The Passing of President Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away in his home this evening. An official statement can be read here.

I'm not sure what to add. Several other blogs in the Bloggernacle are already discussing his passing. I was a new convert when President Hunter died, and I was also a teenager who didn't pay too much attention to current events. As a result, this will really be my first experience with prophetic succession.

There are two themes that stick out to me when I think about President Hinckley's ministry. First, he was a big promoter of extending the blessings of the temple to everyone. He embarked on a program of unprecedented temple building. I remember when the small temples were announced, and it's just amazing how fast things have happened. The second theme that sticks out to me is education. President Hinckley championed the Perpetual Education Fund, making it possible for many people in developing countries to gain the blessings of education. Additionally, he has been insistent that everyone should gain all the education that they can.

Godspeed, President Hinckley! May you rest in peace.

Around the Bloggernacle

I've had the flu this week, so I don't have the energy for a proper post. This is the first in a series called "Around the Bloggernacle". I'll link to posts I've found interesting recently.

First, Exponent II has a great post on seasonal depression, entitled S.A.D.ness 2008.
Times and Seasons has a post on Lesson 1 in the Joseph Smith manual, entitled Teaching the very familiar.
The Waters of Mormon has a post, called On Eating Meat, that started out being about reducing meat consumption, and the comments have turned toward vegetarianism.
And, on the lighter side, By Common Consent has a post calling for limericks.

Have a great week!

New LDS Blogs

Dave, over at Dave's Mormon Inquiry, has posted a list of newer LDS blogs. I'm excited that The Posts of My House has made the list. Thank you to all of my current readers, and welcome to all of you who click on over from there.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! This post is a few days later than I had planned, but here goes. At this time of year, many people make resolutions for self-improvement. I usually make two or three, which I manage to keep for about a month in a good year. I was a bit more ambitious this year, and I made eight resolutions for ’08.

There are not many scriptures that focus on the childhood and youth of Jesus Christ, but there is a great one in the book of Luke that I find instructive at this time of year. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52) It shows four distinct areas in which He developed. Since Christ is our example and we are to strive to be like Him, I have chosen this scripture as the framework for my resolutions this year. I have grouped them into four categories.

I. Wisdom- I have defined this broadly to include not only wisdom itself, but all pursuits of the mind. I have three goals in this category.
1. I resolve to return to law school in the fall. When I first wrote this goal, I made it considerably squishier, something like "I resolve to do what I can to return to law school in the fall," but I decided that I was through with being squishy on this one. I recognize that there are parts of this resolution that are out of my control, but I'm going to exercise faith on this one. I firmly believe that I am on the right career path, so I'm going to do my part and let the Lord do His.
2. I resolve to read at least one book per month. It has been a long time since I have taken the time to read a book for fun, as opposed to for a class. I've enjoyed some of the books I've read for class, but there's something different about picking up a book to read simply because I want to. I do a considerable amount of reading for pleasure anyway, between blogs and news articles and other stuff online, but I can't help but feel that I've been missing something by not reading books.
I've already completed January's installment of this resolution. Just yesterday, I finished reading My Grandfather's Son, the autobiography of Clarence Thomas. I found all the hardships he had to overcome to get where he is to be inspiring. My law school woes don't seem so bad anymore. Regardless of what you think of his court opinions, I recommend the book highly.
3. I resolve to write at least one blog entry per week. Well, I've managed it for this week. You'll all know whether or not I end up keeping this one.

II. Stature- I can't do anything about actually increasing my stature; I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I've reached my full, impressive height of 5'4". I'm using this to refer to physical goals. I only have one in this category.
1. I resolve to exercise for 20 minutes per day, six days per week. I have made more ambitious goals about exercise in years past, but I keep breaking them, so I decided to set one I might keep. I've already broken this, so I've decided that it starts tomorrow, the first full week of the year. I used to be in really good shape- I was on the swim team in high school and in the ROTC in college. On and after my mission, I got out of the habit of exercise, and it's really hard to get back in. I'm not overweight, so when I mention to people that I need to start working out again, they are dismissive. I'm not doing it for weight, I'm doing it for health. I feel better when I exercise. Also, heart disease runs in my family, and I want to do everything I can to spare myself from it.

III. Favor with God- This one seems fairly straightforward. I'm using this for goals related to my spiritual life. I have two in this category.
1. I resolve to meditate for 20 minutes per day. The meditation that I do/have done in the past isn't really like a lot of Eastern meditation of which I'm aware. I took a meditation class in college, and it was taught by a Jesuit priest. I found the class to be extremely valuable. We met each morning and meditated as a group. My mind tends to race and I'm often easily distracted. I used the meditation time to just let my mind run with whatever was concerning me, and I found that by just sitting quietly and thinking, I was able to identify and solve my problems. I slept better and had better communion with the Holy Spirit. I've fallen out of this habit and I want to get back into it.
2. I resolve to have at least 20 minutes of quality gospel study each day. In years past, I've set goals to read the standard works during the year. Those goals have been valuable, but I feel that I have sacrificed quality for quantity. This year, I have no set program. I will study what needs to be studied at a given time. I'm hoping that by freeing myself from a schedule, I'll get more out of it.

