Answers I liked

[Digit]

Battlestar Galactica has little bits of mormonaica baked in, it being created by one. Quorum of Twelve, Kobol, Commander Adama.

[Katya]

Commander Adama.

*slaps forehead*

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76851/

I really liked CPM's response, as well as the comments that have come in. It's nice to know that people from diverse(-ish) backgrounds can still have a good experience at BYU. (And their point about the emphasis on undergraduate education is an interesting one.)

[Whistler]

yeah, I remember having a conversation with my dad about applying to undergrad colleges. He said that for your undergrad, going to an expensive ivy-league college doesn't matter as much as it does for your Master's or PhD. I do kind of wish I had applied to schools other than BYU, but I don't regret going to BYU for my undergrad. Mostly I wish I had majored in computer science or IT or something more job-like, but hey, I was an idealist and kinda lazy so psychology served its purpose I guess.

[Portia]

I too wish I had at least applied to the U and ASU just to have backups, but I had a good experience at BYU. Looking at the economic situation of the past six (!) years, a school like Stanford (rejected, anyway) or the Claremont Colleges (waitlisted) would have had diminishing returns.

I'd still like to go to Stanford for their writing program, or possibly UCLA for screenwriting. We'll see, though. I even strongly considered BYU for marketing (probably would find UWash a better fit, culturally). I have grad school envy right now because three of my good friends just made big career moves. I have to remind myself they're older than I am.

[Portia]

#TIL what The Ryde is. I think I saw this shuttle stop by Raintree when I lived near there, before it was converted to the satellite MTC.

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76869/

A creative question and a delightful answer.

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76931/

Knowing is knowing. Hope is hope. They're different.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76910/


What the heck? Is NKOTB back? RIP inbox.

[Tally M.]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76910/


What the heck? Is NKOTB back? RIP inbox.

Just in time for Alumni week

[Marduk]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76931/

Knowing is knowing. Hope is hope. They're different.

I always get irritated at that particular interpretation of Frost's poem. I don't think it is accurate. But that's my personal pet peeve.

[Portia]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76910/


What the heck? Is NKOTB back? RIP inbox.

Just in time for Alumni week :D

>.<

[Emiliana]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76931/

Knowing is knowing. Hope is hope. They're different.

I always get irritated at that particular interpretation of Frost's poem. I don't think it is accurate. But that's my personal pet peeve.

Oooh, misinterpretations of this poem are a pet peeve of mine too. What do you believe is wrong with the interpretation The Audience gave? What do you believe is a better interpretation?

[Marduk]

I don't think the poem is about absolving an individual of curiosity or regret at choices made. The point isn't that "you'll never know and that's okay" the point is you'll never know, period.

The poet isn't positing any sort of positive emotion, simply that we as humans lack the capacity to understand what the ramifications of our choices may have been, or may not have been. We can say that the sum total of our decisions has led to the place we are now, but we cannot say what the results of any other set of decisions are. So wondering about possibilities and different life choices is a constant plague we can never fully be rid of, but is an inevitability of making any sort of choices (or refusing to make choices, which is a choice in and of itself.)

TL;DR I think it is accurate to say the poem posits that we'll never know the results of decisions we didn't make. I don't think it accurate to say the poem posits that this is a good thing.

[Portia]

Frost spent the years 1912 to 1915 in England, where among his acquaintances was the writer Edward Thomas. Thomas and Frost became close friends and took many walks together. After Frost had returned to New Hampshire in 1915, he sent Thomas an advance copy of "The Road Not Taken". The poem was intended by Frost as a gentle mocking of indecision, particularly the indecision that Thomas had shown on their many walks together. However, Frost later expressed chagrin that most audiences took the poem more seriously than he had intended; in particular, Thomas took it seriously and personally, and it provided the last straw in Thomas' decision to enlist in World War I. Thomas was killed two years later in the Battle of Arras.

My brother's last area was Arras. Dang.

[Emiliana]

I don't think the poem is about absolving an individual of curiosity or regret at choices made. The point isn't that "you'll never know and that's okay" the point is you'll never know, period.

The poet isn't positing any sort of positive emotion, simply that we as humans lack the capacity to understand what the ramifications of our choices may have been, or may not have been. We can say that the sum total of our decisions has led to the place we are now, but we cannot say what the results of any other set of decisions are. So wondering about possibilities and different life choices is a constant plague we can never fully be rid of, but is an inevitability of making any sort of choices (or refusing to make choices, which is a choice in and of itself.)

TL;DR I think it is accurate to say the poem posits that we'll never know the results of decisions we didn't make. I don't think it accurate to say the poem posits that this is a good thing.

Good answer. I see your point and raise you one more layer of meaning: If you read closely, all of the speaker's thoughts are taking place BEFORE the decision is actually made. He/she is standing at the fork in the road imagining his future self looking back on his past self standing at the decision point, which is actually a little ridiculous. In other words, one theme of the poem could be stated as, "who the hell cares which decision you make, just make the decision already!"

The interpretation of this poem that REALLY irks me is when people call it "The Road Less Traveled" and make it about individualism. Which it isn't, not even a little bit.

[Portia]

He/she is standing at the fork in the road imagining his future self looking back on his past self standing at the decision point, which is actually a little ridiculous.

... I do this all the time?

[Emiliana]

He/she is standing at the fork in the road imagining his future self looking back on his past self standing at the decision point, which is actually a little ridiculous.

... I do this all the time?

So, I would guess, did Robert Frost, which is why he wrote a poem about it.

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/76948/

[Portia]

Maybe there's a bigger age gap between yay and his fiancee than I had realized. I would have estimated them at 23 and 27. I don't think you can be "pushing thirty" until 28 and a half, tops.