Quote of the Day: (Lake) Wobegon Faith

I was listening to  Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion podcast (that's the way I roll) this morning when Keillor ended the broadcast from Lake Wobegon stating, "Martin Luther once said, ~Your laughter is the measure of your faith.~"
I like that a lot.  I recently read an article from Malcolm Gladwell about how he rediscovered faith. The article resonated with me.  As someone with Mennonite roots several generations back,  I find the Mennonite's concept of faith and love fascinating, even if I'm a lazy scholar in regards to the Anabaptists.  

Interview

A Motley Vision, the "major" LDS Literature blog interviewed me about my paper at the Association for Mormon Letter's Conference in April. The interview is below:

http://www.motleyvision.org/2012/interview-with-joy-buhler-on-mormon-literature/

Presenting

About 2.5 years ago, I read an op-ed by Jerry Johnston that stated that there will never be great Mormon Literature written by an active Latter Day Saint and subsequently blogged about it here.  About the same time I attended my first Sunstone Conference and started reading more LDS essays etc.  Anyway, as I feel like I'm stagnating intellectually, I've thought about tackling a large project. When Margaret Young announced a Call for Papers for the Association for Mormon Letters Annual Meeting, I thought about submitting a proposal for a paper.  Well, I submitted the proposal below which was accepted.
Here's the Abstract:

Title: The “Great LDS Novel,” Pipedream or Future Reality?

Author: Joy Buhler

In 2009, Jerry Johnston, a columnist for the “Mormon Times,” stated that the “Great American Novel” would never be written by an active Latter Day Saint because of the demands the religion makes on the devout member.  A “Great American Novel” is often defined as a work that captures the essence of being American during that time period that is written by an American Author.  To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain are two examples of novels that are considered great American works.  Current critics agree that most novels exploring LDS themes written by active Latter Day Saints have not qualified as “Great American Novels.”

This paper analyzes the reasons Mr. Johnston gave when contending that there will never be “great” Mormon literature written by active Latter Day Saints.  Mr. Johnston is correct that active LDS members tend to promote their religion and gloss over controversial topics.  However, there’s a growing community of devout LDS people who are more willing to write, read and explore the “gray spaces” of the LDS religion with intent to illuminate rather than destroy the Church.   Great literature comes from the minds of inquisitive thinkers who delve into topics that have no clear answer.  Could the first great Mormon novel come from this community of LDS people who are examining the LDS faith, including the nebulous areas, with the intent to better understand who we are as a religion?  

I've been doing a lot of reading for the paper (yes, I even read "The Gospel According to Twilight" which is written by a Methodist, not a Mormon)and asked Jerry Johnston a series of questions.  He replied back to me today so his response will be incorporated in the paper.

Anyway, this is the "personal" project that I'm tackling and will be presenting my findings to individuals who know much more than I do about the subject next month.

Bus Stop

Monday evening I happened to be at the Pentagon Bus Terminal at the end of rush hour.  I had about 20 minutes until my bus came so I sat down to read a book* for the paper I'm currently writing.  As I was reading, I noticed a handsome black man trying to catch my eye.  I looked up at him and smiled.  He came over to me and asked what I was reading and then asked for the book.  I gave it to him.  His first question to me was, "are you Mormon?" I said yes.  His face immediately turned angry and disapproving.  I thought, "oh crap, he's been reading all the crazy stuff Randy Botts said in the Washington Post."  He asked me, "Why are you Mormon?" I immediately asked him what faith he was, but that didn't diffuse him.  He asked me again.  I answered him but he didn't like my answer.  He then asked me again and I answered.  At this point, my bus came and I asked for my book back because I didn't want it to end in the trash and I wanted to finish it.

As soon as I sat down on the bus, a gentleman engaged me in conversation (not that it matters, but he was black too).  He wanted to know what the other man said to me.  I told him the story and he shook his head, "Muslims, Mormons and Jews. People get so riled up over you."  He then told me to keep my head up and be proud of what I believed in and other words of encouragement.

Anyway, I've had similar things happen in the past, but never had a stranger give me a verbal pat of encouragement.  I found myself half-way wishing I was reading the book on my Kindle though.

*Dispensation: Latter Day Fiction 

Mormon Voluntary Modesty Police Force!

