Watching Aretha Franklin perform just before President Obama took the oath of office on Tuesday brought tears to my eyes. I'm a sentimentalist through and through and I was definitely wearing my emotions on my sleeve that day.
Not only did I feel that her performance was powerful, moving, and extremely appropriate, but everything about it reminded me of my Grandma Elaine Hofman and how much I look up to her, love her and miss her!
I caught myself thinking about how Grandma would have appreciated the moment if she were alive.
Grandma would have appreciated and been excited aboutthe setting -- the Inauguration of America's first black (not to mention Democrat!) president. My Grandma served her community and state in so many ways and was always actively involved in the political process. As Special Assistant to Idaho State Governor John Evans for 3 years, as Field Representative for U.S. Congressman Richard Stallings, and as a State Representative in the Idaho State Legislature Democratic seat for 6 years, my grandma embodied what Hubert Humphries described the purpose of government as being..."the moral test of government is how it treats those in the dawn of life - the children, those in the twilight of life - the elderly, and those in the shadows of life - the sick, the needy and the handicapped." My grandma worked for the betterment of these individuals and did a good job at it!
Grandma would have appreciated the song that was song by Aretha Franklin -- "My Country 'tis of Thee." Once, when Grandma was serving as the Special Assistant to Governor John Evans, the governor was unable to speak at a regional AARP conference and she couldn't find anyone to replace him. Therefore, the responsibility fell on her. In one long night, she created her patriotic program "I Am an American." Included in this program was the singing of many patriotric songs that Grandma loved and held dear to her heart. She eventually had these songs put to CD and would hand them out during Independence Day.
Grandma would have appreciatedthe voice of Aretha Franklin -- a voice rich, beautiful, and full of life and emotion. My grandm's voice was just that kind of voice and she used it to benefit the lives of so many around her. In 1963, Grandma woke up to practice a song at the piano, but when she went to sing, she had no voice. She thought it was just laryngitis, but it was much more serious. Grandma received a priesthood blessing and was promised that she would indeed sing again and use her voice for righteousness. She was unable to sing for three years. When she finally regained the strength to sing like she had done before, Grandma did use her voice for righteousness. She sang patriotic songs for her country, she sang hymns of comfort at the funerals of friends and family, she sang in city musicals and community functions, she sang at each of her grandchildren's baptisms. Her beautiful voice comforted and uplifted many. And yes, I think my Grandma would have liked even the outfit -- I don't remember my Grandma Hofman necessarily wearing an outfit comparable to Aretha's, but her hat definitely reminded me of my Grandma's mother (my great-grandma Venna Smart) and the many beautiful hats she wore. She looked classy, and my Grandma was all about being classy!
This is what happens when you are experiencing exhaustion and insomnia at the same time.
1. Put your iPod or other music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. The Name of the song is your answer!
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 15 friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got this from.
1.IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Fall Line – Jack Johnson
2.WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Tchaikovsky: SwanLake – Mazurka Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
3.WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Look Over Yonder – Jimi Hendrix
4.WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
When Love Comes To Town – U2
5.WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Fingertips - Poe
6.WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Glass and the Ghost Children – Smashing Pumpkins
7.WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
The Fifth Article of Faith – Primary Songs Children’s Songbook
8.WHAT IS 2+2?
Haydn’s Symphony No 99 in E Flat Major Adagio
9.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Everyday is a Winding Road – Sheryl Crow
10.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Todo Es Como Tu – Rebelion Andina
11.WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
The Books in the Old Testament – Primary Songs Children’s Songbook
12.WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I Can’t Stand It No More – Peter Frampton
13.WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Beyond the Horizon – Bob Dylan
14.WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Ridiculous Thoughts – The Cranberries
15.WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Pass the Dutchie – Musical Youth (Wedding Singer Soundtrack)
16.WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
New Kid in Town – The Eagles
17.WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Black – Pete Yorn
18.WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
What’s On My Mind - Kansas
19.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Refuge - Matisyahu
20.WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Candy Everybody Wants – 10,000 Maniacs
21.HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Memories of Old Santa Fe – Randy Travis
22.WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
What’s Left – Libbie Linton
23.WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
But I Might Die Tonight – Cat Stevens
24.WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Secret Vows - Yanni
25.WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
All Along the Watchtower – Bob Dylan
26.WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
All Roads to the River – Kathy Mattea
27.DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
I Want You – Marvin Gaye
28.IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Singing at the Party – Jack Black (from Nacho Libre)
29.WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
I Wish It Would Rain – The Temptations
30.WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
You’re All I Need to Get By – Marvin Gaye
Woman A -- husband runs out on her. She ends up on Welfare. Woman B -- husband dies. She ends up on Social Security.
