My friend told me a story about a man in Chile who had incredible luck. He won the lottery twice and a house in a contest that involved matching yogurt lids. He always had a good job, attracted beautiful women and became known around town for his good fortune. As he lay dying, the family discussed the inheritance and one of the granddaughters said that she didn't want anything material, but preferred to have him pass on his luck. He put his hands on her and said, "I give you my luck." From that day forward, she began to win contests, grants, free airplane tickets, you name it. She was able to get everything that she wanted. I have met her and although she has been fortunate in many ways, I do think that some of that was a direct result of her dynamic personality.
MY THOUGHTS ON LUCK (Because I can't decide if I believe in it)
1. I have often heard people attribute things like good jobs and life experiences to luck, when the person had to make an effort to obtain those things. Like, "You are so lucky that you play the piano." Or, "You are so lucky that you have lived abroad." Really?
2. No one really has a perfect life, let's be honest, but I do think that there are definitely some huge disparities out there. People always make banal comments like, "You never really know what is going on underneath it all." True, but I grew up in a stable, upper middle class home and some people step on a landmine in Somalia. And other people are married to Warren Jeffs or Cody from Sister Wives. Everyone has their challenges, but they are definitely not equal. Being born into vastly unequal life circumstances is the closest thing I can think of to luck.
3. Is the fact that approximately 95% of what I draw comes to pass luck or due to an inexplicable universal force that I have learned to channel?
4. It took me a long time to realize how much of life was the result of my own decisions. I always used to wonder why I had a disproportionate amount of hard experiences and then one day I tough loved myself. Of course it is hard when you DECIDE to move to Central America alone. Of course it is hard when you DECIDE to move to New York City without a job in December. None of this is the result of luck.
5. I won a $20 gift certificate at Mexican bingo last week (did not gamble, Mom, it is free). Luck or skill?
My conclusion is that what happens to us is a combination of God's will, the consequences of our decisions and the decisions of others and just random things that happen. However, if you think that you are super lucky, you probably will be. Any thoughts?
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Potential Ensign Story #1,432
Yesterday the teachers were asked to wear clothing from their college. Thanks to Jimmer and especially Brandon Davies, quite a few of my students had heard of BYU. During Spanish 3, a student asked me if I were a Mormon and I said yes. Then he asked, "Can I ask you a very personal question about your religion? I mean, very personal..." Ok, maybe I am a sellout, but I was pretty averse to answering what I was pretty sure was a question about virginity in front of the entire Spanish 3 class. I felt differently when I taught at a hardcore Muslim school, because someone needs to defy stereotypes of Western moral decadence. I hesitantly responded, "You can ask me after class."
Every five minutes he repeated his request and I continued to stonewall him. After class he queried, "When you were a little kid, did your parents make you work in a store? When they paid you, did they give you tickets instead of money? I saw that on television."
Utilizing the vernacular, I replied, "You trippin, son." J/k, I am an educator. I just assured him that my parents were not running a Chuck E. Cheese. Has anyone heard of that happening with FLDS? I don't know what he was watching.
Every five minutes he repeated his request and I continued to stonewall him. After class he queried, "When you were a little kid, did your parents make you work in a store? When they paid you, did they give you tickets instead of money? I saw that on television."
Utilizing the vernacular, I replied, "You trippin, son." J/k, I am an educator. I just assured him that my parents were not running a Chuck E. Cheese. Has anyone heard of that happening with FLDS? I don't know what he was watching.
Monday, October 24, 2011
In Which My Corolla Walks the Plank
I borrowed my friend's GPS because navigating DC can be rather difficult. I have found that it has three major problems:
1. It talks like a pirate and I can't figure out how to change the settings.
2. It thinks that I have red hair.
3. It is very unreliable.
For example, pretend that you are driving here:
The GPS would most likely counsel: "Aaaaaargh! Make a sharp left, ginger. Easy does it!" Unless my car suddenly turned into the General Lee, adherence would not be in my best interest.
