Condie Ricey

Yesterday this lovely lady came & spoke to BYU in a forum.

It was AMAZING. Wes took the afternoon off of work to catch up in school & we lucked out that he got to come too!

She is so inspiring. She talked about coming from Alabama in a black family and not being able to go to a restaurant when she was little bc of her color. She talks about her first white classmate wasn't until her family moved to Denver, Colorado. She talks about despite this, her parents raised her to believe that she is capable of becoming whatever she wants to be. She is a concert pianist. She went to her first 2 years of college for Piano Performance. She said though, that when 12 year olds came in & could sight-read a song she'd been practicing for a year she decided it's time she switch her major. Her parents told her "You better find a major, it's our money!"

She then took a class from a professor that was a Soviet Specialist. She said that's when she decided what she wanted to be. & that she became! Plus a little more.

It was the most inspiring forum! She has the biggest faith & family base & belief. She comes from a good strong family of believers.

She is hilarious & charismatic. She talks about how her sister-in-law studies Victorian literature, basically writes books about Dickens. So, she said, when people think she's strange about what she does as a black lady, she just points them on over to her Sister-in-law! haahaahhahah (I think that's the relationship) The main point to her message is that, no matter where you began, even if the most humblest of settings, that you can achieve whatever you want to.

She acknowledged the BYU atmosphere & the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a faith centered people. A people who like to learn, but integrate our knowledge & faith, instead of replacing one with the other. She said she believes in learning, it's something she learned from her parents & grandparents & so on. She said that she believes we can study to learn all that we can on human knowledge, but that there is even more, that we don't know yet, & that we won't know in the human realm.

It was an incredible lecture.

Going into it I know nothing of politics, I steer clear of that messy stuff. I prefer ignorance, even though that kills Wes. I hardly knew anything about Condoleeza Rice & had maybe seen a picture of her once, & knew she was a big deal in the government. That's all I knew. But I do know that she is a great person. A wonderful example to our nation & a fabulous person.

xoxoshe'saprettybigdeal