I think that in life, it is very important to, in fact, be grateful for being alive. I mean, life is awesome! One look at glorious mother nature, or a sniff of a beautiful smell, or the endearment of a special moment with a loved one demonstrates it. Unfortunately, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Life is awful, too. One only needs to remember the Holocaust, or literally any chapter of human history to know it. The amount of cruelty and suffering human beings can inflict on one another is jaw-dropping, and soul shuddering. No wonder people commit suicide. There is so much darkness on this Earth-- so much shadow. It can seem terrible to even live another day, when you feel used, abused, unappreciated, unheard, unloved, or unseen. It's so horrible. So why do we put up with it? What do we see so good in life worth living for? For some, it's religion that instills in them the principle of the value of life. For some people, it's family. I know my family has kept me alive, and kept me going time and time again. Genuinely, without family I could not have made it this far. For some people, it's art. Like Keating said, "Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." Whatever the reason, I think it is crucially important to find joy in this life. And to find bright, colorful, and lovely things to stay alive for. Life is a one shot thing. If we are miserable the whole time, we're wasting it. I'm not saying to dance through life. I'd never say to ignore your valid hurts. However, I think that it's time that I, and all of the human race with me, started appreciating the little joys in life that make it all worth it. I think each day could be filled with wonderment and friendship-- much like it is when we are little kids. I think each moment can have some redeeming qualities. Even if my back hurts, at least the sun is shining. Even if I am broke, at least I had money at some point to mourn its loss. ;D Even if I feel alone, I really am never alone. Putting the concept of God aside, even just in our shared experience of humanity we are never alone. I probably have felt something akin to what you are feeling right now. And how cool is that! So a bright side is, even if you're feeling sad, maybe I've been sad, too, and it's neat and nice that we get the chance to cry together, draw closer together, mourn, even greive, together, comfort each other, and then most importantly GROW together!!! Life can be wonderful if looked at through a glowing lens. Why be sad, when happiness costs so much less emotionally? We, ultimately, have control over what emotions we let rule us long term. Let us choose to have overall positive lives. I love y'all. And I'd hate to see you sad. Horrors are real. Really real. But so is beauty. And heaven is not some over the rainbow thing. It's here, and now. If you are willing and able to grab it. I can't wait to experience heaven on Earth with you guys, as we all strive for "happy." Truly, I love you each. I hope you all have a wonderful summer, and wonderful lives, as after we graduate, we may be parting ways for the last time. I'll definitely carry every one of you with me.


My prompt, now that I'm finally getting to it, is to share some way you think we can find light in the darkness, maybe even share a time that you've had to do so yourself. I'll share one.

The other day, I saw an ENORMOUS rainbow. And I'm not just talking a piece of it. End to end, I saw this triple rainbow (or more) band the sky, and I was just like, "wow." It's my first time seeing a complete rainbow like that. And then I went to go inside and go on with my day. Then, randomly, at the last second, I changed my mind. I stood and watched the rainbow, singing songs like Rainbow Connection, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow, until it disappeared. And I was so grateful I did. If I hadn't taken that moment to myself, I would have not had the blessed experience of serenity alone with that vibrant rainbow.

Life is beautiful, my friends. Share your own ideas for efforts to make it more so, or your own experiences. I love ya! Bless y'all!

What are you guys most excited for when you graduate? Like meeting new people, being on your own, moving out, college experiences, or even work experiences? When I graduate I am excited to move out and be on my own and also following a passion/education for art. ​

Hey guys, sorry for the delay. I thought I would do a fun one that's not too serious unless one makes it that way. Basically, what I want to know is if the science was possible and you could create a new animal or make a hybrid version of multiple creatures, what would you make? What would it look like? What is it called?  For me, this time around, I think my creature will be a mix of a Bat and a goliath frog. It would look like a big frog with leathery wings. It would have two clawed fingers on its arms and feet that would help in hanging from things as well as sticky mucus to help it climb other surfaces. It would use its powerful legs to propel itself into the air then catch itself with its wings. It would also have big ears to use echolocation, however instead of a squeak it would ribbit at high frequencies to hunt bugs to shoot its long tongue to catch. It would nest in dark moist caverns and caves near water sources because its winging also would work kinda like fins to help it be stable as it propels through water. It would be the terror of the skies and the water. I would call it the wing(ED) Jumbo Frat. But yeah, what would your guy's creations be?  ​

