Death of Maria Ridulph

Maria Elizabeth Ridulph was an American girl who was kidnapped on a street corner in Sycamore, Illinois, on December 3, 1957. She was seven years old at the time. Her body was discovered in a field five months later. The case went cold for 54 years until Jack McCullough, formerly John Tessier, was arrested in July 2011. McCullough was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and abduction of an infant. He was found guilty on all three counts, and is serving a life sentence at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois. It is believed that the case involved the oldest unsolved murder resulting in an arrest and conviction in the United States. Background: Maria Ridulph was born on March 12, 1950, to Michael and Frances Ivy Ridulph in Sycamore, Illinois. She was the youngest of four children; two older sisters Patricia (born 1941) and Kay (born 1942) one older brother, Charles (born 1946). Although many residents lived or worked on farms in the area, her father, Michael, worked at one of the few factories in Sycamore and her mother, Frances, was a homemaker. At the time of abduction, Maria was a second grader with brown hair and brown eyes. She was 44 inches tall, weighed 53 pounds, was an honor student, and received awards for perfect attendance in Sunday school at Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John. Accordingto her mother, Maria was high-strung. "My daughter was a nervous girl and if she got in any trouble would become hysterical." Frances said in a 1957 interview shortly after Maria's abduction. "Someone would probably have to kill her to keep her quiet. I am the only one who could calm her down." Maria was also described as a "screamer" and afraid of the dark. Her best friend was Kathy Sigman, who lived on the same street as her. Crime: On the evening of December 3, 1957, Maria, then seven years old, begged to be allowed to go outside as it had started to snow. After finishing dinner, Maria and her friend Kathy Sigman were playing outside in the dark near Maria's house playing 'duck the cars' - running back and forth trying to avoid the headlights of oncoming cars. According to Kathy, they were approached by a man, whom Kathy later described to police as in his early 20s and tall with a slender chin, light hair, a gap in the teeth, and wearing a colorful sweater. The man, who said his name was 'Johnny', told the girls that he was 24 and not married. He asked if they liked dolls, and if they liked piggyback rides. Maria got a piggyback ride, then went back home and got a doll to show. After Maria came back, Kathy ran back home to get her mittens. When she returned, Maria and the man were gone. Kathy went to the Ridulph house to tell them she couldn't find Maria. The family initially thought that Maria was hiding, and sent 11-year-old Charles to look for her. After he was unable to find her, his parents called the police, and within an hour, police and armed civilians began scouring the town for the little girl and the kidnapper. The case received national attention, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower took an interest in the case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the authority of J. Edgar Hoover arrived in Sycamore within two days after the crime to assist the local and state police in the search. Kathy was the only witness to the crime and was put into protective custody, as the police and FBI feared that the kidnapper would come back and harm her. The authorities had her look at photos of convicted felons or suspects who bore a resemblance to Johnny. On 22 December, 1957, Kathy drove with her father and the FBI to the Dane County Sheriff Office in Madison, Wisconsin, to see a lineup of possible suspects. She positively identified thirty-six-year-old Thomas Joseph Rivard, a 36-year-old male described in FBI documents as having blue eyes, dark blond/wavy/bushy hair, yellowish gapped teeth 5’4" and about 156 lbs, with a ruddy complexion. Thomas Rivard, however, had an alibi - he was in prison at the time of the kidnapping; police suspected someone else in the lineup as the real culprit and Rivard was merely used to fill out the lineup. When asked about the 1957 lineup, Kathy claimed to not remember picking him out of the lineup. John Tessier, later convicted of the crime some 50 years later, was among the list of suspects because he resembled the general description of the suspect, but the police failed to have Kathy identify him after he provided an alibi for the night of the crime. The authorities took a close look at people with prior convictions of child molestation within DeKalb County, Illinois, but again, they came up with no leads. Three weeks into the investigation, Maria's parents pleaded on television for the kidnapper to release her unharmed and were praying for Maria to come home. On April 26, 1958, in Nora, Illinois, Frank Sitar, a retired farmer, and his wife were searching for mushrooms when they discovered the skeleton remains of a small child under a partially fallen tree. The remains were identified as Maria Ridulph based on the clothes she was wearing when she disappeared. She was still wearing her shirt, undershirt, and socks, but her coat, pants, and shoes were never found. The body had been found more than 120 miles from Sycamore, and because the crime occurred within the state of Illinois, the FBI withdrew from the case and the Illinois State Police took over. No photographs were taken of the crime scene because the coroner, James Furlong, didn't want photos of the dead child's body leaked to the front pages of the newspapers. The initial autopsy did not determine a cause of death due to the state of decomposition. During a subsequent autopsy done 50 years later, a forensic anthropologist determined that Maria had been stabbed to death, pointing out nicks made by a sharp blade in Maria's sternum and neck vertebrae, consistent with 'at least three' slashes to Maria's throat. Suspect: John Tessier was born John Cherry on Nov. 27, 1939, to Eileen McCullough Cherry. John's father was killed early in World War II. Eileen was serving during the war as one of the first female airplane spotters with England’s Royal Air Force when she met Ralph Tessier, who was serving with the 8th Army-Air Force in Bovington, England. Eileen married Ralph in November, 1944, and after the war, she and John followed Ralph to Sycamore; John was 7 at the time. The Tessier home was just around the corner from the Ridulph home, less than two blocks away. John was kicked out of school in the 10th grade and made plans to join the Air Force. His parents told the FBI, who received a tip about Tessier being a potential suspect, that on the night of the kidnapping, Jack was in Rockford, Illinois, to enlist in the Air Force; this was later verified by officers at the recruiting station in Rockford that said they spoke with John from around 7:15pm that evening. In addition, a collect call was placed from Rockford to the Tessier home at 6:57pm on December 3, 1957, by someone that gave his name as 'John Tassier' as written down by the operator. John was brought to the police station to take a lie detector test, which he passed. Given his seemingly air-tight alibi and the lie detector test result, John was taken off the suspect list, and the FBI closed out his report on December 10, noting: "No further investigation is being conducted regarding the above suspect." At the time of the crime, the police never had Kathy view him in person or view a photo of him. John left Sycamore shortly after, having joined the military. Tessier served in the military for thirteen years and rose to the rank of captain. After leaving the army, he moved to Seattle, Washington, graduated from King County law enforcement academy in June 1974 and became a police officer in the town of Lacey, near Olympia. His first marriage produced a son and a daughter but soon failed. His second marriage also ended after three years because, John says, "I cheated on her". In 1982, in Tacoma, Washington, he took in a 15-year-old runaway, Michelle Weinman, and her friend, who knew John, by this time a police officer in Milton. Michelle Weinman testified that within a couple of weeks of living with Tessier, John fondled her and then performed oral sex on her. John Tessier was charged with statutory rape. He denied the charges, but eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge (communication with a minor for immoral purposes), saying that he couldn't afford an attorney. He was placed on one year's probation but resigned from the Milton Police Department on March 10, 1982. Shortly after his assault conviction, he legally changed his name to Jack Daniel McCullough, saying that he wanted to honor his late mother. Reopening of case: The case was reopened when Janet Tessier, McCullough's half-sister, believing McCullough was involved, asked the Illinois State Police to look into it. Janet Tessier made the decision to come to the police after spending time as the caretaker to her and John's mother. Janet claims their mother confessed on her deathbed that her son, John Tessier, was the perpetrator. Janet's younger sister, Mary Pat, was in the room with her when their mother confessed, although Mary Pat's testimony conflicted with Janet's as to what they heard their mother say. It took nearly fifteen years for Janet to find an investigator willing to look into her mother's information. Two previous attempts to interest law enforcement led nowhere as the authorities said that her mother's deathbed confession would be inadmissible in court and there was no physical evidence for them to go on. In 2008, the Illinois State Police Cold Case Unit eventually took on the case, and did an extensive and lengthy investigation into Tessier/McCullough's background, his life history, and his alibi. The Illinois State Police contacted a former girlfriend of Tessier's for a picture of him from 1957, and she later called them back to report that she found an unused train ticket for Rockford that was dated in December 1957, meaning that Tessier had not taken the train as he claimed. The authorities began to establish a timeline of events from December 3, 1957, with the original FBI reports, and decided that it was possible for Tessier to be in Sycamore on that date and that he could have kidnapped Maria earlier than previously assumed, and that he could have had enough time to kidnap Maria, kill her, make the 5-6 hour round-trip drive to Galena to dump the body and drive back to Sycamore. They located Kathy Sigman-Chapman in Sycamore and asked her to look at six photos of teenagers that lived in Sycamore in 1957; Tessier's photo was among them, but was slightly different from the other pictures: five of the photos were taken from the Sycamore High School yearbook, but since John had been kicked out of school in the 10th grade, his photo was not in the yearbook. Instead, investigators used a photo of him from 1957 that a former girlfriend happened to have. The five pictures from the yearbook all had light backgrounds, the subjects are all wearing suit jackets with closed collars, and the subjects are all turned slightly to the left (from the POV of the person looking at the picture). John's picture, on the other hand, is the only one with a dark background, he has an open collar, and he is the only one looking directly at the camera. Kathy was able to quickly eliminate several of the photos right away, but spent several minutes - according to the investigator, 'an eternity' - going back and forth between photos No. 1 and No. 4, before identifying picture number 4, John Tessier's photo, as the attacker. Afterwards, the Seattle Police Department and the Illinois State Police joined together in the investigation. In July 2011, after a three-year investigation, the Seattle Police Department brought McCullough in for questioning. McCullough was living at a retirement community where he worked as a security guard. Due to his experience as a former police officer, homicide detectives from the Seattle Police Department and investigators from the Illinois State Police brought a professional interrogator. During the initial interrogation, McCullough spoke calmly and cooperated with the investigators, but when they began asking him questions about the murder of Maria Ridulph and of his whereabouts on the night of the crime, he became evasive and aggressive. The investigators presented reports from childhood friends who had seen him in Sycamore on December 3, 1957, when he claimed to have been in Rockford and of how his mother implicated him before she died. After McCullough refused to answer any more questions, he was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Maria Ridulph. Ridulph's body was exhumed that same month, and for the first time investigators were able to give the probable cause of death: Maria had been stabbed to death in the throat at least three times by a long, sharp blade. News of the arrest in a 54-year-old murder case drew national attention. Some worried how the prosecution would be able to sway a jury with only the eyewitness testimony of Kathy Sigman (now Kathy Chapman), who was only eight at the time of the crime, and the deathbed confession of his mother in 1997, which was only overheard by two of his sisters who gave conflicting testimony on what they heard. The lead prosecutor, Clay Campbell, was reluctant to take the case due to how old it was and his doubts that he could persuade a jury to find McCullough guilty with no physical evidence connecting him to the kidnapping and murder. But, after being persuaded by the Ridulph and Tessier families, who all believed that McCullough was guilty, he formally charged McCullough with the kidnapping and murder of Maria. First trial: The prosecution, wary of the circumstantial evidence in the murder case, decided to charge McCullough with a more definitive case – the gang rape of his sister, Jeanne, from 1961 or 1962. In the spring of 2012, the trial began with Clay Campbell leading the prosecution in both trials. The prosecution presented the police reports from early in the investigation of McCullough's interest in young girls of about seven years old (Maria's age). Tessier's siblings and the 14-year-old girl from the 1971 assault case testified for the prosecution; Jeanne was the star witness. The defense argued that no one could corroborate Jeanne's story and there was no physical evidence to even suggest that any rape took place. The defense lawyers pointed out that Jeanne had not told anyone about being raped until McCullough was arrested for Maria's murder. McCullough did not testify, and after one day of deliberations, the judge acquitted him of the rape of his own sister, citing that the prosecution failed to prove that a rape had occurred and the victim waited too long to report what had happened. Second trial: In September 2012, the murder trial began. The prosecution argued that McCullough was attracted to Maria and decided to kidnap her, but instead ended up killing her. The prosecutors presented the new autopsy reports that suggested Maria was stabbed. The prosecutors suspected that McCullough may have molested Maria after abducting her, but were unable to prove it and never brought it up in court. The defense argued that the prosecutors and police were pressured by the Ridulph and Tessier families to solve the case and implicate McCullough after being persuaded by his sisters. They pointed out that there was no physical evidence, motive, or indication that McCullough was in the area when Maria was kidnapped. Many witnesses were called by the prosecution. Maria's older brother and sister, McCullough's siblings, the Seattle detectives, and Illinois state Police investigators testified for the prosecution. Another childhood friend of Maria's testified that she had also been offered a piggyback ride from "Johnny" and identified him as McCullough. Three inmates who were jailed with McCullough testified that McCullough talked about how he killed Maria. However, their stories were both inconsistent and failed to match the evidence; one said he strangled her with a wire and another said McCullough accidentally smothered her to stop her from screaming, but the new autopsy reports had indicated that Maria had been stabbed to death. Sigman-Chapman, the star witness, testified against McCullough. In her testimony, she said that a man, who called himself Johnny, had walked up to them and had given Ridulph a piggyback ride. Sigman-Chapman went home briefly to get mittens, and upon her return both Johnny and Maria were gone. Based on a 1957 photo, she identified McCullough as the man who had walked up to them 50 years prior. McCullough again never took the stand in his own defense because the defense lawyers were worried about the prosecutors cross-examining him about the incident from 1982. On September 14, 2012, McCullough was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Maria Ridulph and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years. He was 73 at the time he received his sentence. His request for a new trial was denied at the time of sentencing. Appeal: On February 13, 2015, the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois issued their response to Jack Daniel McCullough's appeal of the murder conviction. The court upheld the 2012 murder conviction, but vacated the kidnapping and abduction of an infant charges.