So the latest episode of the "Voluntary Modesty Police Force" happened on Tuesday at BYU for those of you who haven't heard about it yet living under a rock .  Like last Fall, I dismissed it just as that one "crazy" guy you get in a singles ward.  However, one of the writers on FMH stated this, "As long as we keep teaching boys they are too weak to behave themselves, they’re going to believe it," and it got me to thinking.  In the LDS (Mormon) Church, young women are taught sometimes that they should dress modestly because otherwise men will have unpure thoughts.  In fact, I read something to that effect in one of the conference talks this past year because I remember disagreeing and stewing over it for several weeks.  I ended up just tossing the idea out the window because I still disagree with it.  I think it's potentially harmful to teach young women that they are "guardians" of men's thoughts and virtue for several reasons-one being that it can give young men the idea that they are powerless over their thoughts.  
The letter above is a Young Man reminding a Young Women of this concept that was taught at church.  Was this just a "crazy" guy at BYU-I and BYU or are we going to see more instances of "skinny jeans" that embarrass most of the rest of us?  What do you think?  Oh, and if you disagree with me--I'm more than happy to hear what you have to say.   

Wordless: Bear Lake Area Edition

A Thought

I've been reading "Dimensions of Faith: a Mormon Studies Reader" for a little while.  The book is a collection of papers on Mormonism or "Mormon Studies."  Some are written by participating LDS members, while others are written by non-members or less active.  Most of the authors have a phd, but not all.  One is even written by a friend of mine (which is how I came to own a copy of the book).  Anyway, so far I've found the essays very enlightening, but I especially love the forward.  Let me share with you the last paragraph which is a view I share with the editor on Mormonism:

"I think that religion especially, instead of being treated with solemnity and deference, ought to be thought out and understood so that we're not unduly influenced by proselytizers or lack confidence in our position in the world and so that we understand other people's beliefs." Stephen C. Taysom

I also quite like the back jacket summary of the book:

"Believing is one thing, deciding what to believe is harding for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that what is known and what is known is a moving target.  The world changes daily as new revelations burst onto the scene in religion, science, social studies and the humanities............Where new ideas impinge on faith, it is up to us to interpret and manage these views.  Rather than tremble in the face of change we can look confidently at the empirical world through the twin lenses of religious heritage and a grounding in secular learning."
 

The Company Mormons Keep....

A Single Ward Announcement

I haven't said too much on here about being single and LDS or talking about the 31-55 age Singles Ward (congregation) I used to be a member of. 

Before I continue, I really think the ward serves a purpose and will and continue to be an asset to the Stake I attend and the community.  The older singles do need activities and venues to meet each other which this ward does a good job of providing. 
Personally I met many great people in our older singles award that I'm lucky to count as friends.  However, I realized after 9 months that I personally need to be in a family ward which is why I went back.

For a long time I didn't e-mail about the singles community in the church for various reasons, but even though there's a personal need for me to show the LDS church in the best possible way, I think it's okay for me to publish the letter below...................

Dear Sisters,

I just wanted to let you know that we have had seven men move into the Pontiac* Ward in the last three weeks.   I am confident that all ward members will welcome these brethren into our ward family!

I am just trying to keep everyone posted on positive ward events.  (grin)

Sincerely,

Bishop Jones*

*Name Change

(I didn't change the format however).

 

Davies

I'm bothered by the Brandon Davies saga. I think BYU did the right thing by suspending Davies, but what bothers me is the publicity. Here's a 20 or so year old kid who had consensual sex with his girlfriend and now the whole nation knows about his mistake and he's going to be known by many people as "that" Brandon Davies throughout the country. That punishment seems pretty harsh to me.
I can't figure out in my head a way where BYU could continue to uphold the honor code and keep the offender's discretions private, but even though Davies is a representative of the school and a very public face of the standards of the school, the punishment still seems pretty harsh.

On another note, my ward now lets women say the opening prayer in Sacrament Meeting since December. This makes my little feminist heart happy every Sunday.

Sunday

I've been meaning to switch my records back from the "oldish"singles ward (OSW) to the family ward (ward=church congregation) for several months now. I ended up switching them in February because my calling was moved from the stake to the (OSW) when the OSW was formed in January. Anyway, I tried participating in the ward-attending, doing the activitities. I met a lot of new people, but the OSW didn't feel right no matter how much I tried.

