BiV's Blog of the Month

I've been feeling kind of blue and haven't been posting much lately. But when I ran across this blog, I knew I needed to feature it on my Blog of the Month. I discovered this blog while browsing DH's Mormon Blogosphere aggregator, and it's called

Soy Made Me Gay


The post that originally caught my attention is titled: When Your 15-Year-Old Son Says, "I'm Gay." It's a practical guide suggesting what to do when one of your children comes out to you. It's an amazing, loving piece which takes into account the emotions you and your child will be experiencing. I think it's the best advice I've ever read for how to deal with this important moment.

Clint, the writer of this blog, is a celibate, active, gay Mormon. He works in the film production industry. He hasn't yet discounted marrying a woman in the future. He is also quite gorgeous. I enjoy his dry humor. Read more about Clint's feelings for the Church in his post "Why I Came Out To My Entire Ward," which he did in a testimony meeting in September.

Clint's position on Prop 8 is unusual and poignant. As a member of the Church, he supports the Prophet, yet the issue is painful for him as a gay man. He mostly chooses to ignore it, but he did write one post which I thought was fascinating. In "How To Support A Same-Sex Marriage Ban Without Coming Across As A Tool," he gives hints on what to do on your blog and in your conversations with friends to lend support to the Church's position without alienating opponents of the measure.

This is a blog which has captured my interest and I hope to hear more from him in the future. Check it out!

Blog of the Month

Some of my readers might be surprised at the blog I am showcasing as the Blog of the Month for September. It certainly comes from a much more conservative viewpoint than what I am likely to espouse. But I have been fascinated by this blog and I think you will be, too. It's called:

LDS Women of God



The LDS Women of God blog is written by Jan Tolman out of Utah. She has felt a calling to bind the Relief Society sisters together through blogging. "I have decided to see what I can do to unite our sisterhood. It may work, it may not," she declares. And there are places where this blog works. One of Jan's posts asks the question, Is Your Relief Society A Safe Place? It's just a short, simple exhortation to strengthen the sisters in their weakness, with a couple of touching illustrations of women modeling this behavior.

A great strength in this blog is Jan's use of historical vignettes to unite her readers with the LDS women in our faith tradition. A biographical sketch of Sarah Granger Kimball speaks of her testimony and service. We are given a glimpse of home industry in Utah in the article Mormon Handicraft, and the Exponent magazine is quoted regarding modesty in 1873. Jan has a knack for relating these historical moments with our challenges today.

I appreciated the mini-Hebrew lessons, of which there were three during the month of September (1, 2, 3), giving insights on male and female forms of the number one, and Adam and Eve. (Peek back to August for a look at the destiny of man and women as symbolically depicted in Hebrew!)

I encourage my readers to visit LDS Women of God to read more about Enrichment ideas, family history, journaling, organization, missionary work, food storage, finances, and sisterhood, all from a woman's perspective. My one caution is that Jan's political views might not fit with her desire to unite women, but surely they reflect the mainstream position much better than I do here on Hieing to Kolob.

BiV's Blog of the Month

This weekend just happens to be the perfect time to showcase a blog that I have recently discovered. It's called:

PoliticaLDS



The blog is made up of Amy, Joel, KWS, and Stephanie from the right, and bigbaldDave, Mike, Rick, and the Wizzle from the left. The blog has been up since January, and averages maybe ten posts a month. This leaves time for plenty of discussion, and they've had anywhere from 9 to 188 responses to the posts. As one would expect, there is commentary on health care, California's Proposition 8, abortion, and the U.S. Presidential elections. But the group also includes fun and interesting posts such as Fat America and The Value of Not Cheating on Your Flippin' Wife.

The posts are imbued with an LDS viewpoint, whether liberal or conservative. One of the recent posts introduces all of the permabloggers. They have fascinating stories and it's interesting to see how they came to develop their particular political views. If you love politics and debate, head on over and make a few comments.

