American Royalty

I just do not understand all this hullabaloo about the Royal English Wedding that happened today. It's not even our country, and yet it's the only thing on the news. It's been all over every single aspect of the media since last week, if not before then. Sure, it's cool to learn about the details of one of the most expensive weddings in history costing tens of millions of dollars, but it is not so fascinating that I would actually watch the event or that the news should only cover this story.

I do love her dress. I have always loved lace sleeves on
wedding dresses. Even though I don't get the excitement over
the wedding, Kate truly is an elegant, classy gal.

But I guess what matters to people is that it sells. This kind of event appeals to the masses. After all, a supposed 2 billion people tuned in to watch William and Kate tie the knot. Daniel Radcliffe (who played Harry Potter in all the movies) said that the American media is making it a bigger deal than it is even in England. I suppose it might have to do with the fact that America has no royalty. We treat our Presidential families like celebrities, but our president changes every 4 to 8 years. Although former presidents are still important, they aren't always in the limelight past those 4 or 8 years. I mean how often have you heard anything about George W. Bush since Obama took office? In England, there is only one royal family, and it's been that way for hundreds of years, if not thousands. So when the firstborn son who is pretty much going to be king one day gets married, it's a big deal. Perhaps we Americans turn to them to fulfill any romanticized fantasy of how it would feel to be royalty or to have a monarchy. It's interesting how many people I know who watched the wedding, or were mad because they fell asleep during the wedding, or were critiquing the fashion and elegance of it all. I personally don't know how anyone could get so sucked into all that, especially when we are so far removed from that actual event. But I can see how the idea of a normal girl becoming a royal princess and an international political figure is appealing, especially in England where the royal family seems to be loved by all.

Perhaps it is America's fascination with weddings in general that brings this huge media coverage. Weddings are all about showcasing superficial material goods representing two people. Sure, symbolism and love is a precious and sacred thing in weddings. But really, beyond the actual wedding ceremony, the reception and everything else seem to be fancies and frills. Weddings have really become a lavish thing the more mass consumer culture has become a part of modern life. Of course not all weddings are so expensive and fancy, but planning a wedding has come to entail so much more than simply becoming united with your spouse. So much time, energy, and money seems to go into planning a wedding these days. I have seen many of my friends get married in the past few years, and the wedding planning and engagement stage seems to be such a stressful time in their lives! Getting married and having a wedding has come to be much more than simply uniting two people in love forever.

America's mass consumerism seems to have shifted our entire culture and traditions regarding marriage to include wedding receptions and gifts and other material things which may not have been a traditional part of weddings in the past. As so many people focus on the material things in life (i.e. what dress Michelle Obama wore to some party or how much Kate's wedding cake had cost), it makes sense that people would want to hear about all the material aspects of this royal wedding. America did it for Chelsea Clinton's wedding, and now America has done it for William and Kate's wedding (but on a grander scale). These high profile celebrity politicians seem to set the stage for the rest of the world determining the new trends and fashions in wedding cakes, dresses, designs, and so on. I don't know if we can ever stop watching people like them. The media plays a powerful role in determining what society knows and thinks about the world. And as long as the media keeps tabs on these kinds of celebrities, the world will be there to watch.

Random Thoughts on Hard Things

You know what's a good way to open up great opportunities in life? Take something that is hard for you. Something you are not good at. And learn it. Master it as well as you can. And you will be a better person for it. Condelezza Rice spoke at BYU in January and she talked about how that's the way to improve ourselves as individuals. And I believe it's true! In America no one likes to do hard things anymore! We are so specialized that we don't really have to. I know it's true for me. My whole life I have only done things I am good at. Perhaps this is why people think I excel in school and all, but it's just that I know my strengths and I play off of them. I don't do math or science because I haven't kept those skills up. It was too much work. I don't have the time, focus, or patience to learn math stuff for now, so I decided to tackle my hatred of running this year in order to tackle that fear and road block in my life and become a "better" person. So I signed up for 3 half marathon this year! My first one is in two weeks. How crazy is that?

500 Days of Summer

Summer time. Isn't it such a grand time of year? Well, technically it is spring now that I'm in Utah. And it was snowing up a storm around here all day today. But still. The regular school year is out and now is the time for making floral arrangements, learning how to make maps, and hopefully lots of rock climbing! Because of my upbringing in the tropics, I have never quite known what it was like to truly have a summer. People seem to think to live in "paradise" is to live in a perpetual summer. Unfortunately, it is easy to forget the good weather and gorgeous landscape when you have year-round schooling and are always on the watch for bugs and other critters getting into your things.