The woman on welfare faces horrible stigma and unnecessary baggage (using food stamps to shop, seen as a "welfare queen," having kids so she can get more money, etc. etc...) versus the woman on social security (survivalist benefit, everyone helps her, admires her for her strength, etc. etc.).
Therefore it is better if your husband dies on you versus running out.
So...the MORAL of the STORY for all you women out there is:
"If you are a woman, don't let your husband get away... kill him before he goes!"
This semester I had the amazing opportunity of taking a class entitled “Global Issues of Children at Risk” from Dr. Jini Roby. If I could make one class required for every student on every university campus in the world it would be this one. (And if every one of those classes could be taught by Dr. Roby, even better!) Dr. Roby's knowledge base is incredible...it includes child welfare, adoption policy and practice, orphan care, human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, child soldiers and refugees. One thing that I've come to a greater understanding of (among all of the horrible injustices that are taking place among innocent children in our world, and in our own society, today) is the issue of human trafficking and child sex tourism.
Through the course of this semester, I've gained an increasing desire to do something about it, to figure out my part in all of this. But I've often wondered HOW. I realize that I know so little regarding this subject, compared to someone like Dr. Roby. However, I think that the first thing I have the capacity of doing is letting others know WHAT human trafficking is...sharing what I have learned. I interact with educated individuals everyday -- family members, close friends, neighbors, even strangers. If I had a second wish in regards to this topic, it would be that more of these educated individuals knew WHAT human trafficking was and had some comprehension as to how bad and how prevalent it is in their own United States as well as in the global community.
I was in the same position as many of these educated individuals before taking this class. I would not have been able to adequately describe what human trafficking entailed and how bad it is today. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that an estimated 1.2 million women and girls enter the global commercial sex market every year through human trafficking (with 35% estimated to be under the age of 18). I wouldn't have been able to tell you that $34 billion is spent on human trafficking every year and that it's the third most serious illegal trade after drugs and weapons. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States every year. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that the number of U.S. citizens trafficked WITHINthe country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. And the thing is...I'm still learning. And my desire to help others understand is still growing.
I was sitting in my living room, finishing a paper for Dr. Roby’s class, when some neighbors came by. After asking me what I was studying for, and after telling them, they proceeded to ask me questions…like what kinds of issues we studied in this class, etc. When I mentioned “human trafficking” both of these individuals looked at me like “huh?” The dialogue:
neighbor: what is human trafficking? me: individuals are sold into slavery. modern day slavery. neighbor: they’re sold? me: Yes. neighbor: to do what? me: to do whatever the traffickers want them to – sex slaves, labor slaves, whatever it may be. neighbor: hmm. I’ve never heard of that before. me: you should Google "human trafficking" sometime neighbor: it sounds depressing me: well, yeah, it's extremely depressing. but you can choose to ignore it and it won't be depressing and nothing gets done. or, you can choose to acknowledge it and realize how horrible it is, and do something about it...in whatever way that may be.
I realize that we often choose to not educate ourselves on issues like these because they ARE depressing. They do hurt. They are sad. But, where does that get us? I'm afraid it doesn't get us anywhere.
"Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is impotence; it is fear; it is cruelty; it is all the things that make for unhappiness."
~Ingrid Holtby
check out some some links...I know we are all afraid of our potential and what we can do to help with big issues like these, but the first thing we can do is educate ourselves and then let the opportunities take us from there.
I'm thankful for the beautiful mountains I get to see every day walking to campus...the same mountains that my Grandpa Brown told my mom to look at when she walked to campus 25 years ago...and the same mountains that Grandpa Brown loved so much.
I'm thankful for the beautiful colors that are still on the trees December 1st!
I'm thankful for my little sister who loves me and meets me for lunch every so often (Peeper, I love you for more than those lunches....you have no need to fret!)
I'm thankful for Dining Plus that gets shared with me when there is an abundance of funds on a little sister's account :)
I'm thankful for the leftover turkey and provolone croissant sandwich from the aforementioned lunch with said Dining Plus card and cute little sister that will sustain me as I make myself comfortable in the library until midnight!