Black Dahlia

Rumors and popular misconceptions: According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Elizabeth Short received the nickname "Black Dahlia" at a Long Beach, California drugstore in mid 1946 as wordplay on the film The Blue Dahlia. Los Angeles County district attorney investigators' reports state that the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the murder. Los Angeles Herald-Express reporter Bevo Means, who interviewed Short's acquaintances at the drug store, is credited with first using the "Black Dahlia" name. A number of people, none of whom knew Short, contacted police and the newspapers, claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week"—a period between the time of her January 9 disappearance and the time her body was found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators ruled out each of these alleged sightings; in some cases, those interviewed were identifying other women they had mistaken. Many true-crime books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid-1940s; these claims have never been substantiated and are refuted by the findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to June 1, 1946" states that Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946 and gives a detailed account of her living and working arrangements during this period. Although a popular portrayal amongst her acquaintances and many true-crime authors was of Short as a call girl, the Los Angeles district attorney's grand jury proved there was no existing evidence that she was ever a prostitute, and the district attorney's office attributes the claim to confusion with another woman with the same name. A widely circulated rumor also holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of a congenital defect that left her with "infantile genitalia". Los Angeles County district attorney's files state that the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had engaged in sex, including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case. The FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's alleged lovers. Found in the Los Angeles district attorney's files and in the Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, Short's autopsy describes her reproductive organs as anatomically normal, although the report notes evidence of what it called "female trouble". The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been claimed prior to and following her death. Suspects: The Black Dahlia murder investigation was conducted by the LAPD. The Department also enlisted the help of hundreds of officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. Owing to the nature of the crime, sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage focused intense public attention on the case. About 60 people confessed to the murder, mostly men. Of those, 25 were considered viable suspects by the Los Angeles District Attorney. In the course of the investigation, some of the original 25 were eliminated, and several new suspects were proposed. Suspects remaining under discussion by various authors and experts include Walter Bayley, Norman Chandler, Leslie Dillon, Joseph A. Dumais, Mark Hansen, Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, George Hill Hodel, Hodel's friend Fred Sexton, George Knowlton, Robert M. "Red" Manley, Patrick S. O'Reilly, and Jack Anderson Wilson. Theories and possibly related murders: Some crime authors have speculated on a link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders, which took place in Cleveland between 1934 and 1938. As with a large number of killings that took place before and after the Short murder, the original LAPD investigators looked into the Cleveland murders in 1947 and later discounted any relationship between the two cases. Nevertheless, new evidence implicating a former Cleveland torso murder suspect, Jack Anderson Wilson (a.k.a. Arnold Smith), was investigated by Detective John P. St. John in 1980 in connection with Short's death. St. John claimed he was close to arresting Wilson for the murder of Short, but Wilson died in a fire on February 4, 1982. Crime authors such as Steve Hodel (son of George Hill Hodel) and William Rasmussen have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1946 murder and dismemberment of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago. Captain Donahoe of the Los Angeles police also stated publicly that he believed the Black Dahlia and Lipstick murders were "likely connected". Among the evidence cited is the fact that Elizabeth Short's body was found on Norton Avenue three blocks west of Degnan Boulevard, Degnan being the last name of the girl from Chicago, and that there were striking similarities between the writing of the Degnan ransom note and that of "the Black Dahlia Avenger". For example, both used a combination of capitals and small letters (the Degnan note read in part "BuRN This FoR heR SAfTY"), and both notes contain a similar misshapen letter P and have one word matching exactly. Convicted serial killer William Heirens served life in prison for Degnan's murder. Initially arrested at age 17 for breaking into a residence close to that of Suzanne Degnan, Heirens claimed he was tortured by police, forced to confess, and made a scapegoat in the Degnan murder.

Death of Kent Leppink

Kent Leppink's murder: Kent Leppink was a Michigan native who moved to Alaska to work as a fisherman. He met Linehan at a striptease club. Between 1994 and 1996, Linehan was romantically involved with Leppink and a man named John Carlin at the same time. For several months the three lived in the same house in Anchorage.[4] On May 2, 1996, Leppink (age 36) was found dead in Hope, Alaska, with three .44 caliber gunshot wounds. Linehan was arrested over 10 years later in October 2006 and convicted of his murder, but the verdict was overturned. Trial and appeal: At trial, Linehan was accused of conspiring with John Carlin to kill Leppink. The government said that Linehan's motive was that she was the beneficiary of Leppink's $1 million life insurance policy. Leppink changed the beneficiary on the policy a few days before his death. On October 22, 2007, Linehan was convicted of murder. On April 2, 2008, she was sentenced to 99 years and transferred to Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River, Alaska. Carlin had also been convicted of murder in April 2007. He was found bludgeoned to death in his cell at the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska, on October 27, 2008. His conviction was reversed on January 21, 2015. Because Carlin died while his case was under appeal, his estate was allowed to continue the appeal. On February 5, 2010, the Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Linehan's conviction. The court concluded it was improper for the trial court to allow two pieces of evidence into the trial: testimony about the movie, The Last Seduction, and a letter written by Leppink in the days before he died. The letter, which Leppink wrote to his parents, said Linehan, Carlin, or Scott Hilke were "probably" responsible if he died under "suspicious circumstances". Until May 11, 2010, Linehan was incarcerated at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River. On April 28, 2010, a judge set as a condition of her bail a $250,000 appearance bond. On May 11, 2010, an east coast corporate executive, Brian C. Watt, from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, donated the money necessary to release Linehan from prison, paying a $25,000 bail bondsman fee. On December 13, 2011, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Philip Volland dismissed the murder indictment against Linehan. In his ruling, Volland wrote: The Court of Appeals repeatedly stated that the "letter from the grave" "appreciably affected" the jury's verdict at Linehan's trial. If it did so at a trial where the evidence was contested, defense counsel present, and the jury given an even stronger limiting instruction on the use of the letter, this court cannot find that Betsy Leppink's repetition of Kent Leppink's accusatory statement in the letter was not a decisive factor in the grand jury's decision to indict. Therefore, the indictment should be dismissed. On August 6, 2012, Alaska prosecutors announced they would not indict Linehan again. Media reporting: On July 27, 2008, Linehan's case was profiled on Dateline NBC. An update aired on May 22, 2009. In 2009, Linehan's case was profiled on the Oxygen Network series Snapped. Also in 2009, Linehan's case was profiled on Investigation Discovery on the series 48 Hours on ID. The episode was named "Love and Death in Alaska". Linehan's case was also profiled in 2009 as part of the E! network program, Fatal Beauty: 15 Most Notorious Women.

panic attack

Panic attacks are VERY real. i had 1 in front of a police officer. he talked to my mom. i also had one when i thought i was gonna be trapped in a library during a storm. I've always had anxiety but once i got diagnosed with diabetes it intensified.

