Las Cosas Demas

It's hard for me to believe that in just over a month I will be living in rural Mexico. Wow. So for this journal entry I just want to ponder a little bit about the things that I still need to do before I leave on my trip.

First off I need to focus on my research.  There are a few things that I need to get done before I go.  I need to talk to Fernando Gomez at the Mexican Mormon History Museum to get a better idea of how the church first got to Central Mexico, and then to the city of Irapuato.  I also have been talking with my mentor, Mark, about taking a trip up to Salt Lake to look into the official LDS Church archives to get some names and dates of the original members of the church in Irapuato and the time of their conversion.

I also need to work with Mark and with whoever my new contract mentor will be for the cultural proofs class.  I need to discuss with them more about the actual course work that I will be doing in the field.  I also need to set a firmer reading agenda for the classes.  Right now I have three books that I think will work for my Academic Internship class reading, one is about Church History in Mexico, another is Octavio Paz's "Labyrinth of Solitude" about what it means to be Mexican, and a third is about translation between Spanish and English. I will need to verify these texts with Mark, and find probably 1 or 2 more books in order to fill the classes page requirement.

I will also need to prepare for the international travel part of the trip.  This will include completing the Kennedy Center Proposal for my prep course, as well as doing the routine pre-trip preparation such as doctor's visits and shopping for supplies.  I will need to be sure that I am prepared for daily life in the field, for all things necessary for completing my project, and for any medical emergencies or preparation/prevention strategies and materials that I may need.

Overall, it should be a great trip!

Benjamin

Individualism: Ser, o no ser.

Reading about the Ophelia Syndrome (accepting the framework of being told how to think/act or what is important to learn) really made me think a lot about my education and everything that I am learning in school.  Quite fittingly I heard today that Mark Twain, among his many other witty words, said "Don't let school interfere with your education." I think there is a lot of truth in that. He also said "If God had meant for us to be naked, we'd have been born that way," but that seems a little less relevant.

But seriously, there are the things that we are going to college, and paying tuition, to learn, and then there are the hoops that we need to jump through in order to get the grade we need.  Usually they are unrelated.  It is unfortunate that so much of our time is spent jumping through these hoops that we don't learn the truly valuable lessons like what type of people we are and what is important to us.

Now I understand that my field study is not supposed to be this amazing "self-realization" experience, and I will be focusing outward and seeking to learn about the culture that surrounds me, but I think that overcoming the Ophelia Syndrome for field studies is completely applicable.  In order for me, or anyone, to be successful in learning about others and their culture they must first understand themselves.

We have talked a lot in class about recognizing "the water that we swim in" or the cultural views that we take for granted and then trying to compensate for them.  But it is also important for us to understand who we are personally so that we can see where we are coming from that personal standpoint.  And the better that I understand myself and what I want to learn, and how I can best learn, the better I will be at learning those things and completing a successful and meaningful field study.

 Sometimes the most difficult search we will conduct as Sherlock is trying to find out who we really are.  It's as Ezra Taft Benson has said: "Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul."