Today was a good day. We had stake conference at the Marriott Center and I got to hear from Elder Ballard, Sister Burton and Bishop Davies. The messages were so good and very inspiring. I felt that each one of them said that things that I needed to hear. These last couple of weeks have been C-R-A-Z-Y and I’ve been extremely busy. In my poor attempt to get all of my school/work/clubs things done, I’ve failed to acknowledge the things that matter the most in this life.

This thought made me remember something that I learned in my accounting class last semester (don’t worry… it’s not an accounting principle). My professor told us that in life there are glass balls and rubber balls. If you let go of a rubber ball, it will bounce and come back. Glass balls, on the other hand, will break if you let them go. All things in life fall into one of these categories. Ever since this class, and specially when I have many many things to get done, I ask myself, Diana, is this a rubber or glass ball? Trust me on this one, this method will keep your priorities straight.

On a less serious note, I’m obsessed with this handbag. It’s very 1950’s and oh so classy! I’m not even kidding when I say that I’ve slept with this handbag right by my side. I just love it so much!

That being said, I’m off to bed. Hope you had a great Sunday too!

Hugs,
Diana

Okay… if I had to summarize my trip to Mexico in one word, that’d be food. Yes, I ate tons and tons of food. On my first day in Mexico I managed to eat half of the items I had on my list (obviously there was a list).

No, but seriously, the three weeks I spent in Mexico were absolutely perfect. It was nice to see family pictures in our living room, my old room (even though it’s empty now), and to perceive the smell of my childhood home (am I the only crazy person who thinks that every house has a particular smell? anyone?).

One of the things I enjoyed the most was meeting with old friends. I think in the past I took things for granted. For the first time in my life I understood the difference between being needed and being wanted. The line is really thin and blurry, but I do see it now. And oh! there’s great comfort in being among people who value and want your company.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my trip (most of them are pictures of food 🙂

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This is very embarrassing, but this was the first time I ever hiked the Y. Hiking the Y has been a long, old, well-established tradition among the BYU community. It took me, however, two years to cross this item off of my BYU college experience list. Shame on me!

The trail was long and -even though I exercise regularly- it turned out to be extremely tiring. It had only passed like ten minutes and I was already short of breath (stupid gym that doesn’t help in real life situations!). I mean, even senior couples passed me by several times. Guys in their middle 40’s were jogging their way up. And there I was, in the peek of my life and youth… trying hard to grasp some air. (Not good, I know…) Anyway, after a while I decided that I was going to take just one step at a time. So I did and all of the sudden the trail was more enjoyable and less burdensome.

When I was finally on top of the Y, I understood why people consider it a must-do activity. The view was gorgeous! The sleep deprivation, the ticking pain in my back, the little daggers puncturing my lungs…  none of it mattered. Watching the sun rise over the lake, BYU, and eventually over the whole city was simply magnificent.

I don’t know… I may be falling in love with Utah. Who would have thought, uh?

