At a Break

Today is the lull before the storm.

Yesterday was a very cathartic day.  I went to Chemistry, as always (every day at 8am!), came home, and saw an email that told me I had won the Freshman Learning in the Light of Faith essay contest.  Guidelines can be found at the essay contest website.  Yes, there is a grand prize of $500.  Winning was totally unexpected!  41 essays were entered.  Here is the essay, written the day before the deadline:

Quandary

It is soot black. Rural Idaho has no streetlights; one would be hard pressed to say the two-rut weed patch meandering around the country is any sort of a road, let alone a street.  No moon shines.

If the outside is soot, inside the garage is soot burned a thousand times over, coated with pitch, ensconced in the blackness of a glistening stallion, and laying at the bottom of a five hundred foot pit.  Black as night.  Blacker than night.

Stumbling through the garage, my toe is stubbed by an unknown solid.  By feeling around with hands I can deduce the texture and shape of a wooden box.  Why is it there?  What purpose does it serve?  I can’t tell in this overwhelming darkness.  Everything seems jumbled up, patternless. 

Secular scientists the world over comfortably establish the metaphorical ground on which they stand and then reach out into the darkness carefully until touching something.  By feeling around the object they may deduce various physical properties about the object or even its identity.  However, there is no illumination.  It is meekness as a disciple-scholar that allows one to bring the lights up and see not only the box but also how it fits into the garage’s overall pattern.

First year biology, Brigham Young University.  Evolution unit.  Nobody is late for today’s class: Discussion on Science, Evolution, and Creationism.  Apparently there are not many people disinterested in this subject; most, like me, are listening intently.  As we read the BYU evolution packet I remember Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s assertion that “Restoration theology is expansive, not constraining” (Maxwell 6).  I must remember to keep an open mind about evolution and the processes whereby organisms adapt.

Scientists have documented natural selection really happening.  During a drought on Isle Daphne Major of the Galápagos, medium ground finches’ beaks increased in depth considerably, heightening their ability to survive eating harder seeds (Freeman 506-08).  Over time, this natural selection leads to evolution.  The process is occurring.  The problem I was left to grapple with is how this process fits into the larger plan presented by the Bible and Book of Mormon, which I know are true with far more certainty than evolution.  How is this reconciliation possible?

The answer is through meekness.  Both Maxwell and Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. cite meekness not as just one of many characteristics of a disciple-scholar, but as the chief characteristic of a disciple-scholar (Maxwell 12-15; Samuelson 44).  Nephi, the Book of Mormon prophet, is a quintessential example of meekness.

While journeying in the wilderness, all of Lehi’s sons lose the use of their bows.  When Lamen, Lemuel, and even the stalwart Lehi murmur, Nephi humbly makes another bow and asks his father, “Whither shall I go to obtain food?” (1 Nephi 16:23).  This meekness is one of the characteristics of Nephi that qualifies him for his glorious vision in chapter 11.  Nephi’s vision sheds light upon the mysteries of Lehi’s dream.  The big picture is shown and the individual events are explained.

At the end of the lecture the only pragmatic statement on evolution was that Adam and Eve are the primal parents of our race.  At first I wished something more tangible could be given out, but perhaps this quandary is best put to rest by the words of a wise roommate on the subject: “It’s not hard.  That’s what faith is all about.  You know the important stuff; you don’t need to know everything yet.”

Still dark.  Almost as quiet.  Unable to get anywhere without running into another quite-solid object, I call out quietly.  To my surprise, the deep baritone tone of my father’s voice rings out strong and true.  “I’ll get the light, son.”

Gradually, light fills the room from the dimmer switch.  A path materializes out of the darkness and confusion melts away.  Noticing my interest at the suddenly clear box, my father reminds me, “That’s our Christmas box I made.”  The box fits neatly into a clear grid pattern.  As I thread my way through the narrow, before-unseen path, my father puts his arm around me and together we walk inside.  I don’t yet need to see what else I could have bumped into.

Secular science explores boxes in the dark.  I would rather explore boxes in the light with the Maker close by, exploring the ones that He tells me about, listening to how the box fits into the larger pattern, and meekly trusting Him explicitly.

