Being an LDS Woman

"There is only one way I can visualize religion being a legitimate issue in an American political campaign. That would be if one of the canidates for the presidency had no religious belief." -Richard Nixon

I heard recently that in April a member of John McCain’s presidential campaign made public comments alleging that the LDS Church (Mormons) had ties to Hamas and related the treatment of women within the LDS Church to treatment of women under the Taliban. He also made comments questioning if members of the LDS Church were Christians, all comments directed at drawing support away from fellow presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

It is interesting that staffers of two other presidential candidates (Rudy Giuliani and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback) and the Reverend Al Sharpton have also made public derogatory comments about the LDS Church, and all three have subsequently apologized to the LDS Church and Mitt Romney. I find it odd that after three other figures in the limelight have come out and apologized for similar comments that staffers would still decide to make attack Mitt Romney’s religion. Leave it alone already! I know however, that this will probably happen again. What can I say, politics is a dirty game.

What bugs me most about this particular comment is, well, one, frankly I don’t see how anyone would connect the LDS Church to terrorists. That comment just baffles me. But what bugs me even more that than is the comment that women within the LDS church are treated like women under the Taliban. That is even more ridiculous.

As an LDS woman I do not feel like I am repressed. Why would I? Yeah, I am going to have kids and I will probably stay at home to take care of them, but that is my own choice. That is what I want to do. No one is forcing me. I can’t image a better way to live my life than being there for my kids.

I can just hear the responses now. “She’s been brainwashed! Of course she doesn’t really feel like that. Years and years of brainwashing has made her think that’s what she wants when really she is, in fact, oppressed.” Oh please.

Everyone has different ideas about the nature of reality. Every human has certain beliefs that allow them to synthesize the world around them. Different cultures and religions may have a different idea about the nature of reality than you do. You may disagree with their nature of reality, and they probably disagree about yours.

Religion is a set of beliefs that create an order of reality for individuals, beliefs that are so true to individuals that they seem “uniquely real” or common sense. Individuals will use these ideas to interpret their life experiences. However, these ideas do not necessarily need to be associated with an established religious organization. A person can develop their ideas by various social experiences. Everyone therefore, even those who do not participate in a recognized church, has an idea about the nature of reality. So this brainwashed theory? Well, I guess if I have been brainwashed, then so has everyone else.

Sandberg Reunion

We Made It!

We have finally made it to L.A. and so far everything has gone very smoothly. On Friday we packed everything up in Provo. The only hitch there was that the gate to the service road in front of our apartment was not open like I had requested, so I had to make a few phone calls and go down to the housing office to get the key and open the gate myself. We were able to pack in like an hour and a half. Robert's parents, my dad, Robert's cousin Josh, and our neighbor Jake all showed up to help us move.

Robert's dad is a pro at the move thing, so we put him in charge of organizing the truck. I was a little apprehensive to see if we would fit everything in the truck, but we only filled it 3/4 full. In fact, we ended up taking things that we were originally going to leave behind, like the kitchen table. After we packed the truck we spent the afternoon cleaning and then I went to pick up Robert from the airport. I was very happy to see him after being apart for two weeks.

We originally planned on leaving at 4:00 a.m. so we could get to our new apartment by 4:00 p.m. to sign the lease. We slept in until 5:30 though and didn't end up getting going until 6:00 (Utah time). It was a long drive, but we only stopped for gas and ended up making the trip in about ten hours. In fact, at the first gas station I went in to use the rest room while Robert got gas. Then at the next gas station he told me that I had to fill up and he would go use the restroom. It doesn't work that way for me though! I have to use the restroom at every stop to prevent another bathroom stop somewhere down the road.

We made it to Mar Vista by 3:15, which gave Robert time to shower and clean up a little before we went over to sign the lease. Forty-five minutes after getting to the apartment we called Steve and Wendy over to help us move. We had ward members (Craig and Julie) Robert's cousin Daniel, and Steven and Wendy to help us out this time. We did it in hour. Now we just have an apartment full of boxes!