Recently I have had a few interactions, discussions, and arguments about political and religious beliefs. A handful of my friends share very relatively views as me and we do like to talk about it. Sometimes I get frustrated with others when they aren’t even there. Sometimes I feel wrong even talking about it with those who agree with me. However talking with those who do not agree can also aggravate me as well. A couple weekends back some other friends of mine engaged in a topic relating to politics. Though first starting out as friendly banter, things quickly changed and an argument ensued. After about a half hour of this, we moved on to a different topic. I left home early, not because I was necessarily upset, but just drained. One of the friends I was with called me about five minutes later and asked how I could be such close friends with people who had different ideas and beliefs than me. Not that it was wrong, but the fact that in the group, I was the only debating for what I saw right/correct (3 v. 1). I told them that it’s okay to disagree and also admit that sometimes we are wrong. We have to listen and understand, not just speak your side and refuse to even try to understand the other. I love all my friends so much and would not end our friendship on this argument. Now this begs another question, what about romantic relationships? Should we be in 100% alignment with our partner? I have had many adults tell me that it is smart to marry someone who has relatively the same beliefs and views as myself. However what if you really love someone and cannot agree with them? In this day and age, it is easy to start relationships based on physical levels and more lighter or comical interactions. We spend much of our time on social media, connecting through experiences, jokes, and art. In a small town we connect with people and have deeper relationships with people you would never expect to. Do our personal opinions have to make or break that relationship? Maybe the friendship also has to be undone if we can’t agree.


Im not asking for you to tell us necessarily  what you believe when it comes to these tough topics, but what do you think can exist (relationship, friendship, sibling, etc.) if you don’t agree.

We are approaching the day we graduate and about to move on to a new chapter in our lives. This can be a very nerve-wracking and exciting moment for us all to finally pursue our aspirations and start careers. When I was younger, I always wanted to be a forensic pathologist because I loved watching murder mysteries and crime shows with my mom. Now, I am looking forward to furthering my education in Radiologic technology. What did you want to be when you were growing up and what has changed? Would you consider this new career you are going to pursue as your dream job?

Hey everyone, this is a pretty long one. I was inspired. I recently watched the new psychological horror movie Heretic that came out a couple months ago. I went into it thinking that it was going to be distasteful and laughingly inaccurate in its portrayal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I read that the two women who played the sister missionaries claimed that they used to be in the church, and that made it easier for the producers to show how they might act. Admittedly, I thought this movie was going to really irritate me and serve as a Hollywood criticism built on stereotypes trying to cover a large group of individually very different people (I attend activities at that church frequently and have many family members and friends who are members that I hold to a very high regard.) My dad watched it after I did out of curiosity, and guess what? We actually both really liked it. For a brief overview, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton go to this one guy’s house and he insists that his wife will come and join them soon. He leaves the room and they get suspicious and creeped out and try to leave, but his door is locked on a timer. They have no service to call anyone so they have no choice but to go deeper into the house and find him. He keeps playing mind games with them and pretending to be nice, which actually almost worked on me (just jokes, he’s played by Hugh Grant.) Anyways, he turns out to be a psychotic cult leader named Mr. Reed and tries to use all these “parables” to convince them that their church wasn’t true and “God isn’t real, religion is just used for control.” I got what the movie was trying to do, and there were some really thought-provoking points, but ultimately what deterred me was the fact that if I were a missionary in this weirdo’s house, his opinion wouldn’t matter to me. Why is he so pressed and making claims that their religion, and all religions, are horrible? He’s the one that’s kidnapping women and trying to play God by making a mental maze. The scariest part was when he broke the fourth wall and started talking about 2017 Lana Del Rey. Anyways, something that I did not expect was the overall pretty positive portrayal of the LDS church throughout. Sister Barnes ended up sacrificing herself to kill Mr. Reed before he could kill Sister Paxton, and neither of the missionaries would give up their faith to the very end. There were themes of perseverance and staying true to being a good person even when they didn’t know how to defend their faith. Also, Mr. Reed ended up being the one having no peace at the end, and he crawled over to die in Sister Paxton’s arms as he finally gave into his lifelong fear of death. As she said, loosely paraphrased, “Even if religion isn’t real, it’s nice to know that we can all pray for each other and hope for peace and reunion in the end. Even if it’s for people like YOU.” However you feel about all the different religions, I think that we could all agree that intentions make all the difference. The sister missionaries were trying to spread hope, and Mr. Reed was just a horrible person. While my personal beliefs as of right now are that I choose to believe in God, I cannot think of a way to prove this. I simply believe in God because I hope for this to be real, and that is the end of it. No matter if you are like me with some rather unconventional beliefs, such as that God may be real but religion is just formed from tradition and the Bible is largely just cultural stories; or if you are steadfast in your religion in all of the traditional senses, the thing that sets us apart from Mr. Reed is truly loving each other and hoping for a happy turnout on Earth and in Heaven for everyone. What do you think about this complicated subject?

