Philly Love

When I packed my camera for my work trip to Philadelphia I thought, "I can take pictures and blog about my trip." And then it was raining. And then there were moments after I visited the city's judicial center that I was afraid to show any valuables in public. But mostly, I have just become very bad at taking pictures. Don't judge me.

The first night I was in Philly my coworker and I ate dinner at an Indian restaurant on Walnut Street. His dish reminded me of kebabs we would make in Fresno with meat from the Meat Market. I was surprised to find such a nostalgia-inducing menu item. My food was probably the best Indian dish I have ever had. It was chicken korma (I think) and the chicken was cooked perfectly. It was delicious. After dinner we walked around for a bit and we found the Avenue of the Arts, aka Broad Street. I was uncertain about Philadelphia's worthiness as a large and worthwhile East coast city, but the Avenue of the Arts proves that they've earned their stripes. For a few minutes I even thought it might be cool to live there. Don't worry, that didn't last very long. There were ads up for the Pennsylvania Ballet's production of Balanchine's Nutcracker. They are actually coming to DC next week and I'm very excited to see the performance.


I attended a hockey game with six of the delegates. It was the Philadelphia Flyers versus the Ottawa Senators. The Flyers won 5-1. This was my first hockey game. The game was not as intense as I had always imagined it would be. There was only one fight. Hopefully soon I'll be able to go to a Washington Capitals game. (Oh and Hasan's head was in the picture. I guess the delegates were quick with the cameras, but not the best at photography.)

Unlike me, the delegation was very good at taking pictures. This picture was meant to show all the delegates with their cameras out at the same time, but my draw was a little slow. There are only three cameras showing in this picture. Can I get a point for trying?


This is me and my friends with whom I attended the Philadelphia Flyers hockey game. I miss them. They said I could visit their countries and they would protect me and take care of me. I guess that's a benefit of working on a program for law enforcement officers--protection wherever I go.

I learned from my "Promoting Tolerance through the Arts" project that Philadelphia is the "City of Murals." On one of the lunch breaks between meetings, I walked around for only about ten minutes and found three murals. Two were too big to fit into one shot. It was quite awe-inspiring to stand in front of something so huge. You really couldn't stand up close and see the whole thing; you had to step back to fit it all in your range of vision. It was so impressive.

This was the best I could get of the whole mural.

This next mural was on two walls.

This mural just didn't seem as impressive as the other two I found, but it was still neat.

This is one of the alleys where I was afraid to take out my camera and I pretty much ran out of the alley after I snapped the shot. I had just learned about the 24-hour arraignment room in the city's judicial center and came to the stark realization that Philadelphia has a very high crime rate. There was no one else around and I felt vulnerable. Anyway, I was hoping for a better shot of the graffiti. After seeing the enormous and magnificent mural arts, I was a little stunned to see the graffiti and I wanted to capture that contrast. Can I get another point for trying?

The bridge in the view from my hotel window.

This is also from my hotel room. You can see the Reading Terminal Market where I had a pepper cheese steak and sushi on my lunch breaks. You can also barely see the black canopies from the Maggiano's where we had a farewell dinner the night the program ended and the night before all the delegates left. This is the indirect documentation I have of a very enjoyable dinner that was hosted by the delegates to thank us. It was a very nice evening.

These were the three vases on the entertainment center in my hotel room. Why did I take a picture? Because they were primary colors! So cool! We're going back to the basics here.

This was me documenting the arrival in the comped hotel room and talking to my sister at the same time.

I finished the trip with a visit to the Macy's department store before the farewell dinner. I had never seen a huge Christmas tree like this inside a Macy's store. I'm getting so excited for Christmas this year. The anticipation feels different than any other year and I'm not sure I can explain why. I'm just looking forward to the season.



