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Arras Theme is a WordPress theme designed for news or review sites with lots of customisable features.
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Recent Posts
- Psaltery & Lyre’s New Site
- 123 Psaltery & Lyre: “Agricola Dreams of Flying” by J. Rose Lara
- 122 Psaltery & Lyre: “Communion: a love poem (a villanelle)” by Rachel Bollinger
- Book Review: Philip Metres’s Sand Opera
- 121 Psaltery & Lyre: Rachael Matthews, “Horsehead Nebula”
- Book Review: Monica Ong’s Silent Anatomies
- 120 Psaltery & Lyre: Rachael Matthews, “Return, pt. III” and “Gaia”
- Book Review: Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely
- Book Review: Matthea Harvey, If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?
- Book Review: LoterÃa Cards and Fortune Poems: A Book of Lives
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Tag Cloud
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Guest Bloggers Archive
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The Won’t To Believe
Posted on May 3, 2013 | 14 CommentsI could do it. I could choose to believe. -
Parenthood Juggle: It Takes a Village. . .
Posted on March 11, 2013 | 9 CommentsPerhaps it was my cheerless state of mind that caused the tone of quiet desperation in The Feminine Mystique to stick with me -
On Being a Christmasist
Posted on December 19, 2012 | 11 CommentsIn the three years since I lost faith in Mormonism, I’ve tried on more than a few labels to describe my spiritual alignment: agnostic, atheist, humanist. I’m not content with any of them. It’s not that they are wrong, necessarily, but each fails to capture […] -
Mormonism is a Skirt, Not a Pair of Pants!
Posted on December 18, 2012 | 7 CommentsSkirtism doesn't imply that there exists no universal Mormonism -- for all we know, One True Mormonism is floating out there in the noumenal -- it only requires us to admit that we don't possess it, no matter where we got our beliefs. -
I’ve Let Go . . .
Posted on October 11, 2012 | 40 CommentsIt's not that I'm immature or captive to black-and-white thinking. I see the complexity; I see the nuance. But I do not find it compelling. -
Leaving The Paved Road
Posted on September 28, 2012 | 2 CommentsI have a seemingly insignificant memory from my early teenage years of walking through the grocery store and spying the front cover of TEEN magazine with Lindsay Lohan on the front cover. I remember the feeling of inferiority that followed and the inner monologue […] -
Richard Dawkins, you’re an ass. Brandon Flowers, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.
Posted on September 16, 2012 | 41 CommentsWhen we hear that a belief is ridiculous, the first thing we should ask ourselves is: ridiculous to whom? -
A Record Keeping People
Posted on September 12, 2012 | 3 CommentsFor me, writing both requires that I feel centered within myself as well as helps me to get to that centered place. It's almost a form of meditation. -
“Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself!”
Posted on September 9, 2012 | 1 CommentI learned this saying a number of years ago after I’d burned bridges with half of my family, lost a close friend, and found myself kneeling by the bed, pleading with God to understand how my obsession with fixing other people’s problems had gotten me […] -
Confronting the “Fine Tuning” Argument
Posted on September 6, 2012 | 12 CommentsGiven a pragmatic view of science, fine tuning ceases to be a problem. Scientific models are remarkable, but human, efforts at reverse-engineering the universe. We can't expect them to be indicative of objective reality. -
Hankerin’ for a Spankerin’
Posted on September 5, 2012 | 9 CommentsI would like to preface this story with the statement that I love both my parents deeply. In my home growing up, Mom was the disciplinarian. Dad worked graveyard shift at the post office until I was in high school, so he didn’t have a […] -
You Don’t Know How It Feels
Posted on August 29, 2012 | 9 CommentsInstead of spinning narratives that minimize our old beliefs, make us feel superior, and make nodding rubes out of the orthodox, we should admit that we aren't -- and weren't -- special. Only after we've leveled the playing field are we in a position to empathize with anyone. -
39 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: Please Don’t Tell Me I Don’t Understand the Gospel
Posted on August 28, 2012 | 11 CommentsHad I simply refused to see it? Turned a blind eye out of conformity? Why, after decades in the church, did these things suddenly bother me? -
What’s the Harm: Utilitarianism and the “Mormon Moment”
Posted on August 14, 2012 | 9 CommentsMormonism isn't going anywhere, and it's not going to stop being a conservative institution. But Brooks and other liberal Mormons aren't enabling Mormonism's reactionary side. -
An Open Letter
Posted on August 5, 2012 | 49 CommentsYou might deride liberal Mormons for their heterodoxy, but they are doing your job for you. They have translated Mormonism into a language that is intelligible to the larger public, a language that speaks to the issues the public cares about. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: What If?