Another important feature is that it frequently makes irrelevant comments instead of telling you where to go. For example, when I am waiting for it to tell me where to turn, instead it says, "Watch out for passing tanks. If you see one, wave and say 'Hello, tank.'" On Saturday it told me to get off the freeway and then get back on at the same exit. Another time, I tried to go to the mall in Arlington and I ended up at Georgetown. Unfortunately, I am too cheap to buy one that works properly and sometimes it surprises me by working.
My worst nightmare is pocket dialing my mother at the exact moment that I am verbally abusing an electronic device.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
If you are a Downton Abbey fan, I want to let you know that you can find bootleg versions of season 2 online. I have already watched up to episode 6. All you have to do is search "Watch Downton Abbey season 2 online free." If you can't find it, let me know in the comments and I will help. Apologies to BBC for advocating piracy, but making Americans wait until January is ridiculous. I would probably pay to watch it if that were an option.
1. It talks like a pirate and I can't figure out how to change the settings.
2. It thinks that I have red hair.
3. It is very unreliable.
For example, pretend that you are driving here:
The GPS would most likely counsel: "Aaaaaargh! Make a sharp left, ginger. Easy does it!" Unless my car suddenly turned into the General Lee, adherence would not be in my best interest.
Another important feature is that it frequently makes irrelevant comments instead of telling you where to go. For example, when I am waiting for it to tell me where to turn, instead it says, "Watch out for passing tanks. If you see one, wave and say 'Hello, tank.'" On Saturday it told me to get off the freeway and then get back on at the same exit. Another time, I tried to go to the mall in Arlington and I ended up at Georgetown. Unfortunately, I am too cheap to buy one that works properly and sometimes it surprises me by working.
My worst nightmare is pocket dialing my mother at the exact moment that I am verbally abusing an electronic device.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
If you are a Downton Abbey fan, I want to let you know that you can find bootleg versions of season 2 online. I have already watched up to episode 6. All you have to do is search "Watch Downton Abbey season 2 online free." If you can't find it, let me know in the comments and I will help. Apologies to BBC for advocating piracy, but making Americans wait until January is ridiculous. I would probably pay to watch it if that were an option.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
In Which Miss Jill Stops the Machine/Occupies DC For Like Two Hours
J/k, I'm not an activist, but I went to the protests a few weeks ago. First, I went to the National Gallery of Art, in a feeble attempt to grasp onto my flagging self-perception as a normal, cultured person. Unfortunately that image seems to be going the route of the Gadafhi/Gaddafi/Qaddafi/Khadafi regime, because a few days ago my friend texted me, "You are a lot less normal than you think you are."
Is it just me or does the National Gallery kind of suck? I think I have been spoiled by living in close proximity to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Met, both which make me proud to be a member of the human race. When I was finished, I called my friend Kate and she told me that she was at the Air and Space Museum as a legal observer of a protest that had been staged there.* Unfortunately, a girl had been maced in the face by an overzealous security guard. Later that night she gave a rousing speech about her ordeal in which she more or less stated, "Nothing will stop me in this struggle. We can never give up, but I'm leaving in a few days to take my midterms." History would look a lot different if Che Guevara had let a few exams impede the revolution.
They shut down the museum for the remainder of the day and my friend told me that the tourists wanted to protest the protesters. On learning that the museum was closed, a little boy broke out into sobs. Kate soberly advised, "You will be grateful for this later, kid." Then some random protester walked by, handed me this sign and walked away, without explanation:
We returned to their home base in Freedom Plaza, which was conveniently located next to the Taste of DC festival. Kate's husband, Neil, quickly realized that the drunk attendees were somewhat lackadaisical about holding onto their meal tickets. He kept disappearing at intervals to scan the ground, which resulted in a bounty of more than $30 worth of food. The radicals decided to implore the Taste crowd to enter their ranks and somehow I ended up assisting in the creation of this poster:
I was super proud when I saw it in the Washington Post's photo album a few days later. As we were painting, a woman approached me and asked for permission to paint a sign. I magnanimously consented and asked what she was thinking of writing. "F#$@ the police," she responded with conviction. "It is for my ancestors." I've never been one to stand in the way of filial piety and my only authority stemmed from the fact that I got there ten minutes before she did, so I said, "Go for it." She did with gusto and if my memory serves, also added a smiley face and a heart. She then asked me if she could sleep there and I once again gave my assent, even though I would rather conceive Kim Jong-il's unholy lovechild than sleep on the pavement with the unwashed masses.
