This is a question and answer post with the founders of the blog, Modern Mormon Men.

1)Why the blog?
We were inspired by a Salon.com article about a young, feminist atheist who was obsessed with Mormon mommy blogs (you know the one). We saw a market for a male-focused blog that encompassed general lifestyle interests, but with a Mormon background. So we gathered a group of people we thought were interesting and asked them to blog about whatever they wanted. Parenthood, religion, business, movies, books, etc. Things they find inspiring, uplifting, artistic, discouraging, or funny. We wanted to explore modern perceptions of masculinity, culture, love, and orthodoxy.

2)Who started it?
Two friends from Seattle, Scott Heffernan and Seattle Jon.

3)When did the blog start?
April 15th, 2011

4)What do you see your niche being?
We occupy a space between the intellectual blogs and the more personal lifestyle and mommy blogs. Our contributors fall along the entire spectrum of Mormonism (atheist to orthodox) so we’re a big tent. We’re probably a little more lighthearted than the rest of the bloggernacle, but have the flexibility to go deep as well. Our blog posts are not all related to Mormonism, but you could say they are all influenced by Mormonism.

5)How did you decide on the banner that is at the top of your blog?
Originally it was a play off the Mad Men logo, with the man holding a baby bottle instead of a cigarette. We wanted to visually capture the idea that modern Mormons have a lot of roles to fulfill. We work, we are spiritual leaders, we are parents, and more. Our tagline—the manly mommy blog—spoke to the greater cultural/social/spiritual trend towards greater equality of the sexes. Plus we just dig the Mid-Century Modern minimalist design style of Mad Men. We have since changed the banner, but are still influenced by that minimalist style.

6)How did you decide on the name of your blog and what significance does it have?
Since we started out as somewhat of a counterpart to Mormon mommy blogs, we chose to emphasize the Mormon and male aspects of the blog in the title (although we have female contributors as well). Really we just like alliteration.

7)When did you know you had “made it” in the bloggernacle?
Hmm. Not really sure what that means… We got an amazing start! Right when we launched, Kathryn Soper of Segullah reached out to us and Feminist Mormon Housewives interviewed us. We’re not quite sure how much a part of the bloggernacle people consider us to be. We definitely consider ourselves to be part of it, but we seem to get looked over at times, perhaps because we tend to be less intellectual and have such mixed positions.

Seattle Jon is a family man, little league coach, urban farmer and businessman living in Seattle. He currently gets up early with the markets to trade securitized products for a living. In his spare time he enjoys movies, thrifting and is an avid reader. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and the Japan Fukuoka mission field. He has one wife, four kids and six chickens. Scott Heffernan is an artist, designer, and photographer living in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee, doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the 80s in Salt Lake City and loves skateboarding, toys, and thrifting. He served a mission in England/Wales and has a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. He has one wife and two kids.

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