Tuesday, October 30, 2007

We Are The Champions!

I can say "we" because I am a long-time loyal Red Sox fan. They won the World Series on Sunday night, sweeping the poor Colorado Rockies pretty easily. The "curse" is most definitely over and I think the Red Sox might be the new dynasty in baseball. It sure isn't the Yankees anymore!

To be honest, I wanted Colorado to win at least once. It's sad when a team makes it all the way to the World Series and then doesn't win even one game. Plus, it would have been awesome for the Sox to win the Series at home in Boston. That hasn't happened in many decades. The fans would have gone crazy at Fenway! That would have been so cool to see. So if the Rockies had won at least two games it could have happened. Oh well. I'm not going to complain too much!

A few last things about baseball until the spring when a new season starts. I think the rules in the American League and the National League need to become the same. AL teams are so much better in part because of the differences between the leagues. It would be more fair and make a lot of sense to have the rules be the same on both sides (like the pitcher not having to bat and the designated hitter not having to play in the field). The American League seems to always win the All-Star game and the World Series. I think AL teams must have more money too. The Red Sox and Yankees seem to be the richest teams and so they're able to get the best players. I wonder if there's a way to handle the money more democratically? Perhaps Peter or one of my brothers has some ideas on that.

And last but not least, my favorite Red Sox players this season were Josh Beckett for his amazing pitching ability, Mike Lowell for his reliability and skill at bat and at 3rd base, Jonathan Papelbon because he's so darn cute and does some great Irish dancing wearing just a pair of little black shorts or a kilt, and Manny Ramirez because he's very amusing. I love all of the Red Sox members (yes, even Gagne)--they did a great job all season and they deserved to be the World Series champs! Can't wait for next season!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Polygamy

I like to watch Oprah when the topic interests me, and Friday's show definitely interested me. It was about polygamy and families who are practicing it in the U.S. today. These are predominantly splinters from the mainstream Mormon church who disagreed with the Church when the practice was formally renounced in 1890, so they continued to practice it anyway and formed their own little communities out in the desert to do so.

The polygamous wives on the show were so normal looking. It was weird! They were attractive and articulate, their homes were lovely, their kids were cute (all 25 of 'em!)...in short, they were a lot like modern-day "soccer moms." A husband came on the show with his three wives--two of them were sisters. Creepy! He was a successful businessman who seemed nice enough. It was hard to believe these people were polygamists and were so (seemingly) happy and content with the practice. (Are these women from another planet?) They want it to be legalized so that they don't have to be outcasts anymore and can live in the community like normal people. The case can be made that if gay marriage is allowed, then other forms of marriage are going to need to be permitted as well. I hope legalization of polygamy doesn't ever happen. The most I can see happening is it maybe getting de-criminalized. Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not sure.

A woman named Carolyn Jessop was also on the show. She grew up in Colorado City, Arizona in a cult-like community of fundamentalists that is much, much worse than the places where the above-mentioned people live. These are the people who totally shun the outside world and dress like they still live in the 1800's. That's where Warren Jeffs is from...he's the so-called prophet of these people who was recently convicted as an accomplice to rape. It is really sad. That place is like Iran. Anyway, Carolyn Jessop escaped with her children in 2003 after years of misery living in polygamy in this awful dictatorial world. She just wrote a book called "Escape" about what her life was like there. I went out and bought it the next day and am eager to read it. Here's the link to find out more about the book if you're interested:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?EAN=9780767927567

I have always been fascinated by these polygamists. I can't believe what they're doing! I feel a small level of affinity for them because their forebearers were once members of the Church and so we share some doctrinal beliefs (unrelated to polygamy) and practices (such as Sacrament Meeting and singing the same hymns and songs) as well as a similar heritage. Some of my ancestors on my father's side were pioneers who trekked out West to settle; one of them was even an associate of Joseph Smith's. None of them practiced plural marriage, however. Only a small percentage of the pioneers ever did.

I once read in an opinion piece in Time magazine that members of the Church wish these people would just go away, and that's kind of true, at least for me. They perpetuate the association of Mormons and polygamy and make it seem like it's something that Mormons really do still do, or at least want to do, and that isn't true. They discredit the Church and its message, which it doesn't deserve. I personally do not understand polygamy. I know that great men like Abraham practiced it, and in more recent times, Joseph Smith and of course Brigham Young. But I just can't understand it and I find the idea of it to be abhorrent. I cannot imagine living life like that. The practice is inherently sexist and demeaning to women. It would be less so if women were allowed to have more than one husband in these communities so that then there would at least be equality in that respect. Wouldn't that be interesting? But still, it wouldn't be good. Maybe someday it will indeed all just go away. One spouse at a time should be enough for everyone!

Friday, October 26, 2007

The Beginning of My Blog

Well I can finally cross this one off the list...I've started a blog! I've been thinking about doing it for awhile, and I finally found myself with a few extra minutes and the sudden motivation, so I did it. I'm not sure how it will turn out. I'm pretty busy so I can't let it become a driving force in my life, but I think it will be fun. I'm going to write about whatever floats my boat. I think I read once that the best blogs have one main theme, so mine's not going to be among the best because it will pretty much be a hodgepodge of a bunch of different things. In all likelihood it will take me awhile to get pictures and other fun stuff up and running (I'm a bit of a technical novice), so this will be a bare-bones blog for awhile, for pure writing and reading enjoyment only.

Hopefully this will help me to keep my writing and analytical skills up. I swore when I graduated from college that I would never write another paper again (my last semester was a real killer), but now I kind of miss that type of writing. Not that I'm going to be writing papers on here or anything (or anywhere else, for that matter!), and not that my posts will all be very intellectual in nature, but I've missed writing in general.

It was tough to name this blog. I felt the pressure to be clever, creative, and original, all qualities that I do not possess to a great degree, especially when it comes to naming things. First I thought of the generic and boring "Donna's Blog," which then led me to "Donna's World" (from "Elmo's World"...my son and I are Sesame Street fans), then "Breath of Fresh Air," but I realized that kind of copies NPR's "Fresh Air." So then I thought of my favorite newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, and tried to come up with a play on words of that. That idea came from my freshman year at Penn when we had to name our suite and came up with the name "Suiter Than Honey." So, in the end, I came up with "The Doll Sweet Journal." It's quite cheesy, but kind of cute, and I'm sticking with it, at least for now. If something brilliant comes to me I'll change it, though I'm not counting on that. I'm not into dolls or anything (though I loved them as a girl), but people do say that I'm sweet, so for the naming purposes of this blog and due to my limited creativity, I'm just a sweet little doll of a blogger!