Donna's Journey

Watch out, I am on a rant! Ok, I stopped that several hours ago, I have cooked.

America has some of the best emergency medicine in the world. I am grateful that the doctor was able to save my husband when he had a stress induced heart attack nine years ago.

However, it is nonemergency medicine that has me concerned right now.

I visited a friend the other day. She is suffering from:
* depression, and is taking meds for that.
* she has probably doubled her adult weight
* is on meds for adult onset diabetes, not yet on insulin injections.
* Her heart has been having racing episodes, so she is going to a doctor to have heart tests
* She has severe asthma and has been hospitalized several times over the years I have known her.
* The last time she was in the hospital they told her her digestion was slow.
* I sat there as her and her husband downed pop. Then she admitted her other children are pop drinkers too.
* she told me her pre-school son will be going in for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy the same day as her heart tests, as he has tonsils so swollen he has sleep apnea.
* I asked her about sleep and she told me the TV was on all night in her room.

I spoke with her at length and discovered that she was clueless to what she could do to really improve her health. They spent time telling her to avoid fat, frying, bacon, and bread. However, there was little said of what to eat and why. Then I thought of all the people I know that are sick and on meds for life that make them sicker.

I thought of the growing medical corridor along the Wasatch front and the growing number of pharmacies everywhere. This is Utah and it ought not be this way.

We have institutionalized birth, childhood, and death. As a people we have raised doctors to a God status. The cult of expertise seems to cause normally thinking people to put their brains on hold. Thus, saith the expert! As if they all were in agreement. The nasty little secret is that they are not all in agreement, only those who hold power want you to believe so. Like European Royalty relied on dubious genealogies to show they were superior and therefore should rule, modern experts point to their degree, as if it should silence any questioning.

At this point you probably think it is not the doctor ’s responsibility to educat them on nutrition. I agree. Doctors are not qualified to do so. Few have had more than a few hour lecture on nutrition and have no “credentials,” real knowledge, or experience with nutrition. When a doctor is question they usually ask about your credentials, when it comes to nutrition precious few doctors have any credentials. Yet that does not stop them from trying to fake it. Though the doctor’s office is late in the game, I feel clinics should have trained, certified nutritionist on staff, and offer lifestyle and nutrition classes to adults who are in need of wise counsel. Doctors are all too willing to line up and take money, but they do little about true prevention.

It is quite pathetic when preventative medicine consists biological witches brews of foreign matter injected into bodies and early detection rather than true prevention.

First a little history and then on to what happened last Sunday.

I was a student at BYU in 1975. It was a marvelous time. I remember attending a fireside in which C. Wilfred Griggs spoke on an Ancient Writing called The Pearl. Part way through his lecture his notes fell to the floor. As students rushed to help him collect them, it was apparent he was teaching from text written in another language. He joking told the students not to worry, as the last line on each page had to agree with the first line on the next, the pages were not numbered. The lecture was fascinating. I later decided I would take a class from him. So, the summer of 1977, when my sister came as a visiting student to BYU, we both took Griggs for a New Testament class, The New Testament from Acts to Revelations.

Griggs would teach the class using his Greek New Testament and he would translate freely in class. I should say he translated smoothly and he would talk of several nuances of the words in Greek. Most of us did not know Greek. To compensate, he had us read the King James Version and any two other translation of the Bible, even foreign language. I chose and used the Jerusalem Bible and the Revised Standard. So, in nine weeks of summer school I read the New Testament about six times, Once in each version for class, and again in preparation for finals.

One student asked Griggs what to study for the final and Griggs said that it was all on the test. The first part of the test was a map. It was a simple line drawing of the Mediterranean area. The water was not blocked out. You had to know where the water and land was. We were to mark where the major cities were and chart out Paul’s three missions. This was followed by vocabulary that Griggs had translated key words that do not mean today what they meant when they were written. Then we got into the message of Acts through Revelations.

I found it amazing that the two teachers that inspired me the most and taught me more about scholarship, than all the teachers I ever had combined, were two religion teachers at BYU; C. Wilfred Griggs (New Testament) and S. Kent Brown (which I had taken 2 Old Testament classes and I audited one Graduate level Inter-Testamental Class from Brown). Brown inspired me to want to learn Hebrew and Griggs inspired me to want to learn Greek. I did take a beginning Hebrew class in 1997 through GWC. I had a friend teach me and my walking partner a beginning Greek class once a week in 2003.

Language has always been a fascination of mine. I had pen pals all over the world, as a child. At one time I wanted to work at embassies, and I have always loved archeology.

