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.

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.

Milk

So I finally saw this movie last night...(yes, I have found a new favorite Sunday evening activity...Going to the movies!)...and found it both inspiring and depressing. Equal parts of both, I'm afraid. Perhaps if I lived in a different state I could have watched and just thought, "Wow, look what this man did. He stood up for himself and fought for civil rights for all and truly made a difference." Of course the ending of this true story is tragic and disheartening, but possibly I could have looked at it as "Well at least we have come a long way since then."

Unfortunately, living in Utah, it made me leave feeling depressed that our state of Utah isn't much further along in the battle for basic civil rights for all people than California was more than 30 years ago. Just a couple weeks ago, a bill was presented to the Utah legislature that would have guaranteed that homosexual people living in Utah could not be fired,denied work or denied housing based on their sexual preference. When I heard of this bill it seemed like a no-brainer, I mean I thought it was already illegal to so blatantly discriminate against people in our community. It seemed like one of those bills that should have been added to the books years ago and was maybe just over looked and forgotten about. Sadly, this was not the case and in true Utah fashion, the bill didn't even get past committee! It lost 5-8 despite heartfelt testimony from those championing the cause. How is this possible? How, even in one of the most conservative states, could it be considered okay to discriminate in this way? While states like California have moved on to battling over the more current and controversial issue of marriage, those who care about the homosexual community in Utah are still stuck fighting for the most simple basic rights.

Today the Deseret News patted the Utah Legislature on the back for how "smooth" the legislative session went saying
"all the while, controversial issues, like gay rights ...... seemed to just fade away." How sad that such an important issue was struck down and hardly noticed by the press and general population. What will it take to bring the legislature of Utah out of the dark ages (well the '70's anyway) and get them to truly embrace the love that they so freely preach from the pulpit on Sunday?

Me vs. The Vending Machines

So today, I really wanted an orange juice to go with my breakfast sandwich from across the street. The sandwich shop didn't have any, so I went back up to my desk and gathered a dollar bill, a quarter, and a five dollar bill (just in case it was more than $1.25) and went back down to the second floor to the juice vending machine. Little did I know that the juice vending machine along with its vending machine neighbors were secretly all plotting against me....

I see right off that an orange juice is $1.50. No problem! I load my five dollar bill into the machine and it spits it right out again. Try again. Same result. In and out. So I try the dollar bill changer to hopefully get some quarters. But same result as the vending machine... in and out. I'm not ready to give up yet, so I decide to load my five dollar bill into another vending machine, choose something for later and then use the change to get my orange juice. That machine gave me back 4 dollar coins and .15 cents (and a bag of Twizzlers). So now I proceed to load the dollar coin into the juice machine. It drops through. I pull it out and try again. This time it eats it! Doesn't fall through, won't give it back and no dollar credit. Hmph! However, not easily deterred, I see that vending machine #3 has gum for .50 cents. Perfect! I'll purchase some gum and then get back two quarters leaving me a dollar bill and three quarters. More than enough! Except...I put in my dollar and try to select the letter for the gum. Apparently the 'H' button is out of order....sooooo no gum. No worries, I select something else (this time a granola bar) and get back .15 cents. Add that to what I have and I now have one dollar and 55 cents in change. I'm set! Except... Now the juice machine won't take my one dollar bill either. Apparently the juice machine doesn't like paper money...who knew? But no worries, a nice lady is close by and seeing my predicament, offers me four quarters for my dollar. I am so close I can almost taste the citrus-y yummyness that is waiting for me. Carefully I pop in my 6 quarters and select the number for the orange juice. The machine slides over to my selection, gets the juice, slides it back to the dispenser, the dispenser opens, I reach in and.......(drumroll please!)......IT'S FROZEN!!!! So I get to eat my breakfast longingly staring at my completely frozen orange juice.

Yes, I'm pretty sure the vending machine gods were against me today.

Christmas Rant

Ok, I'm a grinch. I don't try to hide it. I have absolutely zero Christmas decorations at my place and I try to take the bare minimum approach to everything Christmas. I have attempted to listen to Christmas music once or twice, but get so annoyed by the cheesy versions of Shirley Temple singing "Nuttin for Christmas" that I am forced to turn it off, or wish I could turn it off...really if I am paying dearly for a meal at a fine dining restaraunt, should I really be forced to listen to that? Really?!! Might not a symphonic recording of Christmas music be slightly more appropriate for such a place? Is it really that hard to find decent not-so-annoying Christmas music? IS IT?!!! But I digress...

