My 500 Words

Is the consumption of alcohol wrong? Evidence promotes benefits of alcohol as well as revealing its dangers. You have addiction on one hand and bonds of friendship on the other. Yet we either promote the benefits or decry the evils of drinking. We have seen carnage caused by driving while intoxicated yet celebrated momentous occasions with the tip of a glass. So is it wrong? For me the answer is simple because I’m different. I have made a covenant to abstain from alcohol use. Yet, even if my church lifted the ban on alcohol use, I would still abstain. My family history includes problems with alcohol abuse and I recognize personal tendencies that correspond with addiction. I abstain, because I don’t dare risk what I might become if I go there. Today, my community is grappling with a choice regarding a proposed law to allow medical marijuana. Some oppose this law because they see it as something that will introduce something inherently bad into the community under the guise of promoting ...

I logged onto Facebook anticipating a peek into the lives of my family and friends. Just a little glimpse to maintain a sense of connectedness that real life hinders. It’s just that it takes too much time to touch base with everyone who causes your heart to beat a little faster and your face to smile a little more. I marvel at the power of social media that allows a few words, or an image, to reach hundred, thousands and sometimes even millions with the press of a button or a click of a mouse. So here we are, living in separate towns, states and even countries, looking at the same posts and pages. The commonality of our shared experience gets us on the same page despite the distance. The miles melt away as electrons disperse and light up our screens, filling our eyes and minds with the colors, sounds and tastes of life. Soon, those lives become an open book for everyone to see. Much of the mystery of who we are fades as we direct a spotlight on our very selves. All of this in th...

In junior high school, one of my math teachers convinced ten or twelve of us to learn some simple computing in an optional after-school club using an Atari system. We had to learn some BASIC programing language and we got to design some of our own games. Most of us started by writing programs that would quiz kids on math facts. I wrote programs to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It was cool to write the code and then see it come to life, especially when someone else actually played your program. I finished the club with a group project where we programmed a bouncing ball breakout-style game with sound. Lacking an outlet to practice those nascent computing skills I missed any opportunity to be an early creator of computer software, instead I became an early adopter and consumer. I was delighted when my parents got us an in-home computer. I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t even remember the name of the computer manufacturer. I do remember that when we bo...

Like a previously owned car, if it’s better than what you had before it really is new to you. You can know that someone else used to drive the car and call it her own, but those facts shouldn’t stand in the way of your enjoyment. It might take a little time, a few road trips and perhaps a dent in the fender, but sooner or later you can not only call it your own, it will feel like it was always yours. My dad was born in Canada and most of my grandparents were either born or lived there. All of my dad’s siblings made their homes in Canada and my two oldest siblings were also born there. But my mom and dad moved back down to the states and settled near my maternal relatives. The combination of having fourteen siblings and my father working in jobs that earned enough for our needs, but not very much in ways of extras meant that we didn’t get to see our Canadian cousins as often as we liked. The trips we did make stand out in my mind and rank amongst the best of childhood times. Some...

The historic Mormon Tabernacle is an impressive structure that so efficiently carries sound that musicians love to perform in its immersive space. The tortoise-shell dome and the almost completely open hall allow any performer to hear the music as it reverberates from the back walls toward the main stage. This building allows a clarity of sound whether it comes from a full orchestra and choir, a chamber group, a single voice or even a pin drop on a wooden podium. The acoustics create one of the greatest places on earth to either perform or enjoy the melodious sounds by talented artists. The Tabernacle has hosted many world-class performers but it also allows talented amateur artists the chance to put on display their own growing skills. Each year, Utah’s high schools select singers from their elite choirs to form a gigantic 400 or 500 voice All-State Choir. They then invite a respected director to come and work with these kids in a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Most will never sing in...

I was 16 years old when The Wall hit theater screens. I really looked up to my brothers and my brother-in-law who were fans of Pink Floyd. I didn’t really understand the album’s message but I acted the part and mimicked much of what my family said about the music in an attempt to sound smarter than I was.  My next oldest brother had recently turned 18 and when he said that he was going to the movie I begged him to let me tag along. He agreed, and the only question was how I was going to get into this show that required that viewers be older than 17 or be accompanied by a parent or a guardian. We decided that we were going to go to the movie at the giant screen at the Villa theater. We arrived early and as we stood in the Villa parking lot there was a lot of excitement about the show and everyone wanted it to live up to the hype. Pink Floyd music was playing on boom boxes and car stereos. Some people carried Walkman cassette players and immersed themselves in the tunes they we...

It was a simple slip of the tongue that took me back 25 years. My daughter had just made an offhand remark about peanuts.I had recently purchased a megabox filled with individual serving size packets of almonds, cashews and peanuts from our neighborhood Costco. I said, “Go down to the fruit room and get some.” You probably missed the slip of the tongue. You see, my family and I have lived in our home for five days shy of twenty years. In all of that time we have had a pantry or a storage room, but we have never had a fruit room. So why would I ask my fourteen-year-old daughter to go down to the fruit room to get a bag of peanuts? The answer has everything to do with my childhood. My mother didn’t have an actual orchard in our backyard but we had trees of many varieties.  Peach, pear, apricot, apple and cherry trees as well as vines that produced both green and red grapes. Because we were 14 children total and up to twelve of us kids lived at home at one time, my mom became the...