Works Cited

Freeman, Scott. Biological Science. 2^nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005.

Maxwell, Neal. “The Disciple-Scholar.” Learning in the Light of Faith. Ed. Henry B. Eyring. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1999. 1-18.

Samuelson, Cecil O. Jr. “The Importance of Meekness in the Disciple-Scholar.” Learning in the Light of Faith. Ed. Henry B. Eyring. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1999. 35-48.

On top of that great news, I took our Chemistry test and was very pleased with my score on the multiple choice section.  What I love about Chemistry is the sense of wonder emanating from our professor.  He truly sparks that natural curiosity about the world in his students.  I was wondering the other day about the hard water deposits on our glasses after we do the dishwasher.  Having just studied about solubility and acid-base reactions I was curious as to how detergent manages to tie up ions in the water.  I learned that the harder the water, the more detergent needs to be used.  Knowing what I know now I can equate that to Ksp and the five solubility rules.  I would be interested to learn more.

After the test I played some Super Smash Bros., which I haven't done for a while.  It was quite fun.  After that I took some soup up to a girl in our ward who is sick, then went to eat dinner at the all-you-can-eat cannon center (or cancer center, as my biology professor calls it).  Stuffed, our Freshman Academy community walked to the Marriott center, where one of our roommates performed in a celebration of Christmas with folk dances around the world.  Very fun.  After that I was privileged to go to the creamery with some friends, then come back and play catch phrase.  Overall, a very, very good day.

Today there is hardly anything going on.  Tests and assignments are mostly over.  It is the slow inhalation of air before the "final" push.  Finals are the week after next and everything is wrapping up in classes.

Furhermore, I got my Elks Lodge Scholarship form turned in a couple days ago and they just notified me that the Byrd scholarship checks are on their way.  These are both beneficial to my financial situation at college and I was excited to hear about them!

Until next time,

Sean

Another English Post Response

Years ago. Across the great, endless, narrow ocean we call a road, undulating across knolls to wind around rocky foothills. It was there that I found peace among the wild elements.

At the base of the enormous dual pine tree trunks sat two large boulders, white and sparkly with abundant mica, a castle and fortress to warriors littered about from the most recent squirt-gun fight. As accelerating skate boarders flew past on the sidewalk directly under the trees a small boy watched them from high above. Gradually the wind grew from a small summer breeze to a swift moving current strong enough to rustle hair. As the storm became more intense dark clouds cast a shadow over the ground years below. The warriors became 4th grade students again upon retreating from the onslaught into their closed houses. The skateboarders cooly picked up their transportation and dashed inside. Only the boy was left, swaying as much as 20 feet in the ferocious wind, the giant tree almost buckling under the pressure. Luckily the storm held no lightning. The boy's hair whipped around in wild exhilaration as observation became survival. The strong truck was a lifeline, the steadying rock before the waterfall. We leave the boy there, yelling a challenge to the sky as the elements pegged him with dihydrogen monoxide.

Jerry

For our Writing class we have to write a post every week on a topic, ask a question of our own, and then answer somebody else's question.  This week the topic was on our favorite books.  Remember, this is for our English class...

One of the people posted this post:

At a very early age, I discovered the world of books. I quickly exhausted my elementary school's small library and quickly moved on to the county library system. You ever read Matilda by Roald Dahl? Well, that was me. I read more than I talked, and that habit has followed me through my life. I've had to give up some of my reading for the sake of having a life, but I am still a very avid reader.

As a result, I can't actually tell you what my "favorite" book is. I have favorites in different genres and for different purposes, and I almost always "appreciate" books, especially the classics. So here is a few of my "favorites."

