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In Memory of Isabella Faith Tichenor, Who Was Loved
Author’s Note: This article is about the humanity of a child of God. There are many of us who have experienced bullying and segregation. This article is solely about how we as communities accommodate those who stand but need support, how we treat those who are different or differently abled. Isabella Faith Tichenor was all of these. Isabella Faith Tichenor, aged 10, died by suicide. Saying that is enough to make anyone heartsick. Her story is more than her death. She was a student in the Davis School District in Utah, at Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake. Her family nicknamed her Izzy. She loved and was loved by…
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Are You Aware? Love for Africa
This is part III in our “Concerning Climate” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Africa accounts for only two to three percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources. According to the World Resources Institute, Africa’s per capita emissions of carbon dioxide in the year 2000 were 0.8 metric tons per person, compared with a global figure of 3.9 tons per person. The U.S. per capita emissions are 16.2 tons per person. In the fight against climate change, Africa’s contribution is negligible. Of course, Africa is not a monolith. African countries have varying levels of development and utilization of energy sources. The…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Love Your Neighbor
Like so many of us I have an interest in family history. I have spent many years trying to learn more about my family. I am not done. I once knew a woman who was done with family history. She lived in an early 1800’s farm house. She created a history for her home. She made copies of the old deeds that were stored in the county records. She read old newspapers at the library. She found birth and death announcements for prior occupants of the house. She collected building plans submitted for additions and alterations. She also found write ups of local sports achievements and garden parties. She created…
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Stand as a Witness — and Join the Bouquet of Humanity
In the final closing argument of Derek Chauvin’s trial, prosecution attorney Jerry Blackwell referred to the witnesses as a “bouquet of humanity.” It brings to mind the well known scripture in Doctrine and Covenants section 14: “And it shall come to pass, that if you shall ask the Father in my name, in faith believing, you shall receive the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance, that you may stand as a witness of the things of which you shall both hear and see, and also that you may declare repentance unto this generation.” Eleven months ago, when George Floyd was killed, I asked that the women of MWEG watch the video…
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Are You Aware? A Convergence of Crises — The Opioid Epidemic
This is part V in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 841,000 people in the U.S. have died of drug overdose since 1999. Drugs are the leading cause of death from injury in the U.S., by a significant margin. In 2019, 29% of injury-related deaths were caused by drug poisoning. The next closest causes of death by injury were falls, firearms, and motor vehicle-related deaths, at around 15-16% each. That same year, about 70% of all drug overdose deaths were caused by opioids. Opioids, opiates, and opiums — what are they? An opiate is a derivative of the…
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Are You Aware? How Farmers Survive
This is part II in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Do you know how farmers survive? They have relied for decades on USDA loans. Every year many farmers apply for loans to buy or rent farmland, to buy seed or stock or equipment or fertilizers, and even to cover living expenses. Many farmers could not operate without loans. It’s an annual cycle of borrowing at the beginning of the crop year to purchase the needed items, and then paying up at harvest and not having enough cash reserves to start the next growing season — and then beginning the cycle again. Timing…
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Are You Aware? Made in Detroit
This is part IV in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. In the 1920s, Detroit was the fourth-largest city in the United States, and there was considerable tension in the city. The city — which in 1910 had a population of 456,000, with fewer than 6,000 Black people — had a population of 990,000 in 1920 with nearly 41,000 Black people. The tension created by this phenomenon gave rise to a relatively large Ku Klux Klan presence by the mid-1910s. This was fueled by southern whites and European immigrants competing with Blacks for housing and jobs. The automotive industry, although in…
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Are You Aware? The Harlem Renaissance
This is part I in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. The Harlem Renaissance was a product of the Great Migration. Millions of rural Blacks left the South, which had failed them, for better opportunities in western, midwestern, and northern cities. These largely factory driven cities needed industrial workers, especially during World War I. Cities like Detroit, Chicago, Tulsa, and New York were the beneficiaries of the great pool of talent and labor that arrived. Once they had arrived, they built up vibrant neighborhoods full of art, music, and industry. Restaurants, barbershops, grocery stores, and pool halls were opened…
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Are You Aware? A Christmas Carol
This is part I in our “Echoes” Awareness Wednesday series. “A Christmas Carol,” written by Charles Dickens, is a story of how our past shapes our present, and how past and present affect our future — both because of circumstances beyond our control and those of our own making. The story illustrates how the events and choices of one’s life send ripples throughout. Maturity can help us shake off our pasts to some degree, but sometimes — because of force of habit and personal equilibrium — we have a hard time changing. But perhaps most importantly, the ripples we make in the world can have negative or positive effects in…
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We Are Witnesses
On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, MWEG hosted its inaugural Town Hall: “If All Lives Matter, then Black Lives Matter: Turning Frustration into Productive Interpersonal Action.” After inspiring words by featured presenter Dr. LaShawn Williams, MWEG’s anti-racism committee lead, Charlotte Mountain, shared these thoughts. “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established” (Deuteronomy 19:15). What this is telling us is that it is righteous and good that there be corroboration to any prosecution. We should not be convicted on…
