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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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Columns Archive
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A Ride to Church: Atlanta
Posted on January 27, 2011 | 7 CommentsWhat is your Ride to Church like? Today we travel with Claire, through Atlanta, GA. -
Forbidden Fruit
Posted on January 26, 2011 | 45 CommentsSo, I just finished reading an absolutely fascinating book called Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers by Mark Regnerus, a professor at University of Texas-Austin. The book focuses on how religiosity influences teenagers’ sexual attitudes and behaviors. (See the […] -
Forget the Rules
Posted on January 25, 2011 | 11 CommentsI am moving to a new house this week and I’ve had a surprisingly hard time adjusting to that fact. As dread has constantly threatened to take me over, one of my favourite passages from the Tao Te Ching has been running through my head […] -
More Dread than Alive
Posted on January 24, 2011 | 9 Comments“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt I welcomed the new year in Queenstown, New Zealand, the […] -
Meditation 101
Posted on January 23, 2011 | 12 CommentsWhen I signed up for Yoga Teacher Training years ago, I was warned to expect a lot of sitting still for hours on the floor in silence, listening to dharma talks, anatomy lessons, and meditating. With two small children at home, the thought of silence […] -
The Power and the Glory of Quirky Observation
Posted on January 22, 2011 | 11 CommentsI've recently been reminded of how some, more quirky observations can easily lead to delightful moments of wonder and a spine-tingling connectedness with the whole bad-ass universe. We might fail for words ... except perhaps an astonished, I know! -
David Lynch: ‘Lost Highway’
Posted on January 21, 2011 | 6 CommentsIf we are no longer what society tells us: then who are we? And how can we be trusted? -
Number 7
Posted on January 20, 2011 | 8 CommentsI caught a glimpse of him opening the bag and then dropping it rather unceremoniously on the ground. He then picked up the sign and again and turned slowly back to the line of cars. -
You can’t have two fun parents. That’s a carnival.
Posted on January 19, 2011 | 11 CommentsI love the show Modern Family. When it first started, I got some chain emails about how negative the show was and how we (Mormons?, “God-fearing people”?) should email ABC and tell them we were boycotting it and blah blah blah. Well, nothing piques my […] -
Read More Adventurously
Posted on January 18, 2011 | 12 CommentsWhen was the last time you tried a book you expected to hate? -
Am I “Dreaming”?
Posted on January 17, 2011 | 11 CommentsIn the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr. I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah with three black people in my high school. At the time, I was proud to […] -
Faith – Worth the Risk?
Posted on January 16, 2011 | 4 Comments*The following is a guest post by Dan Ron Kauk is one of the world’s most renowned rock climbers. A fixture at Yosemite during the climbing season, he’s pioneered routes on some of the most notorious walls, including a few first ascents on El Capitan. […] -
Bake-ru
Posted on January 15, 2011 | 2 Comments'Bake' isn't just about changing, its about the charm that transforms everyday innocuous items into unrecognizable, uncooperative objects through unknown mischief. When we find ourselves stupefied by keys that should work, or items that have inexplicably disappeared, it has 'bake-ru.' -
The Spirit of the Beehive
Posted on January 14, 2011 | 6 CommentsWho could ever draw the lines that would separate the material world and the worlds of the imagination? For children, these worlds flow into each other very easily: a merging that is the subject of the Spanish-language film El espÃritu de la colmena (1973). Victor […] -
What The Church is Doing Wrong
Posted on January 13, 2011 | 16 CommentsSomething's better than nothing.... or is it? -
Seminal Works – Exile in Guyville
Posted on January 11, 2011 | 13 CommentsBut, there is so much more to Exile than sexual frankness. Exile is about finding your way in the third wave of feminism, when you believe in equality, but you aren't quite sure how it is supposed to look. -
Let Go
Posted on January 9, 2011 | 5 CommentsNo doubt, sometime in your life you’ve been told, “Just let it go.” It’s a common phrase, and one that’s often misunderstood. We tend to think of letting go as detaching, cutting off the unwanted emotion or situation, and moving on. This way of thinking […] -
Mojibake!
Posted on January 8, 2011 | 14 Comments[Updated with Bad Religion] The Holy Bible tells a story rich in metaphor which marks the tendency for information to change as it passes through and between human minds. The story I'm thinking of is The Tower of Babel, of course. -
The Conformist
Posted on January 7, 2011 | 9 CommentsNobody would want to be called a ‘Fascist’. Unless, of course, you’re living in 1930’s Italy: the world of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970). The film follows a man: an aspiring Fascist operative, Marcello, on his way to assassinate his former professor, a political exile […] -
Number Six
Posted on January 6, 2011 | 4 CommentsI encountered the same man at Boulevard and Freedom that I'd given lunch #4 to last week. I felt badly that I'd forgotten to restock and fell into my old pattern of not acknowledging him as he walked by with his sign. -
What are we aiming for?