Baptism in Mormonism

In Mormonism, baptism is recognized as the first of several ordinances (rituals) of the gospel. Overview: Much of the theology of Mormon baptism was established during the early Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith. According to this theology, baptism must be by immersion and is for the remission of sins (meaning that through baptism, past sins are forgiven), and occurs after one has shown faith and repentance. Mormon baptism does not purport to remit any sins other than personal ones, as adherents do not believe in original sin. Mormon baptisms also occur only after an "age of accountability" which is defined as the age of eight years. The theology thus rejects infant baptism. According to the account in Joseph Smith–History 1:68, the first Mormon baptisms occurred on May 15, 1829, when Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery baptized each other in the Susquehanna River near Harmony, Pennsylvania shortly after receiving the Aaronic priesthood from John the Baptist. In addition, Mormon theology requires that baptism may only be performed with one who has been called and ordained by God with priesthood authority. Because the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement operate under a lay priesthood, children raised in a Mormon family are usually baptized by a father or close male friend or family member who has achieved the office of priest, which in Mormonism is conferred upon worthy male members at least 16 years old. Baptism is seen as symbolic both of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection and is also symbolic of the baptized individual putting off of the natural or sinful man and becoming spiritually reborn as a disciple of Jesus. Membership into a Latter Day Saint church is granted only by baptism. Most Latter Day Saint churches do not recognize baptisms of other faiths as valid because they believe baptisms must be performed under the church's unique authority. Thus, all who come into one of the Latter Day Saint faiths as converts are baptized, even if they have previously received baptism in another faith. When performing a baptism, the following instructions are followed: "The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. "Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water." Baptisms are usually done in a baptismal font, but can also be performed in any body of water in which the person may be completely immersed. The person administering the baptism must recite the prayer exactly, and immerse every part, limb, hair and clothing of the person being baptized. If there are any mistakes, or if any part of the person being baptized is not fully immersed, the baptism must be redone. In addition to the baptizer, two priesthood holders witness the baptism to ensure that it is performed properly. Following baptism, Latter Day Saints receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of a Melchizedek Priesthood holder. Baptism for the dead: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) practices baptism for the dead "vicariously" or "by proxy" in their temples for anyone who did not receive these ordinances while living. Rebaptism: After the death of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith in 1844, rebaptism became an important ordinance in the LDS Church. Brigham Young led his group to the Great Basin in what is now Utah, and most of his followers were rebaptised not long after entering the basin as a sign that they would rededicate their lives to Christ. During the "Mormon Reformation" of 1856–57, rebaptism became an extremely important ordinance, signifying that the church member confessed their sins and would live a life of a Latter-day Saint. Church members were rebaptized prior to new covenants and ordinances, such as ordination to a new office of the priesthood, receiving temple ordinances, getting married, or entering plural marriage. Rebaptism remains a practice in the LDS Church, but today it is practiced only when a previously excommunicated member rejoins the church. In such cases, the wording of the ordinance is identical to that of the first baptismal ordinance.

fun

after my 1st softball game senior year i was able to run to my dads house. i kept up with the bus and "sent it off." i walked across the street to drop off a book, switch shirts and go home.

Elizabeth Smart

Personal life: Elizabeth Ann Smart was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Edward (Ed) and Lois Smart. She has four brothers and a sister and is the second-oldest child in her family. Smart attended Brigham Young University (BYU), studying music as a harp performance major. On November 11, 2009, Smart left to serve a Mormon mission in Paris. Smart returned temporarily from her mission in November 2010 to serve as the chief witness in the federal trial of Brian David Mitchell. After the end of the trial she returned to France to finish her mission, coming home to Utah in the spring of 2011. In March 2011, Smart was one of four women awarded the Diane von Furstenberg Award. In January 2012, Smart became engaged to Matthew Gilmour, a native of Scotland, after a courtship of one year. The couple met while serving as missionaries in the France Paris Mission and had planned to marry in the summer of 2012 but moved up the date because of media privacy concerns. They married on February 18, 2012, in a private ceremony in the Laie Hawaii Temple. In July 2012, Smart was honored by Theta Phi Alpha National Fraternity with the Siena Medal award. The medal is the highest honor the organization bestows upon a non-member and is named after their patroness, St. Catherine of Siena. In February of 2015, she gave birth to a daughter named Chloe.

Murder of Stephanie Crowe

The murder of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe took place in her bedroom inside her home at Escondido, California, sometime between late night January 20, 1998 to early morning January 21, 1998. Her older brother Michael Crowe and two of his friends were initially charged with her murder, but were eventually declared to be factually innocent by a judge. Their confessions under police interrogation are regarded as classic examples of false confession. A transient who was seen in the neighborhood on the night of her murder was eventually convicted of manslaughter, but the conviction was overturned. A November 2013 retrial acquitted him of all charges. The crime: Stephanie's parents and grandmother found her body on the floor of her bedroom on the morning of January 21, 1998. She had been stabbed nine times. There was no sign of forced entry. Stephanie's window was found unlocked, but a screen was in place and there was no disturbance of accumulated grime and insect traces. A sliding glass door in her parents' bedroom was also unlocked. No knives were found at the scene that seemed consistent with the murder weapon, and no bloody clothing was found despite an exhaustive search. The investigation: All of the Crowe family members were questioned, their clothing was confiscated, and their bodies were examined for injuries. The parents were then put up in a motel, while the two surviving children were taken to the county's shelter for children, and were not allowed to see their parents for two days. During that time police interviewed both children, unbeknownst to their parents. They took Michael Crowe, Stephanie's 14-year-old brother, away to the police station for questioning on several occasions. Michael Crowe became the police's main suspect for the murder. He was singled out by Escondido police because the crime scene seemed to suggest an inside job, and because he seemed "distant and preoccupied" after Stephanie's body was discovered and the rest of the family grieved. Police interrogated him multiple times without his parents' knowledge and without an attorney present. During the interrogations police falsely informed him that they had found physical evidence implicating him, that he had failed an examination with a so-called "truth verification" device, and that his parents were convinced he had done it. After an intense 6-hour interrogation, he gave a vague confession to killing his sister, providing no details and saying that he couldn't remember doing it. The interview was videotaped by police; at times Michael is heard saying things to the effect of, "I'm only saying this because it's what you want to hear." He was arrested and charged with murdering his sister. Police from Escondido and nearby Oceanside also questioned Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser, two 15-year-old friends of Michael Crowe. Houser had a collection of knives; one of them was reported missing by Houser's parents. It turned up at Treadway's house; he said he had taken it from Houser. Police took Treadway to police headquarters and questioned him continuously from 9 pm until 8 the following morning, telling him that they believed his knife was the murder weapon. They interrogated him again two weeks later, a 10-hour interview during which Treadway gave a detailed confession to participating in the murder with the other two boys. Treadway was then arrested. Aaron Houser was then arrested and questioned. He did not actually confess and steadfastly denied any involvement, but he did present a "hypothetical" account of how the crime might have happened, under prompting by police interrogators using the Reid technique. All three boys subsequently recanted their statements claiming coercion. The majority of Michael Crowe's confession was later ruled as coerced by a judge because Escondido investigators implied to Michael that they would talk to the district attorney and recommend leniency. Treadway actually confessed twice, the first to Oceanside detectives and a second, identical confession, to Escondido officers. The court ruled that the two confessions were redundant and ordered that the first be suppressed. The second Treadway confession remains admissible. Houser's statements to police were suppressed because police did not sufficiently advise him of his Miranda rights. On the day the body was discovered the police also interviewed Richard Raymond Tuite, a 28-year-old transient who had been seen in the Crowe's neighborhood on the night of the murder, knocking on doors and looking in windows, causing several neighbors to call police reporting a suspicious person. Tuite had a lengthy criminal record, habitually wandered the streets of Escondido, and had been diagnosed as schizophrenic. Police questioned Tuite, confiscated his clothing, and noticed scrapes on his body and a cut on his hand. However, they did not consider him a suspect, since they considered him incapable of murder and they had already focused on Michael Crowe as their prime suspect. Legal proceedings: The three teenage boys were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. A judge ruled that they should be tried as adults. They were incarcerated for six months as prosecutors prepared to try them. However, as Treadway's trial was about to begin in January 1999, belated DNA testing found three drops of Stephanie's blood on a shirt belonging to Tuite. Based on the new evidence, the charges against the boys were dismissed without prejudice (which would allow charges to be reinstated against the boys at a later date). Embarrassed by the reversal, the Escondido police and the San Diego County District Attorney let the case languish without charges for two years. In 2001 the District Attorney and San Diego County Sheriff's Department asked that the case be taken over by the California Department of Justice. In May 2002 the Attorney General charged Tuite with murdering Stephanie. The trial began in February 2004. On the first day of jury selection, Tuite walked away from the courtroom holding tank during the lunch hour by freeing himself from handcuffs; he left the courthouse and boarded a bus. He was caught hours later. At trial, the prosecution linked Tuite to Stephanie's killing by presenting circumstantial evidence, including evidence that Stephanie's blood was on his clothes. Tuite's defense team argued that the boys had killed Stephanie, and that Stephanie's blood was found on Tuite's clothes as a result of contamination caused by careless police work. On May 26, 2004, the jury acquitted Tuite of murder but convicted him of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. The jury also found that he used a deadly weapon, a knife. The trial court sentenced Tuite to thirteen years in prison. He subsequently had four more years added onto the sentence due to his flight attempt. The families of all three boys sued the cities of Escondido and Oceanside. The Crowes reached a settlement of $7.25 million in 2011. In 2012, Superior Court Judge Kenneth So made the rare ruling that Michael Crowe, Treadway and Houser were factually innocent of the charges, permanently dismissing the criminal case against them. Tuite appealed his conviction to the California Court of Appeal and raised several claims, including a claim that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated because he was precluded from fully cross-examining a prosecution witness. On December 14, 2006, the Court of Appeal affirmed in a lengthy unpublished opinion. The court found that the trial judge had committed constitutional error in limiting the cross-examination, but held the error to be harmless and affirmed the conviction. The Supreme Court of California denied review. The federal district court denied Tuite’s petition for habeas corpus. On September 8, 2011, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit voted 2-1 to overturn Tuite's manslaughter conviction, ruling the trial was unfair because the trial judge limited cross-examination of a prosecution witness. The panel stated in its opinion, "Given the lack of evidence tying Tuite to the crime, the problems with the DNA evidence, the jury's deadlock and compromise verdict, and the weight and strategic position of McCrary's testimony, this case is one of those 'unusual' circumstances in which we find ourselves 'in virtual equipose as to the harmlessness of the error.' O'Neil v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 435 (1995). We must treat the error as affecting the verdict, and we are compelled to grant the writ." Tuite v. Martel, No. 09-56267. It was noted that during the trial the prosecution could not produce any trace evidence of the house on the defendant's clothing or person nor was any trace evidence of the defendant's person or clothing found in the house, facts that the Court of Appeals cited which led to the Court's determination of lack of evidence. Tuite was granted a retrial, which began on October 24, 2013. In closing arguments, his attorney, Brad Patton, told jurors that Tuite had never been in the Crowe house, and wouldn't have been able to find Stephanie's bedroom in the dark home. In addition, investigators did not find his fingerprints or DNA in the residence. Patton said Stephanie must have been held down under a comforter to keep her quiet, while someone else stabbed her. He also said that experts testified that the blood stains on Tuite’s shirts were not there when those shirts were originally evaluated, and got there through contamination during the crime scene analysis. The prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Alana Butler, said during her closing argument that Tuite was in the area of the Crowe home the night Stephanie was killed. He was knocking on doors and looking for a woman named Tracy, at whom he was angry because she had turned him away a couple of years earlier. He was “obsessed and delusional". Butler said Tuite wandered into the Crowe home at about 10 p.m. through an open door. Once he got in the house, she couldn't tell exactly what happened, but he went into Stephanie's bedroom and stabbed her at least nine times, and her blood was found on two shirts that he was wearing when contacted by police the next day. On December 5, 2013, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. Afterwards, a juror said there was no evidence that Tuite was ever in the Crowe residence that night, and that the jurors were concerned that the victim’s blood might have got onto his shirts through contamination, so they looked hard at that possibility. Impact: The attempted prosecution of the three boys was partially responsible for San Diego County District Attorney Paul Pfingst's loss to Bonnie Dumanis in the 2002 election. -A TV movie called The Interrogation of Michael Crowe was made about the case in 2002. -The 2003 book Who Killed Stephanie Crowe?, written by Paul E. Tracy, a criminology professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, in collaboration with two of the original detectives, raised questions about Tuite's guilt. -The 2006 book Shattered Justice: A Savage Murder and the Death of Three Families' Innocence by John Philpin focuses on the impact of the crime and the criminal charges on the three boys and their families.

