If Pride and Prejudice Were on Facebook...

"Pride and Prejudice" News Feed

Charles Bingley is checking out real estate in Hertfordshire.

Mrs. Bennet became a fan of single men of good fortune.

Kitty Bennet has a cough.

Mr. Bennet is tired.

Nine of your friends are attending The Meryton Assembly.

Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley are now friends.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is so over this.

Elizabeth Bennet is tolerable, but not tempting.

Mr. Bennet politely requests that, next time, Bingley sprain his ankle after the first dance.

Mrs. Bennet joined the group Insulted Mothers Against Pompous Paramours.

Elizabeth Bennet would streak Meryton before she'd dance with Mr. Darcy.

Jane Bennet is attending A Girls' Luncheon at Netherfield.

Jane Bennet removed "riding horseback in the rain" from her interests.

Elizabeth Bennet is walking to Netherfield.


Fitzwilliam Darcy likes what exercise does to the ladies.

Elizabeth Bennet is tired of social niceties.

Elizabeth Bennet poked Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Fitzwilliam Darcy poked Elizabeth Bennet.

Fitzwilliam Darcy added "feisty girls with crazy families" to his interests.

Caroline Bingley wishes the earth would open up and swallow Longbourn whole.

Lydia Bennet is SOLDIERS SOLDIERS SOLDIERS!!!

Mr. Collins is looking to change his relationship status.

Elizabeth Bennet and George Wickham are now friends.

George Wickham is a fan of slander, but he's totally not intimidated.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is attending A Ball at Netherfield.

George Wickham is not attending A Ball at Netherfield.

Elizabeth Bennet would have preferred streaking Meryton.

Jane Bennet tagged six of your friends in the note "How to Go Out in Public Without Humiliating Your Family."

Charles Bingley changed his relationship status to "It's complicated."

Mr. Collins thinks his cousin's modesty adds to her perfections, and is thus by no means discouraged.

Mr. Collins needs a new place to crash.

Caroline Bingley will not be looking back on her way to London.

George Wickham is making excuses.

Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins are engaged.

Jane Bennet thinks London might make for a nice change of scenery.

Charlotte Lucas created the event Please Visit Hunsford Before I Strangle My Husband.

Elizabeth Bennet is on her way to the parsonage.

Colonel Fitzwilliam wonders why Darcy is dragging him to Rosings.

Mr. Collins is *thrilled* to be dining at Rosings, bathed in the generosity of her ladyship's spirit.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh must have her share of the conversation!

Fitzwilliam Darcy's heart is arm-wrestling his common sense. And it's winning.

Elizabeth Bennet joined the group Consider Civility in Declarations of Love.

Fitzwilliam Darcy tagged Elizabeth Bennet in his note A Faithful Narrative.

Elizabeth Bennet just is.

Lydia Bennet is following the SOLDIERS to Brighton!!$%@#!

Elizabeth Bennet is touring Derbyshire.

Elizabeth Bennet became a fan of Pemberly.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is hopeful.

Elizabeth Bennet is uncomfortable.

Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are now friends.

Lydia Bennet changed her relationship status to hahahahaha-wheeeeeee!!

Jane Bennet tagged Elizabeth Bennet in her note Come Home!

Fitzwilliam Darcy joined the group Gentlemen Against George Wickham: The Sequel.

Mrs. Bennet is a fan of overwrought weeping in bedchambers.

Lydia Bennet and George Wickham are now married.

Lydia Bennet Wickham removed "keeping secrets" from her interests.

Mrs. Gardiner tagged Elizabeth Bennet in her note He's Not Just Doing This Out of the Goodness of His Heart.

Charles Bingley is headed back to Netherfield.

Mrs. Bennet wants nothing more than for Bingley to shoot her birds.

Elizabeth Bennet wonders why the silent, grave and indifferent bother to show up at all.

Charles Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy are attending Dinner at Longbourn.

Mrs. Bennet invites you to hang Kitty.

Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley are engaged.

Elizabeth Bennet removed "meddling aunts" from her interests.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh doesn't understand when people refuse to bow in the face of her awesomeness.

Fitzwilliam Darcy added "meddling aunts" to his interests.

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy walked on without knowing in what direction.

Seven of your friends joined the group "Lizzy and Darcy are Getting Married!"

Mr. Bennet is quite at leisure.

