Comments on: Falling Leaves

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:14:59 +0000

Great post Dan. I have a mormon friend who is gay and has two gay brothers. His mother once had the brothers and their boyfriends over for dinner and then remembered that she had also volunteered to feed the missionaries that same night. She briefly considered cancelling on the missionaries but then decided it would be a great opportunity for everyone to break bread together. :)

By: Dan Weston

Dan Weston — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:12:04 +0000

gomez,

I am not an -ism person. I actually have little relationship with Mormonism, nor is it my active plan to create one. My interest is with people. But if you want it in the form of a parable:

http://zokwezo.blogspot.com/2009/10/hydrogens-love-affair-with-helium.html

By: gomez

gomez — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:08:48 +0000

Hi Dan,

Do you have a post anywhere that describes your relationship with Mormonism?

Btw, great post. Thanks.

By: Norbert

Norbert — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:37:17 +0000

Excellent story. The Suspicion of the Elders at these sites is always kind of fun. I used to stop off in Kirtland and Nauvoo sometimes when driving cross country with long hair and a beard.

I’ve heard being from California used here as shorthand for being really flaky — if someone parks very badly, someone might get mad and say, ‘Go back to California!’ I am very very proud in those moments.

By: Kevin Barney

Kevin Barney — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:01:53 +0000

What a great story. I’ve only been to that site once, during my first MHA conference in Vermont a number of years ago. I’m glad I had at least that exposure so I could visualize your tale. And I got a kick out of your reaction to the Friberg paintings…

By: Dan Weston

Dan Weston — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:53:12 +0000

E: Am I Mormon?

Short answer:
“Thus far, I have not yet felt the calling to become Mormon or straight…”

Long answer:
http://zokwezo.blogspot.com/
Scroll down and look for About Me on the RHS.

By: Left Field

Left Field — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:13:42 +0000

I once was with a date at the Hill Cumorah visitors’ center. A man and a woman well into our thirties with different last names. No wedding rings. We told the tour guide we were Mormon. I think he was bewildered by our particular demographic. I had the distinct impression the tour guide really, really wanted to ask our relationship, but didn’t want to find out if we might have been living in sin. We just let him wonder.

By: E

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:46:17 +0000

Great story Dan, but I am confused. Are you Mormon or not? I love the “we’re from California!” too.

By: Dan Weston

Dan Weston — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:46:08 +0000

Cynthia, I think what really intrigued Elder and Sister M. was not that I called Marty my husband, but that my mom called him her son-in-law, casually, quickly, and without shame. That was perhaps outside their paradigm. As for the Republican Family Tree of Power, I think the key word was not Republican, but Power. Nor is it historically unprecedented in the Christian churches, since Matthew the Evangelist devotes the first 17 verses of his gospel linking Jesus with King David. Clean Cut, "I’m dying to know how you became interested in following/participating on this blog in the first place" The same way that everybody does: somebody outraged me, I gave him a piece of my mind, he asked for seconds, and thirds, until finally I no longer had the will to stop, and now I am addicted. The process was kind of like being kissed by a dementor, except that instead being drained of hope and filled with despair, I was drained of rage and filled with hope. Since then, I have learned to receive as well as give. :) As they say in that uplifting movie, "It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself."

By: Cynthia L.

Cynthia L. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Awesome. What on earth were they doing questioning you like that?? They had to have an inkling. Classic example of the forbidden becoming irresistibly demanding of our attention.

And do they really connect Joseph Smith to recent Republican (only) presidents? What is that about? Is that supposed to, like, mean something? (other than we are destined for a first gay President Weston?)