BiV's Blog of the Month

It's that time again, readers!  Time to highlight another great Mormon blog which has shown outstanding achievement in the past month.  Drumroll please! :

Mormon


Insights





The writer of this blog, S. Faux, is a PhD in the area of cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology. He is a college teacher, and a fan of Darwin.  He has been a member of the Church all of his life, and over the years has written thoughtful essays on Mormon topics. Many of these are included on his blog.  He decided to share them when LDS members were encouraged to do so by the Church.  Browse the sidebar, which includes a list of all of his essays.

In the month of July, Faux posted 32 essays on Mormon topics.  A good starting place in perusing his blog would be to read his piece Lehi's Three Sacrifices: A Relationship to the Festivals of Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles.  In an introduction, he considers it his "most important blog essay in terms of providing an intellectual contribution."  It is an essay describing the Book of Mormon as a book written from a Jew to a Jew, and highlights the Hebrew meaning of the sacrifices made by Lehi.  Faux states:

"The primary lesson of this essay is that the Book of Mormon has a depth and richness that makes it worth serious scholarship. Dismissing the book as mere frontier literature does an injustice."

 Another essay I particularly enjoyed reading  was Overwhelmed by the Spirit of Revivalism, in which Faux describes the early Latter-day Saint religion as "standard Christianity on steroids."  In the essay he makes the point that we "cannot understand our own Church history without understanding the religious history which preceded and concurred with the formation of our own Church."  Thus, we owe a debt of gratitude to those spiritual predecessors, who were sincerely and legitimately seeking God. They established a way and pattern for Joseph Smith to watch.

Other outstanding essays from the month of July include Abe Lincoln and the Mormons: Did Joseph Smith meet with and talk to President Lincoln?  Church History is NOT Church Testimony: How the proper use of Church history can provide perspective; and an interesting apologetic article Ancient Quotations in the Book of Mormon.

I hope you will enjoy reading Mormon Insights, and will continue to visit frequently.

BiV's Blog of the Month

Sometimes it gets a little intense over at Feminist Mormon Housewives. So here's the perfect blog for you when you want to lay back and have a chuckle or two :

Normal

Mormon

Husbands





The Normal Mormon Husband blogs about sports, TV, fast food, and family life with a great sense of humor. The blog has been around for three years, so some of you may have heard of it, but lately NMH has been putting out a couple of posts a week, and they are fun to read. This month he has given advice on multi-level marketing

If we are obviously not interested, please do not ask us for the contact information of any of our mutual acquaintances. Giving out their contact info makes us feel like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" when he tells his mom that his friend Flick taught him how to swear. Ralphie knew he was throwing his buddy under the bus, but he was backed into a corner and had no other choice. Please, guys, don't back us into the corner.

He describes his experiences with anger management

The NMW and I invited two of our friends who were also big Lakers fans over to our apartment to watch the Lakers close out the series and then celebrate the championship together. We never popped the celebratory Martinelli's (you gotta love those rip roarin' Provo celebrations) that night because the Lakers got destroyed 120-87. In the midst of the blowout, I completely lost it. At one point during the game I got so upset with the Lakers that I picked up a copy of Sports Illustrated, tore it in half, yelled at the TV, and then threw the SI across the room. The other three people in the apartment looked at me with the same horrified expression that Ben from Lost had on his face when his daughter was shot. It was one of the single most embarrassing moments of my life and I still regret it today.

Read his Father's Day post full of affection for a dad who always urged him to put "more arch" on his basketball shots:

It got to the point where I thought my dad should just adopt Darrell Griffith of the Utah Jazz so that at least one of his sons always had enough arch on his shot. By saying this I don't want to give the impression that my dad is an overbearing David Archuleta-type parent who would lock me in a root cellar if I didn't score 20 points per game. He was involved and active, but never crossed that line. The phrase "More arch!" will always remind me that my dad cared enough to come to my games. He cared enough to be get involved. He cared enough to help me when I needed it. A lot of kids did not have that from their dads. I was fortunate that I did.

Most importantly, the Normal Mormon Husband gives invaluable advice to husbands on dealing with their wives. For example, he has urged husbands of expecting women to ditch the title "labor coach" in favor of terms such as "Water Boy" or "Sweat Mopper-Upper."

