I’ve seen the stories. You’ve seen the stories.

Scores of families converged on the Gallivan Center and Temple Square Friday to watch the holiday lights illuminate downtown Salt Lake City.

David-James Gonzales was born, raised, and educated in Southern California by Mexican American parents that instilled in him a love for education and a commitment to family and community. He is a professor of history at BYU where he teaches and researches race, migration, and civil rights in US History. He has published in several academic journals and anthologies including the Journal of American Ethnic History, American Studies (AMSJ), 50 Events That Shaped Latino History, and The U.S.-Mexico Border: A Reference Handbook. He is the receptor of multiple scholarly fellowships and awards including the Career Enhancement Fellowship by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars and the Butler Young Scholar Award by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. His current book project is tentatively titled Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation: Mexican Americans and Civil Rights in Orange County, California. He is also a producer and co-host of the podcast New Books in Latino Studies, part of the New Books Network.

I was still in the middle of the street, heart spasming a little from the fact that a car had nearly run me over—literally. Not in a ha-ha-did-you-see-that kind of way. I had been in the middle of a crosswalk when a teenage driver turning left gunned it to race through the intersection before an oncoming car, not realizing I was also in the intersection. The worst part was, when I jumped out of the way to avoid becoming road kill, he happened to swerve in the same direction, coming even closer to maiming if not killing me.

The following is an excerpt from the book The Way of Aloha: Lanai by Cameron C. Taylor. Manu is a Hawaiian Kahuna teaching two missionaries, Elder Taylor and Elder Balane, who are serving on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

MR says: You all lovedthe first one, now here's part two in a series of 8 things every young woman needs to hear.

It is fitting that this year’s Sunday School lessons are based on Church history and this year’s Relief Society and Priesthood lessons begin with the topic of the restoration of the gospel. The events of the Restoration were close to Gordon B. Hinckley’s heart. He visited the Church historical sites every chance he got.

Would "The Bishop" have made a difference?

I think we as humans crave certainty and control. When we encounter complex issues and situations—more general ones like polygamy or priesthood restrictions, or intensely personal ones like having same-sex attraction or dealing with a devastating divorce or death—we want to make sense of them. We want to know why it’s happening and how everything is going to work out. In the absence of a clear explanation, we or others may invent one.

It can be kind of nerve-racking to present a Sunday school, Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Men, or Young Women lesson.