Tag: news

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culture Education State

It’s not sexuality OR self-expression

Bingham High School
Photo by Photo Dean

Despite how the media and students are portraying the situation, the Bingham High dress code fiasco isn’t about sexuality nor is it about self-expression despite what this article in the Standard Examiner suggests.

They got their spin from the girl who led the protest walkout on Monday. She said this:

I understand having a dress code but when it comes down to a dance that’s our time to be rewarded for being good students and we should be able to express ourselves.

She’s trying to claim self expression but notice that there is no complaint about the dress code itself. “She understands having a dress code” and she makes no claim that its too restrictive or unreasonable. She simply wishes that it would be ignored for the dance despite the fact that the school did everything to make sure that students understood the dress code for the dance.

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Categories
thoughts

Opportunity in Detroit

1000 dollar home

The city of Detroit desperately needs an investment of human capital, in fact things are so bad that they are selling homes for $1000. Of course a $1000 home is a sure sign that the home is going to need more than the purchase price to make it work but I see this as an incredible opportunity for those who are willing to tackle the whole challenge. Let’s have a look at what that whole challenge is.

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Categories
culture life

Love Waxing Cold

I won’t link to this kind of news article, but suffice it to say that the prophecy in Matthew 24:12 is clearly coming to pass in our day.

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (emphasis added)

The news that proves this is not exclusive to today, or this year, or even this age, but it is increasing in frequency as the coldness of heart that exists in the absence of love becomes more widespread. People are more likely to cling to fear and hopelessness when they do not have the warmth of love in their hearts to sustain them. Sin has a chilling effect on the heart.

I take comfort in the promise that those who endure to the end shall be saved because it implies that we cannot be dragged down eternally without our choice. I am also comforted by the next phrase:

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (emphasis added)

UPDATE 9/25/08: I found an example where I am willing to share a link.

Categories
life

Stuck in Limbo

The last few weeks I have consistently not written on Saturdays. Of course I have been generally less consistent, but Saturdays would seem like the time when I would have the most opportunity to make time to write. This week I have ample time to write, but I find that there is apparently another barrier that I will need to overcome before I can consistently post on the weekends – I am busy enough that I don’t follow the news during evenings or weekends in the last 6 weeks. All that time has been spent working on various projects related to moving (finding a house, preparing the old house, etc. The result is that I don’t have anything that I have been mulling in the back of my mind that I can remember clearly enough to write about it. I am hopeful that this is not a permanent change, but until I have more time to think I expect that my weekend posting will be infrequent at best since I don’t have news articles to react to.

The funny thing here is that just as I am finishing this post I had a thought of something worth posting about from yesterday.

Categories
culture life

Breaking Up

When I saw a disturbing story about a woman shot to death by her estranged husband in my own city it obviously caught my attention. Worse yet, this is coming on the heels of me reading about the breakup of the Nephite society (3 Nephi 7) in the last couple of days. When I was reading that I had started to ask myself “could our society dissolve like that?” I also wondered about what that would actually mean in our time. my initial answer to that question was that yes, having our society dissolve into insular groups with independent standards of behavior is a more or less remote possibility for all societies.

After reading stories like I read today I have to admit that that power of society to create norms of behavior is weaker than we might think. It’s a stark reminder of how thin the line is between civilization and anarchy.

Categories
life

Annual Family News

It’s that time of year. Many people have probably already had at least one newsletter arrive in their mailbox from friends or family. Laura and I have talked about doing a newsletter many times over the years and every year we are moving/graduating/having a baby (pick one) and so it doesn’t happen. This year we are again planning to start that tradition. For one thing, it would be a new kind of writing challenge for me in addition to all the other writing that I do (this blog is not half my writing every day).

Enter my brother’s wife. Their son just had his first birthday – the day before Isaac passed the one month mark – and she used that as an excuse to give a family update in her blog – twice. She posted a nice little visual update and then she posted a written year in review.

While many of the newsletters I have seen over the years include pictures, I liked one thing she did differently. Her pictures spanned the year rather than just being recent photos. Unlike other newsletters, her written review was a snapshot of their family at the end of the year, not a summary of the year.