As a kid I used to envy the teen-agers who would frantically mop the sweat off the the floor at Jazz games after Mark Eaton or other large, sweaty men would fall down in the lane. Big Mark and his 7'4" body use to leave so much perspiration on the floor that a man once caught a 9-lb. bass in one of Eaton's sweat puddles. The role of the sweat-mopper-upper is a good model for husbands during labor for three reasons: 1) He keeps his job simple. 2) He plays an important role in ensuring peoples' safety. 3) He stays behind-the-scenes and only emerges when absolutely needed. This seems to be exactly what women want...

Also, if you really get into the NMH, go back to some of his early posts, such as "Manliest Movie Quotes." Be sure to read the comments!

Well, this is great summer reading, folks. I heartily recommend this blog.

BiV's Blog of the Month

I've got a great one for you this month, folks. My recommendation for Blog of the Month for May is:

The Way West



Roeann Harper is blogging the diary of her great-grandfather Charles Alfred Harper as he crosses the plains on his way to SLC in 1847. He left Winter Quarters on April 7 in the first company led by Brigham Young. This is a fantastic site, as "Lucy" enhances the words in her great-grandfathers journal with pictures and supplementary material. For example, on May 26, the company passes Chimney Rock, and Charles only writes one line in his journal. But the blog post includes an entry from Heber C. Kimball's journal, a picture of the site, and a link to a youtube video.

Reading this blog has been very entertaining and will be well worth your time as Harper takes us into June and July with the pioneers. The images are visually rich and helpful as references to the text. The diary gives us interesting insights into familiar church figures such as Erastus Snow, W.W. Clayton, and others. Read Brigham Young's words to the company as they deal with the harsh realities of prairie life. They range from the following chastisement:

Brigham told him to hold his tongue [ ] say no more about it and tend to his business...

and this:

Brigham addressed us and said it was no use to pursue our journey any further with the spirit that was in this camp at the present [ ] there was fidling & dancing playing cards loud laughter and disorder on every hand and said if we did not stop and turn to the Lord we were a ruined people [ ] he talked to us some length of time [ ] told us we were surrounded by evil spirits that we did not know what we were about and that he was determined to know who were willing to forsake their evil ways and turn to the Lord by making a covenant and those that were not willing might withdraw...

to these encouraging words:

Brigham spoke to us [ ] said he felt well as regards the movement of this camp [ ] that a good Spirit prevailed amongst us [ ] that we had obeyed every council he had given us [ ] that we had done all in our power [ ] that his peace with God was like a river [ ] that he never felt better in his life than he did on this journey and he felt to bless us in the name of the Lord...

Roeann tells us that her grandfather Harper would LOVE our comments. I hope many of you will visit this site and join the Pioneer company on their virtual journey.

BiV's Blog of the Month

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! The winner of my Blog of the Month for April is:









Times and Seasons is probably the blog I visit the most in the Bloggernacle. (And according to Ziff, I comment there the most, too!) But April has been an exceptional month at T&S. Ardis Parshall started the month out with a quirky April Fool's Day post that wasn't a joke -- And Yet Another Joseph Smith Photograph -- a post I thoroughly enjoyed. It was classic Ardis: a discussion of historical problems associated with locating early images, along with a bit of her delicious sarcasm. Part of the fun at Times and Seasons is the vigorous commentary that invariably follows. In the comments on this post, I encountered Raymond Takashi Swenson, who wrote a series of interesting guest posts this month. I was especially intrigued by his Sorting Out the Virtuous and Praiseworthy using the Japanese culture as an example of the issues that arise when determining which aspects of a culture are compatible with the gospel.

Noteworthy this month were the open Conference threads, always a big draw; feminist discussions, (thanks, Kaimi); great Gospel topics; and even a bit of apologetics (see Jonathan Green's Prophets and Textual Criticism, special appearance by Blake Ostler) I always read T&S's active, fun and informative sidebar.