Rock climbing in Rock Canyon, 2009

Don't get me wrong: I am grateful to have grown up in such an amazing place. But I was living in a bubble, and I never got to enjoy the wonders of the seasons until this year. Even living in Los Angeles didn't bring a tangible change in the weather throughout the year. When I was young, I remember some controversy over the standardized Stanford Achievement Tests used to measure our skills as elementary schoolers well before the No Child Left Behind policy was conceived. There were questions on the test which asked about "common knowledge" of the world in which we live. The thing is the subject of these questions was often the four seasons. There was no way for any of us students in Hawaii to know what snow looks or feels like or what time of year the leaves fall off trees. When I moved to the mainland for college, I was so utterly excited to see signs of seasons and changes in the world around me. I was so happy every time I saw a squirrel on campus at USC. I was ecstatic to see snow for the second time ever when Josh taught me to snowboard at Mountain High in Wrightwood, CA. I was amazed at all the colors of fall this past year in Provo. There's just something magical about these cycles the world flows in and out of so gracefully.

As I approach my very first full year of living in Utah, it is such a wonder to experience the change in all four seasons. Despite having allergies for the first time, it is so worth it to be able to see the leaves budding on trees and flowers blooming on empty branches which were just a week or two ago only the skeletons of trees. Now I understand a little more about what that SAT test was talking about in grade school. Now I can relate better to books and art, and I have such a better understanding of the world around me. How important it is to understand these things, especially as the world becomes increasingly globalized! I welcome spring and summer into my life the joy as I now know how wonderful it is to feel the warmth of the sun after a "bitter" winter.

We are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us. We can never have enough of nature. (Thoreau)

To Be

March was a busy month, and April promises to only be busier. It's so tempting to fall into the senioritis mindset because let's face it, whether or not you are a senior everyone feels "senioritis" at some point in each semester. It seems that it is much easier for this generation of students to get bored with the things we are studying. I am not sure how things used to be in terms of distractions and procrastinating graduate school work, but I feel like I'm a terrible graduate student! Always distracted by websites, text messages, and web surfing random ideas I have. For instance, on Wednesday I woke up at 8am to prepare soda cupcakes (yes, cupcakes made from the box with a can of soda!) with homemade frosting; I had so much fun baking when this is the week that I need to be studying and writing more than any other time in the semester! I have several interviews to transcribe, fieldnotes with memos to write out, and book reports to do. But it seems like everything in the world is trying to distract me from my actual work in this last week of class.

It's so tough to concentrate and focus at a time when life outside of school is getting so exciting. There are so many local concerts I want to attend. Friends want to hang out now more than ever. I have been traveling around lots lately and making time I don't have to see old friends. I was even tempted to fly to LA again this weekend for the USC Songfest (I'm so sad I'm missing Rooney and Augustana!). In short, life's been crazy lately. On top of all that, I just had my book come out so I'm dealing with things related to that, and I'm preparing for my very first half marathon in a month (although I must admit this random snow-rain isn't helping my running schedule here in Provo). With all this going on, it was nice to have General Conference last week as a reminder to take the time I need to focus on the right things in life. But that doesn't make it any easier to get my priorities straight!

Last month I had the opportunity to attend the BYU Military Ball with a friend in ROTC. There we had BYU football coach, Bronco Mendenhall, address us as the guest speaker for the night. He had a lot of interesting insights, but one of my favorite quotes he used is this one by Albert Einstein:

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form."

How true is this? I believe that everyone has the potential to be great. Everyone has a "great spirit" but it is how we react to external forces upon us that determine whether or not we become great people. It really is so easy to choose to do the easier, more fun activities than the boring, time consuming ones, which includes homework. But when time is set aside to study and commit oneself to a subject or activity which furthers ones academic and intellectual capacity, the benefits are so much more outstanding. 

This also reminds me of a general conference talk given last Sunday called "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" by Lynn G. Robbins. I am constantly making to do lists (which seem like they never get done!) and adding things to my schedule.

Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am. 

I like to stay busy, and I like to be active. But this is such a great reminder that what we do is not the most important thing in developing ourselves into better people. We can't change the world by doing good or even great things; we change the world by being good and great people. What a fascinating concept. In the past, "to be" was the focus of life. People in feudalistic societies and beforehand were focused on fulfilling their duty in life through the lot they were given. Religion also played such a major role that everyone was concerned with being good people to receive their rewards in Heaven and to please God. But as society has moved from religion-based to market-based and capitalistic in nature, there has been an increasing focus on actions. Accounting and measuring every aspect of life was becoming the norm. Max Weber famously noted this shift in society in his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. And I believe this shift toward detailed accounting of everything in life has inspired the organization of "To Do Lists." So often we are preoccupied with what we have to do, but wouldn't the world be such a better place if people focused more on how their "To Do"s will lead them "To Be" better people and "To Be" who they want to be.