If anyone wants to know what the highlight of my day was, it was definitely this...
Earlier this year, a friend introduced me to the art of "knit graffiti".... the world's most inoffensive graffiti :)
When coming across this amazing work of knitted-graffiti art on my way to class (location: UTA bus stop at 960 N. University Avenue, Provo UT), I prayed that it would still be there when I returned home from school....I had to take a picture!! Isn't this amazing?! Check out the following links for some more amazing knitted-graffiti photos...
This has been one of my favorite signs for as long as I can remember...it's just outside of Idaho Falls on a small highway on the way up to our family cabin in Victor, Idaho...gotta love it! (those Idaho natives can be pretty hilarious sights sometimes....gotta love us!!)
I read a great book in my Intro to Sociology class during my undergrad titled "Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America" written by Barbara Ehrenreich. I happened to pick it up today as I have been doing research on the federal minimum wage policy and Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
I appreciated a few of her words:
the Economic Policy Institute recently reviewed dozens of studies of what constituted a “living wage” and came up with an average figure of $30,000 a year for a family of one adult and two children, which amounts to a wage of $14 an hour. This is not the very minimum such a family could live on; the budget includes health insurance, a telephone, and child care at a licensed center, for example, which are well beyond the reach of millions. But it does not include restaurant meals, video rentals, Internet access, wine and liquor, cigarettes and lottery tickets, or even very much meat. The shocking thing is that the majority of American workers, about 60 percent, earn less than $14 an hour. Many of them get by by teaming up with another wage earner, a spouse or grown child. Some draw on government help in the form of food stamps, housing vouchers, the earned income tax credit, or – for those coming off welfare in relatively generous states – subsidized child care.But others – single mothers for example – have nothing but their own wages to live on, no matter how many mouths there are to feed. Employers will look at that $30,000 figure , which is over twice what they currently pay entry-level workers, and see nothing but bankruptcy ahead. Indeed, it is probably impossible for the private sector to provide everyone with an adequate standard of living through wages, or even wages plus benefits alone: too much of what we need, such as reliable child care, is just too expensive, even for middle-class families. Most civilized nations compensate for the inadequacy of wages by providing relatively generous public services such as health insurance, free or subsidized child care, subsidized housing, and effective public transportation.But the United States, for all its wealth, leaves its citizens to fend for themselves – facing market-based rents, for example, on their wages alone. For millions of Americans, that $10 – or even $8 or $6 – hourly wage is all there is.
In her quest to experience working poverty-level wages, and trying to make ends meet, Ehrenreich argued that social inequality is a problem that limits the ability of the lower class to achieve the status of hard-working middle class. Inidividauls are desensitized into believing that America's capitalistic system measures the individual worth of a person in monetary terms.
Ehrenreich explains that people are often moved by the mechanics of society because it appears to be their only option for survival. Lower class individuals are often left to thinking that they lack the social mobility to help them achieve a "new rank." It is harder for them to be seen as such because of the nature of a society that supports the capitalistic value system which always produces winners and losers. Ehrenreich further implies that the social norm too often rears its ugly head at humanity, causing people to forget that they have the potential of changing for the better. Lives continue to be lived with no hope for change because the social inequality does not allow them room to see beyond their current socioeconomic situation.
Poverty, due to social inequality in America has a disabling effect on individuals who are susceptiable to its consequences. I recently heard a professor explain that eleven million preschool age children in the "affluent" United States are malnourished. Similar data can be seen regarding health care, education, and homelessness. Because the distribution of income and wealth in America continues to grow more unequal (often times, consequences of society's self-gratifying materialism) inequality is followed by neglect and suffering of those people of lower socioeconomic status. Because the idea of getting rich is so ingrained in the heads of American citizens, it is almost like we are being turned into a mechanical body of society that so characterized the lower class members whom Ehrenreich worked among. Something that might ease this burden would be to acknowledge the problem and work to change the underlying values of the social system to which we belong through more governmental programs designed to help the lower classes.
On page 214, Ehrenreich states:
It is common, among the nonpoor, to think of poverty as a sustainable condition – austere, perhaps, but they get by somehow, don’t they? They are “always with us.” What is harder for the nonpoor to see is poverty as acute distress: The lunch that consists of Doritos or hot dog rolls, leading to faintness before the end of the shift. The “home” that is also a care or a van. The illness or injury that must be “worked through,” with gritted teeth, because there’s no sick pay or health insurance and ht loss of one day’s pay will mean no groceries for the next. These experiences are not part of a sustainable lifestyle, even a lifestyle of chronic deprivation and relentless low-level punishment. They are, by almost any standard of subsistence, emergency situations. And that is how we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans – as a state of emergency.
