When you finally see them...

Many schools across the United States are dropping To Kill a Mockingbird from their curriculum in favor of more "modern" literature. 

Seeing as we're reading this book RIGHT NOW, I think I'm pretty well qualified to respond to this. :)

To Kill a Mockingbird has been one of my favorite books that I have ever read as a school assignment. I think this book shows a lot of different lessons about human nature that we all could benefit from.

Something I especially love about this book is the childish themes that are shown throughout, mostly because the narrator herself is a child. It makes me so happy whenever she tells about tree houses, acting out plays with only two or three people, letting their imaginations absolutely free, etc. 

It reminds me of MY childhood summers filled with being superheroes on the tramp until dark, running around in the backyard dressed like... hooligans, acting out all three Spider-man movies (multiple times), and many more hooligations.

We can learn a TON about humankind in general by getting to understand children.

I am thoroughly convinced that not only is there "a child in all of us", but I think we are all just larger, and a little more controlled versions of our former pink faced, smiling, 4-foot tall selves.

One of the more accepted themes of the book is racial prejudices. 

I think many people today are still racist towards many different kinds of people, not just toward Blacks. This lesson I don’t think will ever be learned by everyone in the world, at the same time. It will always be a problem, and will always need books like this to show how badly we really do treat those who don’t look or act like us.

This book is really good in showing how even children think about things more than adults sometimes.

In school, Scout’s teacher tells the kids how horrible Hitler is, and how the Jews are the best people and how she doesn’t know why he treats them this way.

Scout wonders the same thing about all the Blacks in her town.

The same kind of thing is used with Boo, or Arthur Radley.

All the people think the Radleys are weird, and make up stories about their son, Boo. They say he eats raw squirrels and cats, and shuffles around at night, looking into people’s windows. In the end, they conclude that he has just saved their lives, and it would be “like killing a mockingbird” to prosecute him.

The end of the book wraps this whole thing up really well.

Atticus is tucking Scout in bed, and she is telling him how the story ended.

She says, ”An’ they chased him ‘n’ never could catch him ‘cause they didn’t know what he looked like, an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things . . . Atticus, he was real nice . . . .”

To which, Atticus replies, “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” This describes the multiple “mockingbirds” in the book. Boo, Tom, the guy that drinks coca cola from a bag, almost all the blacks, etc.

So, everybody just be nice, kay? Kay.

Venting about homework - through a homework assignment

Homework

Homework's Diminishing Returns - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

I can say, from experience (and like 20 other stories), that this is so true! Obviously homework helps you with tests, and you can’t just expect no homework at all (especially if you want to learn), but when you’re whole life is taken up with almost meaningless homework, there is no room for anything else. School is not the only important things in life, and when the teacher does not know about other circumstances that would stop the students from doing hours of homework every night (like life), it gives a disadvantage to them. The last two paragraphs are really good, (so maybe I’m an “opposer of homework”, sew me), life is not just school for a reason. -Rusty140

Childhood

What Happened to Childhood? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

This is a great article! I think childhood is one of the biggest factors of what someone grows up to be. If your childhood is full of stress, you will be uptight, and probably boring. “Too much work and no play makes jack a dull boy”! My childhood is the part of my life that I remember most. I think that is the case with most people with “good” childhoods. Hardly anything that I “know” came from the school system. One part that I really liked about this article is when it talked about why parents and schools do these things. In the first part, it talks about how parents have their kids in pressure cookers, and think that they will amount to nothing if they are not the best. This is not true. Once again, great article! – Rusty140

                                                                                                                               

opinions, opinions, opinions...

