Art inspires art. This art, found on the sidebar, inspired me.
I choose to respond in haiku. You may respond as well, but we will only accept comments in haiku. (5-7-5 for those of you who don’t remember high school English….) Here are some thoughts to get you started: Read the rest of this entry »
I had a flash of deja vu a week or so ago, something triggered a childhood memory and I was struck by the oddest thought…I’ve somehow become the person I wanted to marry. I guess I’ve always been a planner, and I had a very clear vision of what I wanted as a child. I wanted to live in Northern Virginia, married to a man who was a lawyer, and who did international work. (What that actually meant was a little hazy to me, but that’s what I wanted.) I now live in Northern Virginia, and am a lawyer who facilitates criminal justice reform in other countries. (I have a better grasp now of what the job actually entails, which I’m sure is a relief to my boss.) Read the rest of this entry »
I signed up for my comprehensive exam today. October 31. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I figured it would bring me good luck, and I’m going to need it. See, I’m in trouble. In order to graduate this December, I have to write my culminating paper this fall and pass the exam. Normally, this program is one and a half or two years, but I took a couple of years off to move to Afghanistan, and so I took the introductory courses four years ago. Apparently the exam is based on the introductory courses. Right now my plan is to befriend some young, innocent, smiling grad student and cajole their notes out of them. The fact that I go to class at night when I’m cranky is kind of a road block to this plan, but I’m cagey and tenacious, so I figure I can pull it off somehow. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been at my current job for four years. During that whole time, there has been a homemade sign hanging up in the bathroom stall: LADIES PLEASE REMEMBER THAT OTHERS USE THE RESTROOM BEHIND YOU!! PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHERS AND CLEAN UP BEHIND YOURSELVES. ALSO THE AIR FRESHNER (sic) IS HERE TO USE. THANKS TO ALL. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t dream much. When I do dream, they tend to be vivid and memorable. The other night I had a surprising vivid dream that I’m still thinking about: I had a conversation with my great-grandmother who died six months before I was born. Read the rest of this entry »
It has recently come to my attention that we, as mormons, have done something shameful, I thought it may be too hot to post, but I can’t be silent. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t think that gratitude is a natural emotion for human beings. Well, let me clarify, because that isn’t quite true. I think that gratitude can be classified in two ways. There is gratitude that we feel for indivuals–for recognizable and identifiable others who have performed a recognizable and identifiable good for us. The actual strength and level of gratitude we feel for others is probably tied up in the status of our relationship to those people and to the level of good that they performed for us. I think we can feel a profound sense of gratitude towards other people, and that feeling is often tied up with any number of other feelings, love, admiration, indebtedness, embarrassment, etc. That’s not the kind of gratitude that I’m talking about here. I’m talking about meta-level, non-individualized gratitude. The “count your many blessings” type of gratitude. I don’t think that kind of gratitude is natural for human beings, and I suspect that evolution is to blame. Read the rest of this entry »
A good friend who was staying with me recently greeted me one morning with the following devastating news: “I don’t know how to tell you this, but you have a new roommate. He’s living under the dishwasher. I named him Jorge.” Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve recently returned from working in a conflict zone for the past two years. This is the first in a series of posts about how the heck I’m supposed to live in America now….I’m generally befuddled.
There’s not a whole lot to do at night when you live in an aluminum container converted into living quarters. You can take a shower, brush your teeth, surf the ‘net occasionally when the link is up, and watch your dvds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer over and over again. Then you’ve pretty much exhausted the possibilities. So to stave off boredom and to relieve a certain amount of job stress, I actually developed a good habit, which frankly surprises me and is somewhat out of character. Anyways, extreme conditions call for extreme actions, so I started exercising. Nothing too intense, but I would walk around the track surrounding our compound for about an hour every night. I’m quite sure that the guards snickered when I was passing and were taking bets about when I’d give up, but I just cranked up the Metallica and chose not to care. Here’s the surprising part, which I’m sure some people have discovered, it feels good to exercise. See, there are these things called endorphins and they make you feel groovy. Also, and this is shocking, exercise leads to weight loss, decrease in stress, and general heart health. I felt like a genius–in on a little secret that only a few people know…the beautiful people.