I was really happy that we could move into an apartment. We kind of had a close call with that one. We had just found an apartment we liked and found out on Thursday that we got the apartment. If not, we would have had to move into a storage place!

Now we have a lot to do this week. Well, I have a lot to do this week. Robert is going to go to work like normal. I am going to do all the moving stuff. I am glad that I don't have a job right now because it would just never get done. I told Robert I feel like his personal assistant because he just tells me, "I need deoterant and shoe laces from the store, and my suit needs to be dry cleaned." and I go and do it for him. I guess we make a good team.

Mosaics

The Best of Police Beat

A compilation of the best "crime" stories at BYU this semester:

Accident - Personal Injury

Sept. 1: A building security officer was injured after biking down a grassy hill on campus. The officer did not see a bike rack at the end of the steep hill and ran into the rack. He suffered a broken wrist and elbow.

Animal Problem

Sept. 18: A deer was hit by a vehicle on Ninth East on the south end of Kimball Hall. Police responded and reported that the deer passed away. BYU grounds removed the deer.

Assault

Sept. 23: An assault was reported at the BYU vs. Utah State football game on Saturday. The victim, a male BYU student, was standing in front of the suspect, a female BYU student, and obstructing the female's view of the game. The female asked the male, who didn't have a ticket in that section of the stadium, to sit down or move. The man refused. An argument ensued and the event's staff asked the man to sit down, which he would not. The male victim allegedly called the suspect a derogatory name and asked her, "What are you going to do to get me to sit down? Slap me?" The female suspect then slapped the male victim. The victim did not press charges.

Oct. 23: An assault was reported in R Hall of Deseret Towers. One male student threw a bug on another male student who retaliated by spraying shaving cream on the male that threw the bug. Shaving cream got in the eyes of the first student and the argument quickly escalated and became a physical confrontation.

Building Problems

Sept. 8: It was reported that a heating or cooling duct over a stall in the women's bathroom in the Martin Building had been altered so that someone could possibly see into the stall. The alteration was corrected.

Disorderly Conduct

Sept. 15: The Creamery on Ninth East reported an argument. The confrontation began with two parties, then a third party attempted to intervene. The agitation was over the use of an Ipod.

Sept. 19: An individual reported male students singing to female students outside of Hinckley Hall in Helaman Halls. The males were advised to leave due to complaints.

Sept. 22: A female BYU student fell through the ceiling of the Thomas L. Martin Building while playing a game of hide and seek. The student was in an area of the building being remodeled where ceiling tiles had been removed for electrical work. Friends boosted the student into the opening where she fell through other ceiling tiles upon crawling around. She was not hurt.

Nuisance

Oct. 13: A student reported two male students throwing acorns off the bridge near the law building on East Campus Drive, hitting another student. When questioned, the male students said they were throwing acorns into the tops of trees to see the reactions of students who thought animals were making the noises in the trees. The students were asked to stop throwing acorns.

Property Damage

Nov. 21: A female student attempted to get the attention of two male students passing by Fox Hall in Heritage Halls by tapping on the glass window of the lobby. The female student shattered the glass window with her tapping.

Dec. 7: The glass of a vending machine in the Harris Fine Arts Center was shattered. A male student's friend paid for a Pot Tart that the vending machine did not dispense. Thus the male student leaned his shoulder against the glass in an attempt to tip the machine and get the Pot Tart out accidentally shattering the glass in the process.

Stalking

Nov. 3: A female student reported her ex-boyfriend approached her in the Talmage Building and held her against her will desiring to talk about things. When she tried to leave he restrained her. The male student was issued a no-contact letter.

Suspicious Activity

Sept. 13: A female student reported a suspicious male staring at females near the Morris Center. A police officer made contact with the man who said he hadn't been staring at anyone, but that he did say hello to a female with a baby. The man has already been issued a restraining order for a previous incident.