But there were two things that really put T&S over the top this month. The first was Ardis' continuing posts on obscure Mormon historical figures. I love reading about her investigations to find these people that surface once or twice in the historical record, then disappear. She has a knack of bringing these stories alive for us. In April, she wrote about
James Kalapsza and
James Tillman and the disappearance of Alma P. Richards

Last of all, a must-read for all Bloggernacle participants, are Patricia Karamesines' posts centered around her daughter's 16th birthday. They are tender, wrenching, and thought-provoking. If you haven't read these posts yet, do yourself a favor and follow the links.
Bittersweet Sixteen: Part One
Bittersweet Sixteen: Part Two
Bittersweet Sixteen: Part Three

BiV's Blog of the Month

My pick for Blog of the Month for the month of March is one that has only been around for three months:

Temple Study.




I'm really happy when I can highlight a newer blog or a solo blog, and this fits the bill for both. But Bryce Haymond is an exceptional example of a solo blogger. In the month of March, he posted every day, and his posts were meaty and interesting. On his about page we read that he is a conservative TBM and an admirer of Hugh Nibley. In fact, the theme of Temple Study fits the following quote by Nibley, "Latter-day Saints believe that their temple ordinances are as old as the human race and represent a primordial revealed religion that has passed through alternate phases of apostasy and restoration which have left the world littered with the scattered fragments of the original structure, some more and some less recognizable, but all badly damaged and out of proper context..."

I have been fascinated to read Bryce's posts as he presents some of these "scattered fragments." In Early Christian Textile Markings from Fayum Egypt, he blogs about some plain linen burial clothes found in Egyptian tombs which have some interesting markings. In another post he discusses the Tallit Katan - The Sacred Undergarment of Judaism. Don't miss the 6-part series The Genesis of the Round Dance. The visuals on this blog are absolutely breathtaking. They add to the historicity of each post, give just the right touch to the posts and are beautiful aesthetically.

Bryce shows on his blog that he has an artist's soul. Just read this sonnet he wrote in response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 18; and notice how well it fits the theme of his blog.

Look for Bryce as he begins his new post permablogging with Millennial Star. He promises that most of his blogging will still be at Temple Study, and to me that is great news.

BiV's Blog of the Month

My pick for Blog of the Month for the month of March is one that has only been around for three months:

Temple Study.




I'm really happy when I can highlight a newer blog or a solo blog, and this fits the bill for both. But Bryce Haymond is an exceptional example of a solo blogger. In the month of March, he posted every day, and his posts were meaty and interesting. On his about page we read that he is a conservative TBM and an admirer of Hugh Nibley. In fact, the theme of Temple Study fits the following quote by Nibley, "Latter-day Saints believe that their temple ordinances are as old as the human race and represent a primordial revealed religion that has passed through alternate phases of apostasy and restoration which have left the world littered with the scattered fragments of the original structure, some more and some less recognizable, but all badly damaged and out of proper context..."

I have been fascinated to read Bryce's posts as he presents some of these "scattered fragments." In Early Christian Textile Markings from Fayum Egypt, he blogs about some plain linen burial clothes found in Egyptian tombs which have some interesting markings. In another post he discusses the Tallit Katan - The Sacred Undergarment of Judaism. Don't miss the 6-part series The Genesis of the Round Dance. The visuals on this blog are absolutely breathtaking. They add to the historicity of each post, give just the right touch to the posts and are beautiful aesthetically.

Bryce shows on his blog that he has an artist's soul. Just read this sonnet he wrote in response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 18; and notice how well it fits the theme of his blog.

Look for Bryce as he begins his new post permablogging with Millennial Star. He promises that most of his blogging will still be at Temple Study, and to me that is great news.

BiV's Blog of the Month

This month I would like to introduce a fairly new blog called



Project Deseret







Project Deseret is written by Ashley Sanders, famous for organizing the BYU Alternative Commencement last year. She was also editor of the Collegiate Post, a progressive magazine at BYU that was shut down largely due to her article The Evolution Of Revolution, which you can find on her blog, and which I suggest that everyone should read.