Jesse L. Jackson Jr. stated: "Our nation has a peculiar work ethic. It insists that people work for a living, which is a valid expectation, but it does not insist that the private and public sectors provide enough jobs at livable wages for everyone who wants to work." Sad, but true.
The poverty of so many millions of our fellow citizens IS in a state of emergency. I believe it is up to us -- those blessed with knowledge, skills, passion, drive, and whatever your talents might be -- to help lift the under-dog and do what is right to help ease the suffering of those who are truly downtrodden.
So, in our HBSE class this morning, we divided up into groups and played a social work version of Balderdash....we were given a word or phrase and we had to come up with what we thought was the most correct definition. Well, our group had some fun...we were determined to keep things EXCITING!! haha...so, to add some excitement to your own life, whoever you may be, these are the definitions we came up for said social work terms and phrases ....
Differentiation of self: "In group therapy, when there are over 20 people in the group and 1 monkey...and you recognize the difference between you and the monkey."
Normative vs. Non-normative stressors: "These can be distinguished in two categories: Things that happen to Norman and things that happen to people NOT named Norman."
Cultural Variant Approach: "According to Freud, when people of different cultures have different colored fecal matter." (um, yeah...we thought we were toast after hearing that one read out loud...)
ABCX Model of Family Stress and Coping: "When a family adopts a coping skill to reduce stress by slow measure recital of the alphabet."
Multilevel Family Practice Model: "When a family forms a human pyramid while simultaneously signing eachother up to sell Amway."
Family Life Cycle Perspective: "When Simba from the Lion King finally raises his own son up on Pride Rock and Elton John starts singing 'the circle of life......'"
Yeah...that's how we kept things interesting in class today. And, I'm not gonna lie, I think I'll probalby remember those terms for good now :)
I know I may be partial, and a bit biased...but I was feeling a little nostalgic and thought I'd share with the rest of you some reasons WHY I love Pocatello :)
It was named after a great Indian chief
I once went on a hike with my dog Mooije up this Mink Creek trail... and learned a lot about myself...
There are lots of squirrels (although, my grandpa would disagree that this is a great reason to love Idaho...haha...)
enuf said :)
I slid down this rock slide 100's of times as a kid at Ross Park
My high school was built in 1892...and we call it "Poky"
Sitting atop the 'I' many many times...sometimes by myself, sometimes with my two best friends and cousins...yelling at people below and almost getting caught by campus rent-a-cops...
Jumping in the Portneuf River with Johnny after a long day of lawn mowing... Bridge jumping up the river off of a railroad bridge on somebody's "no trespassing" property...
The hills surrounding our little gate city...for those of you who have called Pocatello the "armpit" of Idaho...SHAME ON YOU!
The view of the city from atop Red Hill really is fantastic
Learning to ski for the first time in 7th grade at Pebble Creek... Skiing there many many times after with my mom and brothers and sisters...
The fact that I found a picture of my elementary school music teacher -- Mr. Obrien -- online...I learned lots of songs from him during those 6 years at Washington Elementary
These are what spuds would taste like if potatoes were marshmallows... ...covered in cocunut ....and albumen agar agar ....dipped in potassium sorbate and... ...sprinkled with sulfites
There is lava rock EVERYWHERE and it's beautiful!!
I spent many nights with Kyndl and Jessica debating if we were daring enough to really climb to the top of the Mini Dome...
El Herradero Taco Truck -- best Mexican food in town!
What other local newspaper uses the phrase "cheeks like pomegranates"...this photo ran in the September 18, 1952 Idaho State Journal (Pocatello, ID)
"A Grecian girl with cheeks like pomegranates has come to Idaho State College. Maria Skoulfkaris, center, tells fellow freshmen, Ann Reed of Filer, and LaMar Muir of Idaho Falls, that she has never been kissed but expects to be a threat when they study Greek drama."