Christianity and transgender

Within Christianity there are a variety of views on the issues of gender identity and transgender. The many Christian denominations vary in their position, ranging from condemning transgender acts as sinful, to remaining divided on the issue, to seeing it as morally acceptable. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views. Furthermore, not all members of a denomination necessarily support their church's views on transgender. Abrahamic religions have scriptures which describe God creating people "male and female", which is often cited in debates on this subject. Religious sex: Most Christian denominations do not recognize gender transition. A 2000 document from the Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concludes that the sex reassignment procedures do not change a person’s gender in the eyes of the Church. “The key point,” said the reported document “is that the transsexual surgical operation is so superficial and external that it does not change the personality. If the person was a male, he remains male. If she was female, she remains female.” The document also concludes that a “sex-change” operation could be morally acceptable in certain extreme cases, but that in any case transgender people cannot validly marry. Pope Benedict XVI has denounced gender theory, warning that it blurs the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race. He warned against alteration of the term "gender": "What is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender,' is definitively resolved in the self-emancipation of the human being from creation and the Creator," he warned. "Man wants to create himself, and to decide always and exclusively on his own about what concerns him." The Pontiff said this is man living "against truth, against the creating Spirit." In 2006 Albert Mohler, then president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said "Only God has the right to determine gender", adding, "any attempt to alter that creation is an act of rebellion against God." He also stated, "Christians are obligated to find our definitions … in the Bible. What the activists want to call 'sex-reassignment surgery' must be seen as a form of bodily mutilation rather than gender correction. The chromosomes will continue to tell the story...Gender is not under our control after all. When a nation's moral rebellion comes down to this level of confusion, we are already in big trouble. A society that can't distinguish between men and women is not likely to find moral clarity in any other area of life." In 2014, the Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution at its annual meeting stating that "God's design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female" and that "gender identity is determined by biological sex, not by one's self-perception.” Furthermore, the resolution opposes hormone therapy, transition related care, and anything else that would “alter one’s bodily identity," as well as opposing government efforts to “validate transgender identity as morally praiseworthy." Instead, the resolution asks transgender people to "trust in Christ and to experience renewal in the Gospel."

Tempe Girl

Tempe Girl is a currently unidentified young woman whose body was found on April 27, 2002 in Tempe, Arizona. She died from a drug overdose after using cocaine a day before her body was found. She is believed to have been of either Hispanic or Native American ethnicity and allegedly was picked up as a hitchhiker, claiming she was disowned by her mother for her recreational drug use. Circumstances: At the location her body was found, a fingerprint from a compact disc case was matched to a woman living in Phoenix, Arizona. She claimed to have no knowledge about the decedent, but her boyfriend stated that he had picked up the Tempe Girl as she hitchhiked from Phoenix to Tempe. He stated the woman was a Spanish-speaker and that she wished to buy tickets for a concert. In addition, the woman had informed him that she had been disowned by her family for habitual drug use. After the driver picked up another passenger, who was a drug dealer, the girl then spent her money on cocaine that the dealer had in his possession instead of tickets. After the victim used the drug, she reportedly had a negative reaction that caused her to have a seizure. The driver claimed that they pulled over and he removed the victim from the car and instructed the other passenger to call police at a nearby gas station. Her body was found a day later behind a strip mall. Physical description: The victim, being between fifteen and nineteen years old, was most likely Hispanic but may have been Native American, as she had black hair which was twelve inches long, and brown eyes. The girl wore a red top with jeans, blue underwear, one wedge high heel and also wore a purple ponytail holder as well as a bracelet on her wrist. An inch-long scar on her left hand was also observed, along with another on her left shoulder. The girl had also painted her nails purple. The pants the Tempe Girl wore were distinct, with a zipper on the side that also had eyelets for fastening on the waist. She was between five feet and five feet one inch tall and weighed between 120 to 125 pounds. Investigation: Authorities searched through schools in Arizona but were unable to find any match for the girl. The driver was never prosecuted, as examiners were unsure if the girl was under eighteen or if she had been pushed from the vehicle. The local police department has also made contact with Mexican investigators, as she may have been an immigrant, but have been unsuccessful for finding a suitable match for the girl's identity. The nature of the case was never ruled, as the autopsy did not reveal if the victim was murdered or had died by mistake. Her dental charts, DNA and fingerprints also yielded no results to matching her to another person. The clothing she wore was also not useful, as the manufacturing company could not be determined. Currently, three missing people have been ruled out as the decedent. The victim has been facially reconstructed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and various other institutions.

Criticism of the FLDS church

Plural marriage: At the time of his death, church leader Rulon Jeffs was confirmed to have married 22 women and fathered more than 60 children. Current estimates state that Warren Jeffs may have upwards of 60 wives. As the type of polygamy practiced is polygyny, critics of this lifestyle claim that its practice inevitably leads to bride shortages and likely to child marriages, incest, and child abuse. Critics assert that members of the church are violating laws when they participate in polygamy. Critics claim that incest and sexual abuse of children are prevalent among church members. Welfare receipts: Church leaders have encouraged their flock to take advantage of government assistance in the form of welfare and the WIC (woman-infant-child) programs. Since the government recognizes only one woman as the legal wife of a man, the rest of his wives are considered single mothers and are eligible to receive government assistance. The more wives and children one has, the more welfare checks and food stamps one can receive. By 2003, for example, more than $6 million in public funds were being channeled into the community of Colorado City, AZ. In his book Under the Banner of Heaven (p. 15), Jon Krakauer writes that, "Fundamentalists call defrauding the government 'bleeding the beast' and regard it as a virtuous act." Carolyn Campbell ("Inside Polygamy in the '90s,", 102) adds, "The attitude of some polygamists is 'the government is untrustworthy and corrupt, and I'm above it, but give me those food stamps and free medical care.'" Lost boys: It has been reported by former members that the FLDS Church has excommunicated more than 400 teenage boys for offenses such as dating or listening to rock music. Some former members claim that the real reason for these excommunications is that there are not enough women for each male to receive three or more wives. Six men, aged 18 to 22, filed a conspiracy lawsuit against Jeffs and Sam Barlow, a former Mohave County deputy sheriff and close associate of Jeffs, for the "systematic excommunication" of young men to reduce competition for wives. Racism: In its Spring 2005 Intelligence Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center added the FLDS Church to its hate group listing because of the church's racist doctrines, which include a fierce condemnation of interracial relationships. Warren Jeffs has said, "the black race is the people through which the devil has always been able to bring evil unto the earth." Blood atonement: Former FLDS Church member Robert Richter reported to the Phoenix New Times that Warren Jeffs has repeatedly alluded to the 19th-century teaching of "blood atonement" in church sermons. Under the doctrine of blood atonement, certain serious sins, such as murder, can only be atoned for by the sinner's death. Birth defects: The Colorado City/Hildale area has the world's highest incidence of fumarase deficiency, an extremely rare genetic condition. Geneticists attribute this to the prevalence of cousin marriage between descendants of two of the town's founders, Joseph Smith Jessop and John Yeates Barlow. It causes encephalopathy, severe intellectual disability, unusual facial features, brain malformation, and epileptic seizures. Alleged child labor abuses: On April 20, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor assessed fines totaling $1.96 million against a group of FLDS church members, including Lyle Jeffs, a brother of the church's controversial leader, Warren Jeffs, for alleged child labor violations during the church's 2012 pecan harvest at an orchard near Hurricane, Utah.

criticism of latter day saints

Views on sexuality: Deborah Laake and Colleen McDannell say that the church takes a repressive stance towards sexuality and that this may be psychologically unhealthy. Affirmation, a Mormon LGBT organization, and Ed Decker, a critic of the LDS Church, both state that the repressive attitude of the church may—in extreme cases—lead to suicide, as in the case of 16-year-old Kip Eliason, who committed suicide because of the stresses that resulted when his LDS bishop told him that masturbation was sinful. In January 1982, the church's First Presidency issued a letter to local leaders stating that they had "interpreted oral sex as constituting an unnatural, impure, or unholy practice." The letter was not distributed to the general membership. This letter also instructed local leaders not to inquire into the specifics of married members' sex lives. However, this portion of the letter was often ignored, and in response to letters of protest from members, another letter was issued to local leaders in October reiterating the prohibition on inquiring into specific sexual practices. Views on homosexuality: Scott Thumma and Affirmation.org contend that the LDS Church is homophobic. Affirmation.org cites a faithful, celibate, gay Latter-day Saint who shortly before his suicide wrote: "Straight members have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up gay in this church. It is a life of constant torment, self-hatred and internalized homophobia." Church leaders have agreed to meet with Affirmation to discuss these concerns. "God Loveth His Children", a pamphlet produced by the LDS Church, acknowledges that many gays "have felt rejected because members of the Church did not always show love." It criticizes those members, and challenges gays to show love and kindness so the members can "change their attitudes and follow Christ more fully". Gay historian D. Michael Quinn has hypothesized that early church leaders had a more tolerant view of homosexuality, and that several early church leaders and prominent members, including Louie B. Felt, May Anderson, Evan Stephens, and presiding patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith, may have either had homosexual tendencies or were involved in homosexual relationships. George Mitton and Rhett S. James do not dispute that some early members may have had homosexual tendencies, but they call Quinn's assertion of tolerance a distortion of church history and it has little support from other historians. They state the current leadership of the church "is entirely consistent with the teachings of past leaders and with the scriptures." In the early 1970s, Ford McBride did research in electro-shock therapy while a student at Brigham Young University (BYU) on volunteer homosexual students to help cure them of ego-dystonic sexual orientation. This was a standard type of aversion therapy used to treat homosexuality, which was considered a mental illness at the time. BYU is owned by the church, but the church allows its researchers to conduct research independently. As church president, Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged church members to reach out to homosexuals with love and understanding. This sparked criticism and protests from the Westboro Baptist Church at Hinckley's funeral. Affirmation.org has particularly criticized sexual repression of gays, both inside and outside of the church. A letter dated June 20, 2008, sent to Mormon bishops and signed by the First Presidency, called on Mormons to donate "means and time" to a California ballot measure designed to defeat the state's May ruling allowing same-sex marriage. Richard and Joan Ostling point out that the LDS Church actively campaigns against same-sex marriage statutes, including donating $500,000 in 1998 towards a campaign to defeat such a referendum in Alaska. The church's support (80 to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts and as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised) of California's Proposition 8 in 2008 sparked heated debate and protesting by gay-rights organizations. The church's political involvement and stance on homosexuality is denounced by the 2010 documentary film 8: The Mormon Proposition.

