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I was raised a believing Mormon, and eventually left the church last summer after a period of intense research. My faith crisis was emotionally troubling to say the least, but it really developed my critical thinking and debating skills. I went through lots of research and historical documents, which really helped me learn to analyze information well. Reading through the CES Letter and apologetics like FAIRLDS tested my ability to see both sides of an argument. There's a great "exmo" community online, places like r/exmormon and exmormon.org were very helpful to me during my transition out. I'm very glad I found these places because living in Utah means I'm surrounded by Mormons, and there's not exactly people I can talk to about this. I hang out in online atheist spaces a lot now.

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I took debate as an extracurricular from 7th to 10th grades, and there were some ups and downs. I enjoyed the research, discussions, and overall writing out arguments. I didn't enjoy how competitive it was and how much focus was put on winning. The people in debate were generally cool. I was alright at it, but eventually ditched because it took up too much time and was too competitive for my tastes. It did really help develop my reasoning and argumentative skills, which have been very useful over the years.

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Americans that wish they lived somewhere else

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Americans that wish they lived somewhere else

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America's great and all but has some serious problems that other developed countries don't. Healthcare is pretty trashy and is generally tied to employment which isn't a great idea. A ridiculous amount of the national budget goes to the military and America tends to spend way too much on wars that don't go anywhere. Education is not good in many areas despite the money dedicated to it. The two-party system of government is great in theory but has resulted in crazy polarization lately, and people vote based on wedge issues (abortion) more often than actual policy as a whole.

this is a weird post but I couldn't think of anything else

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I've been playing videogames since I could hold a controller. When I could access the internet properly, I hung out in a few gaming communities. I keep up with the competitive Smash Bros scene, as well as the Minecraft and Hollow Knight communities. It's a lot of fun to just look into all the talking online about games, very interesting stuff. Overall just a fun way to spend time online, although a disturbing amount of my speech patterns are occupied with competitive lingo.

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Cyprus band is pretty cool, I've been in it for all four years here. It's a fun time, and I enjoy playing in a group. It can get a bit much with staying after school for hours, but overall I like it. The expectation for practice has helped me get better at time management and better with my instrument in general. Band has been a cool extracurricular to take during my time at Cyprus.