The Greatest Works.....

Boyd K Packer, in a speech about art and Latter-day Saints said, 
"I mentioned earlier that the greatest hymns and anthems have not been composed, nor have the greatest illustrations been set down, nor the poems written, nor the paintings finished. When they are produced, who will produce them? Will it be the most talented and the most highly trained among us? I rather think it will not. They will be produced by those who are the most inspired among us. Inspiration can come to those whose talents are barely adequate, and their contribution will be felt for generations; and the Church and kingdom of God will move forward just a little more easily because they have been here."

I think this is why I love the Twilight Seriesso much.  It is the same reason I love the writings of Orson Scott Card  Not because I share a religion with them both, but because they share their religion so well through their art.  

You see, I love to write, and I've thought about writing a MORMON story or book, but my idea was to make it "REAL", you know the truths about Mormon living, good and bad. But I'm rethinking my plan.  Stephenie Meyer and Orson Scott Card write about truths in human nature (which are compelling and universal) and stay true to the nature of God and the tenets in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  People are good in Meyer and Card's writings.  

Meyer especially has made me re-think teen fiction.  I work with teenagers and most teens I know aren't like the ones Meyer portrays in her Twilight series .  Most of the teens I know unapologetically engage in all sorts of vices.  But that isn't how it has to be and that isn't the reality for many, many young people with solid morals and standards.  I like that there are places to go where the ugly realism hasn't permeated. 

Rock on, good Mormon writers, may you replenish the earth! 

Teaching Reading

My job for the summer (well, two weeks anyway) is to teach reading to children entering 3rd grade!  Really, I am helping a lead teacher and I have to teach a few lessons and then I do a lot of assessments.  Some of my classmates (we are all working in separate classrooms) think the experience is ho-hum; after all many of them work with this age of kids all year long.  But not me!  I love teaching kids this age - they are so open and honest and vulnerable.  I only worked with a few of them on Thursday and I got a half-dozen hugs and a large bouquet of clover and dandelions.  The school I am working at is drawing kids from across the district, but most of the students who are coming to summer school do so because they need help with reading.  It should be no surprise to those who work with struggling readers that the kids are generally ethnic minorities, come from non-intact homes, and live in poverty. My niece, Renae, will relate to the names on my roster:  Ivanov, Kim, Valesquez - Russian, Korean, and Mexican. What an exciting, vibrant experience.  Unpretentious, they share painful life stories so easily.  It makes me wonder if THIS is where I should work - with younger children, where school can make such a difference.  Now, if I could just figure out how to get a gig in Hawaii!

So, I ignobly hurt myself playing tennis this week.  I TORE my plantaris tendon (yea, look it up, you might not even have one).

I might be a baby, but it really hurts to walk on it so the Dr gave me a splint, crutches, and vicoden and I sat on my bed for two days and imperially ordered Joey and Caroline around.  

I did learn that if I walk on my toes and keep my knee bent, I am in little pain,  but I'm not very good at sustaining this posture, so I rely on the crutches.  The Plantaris Tendon is sometimes called "fools tendon" b/c some people don't even have one and there isn't any real use for it except to cause a lot of pain when you tear it.  The cool thing is that I HEARD it pop and the tear felt like a rubber band snapping....

Anyway, I was thinking that there couldn't be a worse time, but certainly there could have been.  How about the last week of school?  Ugh.  Terrible time to be on crutches

Or my time in Hawaii?  Ooooh, that would have sucked.

Or when there is ice and snow on the ground?  Messy and yucky.

So, in the midst of all this inconvenience there are many things to be thankful for.  I am glad to have a leg even if it isn't working right now.