An alternative view of the Oath & Covenant of the Priesthood –
There have been a gazillion talks in the church on the oath and covenant of the priesthood. Virtually all of them state the same thing. I have a different take. Here is my understanding of this scripture:
The sons of Moses are the Melchizedek priesthood holders who are sanctified. The sons of Aaron are the holders of the priesthood of Aaron who are sanctified. The Lord explains that “whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods…and…are sanctified by the Spirit…become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and…the elect of God.” (See D&C 84: 33, 34.) Also, the elect (chosen) of God is defined as the sanctified.
There has been a day of calling, but the time has come for a day of choosing; and let those be chosen that are worthy. And it shall be manifest unto my servant, by the voice of the Spirit, those that are chosen; and they shall be sanctified; and inasmuch as they follow the counsel which they receive, they shall have power after many days to accomplish all things pertaining to Zion. (D&C 105: 35-37)
So, if we have obtained the two priesthoods but have not been sanctified by the Spirit, we are not the sons of Moses and of Aaron, nor are we the elect.
The Lord said, “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.” (D&C 84: 33)
Most GAs and other speakers interpret the above scripture to mean that if we magnify our calling, we will become sanctified by the Spirit. Then they talk of ways we can magnify our calling so that we can become sanctified. I, however, do not share this view.
The Lord is explaining in this verse how to discern between a faithful priesthood holder who is magnifying his calling, and a faithless priesthood holder who is not magnifying his calling. The key to that discernment is in the last phrase: the faithful ones are sanctified by the Spirit.
Sanctification by the Spirit is always attendant with the powers and gifts of the Spirit. This is why the Lord said that “the sons of Moses and of Aaron shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” in D&C 84: 32. This is why the Lord said the chosen “shall have power” in D&C 105: 37. Sanctification by the Spirit with attendant powers and gifts is the key to determine the faith of the saints or the faith of the priesthood holders. This is why there are signs that follow those that believe on the Lord, so that we may determine who has faith and who does not.
Mormon said, “For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who should tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; and whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth. (Mormon 9: 22-25)
This is why the very definition of good works, the scriptural definition, is to work by the power and gifts of God, in other words, good works are the work of the sanctified, who are attended with the powers, gifts and fruits of the Spirit and the signs of true believers in Christ. Only the sanctified do good, as they exercise faith as a principle of power, as “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11: 6.) All others are in a state of unbelief, with no attendant powers of heaven to magnify their calling.
Moroni said, “And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief. And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God” (Moroni 10: 24, 25)
So, the magnifying of our calling comes from working by the powers and gifts of God, which comes from being sanctified by the Spirit and not the other way around. We first become “sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 27: 20) and are then enabled to magnify our calling by working by the powers and gifts of the Spirit.
Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5: 16)
Magnifying a calling means making it easier to see. The light we are shining are the good works, which is defined as the powers and gifts of God. So, when we magnify our calling, men can witness the powers and gifts of the Spirit and then turn and glorify God. This is the meaning of the scripture, but before any of this happens, we must be sanctified by the Spirit.
“All they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord” in D&C 84: 35. The expression “receive this priesthood” is defined in verse 33 as those who obtain the priesthoods and who are sanctified, which santification magnifies their calling. The unsanctified do not “receive the priesthood,” they only have the priesthood conferred upon them. Two vital elements must be present for one to “receive the priesthood”: the priesthood must be conferred and sanctification by the Spirit must have happened.
Only the sanctified priesthood holders receive the oath and covenant of the Father. Only the sanctified priesthood holders receive the promised blessings: receiving Jesus, receiving the Father and finally, receiving the Father’s kingdom, which means receiving all the Father hath. And only the sanctified priesthood holders receive the penalty for breaking the covenant and altogether turning therefrom, the penalty being the second death, meaning that they “shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.”
So, what, then, is the covenant of the priesthood? The Lord said, “All those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father.” The covenant is to “receive the priesthood” as defined in verse 33, meaning to obtain the two priesthoods and to become sanctified by the reception of the Spirit unto the renewing of one’s body. If those two parts aren’t completed, you don’t receive the priesthood, nor do you receive (or enter into) the covenant of the priesthood. The covenant is part of the priesthood, it is connected to it, or, as the Lord says, the “covenant…belongeth to the priesthood.” The covenant of the priesthood is received or entered into when you “receive the priesthood.” As a covenant is an agreement between two persons, in this case, between a mortal son of God and God himself, if you keep your end of the agreement, which is to keep receiving the priesthood, or, in plainer words, to continue to possess and use the priesthood in a sanctified state, the Father promises with an oath that you will receive what he says you will receive (all that he hath.)
The final verses that are often quoted (43 and 44 of section 84) are not the covenant of the priesthood, as many will proclaim. The covenant is found in verse 33. The oath is found in verse 38. Verses 43 and 44 are a warning and a commandment, as the Lord has just finished explaining that the sanctified priesthood holders can receive the second death if they break and altogether abandon the covenant and also that those who do not “receive the priesthood” are also in big trouble, as they have no oath or promise of the Father. So, the Lord is giving very helpful instructions to those who haven’t received it, yet, and to those who have received it already, namely, “to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life…[and]…to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.”
The Lord said, “Therefore, as I said concerning the sons of Moses—for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed—and the sons of Moses and of Aaron shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, upon Mount Zion in the Lord’s house, whose sons are ye; and also many whom I have called and sent forth to build up my church. For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God. And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; for he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; and he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come. And wo unto all those who come not unto this priesthood which ye have received, which I now confirm upon you who are present this day, by mine own voice out of the heavens; and even I have given the heavenly hosts and mine angels charge concerning you. And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” (D&C 84: 31-44)


Preprinting has soared in popularity in the life sciences and is increasingly recognised as an excellent method to share research outputs quickly and freely. While preprints have gained popularity, an important consideration is ensuring their scientific quality. This prompted the development of platforms where researchers can comment on, evaluate, and review preprints.
Preprint review benefits
Preprint review offers several notable benefits to the scientific community. Firstly, it provides an avenue for rapid feedback from experts in the field, helping authors improve the overall quality and rigour of their research. The public availability of the preprint review process expands the number of potential reviewers in comparison to traditional peer review. This fosters a collaborative environment where knowledge exchange is more open and equitable.
Finally, as preprint reviews are freely available they can aid in contextualising research, making scientific findings more accessible to non-experts and promoting broader engagement. This ultimately fosters a more inclusive scientific community.
Growth of preprint peer review initiatives
Excitingly, preprint review is an evolving concept, allowing researchers to experiment with innovative review approaches and encouraging the exploration of new, more effective methods for research evaluation. A recent publication identifies 23 platforms for preprint review and notes the range of different approaches taken. For example, eLife’s model allows authors to submit a preprint which is then evaluated by expert reviewers using specific assessment criteria, followed by author revisions. Meanwhile, ASAPbio-SciELO Preprint crowd review circulates a preprint to crowd members, whose comments are then collated into a public review. Other platforms, such as preLights, highlight community-selected preprints with a summary of their thoughts on the significance to the biological community. There are many more examples of new review models being developed as preprint peer review adoption grows.
Addressing the challenges in discovering preprint review
As the number of review platforms increases, navigating preprint reviews scattered across them poses a significant challenge. Review aggregators, like Sciety and EMBO’s Early Evidence Base, provide a single access point for reviews from different communities. However, few preprint discovery tools connect preprint versions to their evaluations. This makes it increasingly difficult to discover preprint peer reviews linked to preprints, constraining their utility.
To address this challenge a community-endorsed framework known as DocMaps has been developed in a collaborative project led by Knowledge Futures. DocMaps can be used to share information about the preprint review, including a link to the reviewed preprint, review platform and author, evaluation date and more. The DocMaps format is machine-readable, which enables other platforms and databases to “read” review information automatically and display it for their users, making preprint reviews easily discoverable.
Enriching preprint reviews in Europe PMC
To link preprints included in Europe PMC with associated reviews, Europe PMC has set up a process to pull information about the review from Sciety and EMBO’s Early Evidence Base in the DocMaps format. To do this Europe PMC developed a piece of open source software called docmap-parser which converts a DocMap file into the XML format used by the Europe PMC database. Review information is then displayed on the Europe PMC website and shared via a dedicated API module to display links to preprint reviews in a visually appealing way.
Using the DocMaps framework has allowed Europe PMC to develop new tools and features that support the wider preprint community.
For example, preprint review status can be easily identified in the banner on the preprint page and in the version history. This provides clarity on which preprint version the review is assessing and improves the transparency of the preprint review process.
The ‘Reviews & evaluations’ section on the preprint page in Europe PMC summarises all information about available preprint feedback and links to the full evaluation on the relevant review platform. This section was designed with user needs in mind and is based on extensive user research. Reviews are grouped by review platform. To help build trust and easily identify the review group, the platform logo and name are shown at the top. For non-anonymous reviews the evaluator’s name is displayed, providing credit to reviewers. Reviews, including author responses, are listed in chronological order, allowing readers to explore the review timeline and ensuring greater transparency of the review process.
To improve the discoverability of reviewed preprints Europe PMC offers a search filter to quickly find preprints with linked evaluations.
The future of preprint review in Europe PMC
Preprint review is a rapidly developing area with the opportunity to create an ecosystem that best meets the needs of the scientific community.
Thanks to essential work from Sciety and EMBO’s Early Evidence Base over 8,000 DocMaps have been created for preprint reviews by 15 different review groups. As work on expanding this further to represent more communities continues, Europe PMC started including preprint review information available in Crossref. This allowed us to add reviews from 5 new providers and we hope it will enable more communities to link their reviews to preprints in Europe PMC in the future.
As preprint review is taking shape, it is very important to lay technological foundations and develop community standards that accommodate many different approaches to preprint review. As a supporter of innovative publishing practices, Europe PMC together with ASAPbio co-organised the ‘Supporting interoperability of preprint peer review metadata’ workshop to define best practices and create a roadmap for action. Sign up to join the conversation.