When I had Griggs, I asked him when and how he learned Greek. He told me the process he took in memorizing the alphabet, and recommended a few books. I bought them and the Greek New Testament he recommended. He spoke and read several languages, ancient and modern. Brown was always walking across campus with an ear piece in his ear, learning a language. Fall of 1977 I got married and began having children. Morning sickness laid me low, life became full, full with seven children. I kind of set those ideas of learning languages aside, for a while. Now, aside from English, I took 3 years of German in High School, and three semesters of German in college.

Last year I bought a book by Ian McNair, Teach Yourself New Testament Greek. I began working through it an loved it, but set it aside so I could work on my thesis.

Now, fast forward to last Sunday. A friend’s father came for her baby’s blessing, and sat in the row ahead of me. In the introductions he said he knew a Goff at Harvard. He said he lived up the hill. I asked if he teaches at BYU. Yes. Then I find out that he teaches Greek and Latin Poetry and Mythology. As we engage in further conversation I share my journey to learn Greek. I shared that I had recently read Sophocles and Virgil’s Aneid and would love to read the Georgics. He asked if I had heard of and read The Eclogues, and I had heard of, but not yet read The Eclogues. He smiled, I guess is graduate thesis was on Virgil’s writings. He then tells me of a book he helped author: Reading The Gospel Of St. John In Greek : A Beginning : With Introduction, Notes, Vocabulary, And Grammatical Appendix / by Norbert H.O. Duckwitz. I think I will look it up and work his approach. I told him that I would love to get to the point of studying the New Testament in Greek.

There are so many things to learn!

This weekend I presented at UHEA. I spoke on the Allegory of the Empty Harvest. The premise being: There are many approaches to learning out there. They all can produce a harvest if applied. The challenge is that our children are all different with different strengths, weaknesses, gifts, backgrounds, etc. I wanted moms to get away from the idea that the perfect, one size fits all, curriculum that can leave parents free and easy, while making children brilliant, does not exist. Many parents chase that elusive curriculum, buying what others rave about, only to find the curriculum was not a panacea and then dropping that for the next one to come along. Always planting, never harvesting. No vision. No way to gage progress.

One mother thought I was suggesting we bypass all the approaches to gardening and buy our food from the store, or in other words skip all the methods and let someone else do it. Then she asked if I was an unschooler. Yikes! Then she asked me to describe my style. I said a Charlotte Mason Philosophy in a TJEd Approach. She asked for resources and suggested curriculum. Another mom asked how she could help her 14 year old gain discipline.

First, I do not recommend curriculum. Second, I do not tell parents how to work with a child. After all, I do not work with the child and understand all the variables, including the ones the parents do not see. However, I recommended that she get on her knees and ask the one that does know all of the variables and knows what will work for that child.

I suggested that parents;
* Evaluate where they are
* Get a vision of where they want to go
* Create their road map to get you moving towards your vision.
All of this was supposed to be in the handout booklet, but somehow my notes were received and did not make it in.

Then I spoke of how to use your environment by:
* Mealtime Geography through placing a map on the table and covering it with clear vinyl.
* Refrigerator Culture through placing fine art prints and poetry on the refrigerator door.
* The Discipline of Habit
* The Atmosphere of Environment
* Great Ideas
* Crazy Days
* The Green Hour
* Momculture
Then a dad asked about how I would teach math. I spoke about the history of math education in this country. Context, working with parents, math history. books like String, Straightedge, and Shadow.

The second hour was better than the first. I had been able to process the hour before. That hour was taped. I still feel I need to work on this presentation, as I feel that with this, parents are empowered to create what will be a custom fit to their unique family and situation. This probably needs to be done in a all morning presentation, with hands on workshop.

From time to time, it is good to reexamine one’s own life. Though Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living, I feel an obsessive compulsive micromanaged one is not a life at all. So, as the seasons change and family dynamics change, it is time to step back and reevaluate, regain vision, and redirect my energies. Roger and I are looking at our family life and rhythms as summer approaches.

The challenge is to have rhythm and spontaneity in the face of uncertainty. Not uncertainty about moving but in when. Meanwhile we want to thrive, not merely survive. Being prepared to pick up and leave at any moment and begin anew. All the while trying to think clearly and polish my offering, my Primer, and keeping it in perspective, making memories and keeping family relationships vital. Lots of pondering…what is needful?

Grades used to reflect progress in learning, or did they? Compliance maybe? Hoop Jumping maybe?

Some teachers never give out an A grade. Some give an A to all their students and once that is out of the way focus on learning and enjoying the subject. Others give extra credit for bringing cans for the can food drive. Some teachers grade on a curve and the grade does not reflect knowledge but how you compare with others. Some teachers grade individually, it does not matter how good or bad you do, but how you do compared to how they think you should be able to do. One of my son’s friends was taken to IHOP for a final. Many have in class parties. Yes, and some give finals. Even the finals are suspect. In one class the finals had a vocabulary test and all the definitions were on the walls! Many exams that happen are multiple guess, because they require less work to grade, and if you know how to take tests well, you can come out with at least a C.