IV. Favor with man- I've made this a broad category that includes social and financial. I have two goals in this category.
1. I resolve to go on at least three social outings per month. I've kind of let my social life stagnate, and I really need to get out more. I'm defining social outing broadly. It isn't just dates, although a date would certainly qualify.
2. I resolve to find a job in the legal field that will be sufficient to pay my bills. My current job is in the medical/social services field, and it is sucking me dry emotionally. It also doesn't pay me enough to avoid the ugly trap of credit card debt. (And I don't live extravagantly, either.) I have a recruiter helping me out. I'm looking for a paralegal position somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. I know the jobs are out there, I just need to find one.

I love the start of a new year because it gives me an extra incentive to start fresh and improve myself. What are some of your resolutions? Do you find yourself making the same ones over and over again, or do you make different ones each year?

Personal Update, and an Admonition to Blog!

First, I would like to joyously announce that as of Thursday, I have successfully completed a paralegal program! This is huge for me because it's the first ray of sunshine I've had in my path toward the bar. (The law kind, not the alcohol kind.) I'm now looking for a job in a law firm, so that I can quit my current dismal job. If everything goes according to plan, I should be able to go back to law school in the fall. Thank you to those of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it.

I've been blogging now for a little over a year, but it's been sporadic. I'll go through periods where I'll be writing a lot, and I'll go through periods where I'll just read what other people have written. There's been talk around the Bloggernacle about whether the leadership of the church reads our blogs. Elder Ballard, in a talk given at the graduation for BYU-Hawaii, confirmed that they do. Students were admonished to start blogging about the church, because the conversation will happen whether or not we participate in it, and our voices need to be heard.

I would like to give a shout-out to Bookslinger. He's on a quest to flood the Earth with the Book of Mormon, and his blog was referenced in Elder Ballard's remarks. Keep up the awesome work!

I don't have much new to add. This talk is being discussed on several of the larger blogs in the 'nacle. It has renewed me with a desire to publish more often. I'm going to remember the theme scripture I chose for this blog, and I'm going to talk about the gospel throughout the day, and write it on The Posts of My House!

Give a Water Buffalo for Christmas

Janet over at Feminist Mormon Housewives has organized a donation drive for Heifer International. The Bloggernacle is teaming up to raise funds to help. The funds will be used to purchase livestock, which will be given to communities and individuals in need.

Wikipedia's entry on Heifer International reads:

Animals such as goats, water buffalo and camels are “seven M” animals: they provide meat, milk, muscle, manure, money, materials and motivation. Once its immediate needs have been met, a family is free to sell any excess at market. Heifer International provides a breeding animal along with the gift animal so that it can produce offspring. Participating families are required to “pass on the gift”, that is: they must give at least one of the female offspring to a neighbor who has undergone Heifer’s training. In time, that neighbor will pass along one of the offspring of its animal, and so on.

We're trying to raise $1,000 for the "Milk Menagerie". If you want to participate, you can join Team Bloggernacle by clicking here.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I've decided to do a gratitude post, because I have so much to be thankful for. I was pondering on one of my favorite scriptures, found in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

A lot of times it's easy to give thanks for the things we enjoy, but it's more difficult to give thanks for our trials. In Corrie Ten Boom's book The Hiding Place, Corrie and her sister were in a concentration camp, and they were living in a flea-infested barracks. Corrie was complaining about this, but her sister reminded her that we should be grateful for everything. Corrie decided that she was going to thank God for the fleas. What she didn't find out until later is that because of the fleas, the guards left the barracks alone, leaving them free to hold Bible study groups without interference.

In the spirit of Thessalonians and The Hiding Place, I'm going to list some things I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for my extremely stressful job caring for developmentally disabled individuals, because it is helping me gain patience and charity.

I'm thankful that I had a chance to step back from law school and experience other things. This has helped me to know that law is really what I want to do, not just some default I picked because I can't do other things.

I'm thankful that my experience of being treated unjustly by my law school has given me compassion for others who have experienced injustice, and a greater desire to help them.

I'm also thankful for the traditional things that people are thankful for. I have a wonderful family, food on the table, a roof over my head, gas in my car, freedom to do as I please, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am truly blessed indeed.

What are you thankful for?

I'm Still Here...Really!

Once again, I have neglected blogging in favor of real life. Shame on me. ;-)

It's been a busy month. I got my LSAT score back, and I did better than before. Now I just have to get my applications in. I'm a few weeks away from graduating from a paralegal program, which should make me employable while I'm waiting to get back into law school. I don't really have the time or mental energy for a proper post, so I'm going to re-post a lengthy comment I placed on Mormon Mentality this evening.