Brief history of mormonism

Mormonism originated in the 1820s in western New York during a period of religious excitement known as the Second Great Awakening. Founded by Joseph Smith, the faith drew its first converts while Smith was dictating the text of the Book of Mormon from golden plates he said he found buried after being directed to their location by an angel. The book described itself as a chronicle of early indigenous peoples of the Americas, portraying them as believing Israelites, who had a belief in Christ many hundred years before his birth. Smith dictated the book of 584 pages over a period of about three months saying that he translated it from an ancient language "by the gift and power of God". During production of this work in mid-1829, Smith, his close associate Oliver Cowdery, and other early followers began baptizing new converts into a Christian primitivist church, formally organized in 1830 as the Church of Christ. Smith was seen by his followers as a modern-day prophet. Smith later wrote that he had seen a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ in spring 1820 in answer to his question of which denomination he should join. Sometimes called the "First Vision", Smith's vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate beings was reportedly the basis for the difference in doctrine between Mormonism's view of the nature of God and that of orthodox Christianity. Smith further said that in answer to his prayer the Lord instructed him to join none of the existing churches because they were all wrong. During the 1820s Smith reported having several angelic visitations, and by 1830 Smith said that he had been instructed that God would use him to re-establish the true Christian church and that the Book of Mormon would be the means of establishing correct doctrine for the restored church. To avoid confrontation with New York residents, the members moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and hoped to establish a permanent New Jerusalem or City of Zion in Jackson County, Missouri. However, they were expelled from Jackson County in 1833 and forced to flee Kirtland in early 1838. In Missouri, violent conflicts with other Missourians resulted in the governor of Missouri issuing an "extermination order," expelling Latter Day Saints from Missouri. The displaced Mormons fled to Illinois and settled the city of Nauvoo, where they were able to live with a degree of peace and prosperity for a few years. However, tensions between Mormons and non-Mormons again escalated to the point that in 1844, Smith was killed by a mob, precipitating a succession crisis. The largest group of Mormons, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accepted Brigham Young as the new prophet/leader and emigrated to what became the Utah Territory. There, the church began the open practice of plural marriage, a form of polygyny which Smith had instituted in Nauvoo. Plural marriage became the faith's most sensational characteristic during the 19th century, but vigorous opposition by the United States Congress threatened the church's existence as a legal institution. In his 1890 Manifesto, church president Wilford Woodruff announced the official end of plural marriage. Because of the formal abolition of plural marriage in 1890, several smaller groups of Mormons broke with the LDS Church forming several denominations of Mormon fundamentalism. Meanwhile, the LDS Church has become a proponent of monogamy and patriotism, has extended its reach internationally by a vigorous missionary program, and has grown in size to 15 million members. The church is becoming a part of the American and international mainstream However, it consciously and intentionally retains its identity as a "peculiar people" set apart from the world by what it believes is its unique relationship with God.

Susan Polk

Susan Polk (born Susan Mae Bolling in 1957) is an American woman convicted in June 2006 of second degree (unpremeditated) murder for the 2002 death of her husband, Dr. Frank "Felix" Polk. Polk's trial, described by one Associated Press correspondent as "circus-like", drew extensive media attention with its sensationalist elements. Background: Susan Polk met Dr. Polk, a psychotherapist, in 1972 when administrators at her high school recommended she see him to treat her panic attacks. Susan Polk later claimed that Dr. Polk first had sex with her when she was sixteen and still under his treatment, a taboo and a violation of professional ethics in the relationship between therapist and patient, which is now illegal in California. At the time, Dr. Polk had a wife and two children, though that couple subsequently divorced in 1982. After graduating from high school, Polk attended Mills College and San Francisco State University before, in 1982, marrying Dr. Polk, who was then an instructor at the California Graduate School of Family Psychology, and an occasional consultant as well as a private practitioner. At the time of their wedding, Polk was 24 and her husband 50. During their marriage, the couple had three sons. In 2001, Dr. Polk filed for divorce, a complicated and contentious proceeding during which each contacted police with allegations of domestic violence. In 2002, after Dr. Polk claimed that Susan had abandoned him, the courts granted Dr. Polk sole custody of the couple's minor son, Gabriel Polk, and sharply reduced Susan's alimony. Dr. Polk also won sole possession of their house. Police records indicate that Dr. Polk reported threats from his wife. On Wednesday, October 9, Polk went to the home to retrieve her belongings and complete her dental procedure by having a permanent crown put on her tooth. That Friday, October 11, the eldest son, Adam, came home from UCLA to pick up his dog. The following day, Sunday, October 13, Dr. Polk, Adam, and the youngest son Gabriel drove Adam and the dog back to UCLA. Dr. Polk and Gabriel returned home at around 9:30 pm. Dr. Polk, then 70, was found dead the next day, Monday, October 14, 2002. Dr. Polk had 27 wounds on his body, including 15 stab wounds and evidence of blunt force trauma. Polk, too, was cut and scratched and had "red discoloration around her eyes, bite marks on the hand and a red welt on her shoulder". The Trial: At trial, prosecutors sought a conviction of murder in the first degree, contending that Susan Polk planned the murder of her multimillionaire husband for money. Susan Polk first denied knowledge of, or involvement in, Felix Polk's death and then claimed self-defense, asserting that, after years of beating and sexually abusing her, he brandished a kitchen knife against her. She stated that she took control of the weapon and stabbed him instead. As an expert witness for the defense, forensic pathologist Dr. John Cooper testified that Felix Polk's death was caused by heart disease and that his stab wounds were not life-threatening and were evidence that Susan Polk delivered them in self-defense. Dr. Cooper failed to appear in court the following day to continue being cross-examined and to present documents he claimed to have received from Susan Polk, sending a written explanation to the judge. He returned with the letters a week later to resume testimony. Prosecuting attorneys dismissed Susan Polk's claim, arguing that she had no defensive wounds from her husband's alleged attack. The court was forced to declare a mistrial when the wife of Susan Polk's then-counsel, Daniel Horowitz, was murdered in an unrelated incident. Susan fired her attorneys to represent herself. She supported her defense with allegations of a history of marital and professional misconduct, including claims that Dr. Felix Polk had drugged and raped her when she was a teenager, brainwashed the couple's children, and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave him. She also claimed to be a psychic with foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks that could have been used to thwart the attacks if "her husband hadn't prevented her from alerting authorities", asserting that her husband was an Israeli spy who was passing her psychic prediction to Mossad. Susan Polk repeatedly requested a second mistrial, lodging accusations of conspiracy against the prosecutor and the judge. During her closing statements, Susan Polk, who had refused to pursue a line of defense based on mental illness, questioned whether public perception that she was delusional was coloring opinions of her guilt. Each of Susan and Felix's children testified at the trial. The youngest son, Gabriel, who had found the body, testified that his mother had speculated about means of killing her husband in the weeks before his father's death. The oldest son, Adam, also testified against his mother, receiving widespread media coverage when he referred to her on the stand as "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs". The middle son, Eli, testified on Susan's behalf, that Felix was the unstable parent. Jurors disagreed that the crime was premeditated, finding her guilty of second degree murder. Sentenced to prison for a term of 16 years to life, Polk's conviction is on appeal. She will be eligible for parole in 2017. Susan Polk was transferred to the California Institution for Women (CIW), a dorm-like prison, in Corona (near Chino), CA, in December 2012.