Does this look like the scene of someone who remembers each day she did not shower in the last ten years (there were three)?
In conclusion, I would like to echo a text that I received from my friend Suvi in New York: "I walked by a protest the other day and decided that someone normal looking should be involved, so I joined."
* Per Kate: This museum is teaching children about unmanned drones, which are killing machines and are responsible for 1,000s of deaths of innocent civilians and children in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world. This technology should not be glorified, neither should the deaths of innocents be celebrated in any way.
Is it just me or does the National Gallery kind of suck? I think I have been spoiled by living in close proximity to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Met, both which make me proud to be a member of the human race. When I was finished, I called my friend Kate and she told me that she was at the Air and Space Museum as a legal observer of a protest that had been staged there.* Unfortunately, a girl had been maced in the face by an overzealous security guard. Later that night she gave a rousing speech about her ordeal in which she more or less stated, "Nothing will stop me in this struggle. We can never give up, but I'm leaving in a few days to take my midterms." History would look a lot different if Che Guevara had let a few exams impede the revolution.
They shut down the museum for the remainder of the day and my friend told me that the tourists wanted to protest the protesters. On learning that the museum was closed, a little boy broke out into sobs. Kate soberly advised, "You will be grateful for this later, kid." Then some random protester walked by, handed me this sign and walked away, without explanation:
We returned to their home base in Freedom Plaza, which was conveniently located next to the Taste of DC festival. Kate's husband, Neil, quickly realized that the drunk attendees were somewhat lackadaisical about holding onto their meal tickets. He kept disappearing at intervals to scan the ground, which resulted in a bounty of more than $30 worth of food. The radicals decided to implore the Taste crowd to enter their ranks and somehow I ended up assisting in the creation of this poster:
I was super proud when I saw it in the Washington Post's photo album a few days later. As we were painting, a woman approached me and asked for permission to paint a sign. I magnanimously consented and asked what she was thinking of writing. "F#$@ the police," she responded with conviction. "It is for my ancestors." I've never been one to stand in the way of filial piety and my only authority stemmed from the fact that I got there ten minutes before she did, so I said, "Go for it." She did with gusto and if my memory serves, also added a smiley face and a heart. She then asked me if she could sleep there and I once again gave my assent, even though I would rather conceive Kim Jong-il's unholy lovechild than sleep on the pavement with the unwashed masses.
Does this look like the scene of someone who remembers each day she did not shower in the last ten years (there were three)?
In conclusion, I would like to echo a text that I received from my friend Suvi in New York: "I walked by a protest the other day and decided that someone normal looking should be involved, so I joined."
* Per Kate: This museum is teaching children about unmanned drones, which are killing machines and are responsible for 1,000s of deaths of innocent civilians and children in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world. This technology should not be glorified, neither should the deaths of innocents be celebrated in any way.
Monday, October 17, 2011
In Which Miss Jill Advises Wannabe Carjackers
Driving is not my forte and I have never gone to any lengths to hide that fact. Although I have actually improved quite a bit since my first white knuckled weeks in DC, I still have trouble parking. Last Friday my department chair and I had to do some errands and I was forced to face my greatest fear: parallel parking. The spot was right in front of a restaurant with outdoor seating. As I tried unsuccessfully to enter it, my dept. chair got out of the car and attempted to guide me into the spot, while cars raced by. After several failed attempts, an exasperated woman got up from her table and said, "Do you all need some help?" "Sure," I replied, thinking that she would give me some sage advice. "Just let me do it," she demanded. I thought about it for a moment and decided that a woman sitting with friends at a restaurant would not steal my car. "Good idea," I replied. As she seamlessly drove my car into the spot, two men pointed at me and jeered. I was unfazed.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Why I Don't Agree With Student Debt Forgiveness/ Tough Love From Miss Jill
It is not the government's fault that you took out excessive student loans. I will NEVER be sympathetic to the loan forgiveness movement. Everyone should have access to an education, but a liberal arts degree from a private university is not an unalienable right. While it can be necessary to borrow money, I have never seen such profligate spending as among students in New York; some live in luxury apartments, go out to eat every night and take European vacations. After two years of excess, they are the proud recipients of a master's degree in Medieval Islamic Literature.
