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Understanding the Handicapped

Can you ever understand how a blind person, a deaf person, or a crippled person feels? Lana Brown, director of the Learning Resource Center for the BYU College of Nursing contracted episodic multiple sclerosis in 1966. For the next two years she was confined to a wheelchair for periods of time. This experience taught her that there are things about the handicapped that can never be fully appreciated from books—things that nurses need to understand.

She instituted “Assignment Wheels” as a requirement of the BYU College of Nursing program to give the nurses a chance to learn firsthand about the handicapped. The program demands that each nursing student spend some time in a wheelchair as part of her learning experience.

The girls are given a list of procedures that must be accomplished on wheels, including all the activities of daily living. They must spend half a day in a wheelchair with a classmate nearby to help in case of accident or danger.

Regardless of how difficult or awkward, they must open doors, attend classes, get lunch in the cafeteria, move around in the small space of rest rooms, negotiate the ramps into buildings, and use the elevators.

The coeds then submit a report on their experience, relating the emotions they encountered as well as sharing insights into the practical aspects of wheelchair manipulation.

“Most girls hate it,” Miss Brown emphasized, “but it’s valuable for them and they know this. They discover the many feelings involved as they observe others’ reactions to the physically handicapped. They find themselves watching the ground or their feet to avoid people’s stares. More importantly they become more comfortable working with the disabled. They also gain confidence when asked to demonstrate the handling of a wheelchair to patients who will be confined over short or long periods of time.”

The Oriental Sundae Bash

Like to hostess the greatest party of the year with add-guests-and-stir simplicity? Here it is: the Oriental Sundae Bash.

The hostess starts her party with the making of invitations. These are simple origami flowers with part of the message on each petal. For these you will need special origami paper or fadeless construction paper (very unlike regular construction paper) available at your nearest art supply store. Start with a square and fold it as follows:

1. With color side in, fold it into a triangle.

2. Fold again into two smaller triangles back to back.

3. Form a square from one triangle,

4. Then the other.

5.–6. Holding the two back-to-back squares you now have with the open corner up; fold the closed sides of the square to the middle line.

7. Fold entire kite-like form right down the middle.

8. Hold with the high point on the left. Cut in an arch up to the center of the fold.

9. Hold the point firmly and spread the flower at the top carefully.

Now you are off to a good start with invitations that carry the theme of the party. On three of the four petals write the name of the party, the date and time, your name and address.

One of the petals is reserved for the hostess’s request for the guest to bring along one of the ingredients of the Oriental sundae. This not only helps with the party budget, it is downright titillating to wonder how a particular ingredient will fit into the sundae all part of the fun.

Now for the food planning: the oriental sundae is made of ingredients arranged in a certain order that add up to a scrumptious treat.

1. 8 cups steamed rice

2. 2 large cans chow mein noodles

3. Cubed chicken, turkey, pork, or beef

4. Hot cream-of-chicken soup

5. 3 finely diced tomatoes

6. 4 stalks of thinly sliced celery

7. 1 pound shredded cheese (cheddar)

8. Hot cream-of-chicken or mushroom soup

9. 1 bunch green onions diced

10. 1 package silvered almonds

11. 1 large can drained crushed pineapple

12. 1 package shredded coconut

13. Maraschino cherries

The hostess can provide any of the ingredients she wishes.

Foster an Oriental atmosphere with arrangements of the same origami flowers (and how about leaving some paper out for guests who want to try folding?).

Chopsticks can be purchased at Chinese restaurants or import stores and would add authenticity galore to one of the simplest parties of the season.

Idea submitted by Dawn Asay

[Barbara Glasgow]

Barbara Glasgow is a Hueytown, Alabama, teen who holds a record of some kind in musically manning a branch. At seventeen she’s been the branch organist, primary organist, district organist, roadshow accompanist, and solo clarinetist for programs. She’s a seminary graduate and was named to the record of winners of awards in scholarship and activities at her high school. Known for her Church involvement, Barbara was named chaplain for the high school and also of Epsilon Tri-Hi-Y honorary group.

[Janice Edington]

The Church will be represented next summer at the World Games for the Deaf. Janice Edington, who attends the school for the deaf and blind in Tucson, Arizona, qualified to represent the United States at tryouts held in Morgantown, North Carolina. The games will be held in Malmo, Sweden.

Janice is an active member of the Thatcher Second Ward, Thatcher, Arizona.

Tri-Institute Camp-out

The sky was greyish-white, the grass damp, and there were periodic showers that Sunday morning, but not one of the 350 young people seated on logs or blankets cared about the weather. This was the scene for the testimony meeting that concluded the Alberta tri-Institute camp-out held at Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Young people had arrived and set up camp on Friday evening. Early Saturday morning they were addressed by President N. Eldon Tanner, who had taken time from his vacation to speak to them. He emphasized that the Church will never ask anyone to do anything that is not worthwhile.

Other Saturday activities included Hiking, fishing, tubing on the Belly River, and a softball tournament. After a variety show that night, there was dancing in the Waterton meetinghouse.

Young adults came from as far as Manitoba and Grande Prairie for the camp-out. “Oh, It’s So Nice to Be with You” was, for them, not only the theme of the gathering, but the mood of the entire weekend.