Una lista de 50 pequeñas cosas sobre mí…

1. AMO los días soleados. El lugar perfecto es aquel en donde nunca haya frio, nieve, o lluvia. Me encanta que haya sol y siempre que tengo la oportunidad me gusta disfrutar afuera de un buen día soleado.
2. Si alguien me quiere hacer feliz, solo tiene que comprar papas a la francesa o donas.
3. No he comido chocolate desde los 14 años. Lo sé! Ha sido un laaargoo tiempo sin chocolate pero como dirían en mi México, a todo se acostumbra uno…
4. Tengo una fobia a las alturas. Además tengo vértigo… Resumen: escalar no es una buena idea para mí.
5. Mi color favorito es el azul celeste.
6. Me gusta vestirme de colores sobrios. Puede parecer aburrido pero en mi closet nunca encontrarán ropa amarilla, roja, verde, naranja, etc. En general, el color de mi ropa se reduce a café, negro, vino, blanco, gris, y azul marino.
7. Mi libro favorito es Mujercitas, lo leí cuando tenía nueve años y desde entonces me sentí muy identificada con el. Ya saben… las cuatro hermanas, las peripecias que pasan, y la forma en la que fueron criadas.
8. Algunas de mis películas favoritas son: Un paseo por las nubes, Castillos de hielo, En busca de la felicidad, y Orgullo y Prejuicio.
9. En mi opinión, la película de “La vida es bella” es la película más triste y deprimente que hay en este mundo! La he visto tres veces en mi vida y siempre termino deprimida…
10. Mi mayor debilidad, hablando del sexo opuesto, es el olor a la loción. Amo el olor a loción o colonia de hombre… así que nunca subestimen el poder que tiene el oler bien!
11. Cuando era pequeña, siempre cargaba conmigo el libro de Amelia Bedelia. Es un libro hermoso!! (http://www.slideshare.net/asmodeo23/amelia-bedelia-10328703?from_search=2)
12. El hombre que más amo en este mundo es mi papá. Él siempre ha sido mi ejemplo a seguir, es un hombre justo y cariñoso.
13. ODIO comer mariscos. De cualquier tipo: pescado, camarones, jaiba, pulpo, ceviche… Glup! No, eso no.
14. Si pudiera aprender un idioma, seria francés. Cada que escucho a alguien hablar  en francés, mi corazón se enamora un poquito.
15. No soy una persona celosa.
16. No me puedo morir sin antes haber aprendido a tocar el piano. Tuve dos oportunidades de aprender, pero siempre desistí. Antes de morir tengo que haber aprendido a tocar el piano de una manera fluida.
17. Amo dormir. Yo podría dormir 15 horas seguidas. Irónicamente, también puedo estar despierta por mucho tiempo, puedo no dormir una noche, o sólo dormir un par de horas, y estaré bien durante el día.
18. Soy la persona más descoordinada de este planeta. Creo que esta es la explicación de por qué no bailo o no practico un deporte.
19. Desde pequeña mi mamá me llama Cato. Como mi cabello era muy chino, mi mama me decía China Catolina, luego se fue reduciendo hasta llegar a Cato.
20. Me gusta usar perfume. No puedo salir de la casa sin perfume, creo que ya es parte de mi rutina de salida.
21. No soy una persona que le guste la aventura o la novedad, al contrario, soy una de esas personas que aman la rutina. Me gustan los calendarios, las agendas, y saber que es lo que va a pasar.
22. Mi mayor don es mi memoria. No tengo una memoria fotográfica, pero puedo recordar pequeños detalles que la mayoría de la gente pasaría por alto.
23. Yo iba a ser una doctora. El punto anterior me hizo pensar que si tenía una buena memoria debía aprovecharla, así que en un ataque de locura empecé a estudiar Medicina. No duró ni un mes. La biología y yo no somos amigas.
24. Mis flores favoritas son las rosas amarillas. La gente me dice que esas flores son para gente enferma, pero la verdad es que yo las amo! 🙂 También me gustan las gerberas y los tulipanes.
25. Odio las despedidas, me cuesta mucho mucho trabajo desprenderme de las cosas que amo.
26. Lo tengo que confesar, cuando estaba en la secundaria me traumé con la saga de Crepúsculo. Después recapacité y volví al camino de la luz y el bien.
27. Mi mamá solía poner su música cuando hacía el quehacer así que crecí escuchando a Diego Verdager, Juan Gabriel, Rocío Durcal, Pimpinela, y muchos otros más. La verdad es que me gustan mucho las canciones de Ana Gabriel y Marco Antonio Solis.
28. Soy una nerd. Al principio dolía un poquito admitirlo, pero creo que hoy estoy algo orgullosa de serlo. Me gusta hacer mis tareas, hacer mis lecturas, y leer el material de la clase antes de la clase. Ya sé, soy rara.
29. Mi mejor época del año es la Navidad. Amo las luces por todas partes, los adornos brillantes, y el espíritu de bondad que se siente. Al menos por esas dos semanas.
30. No sé manejar, pero si pudiera tener un carro seria un Sentra. No sé por qué me gusta.
31. Mi propósito de este año es aprender a manejar. Ya veré cómo sale este asunto.
32. Hace muchos años, declamé una poesía enfrente de 2,500 personas. Fue sólo el escenario, mi micrófono, y yo. No lo volvería a hacer, esa fue una ocasión única y fui forzada a hacerlo.
33. Preferiría lavar el baño que lavar los trastes. Odio lavar los trastes.
34. Una de las cosas que podría hacer por horas es ver Grey’s Anatomy. Pienso que es una de las mejores series en mucho tiempo. Me gusta mucho ver los episodios, podría verlos una y otra vez sin aburrirme.
35. En mi peor y más recurrente sueño, matan a mis hermanas y mis papas. Creo que estoy un poco traumada.
36. Mi comida favorita es el platillo Huasteco, los tlacoyos, las hamburguesas y los tacos dorados. En ese orden.
37. Si pudiera elegir en donde vivir después de terminar la universidad, sería Italia, Inglaterra o Francia. Si tuviera que quedarme en EU, me movería a California, Carolina del Norte, Texas, o Georgia.
38. No me gusta ir a balnearios o piscinas públicas. Siento que hay demasiada gente desconocida compartiendo fluidos contigo. Lo sé, suena asqueroso pero si lo piensas bien, eso es todo lo que pasa.
39. Amo mi cabello. Me gusta la forma rizada y el color. Antes me quejaba mucho de el, pero con el tiempo he aprendido a apreciarlo y lo he llegado a amar.
40. Muy a pesar de lo que la mayoría de la gente piense de él, hay algunas canciones de Ricardo Arjona que me parecen muy buenas. Me gustan mucho: Duele verte, Acompáñame a estar solo, Como duele, y Pingüinos en la cama.
41. Nunca he visto una película de Star Wars, pero he visto todas las películas de Harry Potter. También he leído todos los libros; termine de leer la serie cuando tenía 14 años.
42. No me gusta hablar por teléfono. Jaja, irónicamente tengo un trabajo en el cual la mayor parte del tiempo, contesto un teléfono! 🙂 La ironía de este enunciado me da risa!
43. Casi siempre duermo con calcetas. Siendo honesta, me gusta dormir con calcetas.
44. Si tuviera que elegir a mi autor favorito, yo diría que es Agatha Christie. Sus libros son los mejores… puedo quedarme despierta a leerlos, por el suspenso que tengo de qué es lo que va a pasar.
45. Me gustan las matemáticas. Las entiendo y me considero buena en ellas.
46. En mi familia hay un refrán para cada situación. Esa es una de las muchas cosas que amo de mi familia.
47. Soy una de esas personas que se apega emocionalmente a las cosas muy rápido. En muy poco tiempo las personas o cosas me pueden importar mucho.
48. Mi fruta favorita son las manzanas… En especial las manzanas amarillas. La fruta que menos me gusta es la papaya.
49. Una de las cosas que más me relaja es tomar un baño caliente. Me gusta bañarme con agua casi casi hirviendo, y honestamente me tardo mucho tiempo bañándome.
50. Mi vista es terrible. Sin mis lentes no puedo ver prácticamente nada, así que si algún día los veo y no los saludo… es porque probablemente no traía mis lentes.