Sept. 29: A report was called in of an older man mumbling to himself on the intramural fields on Canyon Road. The man was gone when police arrived.

Nov. 2: A student in Helaman Halls received a letter with a large sum of money in it from an address in Salt Lake. The student does not know who sent the money and the incident is under investigation.

Nov. 24: An individual in Deseret Towers reported five suspicious men playing pool in the lobby of one of the halls. Upon investigation it was found the men were simply students playing pool with their girlfriends.

Theft

Aug. 25: The Creamery on Ninth reported a theft on Aug. 25. A boy entered the creamery bathroom with two bags of peanut butter M&M's. An employee noticed the boy did not leave the bathroom with the peanut butter M&M's and attempted to apprehend the boy. He fled before he could be detained.

Sept. 1: A male student reported his car stolen from the parking lot next to the Student Athletic Building on Sept. 1. Upon investigation it was found the car was not stolen but borrowed by a friend.

Sept. 26: A male student in Wymount Terrace reported his load of whites was stolen from the dryer in the community laundry room he had put them.

Weapon Offense

Dec. 6: Two suspicious males were reported at the Cannon Center in Helaman Halls. One of the males was reported as having a gun tucked in his waistband. Upon investigation it was found the males, not BYU students, had simulation guns with them and said they were waiting in the Cannon Center for a friend.

Summer Heat Wave

It has been really hot in LA for the past week, as with many other parts of the country. A girl I talked to today said that she couldn't take the preschool kids she works with outside to play because it was over 115 degrees outside, so they were not allowed to go outside. Where we are it is not as bad because we are near the ocean. In fact, a lot of the houses here on the west side don't have air conditioning because it only gets very hot a few weeks out of the year. Well, now is those few weeks. Yesterday at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica a fire started underground because the transformers overheated from so much use from people using their air conditioning. The fire blew manhole covers off the street and resulted in a power outage. There have been outages all over the city because people trying to stay cool and the governor is urging people to conserve, conserve, conserve.

My birthday

For my birthday I got real diamond earrings.

Independence Day: Part II

So yesterday was the real Independence Day and we did what I predicted, we had a BBQ. We went over to Robert's grandparents house and swam in their pool and had a BBQ in their backyard. Woody brought his scuba gear and I tried it out in the pool. At first I felt like I was suficating even though I was getting oxygen from the tank. Getting your air from a little tube took me a while to get used to. I also wouldn't sink, so they had to add weights to me. Then I had to figure out how to swim with those fins on. When I finally had it figured out I realized there was really no place to go in the pool. I still enjoyed figuring everything out.

On Monday we went to the Hollywood Bowl, which is in...(can you guess?) Hollywood. It is an outdoor amphitheatre home to the LA Philharmonic Orchestra. So the LA Philharmonic played a bunch of music for the first half and the second half was Kenny Loggins. We were rockin it to seventies music. I bet not many people can claim that they have heard Footloose performed live. After that they had a cool fireworks show.

So by the time evening came on the fourth of July we were pretty fireworked out so we just went up on the balcony of the house here instead of going anywhere, and we still managed to see another 6 firework shows going off at the same time by not even leaving our house.

Independence Day

Yesterday we went to go see fireworks at Santa Monica College. It think its weird that there are all these firework shows on the Saturday before Independence Day because everyone had the day off on the fourth and can just as easily go see fireworks on the fourth. It is like a build up to the fourth of July. A lot of people don't have work on Monday either so it is this five day weekend building up to the fourth where I guess everyone will have a BBQ and the non-LDS people will all get drunk and the LDS people with play card games or something.

Anyway, so the firework show was fun. We parked at the LDS Institute and sat on the institute lawn because the place they shot the fireworks off was near there. They used to set the fireworks off right across the street from the institute and and once one of the firworks fell over and shot over to the institute and under a car. No one got hurt. Staying at the institute felt like a ward activity because everyone knew each other because they were all in the same stake. I saw a lot of people that I new from our ward.