During my first ceremony, I traveled deep in the medicine. With my eyes closed, I could see the stars, and everything around me. It was amazing. The visions I had were amazing as well, and they came quickly all night one after the other. Iboga showed me a memory of a trauma. I was able to heal this wound. During my second ceremony, I didn’t travel as deeply. The shaman asked my soul the questions I had. I feel as though I received answers from my soul, and then I merged more deeply with my soul. After the ceremony, it felt like there was still so much going on. It felt very healing. I slept well. My mind was completely empty and peaceful. My soul felt at peace. I started to feel a knowing, knowing that I was expressing myself from the center of my being. I no longer worry about anyone else, trying to please others. I know my only responsibility is to my soul, to stay connected and re-connect when I drift away. I know in such a profound way that I need to love myself and that is a key to everything. As each day passes, I feel more and more at peace, clearer than I have ever been. I am free.
The people at Iboga healing are truly gifted, loving healers. I would trust them with my life. Steve is one of the most resourceful, compassionate beings I have ever met. Jenny and Nyla each have special gifts, both such loving souls. If you have the slightest hint that your soul wants you to experience this form of healing, please listen. Please go. I think Iboga is particularly helpful for addiction, anxiety, PTSD, obsession, compulsions, depression and so much more. It helps put the mind in its proper place, as a tool and not a ruler. Iboga is an intelligent medicine that gives you exactly what you need. My intention was to connect more strongly with my soul, and I did.
I truly felt at home and as though I have met more of my tribe, my soul family. As the plane left the runway, I was overwhelmed with joy. I felt so grateful, whole, peaceful. It felt like I was being launched into a new world.
God bless you.
Love you all!!


Get Involved with the Anchor
Literary Arts Festival
The Anchor Yearbook staff coordinates the annual Literary Arts Festival, a school-wide celebration of texts, poetry, readers, writers, speakers, music, culture, and more.
The theme of the Festival correlates with the yearbook theme and tries to invite guest attendees and speakers to kick-off the day including poets from Project Voice in 2016 and Nick Jaina, author, and Stelth Ulvang from The Lumineers in 2017.
The Festival will seek submissions from any students in areas of photography, art, panel discussion, acoustic music, spoken word poetry, play performance, monologue presentation, and more.
Get ready to share your talent in a unique literary, artistic, and musical experience!
The Yearbook staff annually publishes The Vessel, a Bay Port Literary Magazine which celebrates student and staff voice through fiction, poetry, photography, and art. We encourage you to apply for this unique opportunity as a way to share your artistic and literary talent and gain publication experience. Apply Here!


When I was 8 years old my mom ran a day care out of her home. One day, the cutest little girl came to the day care with her brother, and it was love at first sight, as least as much as is possible for an 8-year-old to be in love. We went to the same grade school, we walked home together, and we became best friends.
After about a year my family moved to Maine. On the day we said goodbye, my best friend was inconsolable. Totally sincere, I said to her, "Don't cry; if you wait for me, I'll come back and marry you some day." We kept in contact by letters, which became more frequent as we got older.
Nine years later, after high school, I returned to southern California and reconnected with my childhood sweetheart. After a dizzying 1-year courtship, we were married. I was 18, she was 17. Everyone told us how foolish we were. But we were young and stubborn. We went to college together, graduated, and both of us became high school teachers.
We are still teachers and have raised four beautiful daughters. This summer we will celebrate 34 years married, and I'm more in love than ever. Fairy tales still do come true. I would sure appreciate it if you could play Dan Fogelberg's song "Longer" and dedicate it to Tammy, the love of my life.


Breanna, Business and Education Sales Coordinator
Favorite Genres: Middle grade, anything fantasy (especially epic, the larger the better), YA (but mostly fantasy), stories based in mythology or fairy tales, witchy books
Favorite Authors: Robert Jordan, Samantha Shannon, Brandon Sanderson, Rick Riordan, Margaret Owen, Natalie Goldberg
After Luz’s brother is run out of Denver by a white mob, she receives visions of her ancestors’ origins. As she struggles to navigate life in 1930s Denver, she understands how her Indigenous Chicano family flourished and how they were threatened. Fajardo-Anstine crafts an incredible generational saga—poignant in its realism, tragic in its circumstance, and absolutely beautiful in its resiliency.
What an amazing matriarchal fantasy! Scorpica has it all—warrior women, mysterious sorcerers, an ancient power rising, and a devastating Drought of Girls. The writing is rich and complex, building the layered world and epic conflict as each woman contemplates the ends she will go to in order to leave her legacy in the Five Queendoms. If you want epic fantasy written by and about women, this is absolutely the one.
Would you go back in time, even if you knew the present wouldn’t change? In this novelization of a Japanese play, a particular seat in this cafe lets you do just that. But you can’t change the present, you can’t leave the cafe seat, and above all—you must return before the coffee gets cold. I was captivated by this beautiful story, a simple yet touching look at how we choose to live the life we are given.
Helen Lambert doesn’t believe that she is cursed, but that’s before the demon arrives and she dreams of past lives that eerily echo her own doomed love affair. In this life, finally, Helen may be able to break the curse—if she kill the one she loves. My heart broke repeatedly as I read this book, unable to put it down. This is an incredible blend of fantasy and historical fiction perfect for fans of A Secret History of Witches.
This book utterly consumed me. When I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. In Norse myth, Angrboda is only mentioned briefly as the giantess who births Loki’s three monstrous children. In The Witch’s Heart, she becomes a powerful tragic figure: a witch who has altered the course of the world, a mother devoted to her children, a woman betrayed by her lover. I can’t put this in your hands fast enough.
Red’s only purpose in life is to be sacrificed to the Wolf of the Wilderwood, but from the moment she steps into the woods, everything she knows is completely wrong. Fraught with sharp words, dripping in shadows and blood, driven by the love of sisters, this book will consume you. Familiar fairy tale elements are twisted into a dark, brilliantly original tale reminiscent of The Hazel Wood and Uprooted. I’m dying for the sequel!
Inspired by Chinese myth, Xingyin is the secret daughter of the imprisoned moon goddess, Chang'e. Determined to free her mother, our bold and driven heroine sets off on epic quests through a full and beautiful fantasy world, finding a gentle prince and a badass, magic bow along the way. If you're like me and want more epic fantasy written by women, you must absolutely be swept up in this dazzling, gorgeous adventure.
Saoirse Island was shattered fourteen years ago when August Salt was accused of murdering Emery Blackwood’s best friend. Now he’s returned, and as he and Emery rekindle their love, a haunted past and dangerous present tangle as the island goes to any lengths to preserve its secrets. Fans of Addie LaRue, let yourself be drawn into this beautifully haunting saga that will steal the breath from your lungs.
The Stardust Thief is simultaneously a thrilling and dangerous quest for a magic relic and a beautiful, lyrical story about found family and inner demons. While reading, I was transported to the desert land filled with jinn magic and could not read fast enough. Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, this is the kind of storytelling you’ll want to luxuriate in.


