What You Walk Away From
April 3, 2018Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.” In fact, that statement shows up in the New Testament three times: in Mat thew 12:39, in Matthew 16:4, and again in Luke 11:29.…
DiaBLOGue
Baptism for the Dead and the Problematic of Pluralism: A Theological Reconfiguration
April 3, 2018As religions often do, Mormonism promises salvation to its faithful participants. It also speaks of those who are not its participants, who are in some way outside the religion. Under this second heading, there are…
Poor Sad, Dead Girls
April 3, 2018You poor sad, dead little girls
Tonight I am crying for you.
I have walked gingerly in your blue shoes,
Your small shoes, your worn shoes,
Touching the Hem
April 3, 2018My grandma died three years ago. What I have of her now is a collection of odds and ends of memories. I have a few physical reminders: her senior class ring from Jordan High School, an old can full of buttons, and a photo of the two of us at my college graduation. The memories are gradually turning into anecdotes that I tell myself over and over.
Women of Cards
April 3, 2018In a monthly cycle,
women gather to play cards,
to not talk of the children
they have or don’t.
Mormonism in a Post-Soviet Society: Notes from Ukraine
April 3, 2018Legend has it that in the year 988 A.D., Prince Vladimir, ruler of ancient Kievan Rus’, brought Christianity to the Slavs. The apparent catalyst for his own conversion was a plea from Emperor Basil II of Constantinople. A renegade general had gathered an army to march on the Christian capital, and the emperor begged Prince Vladimir for an army to buttress the defense of his throne.
Pottery
April 3, 2018I sit at the wheel as I did
when I was young.
My hands pull the
warm plastic sediment
A Place to Call Home: Studying the Indian Placement Program
April 3, 2018Late morning heat shimmers off the hood of my battered Honda. Nothing in sight ahead but more parched fields stretching under an opal sky. A box of cassette tapes in the back seat rattles a…
Recovering the Signifier: New Jack Mormons
April 3, 2018If you haven’t been living in a cultural bomb-shelter (or serving a mission) over the last few years, you’ve probably noticed a strange media obsession with my generation. Twenty-somethings, they call us. Sometimes slackers. Or Generation X. Even Generation X-cess. None of which I had any say in, nor from which I can escape. Fortunately, I am Mormon and accustomed to being called names.
Hard Publics
April 3, 2018Not their felon, not their lackey, you.
After the sclerosis of your tissues,
the emulsifying of your fluids,
reprieve