Currently

I am in the middle of 2 books. (Ok, I'm in the middle of like 20 if you count my textbooks but I don't). And I just can't stand that. I like to read ONE and then FINISH it before starting another. I don't know why I succumbed to the madness of reading more than one book at a time, but I did. And the horrible thing is, I've suddenly lost interest in both of them and I want to start something else! The problem is, one of the books was my birthday present from Derek this last year. I FINALLY got time to start reading over Christmas break (at least I thought I did) and so I started, My Dearest Friend, which is the personal correspondence of Abigail and John Adams. Then I got a David McCullough book from my sister & brother-in law. Well, I wanted to read that too! I guess I just feel obligated to finish them, so that Derek doesn't feel like his gift was unappreciated and when Lori/Steve ask me about the book, I can give a good honest opinion of whether or not I liked it (though, since it's David McCullough, I'm SURE I will love it. So, only reading 3 chapters is probably sufficient).

Now I'm just in a complete mess and feel like crying about it. (which is also ridiculous). I don't know why it's such a big issue, but somehow, with all the stress of everything else in my life, it just...is. :( I need something romantic--something intriguing-- something light--like Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. I'm dying to re-read Hard Times, which I bought for $3 with my sell-back money. Or pick up Mansfield Park again, or finally read Persuasion! Call me a psycho, but Dickens and Austen, Hawthorne and Shakespeare--those are my comfy reads. (Somehow Harry Potter fits into that collection, too. Don't ask me how.) And I am moving beyond want and feeling the need for reading something that interests me in the moment.

So, friends...what do I do? Abandon both books that I previously began and start anew? Or force myself to finish them even though it will take ages because I'm bored/not interested at the moment?

I think I should ENJOY the book I'm reading for pleasure....what do you think?

The Grendel of our Age

Ok, I have found something I am morally opposed to that is said to become "all the rage." Amazon called it the "Hottest Gift of the Season." No Amazon- it is simply the newest thing to murder the beautiful experience of sitting down with a book on a cold winter's night, caressing the pages of literacy that give us power in this universe.

What is this horrible atrocity, you may ask?

It's called the Kindle, a hand-held electronic device on which you can upload books. It's nice and thin and so convenient! It only takes 60 seconds to get a book! LIES! A book is not a small piece of cold plastic and metal! It's a beautiful collection of pages and ink, pressed together to create another world in which to escape. It turns pages just like a real book! Once again, it does nothing of the sort. A screen displays a page turning, but your finger doesn't caress the edge, you cannot possibly feel the satisfaction of anxiously awaiting the next page, the next moment, the next scene within a beautiful reality that brings relief from the world. The Kindle is nothing more than a farce, like Communism, the devil's version of something beautiful. I cannot help but connect this horrid thing, Kindle, with the name of the long feared Grendel, the monstor of Beowulf, who has haunted the dreams of millions for millenia! Stay away from it! It will take a piece of your life!

I hate it. Mostly, I hate what it represents. The world is quickly retreating into technology, robbing us and future generations of the most beautiful experiences in life. Nothing can replace a tattered book, full of love and hours of enjoyment. It holds within its wrinkles and dogeared corners love and true devotion. How can you possibly say that you LOVE your Kindle? Where is the proof! Well, there is none! But books...ahh, you can love them. You can hold them, you can stick them in your purse or backpack and hold them, touch the pages, smudge the ink with your tears! It's a beautiful relationship, one that I say cannot be replaced with electronics.

Do not consider me an Amish snood who hides behind her butter churn and wash basin; no, I appreciate technology as quickly as Bill Gates does. But technology is meant to IMPROVE our lives! Not rob us of beautiful things! Elder Bednar spoke of the farce realities of the internet in his CES fireside in May of this year. I would submit to you that this is just another contribution to the evil of technology, taking away beautiful expereinces and making you believe you are getting something valuable.

My friends, take care. Don't rob yourself of a lovely expereince with the display of man's greatest invention! Embrace the pages and print of books and shun the false reality of a piece of metal that pretends to be something it is not!

Palaces of Work

There are usually very few actual textbooks that I enjoy. Probably because most text books are horribly written (but that's another story). However, once in a while, a textbook will reach can reach past the traditional rhetoric that horrifies most readers, and touch me. I was reading in my World Civilization Text this afternoon (about 20 seconds ago) about the rise of industrialization. And Fernandez Armesto wrote something that makes me long for the old days; the pre-industrialization days.