In order to obtain a federal student loan you should:
1. Be enrolled in a program in a high demand field at a low-cost state college. Private liberal arts colleges charge exorbitant tuition because people are stupid enough to go into debt to attend third tier universities. Stop enrolling and the price will go down.
2. Be at least 22 years of age. For most people, 18 is too young to make such a big financial decision.
3. Do the first two years at a community college. When I graduated in 1999 in Illinois, you could got to community college for free if you were in the top ten percent of your graduating class. I keep hearing people say that education should be free, but when it is, they don't take advantage of it.
4. Agree to make a reasonable effort to become employed at graduation. Too many people are taking unemployment benefits while waiting for their dream job. I earned $1600 a month, without insurance, in Manhattan, for 7 months, while working for a man who threw files on the floor and expected me to fetch them like a dog. As much as I hated it, I applied for 1400 jobs in three weeks in order to work there.
It is hard for quite a few people my age to believe this, but sometimes in life you just have to do things you hate. My friend has a master's from Oxford and she has been making copies for two years. THIS IS NOT A DREAM JOB ECONOMY.
5. If you do graduate school, make sure that it will actually benefit you. Otherwise, watch A LOT of documentaries and read A LOT of books. I have less formal education than most of my friends, but I rarely think, "Wow, I have no idea what they are talking about."
A very high percentage of student debt is the consequence of bad decision making.
Additional Point- Education can be free. Like my mother said when she saw my book collection, "Have you not heard of libraries?"
Feel free to disagree with me, I would be happy to hear alternate opinions.
In order to obtain a federal student loan you should:
1. Be enrolled in a program in a high demand field at a low-cost state college. Private liberal arts colleges charge exorbitant tuition because people are stupid enough to go into debt to attend third tier universities. Stop enrolling and the price will go down.
2. Be at least 22 years of age. For most people, 18 is too young to make such a big financial decision.
3. Do the first two years at a community college. When I graduated in 1999 in Illinois, you could got to community college for free if you were in the top ten percent of your graduating class. I keep hearing people say that education should be free, but when it is, they don't take advantage of it.
4. Agree to make a reasonable effort to become employed at graduation. Too many people are taking unemployment benefits while waiting for their dream job. I earned $1600 a month, without insurance, in Manhattan, for 7 months, while working for a man who threw files on the floor and expected me to fetch them like a dog. As much as I hated it, I applied for 1400 jobs in three weeks in order to work there.
It is hard for quite a few people my age to believe this, but sometimes in life you just have to do things you hate. My friend has a master's from Oxford and she has been making copies for two years. THIS IS NOT A DREAM JOB ECONOMY.
5. If you do graduate school, make sure that it will actually benefit you. Otherwise, watch A LOT of documentaries and read A LOT of books. I have less formal education than most of my friends, but I rarely think, "Wow, I have no idea what they are talking about."
A very high percentage of student debt is the consequence of bad decision making.
Additional Point- Education can be free. Like my mother said when she saw my book collection, "Have you not heard of libraries?"
Feel free to disagree with me, I would be happy to hear alternate opinions.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
In Which Miss Jill Radicalizes
This post is lovingly dedicated to all of my friends who torture me with their haircut decisions.
J/k, I'm not radical, unless it is in a Ninja Turtles type way.
I just got derailed from grading by reading this blog: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/. At first it made me feel better about my life, but then it started making me hyperventilate a little. Let's be honest-I have only had so much freedom to do weird jobs because in the back of my head I knew that if anything bad happened, I could always count on the Bank of Dad for a bailout.