My trip to the "City of Brotherly Love" was surprisingly wonderful. I can say that based on the things I did, the food I ate, and the people I met, that I really enjoyed Philadelphia. But please don't ask me to live there and I do not wish to walk alone there even during the day time.

beck

The Benevolent Empire

I've been pondering lately on the Relief Society of the Church. It has a remarkable membership with sisters from all over the world joined in the same faithful mission. These thoughts made me reflect back to a research paper I wrote for a course I took at BYU on Church History.



While studying religion in Paris and also a bit back at BYU, I learned about the Benevolent Empire. I remember being surprised that it existed and was well known in the theological academic realm. I figure since I knew nothing of it that others might be in the same boat. So I'm sharing a little of what I learned about the Benevolent Empire from doing a little research a few years ago. The LDS Relief Society was formed during the Benevolent Empire under the model of hundreds of other organizations. However, the LDS Relief Society was formed under the order of the priesthood. I think this is why it has endured more than a century of social and monetary struggles and is still effective. And as an auxiliary branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it extends the work of that great organization.



beck





The Benevolent Empire



The Benevolent Empire was a time period in American history that began roughly around 1812 with the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and extended well into the 1830s. The ABCFM, as the first documented society, had a following of hundreds of other local and national organizations that were formed to fulfill Christian missions. [1]


The ABCFM was formed by Presbyterians out of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the first known benevolent society, though, unlike the diverse societies that followed its creation, the ABCFM was uniquely specified to missionary work. Its goal was to address the needs of foreigners or the godless in countries outside of America. The first concern of the ABCFM was foreigners, because the societies thought it was more difficult for foreigners to find the gospel.[2] In later years, the benevolent societies recognized the immediate needs of the poor souls in their own areas or congregations—but it took several years to localize their charitable efforts.


The reason for the people's growing need for Christian societies in America has a root in the Second Great Awakening. Revivals were springing up all over the United States and especially throughout New England. Americans were finding religion again, but the Second Great Awakening was more powerful and much louder. The Christian missions also tried to bring the gospel truths to those who were unfortunate enough to be poor or live in places that simply did not have Christianity. Revivals involved itinerant preachers who would travel around to different locations to stir up the fire of the Holy Spirit in the congregations. Americans attended revivals to hear one preacher who was in town one week and then they would go the following week to be fired up again by a different preacher. It was common to attend revivals held by preachers from different denominations. [3]


Once the preachers had eventually phased out their itinerancy and started developing more permanent congregations, the people were restless for the constant overturn of preaching. The congregation satisfied this desire for movement by forming missionary societies. Instead of sending their preacher out, they would send out people from their congregation to do the work of missionaries, which was to spread the gospel in foreign lands. A historian, John McKivigan states “These interdenominational organizations [benevolent societies] supplemented the efforts of the regular churches to disseminate the teachings of evangelical Protestantism and the ideals of virtuous Christian living.” [4] He mentions the inception and goals of the American Home Missionary Society and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Both had the goal “to aid struggling congregations,” but these congregations were abroad and not at home.[5] American women had a benevolent urge to help those whom they believed in poor situation or circumstance both temporally and spiritually.


By the peak of the empire in the 1830s, the societies themselves were too numerous to count—it is estimated that there were hundreds, but there is no exact number since not all were recorded. The purpose of the societies had extended to the needs of the poor and godless in America as well as abroad. “There was hardly an evil that did not have a society organized to combat it. There were religious tract and Bible societies to publish and spread both the Bible and various religious pamphlets and books among the godly and godless.”[6] One goal was to unite the Christian faiths by way of forming societies that were similar in purpose or similar in the concerns they had for the future of their Christian society. Almost all Protestant religions had their arms extended by these benevolent societies. The religions were not very well off monetarily since they were the one place that citizens could always turn to for charity, so the already struggling churches could not fund the charitable acts of the societies. Most often a wealthy member of the congregation funded the societies[7], which probably led to some of the corruption that occurred in the societies.

