On Friday I went to a conference at Utah Valley University co-hosted by BYU's Wheatley Institution and UVU's Center for the Study of Ethics. I found out about it about a week and half ago and, as I told my mother, "I saw “PEACEBUILDING” with a picture of a butterfly and knew I would freaking walk there if I had to." I didn't have to. I asked the magical world of Facebook for a ride and successfully obtained a good one. Maybe "obtained" isn't the word. Anyway. The remainder of this post will be adapted from my letter home this week. (So, Mom, Dad, Marian... don't read this yet. Your version is better anyway.) So, the conference! It was so good. We were there for a total of five speakers, and a discussion/Q&A session for two of them. Each speaker was better than the last. I took notes (in pink ink, of course). I managed to streamline (most) everything into a few key points:
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I go to college at a university owned by my church. Naturally, the university is pretty conservative. It may come as a surprise to anyone who was in my AP Comparative Government class that my top choice school is a conservative one, but it's the truth. Of course, the political leanings of the students was not the primary factor in my decision, but that's beside the point. The point is that my Hillary Clinton poster and the Hillary logo in the window of my friends' dorm are generally looked down upon, and most of my peers would sooner vote for Trump than for Hillary. Of course, when they find out which candidate I selected on my absentee ballot, they always question it. I rarely answer, mostly because I'm not prepared to get into a fight. The truth is that I'm not particularly vocally articulate, and so I prefer to put my thoughts into writing. So, to anyone who has ever asked (or wanted to ask): This is for you.
I'm pretty sure you've all figured out by now that I'm a college student. If you haven't figured that out (and even if you have), here's the rundown: I'm in my first semester at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, currently studying Civil Engineering. Now, BYU is a Mormon school. And because of that, students here take almost enough religion credits to get a minor in it at pretty much any other school. One of the classes I'm in this semester is called Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon. For this class, I have to pick a Book of Mormon scripture each week for three weeks, and work on the principle taught in it. Another thing you've probably figured out by now is that I have trouble thinking a thing through if I don't write it down. And so, to help me figure out what I'm supposed to work on and how I'm supposed to do it, I'm going to write it down. And you're getting the opportunity to be along for the ride. So that's the set up.
Almost a year ago I sat down to write a blog post about the flaws of Donald Trump. It ended up being a longer post than I had the time/patience/inclination to write, but I saved what I had of it that far. Today I found this draft, and I think, that as my absentee ballot came in the mail today and the election is fast approaching, it is pertinent to this moment in time. I'm not editing what my December-of-2015 self wrote, nor am I adding to it. Not everything may be still relevant or correct, and it definitely wasn't edited when it was first written. But I'm publishing it now, in its raw form, just in case. And so, without further ado, my seventeen-year-old musings on our Grand Old Party presidential candidate, Mr. Donald J. Trump.
There are a lot of people who judge the public school system. There are a lot of people who think that school quashes creativity and lowers people's confidence. There are a lot of people who say that school turns everyone into little robots, products of "the system." I have never experienced this. Not in high school, anyway, and not in elementary school, either. Maybe in middle school. But not much. And sure, I may be biased. I had a teacher once tell me that this whole system is a game, and I have it figured out. I'm a fantastic test-taker, and always have been. For me, standardized tests are a breeze. I know that I’m intelligent, I know that high school was easier for me than it is for most people. I finished fifth in my class with almost no effort. I recognize that this is not the case for everyone, and I recognize that maybe I just hit the lottery with my AP classes and various other teachers. And maybe a lot of it has to do with my parents, too, who taught me and encouraged me to use critical thinking in everything.
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I'm Audrey, a college student and existential rambler.
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February 2021
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