…not a single one has passed that I haven’t thought of her.
Five years. How has it been five years since the longest and shortest 26 hours of my life? So much has happened in the years since Kate’s birth. It sometimes feels like compassionate Father Time is smoothing the jagged, painful edges of the memories into something more gentle and palatable. I don’t know whether to say thank you or to lash out in protective anger. Part of me appreciates the dulling of the pain while a huge part of me is rebelling at its fading… wanting to feel every second of it, willing to bleed…to know and remember forever.
No matter how much time passes these yearly anniversaries are the biggest hurdle. They continue to be arresting and suffocating. Perhaps a disguised mercy is that because Kate’s life was so brief I was spared many of the more frequent, surprising triggers that affect others who have lost loved ones. We never shared mornings, milestones or a lifetime of memories...just brief moments that pack themselves into two unforgettable days.
In the past five years I have been called upon to reach out to, support and counsel other grieving mothers. Also, I have been asked multiple times by my friends and family for advice or words of love and encouragement to share with grieving parents they know. My love and dedication to Kate has made these missions of support and understanding possible. In these moments, I have the unmistakable feeling that Kate is with me serving as my foundation of strength and support so I can in turn share strength, experience and an exemplified promise of tomorrow with others that are hurting.
I treasure these moments when I feel Kate is close, but I feel closest to Kate through my sweet Ben. Even though he was only two and a half when she was born he has the deepest most amazing connection with her. While my body will forever have the most direct physical connection to her life and our hearts once beat together, Ben’s tender heart has a direct connection to her spirit for which I am so very thankful. (Their connection really is incredible to experience!)
My grief continues to and will forever be a journey. Kate’s life and death fractured my foundation and have forever changed my life, but I have found my path and continue to walk in the shoes of a grieving mother. The painful shoes I put on five years ago are beginning to soften as I break them in more and more every day...every year. I am ready to take the next step in celebrating Kate’s life and legacy.
Thank you for your outpouring of love and support over the past five years. As cliche as it sounds, I could not have made it through without you. I look back at my "Drowning" post when things were the darkest and realize how far I have come. I made it out of the rabbit hole, out of the trenches, out of the darkness. I am forever changed, but I am okay. I am stronger. I have been blessed with good, lasting and meaningful experiences that were made possible by Kate. She continues to make a difference...she inspires me to be better and do better every day.


Papaw would pick me up from preschool-kindergarten every day in his old Toyota truck, Trusty Rusty. He’d give me a stick of Trident Gum -the kind that still lines our kitchen drawers today- and take me back to his and Nana’s house. Once there, we’d watch TV, eat snacks, or read from the giant shelf of children’s books that he collected for my mom and I. But what stands out most to me is when he’d sit me at the top of the stairs to the basement and he’d pop my toes. I’d try and squeal and squirm away, yelling “No, Papaw! No!!” because I’d always forget it didn’t hurt, and he‘d laugh as he pulled my toes one by one. I miss that sweet laugh.


|Katy Perry: A Life of Fireworks|
|Publication date||October 1, 2011|
|Published by||Omnibus Press|
| Preceded by|| Followed by|
Katy Perry: A Life of Fireworks (by Chloe Gotan) is an unauthorized biography all about Katy Perry.
Here is a compelling account of how Katy Perry made her transformation from demure choirgirl to sexy household name. This in-depth account delves into her ill-fated early career, her eventual rise to fame and her controversial first chart-topping single “I Kissed a Girl.” Details her bisexual affair, the struggle Katy faced between her sexuality and her religious background, and her recent marriage to the notorious Russell Brand. Featuring exclusive interviews with Katy’s religious mentors, friends, teachers, co-songwriters, producers, video directors, journalists, and fellow artists, this is a must-read for Katy Perry fans.


In 2007, when I dragged my heavy Chicago heart away from the only place I had ever called home, I committed myself to two years living in Seattle - what I deemed at the time to be a fair enough shot. I truly envisioned reaching that milestone and heading home soon thereafter. Everyone here and there will tell you that I wear my Chicago love on my sleeve. In some twisted interpretation of logic, I left there because I loved it so much.
This past April marked my six-year anniversary here and sometimes this segment of time - the bulk of my 20s - feels like it's passed by in the blink of an eye. Other times, it feels like I've packed an irreplaceable ass-ton of life and growth into these long, extraordinary years in Washington. I believe it's impossible to hit the road with only yourself, and evade evolving and being shaped by whatever new environment greets you. If you can, you're probably doing it wrong.
I've hit my two-year milestone for the third time now. Sometimes I feel ready to return to Chicago, sometimes I feel ready to try a new place, and sometimes I look around me and fear that I may really love it here. Part of me envies folks who know without question where they want to be. And how.
No, really, I want to know. There are many of us on this site who have moved from Chicago, and I wonder why some of you left and then stayed (or perhaps kept moving). And for those who never left, how did you know that's where you wanted to be? Why do you all exist where you exist?
My own decision to remain in Seattle is directly linked to its proximity to other things. I don't stay here for my job, nor any other person, nor because I think Seattle is some fantastic city (don't get me wrong, it is pretty far out). I live here for the ocean and the Olympic Peninsula - the first place I ever stepped foot in Washington State, that fateful July weekend in 2006 - and the same reason that I moved here.
I stay here because quirky, beer-loving Portland and the wave-happy Oregon coast is a quick skip south; and stunning vivacious Vancouver, is but a notch to the north. I live here because sometimes I like to take a break from surfing in the rugged Olympics rainforests, and drive east through the mountains, to the dry desert heat for a weekend instead.
I live here-
For my wandering spirit and aesthetic-driven eye, I find it tough to top the landscape here, no matter what direction I face. Call me crazy, but I enjoy how small and insignificant the nature here makes me feel. The clean air ain't so bad either.
I miss Chicago constantly (Chicagoans especially) and always consider moving back. But something still prevents me from pulling that trigger. The wonder of where plagues me endlessly. And even though it doesn't roll off my tongue totally effortlessly yet, in recent years, I've caught myself referring to Washington as home.
*all photos taken on my phone, other than the unedited Seattle shot from my roommate's phone, and the pic of me low-tide jumping, taken by a friend