The reawakened faith of the American people from the Second Great Awakening led to increased awareness and concern for the sins and evils of their cities. Some societies were “centered around the express purpose of saving the wayward girls who had succumbed to sin in the big cities,” and “sailors’ rest centers were developed to keep the seamen out of evil saloons and to provide them with a place of worship.”[8] The Temperance Movement, which eventually became responsible for Prohibition in 1918, was a society formed to combat the use of alcohol. The benevolent efforts were not only focused on abstaining from evils such as alcohol; they also focused on reforms or ways to improve individuals such as “prison reform societies, women’s rights groups, world peace movements, and Sabbath observance organizations.”[9] Each had different causes that they felt needed attention, but each cause was in result of reawakened faith and a desire to have people live like true Christians according to this re-found religion.

[1] Edward Kilsdonk, “Religious Groups, Benevolent Organizations, and American Pluralism” (University of Virginia),<http://are.as.wvu.edu/kilsdonk.htm>.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Jerald C. Brauer, “Chapter 9: New Life in the Spirit,” Protestantism in America, (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1965).
[4] John R. McKivigan, “Abolitionism and the Benevolent Empire, ” The War Against Proslavery Religion: Abolitionism and the Northern Churches, (Cornell University Press, New York, 1984) p.111
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Peter J. Wosh, Spreading the Word: the Bible business in nineteenth-century America, (Cornell University Press, New York, 1994).
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.

From My Old Friend Xanga

I made the mistake of deciding to go to bed early but then decided to check my email. Somehow this turned into reading old xanga entries. There were so many entries about wasting time, not having enough time, and yet here I am again wasting time. There were also way too many entries about me going crazy over boys. Seriously, you'd think I was really boy crazy. Well, maybe I am on the inside.

After reminiscing through the entries, I found this entry that summed up so many things about xanga. I had to share.

beck


Thursday, February 24, 2005

If you read this, even if I don't speak to you often, you must post a memory of me. It can be anything you want, it can be good or bad, just so long as it happened. Then post this to your journal. See what people remember about you. Oh, and if you leave me a memory, I'll leave you one back. Fo sho! (that's a promise)

Posted 2/24/2005 11:05 PM - 1 View - 30 eProps - 16 comments - edit it


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16 Comments

omg haha that def. was good times... we had fun at those football games! i remember that time too!
Posted 2/24/2005 11:20 PM by eencho - delete - block user - fix language - reply

I remember that crazy cheerleader's outfit you wore in "Joseph"!
Posted 2/24/2005 11:21 PM by JoHiLu - delete - block user - fix language - reply

miss becky, my favorite memories of you will always be of our excursion! between shopping and plays and getting lost on the tube and pizza in pisa i just cant decide which is my favorite!
Posted 2/25/2005 12:01 AM by idance3 - delete - block user - fix language - reply

Remember when we had a chamber choir thing during AP lit and since half the class was in chamber we all had to come back together to lit half way during the class or something. I'll never forget you looking through the window and then running away down the hall back to Bergman's---it was soooo hilarious!!! So many good AP lit and chamber memories--way toooo many!!! I miss you!!!
Posted 2/25/2005 12:34 AM by sparsha - delete - block user - fix language - reply

i remember your hair after taking it out of the braids...and the craziness of mr.hemidan's summerschool class....i hope you're well and having fun...luv ya!!*r*
Posted 2/25/2005 2:21 AM by FiestyDiva - delete - block user - fix language - reply

Hey! Mine has to be the great fun of Freshman year choir! Going to disneyland, singing "A Whole New World," and not to mention the fact that you're great! Well, there are a lot more but this will just have to do for now :)
Posted 2/25/2005 10:18 AM by JwSnow - delete - block user - fix language - reply

