Heartfelt Treasure

By Alyssa Ip

"Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."
- Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist

It seemed to me the coldest day of the year on the day I left for the desert. Outside lay all the evidence of what the residents in my hometown called “snowmageddon”: snow so thick and white weighing down the tree boughs until I thought it a miracle they wouldn’t break; topping all the houses with a frozen frosting that dripped off the rooftops in icicles that nearly pierced the ground; and spilling over from vainly shoveled driveways into streets and walkways, covering them all in a dense layer of winter wonderland. This was the day that I took my leave of all of the familiar people and places of home and stepped into the unknown.

Alyssa's Literary Moments

A childhood friend [Personal Literature]

When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I came home from Barnes and Noble with A Little Princess in my arms. As I read, I found that I could connect with Sara Crewe more than I had with Amelia from Amelia Bedelia or any of the Littles from the book series. I felt that Sara and I, much like Sara and Emily in the book, had some kind of special connection and friendship. Since then I have carried Sara Crewe around with me from house to house and from home to school. She has become one of my very good friends.

Girl meets reality [Cinematic Literature]

In 2011, my mom and I went to go see The Help in the dollar theater near our home. My mom had read the book, as had I, and we were excited to see how it all played out on screen. As the story unfolded before our eyes, I could feel a greater connection not only to the characters in the film, but also to that particular time in our history. To see the people and events come to life before my eyes in a very real and almost visceral way impacted me in a similar way. After the film, I came to understand that the world is a much more complex place than I had previously supposed.

Happy birthday, Mom [Literary Letter]

Sometime in my late childhood/early teen years, I decided that instead of buying gifts for birthdays and Christmas and other occasions, I would write a poem tailored to the person I was writing for. These poems became love letters of a kind, especially when they were written to my family members. I wrote one of these poems for my Mom on her birthday, in it describing all of the wonderful things about her that I knew from experience or stories and imbuing all the love I had for her. This was the one gift that made her cry. 

An unexpected poetic line [Religious Literary Experience]

During the year that we studied the Book of Mormon in seminary, I strove to faithfully do my scripture reading every day. Early on in that experience, I remember reading the eighth chapter of 1 Nephi, when Lehi is describing his exceptional vision of the tree of life. At the start of that episode, he describes a “large and spacious field” that stands near the iron rod leading to the tree of life “as if it had been a world.” In my 16-year-old mind, that last line was the “most poetic scriptures I have ever read.”

Lord of the---not---Rings? [Discussing Literature]

One of the main complaints about high school English classes is that students are compelled to read books that are too old, too thick, and too full of hidden meanings that completely destroy any hope of actually enjoying the book. When my sophomore class read Lord of the Flies, I hoped for something better. As it turns out, I discovered while reading this book that the thinly veiled imagery and allusions and metaphors actually did help me to better understand the novel, or at least make a connection to my own store of knowledge. As we talked about what we found in class, the discussions centered around the possible allegorical nature of the novel, and we all walked away more satisfied than we expected.

Girl meets reality part II [Literary Coping]

The transition from mission to home is a difficult one, and it was no less difficult for me. I relied on structure and consistency, and it seemed like my entire framework of living had been knocked to the ground. My friend gave me a copy of The Alchemist when I came home, and I devoured it in two days. It was the best gift anyone has given me. In its pages I discovered the truth that change is the one consistent part of living, and that even through changes, especially hard ones, we still can retain our personal purpose and fulfill that purpose by continuing to move forward.

Ariel's Literary Moments

Leonard Nimoy reading There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury [Literature Performed] 

(Here is the link to a recording of it, if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-TnyMaaMcA)

I often times don't like having someone read to me, but I remember we had to listen to this short story and it was the first time I heard a reading that didn't distract from the story. But the recording also made me appreciate hearing the storytelling play out, not being able to accidentally read ahead and get spoilers.

Childhood ruined by reading The Landlady by Roald Dahl [Discussing Literature]

It's one of my favorites because the story seems to end suddenly, but because of the way the author laces foreshadowing into the story you can actually figure out the ending. I had never seen this way of writing before. It was so cool but terrifying to think Roald Dahl wrote kids' books and horror stories, and I appreciated the storytelling style.