This post is possibly history making. I’m going to relate “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” to the gospel. (I watched this movie in a trailer park with a bunch of armed security guards, so I just have to be a fan.) Anyways, at one point, Ricky Bobby prays to “Dear Lord baby Jesus” then, just to mess with his wife, escalates to praying to “Dear 8 lb. 6 oz. baby Jesus.” Heretical? Hypocritical? Scandalous? Nahh. This is why I love Christmas… Read the rest of this entry »
When asked about polygamy, a common answer given by modern-day Mormons is that polygamy acted as a social welfare mechanism, providing financial and social security for otherwise single and poor women. I know that my own family’s lone polygamy story stresses this aspect. My great-great-grandmother was orphaned on the way to Utah, and wound up marrying my relatively well-off and already married great-great-grandfather because she had no other way to survive. If I remember correctly there was a significant age difference between the two. They wound up settling in a small community in Cache Valley. Her relationship with the first wife was quite rocky, and when my great-great-grandfather left town, this much younger second wife would clean out the chicken coop and move herself and her children into it until he returned. Read the rest of this entry »
I live and work in the same compound, which means that I never really go home. I work, eat, socialize, and cannot avoid the same group of people. The other night I was in the gym and ran into a colleague. He looked at me and incredulously asked “What are YOU doing here?” “Um, um, um” I stammered for a bit… “I’ve been having some trouble with insomnia lately, so I’m trying to work out…umm…” He looked horrified and said “I meant, what are you doing here at this job, I thought you transferred to Washington D.C.” Oh. Read the rest of this entry »
I have a secret. This isn’t one of those fun, gossipy secrets. It’s more like a burden…a trying to keep someone from getting hurt kind of a secret…and it’s weighing on me. I have this strong urge to divulge, like keeping it in is somehow painful. So, I went to see a secret keeper, my bishop, talked it over with him, unburdened myself, and left feeling calm, peaceful, and able to cope. On the ride home I thought, “how many more people unburdened themselves tonight? How many more secrets is he living with?” Read the rest of this entry »
There is a scripture I’ve read several times this week, and everytime it makes me cry: Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been reading a pretty interesting book for one of my classes: “A Spy for all Seasons” by Duane Clarridge. He’s a fairly egotistical but clearly bright man who spent years in the Clandestine Services at the CIA. He spends a fair amount of the book commenting on other people’s careers, strengths, and ineptitudes–which is both fascinating and makes me grit my teeth in annoyance. Eventually he got to a Mormon (who’s name was changed to protect his identity). Read the rest of this entry »
Do I have any moral responsibility for what goes on in the ‘nacle? Should we all be blamed for what others write? Let’s examine the opposite concept first, should we get credit for the bloggernacle as a whole because we are participants? This is of course a loaded concept in Mormonism, but I’m proud to be part of this community. I learn from you all, I find comfort from your words, I laugh with you even though I don’t know most of you. There is something surprising and fresh and real about our community, and I’m proud of it. Does pride connote ownership and responsibility? Read the rest of this entry »
There are two consequences of dropping off the face of the ‘nacle and lurking for several months. The first is that you are harassed by your co-bloggers because of your lack of participation. Kind of a snarky and blog-worthy home teaching equivalent. Although, I have to say I couldn’t tell if they were “hey, we’d really like you to come back to full fellowship” kind of messages, or if they were “hey, wouldn’t you like to remove yourself from the rolls of the ‘nacle before we go to the bother of ex-ing you” kind of messages. Maybe I’ll lie low a little longer, find out, and let you know… Read the rest of this entry »
I love Halloween. I love dressing up, I love seeing little munchies dressed up, I love scary movies, I love the silliness of it, and I love–love–copious amounts of the bewitching substance known as chocolate. Love it love it love it.
But I’m a Mormon, so should I feel guilty? Is loving Halloween one more arrow in my quiver of badness and unorthodoxy? Is this holiday just too pagan for the saints?
Blogging vs. Snogging [FN1]. Compare and contrast [FN2] and then you decide.
That’s what I wish it said. I’m all in favor of joy–but right now, the most joyful sight I could think of would be the back of my own eyelids. I’m tired. I’m achy-joint, scratchy eye-lid, fuzzy-brain chronically tired. Some nights I’m too tired to sleep, and I wake up every hour looking at the clock. Every day I wake up to my annoyingly loud alarm buzzing (the only effective setting I’m sorry to say) wondering if I’m going to make it. Somethin’s gotta change…but nothin’s gonna change. This is my life until the first week of June. Come on June….
I’ve had a very expensive education. The older I get, the more I’m finding that the only thing it is really good for is to sound witty and erudite at cocktail parties. The irony is that I don’t drink and hate cocktail parties. Instead of learning my lesson, a make it on your own bootstraps and grit kind of lesson, I’m going back to school. Again. For another very expensive degree. One could draw the conclusion that education does not make you smarter.
