New Cadet Visitation Day

This Sunday we had an excellent opportunity.  Each summer a new class of West Point cadets begins their service.  This summer the class of 2017 began with R-day (reception day) on July 1st.  R-day is supposed to be a fairly traumatic experience, as the new cadets are given a short briefing with their families, and then suddenly they have two minutes to say goodbye.   They're shuffled out, shaved, and forced to dress in PT shorts, a t-shirt, dress shoes and black socks. 

From this point, they're in Beast, or Cadet Basic Training.  For 6 weeks they aren't allowed to speak unless spoken to, eat until given permission, or have "hands" (they have to keep their hands in a fist unless actively doing something).

"Look, Ma, no hands!"  (Yes, it's not USMA, but you get the idea)

Three weeks into Beast, the faculty get the opportunity to participate in New Cadet Visitation Day, AKA the Cadet Ice Cream Social.  Each faculty member is asked to host at least two new cadets at their house for a Sunday afternoon.  The purpose is to give the new cadets a chance to relax, spend time with a family, use the phone or internet, and generally feel like a real person again.

Since we don't have a house yet, it makes it difficult to do this, but we teamed up with some friends in the branch, and joined them at their house.  When I went to pick up our cadets, they had them all lined up alphabetically, according to the host who was picking them up.  They called my name, and then literally "issued" me the cadets assigned to me. 

"Do I get a hand receipt for these?"

 
Altogether we had three new cadets.

We prepared hamburgers and hotdogs, and each of the new cadets at between three and five hamburgers... Then topped it all off with banana splits. 

It was a great opportunity to meet some of the interesting people who are here to study, and to get some insight into what the new cadets go through during Beast.  Mostly, though, it was fun to see them relax and smile and enjoy themselves.

Music Under the Stars

So, one of the cooler things about West Point is that the school has its own band.  Now, the West Point Band isn't just any run-of-the-mill army band.  No, it's one of three special bands in the Army, and the members are recruited from professional musical backgrounds, and all have at least a Masters', if not a Ph.D. in music.

During the summer, the West Point band puts on a Sunday night concert series called "Music Under the Stars".  Most nights they have a theme, like tonight was "the music of Billy Joel", and last week was a kids' night.  Well, needless to say, the band is talented and they come up with their own arrangements for the various songs they play.  It's a very enjoyable experience with an amazing view.

In addition to the Sunday night series, the first Saturday following the 4th of July (timed to coincide with the New Cadets' first Saturday night at West Point) they put on an Independence Day concert, which culminates with musical accompaniment of fireworks.

The coolest part is that the fireworks are set off so close that you are practically looking straight up to see them, and believe me, it was the loudest and most concussion-filled fireworks display I've seen.  It was pretty dang cool.

So, if you're ever in the neighborhood, you should check it out as West Point actually allows tourists on post.

Timing, decisions and opportunities

This week we had an interesting experience.  After house-sitting for a month, we moved back into the Five-Star Hotel (which has conveniently earned itself a boost from one to two stars...).  The hotel sits on Main Street in Highland Falls, where there are a bunch of small restaurants and an ice cream shop.

One evening we decided to walk out to the ice cream shop for a treat.  Of course, it took a bit to get shoes on the kids and get out the door.  When we left the hotel, we realized Hayden didn't put his shoes on.  We debated going back in and getting them on, but I was admittedly irritated and decided we'd just go ahead and he'd be without shoes.  Just after we turned onto Main Street, a car pulled over and the cadet driving yelled "Go BYU" at us (I was wearing my BYU polo), and then asked if I was "Brother Ellett".  This was a bit odd, I thought.

We came to find that he was leaving within the week to go on his mission, but that he had a friend who was a Russian major and had been emailing a new instructor who was a BYU graduate (me, of course).  He explained that his friend was investigating the church, and asked that I keep his friend in mind while we were here.  We of course said we would, and now I know something about one of our students that I might otherwise never have known.

