What do Oscar Hammerstein and Carl Bloch have in common?

I recently attended a fairly professional version of the iconic South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the very Mormon town of Centerville, Utah. The sets were gorgeous, the singers were excellent and the actors did a great job of making me care about their characters. However, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when the sailors sang "Bloody Mary is the girl I love, now ain't that too darn bad?" Darn? Really? How am I supposed to believe these are really sailors when they say "Darn" instead of "Damn"?! Then that gem was followed with Bloody Mary calling Lieutenant Cable a "Stingy Bugger" instead of a "Stingy Bastard" when he refused to marry Liat because of her color and heritage. Unfortunately, the substituted words in no way carried the same weight as the original text. Not to mention, a sailor that won't say "Damn" is hardly a sailor at all. (add to that their missionary like stance when they said "Be thankful for the things they've [dames] got!" I was left wondering..."What things?" Their special personality?)

When art is censored through the changing of words the meaning is also changed. Most Mormons I know can handle "Damn" and they even realize that non-mormons say "Damn" all the damn time! Obviously the theater feels it is necessary to Sunday School every little offensive word (while leaving in themes of murder, fornication, hate and racism) for their audience. The audience must be demanding these changes (or threatening to never come back) and there MUST be enough of these people to actually force the theater to make these changes. What would cause a vastly Mormon population to insist on this seemingly extreme censorship?

Perhaps it's due to the example that is being set by their leaders. The "avoid the very appearance of evil" sentiment. The "change anything that you can that doesn't fit into our view of the world" sentiment. The "everyone should be like us" teachings. The articles and lessons expressing these sentiments in talks in church, FHE, primary, homemaking, priesthood meetings, neighborhood lunches, and church magazines like the Ensign.

Which brings me to the danish painter Carl Bloch (May 23, 1834 – February 22, 1890) who painted the fairly well known work The Resurrection. In the December 2011 Ensign a version of this piece was printed with the accompanying article The Condescension of Jesus Christ (pg. 54) and used with permission by the National Historic Museum of Fredericksborg. However, the piece used was not the original work. If you compare the two versions by downloading the PDF of the article, you see that the angel's wings have been clipped, their shoulders covered up and any "nakedness" shown under the arms filled in. The piece has been censored to fit into the church's view of doctrine and modesty and in the process the meaning and original intent of the painting has been changed.

Censoring art and presenting it as the "original" work is misleading at best and outright lying at worst. Regimes of the past have used censorship of art to control people and the sharing of ideas. Fictional works have used the idea of changing words, art and other forms of expression as a way of controlling people and forcing them to think a certain way.

If a religion (or any person or organization) has a problem with a certain piece of art in whatever form, they have the option to simply not use it (or view it). Changing it to fit their needs does a disservice to the original artist and to those who view the work as well as stymies the sharing of ideas through artistic expression.

Finding Truth in Religion

I pulled the following from the blog, www.theamateurthinker.com. (All footnotes/sources can be found on the original blog). Can you determine which quote describes your religion?

A Short Experiment – Comparing Descriptions of Spiritual Feelings from Different Religions

It is interesting to read people’s personal descriptions of religious experience. People from very different religions often use similar words to describe their spiritual experiences.

I’ve collected a sample of people’s descriptions of religious conversion or spiritual revelation. The following twenty quotes are from practicing Atheists, Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, Mormons, New Agers, Protestants, and Universal Unitarians. Try to guess which quote comes from which religion (some religions are used more than once). I have standardized the language (changes indicated by brackets ), so that differences in terminology between religions will not tip you off (thus, mosque, temple and church are all become a [church]; the Bible and all other religious texts become a [text] or [sacred text]).