Video Games May Be Perverse, but They're Also Pretend - NYTimes.com

I totally agree with all of this! Most people who blame video games for their problems have never even picked up a controller in their life! I really like how the actual raw facts are brought out in this article, because most often, people have nothing to back up what they’re saying, but people still believe them. Parents are warned against violent video games, and are responsible for their children. If they don’t want their children to play them, don’t let them buy them! Violence on the news or in movies definitely seem more real, because 1) it is real (in the case of the news), and 2) it happens between REAL people, and not just pixels or graphics. If violent video games are good for developing minds, imagine non-violent video games! I’m a strong believer that video games can have a very positive effect on everyone! - Rusty140

We Are What We Quote - NYTimes.com

“The pen is mightier than the sword”, speaking of quotes! ;) words have such power that nothing else can! I love the imagery of this article! It’s so whimsical! One thing that I don’t agree with, is that if Libraries and cultures died, the quotes in our minds would probably be gone too, or not far behind them. Our minds grow feeble and forgetful long before a book becomes unreadable! One of my favorite parts, is when you say, “All literary culture in a way is nothing but such a string”. That is so true! There is virtually nothing anyone has ever said that hasn’t been said before. That alone shows that most of what we say has been heard from others. Ideas are usually just recycled from past sparks of similar (or exactly the same) ideas. - Rusty140

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Self Portrait Poem

Benjamin

Friendly, Hopelessly romantic, Over exaggerating, Whimsy

Dane, Lindsay, Tanner, Hannah, Sam, Joseph

Loves Music, Art, and words

Who feels Despair, Love, and Contentment

Who needs Facebook time, Art class, and Video games

Who gives way too many cakes, paintings, and high fives

Who fears rejection, letting others down, and long car rides

Who would like to see Lindsay, France, and a million dollars in his hands

Who lives in a bubble... in little old highland... in a red brick house.

Weyland

6 lists of things you probably don't want to know...

List 1: 10 things I know

1. I will always love video games (Nintendo in specific)
2. I have gone mad
3. how to bake a cake
4. how to find really cool clothes on the internet
5. that you can't really know anything (for the most part)
6. video games are good for you
7. sometimes people never change...
8. you can change
9. Chandler is super crazy
10. I should not have this much homework...

List 2: 10 things I can't live without

1. The Gospel
2. my family
3. my perfect friends
4. video games (sad but true)
5. art
6. creativity
7. perfect movies (like Up, Fantastic mr. fox, etc.)
8. Mrs. Culver (sorry other teachers!)
9. Thrift stores
10. Homemade food

List 3: 10 things I should have learned by now

1. how to cook potstickers
2. patience (see: number 1)
3. how to use fondant
4. how to say "no"
5. how to act normal
6. when to give up
7. how to play some manly sport like football... or something
8. any kind of chemisty concept
9. ugh! this is rough... umm... how to log out of facebook and just do my homework?
10. how to get good grades

List 4: 10 of my greatest fears

1. not living up to others' expectations
2. having a boring life
3. not accomplishing anything important
4. being trapped in a bird cage listening to country music... *shivers*
5. some kind of tragic accident where I... lose my... arm... or something
6. not jetting the jirl... ever.
7. losing freedoms and stuff
8. losing family and friends
9. not being able to just relax
10. (not exactly a fear... but) people seeing me as something I'm not

List 5: The 10 things, places, people, etc, that make me most happy

1. Lindsay, my sister
2. Emily, my cousin (and Parley, her husband)
3. Friends (I don't think I'm supposed to pick favorites)
4. slow peaceful walks under fall trees
5. cute people (seriously though, when I see someone that is just super cute, I just want to shake their hand and thank them for making the world a cuter place... just sayin'...)
6. cool people (like really really cool people)
7. real people (who are just themselves, and don't have to pretend to like or not like things)
8. Art
9. Video games (once againg :) )
10. Good music (none of this country crap...)

List 6: 10 places I will (want to) visit before I die

1. France
2. Russia
3. Neverland
4. Wonderland
5. Japan
6. Switzerland would be fun
7. Iceland is magnificent
8. ... umm... the moon?
9. Hawaii
10. England

Call it what you will...

Have you ever loved someone? Loved as in, really loved. I'm not strictly talking romantic or non-romantic love, but really though...