A guy and a girl are incredibly close friends, there is one caveat though, one is madly in love with them in an unrequited love, they have tried but can not push down their feelings any longer- they plan on telling their best friend, who is grateful to have a real genuine human friendship without the promise of a romance, someone who just appreciates them as a person without wanting more. When the confession comes the uninterested one will want to stay friends, and the heartbroken friend will agree, but the dynamic has changed, an awkward air. In this scenario nobody is right and nobody is wrong, but it is an interesting dichotomy and an incredibly common situation. I want to have a discussion on crushes and “friendzoning” . I don't have particularly strong opinions on this, I’m more interested in hearing your additives on the complicated scenarios. On one hand friendzoning is a huge cultural topic for a reason, and not a new thing - the childhood friend and stable boy loves the girl who is obsessed with the prince. Tale as old as time. People fall for friends all the time, it’s hard not to when you grow to learn so much about them, souls become intertwined, in their view they are appreciating an essence of a person they already love, it’s not just a physical attraction. On the other hand, that is an unfair situation for the people who are in the position to friendzone their admirer. It’s an impossible situation where they are also in love with this person’s soul but not in the same way and they feel responsible to protect their friends feelings while also upholding your own. It might even feel like a betrayal, like all the time spent together was a step in a plan, rather than a human connection, who’s to say if they actually enjoyed your friendship or if they were using it as a ploy to get what they wanted. Also if a friendship breaks because they don’t want to have a romance, it might feel as though they didn’t enjoy what the relationship you held so dear was. It is not like they owe anyone a romance. How human of us to make things so impossible and complicated. Of course it differs per situation, but generally, and assuming both people are what you consider to be good people, what do you think? Is one person more at fault? What is the responsibility of each person here? And do you think it is possible for a relationship to recover from the friendzone?

Collections are something we do to express the things we love. We build up collages because we like the pictures or they speak to us in a certain way. We dig in the dirt to find the crazy cool dinosaur bones we see in movies or books. Your dream may be to collect signatures from the people you idolize, but sometimes we don’t deliberately gather items. Sometimes we wind up with over 400 Shopkins and no idea what to do with them; that may have happened to me when I was 12. Fun fact I still have them. Nowadays my collection has transitioned. I have tons of books. I get a keychain from every state I go to and one day, when I have collected from all fifty states, I will put them in a shadow box. I was able to bond with my grandpa over our coins we have gotten throughout the years. My other collections are a bit sporadic and spontaneous so they aren’t completed. My point is that collections do more than just clutter up our room; they make us connect in other places too. Like my grandpa and I or my goal to visit all fifty states; those are real connections. So my question to you is, what are your collections, and what do they connect or tether you to? What are some things you may want to collect in the future?

If you could invent a holiday what would it be and why? There have been numerous times that I thought it would be fun to have a new crazy holiday,  and I wanted to see what other holidays people would come up with.