Try to match these 8 religions to the following 20 quotes. The answer key is below:

Atheist
Buddhist
Catholic
Hindu
Islam
Mormon
New Age
Protestant
Universal Unitarian

1. “I felt a burning in my heart, and a great burden seemed to have left me.”8

2. “But what can I say? How can I describe an experience so profound and so beautiful? Shall I say that it was the most blessed experience of my life? Shall I say that [God] touched my heart and gave me a feeling of peace I had not known before? Shall I describe the tears that flowed freely from my eyes, affirming my . . . faith, as I . . . beg[ed] [God's] blessings for myself and for those I love?”9

3. “The sense I had of divine things, would often of a sudden kindle up, as it were, a sweet burning in my heart; an ardor of soul, that I know not how to express.”10

4. “As I read these books in a . . . bookstore, . . . I felt a burning in my heart that I should come and investigate.”11

5. “[Even as a child], [w]ithout understanding much about the complex [doctrine] . . . he was attracted to [church]. There he often felt a strong feeling of peace flowing through his body.”12

6. “I was praying . . . when I felt a burning shaft of . . . love come through my head and into my heart.”13

7. “I truly [sic] wanted to know [the truth]. After a few weeks, I stumbled onto [texts] which . . . answered my questions in a way that I had not heard of before. I read everything . . .and I even tried the experiment of asking [God] for . . . his divine love. After about 6 weeks, I felt a burning in my chest and a sensation that was unlike anything I had ever felt. It was pure happiness and peace. I knew then that [God] had sent His love to me.”14

8. “A feeling of peace and certitude would tell me when I had found the answers and often after people would help me by pointing in the right direction.”15

9. “We gave up a lot of things. What did I get in return? I received a feeling of peace, hope and security. I no longer lay awake at night worrying. I stopped cussing. I became much more honest in all aspects of my life. [God] has changed my heart and my life. My husband’s heart is changing also. We pray all the time and really feel [God’s] presence in our marriage. My perspective has changed. My view of life has changed about what is truly important.”16

10. “Many women described a feeling of euphoria after they committed to following [God] . . . . One woman described a feeling of peace; she said: ‘It is like you are born again and you can start all over again, free from sin.’”17

11. “A feeling of peace seemed to flow into me with a sense of togetherness . . . . . I felt very peaceful from inside and also felt [warmth] . . . .”18

12. “I felt a burning sensation in my heart.”19

13. “That inner light, that we all have or had at some time in our existence, was nearly burnt out for me. But in the [church] . . . I found a feeling of peace, inner solitude and quietness that I’d also found in reading the [text] and pondering over its meaning and trying to practice what it tells us.”20

14. “For the first time I not only felt accountable for my past sins but I had to fight back tears. I knew that I had let down [God] [and] my family . . . . However, I also knew I was forgiven! [It] gave me a feeling of peace that I have never felt it in my whole life. I felt like I had a huge weight lifted off of me and that I was finally home and free . . . . I felt like a new person.”21

15. “Every time I am there [at the church building], a feeling of peace overcomes me.”22

16. “Every time I was with the [church members], I felt this warm feeling, a feeling of peace and for the first time in my life since my church-going days, I wanted to follow [God] . . . .”23

17. “About 10 years ago, when Jenny and I decided to start a family, we began looking for a spiritual community for our kids. During my first service at [the church]. . . I was hooked. I recall the feeling of peace that I felt when I was attending [services].”24

18. “The power of [God] came into me then. I had this warm and overwhelming feeling of peace and security. It’s hard to explain. I had to . . . stop myself from falling backward.”25

19. “[The religious leader] looked into my eyes deeply for a moment, and I experienced a feeling of peace and love unlike anything I had ever experienced before.”26

20. “[After praying,] [i]mmediately I was flooded with a deep feeling of peace, comfort, and hope.”27

21. “I recently spent an afternoon on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, atop the mount where Jesus is believed to have preached his most famous sermon. . . . As I sat and gazed upon the surrounding hills gently sloping to an inland sea, a feeling of peace came over me. It soon grew to a blissful stillness that silenced my thoughts. In an instant, the sense of being a separate self—an “I” or a “me”—vanished. . . . The experience lasted just a few moments, but returned many times as I gazed out over the land where Jesus is believed to have walked, gathered his apostles, and worked many of his miracles.”28

The answers are in the next paragraph. My point here is not to say that any of these people’s experiences are invalid or that they are not valuable, or that religion is bad (I am an active church-goer myself). Nor am I trying to say that this proves any certain religion to be true or false – just that spiritual experiences are a universal human emotion, and that, just like any emotional experience, they are not enough by themselves to be reliable indicators of absolute truth. This is easy to demonstrate using religious experiences, since the claims of most of these religions are contradictory. Thus, if one of the above religions were true in the absolute sense, many or most of the others would be false. Many or most of the above people’s religious experiences, therefore, could not have been reliable indicators of the truth.