Ahí las tienen. Si llegaron hasta este punto, ya saben 50 cosas más sobre mí.

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian known by the popular writing of The Prince. I personally think that we have judged this book with a prejudiced and biased mind, we’ve judge him harshly. The truth is that before this time, I had only read some passages of it, and because of this I had never realized that, as crude as it may sound, it is full of truths. I’ve found that this book contains teachings that go further than “the end justifies the means”. Here I share some of the phrases/ideas that struck me while I was reading it.

“Any harm you do to a man should be done in such a way that you need not fear his revenge.”

“You have to keep an eye, not only on present trouble, but on those of the future, and make every effort to avoid them.”

“The man who makes another powerful ruins himself.”

“A prudent man should always follow the footsteps of the great and imitate those who have been supreme.”

“For men injured others either through fear or hate.”

“For there is no way to protect yourself from flattery except by letting men know that you will not be offended at being told the truth.”

But the one that had the greater impact on me reads as follows:

“Here the question arises: is it better to be loved than feared, or vice versa? I don’t doubt that every prince would like to be both; but since it is hard to accommodate these qualities, if you have to make a choice, to be feared is much safer than to be loved.”

From my point of view, Machiavelli was right. He was right in this very situation; we need to consider that he is talking about politics and that he is backing up every idea that he presents. It is well known that history tents to repeat, either we learn from the past or we suffer in the future. Also, I really want to point out that he says that being feared is safer, not better, than to be loved.