Understanding The Chaser by John Collier [Discussing Literature]

The story is about toxic infatuation and told using a heavy dosage of foreshadowing laced throughout the story exactly like The Landlady was with an ambiguous end. I didn't realize how much it left for interpretation. At first, I didn't understand that's what happened at all. Then, my brother read it and explained it to me. I even taught my class the rhetoric to my classmates, and that made me appreciate this story even more.

Forced to read my favorite-author-to-be, Fairest by Gail Carson Levine [Reading Literature Privately]

"I was an unsightly child. My skin was the weak blue-white of skimmed milk, which wouldn't have been so bad if my hair had been blond and my lips pale pink. But my lips were as red as a dragon's tongue and my hair as black as an old frying pan," (pg 3).

I fell in love with the amount of detail written into the story, and the fact that it was a retelling of Snow White that took a massive turn away from the original story. To this day, retellings mean the most to me if done well. Gail Carson Levine's story was so intricate and her amount of effort that went into this story made me love everything I read of her after the fact and made me want to start writing fiction on my own.

The only benefit of reading Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli [Creatively Composing]

One assignment was to write a short story as to what happens during this year that the main character is unheard from, and try to each explain what we think had happened. I was the only one who wrote a short story, the rest wrote about "this happening, then this, then this..." Mine was absolute garbage, but even the teacher was impressed. She put a ribbon on the paper and displayed it, and it gave me confidence to write.

From fairies to vampire, reading The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan [Literary Coping]

"Real life's nasty. It's cruel. It doesn't care about heroes and happy endings and the way things should be. In real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins," (Introduction). 

I shifted from reading fantasy to paranormal for the first time with this book, and Darren Shan became another new favorite author a year after reading Fairest. I wanted to read it because none of my friends had read it but one, and she said it was stupid. And it became my favorite and learned to love writing from it.

Maddi's Literary Moment's

Writing About Sunshine (Creatively Composing)

I used to love to write flash fiction, and in high school I took a creative writing class where I was able to write flash fiction about many different topics. I had just gone through a brief depressed episode and was coming out of it well. I wrote a piece about a rainy day where the sun peaks through the clouds, and I felt like it described my experience perfectly!

Poetry from Apples (Religious Literary Experience)
Last semester in my Humanities class we were asked to write an essay to show our religious experiences as a famous writer had when an apple fell from an apple tree and then he later found an impactful verse in the scriptures. Through this experience I wrote about how I came to know God through different experiences. It was written in poetry, and in a manner of praising God throughout. Through this piece I was able to not only convey my testimony, but to also grow it as I wrote about experiences that I hadn’t previously considered as moments of spiritual growth.

Prayers in Karen (Foreign Literary Experience)
On my mission I would read the Bible and anything I could in Karen (a Burmese dialect) so that I could get better at reading and understanding. Once Karen member in my ward wrote out and translated a prayer I said in her home into Karen. As I later read it, the words I had spoke took on a much deeper meaning as I read in Karen and did my best to translate it into English concepts. The beauty of God and my intimate relationship seemed much more profound in this language than in mine. And the translated phrase for Heavenly Father, “My God, my Father residing in Heaven” has since stuck with me.

Letters of Farewell (Literary Coping)
When I was in middle school one of my closest friends committed suicide. It had always been a hard and difficult subject for me and felt like a wound that never really healed. In my junior year I was asked to write an essay about something important to me. I turned it into a letter to my friend where I could say goodbye and tell him all the things I had never had the chance to say. It helped me to heal immensely, and since then I feel like the wound has healed.

Ghost of Christmas (Theatrical Experience)
I went to see a production of the Ghost of Christmas Past with my mom and her friends in high school, and as I watched it, the characters came to life. A small child was cast as a sick little boy, and his portrayal of being so ill, but so sweet and sincere, really touched me. Especially when the child died in the play—it broke my heart! I connected with the character so well.

Book of Mormon Legitimacy (Literary Envy)
My friend Garrett is an amazing writer, and he always has me edit and review his writing. He wrote a research essay on the academic legitimacy of the Book of Mormon for his religion class and had me review it. At the same time, I was working on my own research paper, and I was so impressed with his writing and how well it flowed and how elevated and professional it sounded. He took a religious topic and made it into something academic and logical, while still maintaining the spiritual aspect of the scriptures. He had reached a perfect balance. At the same time, I was jealous that my paper wasn’t coming together as well as his, when I was writing a paper and had poured over dozens of peer reviewed articles, and his managed to sound more credible and realistic.