Answers: 1. Protestant; 2. Islam; 3. Protestant; 4. Catholic; 5. Hindu; 6. Catholic; 7. New Age; 8. Islam; 9. Protestant; 10. Islam; 11. Hindu; 12. Protestant; 13. Islam; 14. Catholic; 15. Buddhist; 16. Mormon; 17. Universal Unitarian; 18. Catholic; 19. Hindu; 20. Protestant; 21. Atheist

Complex Animosities

This afternoon I was able to visit the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I was quite familiar with the events of that fateful day after reading "Massacre at Mountain Meadows" by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard. Upon completion of the book, I blogged about it here.

Being familiar with the suffering endured by the Baker/Fancher party, visiting the monument was an emotional experience for me. It was heartbreaking to read the names of ages of the adults and children who were murdered on that Sept 11th day. Children as young as 7 were killed in hopes that the youngest children (those under 7) would not remember the events of that day and would not be able to place blame on the Mormon settlers who were responsible for this horrendous act. In 1999 the LDS church erected the monument below to remember the settlers that perished on that day.


As I stood in the peaceful valley I couldn't help but think of their party and how they must have felt safe and protected there. The cruel turn of events was almost unimaginable and yet, the monument is there, reminding all visitors of what can happen when "complex animosities and political issues intertwine with religious beliefs". (a quote from the overlook plaque displayed below)



As we drove away from the monument, we couldn't help but begin to draw parallels to present day "complex animosities and political issues intertwined with religious beliefs". We reflected on the hurt and damage inflicted on many of our dear friends due to Boyd K Packer's recent conference talk in which he said

“Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember he is our father.” (The censored printed text reads: “Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Remember, God is our Heavenly Father.”)

Due to these kinds of statements, our homosexual friends are made to feel as if they are sinners, evil, weak and wrong. Many members of the church take such statements and use them as fodder to perpetuate the animosity towards our LGBT friends...Saying that they love them on one hand, but refusing to allow them love in this life on the other.

Instead of nurturing the animosity between "us" and "them" we need to put our differences aside and truly love one another, not just in name but, more importantly, in practice. Love that allows everyone the same rights and privileges and recognizes the value that loving relationships (no matter how they are constructed) can give to our society as a whole. Instead of following leaders who tell us how we should think an feel, we need to instead follow what our own hearts & souls are telling us. Only then can we all put the "complex animosities" aside and truly say we have learned from the horrible mistakes of the past.

NOT the Messiah

I recently saw this trailer and knew I HAD to see this! It is an oratorio version of Monty Python's "The Life of Brian". I hadn't seen "Life of Brian" before so I promptly ordered the original on netflix. It was pretty funny and gave me the background I needed to fully appreciate "Not the Messiah (a very naughty boy)" which came in the mail a week later.

I just watched it over the weekend and was literally crying I was laughing so hard. Absolutely brilliant! If you like Monty Python, this is a MUST SEE!

I Like to Cook!

So that's a sentence I never expected to say (or in this case, type). I have pretty much claimed total ignorance my entire life when it comes to cooking. Sure I can whip up a mean Noodle Roni, but that doesn't exactly count as "cooking". But it now seems, that after 10 years having been married to my ex (who loved to cook and was fantastic at it), and serving that time as his Sous-Chef, that apparently, I may have, well, just happened to learn a thing or two about cooking. In fact, I would even go so far as to say I enjoy it (in moderation of course...like once a month, maybe.)

So today was that one time a month and I went all out. Invited some family over and made an awesome black-bean pumpkin chili in the crock pot, complete with fresh...err, well fresh frozen anyway...tomatoes and a bunch of other ingredients that I actually had to chop, dice, stir and measure. My cookery did not end there, however, I also whipped up a mean foccacia bread, a homemade vanilla cake with white chocolate frosting and homemade, fresh, Ben & Jerry's recipe, raspberry ice cream. I know, you're jealous. It was amazing and it all turned out exactly as I imagined.

I've even found that in addition to eating the result (which of course is always the best part), I really enjoy the planning that goes into a meal. The "What do I need to get the night before? What can I make ahead? If I put this in at this time then I can do this other thing while its cooking and everything will be ready at 5!" Yeah, there is something very satisfying about the process. Like a mini project plan that you can create, execute and complete all over the course of a couple days.

