The Sublime Roundabout

On June 21 my divorce from Youngshin was finalized. I know that in the past I had written several times about how I felt about her. I came to understand, though, that no matter how much you love someone, there are some things that cannot be endured. And for me, 22 years was as much as I could handle. So, I don't want to poor mouth Youngshin - she is a fine person and I hold nothing but respect and admiration for her and what she's done with her life. I am grateful for her and what she did for me and for all that she gave me. Not long after that, I started dating Diana Elizabeth Smith. We were married on September 16, 2018, which is a date that has been important for her for a longtime. I have not known such happiness, nor known that I was able to feel this way. I am so very much in love - it's kind of silly.... In all of this I feel the hand of the Lord. Last October (October 2017), when I first started talking to my former bishop about how I felt and how things wer...

So the World Cup is fast upon us. Perhaps the most surprising entry into this year's field is the Iceland National Team. What a delight to have a team from a country that is home to around 400,000 people, and how wonderful that they actually have a shot.... One of the things I love most about soccer is that it's not a race that goes to the biggest and most wealthy. The US, arguably one of the wealthiest countries that has ever been, has a difficult time fielding teams - our US Women's Team is phenomenal and a perennial powerhouse, but the men's team is lackluster. I'm honestly more surprised that they go at all, ever, to any World Cup. Here's the problem - and it's been a problem for years. Soccer in the US doesn't get the attention that other sports get. I'm talking about the big three - football, basketball, and baseball. We do well in the Summer Olympics, generally in the flashy sports like swimming and gymnastics... But in other events and...

Come what may, and love it. When Elder Wirthlin spoke these words several years ago, I was struck by how beautiful and simply profound they are. Life moves fast. It moves in ways and takes you in directions you wouldn't anticipate. Always moving forward, always headed onward, the time flies according to He who pulled the bow. In conversation with an amazing friend, it occurs to me that in the inexorably straight arrow that is time, we exist and persist at the very tip of the arrow... Maybe like a bug resting on the grille of my truck? Maybe the roadrunner stuck to the front of a speeding train? Or maybe, just maybe, we are all at the tip of the arrow because that's where existence is most significant, most real, and most beneficial.... I don't know. I'm not smart enough to know all of these things. I do know that it's a pleasure to go along with you on this journey, dear, constant reader. I don't know the end of where this is headed - that's not ...

My family recently spent some time in the beautiful and always impressive Southern California. This is where I was born, where my father and grandfather were born. And in some ways, it feels very much like home, while in others, it's as foreign to me as a completely different country. What I'm interested in at the moment, however, is something I just noticed while looking at Google Earth. Yes, I know I'm a geek - and you love me anyway. Thank goodness. I was noticing the different and contrasting ways in which the city looks from this image. Taken at a virtual altitude of about 50 miles, this image includes the Santa Ana range slashing across the middle of the image, with the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains on the north. The San Gabriel Mountains are the closest I got to snow until after I was eight years old and moved to Utah. It snowed that night, and in the morning I woke to the strangest and most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. It wa...

So I read this article this morning: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/16/economic-inclusion-key-growth-prosperity/?utm_campaign=Brookings%20Brief&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=61599999 It's a bit technical, but the last line is the point of the article, anyway: This admittedly wonkish analysis thus points to a simple insight that should guide regional economic development efforts: although it may be elusive from year to year, in the long run, inclusion may provide the key to true economic success. I won't pretend to understand all of the sordid details in the article, much less the social implications of what is there. What I would like to point out is that this idea is at once fairly intuitive as well as revolutionary. As in, literally revolutionary. This is what Marx was talking about nearly 200 years ago, when the industrial revolution was just in the throes of making a bourgeois plutocracy even more distant from the pr...

I still don't know what I was waiting for And my time was running wild A million dead-end streets Every time I thought I'd got it made It seemed the taste was not so sweet So I turned myself to face me But I've never caught a glimpse Of how the others must see the faker I'm much too fast to take that test [Chorus] Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange) Ch-ch-Changes Don't want to be a richer man Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange) Ch-ch-Changes Just gonna have to be a different man Time may change me But I can't trace time [Verse 2] I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream Of warm impermanence and So the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations They're quite aware of what they're going through [Chorus] Ch-ch-ch-ch-Ch...

So. It's that time of year again. If you're not familiar with this phenomenon, March Madness is what it's called when the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament takes place. For months, people watch teams that are varying levels of proficient get selected for the Tournament, and it's a very quick thing. There are 68 teams selected; after one week, 48 of those will be eliminated, leaving us with the Sweet Sixteen. Then, after another week, twelve of those teams are eliminated, leaving us with the fabled Final Four. One more week to get to the finals and play the championship game, and you can see why this is such a whirlwind of fun. Here's some terms you may enjoy: March Madness - The wide-eyed craziness that you get when you think about the games that you could be/are watching. The Big Dance - Another name for the Tournament. Getting your dance card punched used to be a thing (I guess), and the act of even getting invited is a big deal. ...

