A Brigham Young University Student Journal
by: Jamie Bjazevich Without any explanation needed, almost everyone knows the taboos of family dinner conversations.Eating together can be a bonding and unifying experience so naturally we avoid topics that could be sources of dispute—politics included. While we might still have a bad taste in …
You know the drill. You’ve just been asked out by someone that you don’t really know; and frankly, you’re not interested. So, what do you say? Dare you say, “no”? Disclaimer: I realize that not everyone adheres to the trends that I’ll discuss in this …
By: Elizabeth Hansen
For all the women who were able to watch, read, or hear about General Women’s Conference this past October, probably heard President Nelson’s Book of Mormon challenge. He challenged all the women to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover from the time General Conference ended to the end of this year. This challenge seems difficult and even unrealistic. It can be hard to find time during our busy lives. So, here are some tricks and ideas of when and how to complete the Book of Mormon challenge that will fit your needs best!
I am still working on this challenge. If I’m being honest, I may end up doing a couple of 50-page weekends, but that’s the reality of it. Find what works for you and know that you will be blessed in your efforts for following the prophet and also for just reading and studying the words of God.
By: Elizabeth Hansen Whether you are single, married and not ready for kids, don’t want children, struggling with infertility, or more, you can still be a parent—mother or father—in many ways. There are many relationships we have in our lives where we can step into …
“I’ll come play with you really soon!” Yeah, we’ve heard that one before. I’m currently studying the English language in one of my classes, and we discussed a property of language known as cultural transmission. This means you learn and define words as you hear …
As college students, newly weds, young parents, or even veterans in the marriage arena, your home can be a place of refuge that you can call your own and also personalize to your own tastes and desires. However, it can sometimes be tricky to know how to arrange or decorate your house, especially if you can’t afford an interior designer or decorator.
While an interior designer or decorator might be wonderful to hire at some point in our lives, here are some beginner tips on how to arrange and manage the interior design of your own home. They are easy to follow and also give you a sense of power and understanding surrounding your own home.
First of all, lets get the definition straight of an interior designer versus an interior decorator. An interior designer understands how and why people behave so they can create a functional space specific to an individual or commercial business. An interior decorator, on the other hand, furnishes a space with items that are in fashion, beautiful, etc. While an interior designer can design and decorate, a decorator can decorate but cannot design.
Now, a few starter tips to improving the space of your home:
Of course, there are many more factors and details that go into making a good design, but hopefully these few will put you on the right path to evaluating your home and creating a more perfect space for you and your family.
All of these facts and principles came from the textbook, Interior Design by Stephanie A. Clemons and published through The Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc. This is a great place to start to learn more.
God organized us into families to give us a way to help and support each other. I was thinking about this as I read 1st Nephi chapter 8 in the Book of Mormon. This chapter is about Lehi, who was a prophet of God around …
“Are you registered to vote?” “Do you know who you’re going to vote for?” “You’re going to vote, right?” “You’d better do your public duty and vote!” “Have you voted yet?” There’s a theme here: “You’d best go and vote, or you’ve failed in your duties …
We’re all a little bit obsessed with things we can relate to, whether it’s a painfully true meme about college students or a t-shirt we just have to buy because the words on it seem to come straight from our soul. One of the latest displays of this enthusiasm has shown up with the highly successful NBC show, “This Is Us.” With over 11 million viewers in its 2017/2018 season[1], this beautiful television series enthralled us all with its presentation of relevant issues, joys and pains of the human experience, and characters that quickly become our “friends.”
With a title that implies a certain level of candor about the character’s lives, it almost feels like we’re watching an adaptation of our own. The Pearson triplets say to the viewers, “This is who we are and we’re doing the best we can,” and their audience responds with a resounding “SAME.” How does this show accomplish such a feat? How is it so applicable to so many unique lives? The plot line contains numerous trials and misfortunes: death, miscarriage, loss of property, racism, mental illness, eating disorders, and general stress and anxiety. Aside from these trials, the plot also introduces many triumphs for the triplets, including celebration over happy relationships, success in careers, growing of families, and everyday moments of love and gratitude. These are not necessarily things we have all been through, but the emotions are all the same. Which one of us at one point has not felt grief, pain, joy, love, loss, disappointment, or pride?
What does it mean for us that this show is so #relatable? Maybe it means “This Is Us” will be your new favorite show and that you will obsessively clear your Tuesday nights of any other commitments so you can watch it live. It might mean that you will feel like you are friends with these made up people and you would do anything for them. There is, however, an arguably more important take away. Do you commonly cry and laugh with the people around you like you do with these characters? If the answer is yes, YOU ROCK! But maybe you’re like me and you would defend Kevin more readily than your best friend, because you know his story and you feel his pain. Well, we all have stories and we all have pain. You will not go through everything that your best friend has gone through but you didn’t experience Kevin’s life either. Love each other! Assume the best, excuse the misunderstandings, offer support through pain and celebrate together through joys! As different as we each are, our human experiences are not as isolated and individualized as we sometimes think. Try to understand the people around you a little better.
This is us. We cry, we struggle, we smile, and we laugh and we are human. In the words of our dear friend Kevin Pearson, “There’s no ‘You’ or ‘Me’ or ‘Them.’ It’s just ‘Us.’ And this sloppy, wild, colorful, magical thing that has no beginning, has no end, it’s right here. I think it’s us.”[2]
[1] TV Series Finale. (n.d.). Number of viewers of selected NBC scripted shows in the United States in the 2017/2018 season (in millions). In Statista – The Statistics Portal. Retrieved October 23, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/882556/nbc-scripted-shows-viewers/.
[2] Lawson, J. (Writer), & Tillman, G. (Director). (2016, October 25). The game plan. [Television series episode], This Is Us. NBC.
When I worked as the front desk medical assistant a few years ago at a primary care physicians office, I was able to observe many different questions, concerns, and discussions between the physician (Dr. F) and her patients. One afternoon Dr. F came out of …