So, anyway, who knew? I like to cook. Seriously. Wow.

God is Great?

So, after milling around the San Diego seaside bookstore, we found this little gem. Both books placed side by side. Both New York Times Bestsellers...although, interesting to note which one is the #1 bestseller.

Hot Pocket!

You have to sing the title in a Jim Gaffigan kind of way to really appreciate this.

This is most likely the best contest ever!

Mmmm, what could I do with a year's supply of Hot Pockets? Well I certainly wouldn't eat them , if that is what you are thinking...I'm not that crazy!

Fall Activities

BTW, I'm back

So for any of you folks out there who haven't deleted me from your reader after not getting any new posts for 3 months....I'm planning to get back to updating my blog a little more frequently. I don't want to make any firm commitments, but it shouldn't be 3 more months until my next post. ;-)

Enjoying the Journey

So, lately I have been thinking a lot about how I live my life and how I tend to always look forward to the fun stuff and begrudge the not-so-fun stuff. The typical, "I wish it were the weekend", or "I can't wait for vacation", or "If I can just get through work today, then tonight will be awesome!" That kind of thinking. However, when I stop and think about it, I really don't want to live my life waiting for the next fun thing. I want to be able to enjoy everything, the good and the bad, the easy and hard, the boring and exciting. So lately I have really been trying to enjoy the journey of my life. To think instead, "I am excited for this one thing but look at all the things I get to experience between now and then. How cool is that?"

Today happened to be one of those "I'm looking forward to the day" days but it didn't come without it's fair share of varied life experiences to keep me on my toes. Here's what today's journey involved:

• Running back to my apartment after being at work for a mere 45 minutes to do a very quick clean so a potential renter could see my apartment. Then returning to work all sweaty and smelling like Glass Plus.
• Finding out that my closing costs were $1000 more than I was expecting exactly 30 minutes before I was to sign the papers and hand over the check.
• A lovely lunch and a chance to decompress with one of my favorite people.
• Working until 9:30pm (since I only had 3 hours combined as of 4 pm)
• Slicing my thumb on the top of a soup can as I attempted to prepare dinner at 10pm.
  

After today's experiences, I wonder what tomorrow will be like? However it turns out, I intend to enjoy the journey!

A Life That Resembles Me

I don't want to be married anymore.

In daylight hours, I refused that thought, but at night it would consume me. What a catastrophe. How could I be such a criminal jerk as to proceed this deep into a marriage, only to leave it? We'd only just bought this house a year ago. Hadn't I wanted this nice house? Hadn't I loved it? ....Wasn't I proud of all we'd accumulated?... I had actively participated in every moment of the creation of this life - so why did I feel like none of it resembled me?

The above is a quote from the book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. The first few chapters read like a biography of my life for the last couple years. I could relate 100% to the last line. It's weird how we can take one step after another in life only to find that after all those steps, our life doesn't even resemble who we really are.

All the crazy changes I have gone through over the last couple years have really helped me create a life that, now, does resemble me. I love where I am at now. I love that I can walk to work. I love that I have an exposed brick wall, on purpose! (name the musical!) I love that my apartment is now decorated. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but we lived in our house for 6 years and never hung a single item on the wall. So yeah, its a huge deal. I even found some great city pictures for the bathroom. I went all out. Anyway, here are a couple pictures of what I have ended up with.

My aunt gave me the picture in the center during my run of "Guys and Dolls" where I was playing Sarah. It is one side of what was a reel cover. (Like a record cover but it actually encased the movie reel). The street sign photo on the left was bought on a recent trip to New York and the rest of the frames are filled in with various other New York city photos.

And my kitchen. Equally awesome with the Eiffel Tower in the background! (Sorry you can't really see it, I promise it is really there.)

Pride

Salt Lake City hosted the annual Pride festival today...And even though the rain managed to give us all a good drenching as the parade went by, it was still fun and good to support the cause. Of course there were plenty of the "out there" type of entries....


but there were also a lot of entries that were quite moving. It was awesome to see Cleve Jones as the grand marshal for the parade (he was portrayed in the movie "Milk" and has continued to champion the cause since Harvey Milk's death). It was also moving to see many members of PFLAG expressing their support as parents, families and friends of lesbians and gays. Seeing them made me think that the media should be focusing more on groups like these and less on the shocking type of entries. It seems to me that is what pride is really about anyway...loving, understanding and supporting each other.

