There are those who get invited to guestblog at Times and Seasons because they’ve been a regular in the Bloggernacle for ages and we figure their turn has come. There are those who get invited because it collectively occurs to us that we and our readers would really benefit from hearing from a circus animal trainer/professional skydiver/registered Democrat/Hollywood movie star/John Birch Society chapter president/illegal immigrant/11-year-old chess master/French chef/member of President Hinckley’s security detail/quantum physicist/polygamy rights activists/dude on the corner handing out pamphlets/female panda/etc. And then there are those who get invited because we just plain like them. Curtis DeGraw is one of these.
Small Favors
I headed to the organ after choir practice. Twenty minutes till Sacrament meeting started — enough time to quickly run through the hymns and play some prelude. I knew what hymns we were singing (the music director e-mails me once a month), and none were too difficult. Suddenly the chorister approached me, with a worried look on her face. “There’s been a few changes to the music,” she began.
President Monson Goes FMH
President Monson told the following joke at the General Relief Society meeting:
Crossfire Canyon: A study in conflict, part three
See Part Two posted 9/27. On September 22nd, I rose early and hiked into Crossfire. Afterward, I stopped at the local market and ran into a women I’d seen at the BLM’s open house, one of the most vocal SPEAR members present that night. We greeted each other and she demanded to know who I was and what my interest in the canyon was. “Are you one of those tree-huggers or something else?” she asked.
Born to Run/Walk
Okay, everyone. The race is on. Feel free to post comments, times, discussion, and links-to-pictures (if you’ve uploaded them to flickr or something). Or e-mail me pictures (kaimipono at gmail) and I’ll post them. Good luck, everyone.
Crossfire Canyon: A study in conflict, part two
See Part One here. On September 18th, the BLM held an open house explaining the closure to local residents. The BLM’s acting field manager opened the presentation, telling everyone that the purpose of the closure was to stop traffic through cultural sites. It wasn’t intended to be permanent, he said.
Mormon Film Series at the University of Chicago
From Frank Bednarz, “a programmer with a student film society at the University of Chicago, Doc Films:”
In Defense of Commentaries
Let’s say that you learned to cook by watching others and that you’ve never picked up a cookbook or seen a cooking show. Could you become an excellent cook?
Crossfire Canyon: A study in conflict, part one
Crossfire Canyon is not the canyon’s real name. Following the trend in nature writing, I have refrained from providing any obvious identifying names or details. Otherwise, this three-part series describes actual events and conversations. Mormons in Utah, especially in southern Utah, often find their concepts of stewardship put to the test when predominantly non-Mormon environmental groups act to preserve resources they perceive Mormons (or any others) are abusing under their stewardship ethic or are allowing to be abused.
Relief in the Order
The town of Kingston, Utah, was settled as a United Order community, whose inhabitants pooled their economic, spiritual, and social resources and attempted to live the law of consecration
Taking On the Big Questions
Today’s colleges and universities have abandoned their most important task, en masse, says Anthony Kronman in his recent Boston Globe article. What are the prospects for getting back in the saddle?
Trib Columnist Accidentally Raises Interesting Questions
It is going on ten years now since I have lived in Utah, but I still follow Utah politics from afar partly as a matter of tribal attachment but mainly because they are just so strange and fun.
Blacks and the Priesthood: What are the options?
Why were Blacks denied the Priesthood from the early days of the church until 1978? Of course, the official (and only really undisputable) answer is, “we don’t know.” But what are the options, really? Let’s go over the list of conceptually coherent potential reasons for the Priesthood ban.
Pushing Toward the Temple
A while back, Dave asked about possible narratives to structure 20th or 21st century Mormons. Another way of thinking about this question is how we bridge between modern experience and our historical narratives. We need not only new stories but also ways of maintaing continuity with our old stories. Consider the two images below.
Barbarians at the Gates
And who might they be, these cultural barbarians? You and me, according to the author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture (Doubleday, 2007). Will it kill the Church too?
A reader wants to know…
A T&S reader has a question about daily family scripture study. How have you made it work in your home? To what extent do the words “daily,” “family,” “scripture,” and “study” apply?
Book Review: Setting the Record Straight: Blacks and Mormon Priesthood
Millennial Press has a new series of short books on controversial topics.
A Brief Conversation About Belief
Sir Poach-a-Lot: Is belief objective, or subjective?
What I Did Today
1. Four loads of laundry.
Little street vendor
She is a little street vendor who put up shop next to the entrance of the church with the long name.
Praising the man
“No, we don’t worship Joseph Smith,” I explained to the investigator. “We respect him as a prophet.” “You mean, like Mohamed?” he asked. “No, more like Moses, or John the Baptist.”
Brigham ‘n’ Ethel 4Ever
A woman — or, perhaps, a group of men and/or women — bent on a practical joke and signing her letter as “Ethel,” once wrote to Brigham Young from St. Louis to propose marriage.
Homework from Richard Bushman
This summer I had the chance to participate in a workshop at BYU put together by Richard Bushman. Bushman wanted to gather together Mormon academics working outside of Utah to discuss the question of how we explain Mormonism. My own sense is that when we explain our beliefs — even to one another — we often fall into the trap of repeating verbal formulations rather than actually thinking through and describing what it is about the Restoration that really drives our commitment.
A Homosexual Duty to Marry?
I know that this is controversial for some readers, but for purposes of this discussion stipulate that same-sex marriage in wrong. As an institutional shift it will damage the institution of marriage in ways that will harm society in the long run. Obviously, this is a hugely controversial claim, but for the time being just accept it. Notwithstanding this, however, a number of jurisdictions have adopted same-sex marriage statutes. Let’s also stipulate the homosexual conduct is sinful, a belief held by most Mormons and one that certainly seems to be church doctrine. Should Mormons who hold all of these beliefs, nevertheless believe that homosexuals engaged in sexual conduct have an obligation to get (same-sex) marriages?