Monday, October 30, 2006

Weekend!

Despite some family crap that's been bogging me down, I had a good weekend.

Highlights:

+ Halloween action!
+ The Emperor's New Groove!
+ Various girly moments in Rachel's Room
+ Stake Conference (M&M's and the company, mostly.)
+ Cookie makin' & decoratin'

Photos of the exciting times:

Mooney's page: Halloween Action
Ben's page: Cookie Afternoon

I will put the photos I took up eventually... I will probably wait until the actual Halloween Day rolls around. I am sure I will take 938749237 more photos that night.

In other news: Anyone interested in a Dia de Los Muertos gathering?



Wednesday, October 25, 2006

I cheated on myself today.

So. I am on the South Beach Diet, right? Well. Today was Chad's birthday.

Guess what?

I ate delicious birthday cake for lunch.

Should I feel bad about it?

Maybe.

Do I?

No.

Because... FOR REAL! It was a celebration!





Also, since I was reading the story of Ammon in The Book of Mormon...




Courtesy of: Toothpaste for Dinner



Yo. I put some new photos up at my Flickr page.



Monday, October 23, 2006

Campaign for Real Beauty



Sunday, October 22, 2006

Gregory and the Hawk

"Boats And Birds"

If you be my star
I'll be your sky
you can hide underneath me and come out at night
when I turn jet black and you show off your light
I live to let you shine
I live to let you shine

but you can skyrocket away from me
and never come back if you find another galaxy
far from here with more room to fly
just leave me your stardust to remember you by

if you be my boat
I'll be your sea
a depth of pure blue just to probe curiosity
ebbing and flowing and pushed by a breeze
I live to make you free
I live to make you free

but you can set sail to the west if you want to
and past the horizon till I can't even see you
far from here where the beaches are wide
just leave me your wake to remember you by

if you be my star
I'll be your sky
you can hide underneath me and come out at night
when I turn jet black and you show off your light
I live to let you shine
I live to let you shine

but you can skyrocket away from me
and never come back if you find another galaxy
far from here with more room to fly
just leave me your stardust to remember you by
stardust to remember you by



Friday, October 20, 2006

Why I Gave Up On Hip-Hop

My 12-year-old daughter, Sydney, and I were in the car not long ago when she turned the radio to a popular urban contemporary station. An unapproved station. A station that might play rap music. "No way, Syd, you know better," I said, so Sydney changed the station, then pouted.

"Mommy, can I just say something?" she asked. "You think every time you hear a black guy's voice it's automatically going to be something bad. Are you against hip-hop?"

Her words slapped me in the face. In a sense, she was right. I haven't listened to radio hip-hop for years. I have no clue who is topping the charts and I can't name a single rap song in play.

But I swear it hasn't always been that way.

My daughter can't know that hip-hop and I have loved harder and fallen out further than I have with any man I've ever known.

That my decision to end our love affair had come only after years of disappointment and punishing abuse. After I could no longer nod my head to the misogyny or keep time to the vapid materialism of another rap song. After I could no longer sacrifice my self-esteem or that of my two daughters on an altar of dope beats and tight rhymes.

No, darling, I'm not anti-hip-hop, I told her. And it's true, I still love hip-hop. It's just that our relationship has gotten very complicated.

Continued... "Why I Gave Up On Hip-Hop" by Lonnae O'Neal Parker



Elder Dallin H. Oaks: "We do not always receive inspiration or revelation when we request it. Sometimes we are delayed in the receipt of revelation, and sometimes we are left to our own judgment. We cannot force spiritual things. It must be so. Our life's purpose to obtain experience and to develop faith would be frustrated if our Heavenly Father directed us in every act, even in every important act. We must make decisions and experience the consequences in order to develop self-reliance and faith."



Wednesday, October 18, 2006

President Gordon B. Hinckley: "Women in the Church are associates with their brethren in carrying forward this mighty work of the Lord. . . . They stand in an associate role to the priesthood, all striving together to build the kingdom of God in the earth. We honor and respect you for your capacity. We expect leadership, and strength, and impressive results from your management of the organizations for which you are responsible. We uphold and sustain you as daughters of God, working in a great partnership to assist him in bringing to pass the immortality and the eternal life of all of the sons and daughters of God" ("If Thou Art Faithful," Ensign, Nov. 1984, 89).

Kathleen H. Hughes, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency: "Relief Society was established by God, through a prophet, by the power of priesthood authority; its existence is a necessary part of the organization of the Church. Men and women stand together in priesthood and Relief Society as we strive to bring families to Christ. As women, we should never think that our role in the Church is a lesser role than that played by men. Just as we as righteous women honor the priesthood, we need to hold sacred our calling as women as well. . . . [Relief Society] grew out of our divine calling and our desire to serve, to love, and to care for each other. Just as the ordinances and direction of the priesthood are necessary in the Lord's work, so is the service that we do" ("In Covenant with Him," Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2003, 108).



Monday, October 16, 2006

Dina is hot.


Thanks to my good friend Dina, Adobe Photoshop, and a lot of time to myself this evening, ol' Infamous Dance got a makeover! Te gusta? Me gusta mucho.

I had dinner with my Dad last Wednesday at Legal Sea Foods. I had the most amazing time. We just talked and talked and talked. I honestly cannot remember the last time we have done that. It was wonderful.

