For the longest time my reading tastes tended toward fiction, but in the last little while, something’s changed. Biography and history are what quenches my thirst now. I’ve …
The Archives: History
Note: This isn't quite functional yet, but I'm working on it... :) -bmc 4.5.08
Back in the 1840s, the Saints established the University of Nauvoo. Joseph Smith said that it was to “enable us to teach our children wisdom — to instruct them …
This’ll be quick. Tonight I went to the Classical 89 silent movie night in the de Jong concert hall, where they showed Buster Keaton’s film The General, complete with …
According to National Geographic (thanks to Sally for the link), “nearly all of today’s Native Americans in North, Central, and South America can trace part of their ancestry to …
This morning I came across an amazingly cool post on the LibraryThing blog: the group I See Dead People[’s Books] has entered all of Thomas Jefferson’s 1815 …
Oscar Wilde says it best: “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”
It’s been a long while since I went back …
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been working with journals of a number of prominent Latter-day Saints — people like Hyrum Smith, W.W. Phelps, Parley P. Pratt, and Emmeline …
8. It is good
The other day I got to peek inside my soul and see why I rank some days good and others not. I’d thought it would be dependent on how …
This post became a twinkle in its father’s eye back in January, when I was walking through the history books on the bottom floor of the library. There …
Two hundred years ago we shook off the shackles of oppression, buying our freedom with the blood of our people. Patriotism and passion made that happen. If the …
My thoughts on the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference:
Boyd K. Packer. The quote that said “music cannot be separated from the voice of the Lord” was rather interesting. …
A few ramblings:
1. Ken Burns came and gave a great lecture at our university forum on Tuesday. While I could write a whole long post about it (and probably …
13. Bliss ‘n’ joy
I think I’ve found my new obsession: travel books. Not touristy/glitzy kinds, but the good ones. A day or two ago I was thinking to myself about my …
I’ve been listening to some Loreena McKennitt music lately, and also reading C.S. Lewis’s novel Till We Have Faces (which takes place in a barbaric country on the border of …
15. On the shelves
Last February I finished work on Translating Scripture: The Thai Book of Mormon. (Reed Haslam wrote it, and I designed and edited it.)
Two items of note. …
For my Middle English class we had to give five-minute presentations on a person or event from that time period (A.D. 1100–1500). Today was my turn, and I couldn’t …
17. Pearl Harbor
Earlier this evening I called my grandmother to wish her a happy birthday. I’d only intended to talk for five or ten minutes, but I’d been reading Rumors of …
Yesterday I came across a beautiful website called Principles of Freedom:
Each of the date ranges at the …
In my Isaiah class Tuesday morning, Terry Ball read us this passage by Charles Warren about his discovery of Warren’s Shaft (Hezekiah’s Tunnel, or at least something very …
[I wrote this over on the Beyond blog, but it’s an exciting enough idea that I figured I’d crosspost it so y’all can get an idea of how cool …
I’m writing this post by the dawn’s early light. We sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in priesthood meeting on Sunday, and as I was playing the piano a series of …
22. Shallow roots
Matt Crenson’s written an article for the Associated Press about the interrelatedness of the human family tree:
Whoever it was probably lived a few thousand years ago, somewhere in East …
I’m drooling.
Maybe that’s not the most elegant way to start off a post, nor is it literally true, but I sure feel like I’m drooling. See, I’ve been checking …
From Paul Allen’s blog:
I believe the U.S. helps generates the most hatred for our nation and our way of life by by producing content that celebrates violence, sex, and …
How much does God get involved in the making of history? This question came to mind yesterday in our C.S. Lewis Society meeting while talking about war and what …
In my Judaism & the Gospel class today, we talked about how the Assyrians deported both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah (between 725 and …
27. Confessions
In my Music 201 class we talked about St. Augustine and Confessions (and City of God, for that matter). And the little bits we read in class got …
On my walk up to campus this morning, the fresh air reminded me of Jane Austen for some reason. I imagined myself in heaven, meeting Jane and telling her …