So thats reason one I guess...the music...Not the good & new music, no, I'm talking about the annoying versions of the same old tunes I have heard since I was three years old. They were great when I was three, but yeah, 30 years later, please, just someone make it stop.

Next, I hate the expectations of Christmas. I hate that people expect that you just must get all excited about Christmas the day after thanksgiving and that if you don't then you are somehow anti-Jesus and deserve nothing but a huge lump of coal in your stocking. Is it really necessary to entertain the same level of enthusiasim for a holiday that I had when I was five? Why is it not OK to reserve my excitement for a few days before...you know, for the days when all the stress of the holiday (figuring out what to get people, shopping, wrapping) is over with and I can can actually enjoy it (giving, enjoying time with family, time off work, etc).

Which brings me to my next reason...Buying presents. I love getting that perfect present ready and put together for that perfect person and giving it to them in that perfectly magical Christmas moment...Well, as long as I have a really great idea that I am certain that person will like. But honestly, how often does that happen? Maybe one gift out of 10? Maybe one year out of three? So, for the rest of the people that are on your list you are scrambling...thinking of what you could possibly get this person that you really don't know very well or that person who already has everything, or this other person who you know will be getting a stellar gift from someone else and you want yours to be at least comparable to that one. So you end up heading to Wal-Mart at the last moment, rummaging through one picked over isle after another looking for a gift that will probably just be regifted anyway and end up with...*Drumroll please* The All-in-one fruitcake maker!!!! Now really, who wouldn't want that?

So, to all of you little Who's out there...please just head back to the suburbs (and quit taking up all the metered parking downtown! Me and my CNG car are supposed to have free metered parking, not you! Ok, now I'm kidding...well...sort of ;-) and have yourself a merry little Christmas...Just let me enjoy mine on my own terms. Curled up with a blanket, some hot chocolate, a cookie and a book listening to the Christmas bells echoing through the windows from the church on the corner.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Pull up a chair, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show tomorrow as Sarah Palin debates Joe Biden about the key current political issues of today!

Well, actually, I think I need to use the term "debate" rather loosely in this context. Honestly, I cannot imagine how Palin can successfully debate Biden when she has a hard time even putting together a coherent thought on the subject of the bailout...or was it healthcare? or was it job creation? or tax relief? or trade? Really, what in the hell was she talking about?

I absolutely love the idea of finally having a woman in the White House, but Sarah Palin is an embarrassment to all of those women that have forged the path ahead of her thus allowing her such an honor. Palin perpetuates the horrible stereotypes of women that the feminist movement has fought since the 1960's to overcome. In the few interviews she has had with the press she comes off as an attractive unthinking, unknowing, and wholly uninformed woman.

I can't help but wonder how a woman who cannot answer the simplest of questions, a question that any person I know could answer without even thinking, could possibly come to have power over our lives and the direction of nation?

If Ms. Palin cannot even articulate what she reads (presuming she does, in fact, at least occasionally read) how can she effectively serve the country as vice-president?

By McCain choosing her as his VP pick is he telling us that it does not matter how smart a woman is or what or how she thinks as long as the woman looks good by his side? We do not need a woman like this in the White House. She will do more harm than good for the independent thinking women of this nation.

Crappiest Website on Earth

How is it possible that the owners of the Happiest Place(s) on Earth (which also just happened to rake in a mere 3,374 MILLION dollars in profits last year alone) also happen to have the Crappiest Website on Earth? How? Please tell me. I just don't get it.

If I'm spending thousands of dollars on that "magical" vacation of a lifetime, then don't I deserve a pleasant booking experience? Oh sure, at first the website gives you that same magic filled feeling you had as a young child the first time you stood in front of Cinderella's Castle (which is conveniently helped by the fact that the castle is the first thing you see on the web page). The colors are bright and vibrant and the page slowly scrolls through all those magical moments you are sure to experience once you have booked your trip. And, if all this weren't enough to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Mickey is there too to welcome you to this "happy" place.

As soon as you start to actually use the website tho, all of the illusion of magic and happiness begins to fade. If you make one tiny little mistake on a form an error is returned and ALL of your info is wiped out. Yup, you get to start over... start typing (again) but proceed with caution. Don't accidentally hit the "Enter" button before you are through or who knows where you will end up. But rest assured it will mean you will be starting over from the beginning and retyping everything again. Hopefully you are not in a hurry since all this typing and retyping is going to take some time, not to mention that even a successful form submission (if you somehow manage, by some miracle, to not unintentionally piss off the magical website fairies in the process) is painfully slow.

