Interesting Conversation Starters

Before I married Carter, I HATED dating. I mean, I know I didn't spend that much time dating because I was married fairly young, but it pretty much sucked the whole time I was doing it. At the time, I pretended like I liked it because, well, what else was I going to do? It's the kind of thing you can't escape when you're at BYU. Every conversation revolves around it. And if you're not talking about boys, it's because you're on a date with a boy and you're making boring small talk instead. I remember just craving real, significant conversation. I had some great friends that gave me that kind of mental stimulation but, still, the majority of time was devoted to he-likes-her, she-like-him.

Now that I'm married I don't have to talk about things I don't want to talk about. Haha! We don't talk about dating, we don't make boring small talk, and we say exactly what we think (mostly me)! At least with each other, Carter and I are both fairly good conversationalists, but considering we spend every spare moment together it's good for us to read separately. Carter reads the news and science fiction, while I read non-fiction and blogs haha.

So maybe this isn't a list of party ice-breakers, per say, but it IS a list of great conversational material for that person who lets you talk about what you want to talk about.

The Matt Walsch's blog. He addresses so many everyday issues pertinent to our society and in such a well-stated, slightly-rantish way. I love it. Specifically, I love this article  called, Stop calling your wife 'the boss'. 

This three-part series on feminism in america called Makers: Women Who Make America. I loved part I and part III but part II has some parts you'll probably want to skip over. The series really helped me understand that some not so great things came out of the feminist movement - like increased sexualization of women and the decreased importance of family in society - while at the same time, lots of other great things came about because of the feminist movement - including increased female achievement, decreased tolerance of domestic abuse, and greater male participation in family. If you watch this, you should talk to me about it! 

This article about pro-choicers becoming pro-lifers. It's a serious issue and everyone should spend serious time thinking about what they believe. The below picture is not propaganda but the facts of a 22-week abortion.

Lies My History Teacher: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. In it, James Loewen emphasizes the "dark side" of American history that is often misrepresented in textbooks. I'm always quoting this book to Carter. The book stresses the importance of reading history with a critical view and I think the same is true of his version of history. I think it's a fascinating book but I would recommend reading it with a grain of salt! 

And finally I'd recommend this interesting TED talk called How to Live to be 100+. It's completely relatable to everyone human and I've been surprised how often I can bring it up in casual conversation and not be weird.

I would love to talk to anyone about any of these links. In fact, it might be nice to occasionally talk to someone else besides Carter :)