Posted on January 5, 2011 | 9 CommentsHave you ever written a family mission statement? I’m not big on self-help books (with the exception of the mountain of parenting books I read when my kids were babies/toddlers/pre-schoolers). It’s not that I don’t think I need help because I do, of course. (That […] -
Reading in the New Year
Posted on January 4, 2011 | 23 CommentsI still like to keep track of the end of year book lists because if, heaven forbid, I ever make it all the way through the stack on my bedside table (technically that stack has overflowed into a stack beside the table) or find myself stymied one summer day while pondering the quick selection rack at the library, I want to have a few ideas in my back pocket. -
Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?
Posted on January 3, 2011 | 9 CommentsThe natural recounting of achievements and regrets with an eye to the future feels like a gift. -
Offering, Part II
Posted on January 2, 2011 | 3 CommentsAt the end of a painful retreat (about which, click here), Laurie came to pick me up. She brought Echo, a rambunctious Samoyed, who, she informed me, was disappointingly not named Moksha. We walked the dog around the outer grounds of Spirit Rock. Up the […] -
London Calling
Posted on January 1, 2011 | 18 Comments[UPDATED] I took a call from London at four this morning -- that's 11 AM London time. It was my fifteen year-old daughter in tears at having discovered that she and her roommate had slept through their alarm, gone unnoticed by chaperones and ultimately missed the coach ... -
Robert Altman: ‘Short Cuts’
Posted on December 31, 2010 | 5 CommentsIf this film is a set of 'short cuts', then we might ask: 'where to?', and 'what to avoid?' -
Possibilities
Posted on December 30, 2010 | 1 CommentToday, my wish is that the New Year unfurl new possibilities- for the blog and its contributors, and for our readers and commenters. -
Ringing in the New Year
Posted on December 29, 2010 | 16 CommentsI’m kind of a New Year’s Eve Scrooge. I’ve never cared much for ringing in the new year with anything other than what I usually do. I don’t like to get dressed up and I don’t like black eyed peas. And I especially don’t like […] -
Wish I Had A River
Posted on December 25, 2010 | 4 CommentsTaking a break this week but I want to share just a little something anyway. Because it’s Christmas and not everyone feels warm and cozy today. Some may be as far from those they love as the moon is far from the earth. I’m thinking […] -
Christmas cards and family newsletters
Posted on December 22, 2010 | No CommentsThe following post was written by Sara W. on her personal blog two years ago. I read it then, loved it, and remembered it this year as I sat down to write our annual Christmas letter. So I asked her if we could […] -
15 Best Albums of 2010 (so far)
Posted on December 21, 2010 | 14 CommentsDespite the fun of tidying up a year's worth of music listening into a concise list and orderly rankings, end of year lists are always fluid for me. Things will change. -
Dare to Do Right
Posted on December 20, 2010 | 6 CommentsOnce upon a time I was called in a ward to be a service outreach coordinator for the Relief Society. I was asked to organize monthly service projects which excited me beyond belief, but was given pretty tight restrictions. We weren’t allowed to spend money […] -
Offering
Posted on December 19, 2010 | 2 CommentsWhat offering can I leave here, in this moment -- to help me remember that I am the source? -
Lamb Chop In The Sky
Posted on December 18, 2010 | 4 CommentsIf a boy becomes a man and can still feel the tug of an emotion from across 40 years, one may guess that the experience was profound - and so it was. -
Woody Allen: ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’
Posted on December 17, 2010 | 6 CommentsIt would be difficult to overestimate how important the movies of Woody Allen have been in my life. That makes it all sound a bit serious. . . the importance and pleasure of watching these films have been in equal measure. Thank heaven he’s made […] -
Memories
Posted on December 16, 2010 | 4 CommentsA grateful resident presented me with a chocolate turkey, wrapped in beautiful multicolored foil. Then she looked around her room, reached over to her bedside table, and handed my brother a mushy brown banana. -
Let My People Go
Posted on December 15, 2010 | 10 CommentsMy little Stuart has a bleeding heart. He is unusually quick, I think, to identify a person or an action as being unfair or unkind and to want to right the wrong (unless it’s one of his sisters, in the which case it’s revenge, no […] -
Seminal Works — Kind of Blue
Posted on December 14, 2010 | 8 CommentsSometimes hype is justified, Kind of Blue earns its reputation with every listen. -
Skipping Christmas
Posted on December 13, 2010 | 6 CommentsChristmas is a pretty big deal at my house. There’s nary a tradition I’ve heard that I don’t try to incorporate somewhere. I eat it up. But this year, we’re skipping Christmas. Literally. Thanks to the international date line. We get on a plane on […] -
Real Intimacy
Posted on December 12, 2010 | 9 CommentsToday, I indulged. I let my mind wander to one of my favorite fantasies. Do you want to join me? Be warned, it’s pretty damn sexy. Imagine — every time you open your refrigerator, it’s immaculate. It smells like fresh lime and each item is […] -
Golden Slumbers
