Tuesdays with Muerte

Introduction I'm reading Filled with His Love by Russell T. Osguthorpe, emeritus Sunday School General President for the LDS church. I was startled by the first paragraph of his book. Of all the problems we face in mortality, the most vexing is not the lack of money or even the lack of food and water. It is the lack of love—the inability to receive and give love as the Savior did. If our physical body receives the necessary nourishment but our spirit does not receive and give love, our time on earth has no meaning. We might as well not exist. —Russell T. Osguthorpe, Filled with His Love Osguthorpe obviously feels strongly about the importance of loving and feeling loved. This reminded me of an interaction with him over a decade ago circa 2013. While walking between classes, I recognized Professor Osguthorpe, an emeritus BYU McKay school professor while he was on campus developing the Come Follow Me Church-wide Sunday School program. I nervously initiated a conversation. And though

Hunky-Dory Hunky-dory  is a term that means things are safe, all good, or going well. E.g., "Everything is hunky-dory" But where did the phrase come from? Adobe Stock The  Online Etymology Dictionary  claims that the phrase  hunky-dory  may have originated from the Middle Dutch word  honc , meaning "place of refuge, hiding place." Honc  then evolved into the Dutch word  honk , which was used in a Frisian variant of the game of tag (as in guten tag ) to mean the “goal” or “homebase.” The Dutch took this word (and presumably the game, too) overseas from New Amsterdam to New York. The first recorded usage of the term was around the 1840s in New York. Once the children's game hit New York, honk  may have evolved into the slang term  hunk  ("in a safe position," 1847). Perhaps hunk evolved into the cutsie derivative  hunkey  ("safe, all right, satisfactory," 1861). In other words, to achieve  hunk  or  hunky  in a child's game was to make it

Winning after a clutch penalty kick, Adobe Stock I love the word clutch , especially when it describes a person winning a game or accomplishing a difficult activity (such as being the only remaining player on one's team against several opponents). When I hear the word "clutch," I think of multiple meanings simultaneously: Etymologically, clutch  comes from the Middle English clitch , which means to "close the hand," or "grasp something tightly" which reminds me of cinching the win (like a horse saddle strap), leaving no room for escape. In Old English, clyccan  means "crook" or "bend," which adds a new dimension to the word's meaning. A clutch play can be illustrated by a shepherd's crook, illustrating a sudden 180-degree change in the momentum of the game. In the vernacular, I imagine a bird of prey's clawed clutch , unexpectedly (or luckily) swooping in and snatching victory away from one's opponents. Clutch might

Nixon predicted the current state of U.S.-Russian politics in 1992. Say what you will about Nixon's Watergate coverup, he was one smart guy and a heck of a statesman. When Nixon was wrong, he was very wrong. But when he was right, he nailed it. After the U.S. "won" the Cold War with Russia in 1991 , the ideals of freedom (free-market capitalism and educated democracy) have stood trial on the world stage. The Cold War isn't over. The opponents of liberty and justice for all are lying in wait. As the Great Experiment of democracy has succumbed to the consequences of pride (e.g., a false sense of security ) and constant subversive influences (e.g., Russian imperialism ) over the years , free nations (including the U.S.) have begun to revert to (not communism, which has failed) but a new despotism or authoritarian demagogism . The Book of Mormon demonstrates this same dynamic in the book of 3rd Nephi. In Chapter 1, we read that though signs and wonders abound, the wic

Lyrics Sheet music Review Few hymns bring me greater peace than  My Shepherd Will Supply My Need . And no one sings it better than the Tabernacle Choir. Here are some of the couplets I find most meaningful: In pastures fresh He makes me feed, Beside the living stream. For me, this imagery reminds me that wherever I am, I am partaking of God's creations for me. He is my constant source of nourishment, whether I recognize His hand or not. ( Mosiah 2:20-24 ) He is the living stream. But it is up to me to come to him to receive His life-giving water. A word of Thy supporting breath, Drives all my fears away. "Peace." ( Mark 4:35-41 ) This lyric reminds me of the many times God's Spirit has banished my fear.   Thy hand, in sight of all my foes, Doth still my table spread; When my senses are trained on the surrounding threats, this verse reminds me to keep my attention on the Savior. He will provide. In fact, these perceived threats may just be opportunities to become more