You knew it was inevitable. Within weeks of joining a family ward, I was assigned to corrupt the youth. Okay, not actually assigned–apparently I "volunteered" to teach early morning Seminary, and let’s just say that no one has actually prescribed corruption. We’ll see what happens.
Last night I was watching PrimeTime Live’s report on a woman from Colorado City who had escaped a polygamous marriage with her five children and returned to confront her abusive father and husband. It was uncomfortable for me to watch–the kind of story that makes me wonder about my polygamous ancestors, and what kind of ownership I have over the current cult problem because of distantly shared religious ideas.
One idea that won’t leave me is the focus the reporter put on the phrase "Keep Sweet." Apparently it is something of a mantra repeated to young girls to remind them of their place–their submissive role in marriage. Disturbingly, this notion of submissiveness is somehow fixed to a notion of femininity–a package presented to these girls, tied up with religious guilt and obligation, that they must accept, whether willingly, guiltily, or painfully. Why femininity? Is it simply an effective weapon used against these girls, or is there some spiritual merit to femininity that we can either responsibly harness or warp in an effort to gain unrighteous dominion?
I just returned from a rather lengthy trip to Utah. Not under the time constraints that usually keep my visits with my family short, I was able to spend a lot of time with family and friends, and have come up with a few conclusions, and of course a few questions.
There seems to be a growing undercurrent in church culture of treating single women with careers with a certain amount of suspicion. I’ve noticed the following, or been part of the following conversations in the last six months or so. 1) Someone in the Bloggernacle linked to a letter to the editor to the Daily Universe by a male student’s mother. She lamented the number of women who seemed uninterested in having families, and instead were pursuing their careers. She suggested that the women spend more time pursuing an MRS. degree at BYU. 2) I was having a conversation with a favorite cousin of mine in Utah. He wants to get married and was looking for girls to date. I asked him what he was looking for and he said "Well, you know, not the Hillary Clinton type." Intrigued and amused, I pressed him. "You know, women who don’t care about their families." 3) The very helpful talk by the local bishop at the annual Duck Beach phenomenon for singles in North Carolina. Basically, "I know your single life is so fun, but you really should want to get married." 4) The apparently controversial cover article in the Ensign this month mentioned this same observation. Overall I liked the article, but bristled a little at the suggestion that staying single and having a career was "glamorous. " Perhaps assuming that the glamour was outweighing the desire to get married and have children, women were choosing to turn their backs on having families.
Why do you blog? What are you getting out of blogging? What would you like to get out of blogging? What interests you about BCC? What ticks you off about BCC? What features would you like to see? What is your favorite blog? Why? Here’s your chance to sound off and tell your humble (or not) perma-bloggers exactly what you think. Lurking a lot? Here’s your chance to chime in.
I feel that one of my functions at BCC is to be the voice of the single community within the church. Not that you all need to know the details of my dating life, which although at times entertaining, are not blog worthy. But once in a while something so momentous happens that I feel I need to blog about it. Last time, the momentous occasion was me noticing that dating in a singles ward is like being on a crappy reality t.v. show. That was marginally big. This time I’m serious, it’s BIG! Here’s the news: I’m old. I’ve been banished. I’m on my way to being a cheap Sheri Dew imitation. The drama and angst is perhaps too much to handle…forgive me while I wipe my tears and daintily blow my nose….
Reactions to General Conference? Comments? Questions? Epiphanies? Post Below.
Happy International Women’s Day! One of my favorite holidays that no one in America celebrates…which is a shame. I think that International Women’s Day has such potential–it’s a celebration of women without the guilt and angst associated with Mother’s day. Plus, in my mind, because I discovered it while living in Russia, it has slightly vague socialist overtones…celebrate the women, heroes of our great progressive culture.
So, BCC readers, as celebration of this great heroic day of progressivist good is basically a blank slate here in America, I solicit your suggestions. How should we celebrate International Women’s Day? (Can’t think of anything buy flowers for the women you love…Russia still does some things right…)
I’ve been reading the famous charity passages in both 1 Corinthians 13, and Moroni 7. I’m fascinated by these passages. They are clearly important in the world of Mormon doctrine. Like the Sermon on the Mount and some Isaiah passages, the Moroni incarnation of the charity doctrine is in part a repetition from the Bible. Also, the phrase "charity never faileth", found in both books of scripture, is the motto chosen for the Relief Society, and one of the first scriptural exhortations that most people memorize just by sheer repetition in church and visual media. The Book of Mormon clarification that "charity is the pure love of Christ" is the basis of our doctrine linking the spiritual gift of charity to the outward manifestations of good works. This is important, basic doctrine, rightly emphasized, and always inspiring.
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