Genki Gold

“Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.” -Gone with the Wind I felt as though I was finally becoming an adult. I was filing my taxes as an independent with my husband. It was a first for the both of us. We thought, as poor college students with a mortgage, we would be eligible for a small return or at least break even. We were wrong. As soon as our tax accountant crunched the number we still owed in taxes, I was doing the math in my head. We are already living on a strict budget. We have a big trip to Italy planned for this year. This big number would be a speed bump for sure.  I felt pretty angry to be honest. This felt like a punishment, and I did not understand why we deserved it. How could the US government demand more from university students? In my mind, I saw every unfair thing that had happened to us since getting married. I know life is unfair as is, but I felt that those that should be fair--namely the executive branch of t...

I love traveling. Brigham Young University's class scheduling is not very conducive to my love. This winter semester of 2018, there are two holidays. Presidents' Day Weekend and a single day for Spring Break. Three days bestowed to me for Presidents' Day Weekend are enough to go anywhere. My spirit and flesh were willing. But I stayed in town instead. I maximized my time to study and do homework. I didn't sleep in. By Monday night, I felt accomplished because of all the school work I had done. Come Tuesday, and I get a less than perfect score on my Japanese midterm. I cried as soon as I knew. I wasn't crying over the less than perfect grade, but over the wasted travel opportunity. If all my hard work only added up to an average grade, the time I spent at home studying was a waste. I should have gone out of town this weekend, enjoyed myself, and I likely would have ended up with the same grade. Why am I studying Japanese? The department is small. The fu...

Disclaimer: If you don't know what the BYU Honor Code is, scroll to the bottom of this post!** I think “honor” is the wrong word for BYU’s code of conduct. Honor is public. Honorable people are popular and applauded. Does Brigham Young University really want its students living the Honor Code just for the glory of it? No one will ever be recognized for how well he or she lived the Honor Code. Heaven knows the infamy that follows those who disobey it. Still, there is no reward, scholarship, or accolade for those who obey. No good deed goes unpunished, and there is no honor for those who live the Honor Code. One person cannot be more honorable or moral than another, for this is all relative and personal. Nobody on earth has ever been praised for how good or moral or honorable they were. Even Jesus Christ, the only perfect man to walk the earth, denied being good. When a man called Him “Good Master,” Christ replied swiftly: “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one,...

"Where are you from?" I get asked day to day to day. "Murray, Utah!" I reply. I smile through it. I am really proud of my hometown. I just never understood the nationality qualification when it came to making friends in Utah. "But where are you from ?"  I've about had it with this question. I'm from Utah. I was born and raised here. What more do I have to do to be a United States citizen? According to the law, nothing. My mother and grandmother are American citizens. They answered questions that most people that are naturalized citizens can't. (Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkFDcX_72c ) You'd think that a basic understanding of American history would make someone more American. But instead, just the slightest accent, the slightest curl, a mole, a nose, a lip, or bodily hair can "give yourself away" to the real  Utahns.  A new nationalism sentiment is on the rise. It's about as complex as ger...

All I hope now is that this boy also recognizes the mercy and grace of  God. President Hinckley's finishes this way: "When all is said and done, when all of history is examined, when the deepest depths of the human mind have been explored, nothing is so wonderful, so majestic so tremendous as this act of grace when the Son of the Almighty, the Prince of His Father's royal household, He who had once spoken as Jehovah, He  who had condescended to come to earth as a babe born in Bethlehem, gave His life in ignominy and pain so that all of the sons and daughters of God of all generations of time, every one of whom must die, might walk again and live eternally. He did for us what none of us could do for ourselves-"Think of that next time you want to take on "an entire project" by yourself-"I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal, Living God. None so great has ever walked the earth. None other has made a comparable sacrifice or granted a ...

Man oh man do I love this. My blog has been so much fun to write! It has been a relief to write these things down. Even when I wrote about sad things I was always significantly happier afterwards. I posted sensitive and private things, but who knows what privacy is in 2017?? I hope that I have opened your eyes to a new perspective if I haven't accomplished the impossible task of convincing you to agree with me. I really just write to express myself and thus feel like my opinion is validated. This is not my final blog, just a reflection. I love your comments, please keep them coming.

I wasn't going to join in. I thought I was late in the game. I actually thought the world wouldn't benefit from my story. I did not want to weigh the world down with another depressing story. But when, just before Thanksgiving, there was a Twitter altercation between Olympic gymnasts, I knew I had to let this skeleton out of his closet. If you don't understand Twitter, in order to read these tweets chronologically, you have to start from the bottom: It seemed, to most people, that Gabby Douglas was insinuating that women who dress immodestly are asking to be sexually harassed. It's the classic "If you roll in the mud, you'll only attract pigs" argument. I hope that as I share my story, this phrase will die and nobody will believe it ever again. I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I say this honestly, so you can know the full story. In no way was the Church at fault for what happened to me. There was nothi...