Hello all! Happy Turkey Day!Here is my de rigueur Thanksgiving day post. I'd first like to share a quote from Abraham Lincoln, from his declaration making Thanksgiving an official national holiday:

“It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our … sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

Great words from a great man. I'd like to share with you all what I am grateful for in my life. I contemplating making separate lists, but I think I'll go for it all in one:
What I'm Thankful For:

1. God
2. A Knowledge that He exists, and that He knows me
3. His guidance in my life
4. A Savior
5. His atonement
6. Two parents who love each other and love me
7. Three crazy and wonderful siblings
8. A great and hilarious extended family
9. Good health
10. My grandpa's good recovery
11. Beautiful seasons and weather
12. The opportunity to get higher education
13. Support and encouragement from my family to get an education
14. Hard (but interesting) classes
15. Easy (but fun) classes
16. Crazy friends who make me laugh incessantly
17. Wal-mart
18. Gelato
19. Waffles
20. Joe's Barbeque
21. All kinds of good food- and that I can eat them
22. Family traditions
23. Enjoying family time even when we don't do the traditions
24. Snow
25. Rain
26. The beautiful flowers and trees and mountains of BYU campus
27. Art
28. Music- oh the wonders of music
29. Freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom of assembly- Freedom.
30. A nation that, with all its faults, is still founded on and seeks for goodness and justice
31. Leaders who, despite their faults, seek for goodness and justice
32. A gospel of peace
33. Inspiration and revelation
34. Teachers who have taught me well and made me work and wonder
35. Books, and the ability to read them
36. Financial security in troubled times
37. My cats
38. My bestest friend Jessica
39. An eternal perspective
40. Thanksgiving, so I'm forced to think every year about all the many many things I am so truly grateful for.

I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Enjoy it with your family, friends, those who you love most.  I know I am. 

Rushed madly on Friday to finish a paper- succeeded, printing it 5 min before I had to be at class (it takes 7 to get there. But nbd.) Had a sweet Saturday with the fam. Boutique was a raving success, as per usual. Wrote a letter to my cousin who's serving a mission- my first personal letter to a missionary (the first of many, I'm sure!) Bought a boatload of fan-freaking-tastic music, including: Heartbeat Radio, the new album by Sondre Lerche, Far by Regina Spektor, some Andrew Bird (got that song I posted below!), Senors of Marseille, and a simplistically beautiful version of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Sufjan Stevens. Also got a bunch of music from my sister Fran- Draco and the Malfoys, Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, several million seconds of techno (Basshunter, mostly) which is primo for working out on the elliptical machine, and I don't even know what else yet. And a little gift for all you twilight junkies:


Laughed Out Loud. For 10 minutes. Seriously.
Off to 70 degree weather, turkey, and family extravaganzizing on Tuesday (aka, Thanksgiving in AZ with the grandparents!) Can't wait! 

I am currently unable to focus on writing my other two papers for philosophy and economics. Not to mention a personal essay which has just barely come together. And thus I'm writing on my blog. Efficient, no?

Anyway. I can't even think what to write on here. So here's a song which inspires me to be reflective. The man, by the name of Andrew Bird, is a phenomenal musician and whistler extraordinaire.

  


I went to see this week's International Cinema film Water last Friday (by myself... but that's another story. Perhaps I'll continue it below.*) It was beautiful- and beautifully depressing. Directed by Deepa Mehta, it's in Hindi, and set in India in 1947 (although it was filmed in Sri Lanka due to political controversy. It's also banned in India.) The film is about a seven (yes, seven- no typo, not seventeen) year-old widow, Chuyia who is sent to live in an ashram, or prison-like home, for widows. "Water" describes her experience adapting (reluctantly) to her new way of life.

It also focuses on the lives of two other strong women who befriend Chuyia. One is a beautiful, pure-in-heart young woman who is pimped out (reminds me of Sonia from Crime and Punishment... what is with the good-hearted prostitute archetype?) yet falls in love with a noble Nationalist lawyer-in-training. The other is a highly religious and stoic woman whose faith is challenged due to the exceeding hardship and inequity she lives with. As the film goes on, tragedy, of course, ensues. The message of the film is obviously to bring attention to the horrible conditions that widows in India were, and still are, subjected to. The issue here is that Hindu Holy texts are interpreted so as to conveniently make widows the lowest of citizens. While everyone claims cultural or religious justification, as one character says, "It's all about money- one less mouth to feed, four saris saved, an extra bed." Just like with so many other forms of oppression.

My favorite quote of the movie was when the horrible ashram matron asks, "And when our husbands die, God help us, the wives also half die. So how can a poor half-dead woman feel any pain?" She Chuyia replies "Because she is half-alive."

As with so many other films about issues like this, there's no resolution (perhaps it's an Indian thing? I know Salaam Bombay is much the same... as well as Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories, which are fabulous but make you want to give up on love and life and the whole world.) There's no Slumdog Millionaire feel-good moment at the end. You're left with tears and a sickness in the pit of your stomach, a longing in your heart that things will work out right. But they don't- and how can they? It's not hard to see why this film would be banned in India, although it's lamentable. It certainly sheds an unhappy and unyielding light on the inequity of widows' statuses in Indian society. Although it's set in pre-independence India, and certainly things have gotten better since then, there are still so many problems.

