literature, sculpture, architecture—under the ceiling of one classroom, every artistic discipline is sampled and critiqued. In Introduction to the Humanities, the musical motion picture West Side Story is a required supplementary material, and this semester’s classical music quiz is fast on its way. Time spent in the class is meant to whet cultural appetite and measure cultural understanding.

As a perspective animator, this student (who does not particularly enjoy referring to himself in the third-person) looks more closely at specific branches of the arts than those displayed in the classroom; upon opening his mind, however, he has stumbled upon an enriching truth. His capacity to tell stories through pictures—to create the illusion of life, moment by moment—has improved by studying and practicing acting skills; by listening to a wide variety of music; by watching dancers and learning to dance himself. Participating in the arts has even improved his writing!

Through activity in spheres other than his chief branch of study, this student has benefited in many other aspects of his life. It does not make immediate sense—how can someone improve at something by shifting his or her focus to something unrelated? The idea flows readily to another: how can activity in the Church benefit all areas of life, when its central focus is on spiritual things?

Truthfully, this student does not know. He only knows that this is the case. When unhappiness finds its way into daily routine, he looks (often later than he would like to admit) to his duties in the Church, and finds himself falling short in some way. Upon improving his adherence to what he knows simply to be right, everything else changes for the better. In some invisible way, every facet of human life is connected.

Posted by S. Benjamin Puente

Easterbrook, Thoreau, and a whole bunch of other people

On Tuesday, I attended the forum held in the Marriott Center. Greg Easterbrook, a well-known economist, writer, and lecturer addressed the audience. Among other things, he said that conditions in the world were improving, especially in material ways. As a world at large, we are more prosperous than our ancestors—but not more happy. Mr. Easterbrook said that satisfaction with life has not only not improved with rising conditions, but decreased.

I had just finished reading a chapter of Walden by Henry David Thoreau when I went into the forum. Thoreau writes that material possessions and property are fetters to a man’s soul, and effectively imprisoning him to a life of servitude to his possessions. He tells about a woman who tried to give him a mat for the house he had built by Walden Pond, which he declined. Following the story, he writes, “It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”

Thoreau argues that self-sufficient people who live simply and have their needs satisfied—those of food, fuel, shelter, and clothing—are poets of a sort. I’ve often heard that poets are those with the clearest view of the world, and while Thoreau does not rally for a society of poets, I think that would be marvelous. Think of the Greeks. We are told that they lived very simply, and just look at the sheer volume of drama, poetry, and philosophy that comes from ancient Greece.

Speaking of Greece, I was recently reading a selection from Aristotle’s Politics for class, and he, too, makes a case against material possessions as the source of happiness. He writes, “Men fancy that external goods are the cause of happiness, yet we might as well say that a brilliant performance on the lyre was to be attributed to the instrument and not to the skill of the performer.” Socrates, too, is recorded as saying, “How many things I can live without!” upon entering a marketplace. More recently, in the Disney film The Jungle Book, Baloo the bear sings, “So don’t spend your time looking around/ for something you want that can’t be found./ When you find out you can live without it/ and go along, not thinking about it/ I’ll tell you something true:/the bare necessities of life will come to you.” I could name many more sources that say, in essence, the same thing.

So, it’s conventional wisdom that possessions don’t make us happy. Why, then, does the Lord bless his righteous people with prosperity in The Book of Mormon if He knows it won’t make them happy? The answer is found, among other places, in Jacob 2:19, which says, in essence, that our riches should be used to benefit our fellow men—particularly those who do not have their needs met from day to day.

Mr. Easterbrook listed forgiveness, gratitude, and optimism as characteristics of happy people. I have often heard service added to this list. When the Lord blesses us, He is giving us an opportunity to serve and become happier. Mr. Easterbrook ended his speech by saying that our generation would be known for lifting up the developing world. That seems to me to be the solution to the increasing dissatisfaction with rising living standards—raise the living standards of others.

Words: Worth A Thousand Pictures

In English I learned that different words can have different effects on the reader. One word can be extremely positive and another can have quite a negative feeling, even though both words have virtually the same meaning. I also learned that words have the ability to change a whole nation or just one person, for bad or for good. The words in a significant piece of writing can be simple like in Common Sense, or extravagant like The Declaration of Independence. Both helped to start the revolution, even though one was more elegantly written than the other, but what mattered was the words inside and the meaning they brought to the people reading them.