Dude. I am totally stoked on the new look of the site. Dina freaking rocks.

I got these Chooka boots today, thanks to Mom and Tom giving early Christmas presents! They will get me through the winter... I just need to buy a lot of heavy duty socks and some thermal underwear. HOT!



Thursday, October 12, 2006

KKK Pop?

ABC News: Young Singers Spread Racist Hate

To download a couple of these attrocious songs: "Skinhead Boy" and "I Will Bleed For You"

Racist White Girl Group on Billboard Charts
Body: RACISM GROWS, September 22, 2006
By Claudia Rosett and George Russell

What does it mean for Black America that a hate preaching music duo could debut on the Billboard albums chart?

This week, the Billboard albums chart's top five is packed with nothing but new releases, with Bakersfield, CA Pop duo Prussian Blue shocking the nation by taking ..4 after selling 91, 000 copies of "End of A Black World" its
first week out. The album is also serving as the soundtrack to a remakeof one of the most controversial movies in U.S. history "Birth Of A Nation".

"End of A Black World" is the third and most successful album for 12 and 13 year old Lamb and Lynx, who have recently relocated to a private compound in Salt Lake City, Utah after their last album gained them national attention and death threats. The girls were lost, especially in December of 2005 when their father was shot twice by an AME Minister. However, their father survived and their career was revived by what seems to be an unfathomable paradigm shift in American values.

"It really breaks my heart to see those two girls spewing out that kind of garbage, " said Ted Shaw, civil rights advocate and president of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund.

"This is bullshit. Right now I am more so shocked that an album advocating the extermination of the black race could be so widely received by
America," continued Shaw, who plans to protest the girls' album and call for black artists to boycott Billboard.

Jessie Jackson of The Rainbow PUSH Coalition gave the following statement, "White America has spoken. Billboard has spoken. This is only the beginning."

The beginning is just what Lynx and Lamb, who have been nurtured on racist beliefs since birth by their mother April, are hoping for. "We hope to bring about change in our people, " said Lamb. "We hope that our album and Birth Of A Nation will show our people exactly what needs to be done to make this country safe and white."

When asked about their inspiration for their latest efforts, Lynx gave this response. "I saw white people hating white people. I was afraid that America
wanted to be black, " said Lynx. "I saw that funny nigger's show where he made a mockery of the KKK and white people were laughing. This broke my heart."

Lynx was speaking of Actor/Comedian Dave Chapelle and his comic sketch depicting a blind, African American, Ku Klux Klan leader who was unaware that he was not white. Dave Chapelle is also believed to be the inspiration of their single, "Funny Nigger," which describes the gruesome fate of blacks who taunt whites. Dave Chapelle was not availible for comment.

Prussian Blue appear to have gone from one of America's dirty little secrets to Pop princesses overnight. The group is now fielding offers frommajor record labels such as MGM and Geffen. This may be only the beginning.

Track Listing for "End Of A Black World"

1) Dawn of A New White World
2) Birth Of A Nation
3) Purest Soul
4) Tainted Blood
5) Affirmative Blaction
6) Reggin & Ekik
7) The Cleansing (interlude)
8) Short Drop and A Quick Stop
9) Burning Cross
10) N.A.A.C.P. (Niggers Against A Colorless People)
11) Funny Rich Nigger
12) Crack Babies
13) Nigger Lovers
14) No Darkie In Me
15) End Of A Black World
16) Hess' Praye

I AM DISGUSTED. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED.



Wednesday, October 11, 2006

I heart my family...

I just got off the phone with my sister; we started to discuss timelines for Alexa's impending funeral. Ugh. I am making the video that will be played at Alexa's memorial service. That has to be the most difficult commission of all time.

I was looking at the photos on Alexa's site and they all brought my tears to my eyes, of course. However, I was most affected by something that I never had really thought of before... the way that Lex's death will affect the other kiddos in the family. Seeing the picture of Isaac and Alexa (nephew and niece)... I just am imagining the pain for him (and the rest of the family) when he asks where "SEE-SAH" is...

I don't want to think about that anymore. In happy news- Crys, Zack, and Alexa take off for Disney World tomorrow morning! Hooray!

So, I love this picture... all my nephews and my one little niece. The whole family! I love it.



Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Adventures!

So, I finally took the time to upload a bunch of pictures from my recent adventures. I am so happy I made myself pay for a pro Flickr account.

Philly, PA: Visiting my sister, Crys, her husband Zack, and cutie daughter, Alexa.
http://flickr.com/photos/zachmorrisishot/tags/philadelphia/

Salem, MA: Day trip with McMurtry (Pirate Museum!)
http://flickr.com/photos/zachmorrisishot/tags/salem/

Sharon, VT: Birthplace of Joseph Smith, Campout
http://flickr.com/photos/zachmorrisishot/tags/sharon/

Burlington, VT: ACME Conference (Presenting the new media literacy curriculum we developed at Project: Think Different)
http://flickr.com/photos/zachmorrisishot/tags/acmesummit/

Humor me, and check 'em out.



James Baldwin

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be
changed until it is faced." - James A. Baldwin



Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Rafters are high.

Colleen: "I'm starting to feel like your backup."

McMurtry: "I don't think you realize how happy I am right now."

Colleen: "How happy are you?"

McMurtry: "Well, I'm not quite singing from the rafters, but that's because rafters are high and I don't sing that well."

HAHA!

I love it.