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Intersections
Weâve become unaccustomed to dialing down the intake of information in anything but rapid fire succession and bite-sized chunks. In an attempt to slow down and reflect about what I am taking in, I dissected this piece about racism with a group of friends this week. The goal was to reflect before reacting. To listen with no intention of immediately responding. We spent a day on each subsection (there are breaks in the text) and considered slowly. For instance, reading these two paragraphs multiple times allowed me to really hear what the author was saying: âThis emotional disconnect is the conclusion of living a life oblivious to the fact that their…
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Making Connections
Show of hands from everyone reading this: How many of you identify as being an introvert? For those of you who half-heartedly raised your hands (but only because you’re alone in the privacy of your own home â there’s no way you’d randomly raise your hand out in public and draw unwanted attention to yourself), I get it. I was the kid who would bring a book to church dances. The best way to strike fear into my otherwise confident adolescent heart was a forced get-to-know-you session at girls’ camp. Not much has changed with adulthood. The last thing I want to do when I’m out in public is make small…
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Protect Our Care :: From a Woman with Cystic Fibrosis
I was born with a life-shortening genetic disease called cystic fibrosis. When I was diagnosed in 1988, my parents were told I wouldnât live to turn 20. This year, Iâll turn 29. Iâm grateful for the medical miracles that have enabled me to have a long, full life, complete with marriage and parenthood. But those miracles have come at great cost. Each year, my prescriptions alone total at least $460,000. Adding in specialist visits and inpatient hospital stays, that number gets exponentially higher. Without the medications, specialist visits, and treatments that price tag buys, I will die in short order. Without one medication, my cells will lose the degree of…
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Protect Our Care :: From a Mother of a Child With Cancer
As a mother of a child with cancer, I am deeply grateful for the options and protections the ACA affords my son and other children like him. I am also deeply concerned about possible replacements or changes to the ACA that could affect my son. While I realize the ACA has flaws that should be addressed, and I acknowledge that healthcare reform is a complicated and multifaceted issue, all I can do is speak from our familyâs experience. When abstract political ideas become law, these laws affect the lives of real people. This is the story of how the ACA has benefitted our family, and how possible changes to the…
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Stripping off My Petticoat
by Liz Evans In a morning session of General Conference in October of 1856, President Brigham Young issued a call to action. He had been informed that several companies of immigrants, on their way to Salt Lake City, were in trouble and in desperate need of assistance. All those within earshot were called to help â right then, at that very moment. Because, as President Young said, the matter âshall not wait until tomorrow, nor the next day.â Members were asked to give what they could. Some bravely volunteered to make the journey to help those on the trail, while others offered up wagons, flour, mules, oxen, yokes, and blankets.…