I just learned about water sprouts . These bad boys love to grow on fruit trees. They provide the perfect structural support for spiderwebs. Fruit farmers are all too familiar with them because they qualify as "deranged wood" and need to be regularly pruned. However, as we will explore later, they can also serve as powerful metaphors. It reminded me of the familiar nursery rhythm "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (based on the original 1910 folksong, "Spider Song"). I wondered if the song included the lyric water spout at some point in its evolution . The first publication of the song involved a spider climbing and being washed from a web . "Oh, the blooming, bloody spider went up the spider web , The blooming, bloody rain came down and washed the spider out, The blooming, bloody sun came out and dried up all the rain, And the blooming, bloody spider came up the web again." Originating in Southern California during the pre-dustbowl (Grapes of Wrath) era,

My entire life, I incorrectly heard a song lyric from "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" in The Sound of Music . I thought Rolf sang, "Timid and shy and scared are you of things beyond your kin (as in family)." But I recently learned while reading How To Know A Person by the wordsmith David Brooks that the lyric is not kin, but ken . I had to look up the full lyrics to confirm. Sure enough, ken . So what does ken mean? Turns out, it's a nautical term.  Merriam-Webster has this to say: Ken appeared on the English horizon in the 16th century as a term of measurement of the distance bounding the range of ordinary vision at sea—about 20 miles. British author John Lyly used that sense in 1580 when he wrote, "They are safely come within a ken of Dover." Other 16th-century writers used ken to mean " range of vision " ("Out of ken we were ere the Countesse came from the feast." — Thomas Nashe) or "sight" ("'Tis double d

Preface Thank you for engaging with this post. My purpose for writing this was to map my thoughts, which means it isn't easy  to read. But rewriting it for a public audience would take me more time than I'm willing to spend. So, I hope you enjoy seeing how my mind works. How Did This Question Arise? This question is a discarded tangent from another project I'm working on about The Hero's Journey. Although it didn't fit into that project, it was too good to dismiss completely.  This specific question arose when I came across a video that clearly suggested that  Jiminy Cricket  was  Pinocchio's mentor, but I wasn't so sure. When I saw the video's title,  Pinocchio | Sidekicks And Mentors | Disney+ , I wondered why Disney couldn't commit to a single label for Jiminy .  "Is he a sidekick or mentor?" To me, sidekicks (or allies) are very different from mentors. To be fair, they probably intended for Jiminy to serve both roles, like Timothy the M

Introduction I listened to the lyrics to the AJR song,  BANG!  for the first time today and immediately noticed its connection to suicide. Curious why this wasn't obvious to more people, I googled it and discovered that I may be  one of the few people who think this way. I'm not crazy, right? Pexels.com Lyrical  Analysis Listen to the chorus: "Everybody come hang (come hang). Let's go out with a bang. Bang! Bang! Bang!" These repeated words brought to my mind a couple of terrifying statistics:  Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and youth ages 12-18 ( CDC WISQARS ) The two leading methods of suicide (in high-income countries) are hanging and firearms ( The Parent Resource Program ). As I continued to examine the song lyrics, I realized EVERYTHING about the song supported my interpretation. This radio hit doesn't necessarily glorify suicide. It's more of a social commentary on the frustrating plight of American youngsters.

Pexels Brigham Young University (BYU) students, like students anywhere else, are susceptible to the winter blues. Here are some common ways students might cope with the winter season: Outdoor Activities : Taking advantage of  winter intramural sports and activities  can be a great way to stay active and enjoy the season. Additionally, students might prefer going out on their own by taking advantage of local, world-class skiing or snowboarding resorts Alta or Snowbird , or simply taking a walk in the snow. Don't like the cold? Soak in the sunshine by heading to St. George for a day. Indoor Recreation : Keep up with exercise routines and plan weekly activities to break the winter routine. BYU and Provo offer indoor recreational facilities where students can engage in activities like pickleball, or  swimming at the Richards Building (RB), rock climbing at the Quarry, or playing indoor activities with friends during open court times at the RB gyms. Whatever indoor activity you choo