In my Book of Mormon class we learned about the same thing and how words can affect generations. Nephi was a great writer and portrayed his trials in such a way that we could learn from them and benefit. He showed his example through his humble and faithful writing by the words he used. Our teacher showed us that words are important, even to the Lord. This being evident when He sent Nephi and his brothers back to Jerusalem to retrieve the brass plates. These plates weren't valuable to the Lord or to Lehi's family because they were of precious gold, they were important because of the words written upon them by all the past prophets. Lehi's posterity would need these plates to be reminded of their transgressions and to humble themselves to become like the prophets of old. These plates served the Nephites and Lamanites in preserving generation upon generation from destruction by keeping them righteous. And all of this because of a few hundred pages of words.

So if words mean that much in our everyday lives, why not be more careful with how we use them. A few simple words can impact someone's life forever, so the next time I am about to write a paper or say something aloud, I'm going to remember that words have power and I have the ability to use them for good.

Christmas Outside the Mold

I think it is safe to say our entire campus looks forward to Christmas. Christmas is the time when we return to our families, when we celebrate the birth of Christ, and when we don’t have to study. Christmas means cards from old friends and gifts piled under the Christmas tree. Christmas is sugar cookies and peppermint and gingerbread men. All of this is true for virtually everyone on campus, because virtually everyone on campus is Christian. The key word is virtually. What does Christmas mean if you don’t fit the same mold as everyone else on campus?

Case in point: Huong is a sophomore studying marketing here at BYU. She is Vietnamese and non-religious; at BYU, this definitely makes her part of a very small minority. She doesn’t fit the mold of the rest of BYU’s 30,000 students, so how does this change Christmas for her?

She doesn’t know. Yes, Christmas is a fun time and a welcome break between two semesters of hard studying. But it also means that she is alone for the entire break. Does Christmas mean spending time with her family? Of course not. Her family is 8,000 miles away. Does Christmas mean cards and gifts? Not really—that is a Western custom. Does Christmas mean celebrating the birth of a Savior? She doesn’t view Christ as her Savior. Christmas means a few gifts and hanging out with a few close friends from the Vietnamese community. This is what Christmas means to her now, and that is considerably better than her first Christmas as a new student. Christmas her first year meant being alone in a foreign country with strange customs, different beliefs and no family to make it easier. I guess things like Christmas aren’t as universal as we might think.

BYU: The International College

Something interesting about my grandmother is the amount of time she spends in foreign countries. She is often gone weeks at a time, and so it's never a surprise to hear that she is not available. She participates in several charitable organizations, and has even helped create some. One of her accomplishments is the Rising Star orphanage in Chennai, India.

I recently had the opportunity to have lunch with my grandmother. Being the saintly woman that she is (wise, generous, and always good humored), I eagerly accepted. She asked if she could visit me while on campus, and she suggested we have lunch together in the MOA. We met each other around 1:30, and soon thereafter got started on our meal.

We talked a little about my new college life, and then the conversation about school quickly melted into a conversation about people in school. My grandmother asked if I've seen anyone from India. I wondered why I would, and she told me that they sent a young girl from the orphanage in India to learn here in America. If I saw someone that looked like they were from India, I should ask her if her name was Esther.

BYU has been known for years as a nationally diverse college. In fact, it is very hard to determine which state or country holds a larger percentage of the school proportionally. It is interesting to see the very idea of transnationalism taking place in my personal life, and I hope to meet Esther one day. I can tell her that she is a marvel of transnationalism and an answer to a homework prayer.

Selective Vision

                When our teacher announced that our first assignment in our drawing class would be to draw our front door from memory, everyone was surprised and confused.  Most thought the assignment was too easy for a college drawing course.  After all, we see our front door multiple times each day, and a door is an easy thing to draw.  I thought it would be simple, as well, until I compared my drawing to the actual door.  I had only drawn the things I use, such as the doorknob and keyhole, and completely forgotten about other parts of the door.

                Several days later, a friend pointed out several chimneys on the roof of our building that I had never noticed before.  Like some of the details on my front door, I had never seen them because I had never needed to see them.  Most people have a similar problem.  We tend to see only the things we need, and close our eyes to everything else.  We spend our lives in this partial blindness, and that prevents us from seeing the beauty and diversity of the world around us.  We miss opportunity after opportunity simply because we don’t look for them.  By being aware of our surroundings and trying to see more than what is immediately visible, we begin to get more out of our classes and experiences.  Our ability to learn and grow increases as we look beyond the surface.