If you manage to actually complete the process and book your vacation on the Disney website then you are a true winner! (Akin to making it through a whole day at one of their theme parks without getting that signature red cherry snow cone stain down the front of your very white shirt). I am happy to report, that after a few tries, I WON! Our Disney vacation is now booked. Hooray!

And lucky for me, I got to have that fabulous Disney website experience again today as I shopped for a Disney honeymoon registry gift for a wedding shower of one of my friends. After retyping everything 2-3 times I was finally successful, only to find out that the "card" I was supposed to be able to print out with my personal greeting, was somehow missing MY PERSONAL GREETING!! So I ended up with "Congratulations!" + BIG BLANK SPACE + Mickey and his magic Cinderella castle at the bottom. Terrific. It should be noted that at this point any and all warm fuzzy feelings had now, somehow, magically disappeared.

Hopefully, by the time we (and my friend) actually go on our dream vacation, the magic Disney fairies will show mercy on us and make sure that all our dreams really do come true. After all, after going through all the hassle of booking the trip, don't we deserve at least that?

A Little Advice

Don't lose your credit card! Seriously. Don't. Even if you are getting gas at midnight behind a scary old building with no one around and you're terrified of getting mugged or worse and its dark and cold outside, and did I mention, scary? Yes even then, put the safety of your credit card first!

You may have guessed that I am speaking from experience on this one. I was afraid I had lost my card and early this week my fears were confirmed. $150 in charges appeared on my credit card but that was only a small fraction of the damage that had been done. Whoever decided to go on a shopping spree with my credit card managed to rake up over $850 in charges in just three days! So now after several phone calls with my credit union, a couple to the local police department, dealing with a rather unhappy husband, a personal visit to the credit union and many, many signatures later, I am nearly done cleaning up the mess. And although everyone has been very helpful and assured me that we will not be responsible for the fraudulent charges, it's still a little scary to think someone went around posing as me for three days...forging my signature and pretty much wrecking havoc on my finances. Officer Friendly gave the impression they would actually try to track down the thieves but I know my little financial problem is probably not the highest priority on their "bad guys to track down" list. Oh well, I can still dream there might be a little justice in the end, right?

Peace, Love & Understanding

So as promised, here is my update on my experience at the Unitarian Universalist church that I attended yesterday.

From what I could gather from the songs, ceremonies, etc. it seems that this church really is all about peace, love and understanding. You can believe in nothing or in everything. Everyone is welcome and loved and it seems the church really just provides a gathering place for like minded individuals. A place where everyone is accepted. It was nice. I think this church may be about as close as I am ready to get to religion right now. They had a "Religous Transition" group that sounded interesting and meets after the services on Sunday. I may check that out on another day.

From what I could gather, the church service is a little different in the summer months since the pastor takes a sabbatical of sorts during this time. Instead of a message by the pastor the church invites guest speakers to come in and give the sermons/message.

Sunday, the guest speaker was Takashi Hiraoka who had been a mayor of Hiroshima, Japan after the United States dropped the nuclear bomb on the city on August 6th, 1995. On that day everything within a 4-5 mile radius was quite literally disintegrated. The article from the link says that "official Japanese figures at the time put the death toll at 118,661 civilians. But later estimates suggest the final toll was about 140,000, of Hiroshima's 350,000 population, including military personnel and those who died later from radiation."

Here is a small section from the Mayor's message:

A reflection on world peace poses the following question: Is world security derived from nuclear weapons or from the abolition of nuclear weapons? Many world leaders hold that the existence of nuclear weapons deters their use and therefore justifies the possession of such weapons. This nuclear deterrence policy, however, fuels nuclear proliferation and, I believe, makes the world less secure. The elimination of nuclear weapons is the only measure that will absolutely prevent their use.

Following the presentation we were able to look at many posters that gave more information and showed pictures of the total devastation of the city after the bomb was dropped. As I contemplated the horror that these people experienced on that dark day in history I couldn't help but get teary eyed. Hopefully the remembering will help us to make sure this never happens again. Mr. Hiraoka encouraged us and all nations to put humanity above money, politics and personal gain as we strive for a more peaceful, more loving and more understanding world.

Note: If you would like to participate in a commemoration of this event, a formal program followed by a candlelight vigil will be held at the Salt Lake City library in the Main Auditorium on Wednesday, August 6th, from 7:30 - 9:00 pm.