The social experience of aging with a chronic illness: Perspectives of older adults with multiple sclerosis’ (Fong 1), is well laid out from the top to the bottom, it has a nice structure from the subheading to the references. To start with, it has an articulated subheading with lowercases apart from the begging words ‘The and Perspectives’, which appear at the begging of the sentence. All the researchers are indicated below the heading in uppercase. The article well detailed and comprehensive abstract, which contains the purpose of the study, the method used results of the analysis, and the conclusion. The phenomenon to be studied is clearly identified in the abstract as the ‘purpose’ of the study. The purpose of the study is precise but detailed enough to highlight the objective of the paper. It has a clear statement that reflects the entire paper.
Markedly, the article has two research questions at the end of the introduction. One research question seeks to identify the factors that influence the social experiences of persons aging with MS. The second research question identifies the effects of social experiences on individuals aging with MS. Arguably, the research question and the aspects of interest in the article are consistent. This is because the methodology includes a scrutiny of data that is a component of the exploratory study, using a phenomenological approach that focuses on the service needs and health concerns of older adults with MS (Multiple Sclerosis). Markedly, the report uses a phenomenological approach that focuses on the service and health concerns of older adults, as indicated in the research question.
The literature review is detailed and comprehensive enough and gives a background of the subject ‘Multiple Sclerosis’. I find the literature review very informative mainly because of its high quality. For instance, it gives a background of the subject matter in the beginning. It also has a solid base study of a projected 400,000 people in the U.S of ages between 20 to 50 years (Fong 1). In the study, the author given full details of the disorder, how it affects people, how people perceive it, and its effect in the society. However, the study is not dated; it is open and dateless, which would suggest that either the authors forgot to include the dates, or they chose not to include them.
Despite lacking dates, the literature review coherently supports the need of the study. For instance, the qualitative case study investigates the lived experience of ten persons between the age of 40 and 59 with the relapse form of MS. Successively; the research identifies a number of potential outcomes of social support. It has also outlined various aspects of social support that are considered to be detrimental or beneficial to adaptation to MS. From my point of view, the study goes into details and identifies a conceptual framework to support the study.
With regard to methodology, the interview that was conducted followed the right guidelines and procedures. The design was descriptive and cross-sectional. Its protocol was approved after the Institutional Review Board of Illinois University in Chicago reviewed it. In addition, the participants were fully aware of the exercise because they were initially recruited through unique strategy of convenience sampling. Therefore, a registered and established body ‘IRB’ ensured that participants were first made to know the procedures they would undertake. After being informed of the study and the procedures, the participants agreed to proceed with the interview. However, the article does not state the actual steps that were taken to protect participants in the study. It appears that before the interview, these participants were notified of their protection because the interviews were conducted at the participants’ homes.
The study used a qualitative approach where twenty-seven interviews were imported and transcribed into a qualitative analysis software program. Markedly, there was no explanation given in using the qualitative study. In addition, there is no autonomy or confidentiality that is guaranteed of the participants. Based on the research, I find the approach appropriate for the research because it the entire research including the interviews was successfully carried out. In the qualitative research, the researchers provided evidence of their expertise. There were four interviewers, two of whom were graduate students. These graduate students are noted to have received eight hours of special training for collecting data, while the other two were highly experienced in quantitative and qualitative research. Results of the interviews conducted are proof that these interviews were competent to conduct the research. Notably, the average time spent during the first interview was 107 minutes, while the second interview was scheduled within one to three weeks after the first interview. The second interview averaged one hour. It is noted that this duration was enough because it allowed an opportunity to clarify points.
Subsequently, coherent steps were taken to ensure conformability and credibility of the analysis and results. Based on the methodology used, data analysis plan was suitable for the research tradition. Additionally, all these methods were coherently described in the article, and the imperative model was displayed to communicate coherent processes.
Questionnaires and re used to collect data where interviewees filled the questionnaires based on the questions they were asked. There was a clear rationale used in data collection. Similarly, the methods used to collect data for the qualitative approach were appropriate and rational because the recording procedures were satisfactorily described. Subsequently, the all the methods used to collect data appropriate and well described in the article. The researchers were keen to describe and discuss assurance of rigor including dependability, and credibility, transferability, and integrity. Therefore, this resulted to adequate description of the methods used in the methodology.
Findings of this research were appropriate and in accordance with the study. Additionally, these findings were placed in the right context of what MS entails. Findings of this research are comprehensive and detailed as they give an authentic, insightful, and meaningful picture. Therefore, the initial purpose of the study has been addressed at length. Therefore, the purpose of the study achieved because all social experiences of individuals aging with MS were explored. To sum up the research paper, the conclusion has entailed everything stated in the research question including the implications (Fong 1). Subsequently, the implications of the clinical practice and process were fully discussed in the conclusion. The conclusion has showed ways in which social experiences of older persons with MS are influenced by values and expectations, experience of MS, and social needs. On the other hand, the participants described distinct concerns regarding aging, which included the future adequacy of support.
Fong, Terry, Marcia Finlayson, and Nadine Peacock. “The social experience of aging with a chronic illness: Perspectives of older adults with multiple sclerosis.” Disability & Rehabilitation 28.11 (2006): 695-705.


From the choices below, please write an essay on one of the short stories read in class. You should respond to the essay question by using evidence from the text and the provided scholarly source, as well as a second credible or academic source found on your own using the Hostos Library website.
Make sure to include a clear thesis statement in your introduction that fully addresses the essay question and makes an original claim or argument about your chosen story.
demonstrate understanding of literary terms and elements of fiction.
Make sure to use direct quotes and examples from the story and both of your outside sources, following the rules for MLA citation.
Length and Formatting:
4 pages typed, double-spaced, size 12 Times New Roman font
Heading in MLA Format
In-Text Citations in MLA format. Example: (Carver, 8).
Works Cited Page
Hostos Writing Center
The Hostos Writing Center is available to provide online assistance with your essays, at any stage of the writing process. You can sign up for a live virtual session with a tutor, or you can request written feedback on a draft. Appointments can be made here: https://hostos.mywconline.com, or by e-mailing email@example.com.
In “Cathedral,” the narrator admits that all he knows about blindness “comes from the movies,” and that cathedrals for him are just “something to look at on late-night TV.” But by the end of the story, even though he knows he is sitting in his living room, he doesn’t feel like he’s “inside anything.” For this topic, please write an essay focused on the story’s ending—do you think the narrator truly learns to see things from a new perspective? Why or why not?
In your essay, be sure to include discussion of the following secondary source, plus one other: “Cathedral by Raymond Carver, 1983” by Carol Simpson Stern from The Reference Guide to Short Fiction.
2). Raymond’s Run:
By the end of this story, Squeaky comes to an understanding not only of her relationship with her brother, Raymond, but also the way in which she wants to live her life as an adolescent approaching young womanhood. Based on the story’s ending, what kind of person do you think Squeaky hopes to become? How is this reflected in her changing relationships with Raymond and Gretchen?
In your essay, be sure to include discussion of the following secondary source, plus one other: “Raymond’s Run” by Judith Barton Williamson from Masterplots II: Short Story Series.
3.) The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas:
In Omelas, every citizen is faced with an ethical dilemma—the knowledge that their happiness is dependent on the misery of an innocent child. Some are able to accept this from a utilitarian standpoint (the happiness of the many outweighs the suffering of the few), while others choose to leave. Do you think the people who walk away from Omelas are making a moral choice, or do you think they are taking the “easy” way out by removing themselves from the situation altogether?
In your essay, be sure to include discussion of the following secondary source, plus one other: “Le Guin’s ‘Omelas’: Issues of Genre” by W.A. Senior from Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.
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We Shall Be Known
Karisha Longaker of MaMuse
We shall be known by the company we keep,
by the ones who circle round to tend these fires.
We shall be known by the ones who sow and reap
the seeds of change alive from deep within the earth.
It is time now, it is time now that we thrive,
it is time we lead ourselves into the well.
It is time now, and what a time to be alive,
in this great turning we shall learn to lead in love,
in this great turning we shall learn to lead in love.
We Shall be Known SAT Key G as original


