One of the legacies of Sister Webb

Hiki Mai Chant and Translation

HIKI MAI E NA PUA I KA LA’IE
KE PI’I A’E LA KA MAUNA KI’EKI’E
HA’A MAI NA KAMA ME KA MAKUA
HE WEHI PULAMA AO’ KE KUPUNA
E KA’I MAI ANA E KA’I MAI ANA
E HAHAI I KA LEO O KA HAKU E

Translation

Come forward and appear you precious
flowers arising in the calmness of this
special day.
Each of you are taking up the challenge
of not simply climbing a high mountain,
but you have chosen to climb the
highest and most majestic mountain of all.
Dance forward you children of your
Heavenly Father, for is it not so that you,
our children, are so very precious. In fact,
you are the most precious adornment
worn around the neck of your ancestors.
Come forward, come forward for there
are many roads for you to choose.
Be sure to follow the voice of the good
shepherd, for he will always keep you,
protect you, and show you the way.

Taken from Because We Sing! and We Also Sing!

Listen to this chant

Thursday. Time to take a breath.

Ahh. I just finished an impending article and it's Thursday, my night to relax.

Thinking

• I'm hungry.
• I want to go home but there's no point. I'll just have to come back to write my paper and cover the women's basketball game.
• Just when I stopped worrying so much about all the stuff I have to do...
• I have plenty of things to do at work currently.
• Sat outside for a while today enjoying the sunshine. It made me happy.
• Hooray for tender mercies that come in the form of free bagels and a midterm called off and the rest of the homework for one of my classes canceled for the rest of the semester and a short school week and... and...!
• I want to play sock hockey.
• I volunteered to put together a Real Life Clue game the Monday after next for FHE. Should be fun.
• Making progress on my 3 big assignments of the semester slowly.
• Hooray for clean laundry and Monday holidays where I get tons done.
• Hooray for blogs that distract me from my homework when I've already been working all day.
• Hooray for Sara, who reads this blog. And my family, who invited me and my roommates to Lehi on Monday morning.
  

Sharing the front page with me

Aha! The tables are turned. Today, Kelly B. shares the front page with me.

Jill and Mara

I love these guys.

Friday/Deseret Connect

It's Friday, it's Friday!

I signed up with Deseret Connect yesterday after I received a text from Graigry insisting that I do so. As part of the application I was required to put a website or Facebook URL. I didn't want to share the FB and I didn't think this blog would be professional enough to put down so I am now resurrecting my other blog, Reflections on Journalism!

This means I'll be trying to keep up two blogs in addition to all my schoolwork. So if I don't add new posts for a while on this blog, my "fun" blog, you'll know it's because I couldn't add to it and stay on top of everything else. But I will continue to update it as often as possible because I love writing it!

Ciao! Tchuss! !Adios!

"If nobody comes forward by the time I get to ten, I will choose some of you at random!"

In my dream, we were on a bus.

We were on our way home from somewhere unimportant. The bus was crowded, but not to overflowing- only one or two people per seat. The driver was a dark man of Middle Eastern descent, talkative and friendly.

Walking ahead of me, Mara and Jill slipped into a seat near the back with another woman, who was leaning against the window and had fallen asleep. I sat next to a professionally dressed blonde lady in the seat behind. She lifted a folded newspaper and lawyer's briefcase onto her lap to give me more room as I sat.

I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes as the bus pulled away from the stop. The smooth purr of the engine soothed me into a half-sleep as I relaxed. In front of me, Mara and Jill sat in silence, each content to stay in their own thoughts.

The next thing I was fully aware of was the driver's voice being projected from the overhead intercom.

"Attention. I have just received word that the traffic on the main road right now is terrible. Would anyone object if we detoured to some side roads? It should only push us back maybe 10 minutes."

Several of the riders called back. "No!" "We don't mind." "That's okay with us." Nobody voiced disagreement.

"OK. I will use the back roads then," came the slightly accented voice of our driver. "We should reach our first stop in little more than an hour."

The bus quieted and I closed my eyes again, this time falling into a true sleep. Outside, it started to rain.