There are a few people in this enourmous place, whom I love so very dearly. They're not just family, but not just friends. When I think of these people, I can't help but smile. they are simply outstanding in every way. Even if I married them, every single one of them, I would never be able to tell them how much I adore them. When you tell them you love them, they say "I love you too"... but you know they'll never be able to fathom how much you really love them.

Nobody's perfect, which is true about these people as well. some of them are too kind, or too understanding. others are too fantastic, or too frabjouZ.

can you contract love cancer? is there a love hospital? If you could die from being love sick I would have died long ago. These people kill me...

Your heart's guest rooms become permanent rooms, painted their favorite color. They live in your heart, sometimes unknowingly. When the awful occasion comes when they have to leave, it breaks your heart. They take all of their possesions, and leave their room in your heart empty.

one thousand "I love you"s won't be enough. so you give them one thousand and one.

The Tie Knot you've all been waiting for...

Drum roll please, *drum roll*

Presenting,

The Eldredge Knot ~ How-To

My "Magician's trick", if you will

~ The Knot ~

This knot, Like many others*, is tied with the small end of the tie, instead of the big end. This tie has a almost herring-bone style to it. It's not knot that hard, it just takes practice ;).

Materials needed: 

- A long necktie (it can't really be too long, because it is tucked into the loop around the neck in the end)

-A neck

Just in case the pictures are too confusing/small, 

I have illustrations on the side as well. 

Step 1

Start with the tip of the big end of your tie about a half-inch above the top of your belt.

(it doesn't really matter which side the big or little tie is on, 

as long as you follow the pictures, you'll be good.)

For best results, create "the dimple" now,

Step 2

Cross The skinny part of the tie across and under the big part (still "dimpled")

Step 3

bring end up and around

Step 4

pull through, and tighten

Step 5

Wrap around and back up through the neck-loop

Step 6

cross down to a diagonal to create first layer

Step 7

Pull end around, and back into the previous layer

Step 8

Tighten

Step 9

Bring to the other side (underside), and prepare to wrap back around

Step 10

go over the top of the knot, and under to the other side

(almost there!!!)

Step 11

loop back in, and pull into the previous layer 

(just like in step 7)

Step 12

Pull tight

Place excess tie length back into collar (if long enough, tuck into the neck loop(between the tie and the inside of the collar... confusing enough?)

 

Step 13

Enjoy!!! This tie knot is very often noticed**, and "makes you cool".

To "sinch up" this tie, instead pulling the skinny part (usually behind the big part, but now tied in a knot), you pull the big part, and adjust to your preferred tightness.

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Disclaimer: The phrase, "Woah, how did you do that?!" may become very familiar to you if you wear this knot. refer them to this blog post :).

* See, the Trinity knot, Atlantic knot, etc.

** This tie knot works best with a solid tie, as shown above. if the tie is very patterned, and/or dark, it just kinda looks like you put your tie on backwards... and that's kinda awkward...

Photographs taken by our very own dear sweet Chandler Bliss Helvey ;)

The Four Strand

~ How-to: The Four Strand Braid ~

For all of you who are bored of the same three strand braid every day, here is the Four Strand!!! It's really pretty, and easy enough! (and you don't need twenty-three fingers! :) )

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Step 1

Start with longish hair* (or you'll only get like two inches of braid)

Step 2

Separate hair into two even sections

Step 3

Separate these two strands in to two smaller strands (four in total, hence, the whole "four strand" part of it.) if this is easier, you can skip step two, and just grab the hair between your fingers, like so -

We'll name them strands 1, 2, 3, and 4. Once again, make sure they're all equally thick!

Step 4

Cross strand number 1 under strand number 2, and strand number 4 over strand number 3.

Step 5

Strand number 1 goes over number 4.

Step 6

3 crosses over 1, and 4 crosses over 2.

(confused yet?)

Step 7

Strand 2 crosses over 3, and under 1.

Strand 3 goes under 2, and over 4.

 Here, 4 becomes 1, 3 becomes 2, 2 becomes 3, and 1 becomes 4.