Ray and Faye Copeland

Ray Copeland (December 30, 1914 – October 19, 1993) and Faye Della Wilson Copeland (August 4, 1921 – December 28, 2003) became, at the ages of 76 and 69 respectively, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States. They were convicted of killing five drifters at their farm in Missouri. When her sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1999, Faye Copeland was the oldest woman on death row. History: Ray Copeland was born in Oklahoma in 1914. While he was growing up, his family moved around, struggling to survive during the Depression. As a young man, he began a life of petty crime, stealing livestock and forging checks, until he was caught and served a year in jail. After his release in 1940, he met Faye Wilson, and they were married soon afterward. They quickly had several children and money became tight. Ray continued to steal livestock and forge checks, but his increasingly bad reputation meant that the Copeland family had to keep moving around. During this time, Ray served several jail sentences, until he finally came up with a new plan: a way of improving his illegal money-making methods so as to be undetected. Since Copeland was well known as a fraud, he could not buy and sell cattle on his own. To get around this problem, he began to pick up drifters and hobos and employed them as farmhands. He would take his employees to the market and they would buy the cattle for him, using his bad checks. After the transactions, Copeland would sell the cattle quickly and the farmhands would disappear without a trace. For a while, the scam worked, but the police caught up and Copeland went to jail again. Upon his release, he resumed his criminal activities, but this time he made sure his farmhands weren't as connected to him as before. This went on until a previous employee, Jack McCormick, called the Crime Stoppers hotline in August 1989 to tell them about the Copelands. McCormick claimed that he had seen human bones on the farm while he was employed there and also claimed that Ray had tried to kill him. Police were initially skeptical of the claims, but after checking Copeland's criminal record, they decided to investigate further. In October 1989, they visited the Copeland farm armed with a search warrant, dozens of officers and a team of bloodhounds. Initially, they did not find any incriminating evidence, but after further searching, three bodies of young men were discovered in a nearby barn. As the search continued, more bodies were found, all killed with the same weapon, a .22 Marlin rifle that was later found in the Copeland home. It became clear that Ray was a cold-blooded murderer who killed his employees in the pursuit of money, but Faye's actions were initially questioned. During the investigation, a piece of evidence came into light that connected her to the crimes as well: a quilt that she had made out of the clothing of the dead men. When she went to trial in November 1990, her defense mounted on a picture of her as a dutiful wife and mother who had endured beatings and general ill-treatment from her husband. However, the quilt remained a reminder that she knew full well that her husband was a serial murderer and did nothing to stop him. The jury convicted her of four counts of murder and one count of manslaughter. She was given four death sentences for the murders and life without parole for the manslaughter In March 1991, Ray Copeland went on trial, was convicted of five counts of murder and sentenced to death. Ray, upon hearing that Faye had been sentenced to death by lethal injection as well, showed no emotion and his reply reportedly was, "Well, those things happen to some, you know." However, neither execution took place. Ray died of natural causes on October 19, 1993, while awaiting execution. Faye's attorneys appealed her conviction, contending that the jury hadn't been allowed to hear evidence that Ray had abused her for years. On August 6, 1999, federal judge Ortrie Smith overturned the death sentence, but let the convictions stand and commuted her sentence to five consecutive terms of life without parole. On August 10, 2002, Faye Copeland suffered a stroke which left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Weeks later, in September 2002, Governor Bob Holden authorized a medical parole for Faye, fulfilling her one wish that she not die in prison. She was paroled to a nursing home in her hometown. The following year, on December 23, 2003, she died aged 82 at the Morningside Center nursing home in Chillicothe, Missouri, from what Livingston County coroner Scott Lindley described as natural causes. She left behind five children, seventeen grandchildren, and (at last count) twenty-five great-grandchildren. In other media: Their story has been fictionalized in a comic book, Family Bones, written by Faye Copeland's nephew, Shawn Granger. The case was also documented in a Forensic Files episode and more recently in an episode of Wicked Attraction entitled "Murder at Twilight." The play "Temporary Help" by David Wiltse, which appeared off-Broadway in 2004, was also based on this story.

scripture reading

I just read a few chapters of a story in the book of Mormon. It was powerful. When I started to read it I felt like something was there encouraging me to read the story. I'm a skeptic and I felt something

family

Team handball was a family. We looked out for each other. We asked why a team member didn't tell us how tiring a position was. We could have taken over. When I got sick the team made sure I ate and played as much as I could

Mormonism and polygamy

Polygamy (called plural marriage by Mormons in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by a minority of Latter-day Saint families (between 20 percent and 30 percent). The Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy has been controversial, both within Western society and the LDS Church itself. America was both fascinated and horrified by the practice of polygamy, with the Republican platform at one time referencing "the twin relics of barbarism — polygamy and slavery." The private practice of polygamy, or more specifically, polygyny, was instituted in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith. The public practice of plural marriage by the church was announced and defended in 1852 by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Orson Pratt, by the request of church president Brigham Young. For over 60 years, the LDS Church and the United States were at odds over the issue: the church defended the practice as a matter of religious freedom, while the federal government aggressively sought to eradicate it, consistent with prevailing public opinion. Polygamy was probably a significant factor in the Utah War of 1857 and 1858, given the Republican attempts to paint Democratic President James Buchanan as weak in his opposition to both polygamy and slavery. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories. In spite of the law, Mormons continued to practice polygamy, believing that it was protected by the First Amendment. In 1879, in Reynolds v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Morrill Act, stating: "Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinion, they may with practices." In 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially terminated the practice of polygamy. Although this Manifesto did not dissolve existing plural marriages, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state. After the Manifesto, some Mormons continued to enter into polygamous marriages, but these eventually stopped in 1904 when church president Joseph F. Smith disavowed polygamy before Congress and issued a "Second Manifesto", calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease. Several small "fundamentalist" groups seeking to continue the practice split from the LDS Church, including the Apostolic United Brethren and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). Meanwhile, the LDS Church adopted a policy of excommunicating members found practicing polygamy, and today actively seeks to distance itself from fundamentalist groups that continue the practice. On its web site, the church states that "the standard doctrine of the church is monogamy" and that polygamy was a temporary exception to the rule. Origin: any early converts, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and Lyman Johnson, recorded that Joseph Smith was teaching plural marriage privately as early as 1831 or 1832. Pratt reported that Smith told some early members in 1831 and 1832 that plural marriage was a true principle, but that the time to practice it had not yet come. Johnson also claimed to have heard the doctrine from Smith in 1831. Mosiah Hancock reported that his father was taught about plural marriage in the spring of 1832. The 1835 and 1844 versions of the church's Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) prohibited polygamy and declared that monogamy was the only acceptable form of marriage: In as much as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. William Clayton, Smith's scribe, recorded early polygamous marriages in 1843, including unions between Smith and Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora Woodworth. Clayton relates: "On the 1st day of May, 1843, I officiated in the office of an Elder by marrying Lucy Walker to the Prophet Joseph Smith, at his own residence. During this period the Prophet Joseph took several other wives. Amongst the number I well remember Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora Woodworth. These all, he acknowledged to me, were his lawful, wedded wives, according to the celestial order. His wife Emma was cognizant of the fact of some, if not all, of these being his wives, and she generally treated them very kindly." As early as 1832, Mormon missionaries worked successfully to convert followers in Maine of polygamist religious leader Jacob Cochran, who went into hiding in 1830 to escape imprisonment due to his practice of polygamy. Among Cochran's marital innovations was "spiritual wifery", and "tradition assumes that he received frequent consignments of spiritual consorts, and that such were invariably the most robust and attractive women in the community". The majority of what became the Quorum of the Twelve in 1835 attended Mormon conferences held in the center of the Cochranites in 1834 and 1835. Brigham Young, an apostle of the church, became acquainted with Cochran's followers as he made several missionary journeys through the Cochranite territory from Boston to Saco, and later married Augusta Adams Cobb, a former Cochranite. Joseph Smith publicly condemned polygamy, denied his involvement in it, and participants were excommunicated, as church records and publications reflect. But church leaders nevertheless began practicing polygamy in the 1840s, particularly members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Sidney Rigdon, while he was apostate from the church, wrote a letter in backlash to the Messenger and Advocate in 1844 condemning the church's Quorum of the Twelve and their alleged connection to polygamy: It is a fact so well known that the Twelve and their adherents have endeavored to carry on this spiritual wife business … and have gone to the most shameful and desperate lengths to keep from the public. First, insulting innocent females, and when they resented the insult, these monsters in human shape would assail their characters by lying, and perjuries, with a multitude of desperate men to help them effect the ruin of those whom they insulted, and all this to enable them to keep these corrupt practices from the world. At the time, the practice was kept secret from non-members and most church members. Throughout his life, Smith publicly denied having multiple wives. However, John C. Bennett, a recent convert to the church and the first mayor of Nauvoo, used ideas of eternal and plural marriage to justify acts of seduction, adultery and, in some cases, the practice of abortion in the guise of "spiritual wifery". Bennett was called to account by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and was excommunicated from the church. In April 1844, Joseph Smith referred to polygamy as "John C. Bennett's spiritual wife system" and warned "if any man writes to you, or preaches to you, doctrines contrary to the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the book of Doctrine and Covenants, set him down as an imposter." Smith mused: we cannot but express our surprise that any elder or priest who has been in Nauvoo, and has had an opportunity of hearing the principles of truth advanced, should for one moment give credence to the idea that any thing like iniquity is practised, much less taught or sanctioned, by the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The practice was publicly announced in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, in 1852, some five years after the Mormons arrived in Utah, and eight years after Smith's death. The doctrine authorizing plural marriage was published in the 1876 version of the LDS Church's Doctrine and Covenants.

Yoga

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline which originated in India. There is a broad variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (particularly Vajrayana Buddhism) and Jainism. The best-known are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga. The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, but most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in ancient India's ascetic and śramaṇa movements. The chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist Pāli Canon, probably of third century BCE or later. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, but only gained prominence in the 20th century. Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra. Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the Western world. Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise, it has a meditative and spiritual core. One of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics, and is closely related to Hindu Samkhya philosophy. Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma, and heart disease. The results of these studies have been mixed and inconclusive, with cancer studies suggesting none to unclear effectiveness, and others suggesting yoga may reduce risk factors and aid in a patient's psychological healing process. Etymology: In Vedic Sanskrit, yoga (from the root yuj) means "to add", "to join", "to unite", or "to attach" in its most common literal sense. By figurative extension from the yoking or harnessing of oxen or horses, the word took on broader meanings such as "employment, use, application, performance" (compare the figurative uses of "to harness" as in "to put something to some use"). All further developments of the sense of this word are post-Vedic. More prosaic moods such as "exertion", "endeavour", "zeal", and "diligence" are also found in Indian epic poetry. There are very many compound words containing yoga in Sanskrit. Yoga can take on meanings such as "connection", "contact", "union", "method", "application", "addition" and "performance". In simpler words, Yoga also means "combined". For example, guṇáyoga means "contact with a cord"; chakráyoga has a medical sense of "applying a splint or similar instrument by means of pulleys (in case of dislocation of the thigh)"; chandráyoga has the astronomical sense of "conjunction of the moon with a constellation"; puṃyoga is a grammatical term expressing "connection or relation with a man", etc. Thus, bhaktiyoga means "devoted attachment" in the monotheistic Bhakti movement. The term kriyāyoga has a grammatical sense, meaning "connection with a verb". But the same compound is also given a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras (2.1), designating the "practical" aspects of the philosophy, i.e. the "union with the Supreme" due to performance of duties in everyday life. According to Pāṇini, a 6th-century BCE Sanskrit grammarian, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau (to concentrate). In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered by traditional commentators as the correct etymology. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras, states that yoga means samādhi (concentration). According to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau (to concentrate). Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi (may be applied to a man or a woman) or yogini (traditionally denoting a woman). Goal of Yoga: The ultimate goal of Yoga is moksha (liberation), though the exact definition of what form this takes depends on the philosophical or theological system with which it is conjugated. According to Jacobsen, "Yoga has five principal meanings: -Yoga as a disciplined method for attaining a goal; -Yoga as techniques of controlling the body and the mind; -Yoga as a name of one of the schools or systems of philosophy (darśana); -Yoga in connection with other words, such as "hatha-, mantra-, and laya-," referring to traditions specialising in particular techniques of yoga; -Yoga as the goal of Yoga practice." According to David Gordon White, from the 5th century CE onward, the core principles of "yoga" were more or less in place, and variations of these principles developed in various forms over time: Yoga as an analysis of perception and cognition; illustration of this principle is found in Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Yogasutras, as well as a number of Buddhist Mahāyāna works; Yoga as the rising and expansion of consciousness; these are discussed in sources such as Hinduism Epic Mahābhārata, Jainism Praśamaratiprakarana; Yoga as a path to omniscience; examples are found in Hinduism Nyaya and Vaisesika school texts as well as Buddhism Mādhyamaka texts, but in different ways; Yoga as a technique for entering into other bodies, generating multiple bodies, and the attainment of other supernatural accomplishments; these are described in Tantric literature of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as the Buddhist Sāmaññaphalasutta; White clarifies that the last principle relates to legendary goals of "yogi practice", different from practical goals of "yoga practice," as they are viewed in South Asian thought and practice since the beginning of the Common Era, in the various Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical schools.