Watching this movie just strengthened my India obsession. I want to go there, live there, work there so so so incredibly badly. And listening to the dialogue made me want to learn Hindi even worse. I'm going to go with Arabic for now, but I may be tempted to switch.... or do both (am I insane? Yes. The answer would be yes.) The scenery was so gorgeous... the colors and the intensity of it all. And the social issues it presented made me want to DO something- that's what I want to do for my job. Help these people who are so oppressed and left without a means of support. Furthermore, it made me want pursue Anthropology again because I realized how much of these issues are instigated and reinforced by cultural traditions, and that you have to understand the culture if you're going to make any real progress. Sigh... International Relations, Econ double major, and International Development and Anthro minors? Can it be done? I doubt it. But it's a cool thought.... Anyway. I digress.

In short, Water is an incredible film. After some research I found out it's the last in a trilogy of movies by Mehta- the first two being Fire and Earth. I'm definitely going to look into them. But you should all watch Water- it exposes some highly uncomfortable topics, but it's done with such strength and delicacy and beauty that it's worth every second. Highly recommended.





*I invited two of my guy friends from another dorm area to come and see it with me, for my birthday. Saw the one at lunch that very day- and he said he really wanted to come and was planning on it. So I texted him at 7:30, and he replied "Well, I'm actually at the basketball game right now. I might have to be a little late." A bit ticked, I said "Oh. Ok... well what time are you going to come?"
...
I never heard another word from him, he didn't ever come, and I still haven't heard a word.  Rude. I was very mad. Very annoyed. I'm so done. I am tired of inviting these two (the other one especially) to do things, and them never committing. If they want to hang out, as the first one keeps professing, he can call ME and invite me to do something. And I'll show up. But until that day, I am done. Regardless, it was a great movie, and I would have gone no matter if I had to go alone- on my birthday- or not. I will admit being stood up didn't help the depressing spirit of the movie, however. But I'm a big girl, now, 19- mature, unlike some people.

It's finally here.


Friday, the 13th of November.


My birthday on the luckiest of unlucky days.


I have officially been waiting for this day since one afternoon in 5th grade. I distinctly remember it: sitting at a cafeteria table at lunch, thinking to myself: hey, won't it be way cool when my birthday is on a Friday?!? Lamenting that I had missed the last opportunity to celebrate such a momentous occasion, I then proceeded to plan out exactly when my next Friday the 13th birthday would be. I got really excited when I figured it would be my 18th b-day- such a milestone on such a cool day. I then realized that I had failed to take leap year into account, thus making it my 19th. And the countdown began. And now it's here! I've had a fabulous day so far- sleeping in, cancelled class, watching an adorable movie, Serendipity (which makes me wistful about my own fated life...sigh) with McCall, aaaaand a delicious dinner at La Dolce Vita- yum! Now, I'm off to see "Water," a Hindi film they're showing for International Cinema. Way cool.


So in the spirit of the day, here are my birthday wishes:
-I'll get into the 12:00 section of Arabic next semester... 8:00am was suicide, but 4:00 isn't a ton better.
-My face will stop erupting with zits like the Ring of Fire.... I'm almost out of my teens, for pity's sake!
-Someone will man up and ask me to do something sometime... or initiate communication of any type.... sigh.
-The new Sondre Lerche, Regina Spektor, and Joshua James albums :D
-A pair of brown leather boots
-I'll be able to scrounge an A- out of Econ


Obviously, some of these are more attainable than others. But nonetheless, a girl can dream, right? Especially on such an unluckily lucky day like this one.

Just thought I'd share this link really quick, since that's like, half my point in having this blog. Plus the home page is looking a bit colorless and wordy. Here's a song I've been loving lately. (p.s. I went to her concert last Friday. Utterly fantastic. She played this song first. I died.) Enjoy :)

As you can see, I've been playing around a little with the formatting. Ok, a lot. I think I have spent a good fours hours shopping for a template. I think that may be the second largest chunk of my time schedule in the past week, after econ (considering I think I have spent 48 out of the last 72 hours doing econ. Kill me. And I'm thinking of double majoring in it? Why. Tell me why.) In any case, I've taken quite a liking to this one. We'll see if it sticks.

In the past few months, I have come across an increasingly many tidbits of internet goodness that I just couldn't help wanting to share with all y'all (and by y'all I of course mean you, my as-of-yet non-existent followers). I found myself posting them to facebook with alarming frequency, and while facebook is certainly an apt social mechanism which heaven knows captures far too great a share of my attention, it lacks a certain artistic feel, not to mention the fact that I'm sure all my friends have grown rather disgruntled with my continual spamming. And thus, in moments of reflection, I began to wonder: "Wouldn't it be handy if I had a blog to put all this random crap on?" So after several months of pondering, and forgetting, and re-pondering, as well as discussions with other bloggers and wanna-be-bloggers in my social circle (namely my cousin, Anna, and my dear friend Amanda) I have decided to give it a go. And here it is.