Simplicity

Diversity, traditions, and customs: transnationalism/globalization. Different as we all are there is a connection that can be made between us all. In this campus/community that we live in for example, our religion mormonism connects us all. Most everyone here is mormon, interested in mormonism, or just likes the atmosphere that BYU creates. A connection to something that this university offered is what brought BYU students here. Making connections is what allows you to expand your mind and learn on a different scale.

Jeremy a student here at BYU had first hand experience with making connections. Simple connections clicked in his mind as he went from chemistry to calculus and was able to utilize dimensional analysis (conversion between units) from chemistry to solve problems from math. Other connections that he made were from English class to all other classes and even his own life. Kairos the opportune moment in chronos (chronological thinking of time) to take action and not go with the flow of chronos. Jeremy realized that he needed to stop thinking about the past or the future and begin to live in the moment and take action and control the only thing that he has control of, the present. Jeremy realized this and knew that spending too much time thinking about the past or the future would disrupt him from accomplishing his goals. Jeremy needed to take life one step at a time and focus on the present, and prepare: for his presentation in english class, his upcoming test, and work on his fitness by going to the gym in the present and not tomorrow or the next day.

Connections made from class to class can change your perspective and simplify life. It gives you confidence and enables you to accomplish your goals.

Culture

In my Great Works: Art class, the professor lectured on Greek culture and society in relation to the works of art created during the Archaic and Hellenistic periods. In ancient Greece, culture and philosophy defined the lives of the people. One of the overarching philosophies that developed in Greece was that of humanism, which embodied the celebration of the individual This philosophy influenced artwork throughout the Archaic and Hellenistic periods, particularly statues of the human figure. Learning about the influence that Greek culture and philosophy had on ancient Greek art really made me think about how much larger of an impact this same culture had on Western civilization. This society left its mark on more than just art. Our own government is patterned after the Greek's political system, that of a democracy. Furthermore, the philosophy that the universe is governed by different kinds of laws shaped Western civilization's study of science; indeed, it remains one of the leading theories behind science today.

Comparing what I learned during the lecture to what I see in our country today made me realize that sometimes it's easy to overlook how much of an influence another culture can have on our lives. Of course we all acknowledge that certain components of our own government and society come from the ancient Greeks. But how often do we REALLY think about it? Likewise, how often to we think about the cultures we have each inherited? I am half Chinese, a quarter Japanese, and a quarter Caucasian. Growing up in Hawaii, I never really realized how ethnically diverse I am. I come from three very different cultures and heritages, which I have only recently come to appreciate. These cultures really do define me--they have influenced the values, traditions, and lifestyle I hold dear. As a citizen of the United States, I've been exposed to popular media and culture, which have influenced me to adopt some American ideas and values. However, this "Americanization" hasn't altered my own sense of identity or culture. I am aware of who I am and where I came from. My cultures have impacted me just as much as ancient Greek culture influenced Western civilization. I think that this is an important realization to make in terms of globalization and cultural integration. By sharing my culture with others, I can best preserve it.

Blog Post 1

Writing 150. Wait wait wait HONORS Writing 150 as taken at BYU. They're telling me that part of our grade is doing 5 blog posts on something I'm not too sure about. It says to relate issues and ideas that would lead to greater knowledge from different sources. So today I'm going to relate an experience then connect it to an idea that has been mulling around my mind for a little while. About three or four years ago I met my best friend Alisha Crump. Some people think Alisha is a little strange, and they're probably a little right. The thing they don't know is that Alisha's mom is deaf and so by association she knows sign language and how to communicate by more than just words. At first when I went to her house I was a little take aback at how her mom acted. She didn't even know me and she would hit me, laugh hysterically with me, and even hug me like I was her own child. My first year here at BYU I decided to take an American Sign Language 101 class. Not only do they teach us the language they also teach us the culture. The idea I talked about earlier is that someones language has a direct effect on how people within a society interact. In sign language you leave out "to be" verbs such as are and is. You simply specify who you're talking about and then begin signing about them. This may be one of the causes of the deaf culture being so barrier free. Now that I think of it, another factor could be the very nature of being deaf. In a hearing conversation you can hear tonality and outside stimuli, such as noises from other rooms or areas around you. In a deaf setting you are reliant on the person signing and their facial expression to lead and guide the conversation. As another example of this unmerited intimacy within their community I will offer the following differences. In a hearing conversation it is perfectly alright to excuse yourself and not have to answer to why or where you're going. In a deaf conversation more times than not they will ask you were you are headed.