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (I have to say, he is probably my favorite author, with the exception of The Pearl, which I like to disregard as a small blemish on his superb writing style.)
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (one of the greatest mystery/detective stories of all time - Sam Spade is the best!)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (a truly compelling novel)
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (one of my comfort books - I read it when I'm upset)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (I read it when I want to be mad at the world ;) It has the most amazing metaphors!)
Macbeth by Shakespeare (as well as The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (beautiful imagery and characterizations, omgosh)

And I just realized that's a lot, and I haven't even gotten to my contemporary favorites yet... I'll refrain for now for your sake, as my reader. :)

Question: Are there any traits in a person's character that really, really drive you crazy?

Jerry, upon reading it, decided to (almost) write a response to her question:

Yeah!  When they suck up to the teacher!

Jerry and I have a great time

For English we have to write a post on a topic and then ask a question and then respond to somebody else's question. This is the question that I asked:

Here's a question! Do you have any theories you came up with on your own? Maybe a theory that nobody else believes?

This is Jerry's response (a combined effort between him and I):

I came up with a theory just reading this question, and you can't say that it's not true. "The universe revolves around Jerry Robertson." -Jerry Robertson-

Since the universe revolves around myself, and the fact that I defy the laws of the universe, you should all submit to my bidding.

Minesweeper in English!!!!!!!

Disciple-Scholar Writing Response

A disciple-scholar is not the same as a scholar-disciple.  Notice the order.  Thus our main focus must be on discipleship, and not on scholarship, which brings up the question: what does a disciple-scholar do that is different from a regular scholar?

 Disciple-y stuff.

 Which is what, exactly?

 A disciple is a follower.  A disciple of Christ is a follower of Christ.  How do we follow Christ and be scholarly at the same time?  Easily. The trick is recognizing that Christ is the Creator.  He is the Ultimate Scholar, the Ultimate Biologist, the Ultimate Chemist, the Ultimate Musician.  He created the earth, the seas, and all that in them is.  Can we not follow his perfect example and seek to obtain as much knowledge about the world we live in?  Then, taking knowledge one step farther, can we use the information to further God's work?  Can we consecrate the knowledge we gained through His help to His will?

 Submittance to a higher power than our own brings blessings of humility, meekness, and further opportunities to gain the knowledge that is paramount to our eternal progression.  Meekness is, after all, the best quality of a disciple-scholar.  Meekness is a quality of character.  One of the AIMS of a BYU education is to develop character.  The one thing that every BYU student should leave with is a character of meekness, ready to continue a lifelong pursuit of learning and service.

A Let Down!

The black, forbidding, thunderous night seemed to permeate every cubic inch of cold air in the room.  Wood and brick walls meant nothing to the feeling that ever encroached from the dark, tumultuous exterior of the building.  The dim light in the room flickered as the television, unwatched, showed the same scene from the horror show The Ghost and Mr. Chicken over and over again.

"Yes, you can!" the exasperated Sean said again.  "I've done it!"

"Look Sean, you have to prove it.  It has never happened to any of us before."

"If I'm right, ten dollars?"

"Only if I get ten if I'm right."

"Deal."

The ferocity of the storm grew as his futile effort augmented.  Past trying now, he took to the internet to see what others had to say.  The search returned many results, all with the same heading.  He clicked on the first result.  Just then the intensity of the storm rose to a feverous pitch.  The lightning crackled just outside, and with the BOOM! that followed immediately after, the power went out.  The computer screen flickered off, but not before the fateful words had entrenched themselves forever in his mind:

You cannot click on a bomb on the first click in Minesweeper (in Windows XP)!

Past Writing Experience Writing Response

Negative writing experiences can be found littered throughout my past.  I wouldn't call the frequency high, but conversely I cannot say that the frequency has been extremely low.  I find that instead of a specific teacher or paper my worst writing experiences have been those where my general condition does not meet the qualifications below.  I remember a particular experience writing a college entrance essay.  My time was short; it was due in a day or two.  I was at a critical period in high school and my workload was higher than our dorm's trash pile.  Pressure was increasing with that slow squeeze that constricts macrocosmic views until one can get lost in the details.  In my finished product it was evident that I was not prepared.