Introducing Barbara Brodsky and Aaron
(Excerpted from the book Aaron.)
Barbara: Many of you have asked me how I met Aaron. I’d like briefly to share the story.
I lost my hearing in 1972, soon after my first child was born. I coped well with the loss, on the surface. I continued with my sculpture and teaching and had two more children. Through those years I was aware that although I did what I needed to do for myself and my family, I was very bitter about the isolation my deafness seemed to impose.
This anger didn’t negate the fact that my life was full. I had a loving and beautiful family, work I loved, and caring friends. I honor in myself that I was able to cope well with so difficult a situation. But in striving to cope, I didn’t allow myself to feel the pain of my isolation, which is real. Afraid that pain would overwhelm me, I denied it, and turned my anger to outward things. I couldn’t see that it was the anger, not the deafness, that deepened my sense of separation., I was angry at people who talked near me when I couldn’t understand, and angry at God. I lost all sense of a spiritual aspect to my life.
Slowly I became aware that I had to look at what was happening. It had been years since I’d attended Quaker Meeting; I began to go and to look forward to that weekly hour of silent communion with spirit. In time, I began to meditate again as a daily practice, although with no clear sense of direction. I also wrote daily in a journal, a tool that put me into deeper touch with my subconscious mind. I felt drawn to read from spiritual work, especially those ideas from eastern religions concerning reincarnation and karma. As I opened to myself and became more caring and forgiving, I found an increasing inner peace.
Despite all that I was learning, I began to feel rather stuck. I was still bitter, cut off from normal human communication, and blaming God for my situation. I began to pray for help, understanding that I just couldn’t go any further on my own.
As the weeks passed, I began to notice that in the question/answer format I often used in my journal, the “answer” part was beginning to speak from a new perspective, pushing me to open myself to new ideas and ways of thinking.
Soon after that, I met Aaron. Suddenly, one day during meditation, I was aware of a figure standing just off to one side. I asked him who he was and very simply he told me he was Aaron, and was my guide.
I’m not going to suggest that I took this casually. The idea of a “spirit guide” was new to me; I wondered briefly if I was hallucinating. But every time I looked, Aaron was there, just patiently waiting for me to be ready to move ahead. It was important that I never felt any pressure to accept him. He made it clear from the beginning that we had all the time I needed to be ready for any learning that he offered. I wasn’t frightened because I felt so much love, felt a gentleness and connection dimly remembered from some unknown past.
At first my rational mind tried to ask, “Who is Aaron?” Slowly I realized it didn’t matter. I began to listen with my heart, and not play mind-games. I understood that it was irrelevant whether Aaron was simply a deeper part of my subconscious or was external. I was getting information that I needed for growth and to which I hadn’t had previous access. As I began to trust that information, and my own ability to hear it, I became clearly aware of Aaron’s existence as a separate entity.
He tells me he is a being who has evolved beyond the need to return to the physical plane. He is from “beyond the causal plane.” He defines himself as a “being of light,” which he says we all are. I’ve come to know him as a being of infinite love, compassion and wisdom. He also has a wonderful warmth and sense of humor. He is a teacher.
As my trust deepened, Aaron led me on a beautiful journey into myself, into past lives to unearth the sources of some of the pains of this life, examining the questions of isolation and separation on which my deafness forced me to focus. Together we healed the suffering of that deafness and went on to investigate the origins of these issues of separation and isolation. The journey has been both painful and joyous, frightening and beautiful. Always, Aaron’s love was there to help me through the rough places.
Yes, my deafness is still painful. I doubt that I’ll ever be completely used to this silence. But I also embrace it. Twenty-six years of silence is a profound teacher, and I thank it for the ways it’s led me to deepen in understanding. I no longer fight with it. I no longer feel this silence as my pain. It is our pain, the aloneness of us all, and its arising serves as a reminder for connection and compassion.
Constantly, I see Aaron’s wisdom and compassion touching other’s lives, as it has touched mine. Many others have come to love him and trust his guidance, first my friends, then their friends, and on in an expanding circle around the globe. It humbles me to see myself as part of this chain of sharing, to be permitted this part in it and to learn and watch others learning. It brings me much joy! I am in awe of the process.
And so, with great love, I offer you Aaron.


Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is one of the most extensively studied neurotransmitters in the central nervous system. Also expressed in peripheral tissues, 5-HT participates in vasoconstriction and in aggregation of platelets through 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR). However, there have been few studies regarding the interaction between 5-HT and 5-HT2AR in the immune system. In the current study, we analyzed the role of 5-HT and its 5-HT2AR in the activation of antigen-specific Th1 and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) in mice. RT-PCR and western blotting analyses confirmed the expression of 5-HT2AR in both CD4 and CD8 T cells. Both antigen-specific and anti-CD3 stimulation of IL-2 and IFN-?? production from these cells were inhibited by a selective 5-HT2AR inhibitor, sarpogrelate hydrochloride. Concanavalin A (ConA) activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, which were purified from mouse spleen following depletion of endogenous 5-HT, was enhanced by a selective 5-HT2AR agonist, (R)-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOI). Such DOI-induced T cell activation was nullified by sarpogrelate. Moreover, an ELISPOT study showed that sarpogrelate also reduced antigen-specific induction of both CTL and Th1 cells in vivo following immunization of mice with cognate antigens. These data suggest that antigen-specific Th1 and CTL cells might be regulated by 5-HT signaling through 5-HT2AR on their surfaces and that 5-HT2AR inhibitor might have an immunosuppressive effect in vivo. ?? 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