So Sunday, I attended my family ward. I listened to the Bishop give one of the best talks on the atonement I have ever heard. I talked to my friends, went to the new member class and lo and behold there was my visiting teaching companion sitting in the room. Miranda picked the same Sunday to switch over and we shared a laugh about it. I walked out of the new member class and was told by a friend to go home (I need that sometimes). I was feeling so good about the situation, I didn't even cuss out loud because the car parked behind my car forced me to do a 12 point turn. Anyway, I feel good about my choice to go over. I still plan on attending the singles activities and church on occasion, but Alexandria 1st is where I should probably be right now.

Finally!

I admit, I have a secret concern every Sunday at church. You see, I live in a Stake where women can't give the opening prayer during sacrament meeting and it bothers me. I try not to think about it, but everytime I see a women give only the closing prayer, I think quietly, "that's not right." You see, it doesn't say anywhere in the Church handbook that a women can't give the opening prayer in Sacrament. Some stakes or wards have the woman give the prayer, some don't. However, I was reading Feminist Mormon Housewives when someone (now this is just here-say at this point) stated that the new handbook will state explicitly that women can give both the opening and closing prayer in Sacrament meeting. Yeah!

Update: From 1967-1978, Women were not allowed to pray in Sacrament meeting. The ban was lifted and all was well. However, shortly before President's Benson's death, he gave a talk where he said women could not open a priesthood meeting. Individuals interpreted his words to mean Sacrament Meeting. The church stated that this was incorrect policy shortly after Pres. Benson stated that women couldn't open a priesthood meeting, but some stakes and wards continue to practice this. Link Link

Emergency Dish?

My ward is doing an Emergency Preparedness Olympics tonight. I didn't have any intention of going, but a friend e-mailed a few days ago asking her friends to prepare dishes for the activity. I asked to see if she had people lined up for each dish, but she hadn't so I got tagged with the recipe below. Now, I'm not sure how practical this dish is during an emergency, but I'm about to try my hand at it just now.

Curry Simmer Sauce and Vegetables

1 16 oz can Potatoes

1 16 oz can Chick Pea

1 16 oz can Green Bean

1 12 oz can Chicken Breast (in water)

1 12 oz jar Trader Joe's Green Curry Simmer Sauce

1 1/2 cup Basmati Rice

1 cup water

Boil 1 cup water then add Basmati rice. Lower temperature, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

In a large sauce pan, pour simmer sauce, chick peas, green beans and warm. Fold in potatoes and chicken and cook to a simmer.

Serve the simmer sauce over rice.

A Day Late but still Appropriate....

Via By Common Consent

While Reading "Faith Preceds the Miracle"

I've been reading "Faith precedes the Miracle" by Spencer W. Kimball during my daily nebulizer treatments. Although the book reads quickly, it's turning into a bit of an albatross around my neck. The book's references are more dated than "Miracle of Forgiveness," and then there's President Kimball's admonition towards women. Although, I understand that a good part of President Kimball's belief is cultural, I was still a little surprised to read,

" You see Mary, it was never intended by the Lord that married women should compete with men in employment."

Although President Kimball does say in an earlier chapter that women may work in "emergencies," I was still a little taken aback to read those lines. I'm still trudging book this book, and have found some great passages-or at least decent lines, but there's probably a reason this book is out of print, while "Miracle of Forgiveness" is still available at a LDS bookstore near you.

The Hawaiian Haystack Manifesto

I'm a fan of potlucks and church dinners. Food cooked by a bunch of different people? Awesome. I get to eat classic "Mormon" food I don't normally prepare for myself in addition to other dishes, plus I get to talk to people I don't always see while eating. Pretty much a win-win situation in my world.

However, a Hawaiian Haystack themed potluck is one thing that Mormons should put out to pasture permanently. White rice, canned chicken, pineapple and chow-mein all mixed together? I'll eat it, but it's my least favorite "potluck" theme ever. Of course, if I keep talking like this I have a suspicion I'll be asked to be on the activities committee next.

If you love Hawaiian Haystacks, feel free to comment, I promise not to ridicule you, but if you have a more disliked theme for a potluck meal, let me know.

Lungs: I've gone from sounding like I have a six pack a day habit to a one pack a day habit. Progress!

Scene from a Singles Adult Event Planning Meeting

Scene: A group of 6 adults-men and women- planning a multi-day event for a group of singles at church. The time is late at night, and everyone is exhausted.