Rinse, and repeat. (from steps 2-7)

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 Voila!

Accessorize as needed.

*Perfect white hair not required.

The Daily Routine

every day, I go through a few of my favorite blogs. My top three, are listed here :).

~ What A Lovely ~
http://brightredfingernails.blogspot.com/

This blog is a quaint little blog that talks about all kinds of lovely things, and everyday adventures. sometimes she posts stories, or "Music Mondays" or even things like reviews of movies or resturaunts. The setup of this blog is nice because it is a nice clean white color in the background, and (though she changes it from time to time) her main picture at the top is always wonderful. The focus of the blog, is off to the side. it says that she wants to share her poetry, stories, etc. Carolyn (the blog's author) has a really lovely style, and majored in English (I'm pretty sure), so, as you can imagine, they are all beautifully written. her topics are really interesting. When I first found this blog, I spent a couple hours (at least!) just reading through her whole blog. her voice is definitely present throughout, and she has a very defined style. grammar-obviously perfect (English major, remember?). The intended audience is probably to people who appreciate art of all kinds (me), whether it is literature, photography, paintings, etc. Carolyn is an "expert" in that she is very well acquainted with what she shares, and it is her opinion about these things. 

~ I am Hiawatha ~
http://lindsayroundthebend.blogspot.com/

This dear blog, is my sisters blog :).
The design of this blog is wonderful, and has a lot of patterns, while not being too much. The focus of this blog at first, was a travel blog. she would post about her trip(s) to France, and it was great. now that she is married, and has her own (adorable, might I say) bebe, we use it as a little bird house to put pears (letters) in*. the content for right now, is super cute baby pictures, and the occasional letter from me :). Writing style- perfect. it's Lindsay to a T! Grammar- if you notice, the title isn't capitalized :). this goes along with style too, because capitalization is not often used, but the grammar is also her own style, but is still mostly correct (I think... I'm not even sure...) The audience is probably family and friends, who want to know about our lives.
*see, "Little Women"

~ Smitten Kitchen ~
http://smittenkitchen.com/

Smitten Kitchen is the only blog out of these three, where I don't personally know the author. When I bake, I bake almost exclusively from this site. unless you absolutely hate the whole recipe, it will be perfect. every single recipe on this blog is amazing! The design of this blog is very clean, like "What A Lovely", and just has the logo off to the side. the first thing you see is the newest recipe. it also has a search bar off to the side, so it's easy to find a recipe. the focus of the site- to provide fancy recipes, without fancy ingredients (check!). content - food! and really good food, at that! The author's writing style is very well shown among her recipes, and pictures. she, like we were talking about, is very honest. she makes a cheescake recipe, and says she doesn't like cheesecake. by saying this, she really sells how good it is, because if she doesn't even like cheesecake, and she likes this cheesecake, that must mean it's really good. Grammar - good. Message Effectiveness - effective! the audience of this blog is anyone who likes to look at, bake, cook, or eat food (which just happens to be about 99.9 percent of all people in the world... :) ).

Now, you can just enjoy those blogs to your hearts' content(s?) I know I do!

What's holding me back?

Last week, our whole class went on a few really good college tours! We started the whole thing out on Tuesday, after a long weekend, in our civilian clothes (what else could you ask for, right?!). We went to BYU for the whole school day, took a tour, and shadowed a BYU student for the day! I didn't... but whatever.Wednesday, we stayed at school, and made file folder games. Thursday, we went to UVU, and took a college tour, (which I thought was really good). we had lunch(free Jamba Juice!), and were back at the school. Thursday was about the same, but at the U. We took the tour(which was also really good), had lunch, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

