Leaving the Harbor

I will officially graduate from college in three weeks and I finally have a clear vision of what I'll be doing for the next few months. I am officially the winter intern for the Liahona magazine. I will be working on the 24th floor of the Church Office Building, and helping to create an international magazine that will be published in 50 languages. That's right. My name will be published in 50 languages, and I am only about 35 people down the masthead from Thomas S. Monson. Beat that.

No, seriously though, I am super excited for this opportunity, and it is a huge blessing. I've dreamed about doing this internship since I first heard about it two years ago. Even though I really want to go on a mission, I decided that this was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. I could only apply for it as a student, so this was my last chance. Elder Holland quoted someone saying "Never miss the opportunity of a lifetime by failing to seize it in the lifetime of the opportunity," and I didn't want to miss this one. I decided to apply and see what happened. I never really thought I would get it. These internships are some of the most competitive in my field, but I guess this is what I am supposed to be doing for now.
I'm really excited to move back to Salt Lake and work on Temple Square. I plan on doing baptisms at least once a week after work--the silver lining to the skirt and hose dress code--and hopefully make some more progress on my family history so I have some names to take to the temple. And when the time approaches to decide what to do with my life post internship, I will reassess.

I've realized that whether I get to serve a mission or not, there isn't really a better way I can use my talents to build God's kingdom than helping to get the word of the prophets to His children throughout the world. I get to serve and teach his children in 50 languages. How many missionaries can say that? Not even the ones who serve in the Philippines and learn 10 dialects can say that.
I'm still not sure what exactly I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but if it does involve a career, there couldn't be a better first step than the one I am about to take. A General Authority whose name I've already forgotten once spoke at a conference I attended and gave us young college students three questions to ask ourselves when choosing a career, and I've thought a lot about this lately and how my internship applies perfectly to it.

1. What do you enjoy?
Um, have you met me? Or read my blog?

2. What are you good at?
I guess I must have some editing talent, given the fact that I made it through the 3-stage, 2-month process of application for a Church magazine internship. I am the "most smartest connoisseur of the English language" after all.

3. What does the world need?
Can you think of anything the world needs more than the word of the Lord and His prophets?

So for now, and whatever happens in the next five months, I am so excited for my new job (and to be done with homework!). I will miss the Maxwell Institute and the wonderful people I've been able to rub shoulders with there. I will also really miss BYU and the wonderful harbor it has been for me, but as Elder Asay encouraged, I will eventually have to leave the safe harbor. It's time I set my sails and head off for the next adventure.

Just a little light source checking . . .

I knew I was in trouble when I walked into my boss's office and he said, "I'm so glad I have an intern." That's when I saw the task that awaited me:


I thought I was done with milk crates when I moved away from Idaho, but apparently long articles contain enough sources to necessitate a full milk crate of books and photocopies for me to check.

Oh, the Joys of Source Checking

Disclaimer: I know this is probably really boring to you, but it's my blog and I'll be boring if I want to.

I was source checking today like I do most every day, and the author had been kind enough to photocopy his sources for me (I love authors like that). Well one of the sources was the Oxford English Dictionary (I was so excited!) so I found the source in his stack of photocopies and of course it was from the compact edition, which has nine pages shrunk down on each of its 2424 pages and comes with a complimentary magnifying glass. Unfortunately he had forgotten to lend me his magnifying glass when he sent me the copy; he did however star it for me so I knew just which little ink spot I was supposed to be checking the accuracy of.

Good thing the whole thing is online (that is what I am most dreading about graduation, losing BYU's access to the OED).

Then, a few footnotes later was a source from the Greek New Testament. The title should have been my first clue. I found it in the stack and lo and behold it was in Greek. I honestly have no idea if it gave the idea he cited to that page, but I verified the page number. Sorry if you can't read it, but it's all Greek to me too.


Well you may think my job is really lame, but things like this make my day. I wonder if that author included those two sources knowing they would make me laugh. Thanks man, thanks.

The benefits of my job.

I knew that the Maxwell Institute had a pretty good reference library--I use it a lot in my various source checking. What I didn't realize was just how original some of those documents were, until I saw this book patiently waiting to be reshelved today. The Institute does, after all, include the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies.

Why I love my job.

I thrive on typos; they make my day. I've come across some pretty good ones in the course of my extensive editing experience. One of my favorites was about the guy who was born in Whales. I guess it was the animal, not the country... The latest?

Latte-day Saints.

That could cause some word of wisdom problems...

On that note, I'd like to help all of you out with your writing so that my next blog post will not be about you. Here are twenty rules for effective writing:

1. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
2. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
3. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
4. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
5. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
7. Also, too, never, ever use repetitive, superfluous, redundancies.
8. No sentence fragments.
9. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
10. Be more or less specific.
11. Don't use no double negatives.
12. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
13. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
14. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary.
15. Never use an enormous word when a diminutive one would suffice.
16. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
17. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
18. Who needs rhetorical questions?
19. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
20. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.