The Obsessive-Compulsive Mormon
April 23, 2018In Guatemala I saw Indians sitting by the side of the road dangling their feet over a cliff as they stared across the valley to the mountains beyond. The guide told me they often sat…
DiaBLOGue
Family Presentation
April 23, 2018On fast Sundays in my home ward we have what’s called a “family presentation” during the opening exercises of Sunday School. Usually, the bishop chooses a couple with relatively young children to present a program…
Journey to My Westward Self
April 23, 2018For some years I have been working on Jungian interpretations of history, not in order to lay claim to any special insight into historical events, but as a way of enriching our experience of the…
The Enduring Significance of the Mormon Trek
April 23, 2018When the bishop asked me to speak, I was pleased to accept this opportunity to think about the contemporary relevance of our pioneer heritage. After telling him that I would speak, however, I had doubts…
Wait Till the Wind Blows Toward Utah
April 23, 2018Wait till the wind blows toward Utah, said the General:
Too many Californians with too
much sense to let us
Drop it on them.
How come? asked the AEC man.
Benjamin
April 23, 2018What is it that a father finds in one
to favor over others?
Did Isaac know what grace was his
in primogeniture
while Ishmael wandered?
A Ford Mustang
April 23, 2018High school boys with big dreams, I was one of them; I longed for freedom, for a Ford Mustang with meats and headers and dual glass-packs. And then too, I suppose I was tired. John…
Peripheral Mormondom: The Frenetic Frontier
April 23, 2018A concept called the “center periphery dichotomy” is sometimes used by social scientists to illustrate and analyze regional disparities.[1] Center or core usually refers to those areas so richly endowed in population and resources that…
The Orson Pratt-Brigham Young Controversies: Conflict Within the Quorums, 1853 to 1868
April 22, 2018Brigham Young and Orson Pratt are both regarded as valiant leaders during the first generation of the restored Church. Both worked mightily in the missionary field and showed themselves stalwart defenders of the faith. Yet…
Two Poets: Their Travels, Their Moods | Emma Lou Thayne, Once in Israel, and Marden J. Clark, Moods: Of Late
April 22, 2018The scene was just past the gate at summer’s end. The pine trees brushed against the two-story mountain house. The poet’s study, all windows, looked out over a luxuriant mountain range, yellow and purple with…