I remember listening to Becky singing and watching her dance and just being amazed by how graceful she was physically but also how graceful and royal she always was in her personality! I remember how much fun we had together with EFY on sharing the cabin!!! Love you Becky!!! Miss you so much!!!
Posted 2/25/2005 12:18 PM by LyssaPearl - delete - block user - fix language - reply

i had forgotten about the make-up drawing!!! ok, so how about when we had to make up choreography for CCCC and no one would listen and it was really frustrating? how about your superstar party!! how about me being in awe every second you sang? oh! how about summer school P.E. junior year...talking about justin beltz and imagining love lives and you teaching me how to dive!!
Posted 2/25/2005 12:51 PM by queenofthisage - delete - block user - fix language - reply

I remember standing next to you for years in choir cuz we were both sopranos and about the same height. Then you got taller :(
Posted 2/25/2005 1:44 PM by SoCalcoNverT47 - delete - block user - fix language - reply

I remember your face at Denny's when Bethell and Jonathan played the akward game to the full extent...
Posted 2/25/2005 2:54 PM by bhspolobear - delete - block user - fix language - reply

When you were home at Christmas time? and you said you had a dream about me and xanga (that ended up not being a dream but anyways) and you were all like "Heck YES! I'll subscribe to her!" That made me laugh.
Posted 2/25/2005 11:54 PM by buchanan_debater_04 - delete - block user - fix language - reply

I remember sitting outside the MSRB that one morning before Book of Mormon class, and having the standard "getting-to-know-you" conversation. Fun stuff.
Posted 2/26/2005 7:26 AM by sonarbison - delete - block user - fix language - reply

i don't know you very much but of what i do know.... you are strong in the gospel, you can dance very well, your voice is amazingly beautiful and you are gorgeous! just thought you should know.. have a good one! ~Jonet Farley
Posted 2/26/2005 12:06 PM by grapefruitthrower - delete - block user - fix language - reply

Formal was SO MUCH FUN. I remember getting to know you more and dancing the night away. Remember when we saw Beans at Starbucks?! You've always been soo sweet!
Posted 2/26/2005 6:13 PM by CattieRin - delete - block user - fix language - reply

OH! And I remember when you sang "Part of that World" in AP Lit. My most favorite song ever. And your voice was so great!
Posted 2/26/2005 6:15 PM by CattieRin - delete - block user - fix language - reply

Your smile we didnt talk about but everytime I saw you you would have a big smile on your face
Posted 2/27/2005 6:40 PM by kornstar - delete - block user - fix language - reply

Notables from this Week

President Uchtdorf inspired me to be more social. I'm also going to try talking more to boys--especially the really attractive boys who make me really nervous. I feel that I may have been better at this at one point in my life, but it's a sort of skill that fades away with lack of practice. I'm definitely lacking.



Law enforcement officers, attorneys and other representatives from countries all over the world began their "International Crime Issues" program in the U.S. They are a very impressive delegation. This means a lot of interesting meetings, and a lack of sleep for me. I can't wait to see them all again next week!



I saw a diamond-encrusted handgun that was confiscated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. I told my dad I'd like it for Christmas, except it is on display at the DEA Museum. At this museum I learned that Bayer Aspirin also used to make a Bayer Heroin that was sold over the counter. Crazy!!!



I looked at a new place to live in DC. I really like it and it's cheaper than my current place. However, it looks like I'll be staying put for a little while longer.



I saw A Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center. A.maz.ing. So stirring. It got me caught up in the conflicting notions of progress and tradition. Blanche, Stanley, and Stella have been on my mind for the past two days.



Nicholas David George. May his soul be at peace and his wife and daughter be comforted. It's heartbreaking to see friends go through so much pain. I told my mom how that is the sort of heartbreak that terrifies me more than anything else. It makes it hard to want to commit to someone.



I have never been to a rock concert and that is shameful. Tower of Power and Josh Groban don't cut it. It's funny because it always seemed like something my parents did and I never got the chance. I guess I'm old enough now and should get out of the theater to go to a rock concert.



I bought a bus ticket to New York City for the weekend.



Life is short and so fragile. Our lives are useless without peace and love.





beck