I lived in the Holy Land for 4 months of my life. It was an experience that will be imprinted on my heart forever. From the first day there to the last, I enjoyed taking pictures of the many beautiful and diverse people that surrounded me. I learned a lot from looking at their faces. I often caught myself wondering what their story was...what was going on in their lives right at that moment in time. These are my pictures of the people I lived among. These are many of the reasons why I miss it. Every day.
I viewed an EXCELLENT documentary last night that I believe every one of us ought to watch. "Sicko" by Michael Moore not only solidified many of the views and values that I uphold as an individual, but made me really think about a lot of things -- number one being, how messed up the U.S. is when it comes to their health care system.
Here's a few things to get you thinking:
Nearly 50 million Americans are without health insurance...
Roughly 18,000 Americans will die this year because they don't have health insurance...
The U.S. is ranked 37 out of 191 countries for it's health care system...
A baby born in El Salvador has a better chance of surviving than a baby born in Detroit...
Like Canadians and Brits, the French live longer than we do...
Just some food for thought. I also watched the Presidential Debates last night...one more thing that helped solidify my vote for someone who will do everything in their power to make it so every American -- poor or rich -- will have access to quality health care no matter what.
Good news - I passed my national Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist exam yesterday! My four years as an undergrad in Recreational Therapy at BYU done me good :) After a couple of crazy cat weeks of cramming and studying and reviewing, the focus turns back to my masters classes....which are DEFINITELY keeping me on my toes!
All are present and accounted for Chief White Eagle...
Let’s get these troops out of the hot sun...hut two, three, four...hut two, three, four....hut two, three, four...”
The hike begins and troops hike off into the sunset.
All members of the Black Rock Patrol are
ready and excited
for yet another hike with Chief White Eagle, also known as Grandpa Brown.
Hiking through the hot Lake Powell desert, the gorgeous Princess Tiger Lily anticipates another exhilarating adventure with the brave Chief.
Little did I realize when I was born in Pocatello, Idaho, at Bannock Regional Medical Center, on July 9, 1983, that I would one day be a beautiful, tan, Indian Princess of the illustrious Black Rock Patrol.Or maybe I did..
Weeks prior to my birth,
Weeks after school had gotten out,
My mom spent every free moment
Lying out in the Hot July Sun
Next to the cool pool at the University Racquet Club,
Becoming a deep golden brown.
I’m sure she did it all for me...In fact, I’m almost positive that her underlying goal was to subtly prepare me for my many hot treks across the Lake Powell wilderness with a brave Indian Chief.
The Black Rock Patrol has seen over 34 members.Not all at one time of course, but 10 to 15 here and there.
Many had gone before me...and many
many
many
many
more would follow after me.
But as a young child, I was convinced, by Chief White Eagle,
that I was the
most important
Princess in the universe.
Ever since the very first hike,
where we received our unique Indian names, I felt that I was the most important.
....In the beginning there was a little five year old
whose given name was not Princess Tiger Lily,
but rather some name chosen by the Chief
that a little five year old obviously didn’t like
(and which she now regretfully no longer remembers.)
This caused the patient Chief White Eagle
to allow the little Princess to pick her own name
...one which happened to be Tiger Lily
from the five year old’s favorite Disney film Peter Pan....
I learned the first of many lessons from this first experience with the Black Rock Patrol and
Chief White Eagle.
I know I didn’t think about these lessons at the time...
Why then, it was only child’s play;
“trekking” across what seemed like miles upon miles of uncharted territories,taming the wild lizards found on each adventure,
fighting imaginative enemies,
finding buried jelly bean treasures,
collecting beautiful black rocks for which we were named, and
presenting prized feathers to Chief White Eagle to place in his hat.
As a little child, it never crossed my mind that the lessons the
Great Chief White Eagle
taught me would have more to do with life than a simple hike.
BE READY
Before every hike, Chief White Eagle encouraged me to always be ready.
Ready for any eventuality that might happen on the hike of life.
In first grade, I learned this lesson the hard way.
I was late to school day
after day
after day.
Getting their business started was a crazy time in my parents’ lives.
Late nights and long hours
working down at the store,
remodeling,
pricing,
completing odds and ends,
eventually caused me to be continuously late to
Mrs. Higer’s first grade class at Washington Elementary.
One especially memorable time was when I was dropped off at school...
only to find that I was the
ONLY
student there that day.
The night before must have been an extremely tiring
one, working late,
for my own mother to drop me off at school on a holiday.
ROLL CALL
Every hike began with roll call.
Everyone had to be present and accounted for in order for the hike to begin.