There's a moving scene in The Return of the King where Sam and Frodo are lying on the slopes of an exploding Mount Doom. As you will recall (spoiler alert, if you don't!) Frodo and Sam have made their way from the beautiful and verdant Shire through perils and dangers of all kinds. Frodo decides at the last second that he can't throw the ring into the Crack of Doom and destroy the power of the evil. The greedy Gollum eventually bites off Frodo's finger (!) and falls into the pit himself, thus unwittingly ending his own life and saving the world as the ring is destroyed. But what I love is that Frodo is now free, and while their deaths seem imminent, they are at peace - the journey is complete, the task is finished, and the evil threat has subsided. For me, the best moment is when Frodo, his arm around Sam, says - I'm glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things. The story is about Sam and Frodo (in that order). About their friendship...

People used to seal a deal with a handshake. They'd agree to certain terms and would signify that they were honest and trustworthy by shaking hands. I'm not sure how it started, but it used to mean something real. A person's word was his bond, and the trust that was implicit both in the symbolic handshake as well as the other person's word went both ways. In some ways, we're not terribly far removed from that, as all contractual agreements are made between two parties who have some level of confidence in the other's ability to meet the obligations outlined in the agreement. But we are increasingly seeing where people are not able to be trusted. People will make promises, claims, or assertions that are already known to be false. Rather than apologize for misunderstanding, people will argue that the information is flawed in some way that has caused that misunderstanding. So, not only are people lying, when it's proven that they've lied, they become de...

....This just in.... News is boring. I know. It's not a surprise. But it seems like we're surrounded daily by a barrage of stuff. Just... Stuff. Most of it is soooo boring that it's intolerable. Let me give you a quick rundown of how I consume my news. I admit that it's fairly subjective, but hey - this is my blog, and you're reading my thoughts. So there. I check out the following websites nearly every day: ksl.com - I read MAYBE one article if the headline and story grab my attention, usually something to do with local politics and legislation. Also I watch the weather report but skip the stuff about what kids need to wear to school and whether or not I should wash my car. I just want today's forecast and a quick look ahead. cnn.com - Again, maybe one or two stories. Max. I'm not sure why I even look anymore - there's nothing really of substance, and it annoys me that I waste my time there. npr.org - This site generally has mu...

So we're over a year into the Trump regime. Frankly, I'm surprised he's made it this long. People often look at what others have done and think - I can do that, easier and better. They may have skills that are comparable, or have a desire to try their hand at something. But in many cases, they just think they've got an ability to do something without truly understanding the nature of the task. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/19/578858897/turnover-in-trumps-white-house-is-record-setting-and-it-isn-t-even-close This article is more than a month old, and it points out the turnover in the Trump administration's cabinet/White House. It's at once completely astounding, but also not terribly surprising that it's gone this way. This is probably the biggest symptom of what I'm talking about - Trump doesn't know how to lead, and shouldn't ever have thought he could. Now, Trump has a certain business acumen. I'm not one to second-guess that - he...

Have you seen this film? This is the first film I remember seeing that was a romantic film. I still have a bit of a crush on Jane Seymour. It's intensely lovely, well-acted and beautifully shot. One of the things I love most about this film is how things conspire to bring people together. As a hopeless romantic myself, I believe that seemingly random events can work together to a common and unexpected good. I'm not a fatalist - I do believe that our agency also is at work in these instances, and that ultimately we are the captains of our own destinies. However, I also firmly believe that some things are meant to be, and that we can look to these things with hope and anticipation. Partly that's informed by my belief in a benevolent God who is interested in not just the overall progression of us, His children, but also in my personal concerns and interests and needs and desires. And while I don't know the end from the beginning, and while I also have been...

Today is Dr. Seuss Day. Theodor Geisel was born on this day in 1904 and went on to have a decades-long career in children's books. It's hard to imagine a world without him. I grew up reading and loving his books, and still enjoy them to this day. He has a complex job history, though. Like most people, he found himself doing things to support himself that he may not have particularly enjoyed or 100% supported. He did commercial work for may large corporations and in WWII did work for the war department. Some of that work doesn't jive with his later work which focused a lot on themes of inclusion, environmentalism, and anti-racism. I don't fault people for where they started in life, or even the evolution that takes them down paths that they may not have chosen if they'd been given an actual choice or at least better options. I'm more interested in where a person ends up, what happens to that person's character, and how one adjusts and adapts as l...

I'm consistently impressed with and by my daughter. Her depth of understanding and perception in things related to emotion and empathy are truly astonishing. It makes her very wise. I love talking to her because she makes me think. And I love to think. Last night we had a conversation about how life never seems to turn out the way you expected. She was relating some of her experiences in her life, and how that has shaped who she is. Some of the hardest things she's ever had to go through have come recently, and she is sometimes nostalgic for a childhood that upon reflection seemed so care-free and innocent. She feels that when things changed - when we moved from Texas to Oregon, mainly - she was put in a position where she had to grow up quickly. So Texas became a kind of ideal for her, a place where everything was happy and easy. I didn't know what to say to that. Partly because it was because of me she had to move, and that being a child often just plain sucks because...