In my next class, “Sexual Purity,” they were bound to take attendance, so I couldn’t very well just not show up. I thought a bit about what the consequences might be if I were to skip one of my classes, but in the end, since I knew that some of…
rape statistics in Utah
I was preparing some presentations for one of my classes today and looked up rape rates by city in the U.S. (from fbi.gov) to give my students a better understanding of what rape rates are like where we live. While I was at it I took a quick look at…
The Space Between Subjectivity and Objectivity
There are few things as enjoyable as coffeeshop philosophizing, and usually my favorite philosophical topic to mangle is epistemology, which is the study of whether it’s possible to know things, and if so, how we attain knowledge. Over the years, I’ve trended towards a viewpoint that I call radical subjectivity…
“Husbands, treasure your wives. They are your most valuable possessions”
As difficult as it may be to believe for some non mormons, this statement was not made in the height of 1950s America or during the nineteenth century abolitionist movement. It was made this past April 2007 by the leader of the mormon church, whom mormons believe talks directly to…
Pure
by Dawn Houghton My mom claims Marilyn Monroe is the Mary Magdalene of her generation, misunderstood and angelic, so my mom goes about thinking of ways to save Marilyn’s soul. Instead of a usual Monday “Family Night†where we talk about charity or honesty, we wait until the weekend and…
part 2: exorcising the Holy Ghost
This post follows an earlier one, the spirit. Check that one out first so you can get a segue into where I’m coming from. During my long process of questioning and exiting, I’ve re-evaluated just about everything in my life. I had a especially hard time explaining, defying, and reinterpreting…
Doomed Unrequited Love and a Very Special Hieroglyph
The next morning over breakfast we compared notes on the dance. This didn’t take too long since no one had really met any serious prospects. The ones that were closest to finding a romance were Amy with Greg and her sister Alexandra with this guy Matt who was from Ely….
part 1: the Holy Ghost
I remember the first time I felt one of my prayers was answered. How old was I? After baptism, but still a pre-teen. I had just learned to really love reading novels, and I picked one up from my parents’ library. It was a Tony Hillerman book, a murder mystery….
Blogger Land
Here in blogger land, people say the darndest things. And that’s just the comments. Recently I was lambasted for a post about a church meeting I had attended. The experience got under my skin, so I blogged about it. I was called, by several people, “shrill, unhealthy and bitter.”
Maidenhood, Spinsterhood & Sex
The highlight of attending Young Woman’s each Sunday was seeing C.J. C.J. was one of the Young Women’s advisers and she wasn’t your typical LDS woman. She was blunt, honest and downright irreverent at times. I looked to her as more of a big sister, rather than a teacher. She…