Even though this was true at some point, I would consider it as invalid for today’s politics. The world has changed and so the people. Nowadays we have more power than people back in those days had. Fear is still used to govern over a lot of countries around the world, and politics are corrupted almost everywhere; however we do not live under a regimen of fear.

We can learn a lot about Machiavelli’s good advices and wisdom. His teachings may be out of context, but we can always find a way to apply them to our lives. 

Several years ago, BYU exhibited “The Hands of Rodin” art exposition. The BYU Administration had a hard time deciding which sculptures they should exhibit. After a long debate they decided to keep crated ‘The Kiss’, ‘Saint John the Baptist Preaching’, ‘The Prodigal Son’, among others sculptures; they said that this pieces did not fit the theme of the exhibition.

Dante in his Canto V of the Inferno tells the story of Francesca and Paolo. They were in Hell because Francesca cheated on her husband Giovanni, with her brother-in-law Paolo. One day Francesca and Paolo kissed while reading Lancelot’s book, after they got intimate they were killed by Giovanni. Francesca firmly blamed “the book, and he who wrote it” for his misfortunes.

Dante exhorts the reader to analyze the influence that art, literature and other media have on us. He emphasizes the question of how choice and accountability influences both parties in the author-reader and artist-audience relationships. This is what I’m going to discuss in this post, and specifically I will try to give some possible arguments that might have been discussed by the BYU Administration Department in the debate regarding The Kiss sculpture display. I want to clarify, beforehand, that I may or may not agree with the arguments given in this post. This is not my personal opinion about this topic.

First of all, Rodin is considered as the progenitor of modern sculpture. This is a big deal considering his significant contribution to art. Even to think of excluding this famous piece of art in an art exhibition is a huge mistake. When talking about an art exhibition all that matters is the art; The kiss should have been exhibit for art’s sake.

President Bateman, president of BYU at the time, said that they had to take into account that this exhibition’s public was larger than the BYU community. They were concerned that these pieces could offend the visitors; however this argument may have been invalid. LDS members all over the world are surrounded by worldly things; they are usually a minority in their communities. I attended schools were I was the only member of the church, and trust me when I say that we are exposed to worse things than this.

The scriptures say that we should study from the best books, however we do not live in a bubble; sooner or later we will face things that will require our good judgment. We need to be prepared to discern good from evil. The gospel principles will protect our lives; however, they cannot keep us from worldly things. Our judgment is to be guided by the gospel principles; LDS members will be exposed to art, literature and other media that will call for their best judgment.

I think that we can’t blame the author of any art work for creating it; it is a shared responsibility. The author is as free as anybody to create as he wants. As an audience we are responsible and accountable of how we use our knowledge in judging a work of art. We should just take the best out of the art and the media that surround us. We should live under the thought that if something inspires us to be closer to God, then it is something worthy to keep, otherwise we should not.

Unemployment – Umbricius said “It is no easy matter, anywhere, for a man to rise when poverty stands in the way of his merits: but nowhere is the effort harder than in Rome.” I would definitely change that last word to America.

Illegal immigration – The same issue happened in Rome. People that were rich and well educated were called Romans; they inherited the same rights that romans had. Unfortunately, just like in the present time, this happens just to the people that are influential, while the rest of them, are just barbarians.  

Gun control – The romans had very strict laws regarding homicide; however anyone could have taken revenge by their own hands. We see that anyone could possess a gun for their own protection; nevertheless sometimes people didn’t use the guns for that purpose.

Drug abuse –  I can’t tell if Rome had this same problem. I think that it is very probably that the problem existed but not in the same proportions as today.

Lack of honesty – In Juvenal writings, Umbricius said “Since there is no room for honest callings in this city, no reward for labour; since my means are less to-day than they were yesterday, and to-morrow will rub off something from the little that is left […]”. Sometimes I feel that this is the most accurate description for the times that we are living. Sadly, sometimes all you can say is that “there is no room for honest” things anymore. And Umbricius goes on and exposes the lack of honesty of their governors, he says, “no man will get my help in robbery, and therefore no governor will take me on his staff”.

 

To conclude I just want to point out that social problems have been recurrent and repetitive in the human society. They began a long time ago, and we have never been able to stop them. As far as I’m concerned, the social problems have existed always; the only thing we have done is learn to control and deal with them.