It could only have been 40 minutes before we heard the police sirens. They jolted me awake. Several other sleepers also opened their eyes as the noise grew louder. Our driver pulled the bus carefully to the side of the road. I glanced toward the window, expecting to see the cars with their flashing lights zoom past. But they didn't. Instead, the sound cut out and we were all left to watch the blue and white lights reflecting off the wet road. Two officers walked underneath my window to the front of the bus.

The driver opened the door for them and they stepped in, not bothering to shake off the rain that had soaked their jackets. Everyone heard the conversation that ensued.

"Why did you leave your route?" the front officer demanded. "We've been looking for you for an hour."

"We were trying to avoid the traffic," our driver said calmly. "You have found us. What do you want?"

The officer looked at our driver hard for a moment before stepping into the bus aisle and addressing the riders.

"I'm sure you all know there was a riot tonight," he said. "Illegal protests. I know four of you were at that riot and I hope you will all come forward without trouble. I am here to take you to jail."

No one spoke. The officer looked around, his beady little eyes taking in each person carefully.

"I'm going to count to ten, and I'd better see four rioters up here by then," he said. "If nobody comes forward by the time I get to ten, I will choose some of you at random!"

The lawyer lady I was sitting by straightened immediately. "You can't do that!" she protested. "What if the people you select are innocent?"

"That will be on the conscience of those who kept quiet," the officer retorted. "So you'd better hope it won't come to that." He swept his gaze around the bus again, then when no one came forward, folded his arms and started counting.

A young man in a window seat stood reluctantly and pushed past his companion, who looked at him with awe and pity. The second officer brushed by his partner, who kept counting, and put the man in handcuffs.

When the count reached eight, another, older man finally stood and made his way to be handcuffed also. No one else moved as the first officer got to ten.

He smiled. "Would anyone else like to join these two fellows before I start picking?" Nobody moved, so the cop walked down the aisle, watching each face as he passed until he stopped a few feet away from me. His eyes flicked across my face and then turned to Mara and Jill sitting in the other seat. "You two," he said, taking Jill's arm and reaching to grab Mara too. They followed him slowly to the front of the bus. Mara was scowling, looking at his hand on her shoulder as if imagining all the ways she could maim it. Jill's face was impassive. There was no way to tell her thoughts.

The lawyer lady stood as the officers led the four convicted rioters away and yelled, "You won't get away with this! I'll make you both wish you'd never suggested such a thing. I'll-"

"Stow it," the officer called over his shoulder as he followed his partner outside. "Tell it to the judge!"

"Oh I will," the lady growled under her breath. "He thinks I'm joking, but I will."

I stood with her, tracking the officers' progress through the windows as they led their prisoners into their cars, shut off the flashing lights, and drove away. The rain fell harder, sliding across the panes like tears as the cops' taillights disappeared into the night.

Sister

We are the future

		Sara
		Mara
		Jill
		Jess

The idea for this post was stolen from Sara. Photoshop work was done by Jess.

Awesome quote that can never be used because it is already old news

...In Wednesday's 78-51 win against Air Force, that part of the stands was noisier than usual.

"We dominated like Chuck Norris," freshman Lewis B., a member of the Blue Crew, said.

Surreal

Missed class this morning for my field trip to the courthouse. Got to school afterwards and had to think extra hard about where I was supposed to be. It doesn't feel like Thursday.

Made progress on my to-do list yesterday. Right after I wrote that post and got off work, I headed to the newsroom to try and get something done. I called a lady I need to interview, discovered I had the wrong number, and then didn't get a chance to try again because my phone died. That was about the last straw...

After much deliberation, I headed to the bus stop (tender mercy= no Comms 308 class yesterday because of our field trip this morning) and went home, where I plugged in my phone and made several more calls until I was finally able to get ahold of the lady I wanted to talk to. Everything else went pretty smoothly from there, thank goodness. More smoothly than Wednesday nights usually are, actually. It reduced my stress level a lot. Now all I have to worry about are:

A International athlete article- not started

A Saturday BB game preview- in progress

B Old stadiums article- in progress

B Weekly meeting with my editor

B Find story for multimedia assignment

C Find group for Comms 308 research project

D Attendance article- sort of in progress

Yep yep, we're looking good!

