Gone!

Eva finally got her hair cut yesterday. She had been growing it out for quite some time but she had decided she wanted to make a donation to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that creates wigs and hairpieces for children with a medical condition that causes them to lose their hair. She took right to her new look and, although I'm biased, I think her new style looks great.

Ghost Image Capture

I retrieved this image from Eva's camera and tweaked it a little bit: I have no idea what it is but I like it.

I Know I'm Starting to Sound Like a Broken Record ...

... but if you lived in Utah County and voted for Obama, you'd know what it feels like to be besieged by subtle, and not-so-subtle, accusations that your political and religious views are not only incompatible but contradictory. To which I can only respond that I found this account of the participation of Elders Uchtdorf and Ballard in President Obama's National Prayer Service quite moving (not to mention feeling somewhat vindicated).

[update on Jan 22]
To sum up:
Elder Ballard: "I left with a feeling that the people of America are going to unite behind this new president and his administration and that we need to pray for him."

Rush Limbaugh: "Four words: 'I hope he fails.'"

Happiness is a Best Friend ...

... who totally knows what it feels like to be missing your two front teeth.

Eva's (Inadvertent) Photo Montage

LDS Church Leaders on the Day's Events

Elder Uchtdorf, who attended the inauguration with Elder Ballard, said the following:

"It was inspiring to be an eyewitness to this peaceful, impressive transfer of power and the swearing-in of the first African-American president. We pray for President Barack Obama's success in these challenging times and join in his expressions of hope and optimism."

For more on the story, click here. Of course it's pretty boilerplate stuff, given the church's strict political neutrality. But if Elder Uchtdorf is anything at all like the vast majority of Germans, I suspect he would be capable of personally expressing his support for Obama's presidency yet more forcefully. I've got no privileged inside info on this: I'm jus' sayin' (I won't venture a guess on whether we'll start to see Joseph Lowery-type benedictions in General Conference!). Of course I would be happy just to see ordinary LDS church members show a similar degree of thoughtfulness and appreciation for the truly historic events of the day, whatever their political persuasion.

The Right President at the Right Time

I had to let my class out early this morning and we pulled the kids out of school to go home and watch the inauguration together. Incredibly, BYU scarcely even recognized that the inauguration was taking place and offered no accommodation to students and faculty to view the proceedings or even alter previously scheduled events and classes. And the kids' school--ostensibly a civic-minded school--did absolutely nothing to take advantage of the opportunity for their students to witness history in the making. I guess it was better that we got to view the inauguration ceremony as a family anyway. President Obama's speech was (dare I say "predictably"?) eloquent: I think that few presidents in recent history have so thoroughly appreciated the art of oratory and so mastered its potential to bring listeners together. There is a sense in which a nation such as ours--in which we are not bound together by ethnicity or race or religion--requires us to continually reforge the bonds that give us a common, shared identity as Americans. Presidential rhetoric plays an essential role in this ongoing project (I continue to believe that it was not just president Bush's policy decisions but his inability to master the rhetoric of leadership that proved fatal to his tenure). There's no doubt that there are tough times ahead but I'm absolutely convinced President Obama is the right man for the job.