Afterwards, Mandy and I were pondering about this experience, and how much timing was involved.  Had we not decided to get ice cream, or had we decided to go back and get Hayden's shoes on, we wouldn't have been on Main Street in time for this cadet to drive by and see us.  As he left on his mission the next day, we could not have met him later at church.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

How many opportunities and experiences have we lost out on or missed simply because of a few seconds, or forgotten shoes, or a wrong turn?  Conversely, how many opportunities and experiences have we had because of those few seconds, or because of the wrong turn?

Life is a very interesting thing.

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day, everyone.  Have a great one, and remember the following:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

What day do we celebrate this week?

An interesting bit of Independence Day history I learned today in a sacrament meeting talk:

In 1776, John Adams wrote the following to his wife of the day when the States declared independence from Great Britain:

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

I think that we have generally succeeded in celebrating it as he so desired.  However, the interesting part is that John Adams wasn't referring to the 4th of July, 1776.  The line which preceded the above quote was:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America."

Apparently we are actually two days late. :)

In reality, the colonies declared independence on the 2nd of July, but the founders decided to put it into writing for King George to read, and spent two days drawing up what we now know as the Declaration of Independence.  And so, we now celebrate the day when the document the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana...

To those who follow my blog, I'm sorry that I've been such a flake about posting. We've been crazy busy, and I haven't made time for blogging. New posts will come soon, I promise. In the mean time:

Some Sunday funnies

I love these.  I hope you enjoy them, too.

Memorial day trip to the city.

Which city? 

Well, THE city, of course.  New York City. 

Last Monday was a day off, and instead of spending it holed up in the gloriously luxurious 1-Star Inn, I decided to do a leader's recon of NYC.  This way it's not such a surprise when we try to take all 9 of us in.

Instead of driving, though, I took the train from Garrison, which sits on the opposite bank of the Hudson from West Point.  I had been a little worried, because Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all rainy and pretty dismal. But lucky me, Monday was a gorgeous day.

 Looking across the Hudson at West Point

After a very long train ride (it was a good hour from Garrison to Grand Central), I arrived.  Apparently this year is Grand Central's 100th anniversary.

From there, I had to try and figure out which of the gazillion subway trains I needed to take to get to... Oh, wait.  I didn't really plan out what I was going to do.  Well, it was Memorial Day, so why not go see the 9/11 memorial, right?  Shouldn't be too difficult, and hey I've been on plenty of other subways before, so I figured it wouldn't be all that different.

Whatever.  I let myself get disoriented, ended up getting off and running to the other side of the street to go the other direction, till I realized I'd been going the right direction, and ran back across...  Eventually, I made it to the general vicinity.  Fortunately the WTC is marked by a very, very big landmark.

That's the new WTC Freedom Tower to guide me

A closer view

I got there and realized there was a huge line to get into the 9/11 memorial, and even more, I needed a reservation that apparently you can only get online.  Thank goodness for smartphones.  Too bad it was Memorial Day, and everyone else had the same idea.  They were booked up.

But it was lunch time, so I headed over to a restaurant in East Village, recommended by a former missionary companion, Brad.  Here I got to have some borsch and potato vareniki, and of course, I ordered everything по русски.  It was good food, although the borsch was a little sweeter than I expected.  The vareniki were excellent, and big, with sauteed onions on top.  The black bread was good, too.  Not too heavy or rye-y.  The service was, well... Russian.  But hey, they only looked slightly put out when I asked for more sour cream for my vareniki.

Mmmm, borsch!

Afterwards I decided I'd recon the Empire State Building, and man am I glad I did.  I ended up waiting nearly an hour and a half to get up on that roof, and I'm glad I didn't have kids with me for it.  When we go in with the kids, it'll be the first thing we do.  I must say, it was certainly weird seeing the elevator go from 20 to 30, to 40, 50... all the way to 80, and then 86.  It was pretty cool up there, and the weather was excellent.

 ESB lobby.  Only 85 stories to go...

 At the top.

The tallest building visible here is the same Freedom Tower

I then went on a recon of the Museum of Natural History.  That was pretty cool, although I quickly learned the difference between the express and local subways.  Fortunately I learned before it became a problem and darted across the platform from one train to another.  The museum was huge, and honestly, it's a multi-day project.  I saw a whopping two exhibits in the two hours I was there - ancient South American cultures and, naturally, dinosaurs.  

 My favorite dinosaur ever, the Allosaurus.

 Those silly Jaredites... I mean, Olmecs.  Don't they know they're supposed to be primitive?

An obsidian sword, as used by many ancient American peoples.

From there I decided to go to Times Square.  Wow, what an underwhelming location.  Seriously, all the electronics on the buildings nearly send you into epileptic seizures, it was the dirtiest location I'd seen, it smelled, and was full of weirdos.  Fortunately it was time to head back to Grand Central, get a bite to eat, and wait for the train.  I found a 99 cent pizza hole-in-the-wall outside the station, and then waited.

The ride back was only supposed to take an hour, and I was tired, so I relaxed a bit, figuring I'd just pay attention to what stop we were at.  About 20 min into the ride I looked around and realized that there were a whole lot of people missing...  I looked at my watch, and it wasn't 20 min later.  I'd slept almost an hour!  I waited anxiously to find out if I'd missed Garrison or not.  Fortunately, I woke up at the stop before Garrison. How's that for cutting it close?

Sunday morning thoughts

I found this quote today by Elder Henry B. Eyring, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“There are few ways in which good people do more harm to those who take them seriously than to defend the gospel with arguments that won't hold water. Many of the difficulties encountered by young people going to college would be avoided if parents and teachers were more careful to distinguish between what they know to be true and what they think may be true. Impetuous youth, upon finding the authority it trusts crumbling, even on unimportant details, is apt to lump everything together and throw the baby out with the bath.”

I wanted to share it, because I think that it is very applicable, and not just for youth, but for the new convert, for long-time member of the church, and for all.

I think that the lesson we need to pull out of this is that we need to develop our youth and ourselves to recognize that the only truly solid foundation that our testimony can rest on is the witness of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ is our savior and that the gospel is true. 

We can't send our people out into the world with their testimonies resting on half-thought through arguments and non-gospel related traditions. We need to help them to distinguish between what is really doctrine and what is tradition.  Between the flimsy superstition that is easy to embrace, and the practical religion that requires thorough study, thought and prayer. We must teach them to recognize that often truth doesn't come easy, and it often isn't popular. Because if we don't, just like in the quote above, people will find those flimsy things come apart.  And especially for youth, the lifestyle that is put forward as an alternative to the gospel standard is extremely appealing, flashy, and often seems to be logical.

The only true defense is to get them to have those metaphysical experiences that come from the witness of the Holy Ghost when they are young.  If they have had strong spiritual experiences that witness to them of the truthfulness of the gospel, in spite of all the contrary arguments in the world, then they will be able to endure.  They may not always understand, they may not always have the answer, but they will have the knowledge.

For the rest of us, this is our defense against the wiles of the adversary and the world.  How many good people have chosen to fall away because of offenses, perceived or real, or other worldly situations? 

We will always have questions.  We may often have doubts.  We cannot understand everything.

Our testimonies are ours.  We must found them on the spiritual witnesses from the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ is our savior, that our Heavenly Father loves us.  This is the center of our doctrine.  Nothing anyone can say or do can take away or invalidate those experiences, and therefore nothing anyone can say or do can take away our testimonies.

It's not too late to post a memorial day message, is it?

I know.  I've failed again.