On the other hand, occasionally a gem will emerge from the raw carbon.  As I have done most writing in some sort of formalized class it is no surprise that good experiences have come out of AP English Literature.  Frame of mind is very important for me, but my frame of mind is predicated almost exclusively on the environment.  As my roommate can attest, I cannot work in a crowded, half-lit room on a small desk.  Things need to be clean and have space around them.  I recall one time in English class we wrote a forty minute essay in class based on a prompt our teacher put up on the whiteboard.  I was in a good mood that day, well-fed and smiling (smiling often goes with being well-fed).  The surrounding desks were clean, the pure white page smiled up at me like a window through the desk upon which it sat to a whole new world.  When I wrote my hand did not tire as fast.  As I turned it in satisfactorily at the completion of the excercise, I realized that I had just had a positive writing experience.

What makes the difference?  What is it about an individual situation that makes writing so easy or so difficult?  I can think of several factors.  Although these are ordered here, I believe the order is unique to each individual.

1. Environment, including surroundings, time constraints, noise level, amount of personal space, stress or pressure from other activities, and light levels.  The environment should especially be conducive to the Spirit.

2. Preparation.  This could be anything from eating the requisite amount of Cheerios for stimulating neurological impulses to hours and hours of research on the topic.

3. Frame of mind.  The writing frame of mind comes, to me at least, only at certain times.  Perhaps a frame of mind can come as a result of preparation.  Free writing and zero drafts may help to accomplish this goal.  Frame of mind can also be a direct result of the environment.

4. Mastery of Vocabulary/Grammar.  These fundamentals of the English language are the instrument with which ideas can be expressed.  A single idea can be expressed so differently between two writers, and it is their own unique expression of vocabulary and phrasing within the grammatical context of English that facilitates each writer's unique take.

I Am Writing Response

I am the hours and days.  I am the time spent reading.

I am the intense apprehension, disappointment, and elation.  I am the soccer game.

I am the aching muscles and wild thrill as the gusty wind hurdles about.  I am the summit of the mountain.

I am the white and black.  I am a Latter-day Saint.

I am the black and white.  I am the sharps and flats on a piano.

I am the sum and conglomeration.  I am the experiences.

I am the vanilla extract.

I am the peach Pace bar.

I am the small, soft breeze.

I am the rustling of deciduous leaves on trees in the small, soft breeze.

I am the deep, dark, navy blue of a favorite shirt.

I am the sum and conglomeration.  I am the senses.

I am the C.S. Lewis, wait, no, the Apple.  Ah, what I really meant is the long iTunes playlist.  Actually, now that I think about it, I would have to say the cleats and shin guards.  Shin guards?  Who wants to be that soaked with sweat?  Rather I am the abandon of a first grader finished with homework, laying amidst the sweet-smelling grass on a trampoline, the cool breeze offset by the slow warmth stealing up from the black tarp.

I am sometimes indecisive.

English House Exercise

I have decided to start posting up some of the little blurbs we write in our writing course.  Here's one we did today to get the creative juices flowing.  It didn't really work, but this is it in its rough, unaltered form.

I am making a house where the slap of feet echoes off the high ceiling onto the deceptively soft tile.  I am making a house where the spicy burn-your-nose scent of pine gives way to the fresh, cool, moist air, sounding of crickets chirruping.  I am building a house where the magic refrigerator drones like a bee.  Industry...in whiffs of chocolate and red sugar.

AP Grades

For you AP English graduates

Of course, if you've read the several stories, this would make sense to you as well, even if you haven't taken the ol' AP English.

What happened after? (a small excerpt of the upcoming #1 New York Times Bestseller)
By Sean Fisher

The moor was quite possibly the bleakest, drollest, most gray spit of boring land he had ever set eyes on. To top it off, he was cold. The grayish-blue was lightened only by a brighter white road winding through it. The road was white due to the peculiar nature of the rocks on the heath, which had years ago been collected and cobblestoned into a lithe track. The air was dead. No riffle of wind staggered through the surroundings. Even the weeds looked as if they were dying, which is hard for a weed to do. Through the blue, chilly haze of the expansive moor he could see a small cart trundling along perhaps a mile away. Along its side was boldly emblazoned an unrecognizable advertisement in peeling paint.

