The Halls of Babylon

You know what else is an effective counterbalance to the woes of the world? General Conference! It's coming soon — and to help you be ready, our good friend at The Ward Cartoonist has provided yet another outstanding General Conference Activity Packet! Download your copy today!
 

From the inside

We finally started the school year here in our district. It's rough when there's still so much nice weather outside!
 

Hand in hand

Sometimes it's just not in the cards.
 

Coming soon!

Good luck to all: students, parents and teachers alike!
 

Prepping for school

We've got all boys, so our back to school was entirely lived in the last panel.

But wait! There's more summer!

Sometime between mid-August and mid-September, something changes in the air. Instead of smelling like sunscreen, freshly mown grass and barbecues, the air picks up notes of pencil shavings, fresh backpacks and new textbooks.

 From our house we can hear the marching band and football team practicing, and summer becomes a memory.

Sigh.
 

Is there anything lovely or of good report?

If it makes any difference, I feel the same when when I look at my calendar of meetings at work!
 

Improvement and progression

To me this ranks up there with "Our menu options have changed" as far as useless messages go.
 

A banner year

It's back to school time here! Many schools have already started classes, others will start in the next few weeks. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to look back at some school-related cartoons from (my) history.

Trials

At the end of Job, he got everything back double. By extrapolation, he would have had to go to graduate school for years!
 

Those Red Sea moments

My version is trying to make it across the bridge to home during rush hour. Some days it feels impossible!
 

I'm ready whenever you are!

There's the oft-asked question: "Where are all my Valentines?"
 

For your benefit and learning

I'm sure everyone has a subject that just doesn't make as much sense to them as they would like. I liked algebra because we got to make pictures. Well, line drawings and Battleship and Utah addresses. And I loved geometry because we went from lines to shapes. But beyond that, I don't think even a Urim and Thummim could have helped me! 
 

Tell me something good

Even though this has been in the queue for quite some time, I've been a little hesitant about running it today in light of the recent incident at Utah Valley University. 

I used to live not five miles from there. I've driven by that spot several times, and I've been in that courtyard. Even from far away, it still hits close to home.

I join in the calls for peace, tolerance and understanding. 

I'm reminded of the words of Elder Dale G. Renlund in his General Conference address, "Infuriating Unfairness."

"Brothers and sisters, not throwing stones is the first step in treating others with compassion. The second step is to try to catch stones thrown by others."

"Join (the Savior) in His mission 'to heal the brokenhearted,' strive to mitigate unfairness, and become a stonecatcher."

Hidden gems

So many places have already started back to school and it's still only the middle of August! There's something not quite right with that scenario!

Editor's note: The photo of the Portland Temple in the background was taken by one of our Oregon DOT aerial photographers who was shooting a project near the junction of I-5 and OR 217. The temple is just to the east of the freeway. I spied it and pulled it out as I was reviewing the photos. It's one of my favorite of the Portland Temple — and he wasn't even trying!
 

In memory

Is it back to school where you are?
 

The sealed portion

Let's face it. In middle school, everyone was a dork. We should never speak of it again.
 

Never listless

My dad was a teacher at my elementary school. I know he had a strong influence on what was included on my assigned summer reading!
 

The dawning of a brighter day

Is it wrong to confess how happy I was to finally be done with the early morning seminary car pool?
 

Holistic training

Yes, as a missionary one needs to be prepared to teach and testify. One also needs to be prepared for outright rejection.