Cross-sex friendships

A cross-sex friendship is a platonic relationship between an unrelated man and woman. There are multiple types of cross-sex friendship, all defined by whether or not each party has a romantic attraction to each other, or perceives that the other is interested. A few theories have been developed to explain the existence of such friendships. Research has been done on why men and women initiate these relationships, how they are perceived by others, implications for children with cross-sex friendships, among others. Cross-sex friendships can also create problems for those involved if either or both have or ever had any romantic feelings for the other. Background: Within the past century, cross-sex friendships have become more prevalent, especially in the United States. These relationships play a large role in social relations of both men and women. Cross-sex relationships can often be a cause of complications because of the potential for romance or sexual interactions. Monsour (2002) defines a cross-sex friendship as a “voluntary, non-familial, non-romantic, relationship between a female and a male in which both individuals label their association as a friendship”. However, just because these friendships are labeled as “non-romantic,” one cannot assume that there are no romantic or sexual undertones. Guerrero and Chavez (2005) suggest that there are four types of cross-sex friendships: mutual romance, strictly platonic, desires romance, and rejects romance. In a “mutual romance” cross-sex friendship, one of the participants wants a romantic relationship with the other individual and believes that the other individual wants the same. In “strictly platonic” relationships, the individual believes that the other simply wants to be just platonic friends with no thought of romance. In a "desires romance" cross-sex friendship, one individual wants the friendship to become a romantic relationship but does not believe the other individual wants a romantic relationship. In a “rejects romance” cross-sex relationship, one individual does not want the relationship to turn romantic, but believes that their friend does. Each of these friendship styles are based on the goals and viewpoint of the individual. Other theories and research discuss the causes and benefits of cross-sex friendships. Major Theories- Evolutionary theory: Bleske-Rechek et al. (2012) theorize that cross-sex friendships are a part of humans’ evolved mating strategies. Current mating strategies unconsciously motivate individuals to enter into cross-sex friendships because it gives them more opportunities to mate. As a result, individuals within these cross-sex friendships often develop attraction to the other individual, even when that attraction is completely unintended. This evolutionary theory predicts that cross-sex friendships are formed by males for sexual access and by females for protection. This demonstrates one way in which cross-sex friendships serve, in part, as a long term mating acquisition strategy. Having more opportunities to mate is an evolutionary advantage, however, being attracted to a cross-sex friend creates negative social consequences. This is especially true for younger adults who are attracted to a cross-sex friend, because these people report less satisfaction in their current romantic relationship. Also, middle-aged adults tend to nominate attraction to their cross-sex friends as more of a negative than a positive. Social learning theory: In addition, social learning theory predicts that if cross-sex friendships are a result of the desire for sexual access and protection, this is because they are imitating other cross-sex friendships. Most popular television shows and movies suggest that the goal of forming cross-sex friendships is a romantic relationship. People learn from the friendships they see in popular culture and model their behavior after them. The glass partition: Kim Elsesser and Letitia Anne Peplau found that the professional workplace environment and heightened sexual harassment awareness can hinder cross-sex friendship formation. The barrier between men and women forming cross-sex friendships in the professional workplace is called the "glass partition" because of its similarities to the glass ceiling, which prevents women from reaching the top levels of leadership of corporations. The glass partition disadvantages women who work in predominantly male workplaces because women have less opportunities for networking. The glass partition results from fears friendliness toward a cross-sex friend will be misinterpreted by the friend and by co-workers as romantic or sexual interest, that humor may be perceived as sexual harassment by cross-sex friends, and that conversational topics might be perceived as offensive by cross-sex friends. Major empirical findings: Research has been done in the areas of attraction, protection, perception, cross-sex friendships throughout development, and touch and sexual activity between cross-sex friends. These studies find that there are some evolutionary and social benefits to cross-sex friendships. However, there are also some negative social consequences. Attraction: Within cross-sex friendships, men judge sexual attraction and the desire for sex as a more important reason than do women for initiating their friendship. Additionally, men are more sexually attracted to their opposite-sex friends and have more frequent desires to have sexual intercourse with their opposite-sex friends than women are. Bleske-Rechek et al. (2012) found that men overestimate how much their female friends are attracted to them. Women are less likely to want to date their male friends if he is in a committed relationship, but men have the same desire to date their female friend whether or not she is dating someone. Bleske-Rechek et al. (2012) hypothesize that a man’s desire to date his female friend is not changed by whether or not their female friend is in a relationship. This is due to males’ mating strategies that focus around acquiring short term mates. Furthermore, Bleske-Rechek et al. (2012) suggest that men would pursue cross-sex relationships both when single and in a relationship, while women would be less likely to pursue cross-sex friends while dating someone. Attraction within these friendships can cause challenges. Sexual attraction can arise for a variety of reasons in cross-sex friendships. In a study by Halatsis and Christakis (2009), participants cited social pressures and emotional vulnerability as reasons for sexual attraction arising in a cross-sex friendship. A social pressure that may prompt sexual attraction between cross-sex friends is the perceptions other friends have of their relationship and emotional vulnerability coupled with closeness may provoke sexual attraction between cross-sex friends. When sexual attraction develops in a friendship, it can corrupt the friendship and individuals state that behavior often changes. Sexual attraction in cross-sex friendships is often dealt with in one of three ways: management of this attraction through communication or an internal decision not to pursue the attraction in order to preserve the friendship, a sexual relationship forms then dissipates, or sex becomes a part of the friendship. When participants in the study by Halatsis and Christakis (2009) were asked about their experience with sexual attraction in cross-sex friendships, over 50% had experienced attraction, and over 50% of that group had expressed or acted on their sexual attraction. However, men had a tendency to be more attracted to their cross-sex friends, and a higher tendency to act on that attraction. Only 16% of individuals who had acted on their sexual attraction claimed that their friendship ended as a result, otherwise the friendship remained intact or transformed into a romantic relationship. So, sexual attraction in cross-sex friendships does not have to mean the end of the friendship. Reeder (2000) found that there are four types of attraction within cross-sex friendships: subjective physical/sexual attraction, objective physical/sexual attraction, romantic attraction, and friendship attraction. Subjective physical/sexual attraction occurs when one of the individuals in the friendship is physically attracted to the other. Objective physical/sexual attraction happens when one individual thinks that the other is attractive in general, yet they are not attracted to the person. Romantic attraction within the cross-sex friendship occurs when one of the individuals within the friendship desires to turn the friendship into a romantic relationship because they believe he or she would make a good girlfriend or boyfriend. Friendship attraction is simply when an individual feels very platonically connected to his or her friend. The four types can coexist together within a friendship or can occur separately. Furthermore, the type of attraction that an individual feels within a cross-sex friendship can change over time. Within Reeder’s (2000) sample, friendship attraction is the most prevalent type of attraction within cross-sex friendships. Even when participants felt other types of attraction within their cross-sex friendships, they prioritized their friendship attraction so that they relationship would not be ruined. Protection: Historically, women are more vulnerable due to their smaller stature and lesser strength compared with men. Thus, women have consistently needed to secure protection for themselves. Seeking protection from men would have been an evolutionary advantage as women who do so increase their reproductive success, which has caused an evolved preference for men who are willing and able to offer protection. Therefore, it is not surprising that Bleske-Rechek & Buss (2001) found that women judged physical protection as a more important reason for initiating an opposite-sex friendship than did men and that opposite-sex friendship is a strategy women use for gaining physical protection. Perception: The way in which other individuals perceive cross-sex friends can affect the friendship itself. Cross-sex friends sometimes face the audience challenge within their social groups, which occurs when other people assume that they are in a romantic or sexual relationship and the cross-sex friends have to present themselves as just friends. Schoonover and McEwan (2014) state that since male-female romantic relationships are the norm, people may assume that cross-sex friendships have the potential to develop into a more intimate relationship. The different types of cross-sex friendships will experience the audience challenge in different ways. Strictly platonic friends are least likely to bring about the audience challenge, while mutual romance are the most likely to face the audience challenge. The number of cross-sex friends an individual has also plays a role in how their cross-sex friendships are perceived. When an individual has numerous cross-sex friendships, they are much less likely to face the audience challenge. Children’s and adolescent’s cross-sex friendships: Cross-sex friendships in childhood and adolescence often have an immense impact on adult cross-sex friendships. Successfully forming cross-sex friendships in childhood is often an indication that these individuals will be able to form positive cross-sex friendships later in life. Thus, early cross-sex friendships act as a blueprint for further social interactions. Children’s social skills and behavior can be altered based on whether or not they have predominately same-sex friends or cross-sex friends. In a study by Kovacs, Parker, and Hoffman (1996), they found that children who primarily had friends of the opposite sex were perceived to be more aggressive and less shy by others. Furthermore, teachers said that the children with primarily friends of the opposite sex had lower academic performance and social skills. The results from Kovacs, Parker, and Hoffman’s (1996) study show that children who have a best friend that is the opposite sex have poorer social functioning abilities. Yet, when children have friends primarily of the same sex, but some cross-sex friendships, they tend to be more well-adjusted and have stronger social skills. Cross-sex friendships in adolescence are very different than in childhood. In adolescence, cross-sex friendships are not only more accepted by peers, but also can increase an individual's social status among same-sex peers. In a study on adolescents in sixth through eighth grade, Malow-Iroff (2006) discovered that adolescents often use the creation of cross-sex friends as a road to popularity because children with both cross-sex and same-sex friends are more accepted by both sexes. Adolescents mainly looks for cross-sex friends who are sociable, as they expect less from these friendships as they do from same-sex friends. However, there are negative results of have a cross-sex best friend during adolescence. Malow-Iroff (2006) found that adolescents with a cross-sex best friend partake in smoking and drinking at higher rates than their peers who have a same-sex best friend. The study discovered that individuals with cross-sex best friends find their best friend to be more accepting of substance use than those who have same-sex best friends. Cross-sex best friends during adolescence may increase safety and health risks because of the higher likelihood they will use alcohol or cigarettes. Touch and sexual activity in cross-sex friendships: In cross-sex friendships, Miller, Denes, Diaz, and Ranjit (2014) found that when men believe the friendship to be strictly platonic, they are more open to touching their friend. However, when they think intimacy may be increasing in the relationship, they are less like to desire casual touching. In contrast, the opposite was discovered to be true when it comes to women. Miller et. al. (2014), found that women report being more uncomfortable if touched by their cross-sex friend in a public situation than men did. When there is touch between cross-sex friends, no matter how much intimacy is involved in the friendship, men tend to be more aroused by the touch than females are. The researchers hypothesize that the research results may have been confounded by a social desirability bias because women may be less likely to admit arousal from the touch of a cross-sex friend out of fear of being negatively labeled by others. Afifi and Faulkner (2000) investigated instances in which individuals had sexual interactions with their platonic cross-sex friends. 51% of their sample had sex with their friend when they had no intention of pursuing a romantic relationship with them, and 34% of participants noted having sexual relations with their friend on multiple occasions. Within Afifi & Faulkner’s study, of those who had sex with their friend, two-thirds stated that it improved their relationship and 56% stated that the relationship did not develop into something romantic. Nature/nurture: The biological basis for cross-sex relationships cannot be found in ancient human history, because the way humans conducted their lives is different from the way current humans do now. Up until 10,000 years ago, or for over 99% of homo history, humans’ ancestors lived their lives in a nomadic fashion, foraging in groups structured by reproductive partners and offspring — not unlike the way families are organized current-day. Females began reproducing at an early age, and males practiced behaviors that showcased ownership over their female partners in order to safeguard them from other males. There have only been scattered ethnographic references to cross-sex friendships across cultures. Therefore, for much of ancient human history, cross-sex friendships were not common. Today, men and women interact in non-romantic, supportive ways in all types of contexts: work, sports, education, and hobbies, yet these unions are not based on sexual intentions. Evolved mating strategies were mentioned earlier and can be dovetailed with this biological history. Controversies: Participants in cross-sex friendships face many challenges, including learning how to navigate the particular type of friendship. The four types of cross-sex friendship as defined by Guerrero and Chavez (2005) referenced earlier are: strictly platonic, mutual romance, desires romance, and rejects romance. In addition, O’Meara (1989) originally stated that the four essential challenges cross-sex friends face are: 1) determining the type of emotional bond experienced in the relationship, 2) confronting the issue of sexuality, 3) dealing with the issue of relationship equality within a cultural context of gender inequality, and 4) the challenge of public relationships — presenting the relationship as authentic to relevant audiences. Schnoonover (2014) built research upon O’Meara’s audience challenge and found that members of Guerrero and Chavez’s (2005) different friendship types may experience challenges differently. For example, for “mutual romance” couples, members may be approaching the preliminary romantic stage of the relationship and if their romantic feelings feed into their behaviors toward each other, then they will be the most likely to be mistaken for a romantic couple. In contrast, “strictly platonic” friends should be the least likely the prompt the audience challenge. “Desires romance” and “rejects romance” couples may also be subject to the audience challenge — if observers of the friendship see the member acting in a romantic manner or admitting romantic intent, the observers might be more likely to regard the cross-sex friendship as a growing romantic relationship more so than a friendship. Another controversial question surrounding cross-sex friendships that is often raised is - after two romantic partners end their relationship — or more colloquially, “break up” — can they still be platonic friends? Kenny and Schneider (2000) found three major conclusions about cross-sex friendship with a romantic history. First, rebranding a discontinued romantic relationship as a friendship is common in modern American culture. Second, there are particular predictors of whether a friendship will occur after romance. One critical factor is whether there was a platonic friendship before the romantic relationship existed. Because the partners knew how to navigate friendship with each other before romance, they were more likely to be friends afterwards. Third, the atmosphere in which the breakup occurred determined the likelihood of a post-friendship. Kenny and Schneider (2000) cited evidence noting that a more significant indicator of an upcoming friendship is the communication in which the breakup occurred, not the individual who first initiated the breakup. Conclusion: Cross-sex relationships have made their mark in contemporary American culture. They have been explored in media outlets such as television, film, and music. Also, having “girl or guy friends” has become more of a commonplace option for young adult lifestyles. Cross-sex friendships can be beneficial as they allow males and females to become exposed to differing communication styles. Children, who, in general, have cross-sex friends, tend to be more well-adjusted and have stronger social skills. In contrast, cross-sex friendships can also be a burden if one member has feelings and the other does not. Additionally, ensuring that an outside audience views the friendship as platonic rather than romantic poses a challenge. Looking forward, more research should be conducted on friends-with-benefits relationships (FWBRs), as many college-age students engage in this type of relationship, and thus more literature needs to be made available to define behaviors and strategies. In addition, research on same-sex friendships between homosexual individuals may prove interesting as well.