One of the hallmarks of postmodern authors is their treatment of time as imaginary. Postmodern novelists such David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest, Thomas Pynchon in Gravity’s Rainbow, Jonathan Foer in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Don Delillo in Falling Man treat time as a purely human construct—something that can be broken, bent, manipulated, and twisted on a whim. Postmodern literature is rife with segmented, meandering, or divergent timelines—in postmodern narratives, time is an illusion.
At first glance, it appears that Pynchon is up to the same narrative tricks in Against the Day. He seems to begin in the present, take halting steps forward in the narrative and chronology, and then rewind the world several years back with narrative threads like the one that follows Merle Rideout and Erlys Zomboni. Likewise, when Pynchon describes Reef Traverse and Yashmeen Halfcourt’s romance or Frank Traverse’s first encounter with his eventual lover Stray, Pynchon is fond of beginning paragraphs with “years later” as he seems to leap forward chronologically, even while the narrative stands still. This apparent time-travelling technique is nothing new to postmodern fiction, but Pynchon is actually very though subtly different mechanism to manipulate the narrative. In fact, far from using the postmodern model of time as a merely human idea to be played with, Against the Day is Pynchon’s illustration that time is the only one of the four dimensions that is not a construct.
Pynchon does not manipulate time, at least not in what his character Kitt Traverse would call the imaginary fourth term in vector mathematics and indeed what most readers would call the imaginary term in postmodern fiction. Pynchon manipulates everything else instead by changing the reader’s frame of reference. Pynchon does not leave the reader in the familiar and comfortable world bounded by an x,y, and z axis of three dimensional matter, free to play with time as if it were an imaginary construct. Instead, Pynchon approaches the world as a Quaternionist, a devotee of an obscure branch of turn-of-the-century pure mathematics. He approaches time as the constant instead of the variable, and the rest of the physical universe being imaginary axes i, j, and k. Time, in Against the Day, is unchanging and unchangeable—instead it is the rest of the world that changes. Quaternionist Umeki Tsurigane explains Pynchon’s conceit to the reader when she explains Quaternionism to Kitt:
Actually, Quaternions failed because they perverted what the Vectorists thought they know of God’s intention—that space be simple, three-dimensional, and real, and if there must be a fourth term, an imaginary, that it be assigned to Time. But Quaternions came in and turned that all end for end, defining the axes of space as imaginary and leaving Time to be the real term, and a scalar as well—simply inadmissible. Of course the Vectorists went to war. Nothing they knew of Time allowed it to be that simple, any more than they could allow space to be comprised of impossible numbers… (351)
Pynchon urges his readers to make a cognitive switch away viewing the world through the traditional Vectorist lenses where time is something to be manipulated around what we understand to be the “real.” Pynchon asks his readers to see the world as a Quaternion would, with time as the only real value—a world where everything else is imaginary. Pynchon then proceeds to take his readers across constant unwavering time, all the while changing the imaginary world of the physical. Time, so commonly stretched, bent, and broken in postmodern narratives, becomes a solid line, Pynchon’s Archimedean lever large enough to move the world. Although perhaps are not immediately intuitive, Pynchon gives his readers plenty of clues to understanding his narrative technique.
While time never changes, the physical world of the novel, which is the truly imaginary one, starts, stops, and transforms. The transient and ethereal nature of the physical is a consistent theme in Against the Day.
Pynchon’s most obvious clues that the physical world is imaginary come when he writes about the Chums of Chance, the novel’s perennial teenage boys. Fittingly, they give the simplest and most obvious clues to Pynchon’s Quaternion mindset. The Chums fly through the center of a hollow earth through the poles (Pynchon 117). The Chums search for a mysterious and strangely mobile mystical city of Shambhala while traveling underground and literally walking through the earth (Pynchon 437). To erase all doubt of the transmutability of the physical, Pynchon sends the Chums of Chance from earth to Antichthon, the other earth, by flying their airship through the sun (1021).
Elsewhere in the novel, Pynchon has Kit Traverse ponder the difference between those ashore and those leaving on a boat with the sad acknowledgement that those leaving “would never be here, never exactly here, again” (747). Kit understands that “here” in the sense that it is a place, is also a time, and that time will never come again. Later, Pynchon gives what is perhaps the best metaphor for Against the Day’s Quaternion worldview: Kit Traverse travels through the Asian great rock arch called Tushuk Tash. As Kit’s companion Lieutenant Prance explains, “This great Archway known as Tushuk Tash. Which means ‘a rock with a hole in it’” (Pynchon 764).
Pynchon asks his reader to see the hole in the physical universe that many suppose to be solid and real. Fittingly, it is the passage of time that causes rock formations like arches and columns—it is time that creates these gates that are holes in what ought to be solid. Without this knowledge, Pynchon seems to tell readers, the world cannot truly be understood for what it is. Lieutenant Prance warns Kit that “Unless we enter by way of it, we shall always be on the wrong journey.” (Pynchon 764) It is not the rock that is real and permanent, but the hole in it.
He continues this theme of the physical as illusionary when Reef, Yashmeen, and Cyprian travel across Europe at the dawn of the First Balkan War. Pynchon takes his readers through a dizzying number of towns, valleys, passes, and hamlets, each one given scant attention aside from being defined as someplace on the way to someplace else. Some of these places, such as the Macedonian cities of Prilep and Veles, exist. Others, such a mountain cult monastery, do not. To the vast majority of his readers without an atlas handy to check whether all those Balkan towns and passes are real, one is just as real as another; this is Pynchon’s point. If the reader cannot recognize what places are real and what places are created, he seems to say, who is to say that any place is real at all?
When Against the Day’s narrative thread returns to the Americas, Pynchon uses a relentless motif of holes and the physical impermanence of what the reader thinks of as the real to push his readers to embrace the Quaternion. His Mexico is a place of caves, holes, and ancient cities long destroyed while the American West of Against the Day is full of mines in Colorado. Again, Pynchon uses the imagery of rock as an illustration of the physical world. His mines betray the idea that the earth is solid, that everything is what it seems. Revolutionaries Webb Traverse, Frank Traverse, and Ewball Oust consistently use dynamite to blast holes in the very matter that frames their world. Pynchon’s characters remake with ease what the unenlightened reader takes to be eternal.
Even New York City, with all its physically imposing buildings, is nothing but “the Cabinet of Ultimate Illusion.” ( Pynchon 353) Everywhere he takes the reader, Pynchon points out the inescapable truth of the Quaternion concept of the world: time is the only constant, the only real value in what we can appreciate in space-time. Those who say otherwise are charlatans, tricksters, or worse.
When Miles Blundell confronts the mysterious Trespasser Thorn who claims to have travelled through time to warn the pre-World War world, Miles has a sudden revelation: “…in fact no ‘time travel’ at all—the presence in this world of Thorn and his people had been owing only to some chance blundering upon a shortcut… by whatever terrible singularity in the smooth flow of Time had opened to them.” (Pynchon 555) Time is real, Pynchon tells his readers, and nothing can change that fact. Indeed, a few paragraphs later, Miles tells his friend Chick Counterfly, “There is nothing immortal about them, Chick. They have lied to all of us, including those… fool enough to work for them, in exchange for ‘eternal youth.’ They cannot provide that. They never could” (Pynchon, 555). With depressing finality, Miles tells readers what they intuitively already know about attempts to manipulate time: “I simply knew, the minute I saw him, that it was all false, the promise was nothing but a cruel confidence game” (Pynchon 555).
Pynchon rejects the concept of time as a human illusion and in doing so rejects the human hope against hope to somehow escape time and its consequences:
“Time,” explained Dr. Rao, “is the Further Term, you see, transcending and conditioning i, j, and k—the dark visitor from the Exterior, the Destroyer, the fulfiller of the Trinity. It is the merciless clock-beat we all seek to escape, into the pulselessness of salvation. It is all this and more.”
“A weapon based on Time…” mused Viktor Mulciber. “Well, why not? The one force no one knows how to defeat, resist, or reverse. It kills all forms of life sooner or later…” [bold in original text] (558)
When the reader finally embraces Pynchon’s Quaternionist worldview that time is the only real value it begs the question “is there any point to anything?” If only time is real, and the physical universe the reader inhabits an imaginary one, does anything matter? Pynchon, while rejecting the idea that the physical world is real, has his characters expressly reject nihilism (Pynchon 922). Instead, Pynchon uses mathematics to prove that real things can come out of the junction of the one real dimension and the three imaginary ones.
Yashmeen Halfcourt explains this to turn-of-the-century mathematics genius Dr. David Hilbert in an attempt to prove the Reimann hypothesis: “There is also this… spine of reality… Though the members of a Hermitian may be complex, the eigenvalues are real.” (Pynchon 604) These eigenvalues are based on the interplay of the imaginary ijk with the “spine of reality” that is, time, but are still real themselves. An eigenvalue is a mathematical term used in matrix mathematics, but a very telling a literal reading of the German word would be “own values” or “innate values.” This reading implies that not only is time real, but some innate value, some “self” is real, and by extension others’ “selves” as well—Pynchon uses eigenvalues, not just a singular eiegenvalue.
With time and his characters’ “innate values” being the only real things in the world, Pynchon pushes his worldview to its narrative limit and turns the world “end for end” (351). Understanding this Quaternion perspective explains the novel’s focus on light and the bifurcating properties of lenses—refraction can literally skew the imaginary physical world and rotate it about its axis. This allows Pynchon to turn the physical world into a place where the cruise liner the Stupendica is also the battleship Emperor Maximilian (515). It lets Pynchon’s characters build fanciful technology to use photographs to see the world as it might have been—still the same, but slightly altered—the world as rotated about Yashmeen’s “spine of reality” (1061). Tellingly, this technology works by following a person in a photograph forward or backwards through time; the eigenvalues, being the core identities of Pynchon’s characters, retain their identity even as the imaginary physical world shifts and distorts around them. Pynchon even bifurcates his characters: the professors Renfrew and Werfner are mirror images of each other in their temperament and interest in Balkan politics. As one Pynchon scholar puts it, “their obsession reveals how much they are alike” (Aghoro, 44). Indeed, they are the same person, because their essential nature—the eigenvalue—remains the same. In the novel, detective Lew Basnight even comes “to accept the professors as a single person” (Pynchon 771).
The underlying theme of Against the Day—that self and time are all the only “real” things in an imaginary world, is one that it seems many critics and scholars seem to have missed. Tom LeClair makes mention of Pynchon’s frequent use of bifurcation as a theme and his use of lenses, particularly the double refracting Iceland spar, but seems at a loss as to why, ending his review by hoping “some future scholar will read the novel twenty times and either illustrate how it recapitulates the whole history of narrative or demonstrate how every piece fits together into a fourfold design that will replace four-base genetics as a model of all life” (Leclair “Lead Zeppelin”). Lewis Menand also sees the math—even going so far as to title his piece “Do the Math”—but misses the point, citing a character’s discourses on Quaternion mathematics but then dismissing it with “And on into the night” (“Do the Math”). Others point to its sprawling plot and seemingly strange spatial manipulations and write them off as Pynchon being Pynchon (Rankin “’Reader Beware…’,” Peck “Heresy of Truth”) or, like Liesl Schillinger, spend pages writing about Against the Day’s author and various different sections of the book without really addressing the book as a whole (“Dream Maps”). Peck quotes from one the novel’s repudiated Trespassers to explain the novel (“Heresy of Truth”) and Shillinger confuses the novel’s Quaternion travel through three dimensional space with travel through time (“Dream Maps”). Scott Borchert takes the book’s title quite literally and links “the Day” of the novel’s title to references in Mason & Dixon to present Pynchon’s novel as a stand against “capitalist modernity” (80).
Critical confusion notwithstanding, Against the Day is not merely a meandering genre pastiche, nor is it merely a novel about technological change at the dawn of the 20th Century (Menand “Do the Math). Borchert’s reading of it as an anti-capitalist manifesto is not wholly incorrect given the book’s treatment of anarchist revolutionaries and unrestrained capitalists, but such a reading misses the fundamental reason why Pynchon is frustrated by naked capitalism and its materialistic trappings: because materialism is not merely empty, but the materials themselves are illusionary. Instead, the novel is Pynchon’s plea for his readers to acknowledge what he sees as the only reality left in a modern era of uncertainty and change—that things change and disappear, but time and the self remain.
Aghoro, Natalie. “Bilocated Identities: Taking the Fork in the Road in Against the Day,” AS Peers. 2. 2009 (33-52). Web.
Borchert, Scott. “Against Accumulation: Moby Dick, Mason & Dixon, and Atlantic Capitalism.” English Honors Papers. Connecticut College, 2008. Web.
LeClair, Tom. “Lead Zeppelin.” Bookforum. Rev. of Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. Dec/Jan 2007. Web. 12 February 2011.
Menand, Lewis. “Do the Math.” The New Yorker. Rev. of Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. 27 November 2006. Web. 13 February 2011.
Peck, Dale. “Heresy of Truth: Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day.” National Book Critics Circle. Rev. of Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. 10 December 2010. Web. 13 February 2011.
Pynchon, Thomas. Against the Day. New York: The Penguin Press, 2006. Print.
Rankin, Ian. “’Reader Beware…’.” The Guardian. Rev. of Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. 18 November 2006. Web. 14 February 2011.
Shillinger, Liesl. “Dream Maps.” New York Times. Rev. of Against the Day by Thomas
Pynchon. 26 November 2006 Sunday edition. Web. 14 February 2011.


