Generation Me

Recently I read two books by Jean Twenge, Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic, which deal with how younger generations (including mine) are more self centered- and more miserable- than ever.

I thought they were pretty good books, they hit the nail on the head. There's a lot of stuff that leads us to be self centered that didn't exist before (FB, anyone?)

Cover images from Amazon:


Consider:

• iPods
• Facebook, Twitter, My Space, etc
• Paris Hilton
• Reality TV
• Students expecting grades they didn't earn
• Parents that don't say No
• Bridezillas
• Lack of commitment (people move on to find someone that magically puts up with their crap)

And so on....

Kids have been told "You are Special" their whole lives...and now we're dealing with the aftermath. Is is wrong to like yourself? No, one should like themselves...but not put themselves selfishly first. Narcissists are those who are too confident in themselves (and believe they have no faults), we all know at least one. They can be great friends...until you don't want to do what they want. The myth is that narcissists don't really have self confidence, but that's usually not true. Most love themselves too much. Narcissists may be successful in the short term, but they usually aren't in the long term- cause you have to deal with people!

There's a lot more in the books, but I agreed with most of it and reccommend the books to others. After reading these books, I am ever more grateful to have grown up in the church, where service is emphasised. I'm also thankful for parents who said No. A lot. I know I'm better off than a lot of the college students I'm around every day. Right now I'm dealing with parents who have no rules for their children...what do you do when the DAD put a yw's lip ring in????

The moral of the story:

Thinking of others really is the way to happiness!

Bells

My grandma sent us this book entitled "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", it's new out this year. I imagine you can find it at Deseret Book if you have one nearby. I liked this book.

It tells the back story of how the song came to be. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a famous poet in the mid 1800's. He had five children with his beloved wife Fanny. Sadly, one day she was injured severely in a kitchen fire, and died the next day. Henry was so badly injured from trying to save her that he was unable to attend her funeral. This loss was devastating to the family. Not long after, his son joined the Union army and was badly injured while fighting in the Civil War. These events inspired the poem (published in 1866) that was later put to music (by someone else) around 1871. There are two verses of the poem omitted from the song, they directly mention the Civil War.

Included with the book is a dvd with an excerpt from a performance by the Tabernacle choir, it features actor Edward K. Herrmann doing a telling of this story with the choir singing the song. It's absolutely beautiful. I had a hard time not crying while watching it, it was very touching. Longfellow believed in the Savior and his Atonement.

The little white church in Sparty rings it's bells on the hour, they chime Christmas music. In honor of this carol and story, I want to drive down to Sparty (5 min from our house) and hear the bells on Christmas day.

I {heart} books!

I love love love art books. I love most books. I tend to prefer non-fiction over fiction, I don't know why. Anyhow, I thought I'd share some of my current fave books in my collection, I'll likely share more in the future.


I really have an interest in color theory and how your brain and eyes work. I think it's important to know about these things as an artist. One of my fave books is Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing by Margaret Livingstone. It really goes into (understandable) detail about how your brain and eyes work together and why certain works of art are more interesting than others. Love it. I also love visual illusions, it fits along with that topic. Some of the illusions are pretty trippy, who needs drugs? Haha.

One of my recent vintage purchases was this book, I loved the cover.......and especially the 1940's illustrations inside. I would like to make copies one day to frame, they're so cute. This book was made in the 40's when my grandma would have been learning to sew (she took several classes), so it makes me think of her.

Another recent purchase is the book Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan. I really like this book, it has cute projects that are stylish yet relatively easy to do. I haven't done any of the projects yet, that's on the To Do List. I bought it at JoAnn's, gotta love coupons!

I recently found these books (still unpacking boxes after two years!) and I was so glad because I'd been looking for them. When my mother was a missionary in Colombia in the mid 1970's, she bought these fairy tale books that are written in Spanish. I grew up with them as a kid and I've always loved the illustrations. They're very nostalgic for me and now they live in my room.

Funny Story: When I was little I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I couldn't understand these books, not even when my mom would try to explain that they were in another language! It took me awhile to catch on. Eventually I did take Spanish in high school and now I can read them, though you get the gist of it with the pictures.

I have tons of books, I need more shelves! My bookcase (it only took 27 years to have my own! A dream has come true!!) is full and I have piles on the floor! I drool over IKEA catalogs and I dream of shelves....