That being said, I don't understand how people can choose careers that have a neutral or negative impact on society. I know that many people are just doing what they need to do to survive, but Wall Street people are probably smart and privileged enough to have multiple options. Why?????
In the spirit of full disclosure:
1. In spite of all the time that I have spent at New York City independent theaters and lecture halls, I generally like the United States. This is not a symptom of insularity.
2. New York was pretty hit and miss, but right now, I have a comfortable lifestyle. I have insurance and my parents are very stable financially. I feel like my public school education was actually quite good. Even if I have a history of accepting sketchy jobs for entertainment purposes, I always have one. I have not always had insurance, but I am super healthy and it has not been an issue-I just prayed every morning that I would not get hit by a car and it worked.
3. I have not been the victim of any grave injustices-maybe on a cosmic level, but not from society.
4. I do not have overwhelming consumer, medical or student debt.
What I am trying to say is that I don't need the government to give me anything, I don't have any personal axe to grind and that in the short term, I have nothing to gain by the fruits of any protests (obviously in the long term, everyone does). However, as a Christian, I think that it is important to stand for social justice and against unmitigated evil.
Why we need protests NOW:
1. The tax code is INSANE. I have absolutely no problem with paying taxes and do it willingly. I went to public school, I drive on public roads and once I used my friend's food stamp card to buy food for a party. I don't care if some of my money goes to fecund baby mamas, people on crack or lazy people milking disability (not saying that people on disability are lazy, just that some of them could easily be working). Those people have probably had their share of challenges.
I DO have a problem with my money going to some banker's $500,000 holiday bonus. Or to help companies who produce subpar cars keep afloat. I especially have a problem with corporate tax breaks and undertaxed billionaires. It is amazing that we haven't all taken to the streets already.
2. We have no excuse to feign ignorance after Wikileaks.
3. War for any reason other than defense is immoral and it is too expensive. Put that money in schools. In Spanish One, we watched a movie about the civil war in El Salvador and as a family's home was filled with machine gun fire, a girl asked, " Is that what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan?"
4. People can get cavity searched for protesting. I just found this out from a primary source.
5. People avoid vital medical treatments because they don't have insurance.
My Advice to Activists
I saw this on Facebook and it made me angry, because I hate when the onus is instantly put on the dissenters:
Our government sucks, so I see no reason to demean people who want to change that, even though they have suspiciously open daytime schedules. However, there are some words of wisdom that I would like to impart on activists:
1. Dressing like circus folk does not help the cause! You know who you are. If people turn on the television and see unbathed men in women's stirrup pants (based on a true story), do you think that they are going to listen to the message? Revolutions need non-activist style people to support them. If you look at pictures of the Cuban revolution, there are tastefully dressed individuals among the revolutionaries. Although those people probably relocated to Miami a few years later.
2. Have a working knowledge of what you are protesting. Don't let CNN interview you about tax inequalities if you don't know who Warren Buffett is.
3. Don't ask for student loan forgiveness, or you will lose me. I have a lot to say on this topic, but it is too late and I need some sleep.
4. Don't be vague about what you want. Refusing to leave until Mubarak stepped down worked pretty well.
This would be more fleshed out if I ever spent more than a half hour on posts.
J/k, I'm not radical, unless it is in a Ninja Turtles type way.
I just got derailed from grading by reading this blog: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/. At first it made me feel better about my life, but then it started making me hyperventilate a little. Let's be honest-I have only had so much freedom to do weird jobs because in the back of my head I knew that if anything bad happened, I could always count on the Bank of Dad for a bailout.
That being said, I don't understand how people can choose careers that have a neutral or negative impact on society. I know that many people are just doing what they need to do to survive, but Wall Street people are probably smart and privileged enough to have multiple options. Why?????
In the spirit of full disclosure:
1. In spite of all the time that I have spent at New York City independent theaters and lecture halls, I generally like the United States. This is not a symptom of insularity.