He turned. There was no joy to be had in meeting one of the inhabitants of this lonely forsaken wasteland. They had no wish to see the return of a native, as it were.

As the old man shambled along the road, his footsteps awkward but his blue eyes lucid and sure, he paid close attention to the flowers lining the roadway. The yellow cut a cold contrast to the stark white of the cobblestones. As a traveler from distant lands he had seen many flowers, but never before had he seen this flower in such proliferation. It positively lined the path, sparked decades before by the thoughtlessness of a passing repairman. The yellow was powerful. It was not necessarily happy. The conditions of its birth were much too heart-rending for that, but the emotion imbued into that simple yellow color immediately caught his eye. He knelt down and touched the fuzzy cluster of small petals. Chrysanthemums.

Low Stress! Wahoo!

Today in AP English we had our gargantuan day. We totally finished our vocabulary book, turned in our take home Jane Eyre test, wrote two essays on Jane Eyre in class, took a Barron's How to prepare for the AP English Test vocabulary test, turned in a three page paper I wrote yesterday on a play I read yesterday (Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller), and thoroughly enjoyed being released from class. So now a load has been released. I just have to work on the two websites, listen to Jazz, eat ice cream, and prepare for Preference tomorrow.

I mean, Prefernce.

Jane Eyre

I am taking a test on Jane Eyre right now and I found this quote that I thought I would share:

After marrying Mr. Rochester, Jane goes to spring the news on the servants, and says,

"The housekeeper and her husband were both of that decent, phlegmatic order of people, to whom one may at any time safely communicate a remarkable piece of news without incurring the danger of having one's ears pierced by some shrill ejaculation, and subsequently stunned by a torrent of wordy wonderment."

These are the kind of people you want to hang around with. ;)
I really enjoy the way this book is worded. The eloquence of the novel cannot be said to be readily available in the modern world. I feel that more writers should aspire to this type of writing.

Now back to work. I have to finish this take home test, read "The Death of a Salesman", then write a three page paper on it. Today. At least I don't have to get my Sterling Scholar binder ready for tomorrow! I'm looking forward to the completion of all of these assignments!

LDS-ity

Well, today I wasted a TON of time when I should be reading Jane Eyre for tomorrow's AP English test. I guess that's what comes having the LDS website as my homepage. They just released a new website that talks specifically about Jesus Christ. That led me to go to the LDS Tech site forums, which then led me to reading several pages on Mormon.org and then I read some pages on this Gordan B. Hinckley website and this one as well. Then this and this Thomas S. Monson website. Then I wondered about the More Good foundation, which sponsored the last four websites, and so I signed up there, then followed a link to LDS.net, and signed up there, which had this interesting news story. I also watched a small video on that website which talked about how to blog, which is what inspired me to write in mine. Now I've got to go read prepare for the test tomorrow, but first...some ice cream.

Cybercorps and More

Today after school we had Cybercorps (a computer club where we fix the school's computers). It was perhaps our longest session, because we were there until close to 6:00 p.m. from when school gets out at 2:40 p.m. I've been at the school until 10:00 p.m. before working on our FBLA website (the week before it's due and it's not done we pretty much enter into the server room at 8:00 a.m. and leave there at 10:00 p.m....it's a lot of hard, hard, long, work, but it paid off with two 1st place wins in State and two awesomely exciting trips to Nationals in Nashville and Chicago - I never thought I would travel to those places in my life, let alone in high school).

So anyway, the UBSCT is coming up and we had to install a bunch of new software on the computers to facilitate the testing...we wrote a batch file that installed Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash player, turned off automatic Windows Updates, installed Java, and then installed a proprietary program for the testing. It took a while. Then I had to come home and read four Lanahan readings for government tomorrow, and finish memorizing Hamlet's To Be or Not to Be...let's see if I can do it from memory here (I don't have the punctuation memorized, but I'll give it my best shot):

To be, or not to be, that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to endure
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep; perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause; There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,


And that's all we're required to memorize, so that's all I did.

Now I've got to go read a chapter in our Government textbook.