Hope

One of my children sent me a link this morning to an interesting article about Freeman Dyson, and in particular about his take on the climate change issue. Find it here.

I have always found Freeman Dyson to be a rather intriguing person (one of those beyond-brilliant types who kept his balance), and this article might explain why. (Father of six, grandfather of sixteen for starters.) The article is quite long, and you'll need to be able to access the New York Times online to read it (it's free), but I predict that you might find it worth the trouble.

Here is one quote from early on in the article that gives a look at the kind of person Dyson is: "The purpose of thinking about the future is not to predict it but to raise people’s hopes.”

Seemed to suit our purposes here.

By the way, I haven't given up on my hope that you will think about discussing purity and virtue in this forum.

Walls, Part 3

Find an interesting follow-up to the Rachel video from the first post, here.

Don't hesitate to think about and discuss items 1-3 in the Zion's Walls, part 2 post.

What's "contention"? What could turn a difference of opinion, such as the one, say, between Christian & Mike in the Zion's Walls 2 post, into a contentious situation?

I know you have thought about this and might be bored by thinking about it some more. And perhaps the answer is too obvious for fruitful discussion (I don't think so, or I wouldn't be bringing it up, but you know how I like to hedge my bets). But what, really, does the Lord mean when he says that if we are not "one" we are not his?

Spring is coming! Rejoice!!!

Zion's Walls, Part 2

Ponder and respond as you desire:

1. What does it mean to be "pure in heart"? What is a "pure heart"?

2. What does it mean (what is it like) to "let virtue garnish [your] thoughts unceasingly"?

3. What does it mean to "forgive all men"?

4. In a time of great national pain, Abraham Lincoln famously recommended "malice toward none" and "charity for all." How does this work for you when you feel malice coming towards you?

5. How does all of this play out, for example, when you encounter something like HBO has just pulled on "Big Love"? If you didn't see it, don't go looking. If you did see it, how did you feel?

Even having read the Church's pre-broadcast response, I just wasn't prepared for my own reaction to this desecration. (For those of you who haven't seen it, "Joe the Plumber" has posted the link in his comment to our first blog post, below.)

Anyway, opportunity for reflection. The times, they are a-changin'! Thoughts?

Zion's Walls Shall Ring with Praise

Welcome to my new blog!

Even though I have once again well and truly retired from teaching, I find that I am as anxious as ever about the welfare of the Youth of Zion. So I wanted to create a place for a sort of ongoing class discussion: no lectures (just some links), no assignments, no tests, NO GRADES! A sort of virtual über classroom.

I have begun by contacting all former students whose e-mail addresses I have. If you are reading this and know of former classmates, please let them know? I have also invited my children and their spouses, and the children of some of my friends. In other words, people under the age of, say, 45 who are used to me. The young folks. I realize that it is possible for this to reach some of my ancient Freshman English students who are older than I am. If that is you, just take your arthritis medication and play along.

Here are the rules:

• You will expect, of course, a good dose of The World According to Thayer, but the point is class participation.
• Please feel free to comment upon anything that interests you. Sign with your name or an alias so that others may respond to you.
• I will moderate the blog comments to maintain what I feel to be a positive ... dare I say uplifting? at least encouraging ... tone.

A few more guidelines:

• Critical thinking required, of course.
• Controversy welcome, though no contention (see 3 Nephi 11:29 and 4 Nephi 1:15) please.
• Questions, queries, doubts, concerns are welcome and potentially appropriate.
• However ... I will post NO LDS-bashing, no Church-bashing of any sort. You don't have to believe, but if you don't like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you won't be happy here. In fact, due to the observations in the third bullet above, your comments may not appear on this blog even though I love you a lot.
• In the political realm, we should in general discuss ideas, policies maybe, but not people (except to praise, quote, recommend). This is going to be tricky, but we'll see how it goes. What I mean, specifically, is that I don't intend this to be a campaign debate forum.
• We are no longer inside a BYU classroom, but the Honor Code still applies.
• The Thirteenth Article of Faith also applies. We seek after whatever is virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy. In other words, alarming can be good; alarmist not so much.
• I expect you might want to split off into individual conversations or group discussions. I won't follow you there unless invited. And even then maybe not. Feel free to invite people to your personal blogs.
• If you're looking for true love, please post your vita or a nice, concise, well-constructed one-page resumé. (Just kidding. I mean post an unretouched photo. [Just kidding.])

Okay, let's get started.

Watch and respond to this: Interview with a Russian Defector.

Or to this: Harvard LDS Student Faces Questions.

Or just introduce yourself and share something that interests or concerns you at the moment.

Or throw out a provocative question.

I'll look forward to hearing from you!

Faithfully your DDT