Why I Blog
Running this blog for the past year or so has been interesting to say the least. It has brought me a lot of joy – and pain – and I have grown in many different ways. Through this experience I have also been lucky to meet some amazingly intelligent and articulate...
Technicolor Sunday
When I was younger my family attended a protestant Church that had lots of stained glass windows. In fact, I don't think there was a clear window-pane in the whole place. And it was marvelous! There were biblical scenes and symbols everywhere - executed in...
Book of Mormon Hits: PART II
Part Two I don’t know if you was around to hear the first part of this tale where I talked about a farm boy said he dictated a book out of a hat and all the outlandish ways that book managed to sneak back and take a peak at history, coming up with a passel of...
Where Does My Story Really End?
This is the second post in a two-part series about narrative structures in the Church as they relate to women. You can read the first post here. "The 3 Lessons" When I was serving my mission, I had a very feminist trainer. I’m pretty feminist too, but I think she had...
Book of Mormon Hits: PART I
Part One The year is 1829. The place is upstate New York. Using his trusty magic rock, a 23-year old farm boy dictates a six hundred page book from the bottom of a hat. He says it is a history of some folks who left Jerusalem about 600 B.C. He says it is written in...
Chopping Off Arms is Better Than Planning FHE
Narrative Norms, or “Why didn’t you write this play about men?” By Laurel Sandberg-Armstrong When I was still living in Provo, and my husband and I were almost done with our sojourn in Zion, I had the life-changing experience of playing the lead in the premier of...
Gay Mormon For Marriage Equality
Perhaps you are reading this thinking that it is impossible to be both Gay and Mormon, that it is impossible to “serve two masters” or improbable to maintain y faith amidst my sexuality. I stand here to join my voice to the growing chorus of us who hold callings in our wards, who bring dates to Sunday School, and who have become Sassy Gay Friends to countless single sisters.
The Midwife: A Biography of Laurine Ekstrom Kingston – A Book Review
The Midwife: A Biography of Laurine Ekstrom Kingston The Midwife is a biography written about Laurine Ekstrom Kingston’s experiences growing up in a fundamentalist Mormon community as a polygamous wife and working as a midwife across many fundamentalist communities in...
The whole truth and nothing but
--that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth. Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ.-- Doctrine and Covenants 88:6-7 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free John 8:32 We are emerging from an age that put...
“Ordain Women” interview
I had an opportunity to interview Hannah Wheelwright regarding the Ordain Women panel of Sunstone 2013 on August 1st. EOR: What was the purpose behind the Ordain Women panel at Sunstone 2013? HW: A lot has happened in the sphere of Mormon feminism since Sunstone 2012,...
Fluffing the Numbers
Before I get into the main part of the article, let me get my disclaimers out of the way first: this is not an official statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no documentation that I can cite. This is second-hand information. I...
Teaching Children Empathy
(This piece is cross-posted at No Poor Among Them). Several months ago, our family had a movie night. The film was Charlie Chaplin's The Kid, a 1921 silent film where Chaplin plays--what else--a tramp who has fallen on hard times. To make matters more difficult for...
Baby Jesus and Bathwater
Recently I participated on a panel at the Sunstone Symposium. I volunteered because the panel had consisted only of men and the organizers needed at least one woman. Turns out, I was that woman. Jeff Burton, author of, For Those Who Wonder, chaired the session. You...
From Russia With Hate
From Russia With Hate by Robert A. Rees As much as we like to consider ourselves as living a civilized society, one of the things that should give us pause is the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, not only in what we might consider...
Depression Is Not A Spiritual Problem
I had postpartum depression–a medical problem, not a spiritual one. Repenting could not make it go away.
I Know the Church is True: Part 2
I Know the Church is True: Part 2 Click here to read Part 1 of this post. By Bob Dixon "I know the church is true". This is a really dangerous phrase. Why? Because it appears to communicate truth, while in reality being completely subjective to the person hearing...
LGBTQ Mormon Crisis
Two Printable handout for bishops and stake presidents that talks empirically about LGBTQ suicides:
The LGBTQ Mormon Crisis: Responding to the Empirical Research on Suicide
Youth Suicide Rates and Mormon Religious Context: An Additional Empirical Analysis
The Barker Brothers’ Projects
These videos were created for Latter-day Saint parents and allies to voice their love for their LGBT brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They want to give a message of comfort and support to other parents who are navigating the difficult conflicts that can arise in families around this issue.
“Cogito!” (“I think!”) follows the intellectual adventures of a recovering academic outside the walls of academia.
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