This time of year always blows my mind. So many trees change their colors and look amazing! This week I went trail running a few times. The maple trees had started to change in September, but now the scrub oaks are changing too--some of the leaves look like they were spray-painted red.
On Friday, I had to visit Provo for work. If you're one of my Provo readers, don't feel bad that I didn't see you, because I wasn't there for very long. Anyway, I only spent two falls in Provo, and I loved both of them, although I think I liked 2012 better than 2013. Y Mountain is stunningly beautiful with all the red and orange trees covering it, with a few yellow aspens at the top. And I miss that scenery. However, both of those falls I would sometimes be a little sad only to see the trees from a distance. To actually be among those trees would require organizing a hike--something I don't ordinarily feel inclined to do, especially when I had fifteen credit hours. But now in NSL, I can run through or near them, and it only takes ten minutes to run, or five minutes to drive, to the trailhead.
When I was a kid, my dad used to go around singing a Halloween song: "Halloween, Halloween, lots of fun on Halloween! Black cats and ghosts, skeletons too, clowns and witches all say boo!" Then in kindergarten, a music teacher taught us the rest: "Pumpkins with eyes, shiny and bright, make us shiver with fright! [Or something like that.] Halloween, Halloween, we love Halloween!" Recently, I Googled that song--and I found out it was a Mormon song! The few hits I found for it were from Mormon mommy blogs. I found out it originated in The Children's Friend, so I looked for it and found it in the October 1959 issue.
As I was looking through 1950s editions of that magazine at the Church History Library, I found lots of Halloween images of ghosts, witches, skeletons, and so on. I even found a story about a village of black cats who went to school to learn how to ride witches' brooms. You would never find that kind of thing in that magazine's modern-day successor, The Friend. You might find a few images of jack-o-lanterns, but no witches. And I wondered why that is. Is it because The Friend is less secular than The Children's Friend was? Is it because some people might consider witches and ghosts to be satanic or occult? Or is it because they're trying to reach a more global audience, and Halloween doesn't always translate to other cultures? All these questions arrive from one little surprising fact--that our Mormon society has its own Halloween song floating among its culture, even though it has nothing to do with the religion.
Speaking of Mormons, I saw Meet the Mormons yesterday. It is currently at 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. And I understand why. Parts of it seemed hokey. I didn't care for the narrator. It was really just an extra-long "I'm a Mormon" video. But it did have its merits. I really liked the segment about the Candy Bomber--if it had been a documentary entirely about that story, it would have been a better movie. And the convert missionary mom, who was born to sixteen-year-old parents and became a mother herself at sixteen, had an inspiring story. The movie was originally meant for Temple Square--and I think that would have been a much more appropriate venue.
I think most people who will see this movie are Mormons, who already know what Mormons are like. Most people who really need to have their perceptions of Mormons challenged are those who (1) are unlikely to see it or (2) are so hateful of Mormons that nothing could sway their opinions. You know the ones I'm talking about--if President Monson got up and said, "Go hug your grandma today, and be kind to kittens," they would find fault. Overall, I'm just skeptical of how much of a difference the movie will make--but maybe I'll be proven wrong.
I made an interesting purchase this week. I really like local artist Cherie Call, and I knew she had some original songs on a project CD. I ordered it this week, Saga of the Sanpitch, a combination CD and art book about Sanpete County, which was originally called Sanpitch. Some parts of it seem like what you might buy from a museum gift shop, but overall I was impressed with the quality; there are lots of local folk musicians singing about the county's history. Mostly I'm impressed with the Utah Pioneer Heritage Arts's endeavor--the plan is to create one about each of Utah's twenty-nine counties, with two being made about Salt Lake County. That's a massive undertaking, though, and I'm not sure how they're going to do it. The music isn't available as downloads, and it's not sold in stores. I think the only place to order it is from their website. But I'm telling you all about it because I'm impressed with the idea and I don't know how they'll be able to do it all.
I could have written some more things today, but I didn't want to bore you with all the details.
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