The parade ended with this huge flag which was just cool!

It was fun to see a few friends along the route as well. Yay for Utah Pride!

Leaving

I finally finished Reading Lolita in Tehran. It really was a very interesting read, although not for the faint of heart. I think I read three other books over the course of reading just this one. Anyway, I want to share just one small quote from near the end of the book during the time the author is getting ready to leave Tehran. I just liked the way she summed up, so succinctly, these kind of experiences in life.

You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again.

The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixion

After hearing on the radio an advertisement for this show, something along the lines of "Sister Dottie S. Dixon, bridging the gap between the LDS and gay communities one casserole at a time", I knew this was a show I could not miss! I promptly got tickets and enjoyed "The Passion" today, along with a healthy dose of poorly played primary songs, hymns and patriotic tunes, thanks to Dottie's friend Dartsey FoxMoreland.

This show is a one woman (er...man?) show with Dottie played by Charles Lynn Frost. It depicts her journey growing up as a 10th generation Mormon, marrying in the LDS temple, raising their child Donny (who comes out to his parents at age 16), and ultimately dealing with her deep alliances to and love of both her gay son and the LDS church. She believes she has received a calling from the Lord to bring together the LDS and gay communities by the year 2012 and promptly begins in the only way she knows how (by cooking a casserole for each of the Apostles and the First Presidency of course!). The show was equal parts humerous, sincere and serious with one of my favorite moments being her depiction of driving to Nevada to play the nickle slots with her friend Dartsey only to have the car breakdown on the way there. Of course they knelt down and prayed for help, first asking for forgiveness (although they hadn't really sinned yet and they were, after all, only going to play nickels) and then asking for the Lord to start their car so she could complete her newly found calling.

In the end the message of the show really was that every person's journey to God is a deeply personal one and that no one can follow the same path as another. You could tell that most of the audience members connected to the show on a very personal level and could easily relate to the experiences of this mother. The show gave each person there the recipe to living an authentic life with the key ingredients being to be true to themselves, stand up for what they believe is right, be courageous in the fight and finally to add in a can of Cream of Mushroom soup!

I loved this quote that she continually referred to as well:

"Well behaved women seldom make history."

I also about died when she was wondering how her son could be gay, after all he had grown up doing all the right LDS things and singing all the LDS songs, including "I'm a Mormon, yes I am".

In honor of this fantastic show and my childhood memories growing up LDS, here's a link to all those great songs on the "I'm a Mormon" record by Janeen Brady! Go ahead, sing along...I won't tell! =)

Something Other Than the Olive Garden

Okay, folks. After one too many of my friends have told me how they came downtown and went to the Olive Garden before such and such event, I feel it my duty, to step in, and give you all some advice on the many other options you have for dining in Salt Lake City! Friends!! If you are coming downtown, I implore you to try something new, and enjoy all the various options you have when dining in the city! To that end, here are some of my local favs (along with my favorite dishes)! Try them out! You won't be disappointed.

Bruges Waffles
This place just opened across from Pioneer Park. I know what you are thinking but it is actually a really nice place to hang out in during the day. Trust me. Bruges makes the best waffle I have ever had. Ever. Even compared to Waffle House waffles (and those of you who have tried Waffle House waffles will know what i mean) Anyway, back to Bruges, their waffles are more like dessert tho, so to round out the meal I suggest getting some of their tasty Frites (french fries). Thats at least two food groups, right?

Banbury Cross
The best donuts in town. Hands down. Try a cinnamon one or a bear claw. Delicious!

ACME Burgers
Everything is good at ACME! Everything. It is a great place to go for Sunday Brunch. My favorite dish being the Rabanada French Toast - think, churros for breakfast. But not a bad idea to split that with someone who is getting something a little less sweet, like possibly the Frittata.

For lunch or dinner they have amazing burgers and amazing everything else. My fav is the ABC Mini (a small burger) with sweet potato fries. If you want to go all out try their Cheese and Beer Fondue with Zuchinni sticks as an appetizer. Also, the bread pudding is a tasty dessert.