Tension

Whoo! Isn't tension fun?

So much to do this week... I was going to make a good start on it today at work... But I can't seem to find the motivation anymore. Where did all that energy I had on Monday go?

Let's take a look at the checklist:
Comms 308 essay- done!
Comms 411 worksheet- done!
Interview for old stadiums article- done! But I need another...
A FAFSA- done!
A Blue Crew article- in progress
A Comms 411 paper- not started
A/B+ Comms 300 reading- not started; this is on the chopping block if I can't get everything else done
B International athlete article- not started
B Saturday BB game preview- not started
B Trip to the courthouse for Comms 308 tomorrow, which will force me to miss Comms 411
C Old stadiums article- in progress
C Think of topic for Comms 411 research paper
C Think of story for Comms 321 multimedia assignment
C Find group for Comms 308 research project
D Attendance article- not started/sort of in progress

Ahh. Sometimes when I write it all out like that it calms me down because I realize I can take everything in small chunks. But I really do have quite a bit to do today/tonight/early tomorrow.

Dear Sugar

We love you!

Follow-up on last week's goal/ Life is great

Some of you may have noticed there was no victory post Friday. That's because I didn't quite get everything in. The only day I missed being in the paper was Thursday.

M: BYU v. New Mexico (recap)
http://universe.byu.edu/node/13556
T: Bonham named player of the week
http://universe.byu.edu/node/13575
W: BYU v. Wyoming (preview)
http://universe.byu.edu/node/13636
F: BYU v. Wyoming (recap), v. UNLV (preview)
http://universe.byu.edu/node/13688

Also, Sara was very hyper this weekend...

Sara demonstrates prancing during our date Saturday night

I invited Sara over for dinner yesterday. I promise I didn't add anything extra to her chicken...

You've got to love Sara

"Put down the camera or the cereal gets it!"

Whoops. Too late. :)

Beans in an orange bowl

It was just another day in the office...
...until Sara came by at lunchtime and offered to split her lunch with me. (I need to go grocery shopping- thanks for the coupons, Mom.) Only problem- it was beans, rice and chicken, and I had no bowl or eating utensil. The only thing I had was an orange (courtesy of Jill). So, with a little luck and a lot of mad orange-peeling skills, we improvised:
Voila! An orange bowl! With spoon. Awesome, no?

My brothers

Addict

"Speaking of crack..." Mara always says when she sees me pull my bag of cereal out of the cupboard above the fridge.

We have many apartment jokes: the poltergeist, the zombies, and the moose boxers, among other things. My cereal has become one of them.

Consider this hypothetical situation: girl grows up in awesome family with loving, super-health-conscious mom that rarely buys anything but Shredded Mini Wheats. Eventually, the girl starts working part time and earning her own money. Occasionally, she uses some of her hard-earned money to buy different kinds of cereal. She's not very ambitious at first, finding it hard to shake off the health-conscious principles she has learned from her mother most of her life. She avoids all the super-sugary cereals in favor of something slightly less rebellious. Sometimes it's Rice Krispies, which everyone knows is just begging for a generous spoonful of extra sugar. Sometimes it's Honey-Nut Cheerios. Occasionally she's bought Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes.

We're still talking hypothetically here: girl's siblings love the variety they get when their super awesome older sister goes to the local family-owned grocery store and buys cereal. Sometimes they go with her and help pick out the contraband breakfast food. Once they've bought it, the kids' mother graciously allows them to keep it- and eat it. Often, they eat it as fast as possible.

This story is, of course, still purely hypothetical: girl leaves home to attend college. She miraculously lands the best university student job in the world- working for the chemistry department. Also quite miraculously, she is able to find an awesome apartment semi-close to campus and discovers she has (this word is being dangerously overused) awesome roommates. Life gets even better as she realizes she has complete control over what she eats.

She doesn't totally throw out her patient mother's healthy eating guidelines. (In fact, far from it!) But she is now absolutely free to choose which cereal to buy. When she goes to the grocery store, the variety of choice is almost overwhelming. Cereal becomes one of her number one favorite snacks.

I got this bag of cereal on Friday. It was gone by Tuesday.

The above story is purely hypothetical. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are completely coincidental.