Marcus's Essay Draft: I'll Find Out, in Due Time

I’ll Find Out, In Due Time

An eternal promise to a mortal being; torment, light can’t unveil.

My relationship with Father has always been distant.

When I was younger, I felt close to Him in the sense that I knew he was there; like a child being supervised. However, the older I got, the more I treated Him like any teenager would – off handed communications and years of detachment. A blessing from my church Patriarch mended that detachment, for a moment. The voice of the old timely Patriarch, sounded familiar, though I had not heard it before; not his voice, but His. Reassuring. Calming, even.

Unsettling.

Oct. 23, 2011 – Journal Entry 7

Today in the MTC during scripture study, my class laughed at me because I drew an image of Jesus crossing the Atlantic Ocean to visit the Americas in a boat – a rendition of what I thought happened in The Book of Mormon. Apparently, I was way off.

Incorporation of Quotations

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” – T.S. Eliot

I stood there, looking at the beginning of what would be a long climb. Rock paths lined the base of what was to be a 10-hour journey up and back. It was dark, ice covered the black asphalt of the parking lot. The dirt was hard and crunched underfoot as I lumbered along the path of needle ice to the trailhead. With each inhalation of breath, my lungs stung, then the cool visage of condensation appeared with each exhale. How does one even start to climb a mountain I wondered? I looked up to see that the snow on the trail ahead had illuminated the surrounding areas in the moonlight. I had been dressed in thick boots, thermals, pants, a sweatshirt, a Canadian jacket with a hood, a beanie, scarf, and gloves. Were we really doing this so late in the season? I looked up at Mount Timpanogos: it hung luminously overhead. From where I was, I couldn’t even see the tip it was so high.

            As I gazed up at the giant that lay before me, I was reminded of the old Chinese proverb that comes to mind, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Looking back on the experience I scoffed, well do they have proverb that tells you what do you do when your legs are burning, your depleted of food, you feel as though you can’t take another step for fear of sliding off the slippery edge, what then? As I began that hike, I reflected on my schooling and the mountains I’ve had to climb throughout the admissions process to law school. Under all that clothing, the burning doubt of whether I’d actually make it dangled unanswered in the air.

Marcus's Leavitt/Hoiland Post

1.    The author mentioned different methods of her writing, like using poetry forms to provide a different style of reading. If I remember correctly, she created the story in this form for a couple of reasons: 1. Because that’s just how the story ended up as she started writing it. 2. Poetry allowed her to write about difficult moments without being too graphic or specific. 3. The form created an interesting connection between the reader and the story – it was a truer form to tell the story. It made it more real. As for morals and LDS angles of her writing, she demonstrated the reliance of miracles. The author mentioned that many of these young girls turn to Christ because they have literally nowhere else to turn. She used this fact to increase the addition of miracles to the story. However, the author leaves it open ended, because she didn’t want the ending to be too glorious – many of the times, these young women only live up to 5 years once immersed in drugs and prostitution.

2.    “…A pretty useless word, really, but the fact that someone took the time to teach it to us, to say. it over several times until we got it and the Remy held the snail up to his eyes and said snigel means I will cherish that word as a passed-on treasure until I am old and forget all my words.” (Pg. 10)

I really liked how this part stood out among others even though she is very descriptive in her details throughout the book. She used a simple word and phrase to create an entirely new meaning which produced a deep reflecting moment. It is details like this that I would like to remember and put into my own writing. As I had mentioned before, writing boldly helped me remember details I had forgotten, but by replicating this style and approach, I think details will come back to me and I’ll be able to write them in a unique way. There are simple things in life that can have a great impact, and it is important to show that in my writing. At times I want to focus on this big moments, but the little ones pack a big punch as well.

Cameron's Bold Writing Blog Reflection

My attempt at “bold writing,” was not literary as it too involved a sequence of questions. I appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to worry about an audience when writing, defining terms unknown to an audience, expounding on ideas that I’ve been mulling over for months, etc. It felt good to write freely, but as I did so, I found my mind slowly wandered to deeper, almost scarier issues and questions that I didn’t know I have been struggling with. It’s interesting that the Church, which has become such an integral part of my identity, makes it difficult to question discrepancies within the religion even through a lens of faith. Perhaps, I complained a little too much at the beginning, however, I’m grateful that this assignment had a 1000-word minimum limit. Having a goal to write more helped stretch my vocabulary, ideas, and restitutions. Though this journal entry sparked questions, I can’t say that writing a 1500-word journal entry has allowed me to sort through all struggles with the particular issue, but it has helped me reflect and re-center the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions that were prevalent. For me, I think that finding some type of restitution was crucial, to keep writing, not just to list the issues at hand, but to look at things from an alternative perspective. Keeping an open mind, of course, enhanced my understanding of the issue.