Settabello
Settabello serves Napoli style pizza (very thin crust) that is light and yummy. They use the finest imported ingredients and everything is cooked in minutes in their wood fire brick oven. My favorite pizza is the Margherita. If you are planning on sharing the pizza, then you may want to get a salad as well. I recommend the Caprese salad (fresh tomatoes and mozzerella covered in olive oil).

Red Rock
Right next door to Settabello is another Salt Lake staple. Apparently they make great beer but I tend to favor their homemade rootbeer! Everything I have tried there is good so you really cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. Their dark chocolate cake, tho, is perhaps the best reason to go.

Blue Iguana
Great, fresh mexican food. Salt Lake also offers the Red Iguana on North Temple, but I like the way the Blue Iquana prepares my favorite dish, the Enchiladas Suiza.

Thaifoon
Thaifoon serves Thai and Chinese dishes and the dishes are fresh and original. My favorite is the Sizzling Beef w/Asparagus. If you know someone who doesn't think they like Chinese food, have them try this dish and they may just change their mind. Also good are their coconut shrimp and their tasty chocolate volcano dessert.

The Bakery
All around best desserts. Tons of options and they are open late (I think 9 pm). They also have a good lunch and dinner menu but really, its the desserts. They are amazing and plentiful.

Ben's Cookies
Best cookies in town. They close at 9-ish (really, that's is what it says on the door) so go before the show to pick out some treats for intermission or for afterwards. Its at the Gateway so parking can be a bit tricky, if you are driving with someone, I recommend dropping them off and let them run in and get the cookies while you drive around the block. Yeah, I know, probably more than you needed to know, but I just don't want anyone to miss out on the yummyness that is Ben's Cookies because they couldn't find a convenient parking place!

Belief-o-Matic

I tried this out and found the results interesting and somewhat entertaining. I wasn't surprised my beliefs most closely fit with the Unitarian Universalists but what exactly is a "Liberal Quaker?" Isn't that an oxymoron? Anyway, if you try it out, post a comment with your "scores"!

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (98%)
3. Reform Judaism (96%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (79%)
8. Mahayana Buddhism (75%)
9. Secular Humanism (70%)
14. Scientology (62%)
18. Islam (58%)
19. Hinduism (49%)
23. Seventh Day Adventist (31%)
24. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (28%)
26. Roman Catholic (20%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (13%)

A Day In the City

So I'm standing in front of three African young women in the Starbucks line today...I was intrigued and couldn't help listening in on their conversation... Here are a couple of the interesting fun quotes from that conversation (From what I could gather it seemed they were somewhat recent immigrants from Africa)

"Everyday is Mother's day [in America] for women from Kenya"

In looking at the Ethos water bottle ...."Rural Kenya? Where is that? It says the sale of the water benefits the children in Rural Kenya...." Which just struck me as funny, since it seems they were from there and were trying to figure out where, exactly, rural Kenya was...

"The Arabs have all the money, and we ended up in America!"

Then on my way home another random guy on the streets wished me a Happy Mothers day. Which was almost as good as last week when another random guy passed me and said "Hey Baby, what's goin on?"

I Read History Books

There, I said it. Not only do I read them, I get excited about reading them...I can't wait until the end of the day when I can take 45 minutes to an hour and dive into all those delicious facts and dates, places and well, people. All this coming from a person who didn't even try taking the AP History test in high school because she just couldn't seem to remember all those dates and places and names! And honestly, not much has changed...I still find myself getting lost in the numerous dates and names but it is the stories...the stories of the people who lived through all these different times and places, those who lived through both the tragic and the mundane that so intrigue me. At at risk of sounding cliche, I will say it anyway...there is so much to learn from what has happened in the past!

I started reading "Massacre at Mountain Meadows" a few months ago but just couldn't get past the first chapter. Too many dates, names and places and not enough story. So early this week, I somewhat guiltily decided, "Hey this is my book, if I want to skip the first 100 pages, that is my right!" and quickly proceeded to the more captivating middle chapters. I have had my nose stuck in that book in every spare moment ever since.

It's a book about a tragic event that happened in Southern Utah in the late nineteenth century. It's tragic on so many levels...tragic for the poor folks that were so wrongfully deceived and ultimately massacred, tragic for the Indians who were put in the middle of the conflict and, later, fully blamed for the outcome and tragic for many of the those who did the deceiving and killing all in the name of following the orders of their religious and civic leaders.