"In the past, small groups of workers had shared intimate surroundings: workshops in which a few equals or near equals collaborated, or households in which a master craftsman marshaled apprentices who lived together like a large family. Now seismic social upheavals raised factories like "smoking volcanoes" (as contemporaries said), burying the world of artisans and flattening traditional social hierarchies."

"Like a large family..." goodness, doesn't that sound fantastic? I have been privileged to work for several employers who create that type of environment. But I must say, that those types of atmospheres have diminished and aren't the norm any more, just as Armesto describes. We look to the capitalist mentality and look for efficiency, not family. We want a place where people work: keep the spheres separate. Which of course, I agree that once you leave work, you must LEAVE work and be with your family. But why can't the ideals and love within your family be spread into the workplace? Can't fellow employees bond together, care about each other, love one another, and feel on equal ground? I think they can. I think it happens. I've been there, in fact, I'm lucky enough to be there right now with my job in the Library.

I guess I'm writing this to encourage you to create this type of environment in your own workplace. Make a difference. Make your Palace of Work a place where family values and feelings flourish. Share the love inside of you with those all around you. Don't mix up work with your family, but certainly mix the care and love for children of God with your fellow employees-they deserve it.

Things I Love

This one is for Betsy. It was a great idea.

So, I set an online stop watch for one minute, and typed anything I could think of that I love.

One minute of things I love:

1. singing in a choir
2. reading British novels
3. reading about history
4. visiting museums
5. taking walks at sunset
6. going to the Temple
   
7. humming/singing as I clean
   
8. whistling when I walk across campus
9. watching the leaves fall
10. building snowmen
11. playing scrabble with Derek
    
12. talk about the future with Derek
    
13. traveling
    
14. making cookies
15. eating with friends
    

Hmmm, nice. Here are a few more things I love:

1. writing in my journal
2. playing with Derek's hair
3. watching movies with my sisters
4. talking to my brother about life
5. watching BYU football
6. going to soccer games
7. horseback riding
   
8. hiking
9. listing to General Conference (especially when I'm there!)
   
10. listening to someone with an accent
    
11. speaking in Spanish
12. running into someone I haven't seen in a long time
13. writing stories
14. taking pictures
15. hot chocolate
16. galaxy chocolate
17. my primary kids in London
18. looking at Better Homes and Gardens magazine
19. America's Next Top Model
20. pink gel pens
21. decorating for holidays
22. Disneyland
23. warm, fuzzy blankets
24. chicken alfredo
25. eating a whole pizza by myself
26. having lunch at the Creamery
27. talking to friends on the phone
28. writing and receiving letters
29. root beer (especially A&W)
30. good roasts on Sundays
31. naps
32. wandering around Wal-Mart
33. visits to Duchesne
34. buying books
35. looking at Christmas lights

There are a million more things...but I kept it at 50. :-) I agree with Betsy though...maybe I should do this more often.

Pages

I was looking at my recommended reading list, and realized that I could probably go on forever. In fact, I believe I will go on forever, adding to the ranks beautiful books that inspire.
Derek and I were talking about the Pulitzer Prize yesterday as we walked home from campus. He asked what it takes to get the Pulitzer Prize. I said that it goes to an article, book, play, etc. that is "earth shattering", something that changes the way we look at some one, something, some event, because of what was written. For example, Truman, by David McCullough. It looks into the mind of a man who made a decision that, literally, shook the earth. A man who changed the lives of--well everyone. And that book...well, it did the same. Just not quite as literal of a sense.

That made me think, about the extraordinary impact of words, the Power of the Press. And you know, perhaps I could put into my own words how I feel, and I think someday I will. But for now, I'll let a Prophet of the Lord say it for me.

President Gordon B. Hinckley once said,

"It is both relaxing and invigorating to occasionally set aside the worries of life, seek the company of a friendly book and mingle with the great of the earth, counsel with the wise of all time,. ..Youth will delight in the heroic figures of Homer; or more modern, will thrill to the silent courage of Florence Nightingale, on the battlefield...The power of Cicero's oratory may awaken new ambitions in the middle age, or the absurdity of Don Quixote riding mightily against a windmill may make your own pretentiousness seem ridiculous;...From the reading of "good books" there comes a richness of life that can be obtained in no other way. It is not enough to read newspapers....But to become acquainted with real nobility as it walks the pages of history and science and literature is to strengthen character and develop life in its finer meanings."

Amen.