Everything was a troop effort and so it was vital that everyone be there.
In the same way, everyone on the roll call of my life must be present for my life to be complete.
With
1 me
1 mom
1 dad
3 brothers
2 sisters
2 grandmas
2 grandpas
9 aunts
9 unclesand....
46 cousins
many good times have been and still are being experienced.
During these family-filled-non-stop-roll-call moments,
I found myself on my first plane ride
to Disney World Orlando, Florida...riding the Space Mountain Ride with my cousins
at Disney World, the home of Mickey Mouse, over and over and over again...
seeing Mickey Mouse and
wanting to dress up like him...
playing dress-up and having tea parties with
Grandma Hofman to the sounds of Broadway music...
helping Grandma learn her lines for the Broadway play, Hello Dolly
and then enjoying the show... experiencing, with my mother,
the thrilling show of Les Miserables on Broadway...walking the colorful streets
of LApretending to be on Broadway with
Grandpa Brown...pulling
Grandpa Brown out of a cement hole at
the Army Training Course above Bartz field...going with my brothers and sisters to
Bartz and it’s snow laden hills to sled and learn the arts of skiing...
skiing for $5 at a $60 hill with my dadand momduring Christmas vacation...experiencing a bit of our Hofman
heritage eating Dutch pancakes on Dutch Christmas with Sinterklaas and Swarte Pete...
eating kidney beans and applesauce with Grandpa Hofman...
making homemade applesauce with my mom into the wee hours of the night...
toilet papering for the first time with my Grandma Hofman the night
of my twelfth birthday...
spending countless birthdays with relatives at
Lake Powell...banging heads and getting dead legs from falls into the water, off the wiener tube at
Lake Powell...and hiking into Bloomington Lake to jump into the ice water...
My family is the most important of all things in my life.So it is a must that everyone on the roll call is checked off and accounted for.
ENJOY YOUR SURROUNDINGS
On hikes, I learned about nature, about God, and about life;
Spending time at our cabin in Victor, Idaho,
Camping at Willow Flats,
Hiking to Navajo, Havasu, and Mooney Falls in Arizona,
Climbing up our “Masada” at Lake Powell,
Floating the Snake River near Jackson.
I look at the physical world differently now after having been with Chief White Eagle and having learned of his love for nature.I learned from him that God is the reason for everything. He is the CREATOR of all things.And I have a responsibility for taking care of his creations.
FOLLOWING THE LEADER
Chief
White
Eagle
Taught
Me
How
To
Follow
The
Leader
No
Matter
What
Or
Where
We
Were.
Leaders are given to us for a purpose.
On hikes, they lead us to our destination.
In life, they guide us and influence us, hopefully for the better.
What a perfect example of a leader was the Chief.
Action figures and super heroes come and go with time, but Chief White
Eagles stay
ever true and “super”
in the eyes of little children.
Ever since my first Black Rock Patrol hike,
being inducted into the Patrol, and receiving my Indian name,
my Grandpa has been one of my many heroes.
Through Chief White Eagle’s example, I have learned that it is important to follow the leaders and influences in my life, and to also remember that I am also a leader to others
Following Grandpa Brown on hikes,
Being followed by five younger siblings,
Following Grandma Hofman in singing,
Being a leader to fellow students,
Following mom and Grandma Brown in art,
Following friends, teachers and role models....
“Follow me boys,
follow me.
Pick ‘em up and put ‘em down
and follow me!”
REACHING THE JOURNEY’S END
Throughout my Life’s Hike,
Chief White Eagle’s subtle lessons have stayed clear and vivid in my mind.
It’s not possible for all little kids to experience a Chief White Eagle in their lives.
Hikes are not always
easy little walks through groomed paths
where everything is beautiful, lush and gorgeous.
Sometimes, it takes a littlehard work,
perseverance,
and often times starting over,
to get to the final outcome such as a
pristine waterfall or mountain lake.
And so is the hike of life.
Throughout the adventure,
I’ll experience rugged paths and hardships,
ugly realities,
and many different types of people.
No doubt about it.
But through it all I will survive and eventually get to my ultimate goal, if I can remember the most important advice from the Great Chief White Eagle, that
Watching Aretha Franklin perform just before President Obama took the oath of office on Tuesday brought tears to my eyes. I'm a sentimentalist through and through and I was definitely wearing my emotions on my sleeve that day.