Meeting Participant 1: Now, let's talk about the DJ for the dance on the riverboat.
Meeting Participant 2: (loudly) Can I just make one request? I can't stand when YMCA is played at church dances. I hate the song and I'm the only person who knows what the song is really about.
All: (Shouting in unison) We ALL know what the song is about!

End Scene

Bits from a Conversation I had Recently

I was talking to a friend today, and the subject drifted to LDS Apostles. I was asked the following questions:

Friend: "So, when a living apostle gets up in the morning, do they feel like everyone else?"

Friend:"Does a living apostle get lauded with gifts, presents, do they wear robes and have parades? Because they should."

The strange thing? This wasn't a sarcastic conversation. Really.

Weekend Roundup: Vernal Equinox! Vernal Equinox!

1) Last Week
Last week was a bit of a roller coaster. Work has been crazy busy, and this morning I found out that the Secretarial Awards Ceremony I’m in charge of has been moved to the Fall. I’m doing everything I can to let them agree to let me go to Switzerland in September with Steven (see #3).
So, I only really pay attention to College Basketball until Tournament time, and since my other teams were out quickly, I turned my enthusiasm to BYU. BYU Men’s Basketball actually won a game in NCAA Tourney which was a major highlight of the week. Of course they lost on Saturday, but still-they proved that they could win a game at the Big Dance! Plus, Michael Loyd Jr.? He’s going to be fun to watch the next couple of years. The sad news is that a co-worker and close friend of mine passed away from cancer Wednesday evening. I worked closely with this co-worker for 4 years, and it’s always tough losing a friend. My heart goes out to her loved ones. However, the weather in DC has been phenomenal. Mid 60’s-70s with no wind and sunny days? Oh, I’d love to package up the weather over the weekend and save it for a rainy day. The tulip trees are just starting to blossom which means cherry blossoms in about 2 weeks.

2) The weekend?
Friday: I had Friday off and spent the morning at the Doctor’s office getting a Xolair shot. My nurse blew a vein in my leg, but she’s totally forgiven (seriously) for bringing me Cabbage and corned beef while I was waiting in the office afterwards. Food heals all wounds in my world. That evening Kelli and I sheepishly admitted to the other that we really liked “The Hangover” and we both wanted to see “She’s out of my League” but common sense ruled out as we went to buy tickets at the movie theater. Instead of paying $21.50 for a movie, we decided to spend $47.50 on a Dust-Vac. There’s logic to that decision somewhere, I think. Saturday: After Kelli got home from working a few hours, we went up to Eastern Market for Lunch. We didn’t find the pickle guy (my fave) or the Crepe Guy (Kelli’s fave) until as we were leaving, but still had a great time taking in the sun while browsing through the stalls. That afternoon I cleaned and watched my Bracket Picks go down the drain (Thanks Kansas!). After the first half of the BYU game, we went to a house farewell party that evening (friends are getting kicked out of their house as their landlady is moving back in) and talked to a good friend for most of the evening. Sunday: I slept in and didn’t go to Stake Conference. Oops. But there was more cleaning to be had, lungs to be convinced that pollen isn’t out to kill them, a dinner at our neighbors and tentative plans for next weekend made. All in all a great weekend.

3) Trip Plans
March is here and I already have two big trips (Ecuador and Switzerland) planned. Ecuador will include the Galapagos Islands, and Switzerland will be 2 weeks of hiking in the Alps with my baby brother. There’s a smaller trip to Montreal in July that we’re hoping to do, and then there’s Christmas and a trip to Portland to see a baby get blessed. I’m already saving for a house down-payment, but it’ll be good for me to do some further cut-backs on my expenditures.
4) The “I will if you will” Book Club
One of my absolute favorite blogs is “Monkey See” on NPR. The primary writer, Linda Holmes” waxes poetic on pop culture and each post is a gem. A couple of weeks ago after admitting she had never read Twilight, she started the “I will if you will” book club on the blog with Twilight as the first book. Today is their first installment of talking about Twilight and Linda chose to talk about the writing with another Monkey See Contributer. Here’s an excerpt about the book:
It's just this wildly florid prose that's wielded with the subtlety and repetition of a jackhammer, all in the service of a story that's going nowhere being told by a girl who seems to be fighting me for the gold medal in a not-liking-her contest.
Monkey See Blog