Unemployment – America has been having a lot of ups and downs in its economics. The result of these changes is a changing economy and a feeling of fear and uncertainty towards the future. A lot of people have been fired and the unemployment has been growing over the past years. The problem is that the problem doesn’t seem to be diminishing at all!

Illegal immigration – It’s a very well-known social problem in America. I can even dare to say that this is the social problem of the moment; there are a lot of laws, politics and economics going around this issue. The fact is that America’s reaction and decisions regarding this issue is going to greatly affect it.

Gun control – Recent events have showed us that gun control is an issue in which we should focus our attention. Through very unfortunate events America has realize that guns are not always utilized for their purposes (which are self-defense and protection).

Drug abuse – I personally think that this is a social problem around the world. There’s no country that can be saved from this problem. The drug abuse is not only a health problem, but an economics, and security problem too.

Lack of honesty – Nowadays people are willing to do anything to get what they want. Unfortunately, our society is accepting the fact that as long as you get what you want, the medium to achieve it doesn’t matter. Our society lacks of honest people, with principles and values.

Same-sex marriage – A very new way of thinking ‘states’ that, the more open minded and liberal you are, the more well educated and tolerant you are. The real question is: why are people promoting it? Today is tolerance to same-sex marriage; tomorrow will it be towards pedophilia?

Whenever we hear the word romans our mind instantly begins to brainstorm: war, laws, senate, republic, Julius Caesar, etc. It’s very well-known that the Roman heritage is vast and lasting. Many of their legacy still influences our life, however I’d like to focus my writing to the role of the Roman man and the influence that it has in our days. Do we follow their sketch of a good roman man? What made them so extraordinary?

Through this post I’ll be citing a lot from Polybius and his writings about the Roman Constitution. He did a brief summary of what a good roman should do, he wrote: ‘reverence to the gods, honor for parents, respect to elders, and obedience to laws that are traditional and habitual’ and he goes on ‘for the true test [of a roman] is the power of bearing with spirit and dignity violent changes of fortune’.

Even though Polybius did a pretty good summary, I want to emphasize certain things that, as far as I am concern, were important to the romans. First of all I’m going to discuss what, for me, is the most distinguishing aspect of the Roman men: their highly sense of citizenship. Polybius very accurately wrote: ‘they rated the interest of their country higher than those of the natural ties even with their nearest and dearest’ because they valued the safety of their country and a lasting freedom more highly than their own existence. Roman men were had a real and strong sense of duty to their country and that is what made them magnificent warriors.

Secondly, the romans were really good warriors. This was said to Aeneas several years before the foundation of Rome. It was written that Rome would have the best warriors ever in history. But going deeper, I found that being a good warrior for the roman men was not exclusively about physical strength, but also about defending your principles and beliefs. In the book VI of Polybius we find:

‘Carthaginians have their hopes of freedom ever resting on the courage of mercenary troops, the Romans on the value of their own citizens […] For, as the Romans are fighting for country and children, it is impossible for them to relax the fury of their struggle; but they persist with obstinate resolution until they have overcome their enemies.’

We can see through this passage the true character of the romans. Even when they faced defeat, they renewed the war with undiminished forces and with something to fight for. Their success wasn’t because of their strength, but because the heart they put on every war.

Even more, romans had a very well developed system of customs and laws (the two things fundamental to every state). They knew that ‘honour and punishment held together human society’. That’s probably why roman men were very severe with their judgments and punishments. Roman men understood that a private matter affected the whole people and so, they create this exemplary constitution; a constitution over which countries all around the world have based theirs.

Nowadays we can easily recognize the similarities that Romans had with the Greeks: the art, the myths, the architecture, some of their social structure, etc. Nevertheless, we also find great differences between them. Polybius wrote; ‘the most important difference is in their religious beliefs, it was the very thing that kept them together’. Roman men could handle material things while keeping their faith intact. That, as a matter of fact, maybe something we differ from the romans. We cannot easily separate material and spiritual things as well as they did. Even Polybius said it: ‘men nowadays are acting rashly and foolishly in rejecting the gods’.

I just want to conclude this post by saying that the Roman influence is going to be everlasting. We surely owe them a lot! They set the basis of every civilized culture that has been, that is, and that will be on this earth.