It was an introductory getting-to-know-you thread with a bunch of questions for everyone to answer. So, without further ado, I present to you the life and times of Keri Brooks.

1) How did you find the bloggernacle, what drew you to blogging?

I don’t remember why, but one evening a little over a year ago, I was googling Christian Feminism, and I happened upon Feminist Mormon Housewives. I liked the lively conversations, and I started reading some of the other blogs, too.

2) Where were you born, are you LDS, were you raised in the church, how do you characterize yourself?
I grew up in San Jose, CA. I am LDS. I was not raised in the church, but I was baptized shortly before I turned 13. I characterize myself as a Christian, libertarian, feminist, sci-fi fan, head-in-the-clouds type, I guess.

3) Do you have a college degree?
Yes. BS in political science. I am doggedly pursuing a JD, but it’s taking longer than I thought.

4) Are you married? Kids?
No, and no. I am currently one of the rare breeds of YSAs insistent on attending a family ward despite great cultural pressure to attend a singles’ ward instead.

5) Where do you live?
Fremont, CA

6) Favorites:

1. Food- Burritos
2. Color- Blue
3. Movie- A Civil Action
4. Book- Atlas Shrugged
5. TV show- Bones
6. Blog- This is a tough call. I’m partial to both BCC and M*.

7) What is your most embarrassing moment?
I wasn’t raised in the church, but my grandparents are highly active members. When I was about 5 years old, they took me to primary one day. During sharing time, the primary president was trying to elicit answers from the kids. She asked, “What is the really big word we talked about last week?” Nobody said anything. I, of course, wasn’t there the previous week, so I didn’t know the answer. However, that has never stopped me from saying things. When it became clear to me that nobody was going to respond, I piped up with the biggest word I knew at the time: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

8 ) What’s your pet peeve?
When my roommate uses my dishes and then leaves them in the sink without washing them.

The Marathon Weekend

This past weekend was a marathon. I re-took the LSAT, and I participated in the Bloggernacle Marathon Relay Race.

The LSAT wasn't that bad the second time around. I felt better prepared, and I arrived in plenty of time to avoid the stress of potential tardiness. Of course, they say that getting there is half the fun. I had to travel from Fremont, CA to Fresno, CA. For you non-Californians, here's the lowdown. Yes, they're both in the same state. They even start with the same letter and have the same number of syllables. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how well you like Fresno, with its smell of agriculture) they're nowhere near one another. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get there (liberally interpreting the speed limit), and 3 to get home. Fortunately, I had my iPod, and I listened to the New Testament. (Not the whole thing, but I knocked out a good chunk of it.) I ended up putting over 300 miles on my car, and using a whole tank of gas. I feel really good about the test, though. I should get my results in a few weeks.

I'm really out of shape, but I did my best to help out team M* in the Bloggernacle Relay. As of the writing of this post, we're in the lead, but a few teams haven't reported in yet. I normally don't like to run, but being part of a team made it fun. I told my family that I was training for a race, and naturally, they wanted to know more about it. They don't know about my participation in the Bloggernacle, so I just told them that some of the blogs I read were sponsoring a race. It felt all subversive. Gotta get my rebellion in somewhere. At least I'm sticking to mostly harmless pursuits. After all, it's not like I'm running for BCC. ;-)

After running one of the legs of the race, I decided I needed to have the afternoon snack of champions. I took a still life photo of what I ate to refuel.Not the healthiest option, but Boo Berry cereal brought back nostalgia from my childhood. I bought it on impulse from the grocery store.

In all, though it was an exhausting weekend, I enjoyed it.



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Note: The dig at By Common Consent (BCC) was meant in jest. It's a common Bloggernacle passtime to poke fun at BCC. It's actually one of my favorite blogs, and I'll explain why in an upcoming post.

The Bloggernacle Relay

I must repent of not posting. I've decided to write about the other blogs I read, and what I like about them. Each day for the next week, I'll highlight a few blogs. Today, I'll start with two: Times and Seasons, and The Millennial Star.

Times and Seasons bills itself as "Quite possibly the most humble, yet enigmatic, onymous Mormon group blog in history." Of course, if you refresh the page, you might get something like, "Quite possibly the most irrational, yet chiastic, onymous Mormon group blog in history." or "Quite possibly the most black-and-white, yet commented upon, onymous Mormon group blog in history."
I enjoy the blog because it has a large group of intelligent and thoughtful bloggers. The permabloggers cover a wide range of opinions, so it generates some good discussion. I feel smarter by osmosis after reading.

The Millennial Star is another thoughtful blog. It's a bit smaller, which makes it nice. Comments don't tend to get lost in the discussion. They're fielding a team in the Bloggernacle Relay Race, and I'll be running with them. You can, too. Click here to see how.

Cheers. Have a great Labor Day weekend.