To elaborate on the last point, the citizens of southern utah blindly followed their leaders without question to personal morals and what they may have personally thought was good and right. In the investigation following the massacre "one man after another said he had gone to the Meadows because of military orders". A military that was led by the religious leaders of the area. Nephi Johnson, an Indian interpreter, said that "A good many [men] objected, but they didn't dare say anything". They were told it was the right thing to do, and despite their misgivings, followed their leaders into "battle". The women left behind were instructed by Sister Haight (wife of Issac Haight who was a chief leader in the planning and execution of the massacre)

"the necessity of being obedient to their husbands" and not to be fearful in these "troublesome" and "squally" times". "We ought to attend to secret prayer in behalf of our husbands, sons, fathers, & brothers" and teach their children "the principles of righteousness, and to implant a desire in their hearts to avenge the blood of the prophets".

They were told it was the right thing to do, and in the name of obedience, the Mormons in the area followed the counsel of their leaders.

Additionally, this singular event in Utah history so clearly demonstrates the dangers of the us vs. them mentality. When a group of people separate themselves so fully from another group that they honestly believe they are better and more privileged, it is a recipe for disaster. As I think about it, I am reminded of a class I had in college. The teacher had everyone stand in a line as she listed off the many things that we judge people by (and by doing so, separate ourselves from them) and for each thing (sexual preferences, religious preferences, etc. etc.) the students in the class that fit the descriptions stepped across the room, becoming the "them". It was a truly eye opening experience as I realized that people I had put in the "them" category before, were really friends, acquaintances and classmates - people who up until that point I had considered to be just like me. How could the tragic events of the massacre have turned out differently if the Mormons in the southern Utah community had attempted to get to know the families in the Arkansas train headed for California instead of considering them "their common enemies"? Surely they would have realized how similar they really were and would never have felt "justified in distroying them."

Although this event occurred over century ago the key ideas that led to this disastrous event are still prevalent today. As a society and responsible citizens we must always listen to our conscience and fight for what we believe is right, even if it is unpopular. We must embrace and celebrate our differences, instead of condemning those that are not like us.

Who Determines What is Moral?

Today in the Deseret News there was an article about Vermont's Legislature overriding the Governor's veto to legalize gay marriage. That makes four states now with legalized gay marriage. Hooray for progress! However, in reading some of the comments in the article this one really struck me...

The economic downturn is troubling but nothing compared to the immoral practices this country is starting to embrace. Legalizing gay marriage is just plain dangerous and destructive. Our society becoming immoral will destroy us. I hope for our countries sake that this trend does not continue. It amazes me how blind people have become.

As I read that it sounded eerily familiar to things I have been reading in the book "Reading Lolita in Tehran". In this book, the author describes the many freedoms that were slowly taken away from the Iranian people all in the name of morality. If you replace the words "Legalizing gay marriage" in the comment above with any number of other freedoms that were withheld from the Iranian people all in the name of morality you start to see the problem with this line of reasoning. Freedoms such as:

"Allowing people to read fiction from American authors"
"Allowing women to go outdoors uncovered"
"Allowing freedom of speech"
"Allowing religious freedom"
Etc. Etc.

So my question is: Who gets to determine what is moral and what is not? Just because the majority believes something is immoral, does that make it so? Every right that was taken away from the Iranian people (women especially) was similarly explained away as being "immoral" and destructive to society as a whole. Now, these same arguments are being used in the United States to justify the restriction of rights of a minority or, rather, the rights of our friends and neighbors.

As has been proved by history, what is considered "moral" will vary greatly depending on religious and political influences. Maybe instead we need to focus on love. If we love our neighbors, wouldn't we want them to be happy? Wouldn't we want them to have the same freedoms we have? Its time for those who think gay marriage is immoral to examine a little more closely that other Christian value... "Love thy neighbor as thyself".

Freaky

After putting in my order at the local sandwich shop today, they call out "Jan" to let me know my order is ready. Me and another woman step to the counter...Apparently I am not the only Jan ordering a sandwich which is actually pretty unusual...I mean you may think Jan is a somewhat common name, but it's no Michael or Jennifer, for sure. Stranger, tho, was that we had both ordered half an egg salad on wheat. Yeah, I know, freaky, right? I think I ended up with her sandwich...Hopefully she is not upset when she finds salt and pepper added to hers! Oops!