Tuesdays with Muerte

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 ...

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," multiple meanings come to mind 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 migh...

Lyrics Sheet music Song 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 ...

The Itsy Bitsy Spider: A Fan Theory 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...

Have you seen the 1965 film The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews ? There's a song lyric from "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" that I've misheard my entire life. 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....

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 Song 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. It ...

Why Djoker Will Win the 2023 Aussie Open I just finished watching Novak Djokovic's 4th-round, post-game, on-court interview, and I can just tell he will win. On top of all the other incredible things he has going for him, there is about his confident swagger and playful demeanor cinched it for me. Here's what he said in the interview:  Jim Courier: ' I'm not going to ask you HOW you beat him so convincingly; I'm gonna ask you WHY you beat him so convincingly. ' ― American tennis great Jim Courier said to Novak Djoker  Djokovic after the later dismantled his opponent Alex de Minaur in straight sets.  Djoker : ' Because I wanted to ,' Djoker calmly replied with a grin on his face.  *Mic drop* Did you catch it? Did you sense Djokovic's X-factor in the interview ?  It resides somewhere in the mental/emotional domain. This elusive element, combined with his physical preparation will make him unstoppable. I'm still unsure how to exactly define this X-...

Introduction Note: I originally wrote this circa 2016. It is springtime in Provo and the air is, once again, thick with love. With all of the Especially For Youth (EFY) counselors dotting the BYU campus in their brightly colored polos, I am reminded of a traumatizing, would-be-love story that is finally ripe for serious self-reflection after 10 years. Storytime I worked for EFY in varying capacities for 3 summers (2005-2007). It was one of the most demanding, most satisfying things I've ever done. I used to joke that the pay wasn't great, but the (spiritual) benefits were out-of-this-world. As a 23-25-year-old BYU-Utah undergraduate student, I was beyond my dating prime and feeling serious pressure to be in "wife-finding mode," despite not feeling emotionally prepared for that kind of commitment with another person. In EFY culture, there is an end-of-week relationship tradition observed by both participants and counselors. Although counselors were prohibited (and...

Sometimes, the most painful things I have experienced in life are sad memories I've held on to long after the painful event has past. This issue was brought to mind for me this week as I watched some Doctor Who with Stacia. Doctor Who Explores the Universal Law of Justice Stacia and I just finished watching an episode of Doctor Who called  A Town Called Mercy  (s07e03) where an alien, scientist named Kahler-Jex hides out in the old west. His character was based on J. Robert Oppenheimer, a.k.a. “the father of the atomic bomb.” On Jex's home world, he developed an army of cyborg super-soldiers (through awful torture) who nearly-instantaneously ended a nine year war by “decimating the population.” After the war, Jex and his cyborg-project cohort were hunted down and being eliminated by “The Gunslinger,” a renegade super-soldier. Jex escaped to earth and hid out in a small town in the American West where he led a serene life of service and redemption. But soon the r...

TL;DR — For the past 20+ years, I have begun to slowly release my need for perfection. My first step was to recognize that perfection was neither possible nor healthy. I then began moving toward greater personal calm, enthusiasm for life, & productivity by practicing mindfulness while cultivating a growth mindset  philosophy by embracing imperfection . Introduction In an effort to make my blogposts more readable, I'm going to attempt to limit the content to "just the juicy, personal stuff" from now on. (I.e., No more meanderings through topics.) This post has three sections. Each one includes a key phrase that serves as a snapshot of how I viewed my relationship with perfectionism during 3 different periods of my life. Additionally, I share a personal example to illustrate each key phrase. 1) I Need to Be Perfect "Please bless me to do my best in everything I do." This personal nightly prayer was one of the reoccurring events that solidified ...

Introduction This post is an exploration of the tension that exists between the two seemingly contradictory commandments, (a) Love thy neighbor as they self, and (b) sustain Church doctrine, officers, and policies. As Buddhists (and Stephen Covey) say, there is a "middle way" to the Christian dilemma of feeling like one must either love their neighbor or support the Church. Three Contemporary Examples of The "Love-Law" Paradox These three stories illustrate real-life struggles of people whom I know. When I hear emotionally-charged stories like these, my knee-jerk reaction is to hide from the controversial issue. (a) "The Church or My Sons" An LDS mother had two gay sons. After a few years of wrestling with supporting her sons' lifestyles while still supporting the teachings of the Church, she ultimately left the Church. While she claimed to have a number of other faith-based concerns, it seemed like her main concern stemmed from this one issue, and wh...