Best friends forever

"Best friends forever" ("BFF") is a phrase that describes a close friendship typical of teenage girls and young women. Such friendships are characterized by intimacy, trust and a sense of permanence. The contacts between the close friends tend to be frequent and be based upon shared experiences such as attendance at the same school. Relationships described as such are common in high school but, rather than lasting forever, tend to deteriorate when the parties go to college. The term BFF does not convey exclusivity; people can have more than one BFF and many women do. A large survey of friendship in the UK in 2003 found that people had nine close friends on average. In elementary and middle school, best friendships often last less than one full academic year. Barbara Delinsky describes a BFF as "someone you don't have to see every day to still connect with, someone who loves you whether you talk often or not, someone who would drop everything and catch the next flight if you needed her. It's someone who couldn't care less where or what she eats, as long as she's with you." The acronym "BFF" was added to the New Oxford American Dictionary on 16 September 2010, defined as, "A person's best friend". Origin: Although the concept of having or being a "best friend" is ageless, the acronym BFF was popularized as a quick way for friends to sign off and express their positive feelings for one another---while instant-messaging (IM-ing) on the computer or sending a text message on cell phones. The New Oxford American Dictionary states that the acronym BFF originated in 1996. Commercial use: Companies like Coca Cola have used the expression on some of their Cola products. Their cans say "Share a Diet Coke with your BFF". Popular culture: In a 1997 episode of Friends, Lisa Kudrow's character, Phoebe Buffay, uses the term. Paris Hilton's My New BFF, also known as My New BFF, is a competitive reality television show in which Paris Hilton searches for her new BFF. Best Friends Forever was an American television comedy series that ran on NBC from April 4, to June 1, 2012. In 2009, social networking service Myspace launched "BFF", an online game show series that tested how well best friends knew each other. Best Friends Forever (South Park) is an Emmy-winning episode of Comedy Central's South Park, which first aired 30 March 2005, based on the Terri Schiavo case. Academic studies: Eileen Kennedy-Moore says that parents can help children cope with a friendship rift through strategies such as empathizing, discouraging retaliation, and encouraging relationship repair. In 2010, the BFF concept was made part of a BFF contract "to encourage the signatories to work through their differences before splitting up." In their article "Friendship and Natural Selection" in the July, 2014 "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America", Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler reported a positive correlation between close friendships and common genotypes, indicating that DNA similarities may be a causal factor in establishing friendships.

iced coffee

i made myself iced coffee. its nice. my mom is joking that i'm wired. i love coffee but i also don't want to live with caffeine shakes.

call my agent

i had an inside joke saying i had to "call my agent" when i had to call people. when the teacher who i had the inside joke with saw me with my phone during practice he'd ask me if i was calling my agent.

The Best Two Years

The Best Two Years is a 2003 dramedy film written and directed by Scott S. Anderson. It is based on the stage play The Best Two Years of My Life, also by Anderson. It portrays the experience of four LDS missionaries living in an apartment in the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. The stage play had one setting, the apartment of the missionaries. The movie does expand upon the play's setting, with some filming taking place in the Netherlands, but much of the movie still takes place in the apartment. The writer, Scott Anderson, and producer, Michael Flynn, perceive this movie as a comedy. Others see this movie as a drama. The movie has elements of both.

Sylvester Smith (Latter Day Saints)

Sylvester Smith (March 28, 1806 – February 22, 1880) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the inaugural seven Presidents of the Seventy. Biography: Smith was born in Tyringham, Massachusetts. He was a farmer, teacher, and carpenter by trade. He was baptized into the Church of Christ some time before May 1831. Oliver Cowdery ordained him a high priest on October 25, 1831. During 1832, he served as a traveling missionary on a journey from Ohio to Vermont. Zion's Camp: Smith was a member of Zion's Camp in 1834, where in the words of Heber C. Kimball he displayed "refractory feelings." During Zion's Camp he was blamed for "confrontations with Joseph Smith (to whom he was no relation), insubordination, threatening Joseph's dog, arguing with him, and refusing to share bread." Upon the return of Zion's Camp to Kirtland, Ohio, Smith's complaints against Joseph Smith resulted in the only time in church history that the Common Council of the Church has been convened to try a President of the Church. The Council, which was presided over by Bishop Newel K. Whitney, determined that Joseph Smith had "acted in every respect in an honorable and proper manner with all monies and properties entrusted to his charge." In September 1834, Sylvester Smith reconciled with the high council and was dropped from the council without protesting. Kirtland life: On February 14, 1835, Smith attended the meeting where the inaugural Quorum of the Twelve was called, and three days later he was appointed to the Kirtland High Council. Later that month he was ordained a Seventy, and named as one of the inaugural presidents of the Seventies the next day. He still served on the Kirtland High Council, from which he was released in early 1836. Smith remained very active in the Latter Day Saint community for the next two years. In 1836 he briefly acted as scribe for the prophet, Joseph Smith. In Kirtland he attended the Hebrew School, the School of the Prophets, the solemn assembly in January 1836, and the temple dedication. He was a member of the Kirtland Safety Society when it was formed in 1837. Perhaps because of disputed preeminence between High Priests and Seventies, five of the seven presidents of the Seventy previously ordained as High Priests, including Smith, were released and returned to the High Priests quorum in April 1837. George A. Smith later reported that by 1837 Sylvester was numbered among the dissenters from Joseph Smith and the church. By 1838 he had left the church. At this time many Mormons had left Kirtland, leaving Smith behind in the city until 1853, when he sold his land and moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa. There he was a lawyer and bought and sold real estate. In the 1850s and 1860s he was the county school fund commissioner and justice of the peace. Smith died in Council Bluffs at the age of 73.