It was over thirty years ago but I remember it like yesterday. Our daughter was sitting with us in the pews, watching the administration of the sacrament, when it dawned on her: Only boys were participating! That same day she asked her Primary teacher why girls weren’t also permitted to…
Public Relations
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In My Day it was Paul H. Dunn
Recently Mormonland has been crowded with stories about Tim Ballard, the LDS founder and former CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). Once a model Latter-day Saint and possible candidate for Romney’s senate seat, Ballard is now excommunicated and facing charges of sexual assault. Reports also reveal he frequented bars and…
Testimony
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#ThinkRespectful: the Talk I Wish Had Been at General Conference
Sometimes inconvenience bring insight. Earlier this week, the San Francisco Public transit system made my best option for getting from Point A to Point B a 40-minute walk, almost enough time to listen to a podcast episode titled “What do I do if listening to Conference hurts?” It was the…
Testimony
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How Mormonism goads fiction writing
Sometimes, for family home evening, we brainstormed about the end of the world. That’s the first thing I thought when I saw an article in the New York Times on why Mormons have such a prominent place in YA fantasy fiction. Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and Orson Scott Card’s…
Testimony
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Leaving the Mormon machine, I struggled to find community without conformity
Years ago, on a cross country road trip, an LDS friend of mine broke an axle in the middle of Nebraska. He found a payphone, called his father in Utah, got the phone number of the region’s stake president, and called the man, a stranger. Then the Mormon machine…
Mormon Doctrine
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Mormonland!
Saw Barbie the other day. What a delight. It was cute, sparkly, hilarious, deliciously subversive, inspiring, relevant, and above all, PINK! Plus it made me nostalgic. Not so much for the doll. Although I did have a Barbie, also a Ken, a pre-pregnancy Midge, and a Skipper (flat-chested model). But…
Ethics
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Personal Responsibility for Conflating Love with Cruelty
Some of my closest family members treat me badly because their church tells them to. I long tried to excuse them because I remembered when I was deceived by the LDS church as well. Then I remembered I Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is…
Gender
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Toxic Femininity and Mormonism
When the concept of “toxic masculinity” first started gaining popularity, I saw various articles and social media posts saying essentially “Oh yeah? Well there’s toxic femininity too!!” As if that were a rebuttal or response to the theory of toxic masculinity. I think those folks completely missed the point. The…
Jews
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The Impossible Things a Mormon Can See at a Bat Mitzvah
There’s no clear Mormon equivalent of a bat mitzvah. When I turned twelve in the 1980s, I stopped going to the Merrie Miss class in Primary and became a Beehive in Young Women’s. I traded the shouty chorus of “We are a Happy Family” and the mock-Indian gestures of “Book…
Testimony
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What Crafting-as-Ministering Can Miss
There’s a joke among Mormons about shoving a cookie through another Mormon’s mail slot on the last day of the month. Actually, I’m not entirely sure it’s a joke. I grew up with my family getting regular visits from ‘home teachers,’ men assigned to my family to check in monthly…