2. New York was pretty hit and miss, but right now, I have a comfortable lifestyle. I have insurance and my parents are very stable financially. I feel like my public school education was actually quite good. Even if I have a history of accepting sketchy jobs for entertainment purposes, I always have one. I have not always had insurance, but I am super healthy and it has not been an issue-I just prayed every morning that I would not get hit by a car and it worked.
3. I have not been the victim of any grave injustices-maybe on a cosmic level, but not from society.
4. I do not have overwhelming consumer, medical or student debt.
What I am trying to say is that I don't need the government to give me anything, I don't have any personal axe to grind and that in the short term, I have nothing to gain by the fruits of any protests (obviously in the long term, everyone does). However, as a Christian, I think that it is important to stand for social justice and against unmitigated evil.
Why we need protests NOW:
1. The tax code is INSANE. I have absolutely no problem with paying taxes and do it willingly. I went to public school, I drive on public roads and once I used my friend's food stamp card to buy food for a party. I don't care if some of my money goes to fecund baby mamas, people on crack or lazy people milking disability (not saying that people on disability are lazy, just that some of them could easily be working). Those people have probably had their share of challenges.
I DO have a problem with my money going to some banker's $500,000 holiday bonus. Or to help companies who produce subpar cars keep afloat. I especially have a problem with corporate tax breaks and undertaxed billionaires. It is amazing that we haven't all taken to the streets already.
2. We have no excuse to feign ignorance after Wikileaks.
3. War for any reason other than defense is immoral and it is too expensive. Put that money in schools. In Spanish One, we watched a movie about the civil war in El Salvador and as a family's home was filled with machine gun fire, a girl asked, " Is that what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan?"
4. People can get cavity searched for protesting. I just found this out from a primary source.
5. People avoid vital medical treatments because they don't have insurance.
My Advice to Activists
I saw this on Facebook and it made me angry, because I hate when the onus is instantly put on the dissenters:
Our government sucks, so I see no reason to demean people who want to change that, even though they have suspiciously open daytime schedules. However, there are some words of wisdom that I would like to impart on activists:
1. Dressing like circus folk does not help the cause! You know who you are. If people turn on the television and see unbathed men in women's stirrup pants (based on a true story), do you think that they are going to listen to the message? Revolutions need non-activist style people to support them. If you look at pictures of the Cuban revolution, there are tastefully dressed individuals among the revolutionaries. Although those people probably relocated to Miami a few years later.
2. Have a working knowledge of what you are protesting. Don't let CNN interview you about tax inequalities if you don't know who Warren Buffett is.
3. Don't ask for student loan forgiveness, or you will lose me. I have a lot to say on this topic, but it is too late and I need some sleep.
4. Don't be vague about what you want. Refusing to leave until Mubarak stepped down worked pretty well.
This would be more fleshed out if I ever spent more than a half hour on posts.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
El lenguaje del amor
Spanish One Student: How do you say "I want to kiss you?"
Me: Quiero besarte. Writes on board.
Several students write furiously on their hands.
Me: Really? You are going to read off your hand in a romantic moment? Pretends to read off hand in a monotone voice.
Everyone loudly: YES!
Me: Quiero besarte. Writes on board.
Several students write furiously on their hands.
Me: Really? You are going to read off your hand in a romantic moment? Pretends to read off hand in a monotone voice.
Everyone loudly: YES!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
In Which Monks Share My Life Philosophy
I just finished reading this book about St. Francis of Assisi-
I've been a St. Francis fan for a while-I used to hang out at a Franciscan church for solace during my lunch hour when I worked for the swinger. I was a little disappointed, but I guess not that surprised, that he never had a romance with St. Clare of Assisi.
Favorite Excerpt:
"One thing puzzled Francis all his life long, and that was the seemingly great happiness of some publicly known sinners and the gloom that seemed to veil the faces of so many pious souls. There were men and women he knew in Assisi, who lived with an exuberance and carefree spirit that radiated enthusiasm for life, and they 'sinned' with great exhilaration and abandon, never seeming to regret anything of the past and embracing the present with joy. Francis never believed they were the sinners that people thought they were, and he was instinctively drawn to these simple celebrators of life. He could understand why Jesus had associated with sinners and publicans if they were anything like these men and women of Assisi. They were often more honest and more basically good than some pious souls he knew. Perhaps there was a great chasm between piety and goodness. Piety, after all, was something mainly external and goodness was in the heart."
