As a graduate student in English and Rhetoric, I earn my stipend in part by teaching a few writing classes. At some point we are allowed to propose ideas about a possible class, and by some strange stroke of luck, my proposal was accepted. So this year, I have been teaching a class called the “Rhetoric of Media Bias” – though I felt “Rhetoric about Media Bias” would have been a more accurate title.

I think this issue has some LDS resonance, what with the L.A. Times giving front page coverage to the “debunking” of the Book of Mormon and the trumpeting of Mitt Romney’s mormonness in the media (whereas Harry Reid’s goes nearly unmentioned – an exhaustive Lexis Nexis search reveals that in the news media Romney’s religious affiliation often takes center stage, whereas Reid’s membership occasionally gets mentioned in an offhand manner).

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Given that we are all hopefully participating in the Plan of Happiness, it might be worth studying American views on happiness in general. With this in mind, I link the Pew study on happiness.

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The mother of one of the 50 people killed by Islamist fanatics in the London suicide bombings has had to resign as a vicar because she cannot forgive the assassin responsible for her daughter’s death. Her feelings of rage are not compatible with her position as an Anglican vicar, she says. I’m not sure how I would feel in her shoes — can anybody say for sure they would be able to forgive their daughter’s killers? I’d like to think I would act with Christ-like forgiveness, but I simply don’t know. What do you all think?

My ward has a new Girls’ Camp director, and she sat in Young Womens today so she can get to know the girls before camp (which I think is sometime in June). Our first camp meeting will be this Wednesday. Thus, I’ve been thinking about my experiences at Girls’ Camp, especially my first year.

I almost didn’t go. My birthday is in July, and the stake we lived in had Girls’ Camp in August, so I would turn 12 just a few weeks before camp and be eligible to go. The ward started preparing for camp several months early, so they contacted me to get me involved so I could go with them. Thanks, but no thanks, I told them. I wanted nothing to do with camp. They were kind of confused by this – most girls look forward to it. But I was adamant that I didn’t want to go.

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So, this post may be somewhat confessional (in a harmless way), but in thinking back on my life, there are a few things that have had positive impacts on my life that started out with dubious motivations on my part.

I take comfort in knowing I’m not totally alone in this. Here are a couple of examples:

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