Let your light Shine -

I went on another campout with my troop—this time to some Bat Caves near Peralta Trailhead. Last week Lynette taught the kids about some basic principles of photography and gave them an assignment for a project for their photography merit badge. This weekend we took our cameras to the desert and practiced what we learned.

Friday night we hiked to the cave and the kids got to overcome their fear of bats. The cave was basically a horizontal mine shaft that had been cut out of mountain. The mine went back into mountain quite a ways. As we walked we disturbed the bats and they flew at us to protect their territory. It was a fun time. No one screamed or turned around, that was good.

In the cave I gave a devotional on the words of Christ when he said in Luke: "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light."

A cave was a perfect place to teach this, we turned off all the flashlights and the darkness was obviously overwhelming. I then let a match and a candle. Then I gave each boy a candle and lit it. We had a short but effective discussion about some of the things that the Lord could have meant when he made this statement. The kids were amazed how well the candle lit up the darkness. Collectively the candles probably lit up the cave better than the flashlights.

We then walked delicately out of the cave with just the candles. When someone’s candle went out another boy used his light to help everyone ‘see the light’.

The next morning we went on another longer hike to the ‘saddle’ to see an awesome view of Weavers Needle.

Here are some pics I took while on the campout.

Scott

Lynette forbade me from taking a picture of her teaching photography to the scouts...so I took this.

Scott Allen -

Here are some pictures of my nephew at his Eagle Court of Honor. I especially like the pictures where he is smiling. Its good for good kids like him to be formally recognized.

One thing that I didn't realize until this week is that Scott's Dad, Grandpa and Great Grandpa (on his dad's side) all were Eagle Scouts. Also, his Grandpa and Great Grandpa on his mom's side (the Andreasen side) are both Eagle Scouts. 4 Generations of Eagle Scouts, on both sides (with the exception of his mom...for obvious reasons) A scouting lineage like that has got to be extremely unique.

Enjoy the pics-

Scott

Scott with his Dad, and Grandpa

Me, giving a short presentation

Dad, giving the Axel F. Andreasen Award

Me and my Dad

A Charge to Fly -

This week I went with the Boys Scouts to see a presentation at ASU’s planetarium. The presentation was fascinating. The presenters approach was to talk about ‘metaphor’ and explain how that can easily be compared to stars and the sky. He focused a lot on root words and the etymology of the names of stars and put them in the context of the myth behind the constellation, or discussed how that name tells us something about another constellation.

Probably the most interesting thing he talked about (and for sure the most controversial) is an assertion developed at ASU that the common interpretation of Orion (the most recognized constellation) is false. The stars currently interpret Orion as a hunter who is hunting a bull with his dog. But, some astrology and history professors at ASU claim that Orion was actually recognized as a constellation much earlier in history. Instead of a hunter the constellation was perceived as a female goddess. He briefly talked about this liberal position and claimed that by looking at the sky with this in mind all the other constellations around Orion make sense.

I would have liked to have learned more about it, but he kept these comments to a minimum for the kids.

Another point that is worthwhile to mention was a discussion he had with the boys about the difference between the definition of a word, and what a word actually means. For example, the word East. The definition of the word is the direction 90 degrees to the right of North. But, by looking at the origin of the word you can find out what the word actually means. It comes from the same root that the word yeast comes from. That root word means to rise. So although the definition states that east is a direction, the real meaning of the word refers to rising. Naturally this comes from the fact that the sun rises in the East. So the meaning of the word tells you more than the definition does.

He did this with several words, including the North and the moon. It would be an interesting exercise to discover what these words actually mean.

I’m going to an Eagle Court of Honor for my nephew this weekend and I thought I could apply this principle to the Eagle Scout award. What does the achieving the rank actually means? Wikipedia says that the Eagle Scout award is the highest ward attainable to the Boy Scouts of America. Additionally, in common culture an Eagle Scout is expected to be a leader, and example, and a good steward of the environment. While all these things are true I wanted to find out what this really means.

So I looked up the root of the word. Eagle comes from the Greek word Omos which literally means bird—Bird with a capital B. What do birds do? You ask any 3 year old and they’ll say they fly. This tells me that being an Eagle Scout really refers to what you will become, rather than what you have accomplished. Achieving the Eagle Scout award is really a charge to fly—to do something with your life and to make something of yourself.

What does being Eagle scout mean to you?

Scott

Lynette has finally put together her portfolio and sent in all her graduate school applications. Believe it or not, that was a very demanding task. She had to write several papers to each school, and each school required slightly different topics. As far as I know she got all of the applications in on time.

Here are our options –

California State University, Long Beach, CA – without seeing the cost of tuition I think this is both Lynette and I’s first choice. Who wouldn’t want to live in CA? Lynette can live close to one of her life long H.S. friends and I’m confident I will be able to find a job somewhere in the vast city called L.A. It’s also a one day’s drive back home.

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ – This is only a good option because we wouldn’t have to move. We wouldn’t have to sell our house and we’d able to be close to family. But, for Lynette’s sake this is not that good of an option. Artists need to expand and experience art from many different view points; if she stays she will be taught by the same people and be surrounded by the same system. If she stays she may not have as much creativity or room to grow than if she leaves.

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO – Again, this school is appealing because it’s close to home (sort of ~900 miles away from Mesa). If I hadn’t have heard about all the terrible snow storms last winter this may be top on my list. It would be great to live in the Rocky Mountains in the summer time, but I’m not sure how I would survive in the winter. Burr.

University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA – The east coast has a lot of history and I would LOVE to live in or around Boston. Again, I’d have to deal with the cold and the ice but that might be alright. If ‘distance from home’ wasn’t so much of a factor for me I think this would be my number one choice.

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR – I’ve heard Oregon is beautiful. From a ‘I like to camp’ perspective the little town of Eugene looks like a really nice place to go. I have a friend who knows many of the Civil Engineering companies in Eugene so I’d have some direction when it comes time to look for a job. My parents just got called on a mission to Portland, so we’d be sort of close to them, so that would be nice.

Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA – Living in Washington sounds good in theory but from what I’ve found on the internet is that Ellensburg is only about 20,000 people. Getting a job would definitely be a big concern if we moved there. At ASU there are more than double to population of Ellensburg.

Towson University, Baltimore, MD – This is last on my list because I really don’t want to live in Baltimore. If I have to deal with rain, cold, being far from home and a crowded city the other Universities seem much more appealing. But if that is the only place Lynette gets into, well….I don’t know.

So, there you have it, those are our options and a little about how I feel about each one. I still will be sad to leave my life here in Mesa. Now, all Lynette and I can do is wait to see what schools she gets accepted to. Once its narrowed down, we’ll have to think long and hard about that choice. Me working, the Art program and tuition costs will be our top concerns.

Hope you enjoy some of these images. They are a few of the pieces included in her portfolio.

Scott

This piece is currently on display at the Mesa Arts Center (Until Mar 4):