Election Day Miscellany

Dear Everyone,

This is very appropriate. Check the date at the bottom, it will shock you.

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'

"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the
prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they
will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."
--- Elder Neal A. Maxwell
10 October 1978

For those of you, and hopefully there are more than just one or two, who are not Mormon, here's what I've been thinking about today:

--Henna. Katy Pedelty allowed me the use of her Henna for today. It's so fun!!! I have a Music heart made out of a treble clef and a bass clef on my right wrist (Katy did that for me on Saturday night) and a tracing of the lines on my left palm. I'll probably put more on tonight and post pictures at some point, just for you, Gabrielle :-) Anyway, everyone was asking for a Henna today. I gave DeDe and Suzanne "peace, love, and music" Hennas. I gave Kat a flower. I gave Ili a heart. I gave Allie a dove (notice a trend? It changed when I got to theatre, as expected). In sixth period, theatre, I gave Sarah Phillips a tiny star, Sarah Sherman a supercool heart/peace sign design, and Lindsey a butterfly. Nick got "Equius" on his left index finger with a scale (the scales of justice) and "Veritas" on his right index finger (with the sword of truth). Rishi got an interesting NON-buddhist design, but I really wanted to write Sanskrit characters. Except I don't know Sanskrit. In any event, his looked like a snowflake. Carrie got a "Mrs. A-Z" because she went to the Jason Mraz concert on Saturday (I was so jealous). My favorite of the day was Robin's. It started out as a peace sign on her forearm, but then it became this compass-looking doodle. And then it became a flower. And the flower grew leaves. It's beautiful. Oh and I forgot Chantal and Sean. Chantal got "Love" with a heart connected to it. Sean got a peace sign. And I forgot Katy, but she was earlier in the day. I gave her a Bass/Treble heart and a cursive "Dona Nobis Pacem." The point is, henna is fun.

--SNL. We watched it today in Government. Just the Tina Fey/Sarah Palin stuff. I wish we'd watched some of the Obama stuff, too, just because that would have been fair, and also because some of the other videos we watched were pointless and one was really quite offensive. Anyway, others really like it. So I want to watch it. The limited amount that I've seen is so intelligent. The only problem is, it's so darn late at night!

--Nodes. Jramie (yeah, that's how I spell it) belted an A or something today. It was good. Clarke tried, but unfortunately, Clarke is very much a bass. I don't want him to get nodes. I don't want to get nodes. And I'm terrified of learning how to belt come fall 2009, when I take my first MDT voice class. But I really want to learn. It's just scary. I should meditate.

--The wearing of political materials. I fashioned a "Yes on 8" sticker in first period this morning. During lunch, I got some bumper stickers. I really wanted to put a bumper sticker across one of my back pockets, because my green corduroys would have made a nice (maybe a little gross) contrast with the yellow and because it was funny, but I didn't end up doing it because my hands had Henna on them. Anyway, people weren't as hostile as I thought they might be. I got some looks from friends, and one "It's really good you're not voting" but for the most part, people were very respectful of the expression of my views, especially considering the hostility towards "Yes on 8" picketers and the whole I-got-picked-up-by-the-cops-for-legally-distributing-doorhangers-for-Prop-8 thing that happened on Saturday. By the way, any of you with whom I have not discussed Propostion Eight, and those of you with whom I have who want to know my exact position, I'll write an essay for this blog over the weekend explaining everything you did and didn't want to know about my thoughts on Prop Eight. But I don't really want to talk about it until then, because I've talked about it enough so far and my tongue is tired of it.

And, because I missed the Jason Mraz concert on Saturday, here's a good video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHTsc9PU2A

And because I like musicals, here's another good video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZBNcILeH0

That one is Stephanie J. Block singing a GREAT song from 9 to 5: The Musical, based on the movie of the same title, with songs by Dolly Parton. It's opening on Broadway pretty soon, but I got to see the world premiere in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson! I smell many a Tony nomination for this show.

Thanks for reading and Love,
Christian :-)