Granted, I don't know how the monk who wrote that could know that, but I approve.
I do have issues with the fact that there was a sticker on the book that said $27.48 and if you peel it off, it says $24.99. The monastery where I bought it obviously graduated from the Deseret Book School of Exorbitant Prices.
I've been a St. Francis fan for a while-I used to hang out at a Franciscan church for solace during my lunch hour when I worked for the swinger. I was a little disappointed, but I guess not that surprised, that he never had a romance with St. Clare of Assisi.
Favorite Excerpt:
"One thing puzzled Francis all his life long, and that was the seemingly great happiness of some publicly known sinners and the gloom that seemed to veil the faces of so many pious souls. There were men and women he knew in Assisi, who lived with an exuberance and carefree spirit that radiated enthusiasm for life, and they 'sinned' with great exhilaration and abandon, never seeming to regret anything of the past and embracing the present with joy. Francis never believed they were the sinners that people thought they were, and he was instinctively drawn to these simple celebrators of life. He could understand why Jesus had associated with sinners and publicans if they were anything like these men and women of Assisi. They were often more honest and more basically good than some pious souls he knew. Perhaps there was a great chasm between piety and goodness. Piety, after all, was something mainly external and goodness was in the heart."
Granted, I don't know how the monk who wrote that could know that, but I approve.
I do have issues with the fact that there was a sticker on the book that said $27.48 and if you peel it off, it says $24.99. The monastery where I bought it obviously graduated from the Deseret Book School of Exorbitant Prices.
Past Life Rejection
Student: I miss Tupac.
Miss Jill: Are you even old enough to remember Tupac?
Student: Yeah. I was 35 when he died.
Miss Jill: Elaborate please.
Student: I died and then I was reincarcerated (author's note-please read this word carefully).
I was in a bookstore once, trying to kill time, and I read almost an entire book about reincarnation. R.I.P. Borders. In the spirit of full disclosure, it was written by psychic fraud, Sylvia Browne and it was pretty self aggrandizing. She charges like $800 a session to help people remember their past lives as a form of therapy. However, that did not stop me from looking up "past life regression" on youtube and trying to hypnotize myself into remembering a former life. I even convinced my Relief Society president into trying it with me, but that was a total fail. We couldn't stop laughing for long enough to engender true self discovery. I tried it by myself and realized that I was just making up a story of my life as a Scandinavian peasant. I guess that I was inspired by genealogy. Besides, if I do have a past life in the Middle Ages (sorry, Sword and Quill club), I am fine leaving those memories there. Bad hygiene? Bubonic plague? Kidnapped by a janissary? No thanks.
Miss Jill: Are you even old enough to remember Tupac?
Student: Yeah. I was 35 when he died.
Miss Jill: Elaborate please.
Student: I died and then I was reincarcerated (author's note-please read this word carefully).
I was in a bookstore once, trying to kill time, and I read almost an entire book about reincarnation. R.I.P. Borders. In the spirit of full disclosure, it was written by psychic fraud, Sylvia Browne and it was pretty self aggrandizing. She charges like $800 a session to help people remember their past lives as a form of therapy. However, that did not stop me from looking up "past life regression" on youtube and trying to hypnotize myself into remembering a former life. I even convinced my Relief Society president into trying it with me, but that was a total fail. We couldn't stop laughing for long enough to engender true self discovery. I tried it by myself and realized that I was just making up a story of my life as a Scandinavian peasant. I guess that I was inspired by genealogy. Besides, if I do have a past life in the Middle Ages (sorry, Sword and Quill club), I am fine leaving those memories there. Bad hygiene? Bubonic plague? Kidnapped by a janissary? No thanks.
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