Posted on July 31, 2012 | 12 CommentsNow I was laughing, giddy with freedom. "I don't know if You're there! I don't know what any of this means!" The more I said it, the more it filled me, that burning in the bosom, that unbridled peace. -
The Trek West: Creating the Kingdom Together
Posted on July 24, 2012 | 3 CommentsWe are a heritage of seekers. Since Mormonism is relatively new, all of us have pioneer ancestors close enough to know about. Maybe they crossed the plains. Maybe they converted much later. Maybe YOU are a pioneer. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Letting Go
Posted on July 22, 2012 | 6 CommentsI realized that I'd always had it backwards. Spirituality didn't come from holding the power of God inside your body like a form of light. It didn't come from knowing all the answers, from soothing other people's pain or from living a perfect life. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Afraid to Pray?
Posted on July 13, 2012 | 6 CommentsI only know that I wasn't strong enough to let the lamplight keep glowing, tiny as it was. I snuffed it out. -
Teaching Sex: On Reframing Negative Assumptions
Posted on June 9, 2012 | 15 CommentsIt's time to get rid of the "sin next to murder" rhetoric: a closer reading of the text in Alma suggests that Corianton's real sin is religious hypocrisy, not simply sleeping around. -
33 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: Loving Those Who Choose the Other Road
Posted on May 31, 2012 | 15 CommentsThe real test of love is not if we can love and appreciate people who agree with us. . .but if we can honor and respect people who don't. -
Sunday Takes a Mallet to My Head
Posted on May 4, 2012 | 18 CommentsUsually a very confident person, I avoided their eyes, smiled at their foreheads, and slunk behind the piano. The chorister introduced two visitors and announced that we would be singing a welcome song. I didn't hear her, as my thoughts were too focused on my failure. "Sister," she said sweetly, "we're singing a Welcome Song." -
Reconsider Reading The Book of Mormon to Your Kids
Posted on March 29, 2012 | 13 CommentsToday’s guest post, written by Angela, is based on “Consider Skipping Hunger Games” by James T. Summerhays. ; As a book of scripture, The Book of Mormon poses some important and persuasive theories concerning the effects of wickedness, secrecy, and greed on any civilization and […] -
The Sacredness of Manhood
Posted on February 29, 2012 | 30 CommentsToday’s guest post comes to us from Angela Felsted, who is a musician, poet, and nature lover. Her work has appeared in issue fifteen of Drown in Your Own Fears, in Chantarelle’s Notebook, and in Vine Leaves Literary Journal. You can find more of her […] -
Christmas Music Hangover
Posted on December 23, 2011 | 24 CommentsToday, a special Christmas guest post from Colin. They say that the first step in recovery is admitting that you have a problem, so here goes: Hi, my name is Colin and I have a holiday music hangover. There are a lot of Christmas songs […] -
Pursuing Youth and Beauty: Why You Should Never Stop
Posted on November 16, 2011 | 11 CommentsToday’s guest post comes to us from Bella Swan. A few short years after my husband, Edward, turned me into a vampire, I was asked to come up with a fundraiser and present it in a PTA meeting at Renesmee’s school, where everyone seemed obsessed […] -
The Santos Family Guide to Complete Family Interestingness
Posted on October 19, 2011 | 11 CommentsToday’s post comes to us from Colin S., who writes: Disclaimer: I am fixing to brag on my kids. It will be tasteful and concise. On December 3, 2004 my fantastically pregnant wife and I checked into one of our fine local hospitals for what […] -
Mormon Mommy Meets Eat, Pray, Love
Posted on March 14, 2011 | 9 CommentsIn the spirit of wayfaring, Ashley joins us today with the kind of travelogue I’d love to hear in testimony meeting. I’m the one with my mouth open wide and feet sitting in a pool of flesh-sucking fish, what Southeast Asians term a “fish spa.” […]