Once upon a time, students showed their progress and prowess through oral and essay exams. Oral exams required a much higher level of proficiency and knowledge, by the teacher, so it is not hard to understand why they are rarely used anymore. Essays are still used at a higher frequency than orals, but even essays are growing more rare. Essays take too much time to grade and they require the teacher to know their subject, be able to reason, and have a solid understanding of the mechanics of the English language.

After spending 13 years in the public school system myself, and another 12 years as a parent, I know
that an “A” does not necessarily mean an “A,” and so I am less wowed by bumper stickers that spout, “My Child was an Honor Roll Student at XYZ School.” I had a room mate that was a 4.0 student in High School, and did poorly on the ACT, so she was turned down three times for a major University in this valley. She either did not know how to take tests, or her stellar high school record may have reflected attitude rather than academics.

So, when the report card comes out, what does it tell you? Not what you might think.

I am a new blogger for LDS Blogs, blogging on Women’s Issues. I thought that I would start out by going through the Relief Society Declaration, to set a basic foundation of what we really believe about women and then branch out from there to other issues. When the Declaration was first brought forth, it was in response to “inquiries from outside the Church, and to remind ourselves, the women of the LDS Church, of the grand blessings of womanhood.”

I will probably blog a few times a week there. So I invite you to check out LDS Blogs and what I will write on women. http://women.ldsblogs.com/

Once I deal with each concept in the Declaration, then I can branch out into other areas, and write on other categories such as:
# Being a Stay at Home Mom, which I am. There are things we can do
# Callings, I have had the opportunity to serve in many capacities
# Childcare, there are options and considerations…
# Discussion of General Relief Society Meetings I love these meetings!
# Discussion of Relief Society Lessons I love Relief Society
# Finding Your Place in Relief Society This is a changing thing for women as they traverse the area from single, to wife, to mother, to grandmother, and in some cases singleness again, through divorce or widowhood…
# Furthering our Education, Which I am actively engaged in.
# Home and Family, I have one!
# Homemaking Skills, Ah, what is the art of home making or making a home, it may not be what you think!
# Living in a Part-Member Family, I did when I joined the church
# Marriage, Wow, been there for almost 31 years
# Missionary Work, thinking outside the box
# Mother-Daughter Relationships, I have three daughters, one a child, one married, and one a single adult, and I am a daughter. I run an organization for mothers and daughters…The Princess Academy.
# Provident Living, we live in a day and time where this is vital!
# Raising Sons, I have four of them, two teens and two married.
# Running a Household, I do this.
# Self-Worth, we all have worth greater than we know
# Service, Women feed the hungry, clothe the naked, educate the ignorant, create beauty…
# Supporting the Priesthood, this is a mutual process.
# Taking Care of Elderly Parents, my mother-in-law is 88 in June. My parents have passed on.
# Teaching Children the Gospel, oh, I have been doing this for almost 30 years.
# Teaching our Daughters, I have them
# Temple Preparation, all of my children but my youngest has been to the temple to do temple work.
# Women in the Scriptures, there are more than most people realize.
# Working, is a principle of the Gospel, this is another area we need to think outside the box.

And so much more…

Toledoth is the Hebrew word for the concept of family origins, generations, and account of family history.
We have a family history and there are many things there that are good. I want my children to find their identity in the emulatable parts of our toledoth and gain wisdom from the errors others have made, so they can avoid those errors as well.

In reality, today lived becomes tomorrows toledoth. I know the eyes of my posterity are upon me. Thinking toledothically (I made that up) or generationally, means giving thought, vision, and action to the legacy of the toledoth I leave to my posterity.

While I made custom omelettes for everyone this morning, Julia read to us from Princess Caspian. We folded laundry as she read, we paused to get the trash out. I cleaned the counters and did dishes as she read aloud. I even ran laundry loads. We finished at 230 and headed to the Cinemark 16 theater in the Provo Towne Center to see the movie.

Tomorrow we begin Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

A lesson we learned from Winter Quarters was that they planted even though they planned to move on. So, we will plant and enjoy the bounty of Utah County until such a time that the person who will buy our house shows up.

Tonight after our planting activity we gathered round the fire pit in our secret garden and roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. Julia hobbled out on crutches and Jeremy hung a light in the maple tree. Julia, our storyteller began reading Prince Caspian aloud to us. With logs on the fire, logs popping, and sparks rising in gentle fireworks, Julia read on. We finished 99 pages tonight and everyone paid close attention. We will finish the book tomorrow afternoon and go watch the movie.

This looks like it will unfold into a new summer tradition. Julia offered to read about two chapters a night to us, of the rest of the series, in the secret garden, weather permitting. If weather becomes non- conducive, we will gather in the living room.