DiaBLOGue

South of Olympic

If you’re looking for a house in that area and price range,” said the real estate salesperson—and she lowered her voice to a horrified whisper—”You’ll have to go south!” I rested the telephone receiver against…

The Office of Bishop

In a revelation received 4 February 1831, Edward Partridge was called to be the first bishop in the newly formed Church of Jesus Christ. Before that time, the Church’s structure consisted of elders, priests, teachers,…

Quintessential Mormonism: Literal-Mindedness as a Way of Life

No single feature of Mormonism strikes many perceptive non-Mormon observers with greater force than Mormon literal-mindedness. For instance, in his monumental and largely sympathetic monograph The Mormons published in 1957, Thomas F. O’Dea wrote that…

Hold

Gray day with a brown leaf refusing 
at the end of a wind to drop, 
why is the crabbed clinging 
so intricate a part of the dance? 

Battling the Bureaucracy: Building a Mormon Chapel

Excessive multiplication of bureaus results in a bureaucracy, which we may define as any administration in which the need to follow complex procedures impedes effective action. A bureaucrat usually works by fixed routine without exercising…

Home from the North

only from the nesting hollow 
            of our bed 
will I say how cold it’s been 
            so cold