But, this was what I posted on facebook for memorial day, and since we're still within a week of the holiday, I can still post this.  I have been fortunate enough to have not lost any close friends.  But I know far too many who have been lost, and I fear that their sacrifice has become second or third tier to the holiday, its festivities, and internet-era politics.  Even worse, we are quickly losing the WWII and Korea generation, and their lessons.  Soon we will begin to lose our Vietnam veterans.  Public school history classes don't teach much about these conflicts, because, well... because they'd rather be suspending kids for making their pop tarts look like guns.  I wish I had been older, and able to talk to my Grandpa Jackman about his experiences in the Pacific.

So, all that being said, please enjoy this.  Maybe if we could truly understand the human cost of war, and actually remember it, we would be less apt to engage in "politics by other means."

Someone should flog this blog... ger

Yes. I am ashamed of myself.

I have let this blog atrophy.  I'd like to say I have good reason for it; that I've been really busy with the now online portion of ILE; that I've been busy acclimating to New York culture and my new job. 

But in reality, I'm just being lazy.

So, as a mad recap of the last month or so...

Myself and Chaplain Steve Blackwell after graduation

I graduated the common core course at ILE, and quickly fled Alabama (apparently it's a trend for Elletts with a Hayden in their name to flee Alabama for better climes).  Granted, Huntsville is an island of modern sanity in the sea of all that is Alabama, but I was glad to get out.  Not least because I could be back with my family for two weeks.


And it was a wonderful, but very very fast two weeks.  I got to have fun with my kids, enjoy time with Mandy, and have a bit of a break from ILE madness.  We even went to Sea World.  Though, we were shocked to discover that the day we went was a field trip day and the park was closed to the public.  Fortunately, the very nice customer service rep let us go in and do all the stuff the field trip groups were doing, so we still got to see a lot of the cool stuff there.

Alas, the day came for me to leave and head to NY.  I went from Round Rock to Nashville, to Winchester, VA, and finally to West Point.  It wasn't a bad drive at all, though I arrived on Mothers' Day to find West Point crawling with families.  I mean, traffic backed up, people all over, parking lots overflowing... It was crazy.  People were waiting in line for a brunch like it was a Disneyland ride.

But alas, I am here. 

And in the interest of not making blog posts that are longer than your average book, I'll go ahead and end this one now.

Calvin and Hobbes: Quite Possibly the Greatest Comic Strip Ever

If you've never had the opportunity to read Calvin and Hobbes, then I feel for you.  I truly do.  Calvin and Hobbes has been my favorite comic strip since as long as I can remember having a favorite comic strip.  It's author, Bill Watterson, is, honestly, a creative genius.  What's more, is that as I read it as an adult, the depth of the comic's ability to generate laughs through deep discussion of contemporary issues amazes me.  I think he even addressed the whole purpose of his strip, too, in the following print:

Is this not one of the most profound observations ever?

Unfortunately, Watterson retired in 1995.  In 2005, Chris Sullentrop of Slate very accurately opined: "Ten years ago Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, left newspaper cartooning for painting. Since then, no new comic strip has matched the quality, longevity, or cultural dominance of Watterson's daily drawings about a boy and his tiger."  Fortunately all of the strip's 10 years of syndication are available either online or in books.  Watterson named the two principle characters after John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, both 16th and 17th Century influential thinkers.  The strip addresses several common themes, from the childhood imagination of a 6-year old boy to modern commercial culture. So, let's take a look at some of them:

Parenting.  Yep, parenting.  And specifically, my favorite form of parenting, sarcastic parenting.  Because sometimes the only way to emotionally deal with your children is through a healthy dose of sarcasm (most of which is completely lost on them...).

If you were curious, yes, this is how Mandy and I often address our children.  Personally, I think it's healthy. :)

Childhood.  Specifically my childhood.  More specifically, my childhood imagination (though in growing up I've simply learned how to strategically apply it, but it hasn't changed all that much).

Public education:

Journalism and the news:

Commercialism and its effect on culture:

Special interest and self-interest politics:

Kids...

And finally, life and its quirks in general:

Bill Watterson, I salute you.