A Promise by God…Salvation…
Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents-which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.
Philippians 1:27-28 NASB
HEBREW TRANSLATION –
Only, behave yourselves worthily of the Good News of Messiah, in order that whether I come and see you or am absent, I hear about you, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one being, striving together for the belief of the Good News,
without being frightened in any way by those who oppose, which to them truly is a proof of destruction, but to you of deliverance, and that from Elohim.
Philippians 1:27-28 TS2009


People often tell me I am brave – and if I am, it's because of my mother.
People often tell me that I am kind – and if I am, it's because of my mother.
People often tell me I am resilient – and if I am, it's because of my mother.
People often tell me that I have great faith – and if I do, it's because of my mother.
If I am brave in the face of the hardships life has given me as of late, it's because my mother has taught me how. Long before I became ill, I watched my mother suffer. I can't even remember a time when it wasn't so. And all through growing up, I watched her struggle with it, and win. I watched her bravery in facing early-onset Parkinson's and still raise five children. I watched her shake and tremble and be unable to feed herself, yet still she taught us our school, and guided us through life, and encouraged us in every pursuit. I am brave because I had the very best model of bravery. I am brave because my mother showed me how to be.
If I am kind to others, it's because my mother showed me what kindness is. She, who suffered long before I ever did, takes time out of her hard life to talk to lawyers for my family, to help us kids understand and complete paperwork, medical bills, and college grants. Even though we are often tight on money, she finds money to buy things for the food pantry. Since I was small, I have always seen my mother's kindness. I needed no definition aside from her actions. When she offers gentle words to new mothers at camp, when she talks to the hurting people around me and offers them her help, when she makes phone calls for me when I can't do it myself... A thousand things she does every day has shown me what true kindness is. So if I am kind, it is because of my mother.
If I have great faith in face of hardship, it's because my mother led the way. Life has always been hard for my family - the way that life is hard for everyone. But I never once saw my mother's faith waver. Never in my lifetime could I say that I saw her doubting. She taught me the greatest part of faith – the one thing I have always truly needed to make it through life. And that is: God is Enough. Even if everything is taken from us, even if we have nothing left, God is Enough. She taught me that keeping my eyes on Him would get me through anything life could throw me, because He is greater than all life's worst twists and turns. She did not have to say it. She didn't have to lay it out before me like a map. I saw it in every action. I heard it in every word.
If I have great faith, it's because God has shown me His light, through her.
Everything I am, I owe to her.
People often say that I am a lot like my mother - and if that's true, then I can think of no better compliment.
Happy birthday, Mama. I love you. Thank you for being the lighthouse through which Jesus shone so brightly. Thank you for teaching me all the best things I know. : )


I glanced at the clock as I made my way through the cramped kitchenette of the tour bus; 3:29 a.m, it read. I sighed. Frank was trailing behind me like the caboose of a train, exhousted out of his mind.
I stopped to open a shoddy cupboard for a mug. When I did, I felt the force of a small body impact the middle of my back. It stumbled backwards a few steps.
I turned to see Frank rubbing at his tired eyes with sweater-covered knuckles; blue and black stripes, oversized, which made him look more like a child than ever.
Not to mention his Star Wars pajamas.
"Watch where you're goin', sleepy head," I said, laughing hypnotically. He sure was, too; his hair was tumbled all over the place, red and black swirled unnaturally around his puffy cheeks.
"Whatever," he moaned lackadaizically, "You're comfy."
He wrapped his noodle-of-an-arm around mine, and leaned his head against my shoulder, eyes shut. I grinned, letting the warm breath from between his teeth depress into my skin.
"I gotta make this, though," I said quietly, "Why don't you go wait for me at the table, 'kay?" I brushed his shoulder persuasively.
He lifted his head as if it weighed a hundred pounds, and looked up at me through completely closed eyes.
"Mm'kay," he mumbled, dragging his little bare feet to the table near the window. He scaled one of the bar-stools and slumped onto the cushion like a sack of potatos.
I turned again to focus in front of me when a hard knock called from behind. I swiveled back to see Frank with his temple against the wood.
"Ow," he slurred.
I rolled my eyes with a dopey smile and snatched a mug from the cupboard. I filled it with water, got out a package of 'Sleepy Time Tea,' and slid it in the microwave above one of the counters. I set the time as directed, and turned toward the table in which Frank sat waiting.
"Aww," I whispered, smiling. Frankie was sprawled out over the length of the table, his chest rising and falling silently and smoothly. His nose was tucked between the bend of his elbow.
I sat down across from him as soundlessly as I could, keeping my eyes on him with bated breath.
Steeling my lungs completely, I reached out and tenderly engulfed his tiny, tattooed hand. Still, he made not a sound or movement. There was something absolutely precious about the way his lips were parted, and the way his head was turned, and the way his hair fell around his plush, rosey cheeks, and the way his silent breaths fogged up the surface of the table, and the way his pretty little eyelashes quivered as he slept; everything. He was absolutely precious.
I took a final, achey note, and rested my head against the table's cool surface, shutting my eyes. A triple beep rang from the microwave, but I ignored it.
I nodded off, his delicate little hand in mine.


