Rachel Hunt Steenblik

RACHEL HUNT STEENBLIK {[email protected]} is the author of Mother’s Milk: Poems in Search of Heavenly Mother (2017) and I Gave Her a Name (2019), as well as a co-editor of Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings. She finished her PhD coursework in philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont Graduate University and has a BA in philosophy from Brigham Young University and an MS in library and information science from Simmons College. She currently lives in Wenzhou China with her family where she mothers, and writes, and teaches the occasional class.

Prodigal Daughter

Articles/Essays – Volume 52, No. 1

The lost daughter woke up
and returned to herself,
and determined she no
longer wanted to be lost,
and determined to
return to her Mother.

What Ashmae Taught Me

Articles/Essays – Volume 52, No. 1

One time, in the temple,
after looking, and smelling,
and asking, and listening,
a quietness spoke back

A Mormon Ethic of Food

Articles/Essays – Volume 48, No. 3

In his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan identifies major problems caused by the recently emergent food industry and the negative effects they have on the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and the environments. Pollan’s observations mirror those of American poet-prophet Wendell Berry. Both highlight losses associated with the demise of independent, small-farm agricultures. Here, I suggest that the Mormon ethic of food in its ideal (if not lived) form beautifully, simply, and powerfully restores what is lost.