Don't go to this blog for a quick blog-fix during the day on company time. This blog needs to be savored late at night when all the kiddoes are tucked safely in bed and Dear Spouse is safely occupied with some engrossing hobby. The articles are thought-provoking and current, if a bit longer than what we usually encounter on a blog. They are full of substance and well-written, as befits the English major that she is. Ashley's blog was started in connection with Sunstone magazine as a blog/podcast with a goal of social change: "building a socially, politically, and economically just community." Her vision for this project is as follows: "The podcast is divided into three parts: narrative, interview, and manifesto. It is divided that way to give history on three levels: the individual’s story, the expert’s analysis, and the dreamer’s hope. I hope that these three histories will tell us who we have been and where we can go now." Ash is exactly the person to do this. Some of her posts so far deal with pacifism versus passivism, chain stores, and liberalism and secularism. She is stirring and passionate about these causes.

"We love the revolutionary as long as he is tucked safely in the folds of history..." Ashley says. "We talk about repeating history. We worry about it; we hope we won’t. But we will if we don’t realize that ethics is always uncomfortable in the present..." In one of her posts, she explains one of the reasons why she organized Alternative Commencement: "I believe that ordinary people know what is best, and I believe that organizations that don’t allow ordinary people to improve them from the inside will be less vibrant, less fair, and less humane."

The personal stories in her articles draw me in to the author's life, and make me feel I know her and her struggles:

"I am at a class party when my professor looks at me and says, “Let me guess. You’re a vegetarian.” When I answer yes, he runs to his closet with glee and pulls out a shirt. On it, a bunch of animals are bursting out of a stuffed pot. The caption says: “For every animal you don’t eat, I’ll eat three.” My teacher thinks this is hilarious, nudging me and crowing with triumph. I think this is supremely odd: If I said I was ethically opposed to slavery, would he have run to his room and pulled out a slave?"

Another issue she addresses is one I really relate to as a Latter-Day Saint:

"A lot of people have asked me: if you disagree with what BYU or the government does, why don’t you just go someplace else? (A favorite suggested location is Berkeley.) I only know one way to answer them, which is to tell them that I love this place, and want it to be what it can be. After I answer this way, there is always another question: If you love it, why do you criticize it? My answer is the same: because I love it, and because I believe that integrity requires a mix of staying and going, charity and chastisement, and because I want to go to a school and live in a country that let me do all of the above."

I have been asked many times on my blog if I disagree with some of the policies of the Mormon Church, why don't I go to another church? Ashley articulates so beautifully what I would like to tell them.

The latest articles on "Project Deseret" reveal Ashley's personal concerns and thoughts. I've felt some of the same feelings myself. She reveals:

"I also worry about how contradictory and proliferate my thoughts are. I will write something and immediately feel the exact opposite, and then I will wonder whether I should revise my earlier writing or continue stalking the contradiction."

I'm fascinated to see the blog move in a more personal direction as she explores some of the issues she confronts in the Church. I'm looking forward to more writing in this vein.

I read Ashley's blog because she is eloquent, touching, and funny. I read it because she falls apart. Because she picks herself up and keeps on. I read it because she isn't sure yet where she is going, and I want to be part of her journey.

BiV's Blog of the Month

The hottest Mormon blog I've seen in the first month of 2008 has got to be

Mormon

Matters.




And I don't say that just because I have a crush on the cool and erudite John Hamer.♥
I really think John Dehlin has another winner in this blog. First of all, he has chosen several (21 right now, and growing!) bloggers to join him on what used to be a podcast dedicated to--you guessed it--Mormon matters. The podcast was lively and entertaining, but didn't reach nearly the audience that it does now as an active posting medium. And when I say active, I really mean it. There are sometimes 3 or 4 posts a day that go up on the site. So far they have all been of interest. Mormon Matters deals with diverse topics such as Chris Heimerdinger's new film, early patriarchal blessings, non-member family members at temple marriages, and the Church's position on biblical interpretation, to name just a few. The comments are just as well-informed and fascinating as the posts.

I'm sure most of my readers are familiar with this blog by now. But don't miss all of its awesome features:

The handy author profile on the sidebar allows you to view Chris Bigelow in a tie-dyed T-shirt, and ponder such things as how Jeff Spector could have joined the Church in June 1982 and been sealed to his wife in the Oakland Temple in August 1982.