Rowen's Literary Moments

Reverence [reading literature privately]

I read Ender's Game fairly late in comparison to many of my peers. Typically, I would bounce thoughts and ideas about whatever I happened to be reading at the time off of my mother, since she was the only other person in the house, , but not so with Ender's Game - my mother never liked the story, so I never really got to talk about it. The further I got, the less people who had recommended it to me were interested in what I had to say about it, and so the less I talked about it. I read the final chapters alone in my bedroom . . . I don't cry at books, I never have. But the final pages of Ender's Game made me glad that I could experience in the privacy of my own mind. I closed the book, and reverently placed it back on the shelf.

A Very Different Christmas Story[Cinematic Literary Experience]
I can't remember if I saw Hogfather or read it first, but either way the visuals and narration I associate with the story thanks to it's cinematic adaptation stick with me every time I read or watch it. I cannot unhear the voice of Death teaching a human about why belief matters.

This Story is Nothing Special [Literary Coping]
Somewhere in the internet, there is a blog which contains all of my most embarrassing angsty teenage poetry. I had a lot of angst, a lot of teenage, and a lot less poetry.

Words I Did Not Understand [Literature Performed/Theatrical Experience/ Foreign Literary Experience/ Sublime Literary Experience]
I know there's an entirely different subset for music-as-literature, but this actually falls in multiple categories. I recently had the opportunity to attend a concert by The Hu, a Mongolian Rock band which uses traditional throat singing and electric guitars to revitalize Mongolian culture. I can't put into words how I feel about their music, and I'm not really sure which category this story goes into, but it belongs somewhere.

Nothing I Write Makes Sense [Creatively Composing]

I've written very few songs that I'm actually proud of. Two specifically come to mind- one I wrote on my mission after I had vowed not to write sad music whilst serving the Lord (a choice with debatable legitimacy) The second I composed while I was a confused mess about romance. Turns out that was the only good love song I've ever written.

Going to Open Mics is Fun :/ [Literary Envy]

I'm sorry that so few of my stories have to do with traditional literature. Until I became too busy with school to manage, I attended the open mic at Velour for about a month. I really admire the musicians there, both for their content and compositional skill, but I cannot help but feel raw whenever I go. Its also spurred me to attempt to be more creative than I have been recently, so that's good. 

Jaidyn's literary moments

Jaidyn's Literary Moments

I girl I don't know read a poem [Literature Performed]

My freshman year at BYU, I went to a poetry reading. One girl read a poem that was beautiful and melodic, and I immediately looked it up after the reading, determined to remember it. The line that still comes into my mind sometimes is "In the room women come and go/ Talking of Michelangelo." 

The story within a song [Literary within Musical Experience]

I stumbled across a song once called "Fictional State" and just loved it! It took me a few times listening to figure out that it was about an unmarried couple finding out that the girl was pregnant. It's kinda a weird song topic, but it was also a great way to tell a sad story. 

The Shakespeare we don't know (maybe) [Memorization of Literature]

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep." That's one part I can remember from the passage I memorized in 8th grade. At the time I didn't understand it at all, and I still don't know what play it's from, but it evoked new emotions and images for me. 

Mr. Darcy is cuter in the book [Cinematic Literary Experience]

Some time after reading Pride and Prejudice, I saw the movie with Keira Knightly. I was pleased-- it preserved the story and characters. But I was also impressed by how much more was in the book itself-- there are so many small conversations and details! I'd read it versus watch it. 

My poems [Literary Coping]

Poetry was never interesting to me until one day in high school when I opened my phone and typed out a poem. None of the poems are very good, but they became essential for me as I worked through the stresses, loneliness, and demands of my high school years. 

Life, love, and a little child [Religious Literary Experience]

The book The Little Prince caused me a lot of reflection. It made me question my perspective on the way I viewed the world, and especially on how I treat the people that I love. There's a part where the boy "tames" a fox. When he leaves, the fox is devastated, but knows that it was worth it to be tamed (aka to love and be loved).