Mary Versus the Trumpeting Legions of Apathy

At first I thought she was looking for someone who was standing behind me, the way she kept leading with her chin towards my right shoulder to talk into my ear. "Did you get your Masters?" Oh, it's me you're addressing...Yes, I did. "What school did you go to?" Brigham Young University, in Utah. "I thought so--I remember you from the listserv. And then when I saw you were drinking a Coke, I knew it was you. See, I grew up Mormon." But -- it was obvious from the way she was shouting towards my ear like we were inside the crowded bar instead on the outside porch, and the cigarette in her right hand-- she did not grow up to be a Mormon. "I know the culture you're coming from." I see; that's great. She told her name, and how it was a "typically Mormon name" and everyone at EFY had a name like hers and how she almost went to BYU, but something didn't work out, but she wanted to hear about the English department there. I ...

One of the few disadvantages of growing up in a first-rate university town where your parents teach is that you don't really go away to college. Not that this is much of a disadvantage: you can come home for Sunday dinner, enjoy free room and board whenever it suits you, and your mom will pick you up and take care of you when you get really sick. No, I might go as far as to say that living in your alma mater's town has its advantages. Until you move away. Then you feel a little bit like a doofus. You have to think, "If I pack these rollerblades, I won't have much space, but if I don't pack them, it's not like I can run home and get them." And you can't borrow tools from your dad, so you finally have to go to Lowe's and pick some up. Fortunately, my parents came down here with me and helped "set me up." Boy, howdy did they, because I don't know how I could have put together all that Ikea furniture, and done that car shopping, and gotte...

This summer my sister and mom and I had a goal to run a 5k every month. We've done okay, but for August I had to sign up for a "virtual run." May's run was a benefit run for Now I Can! an NGO for kids who need physical therapy. June was the Weight Watcher's run (if you ever want a feel-good run, it's this one--every one gets a certificate of completion!). July's run, though, was just heartbreaking. It was called Conner's Run. The Conner in honor of whom the run was named was three or four years old in August when, after swimming, he decided to warm up by lying down on the hot asphalt in front of his house. His aunt, who I guess feels worse than I can imagine, backed over him. There was nothing the EMTs could do. Instead of just blaming each other, the family decided to make the anniversary of Conner's death a date to honor the emergency response departments. Besides the run itself, there were firetrucks with the ladders raised and a lifeflight heli...

This has been my last week and a half in my hometown of Provo (for 4 months, anyway), so I really rocked it. Check out all the Utah-y things I did: 1) Hiked Giles Ranch up South Fork Canyon. 2) Bean Museum audio tour. 3) Ran in a charity 5k (more on that later). 4) Ate BYU Creamery ice cream--Graham Canyon. 5) Went to a Peter Breinholt concert. 6) Threw a little apartment-party. 7) Walmart pedicure. 8) FHE cabbage ultimate frisbee (actually, I just watched). 9) TRC at the MTC where I lied to missionaries in Russian. 10) Provo temple trip. 11) Bought a BYU bumper sticker. 12) Visting teaching with Dunbabin. 13) Bike ride downtown. 14) Thai Ruby for lunch. 15) Movie at University Mall. 16) Long walk with dog by river. 17) Pioneer Day activity in park. 18) World-record water balloon fight. 19) Parade in Spanish Fork--lots of tractors, lots of trucks with little kids on the back. 20) Just lie in the hammock and look up at the trees of the backyard of my home. If you can think of quintessen...