This whole college experience definately helped me get a feel for colleges that I hadn't ever been in. BYU is the only school I was familiar with (I know it like the back of my hand). It was a little boring, if we're being honest here, and was probably the least exciting, which was very surprising. UVU seemed like a pretty cool environment, because of the feel. I really liked how the whole campus was just one really long connected building, for some reason... I also liked the style of it, in that it had a lot of interaction with other people, and seemed to have a lot of help for all kinds of things(plus, it's easy to get into!). The University of Utah was surprisingly better than I had thought. Honestly though, I had no idea what to expect. I really liked the style there, because every building was unique, and really cool. The library was AMAZING, and would be perfect to study in...

so pretty much, now I have a three way tie, for which college I'm going to, haha :). This last week has helped me get a much better feel (and just get more excited) for college. When doing any amount of thinking on just life in general, you tend to think of quite a few other things too! one of these things, is "what do I want to do in college?!". And that, my dear friends, is the problem. I don't know. But, while thinking, I did happen to, more or less, answer these three questions:

-Who am I?-First and foremost, I am a son of God. I think the biggest thing this has to do with college, is that I have unlimited potential, and can get into almost any college I want, and pursue any profession, interest, or degree!
-What was I born to do?- I don't know exactly, but I'm pretty darn sure it has something to do with some kind of creative... something. And obviously, if God has other plans, go for it. :)

-What's holding me back?- do you want to know the truth? school. short, sweet, and to the point... just kidding, I'll keep talking :). school has been making EVERYTHING impossible. how are you supposed to do anything when all you ever do is homework?!?! Nobody was born to just go through school, I can tell you that!
Anyway, you asked for it! so there ya go! :)

-Benj

Sharing the Gospel through using your talents and interests

How can you use your talents and interests to "join the conversation" online? How can you be an ambassador for the gospel by using your individual gifts?

I think that one very good way to join the conversation that the church has provided, is Mormon.org

this is a very good tool to share your beliefs, hobbies, interests, etc. famous mormons like Alex Boye, or Lindsey Stirling (my personal favorite ;) )can let others find out about what they believe. We can also share the gospel through maybe street performing hymns or something... :)
mormon.org also has a way that you can answer people's questions by answering their Frequently Asked Questions section. another way, is when you are just talking to others about your common interests, sometimes, the topic of the Gospel comes up, and they are interested in it. if we use these ways to get out there, and share the gospel, we can make a difference in other peoples lives without having to be a proselyting missionary.

Get out there and do something!!!



"There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches."- This quote is so true! this is true in not only the ongoing "conversation", but it's also true about all aspects of life! if you decide to just sit in the basement and do nothing all day, the world will keep going and won't really lose very much. now, if we ALL did this, the world would stop, because nothing was happening... but we'll ignore that for now ;). while this is fine and dandy, and will maybe make you want to sit in your basement and do nothing now (I know I do!), we can't "stand on the sidelines", we need to get out there, and make a difference! even if it is just teaching others about our church from the perspective of an actual member, not a critic (this can all be done from one's basement :D). while this may not be helping "the world" directly, it helps the church, which then helps the world.

"...You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. This, of course, requires that you understand the basic principles of the gospel. It is essential that you are able to offer a clear and correct witness of gospel truths."- this is kind of a part two of the first quote, because teaching others about The Gospel wouldn't do any good if we only knew as much as they did! now, this isn't a knowledge competition, but the other part of this is that we should study the gospel, and live it, because a hypocrite is not a very good teacher.

quotes taken from "Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet"by M, Russel ballard

My Perfect Day

Dearest people of the rather grand reality that is blogging,
My full christian name is Benjamin Richard Weyland, but you can call me Benj.
anyway, without further adventure, I will commence in telling you of myself through an extended metaphor (pronounced "metaphah").
really though, here you go, My Perfect Day~

 

If there was such a thing as a perfect day, it would consist of:

Hanging out with frabjous people, (like my dear siblings and friends... maybe cousins too),

waffles from bruges waffles and frites,

some kind of chill picnic at a nice park,
 music is always good :),
while I do love to do everything, one of my favorite things to do, is exactly nothing :),
a whole lot of nonsense makes most any day a perfect day, so plenty of that,

 and maybe a good movie to fall asleep to at the end of the day...