Posted on December 11, 2010 | 20 CommentsGolden slumbers kiss your eyes, Smiles awake you when you rise; Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby, Rock them, rock them, lullaby. Care is heavy, therefore sleep you, You are care, and care must keep you; Sleep, pretty wantons, […] -
Fahrenheit 451
Posted on December 10, 2010 | 21 CommentsTruffaut’s famous adaptation of the Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 begins with a strange and stern voice-over against coloured close-ups of television aerials, in the place of credits. This innovative opening introduces us directly to the world of the film, where the futuristic regime has […] -
A Christmas Carol
Posted on December 9, 2010 | 5 CommentsAs Marley disappears in a ghostly manner out the window, Scrooge looks out the window as he goes to close it..... -
Celestial Attachment and Parenting
Posted on December 8, 2010 | 10 CommentsToday’s post is written by ‘Saint Maybe’, a fabulous writer. Enjoy! Buddhism teaches that the origin of suffering is attachment. That was part of the epiphany of the bodhi tree. Craving, grasping, clinging, and binding are all synonyms for this kind of attachment, with […] -
Banned
Posted on December 7, 2010 | 23 CommentsSome conservative religious communities build bonfires or try to get books banned from public libraries, Mormons censor themselves. -
Ms. Goodie Two-Shoes
Posted on December 6, 2010 | 21 CommentsYou better watch out . . . He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake! Before we’ve even digested the Thanksgiving turkey, children are being […] -
I Want
Posted on December 5, 2010 | 5 CommentsHappiness comes from within. It may be one of the most overused spiritual statements, and most of us would agree with it — despite evidence to the contrary. Seriously, what evidence do we have that happiness comes from within? When I think about the things […] -
Penelope’s List
Posted on December 4, 2010 | 12 CommentsIs the desire to be happy a human universal? Or is it just another one of those preferences that arise from the murky depths of some personalities? On its face this question seems to have an obvious answer. I mean, who doesn’t want to be […] -
The Visitor
Posted on December 3, 2010 | 6 CommentsI’m not a movie critic, but I do see lots of movies. I’m not picky. I’ll see a “chick flick” that’s full of clichés and predictable plots. I don’t need movies to be realistic. That always seems like such an absurd criticism: “Oh, that movie […] -
Lunch 5- Out of the Comfort Zone
Posted on December 2, 2010 | 8 CommentsWe (and our children) have had to learn to be gracious guests at both cockroach infested decrepit apartments and mansions where we are served by The Help. -
Holiday Road Trip Hell
Posted on December 1, 2010 | 5 CommentsWe’ve had a few discussions here at Doves & Serpents about fear. Mel wrote about the dangers of playing it safe, Matt wrote about the simultaneous worship and fear of self, Laurie talked about places that scare us, Andy wrote about a scary movie (The […] -
Fermentation
Posted on November 30, 2010 | 9 CommentsWhilst I have lived in England I have been struck by the cross pollination of many musical genres under the guise of indie. What is indie? It's exactly what it sounds like -- independent music -- but it's a bit of a minefield, you have to be careful. -
Mormon Fakebook Update: 20
Posted on November 29, 2010 | 4 CommentsIf only we could work out what Elder Uchtdorf was thinking about... aha! -
A Cast, a Quilt and an Angel
Posted on November 29, 2010 | 4 CommentsFor three-year-old Wally, the cast had been a nuisance standing between him and a pirate ship in the bathtub, an everyday accessory of his favorite color, and a hindrance to getting a good grip on the rock climbing wall at the playground. For his brother […] -
Get Real
Posted on November 28, 2010 | 9 CommentsReal. It’s one of my favorite four letter words. I can’t think of any better criteria for a friend – just be real. Satya is the Sanskrit word for truthfulness. It’s one of the main precepts of yoga and one of the first things yogis […] -
A Christmas Tale
Posted on November 26, 2010 | 23 CommentsSome films leave you with a feeling that you have experienced something solid and illuminating that will stay with you. A Christmas Tale (released in 2008), with its dream cast, rich characters and blend of humor and big ideas, is such a film for me. Every time I watch it, I like it more and I'm even more amazed by the strange alchemy Desplechin uses to create his moving, joyful, but unsentimental family drama. -
Giving Thanks
Posted on November 26, 2010 | 1 Comment'The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.' -Mahatma Ghandi -
Home for the Holidays
Posted on November 24, 2010 | 8 Comments“Nobody means what they say on Thanksgiving, Mom. That’s what the holiday is all about. Torture.” – Claudia I know I’m not supposed to talk about movies on Knit Together. That’s Andy’s job over at Rogue Cinema. (Hopefully they don’t fire me . . .) […] -
File Sharing
Posted on November 23, 2010 | 8 CommentsMy iTunes library is an autobiography of all my relationships. There is the musical theater from my parents, the Tori Amos and Ani DiFranco from one of my oldest friends. The Outkast and Lupe Fiasco came from my Hip-hop loving brothers -- we have, since our teens, been doing musical cultural exchanges, like the Judgment -
Taking Up My Mat
Posted on November 22, 2010 | 7 CommentsI thought about God asking me the same question one day and decided I don't want to be left offering excuses about why I didn't follow up on my dreams or let life pass me by