The "Notes From All Over" are more numerous and comprehensive than those found on the sidebars of other blogs. They include calls for papers, announcements of retreats and conferences, studies and national coverage of the Church, as well as YouTube picks and humorous anecdotes.

I think that with this blog, John Dehlin has accomplished his goal in having informative discussion on all aspects of Mormon history and culture from all sides of the idealogical spectrum, while remaining positive toward the LDS Church. I expect that the podcast will continue as well, and I'm hoping that John will add more females to his cast of bloggers.

BiV's Blog of the Month

This new blog is the brightest star on the Mohorizon for 2008:

Beginnings New.

BNJeans describes herself as a "lifelong member and former YW, now a Laurels teacher, parent, part-time college professor, and all-around busy gal." Her new calling in the Young Women's organization has prompted her to start the blog "Beginnings New." Jeans is a feminist who was unable to find any substantive YW ideas on line. The offerings out there are primarily "cutesy" ideas, crafts, quotes, and clip art. With the arrival of this new blog, YW leaders have something more.

When Jeans first broached the idea of a blog with more substance directed toward YW leaders, it was met mostly with enthusiasm at FMH. However, there was at least one vote of caution about what she hoped to accomplish. Silver Rain wrote about this on her blog post "A Plague of Agendas". Here she expressed her concern that YW leaders should not push their feminist agendas in church classes. "Is nowhere safe?" SR laments. "What will I do if I find my daughter isn't being taught the gospel in Church?" After a thorough perusal of the new blog, I don't think she has anything to worry about. I was sincerely impressed by the post What's in Your Church Bag? Jeans speaks of negotiating how to teach from the prescribed materials while being authentic, real, and relevant. In her "Church bag" she brings her testimony, scriptures, and love and unconditional acceptance. She leaves behind her political affiliations, confessions (ha! one of my bug-a-boos!), higher biblical criticism (not the place), personal angst (must you whine about how hard it was to prepare the lesson?) and demons from her own YW experience.

On the sidebar, the purpose of the blog is clearly stated.

My goal is to provide a lively and practical online place for YW leaders to talk about everything related to their calling to minister to the young women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... This is not the place for clip art or sappy poems. It's also not the place to merely complain about the program or about specific leaders, or the materials and manuals. While possibly cathartic, that can't be very helpful. I think we can help one another as leaders without throwing the manuals out in disgust. Yes, they are outdated. Yes, my own YW leaders taught out of the same ones in the 1980s. Total redesign of the manuals or overhaul of the program is not within my stewardship or my power. I'm looking for ways to inspire, challenge, nurture and transform the young women in my care to greater discipleship, and I'm confident there are lots of people out there who can participate in that project.

I found many things to enjoy over at Beginnings New. There are plenty of lesson ideas. Jeans hopes that as more people visit the blog, these will turn into discussions on how to adapt lessons to different wards, different age groups, and different needs. In one of these lesson discussions on health she mentioned considerations for girls who were vegetarians. I was thrilled to see this. One of my daughters decided to go vegetarian at the age of 16 (not due to the influence of DH or myself, rabid McDonalds and Pizza Hut frequenters). This was a considered and thoughtful decision on her part. At Church, she got no guidance beyond the advice that "eating meat sparingly" meant she was a sinner if she decided not to eat meat at all. It's good to see a YW blog that treats the girls as if they have intelligence of their own, and are able to understand complex issues.

I'm also excited to see that she has also included posts on issues of importance to YW. There is a post dealing with the pregnancy of Jamie Lyn Spears, Britney's younger sister and popular actress on the Nickelodeon show "Zoe 101." This is something my 14-year-old is talking about with her friends.

To all who are interested in YW issues, I encourage you to visit this blog and add your input.

**Revised 1/3: Just visited Beginnings New and read the new post on "God the Father"--this blog is going to be great fun even if you're not involved with YW at all!! Also I forgot to mention the cool webcrawl on the sidebar. Example: "no dating before 16? In S. Africa, no kissing either."