Taking a break from the usual food posts. Here is a more personal one for you darlings.
My little one. The reason why I wake up every morning, the reason why I continue to smile and hope and thrive to find myself. Often times it is difficult as she is slightly impatient as toddlers usually are... But my little one is so loving, that each warm hug and gentle kiss melts my heart.
It is a challenge, a challenge to be a better mother... a challenge to nurture her, help her gain weight when she is so picky with food, to teach her in every way that I can... to simply be a mother that I would look up to, if it weren't me in that position.
She is the light of my life. Perhaps even the heart of my craft and this blog. She scoots herself up a chair beside me while I weigh out the ingredients and she says "Mommy, tulong ako" (Mommy, I'll help). Her favorite chore is to mix anything she sees that has a fork or a mixing utensil with it. It can be messy, and most of the time, especially when it is a paid job, I ask her to play or ask Mr. DD to carry her away to eat or play or watch Princess movies that she loves. She cries, asking for me... And comes back when she smells the sweet aroma from the oven envelop the house. She takes a peek in the oven door, careful not to get too close. I ask her for a kiss and tell her that I love her, she always answers.
When it is done, and I take the baked cupcakes out of the oven, she approaches and says "Mommy, cupcake?" and I say, "Yes, baby."
She eats what I bake, sometimes she doesn't. But when she shows so much interest with the things that I love, watching with me while I play baking videos on my phone... it touches my heart, knowing that maybe one day she'll be a great cook or baker or pastry chef in the future.
Or she'll be running Dessert Darling with me.
Whatever the future holds, I know that I will love her for the rest of my life.


I am very excited to announce that my debut novel, BON VOYAGE, is now available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. The book is available for purchase in paperback, hard cover, and e-book formats.
BON VOYAGE is a comedy adventure novel that takes readers on a trip around the world. When an eccentric billionaire debuts an international gameshow with a big-money prize, 18 dreamers sign up for the challenge. For many of them, winning is paramount, and they’ll do whatever it takes to claim the winnings. BON VOYAGE tells the story of one special contestant told from the perspective of another as they travel across the globe in hopes their trying efforts will amount to immeasurable fame and a life-changing fortune.
ORDER A COPY
Kindle e-Book Download


Potential LED Health Risks
A recent report requested by the European Commission assessed the potential health hazards LEDs have on the general population. This provisional report examined multiple segments of the population to discuss the possibility of LEDs causing harm to vulnerable and susceptible populations such as children, adolescents, and the elderly. The report also examines the effects on skin optic fundamentals, eye health, and the penetration of LED lights on the skin. Examining temporal light modulation (flicker), and its potential effects on each segment was a fundamental concern in this report.
This provisional report—carried out by the scientific committee on health, environmental, and emerging risks (SCHEER)—suggests that eyes and skin are the most susceptible to the effects of LEDs. However, the exposure to optical radiation from LEDs is insignificant compared to other light sources, including natural lighting. In order to provide accurate results, all exposure variables were taken into account and tested. Irradiance, radiance, and exposure duration were significant variables in this study, which allowed researchers to carry out detailed reporting. Intensity of the LEDs, general exposure duration, specified exposure duration to skin and eyes, and direct staring vs. active eye movement were all considered. These variables accounted for a significant part of the results reported by SCHEER.
LED Health Effects on the General Population
In general, very few studies have been carried out regarding LED health hazards, and, because LED technology is continually advancing, it is difficult to provide a definite conclusion on any adverse health effects caused by LEDs. It is commonly known that throughout the progression and success of LEDs, concerns have been raised regarding the potential health effects on the general population. The most common concerns raised were regarding long-term vision effects, optical discomfort, and disruptions to circadian rhythms.
SCHEER reported that a major concern was for children below the age of three, who are often exposed to high-luminance LEDs from electronic toys and screens. They noted that the European standard for toys with LED emissions can induce photochemical retinopathy (damage to the eyes retina). Another concern included the use of LEDs in virtual-reality headsets due to the proximity of the screen to the users’ eyes. However, this report found that the luminance in these cases was too low to cause any adverse health effects. The report also stated that, although LEDs can be distracting in some forms (e.g., car lighting, specific colors), distraction, dazzle, and glare effects do not result in direct harm to your vision.
LEDs Are Safe
In addition to possible effects on the eyes, concerns were raised regarding the effects LEDs have on our skin. This report briefly touches on the possibility of LEDs causing harm by penetrating the skin beyond its intended depth, however, no formal research has been published to confirm this theory.
SCHEER acknowledges that the scientific research currently available does not provide enough evidence to prove that LEDs cause adverse effects to skin and eyes when the “total exposure is below the international agreed exposure limits (ICNIRP).” There was little evidence to suggest that disruption to sleeping patterns after using an LED screen was a direct result of exposure to the light; the disruptions could have been due to the kind of mental activity required to use and engage with the device. In addition, SCHEER reported that, when compared to other light source technologies, there was no evidence to suggest LED lamps cause photosensitivity. However, unlike other light sources, LEDs do not emit much ultraviolet radiation, which may actually reduce the risk of photosensitivity.
This preliminary report states that LEDs cannot be proven to cause direct, adverse health effects to the general, healthy population. It notes that discomfort and glare can be temporary consequences of LEDs but are not of major concern. The effects, thresholds, and damage mechanisms do vary from person to person. SCHEER suggests that more formal research is required to establish how LEDs can positively or negatively affect the general population.


Born in the 60s, grew up in the 70s, now raising two daughters in 2013. Learning how to do it with an adventurous spirit, a sense of humor, and an open mind. I'm the author of six books, including the memoir The Possibility of Everything and the international bestseller Motherless Daughters. But to my own daughters, I'm just the one who--horrifyingly--sings along with Led Zeppelin on the radio. I still remember all the words.


Welcome to our blog, where we invite you to unleash your senses and embark on a journey of self-discovery and appreciation for the world around you. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and forget to take a moment to truly experience the beauty that surrounds us. But we believe that by awakening your senses, you can unlock a whole new level of joy and fulfillment.
So, let’s dive into the wonders that await!
Section 1: Sight
They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and we couldn’t agree more. From vibrant sunsets painting the sky with hues of orange and pink to the delicate petals of a flower blooming in your garden, there is so much visual beauty to behold.
Take a moment each day to truly see the world around you. Notice the intricate details of nature, the smiles on people’s faces, and the architecture that surrounds us. Let your eyes be open to the wonders of life, and you’ll be amazed at how it can uplift your spirit.
Section 2: Sound
Close your eyes for a moment and listen. What do you hear? The gentle rustling of leaves in the wind, the melodic chirping of birds, or the soothing sound of raindrops hitting the ground.
Sound has a unique way of transporting us to different places and evoking a range of emotions. Whether it’s listening to your favorite music, attending a concert, or simply taking a walk in nature, let the soundscape around you awaken your senses and fill your heart with joy.
Section 3: Taste and Smell
Our sense of taste and smell are closely intertwined and have the power to transport us to different times and places. A whiff of freshly brewed coffee can bring back memories of a cozy morning at a local café, and the taste of a home-cooked meal can instantly make us feel loved and nurtured.
Take the time to savor each bite and appreciate the aromas that surround you. From trying new cuisines to exploring the world of essential oils, let your taste buds and olfactory senses guide you on a sensory adventure.
As you embark on this journey to unleash your senses, remember that life is meant to be savored and enjoyed. By taking the time to truly see, hear, taste, and smell the world around you, you’ll discover a newfound appreciation for the beauty that exists in everyday moments.
So, go ahead and embrace the wonders that await. Awaken your senses, and let the world amaze you!


I was absolutely floored and honored the other day to open an email from a client and friend, Dan Duncan who owns Small World Construction, and find a poem he’d written about his garden.
I’ve worked with Dan for about eight years now, creating four new garden areas in his home garden and maintaining them, as well as working with his construction company to do some beautiful collaborative work for others.
Dan gave me permission to post this excerpt from his poem:
My one maple tree was planted to
be the queen of the front yard.
Each year at this time she turns
yellow, then red, then brown.
Her perfect leaves
float downward, like feathers,
falling on the driveway, making
a dizzying unspecified pattern
as satisfying as can be.
In the secret garden lives
a princess, no kidding, that’s its
name, no competition has this bush
for the best place and the best
view in the garden. Beside it
In the cottage lives my daughter.
The princess unloads her deep
blue petals shamelessly,
leaving the ground
at her feet full of her gaudy
prettiness, a blue without
peer in all of California.
I’ve been caring for Dan’s gardens for so long that they feel almost a part of me, and to have them immortalized in poetry is a gift beyond compare. Thank you, Dan!
Want to see more of Dan’s garden? See his front garden here.