I think it was the photo of Rexburg that made me hurl. I've seen better apartment complexes on the wrong side of town (not that I'm trying to make fun of the wrong side of town.)
Ex is from Rexburg. It would be interesting to see it now in person just to see the changes. His sister lives there and hates what they've done to the town.
Provo didn't even show the campus. Interesting.
I lived in Provo for 5 days once (long story). Hated every moment. Never liked going there to visit friends and sister. Even as a TBM.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2018 07:13PM by cl2.
It had its pluses and minuses. I loved the proximity to the mountains and headed up for hiking every chance I got.
The Harold B. Lee Library had an amazing collection of books on Church history. I studied my way into full-blown apostasy there. (I even handled and read an original anti-masonry book (published in NY in 1826) by William Morgan. It was in the rare books collection behind locked doors. In the book I saw the illustrations of various Masonic costumes, handshakes and stuff that were virtually identical to the temple stuff.)
I was lucky, I guess.
I was there during a kind of pre-Packerian "Prague Spring." They didn't kick you out for inactivity--and I was inactive for almost the entirety of my last year.
IIRC, Arrington was the Church historian and, bless his heart, he actually seemed to believe that putting the true history out there would be no problem because, you know, the truth was ultimately on the side of the Gospel, right? Right? "Oooh-noooo! I miscalculated! Now the Apostles hate me! I'm going to be emeritus-ized!"
I was even introduced to the rock-in-the-hat translation fact by a BYU professor in my official Church History class. That was long, long before the essays and before that was accepted by the mainstream. That was back when Joe was always shown deeply pondering over the golden pages in a prayerful translation process -- a common illustration used by Mormon missionaries.
Packer came along shortly afterward and put a stop to all that nonsense in a campaign typified by his "Mantle" speech. Basically, he was fed up with the "warts and all" approach to teaching Mormon history.
In some ways, ironically, I imagine if I had not been exposed to living in "the belly of the beast," so to speak, my path to apostasy would have been quite retarded. If I had gone to some east coast school (where I grew up), I may have been more inclined to romanticize the Church due to the relatively small dosages I received. Being in Provo, at BYU, guaranteed frequent overdosing and all of the issues that inevitably came from that.
Crazy to think that I am an alum of that school now. Oh how the time has flown!
That being said, I did like provo quite a bit. I even credit a huge part of my leaving the church to two awesome professors (TBM's). Showed me where some serious flaws are in between science and TSCC, but more importantly, taught me, when questioned, how they deal with it-- they just shelf those things or admit that science doesn't have all the answers yet.
That's when I really started to wonder...why did these intelligent professors have to keep shelving sh%t when they have the means to get all the answers...?
I may be long in the tooth but I loved looking at the mountains in Provo and learning to ski. I lived there back in the day when you didn't get kicked out for not attending church. BYU's facilities were top notch. I stopped going to devotionals in my Freshman year cause I was a very serious student and it seemed such a waste of valuable time. It didn't occur to me, being a convert and from the Midwest, that I was supposed to be husband hunting rather than studying. My parents would have been mortified if I had dropped out of BYU to get married and put my hubby though graduate school. But now days I don't see so much of that happening. I studied so hard I paid little attention to the church dogma. I went to church but more for the social interaction. Have to admit, I couldn't wait to leave Utah by my senior year. All my classes had nothing but married men and zero females. I finally saw the light and was very eager to get back to the midwest.
IMHO there is a big difference between a "college town" and a city which happens to have an institution(s) of higher education. A college town is one in which the college or university is a major or the main focal point of the community. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or Miami are not "college towns", not even remotely close. State College, PA is a college town. Ithaca, New York is a college town. Boulder, Colorado is a college town.
Terrible list, and not just because it includes Rexburg and Provo.
you have a point. Provo is filled with people wearing long johns having sex in the rabbit hutches by the school. No wine or vodka around, no coffee, people listening to talks with drone speech and blaring out Mormon music two times a year