August 11, 2005 To Whom It May Concern: I hope that you will not find an unsolicited letter presumptuous, but I wanted to give you my thoughts on what I see as Dialogue’s problems and some things it could do to improve.
The dog
It happened in the back of the former living room we called our chapel. The church itself was an insignificant Flemish rowhouse. Thirty-six chairs crammed the room. Six rows of six. When half of them got filled, we boasted on the Church’s growth in our city.
DC Get Together Reminder
This Saturday at 5pm in Springfield, Virginia. If you are interested in coming, please email me at [email protected]. I will send details and directions via email.
Dating, Jane Austen, and the Virtues of Chastity
Like most rugged and red-blooded American men I have long enjoyed the work of Jane Austen.
Breaking my back just to know your name
Those of us who live a peripatetic (peripathetic?) life come to know the Elders’ Quorum Moving Company pretty well.
Leaving Jonesboro
This past Sunday was our last in the Jonesboro ward. We’re moving to Illinois on Saturday, and while we’ll have a chance to say goodbye at greater length to some of our closer friends over the next few days (to say nothing of when the elder’s quorum shows up to help pack the truck!), for the most part our partings on Sunday were final. (At least in the short term, that is; in the long term, who knows? We may well find ourselves visiting or even living in Jonesboro again someday, a prospect which I wouldn’t mind one bit.)
Thank You, Kirsten
It’s time to say goodbye to Kirsten and thank her for being an oustanding guest blogger. I appreciate the way that she formulated potentially-explosive and oft-discussed topics in a fresh, creative way that led to great discussions. Thanks, Kirsten, and we hope you’ll continue to stop by and comment.
Kim Clark and the Book of Mormon
A couple quick thoughts on recent prophetic moves.
Mormon T-shirt Kitsch
I am sure most of you are familiar with the types of “Mormon t-shirts” like these, these, these and these. To me, they are beyond kitschy and have entered the realm of horribly tacky.
Searching the Scriptures
Several weeks back, I posted a short thing on Conglomerate and Blogcritics about my search for Harry Potter & The Half-blood Prince.
Manners, Race, and Respect
I have always thought that one of the most telling and subtlety vicious aspect of segregation was the fact that a white person regardless of age or economic status could always call a black person, regardless of age or economic status, “boy” or “girl.”
Visions–Medieval and Modern
I had just completed the oral defense of my admission-to-PhD-candidacy exams, which emphasized the writings of medieval visionaries and mystics. My advisor extended his hand, and with his typical wry smile, said: “Congratulations. You passed. Now, go home and have a vision!” We all had a good laugh, but for different reasons. They all laughed because they don’t believe visions are possible. I laughed because I knew how much it would unsettle them to know that I do.
Hiroshima
It happened. From pictures and testimonies we can grasp somehow what happened.
From the Archives: Mormon Lawyers
Despite Brigham’s frequent attacks on the profession, there are a lot of Mormon lawyers. Some LDS thinkers have posited all sorts of troubling reasons why this is so. Nibley sees it as a symptom of moral decline, and I have repeatedly seen it used as evidence of excessive Mormon materialism or anti-intellectualism. However, today I realized that it might be about something else entirely: book binding. (more…)
“Costly Apparel” or Just Good Economics
Being in the fashion industry, I have always been bothered by the constant references to “costly apparel” in the BOM and its link to pride and the downfall of nations.
No more foreigners
Our worldwide missionary effort is plurilingual. The Church has always been involved in outreach efforts to other tongues, now translating material into 185 languages. There are wards and branches, led in the local idiom, in 165 countries.
Lincoln on Blood Atonement
Today on my way to work, I passed by the Lincoln Memorial where the great man’s sermon on blood atonement is inscribed in marble.
What Not To Wear Part 1
By popular demand, here is the first installment of the Sacrament Meeting-Men’s edition of “What Not to Wear”
Using our Mormon Brains
This post has two main parts — both involve being Mormon and engaging one’s brain. I think they’re still two distinct issues, but I’ll bring them up together, nonetheless, not least because my guest-blogging days are quickly drawing to a close. (Thank goodness — I feel as if I’ve been sucked into some fascinating and time-swallowing vortex that could be impossible to get out of if I didn’t soon…. How I admire [I think… :-)]all of you permanent bloggers.)
DC Get Together
Bloggernaclites! For those in the Washington, D.C. area there is going to be a get together at Casa Oman (sans, alas, Heather and Jacob, the more interesting Omans) on Saturday, August 13th beginning at about 5pm-ish. It will be a bring your own food kind of BBQ. I will provide watermelon, drinks, and fresh salsa from the Oman garden. If you are interested in attending, please email me at [email protected]. I will send out an email with directions. UPDATE: I have changed the email address to a functional account. Sorry to anyone who tried to send an email to the previous account. Please resend. UPDATE II: OK, so that one didn’t work either. Please resend to [email protected].
On the Possibilities of Kitsch
OK. I don’t want to go to film school any more.
Plain and Precious Truths
Nephi teaches that many plain and precious truths that were once had among the Jews have not made it into the Bible handed down to us via the Gentiles. We tend to talk as though these are truths revealed by Christ, but not passed on as his church fell into apostasy. But could many of these be truths lost before the time of Christ, or revealed before Christ but lost shortly after he left the Earth?
Blood on the Doorposts
Let’s call her Sister Jones. We both taught seminary in Northern California a few years ago. I liked her from day one: faithful, funny, and willing to lend out anything from her complete collection of Sunstone back issues. (This was in the days before full Internet access, you see.)
I Want to Go to Film School
My wonderful wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, as left me.