5) Health Care Bill
All in all, the Health Care Bill has kind of been an exercise in hilarity. I wasn’t real impressed with anyone during the whole debacle, but they finally passed it. Now that it’s passed, I’m hoping that it actually does more than just line the pockets of the Health Care Industry and actually gives the uninsured a chance to have cheaper, more comprehensive health care and it gives those that are insured better health care. Because really, our Health Care system is broken and unfortunately I don’t see how anyone except the government can fix it. Here’s hoping that the Bill will actually help fix the problem. And if someone could explain to me (in a rational, logical manner) how passing this bill would move us over towards a totalitarianism government, I’m all ears.

6) Everyone’s Favorite Mormon: Glen Beck!
I’ll be honest. I’ve only watched about 2 minutes of Glen Beck before changing the channel, so all I know about him is mini clips here and there, and others verbal repudiation of Beck. However, Beck encouraging listeners to flee churches that had hints of social justice shows of a lack of understanding of basic Christian Doctrine
Roger Ebert wrote an enjoyable piece about Beck and some great points that he learned about Mormonism. A highlight from his blog is here:

Nor, for that matter, could a genuine conservative identify with a flywheel like
Beck. Conservatism is a political and ethical philosophy that exists in another
universe from Beck's shopping cart. Remember that TV show where couples raced up
and down aisles seeing who could jam the most loot into their carts? Beck loads
up from the shelves of the Discount Screwball Supermart. He needs material to
fill his daily hours of air time and fuel his fans with one-liners they can pass
off as thought.

One of my friends, Matt, wrote a thoughtful, sometimes humorous (the kicking puppies line is great) post about Mr. Beck and Beck’s summation of the “religious left.” Definitely food for thought. From his post:

The savagely brilliant religious imaginations that Martin Luther King, or Walter
Rauschenbusch, or Dorothy
Day mobilized behind social reform worked because of their
comprehensiveness. They began with a vision of the world in part inspired by but
not bound to the contexts they found themselves in. And the social reforms they
advocated for were not merely an end in themselves, or to satisfy our basic
human impulse toward charity, or to pursue greater egalitarianism as a
self-contained good. Rather, their calls for social reform were bound inexorably
into the most basic and primal aims of Christianity – to, through the atoning
acts of Christ, attain for humanity salvation. Their theologies of social
transformation were based upon their imagination of the Kingdom of God. They
were radical, then, in the best sense, not merely political. They knew that the
world that Christ calls us to is not the world we live in; that the things
Christ asks of us cannot be fully embodied in the tools of politics. One does
not get that same sense of the incarnation of Christ in the politics of Jim
Wallis. And that, because, like those of Beck, they are simply politics.
So,
I feel an incessant, nagging suspicion that perhaps Beck’s salvo is a justified
one. This is not to endorse his somewhat staggering ignorance, bluster, and
paranoia; indeed, Beck suffers acutely from the same problem he diagnoses; he
believes God is on his side rather than engaging in that constant struggle that
should afflict every Christian – worrying that he is on God’s. It is, though, to
point out that as in every age, idolatry may be the most pervasive sin of our
own.

Weekend Happenings

1) Brenda-Kelli's sister-in-law and frequent commenter on this blog had a heart attack on Friday. She's okay, but her husband has been posting updates on her blog.

2) I must've been a little stressed because I tried 3 new recipes over the weekend: Lemon jelly candies, three ingredient pasta sauce and banana baked oatmeal. The jelly candies never really turned out, the three ingredient sauce was awesome, and the banana baked oatmeal had a nice flavor but not an ideal consistency.

3) I believe I've mentioned Liz Howell here before (plus at least one of her husband's cousins reads this blog) but she's now in Haiti with the LDS medical team. Go Liz!

4) My new ward is a little odd. I've been attending (on a trial basis) the new mid-singles (not a magnet ward) ward that was recently organized in my stake. The bishop actually encouraged people to sit by someone you don't know from the pulpit (ie of the opposite sex) and said that it was okay to sit by someone if you were interested (or weren't interested). Then there was the conversation about dating from the pulpit. Then there was me with a puzzled expression on my face.

5) The polygamy letter last week? The letter really was sent, but it was a practical joke played on the wife. Here's the response.