Fasting from Facebook

There is a whole lot of self-righteousness going on nowadays. I'm afraid I've become part of the problem. I decided it is better for me to come here to my private little corner that no one ever reads if I feel moved to give an opinion about something. Rereading last weeks post I realized I had already nailed it. There is a lot of pot stirring going on and I don't need to participate. I have a project that I came up with after watching the Inauguration. I was struck by the beauty of the pale blue suit worn by the First Lady. For some reason shades of true blue particularly Skyblue have not been popular the past few years. In the late 80s I made a shirtdress for myself of sky-blue silk with a stripes woven in that were the same color. I wore it with a set of blue topaz jewelry including a necklace, earrings and a ring. As near as I remember I haven't had anything to wear the same color for more than 20 years but I still have the blue Topaz jewelry. I decided that I would like to have another pale blue outfit and I found that it is very difficult to obtain. After failing to find anything that would fit me online I decided to see if I could make something. Finding pale blue woolen dress fabric proved fruitless. Finally I ordered a cashmere lashing shawl from Amazon in the right color, but my other pashmina shawls are quite lightweight and I feared that my endeavor would prove fruitless again. To my delight, the weight of the shawl was denser than I had expected. Now I just have to figure out how to utilize it in the best way. I have a number of patterns from the time that I did a lot of sewing and I have a working sewing machine. I had my son take a picture of me so that I could get a good idea of what design I would like to create.

Fake News

On my Facebook feed I have sources ranging from the Guardian to Breitbart. 'Friends' who post also range from very liberal to very conservative. I believe the problem is not so much fake news as it is overwhelming rush of opinion. 'Click bait' is also a real problem. Unscrupulous, unprincipled people who merely want revenue from the Internet continue to post scurrilous and provocative articles.

I believe our culture is in the last stages of deterioration. Today I read Jacob 2. His description of the state the Nephites had fallen into is uncomfortably close to how our country functions now.

Islamic migrants

The LDS church asked us to aid and comfort migrants and refugees. I will follow their counsel even though I do so with discomfort. I believe that many would call me intolerant but my reluctance is based on the history of incidents involving Muslims in this country. On the positive side I am now related to a Pakistani through marriage.

A time to Rejoice in the Midst of Mourning

Yesterday I had cause to rejoice as I talked to my youngest daughter and learned that she had given birth to Leviticus Rex, her fifth child and my thirty first grandchild. At the same event I was attending when I called my daughter someone asked me if I had any great grand children. I said no, but the question caused me to reflect on the reasons why I have no great-grandchildren. Although my oldest grandchild is married and in her late twenties she has not been able to have a child. The next oldest grandchild has chosen to delay having a family as he and his wife embark on a year long tour of the world. The next two grandchildren, both of them boys, died shortly after birth. It would not be reasonable to expect the next three grandchildren to have children at this time based on age alone since all are in their late teens. However the nineteen year old is is impaired by autistism to the point that her parents were required to obtain extended custody. The next has Down's Syndrome and the next has decided that she is a boy.

Gaslit?

Gaslit?

After a recent exchange of comments on my Facebook page in which a person unknown to me has tried to gaslight me (I wasn't familiar with the term 'gaslighting' until lately but essentially it means a person sets conditions to convince you that you are not thinking straight.) I now believe there's an attempt being made to 'gaslight' American conservatives by the government. When we express concern about certain actions that are going forth such as the categorization of Texas and Utah as alien territories for the purposes of military training exercise. When veterans and others such as I express doubt about the wisdom of the project, media gets on board and accuses those who show concern about this as not thinking straight. Some of my close relatives namely my sister and my nephew dismissed my concern. I pointed out in one of my comments on Facebook that I have experience in my life that gives me insight into the workings of the government. From childhood my brother would attempt to convince me of various things and I would resist. One time he accused me of being slippery as I was not willing to accept the premises that he would set but even then I realize that premises are the basis of logical conclusions and it is in the premises that one can be misled. As far as official recognition of our intelligence, both my brother and I were identified as merit finalists as high school juniors. in other words our knowledge and intelligence were significantly more than most of our peers. Both of us were offered the opportunity to attend elite institutions of higher education however the financial realities of our family meant that both of us attended the University of Utah. My brother obtained his bachelors degree, I believe the subject was journalism, after returning from serving in the United States Marines. I attended two years of college before my marriage but returned after having 10 children and eventually graduated from University of Utah. However I also attended George Mason University in Virginia and Brigham Young University in Utah. My brother worked as a journalist usually in editorial positions in California and Washington state while I was a stay-at-home mother. However I was the primary influence in the upbringing of my children. Six of my nine living children were Merit semi finalists, two were given recognition by the Merit Foundation and one scored well into the 90s on college selective tests and her school career included being selected for Governor's School in Virginia which is a highly selective program. Some of my nieces and nephews are also very intelligent however as far as official recognition is concerned, none of them have received the same acknowledgment. Tests and awards alone however are not truly the mark of intelligence. In my opinion the ability to think independently and creatively without being herded along by whatever the media says is a more valid indication of intelligence. By this measure my children rank very well. I believe that to some extent fruits vindicate the value of the branch.