I accomplished a first this summer. I can now say I have
lived in Provo, Utah. Despite my Mormon background I have never had the
opportunity of living in Provo because I did not attend Brigham Young University. Instead, I opted to attend Boise State
University for my undergraduate degree. Although it was a decision I have never
regretted, I have always wondered what it would be like to live in Utah, let
alone Provo.
After
living in Provo for two months, I can now declare that I am more than happy to
go back to Claremont, California in another week. Provo, I will miss your Provo
River trail, your access to Creamies (best creamsicles ever), and the L. Tom
Perry Special Collections Library. However, apart from these things Provo is
currently where I don’t belong. Besides my hometown of Boise, Idaho- Claremont,
California is truly my home and I am ready to go back for another year of studies
at Claremont Graduate University.
With that being said, I am grateful
to have had the opportunity to reside in Provo and participate in a BYU summer seminar
on Mormon culture. For the past two years, well-known Mormon historian Richard
Bushman has led the summer seminar in which participants produce research on
Mormonism’s cultural history with the gold plates. I
was humbled by the experience. I was also grateful for being allowed to work
with many other Mormon studies scholars. Not only did this help me grow
professionally, but it also provided me with the opportunity to expand my
circle of friendship to include many great individuals.
I am also truly grateful to have
had over the last several years, numerous opportunities to sit in a seminar
setting with Richard Bushman. For those of you who have not read any of Richard
Bushman’s works, I highly recommend that you do so. I have learned so much from his vast knowledge and I know
for a fact many of my peers have as well. Also, being able to see him again was
beneficial for another reason. After spending two years in classes with him at
Claremont, I never once got a picture taken with him. I was finally able
to remedy that documentation of my scholarly journey.
The 2012 Golden Plates seminar was
a success! Since this is more of a personal blog, I will direct you to my
friend Christopher Smith’s recap of the seminar found here. The paper I presented
at the closing conference was titled “The Moroni Principle: The Mormon Quest
for Metal Plates during the Paul Cheesman Years.” In this paper I evaluated how
the Mormon testimony experience, which I refer to as the Moroni principle, had
a profound impact on BYU Professor Paul Cheesman and his evaluation of
Mesoamerican archaeology. This is a very, very short description of my paper,
but I am informed it will be posted eventually on the Neal A. Maxwell Institute website.
Instead of describing it in detail I will let any of you that are interested
know when it becomes available online.
It has been a great summer! The
only downside is that my car died on me in Utah, and I will be coming back to
California without a car. But overall, Provo was a great experience and I will
be happy to be back in Claremont.
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