Conference Rhetoric

For a bunch of guys who know everything about the gospel, they sure know a whole lot about writing too. General conference talks are full of rhetoric. One rhetorical technique from this past conference was in Elder Nelson's talk. His repetition of the phase "Ask the missionaries. They can help you!" along with his amusing hand gestures made his talk memorable. Not only was it catchy, but it emphasized that the missionaries can help you with basically anything you are struggling with. The light and direction that the gospel brings is a powerful tool that can change lives. Elder Nelson's repetition of that point left the audience with a clear understanding of the importance of missionary work.

Emerson

I've been waiting for this prompt for a long time. This is the lovely part of the blog where I get to tell you why the URL is so awesome. Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance essay is probably one of my favorite pieces of literature. The beauty and eloquence of his words are extremely influential. Emerson says in this essay, "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude". I've tried to live by this notion. Even when it seems that everyone is doing it, we can stand strong and live by the values that we’ve constructed. We are individuals, and as such, we are entitled to stand alone. We just have to find the self-reliance and strength within ourselves to do so.

Roomies

Once upon a college life, Emily had some pretty dang awesome roommates. One Sunday, they decided to cook dinner for some boys in their ward. But alas, all was not meant to be. The spaghetti overcooked and the french bread was horribly burnt and the girls did not know what to do. So they carefully baked a frozen "homemade" pizza and the boys did not know the difference. Emily and her roommates had a wonderful time and they lived happily ever after. Such is the life of a college student.

Presidential Dinner

If I could invite one person over for dinner, living or dead, I would have to invite my favorite president, Abraham Lincoln. What a champ. My roommates and I would feed him all the best food of today's age: Oreos, peanut butter, Cheetos, Twinkies...everything this poor guy lived without. It certainly would be a memorable moment watching him eat the snack food of our era. But in some rare case if he did not enjoy such novelties, we would have smoked ham, vegetables, mashed potatoes and homemade rolls as back up.

Heads Up

First day of class was like walking into Walmart on Black Friday. I felt like holding up a white flag of truce just so I wouldn't get trampled. Who knew that BYU could be so crowded? Schedule in hand and looking down, I clearly set myself apart as one of the freshman. People trying to explain where the SWKT (Gesundheit?) and the MARB were located using compass directions were no help seeing as my understanding of North consisted mainly of elves and reindeer. While struggling to find buildings on my microscopic map I ran into several different people. Though I did find my classes in the end, I learned something very important in the process. You've got to keep your head up. Both literally and figuratively. Not only will you avoid black eyes and bruises but with 30,000 students on campus you are bound to make a new friend. So keep that chin up! Let's make our first year of college one to remember.