Swinging Saints

The “Swinging Saints,” a group of dancers from the Bakersfield Stake in California, have put together a ninety-minute variety show that is performing a great service to the Church. The dancers make appearances free of charge in Bakersfield and in neighboring towns. They have danced at county fairs, local county dance festivals, and in rest homes as well as at the all-Church dance festivals. Next summer they plan a trip to Hawaii. There they will be one of the two groups selected from the mainland to participate in the local Church dance festival.

Scientific Basis of Athletic Conditioning
by Clayne R. Jensen & A. Garth Fisher
Lea and Febiger, 257 pp.

This book tells it all—from how a muscle contracts to inspiring Joe for the big game. It can be useful to both the athlete and the coach.

The first of the book’s four parts covers the physiological basis of conditioning. It is a brief anatomy course on the musculo-skeletal, cardio-muscular, cardio-respiratory, and nervous systems. It gives the reader background he’ll need to understand later explanations and suggestions.

The second part tells how to develop the traits necessary for good performance. It explains the significance of strength, endurance, power, agility, reaction time, flexibility, range of motion, and neuromuscular skill, and recommends specific programs for improving them.

The third part of the book is mainly for coaches. It touches on such specialized topics as diet, the effects of altitude, and the pregame warm-up. It also examines the psychology of athletics, including such factors as staleness, the will to win, inspiration, stress, and emotions. The book tells us, “The ability of a person to perform in any athletic event is obviously limited by his physical characteristics. But beyond these broad restrictions psychological factors play a decisive role. Many coaches and physiologists believe that future records will be broken primarily because of increased attention to the psychological features of the personality more than the physiological and mechanical aspects of performance.”

The final section of the book suggests specific conditioning programs for a number of different sports. This section also gives some helpful information on off-season and pre-season conditioning programs.

Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is its specificity. It tells you how many sets of reps to do at what weights in order to develop strength and endurance for your particular sport. The book also tells exactly what different running programs can do for you.

Unless you’re already an expert, this book can held you and your team prepare for specific conditioning needs in a very scientific manner.

A Time to Choose
by Neal Maxwell
Deseret Book Company, 93 pp., $3.95

Discipleship is a very contemporary challenge to each of us in today’s world. As life makes each one of us more and more aware of the need to define our individual roles in the community and in the world, we must, at the same time, define our roles as disciples of the Savior. A Time to Choose by Neal Maxwell gives interesting and relevant commentary on our own personal discipleships. The Savior said to each of us, “Come ye after me,” follow the straight and narrow way, and by so doing enter in at the gates of the celestial kingdom.

Brother Maxwell discusses the demands of discipleship on the individual and the problems of discipleship in today’s surroundings.

“The paths of Christ and the world have always been divergent. Yet this divergence is more pronounced now than fifty or one hundred years ago when there was some kind of loose Christian consensus about man’s identity, immortality, the resurrection, the Lordship of Jesus, and the literalness of his second coming. So far as contemporary American and most western societies are concerned, it is difficult to conceive of any issues around which there could be such profound separation as now exists.” (p. 2.)

One of Brother Maxwell’s central messages is that discipleship in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be relevant today—but the time has come to make a choice. Do we, or do we not choose to serve the Savior and follow him?

Brother Maxwell’s book is tightly written and concisely and distinctly challenges the reader to put his own discipleship to the test. Now is certainly “a time to choose.”

Classic Stories From the Lives of Our Prophets
by Leon R. Hartshorn
Bookcraft, 334 pp., $4.95

As evidenced by the January 1972 New Era, we believe that reading of experiences in the lives of the presidents of the Church is gripping. In this book Brother Hartshorn has compiled some 175 incidents told by either the prophets, their contemporaries, or their families.

The book starts with stories about and by Joseph Smith, Jr., and proceeds prophet by prophet until it concludes with stories about President Joseph Fielding Smith. The incidents cover the gamut of emotions and give the reader a glimpse into the presidents’ everyday lives and their relationships with their families, their church, and their Father in heaven.

The book adds a personal note of understanding about each man. You can’t read about Brigham Young playing a trick on a sheriff’s posse in the bogus Brigham episode without feeling an increased love and understanding for Brigham, the whole man.

You won’t be able to read the excerpts from President Joseph Fielding Smith’s patriarchal blessing without knowing more surely that he is a man whom the Lord chose to lead the Church.

The blessing was given in 1896 by John Smith, the Church patriarch: “… It is thy privilege to live to a good old age and the will of the Lord that you should become a mighty man in Israel. Therefore, I say unto thee, reflect often upon the past, present, and future. If thou shalt gain wisdom by the experience of the past, thou shalt realize that the hand of the Lord has been and is over thee for good, and that thy life has been preserved for a wise purpose … It shall be thy duty to sit in counsel with thy brethren and to preside among the people. It shall be thy duty also to travel much at home and abroad by land and water, laboring in the ministry; and I say unto thee … lift up thy voice without fear or favor as the Spirit of the Lord shall direct, and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee. His spirit shall direct thy mind and give thee word and sentiment that thou shalt confound the wisdom of the wicked and set at naught the councils of the unjust.”

If you liked the January 1972 New Era, then this book is for you, because it will help you come to know and love each of the Latter-day prophets.