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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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Latest Headlines
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But With Joy Wend Your Way
Posted on July 26, 2011 | 15 CommentsFew hymns seem to capture the Mormon spirit so completely or at ts best. The steady beginning building to the gorgeous swell of music and lyrics work together to convey the sense of joy and faith that Clayton wrote about, the beauty of life in spite of difficulties and hardship. -
Mormon Matters 43: Healthy Approaches to Teaching Modesty
Posted on July 25, 2011 | No CommentsLast week I participated in this Mormon Matters podcast regarding modesty and Mormonism with Dan Wotherspoon, Chelsea Robarge Fife, and Erin Hill. The impetus behind the podcast (for me, anyway) was the silly article in The Friend that I wrote about in this post: Modesty, […] -
Trekkie
Posted on July 25, 2011 | 12 CommentsThose who weren't too busy, too judgmental, too self absorbed and too self-important to drop everything to help someone else are worthy of reenactment and emulation. -
O Pioneers!
Posted on July 24, 2011 | 11 CommentsOne year we had a brown horse in the church parking lot. Bonnet-wearing girls and cowboy-hatted boys took turns “riding” him around the building. Another year, I helped organize a stake-wide celebration with all the bells and whistles. Well, no actual bells and whistles, but […] -
Trek
Posted on July 24, 2011 | 3 CommentsMormons all over the U.S. (and elsewhere, perhaps) gathered yesterday to celebrate Pioneer Day–commemorating the entry of Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Our ward (= congregation) had a picnic and potluck […] -
A Mormon/Muslim wedding
Posted on July 24, 2011 | 3 CommentsI loved this article by Elna Baker, author of The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance. It was published in O magazine in July 2011. A Mormon and a Muslim walk into a wedding . . . Have you been to a cross-cultural wedding? -
04 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: Build Out, Not Up
Posted on July 23, 2011 | 16 CommentsCan a religion be built on faith? Just plain faith? Faith that isn't looking for a promotion, or a pay raise, or that isn't on its way to becoming something else? -
Eat, Bray, Shove: Two Men’s Mimicry, Mockery and Mastication Across Northern England
Posted on July 22, 2011 | 6 CommentsWhat would you get if the producers of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” combined “My Dinner with Andre ” and “Easy Rider” with some salacious food porn thrown in? Why, you’d have British director Michael Winterbottom’s latest Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon semi-improvised vehicle, “The Trip,” that’s […] -
The Gluttonous Baby
Posted on July 21, 2011 | 10 CommentsFor as long as humans have made objects, there have been baby dolls. It’s an almost universal phenomenon that young children play with dolls. Especially if they have younger siblings or see babies being taken care of in their daily life, little […] -
I, Heather Kathleen Olson Beal, Being of Sound Mind and Body
Posted on July 20, 2011 | 18 CommentsA few months ago, Brent and I finally managed to complete a task that has been on our to-do list for-gulp-14.5 years. We had a will drawn up (and other sad-ish documents like a power of attorney, a living will, etc.). Why 14.5 years? Our […] -
Return and Report: The Murakami Edition
Posted on July 19, 2011 | 14 CommentsFour novels later, I find myself firmly in the critical admirers' camp. -
Austin Eateries: We Are What We Eat (?)
Posted on July 18, 2011 | 6 CommentsIt’s really cheating for me to write anything for The Wayfarer because I’m a big fan of my comfort zone and try not to leave it too much. And my “comfort zone” is particularly small when it comes to food. However, our oldest daughter (Kennedy) […] -
Claudia’s Ride to Church in Moelv, Norway
Posted on July 17, 2011 | 20 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church comes to us all the way from Claudia (Faithful Dissident) in Moelv, Norway. Claudia writes: Almost nine years ago, I moved to Moelv, Norway. This town is located in the heart of Norway’s breadbasket of Ringsaker commune. A […] -
Great Expectations
Posted on July 17, 2011 | 3 CommentsIn 2006, Elder Nelson spoke of his first wife saying, “When people have asked her how she managed with ten children with so little time available from her husband, she has responded with a twinkle in her eye, saying, “When I married him, I didn’t […] -
03 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: From Kolob Wikileaks
Posted on July 16, 2011 | 10 Comments"The iron rod should only go halfway through the mist-just HALFWAY, not all the way. It's clear from the picture." -
Operation Stop Arm
Posted on July 15, 2011 | 4 CommentsMy neighbor Sheri and I watched motorists pass our children's school bus for years. We took video, called the police, reported tag numbers, complained to the public school department of transportation, pleaded with the PTA for attention to this matter. We were met with "there is nothing we can do" around every single corner. -
Modesty, Mormon-style
Posted on July 13, 2011 | 165 CommentsWe try not to rant here at Doves & Serpents. We try to discuss things we’re thinking about, exchange ideas, and ask questions. But I was pushed over the edge today when I read this little gem published in The Friend (a monthly magazine for […] -
How You Can Keep Your Head Down and Pass as a Mormon While Living in Utah
Posted on July 12, 2011 | 3 Comments; ; See this list from the Hairpin. -
Staff Stacks
Posted on July 12, 2011 | 15 CommentsWhat the writers of D&S are into right now. -
Earthy Soulful Awakening
Posted on July 11, 2011 | 2 CommentsI grew up road-tripping to my dad’s favorites: Johnny Cash, Trio: Linda Rondstadt, Emmylou Harris & Dolly Parton, and AM sports radio mixed with a lot of static. So it’s no wonder I’ve been smitten by The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. Though each […] -
Healing Waters
Posted on July 10, 2011 | 6 Comments“You’ll only be baptized once in your life, so it is a very special experience,” my grandmother said, speaking at my eight year old daughter’s baptism last week. After her talk concluded, we made our way down the hallway to the baptismal font and while […] -
Walk to Church/Synagogue in Krakow
Posted on July 10, 2011 | 9 CommentsToday’s Walk to Church/Synagogue comes to us from Jacob Baker, who recently attended a conference in Krakow, Poland. This is sort of cheating because Jacob didn’t really take these pictures for Doves & Serpents, but kindly consented to let me use them after I Facebook-stalked […] -
02 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: Our God is Too Small
Posted on July 9, 2011 | 14 CommentsThe problem is that our assumption of order and constancy doesn't match the diversity, incoherence, and contradictions of lived religion. -
Considering James Bond in a Post-Mad Men World
Posted on July 9, 2011 | 2 CommentsYou, the audience, look through the barrel of an assassin’s rifle at a circular white space as a smartly dressed gentleman strides into view and then he suddenly whirls toward you, his now unconcealed pistol firing. A crimson wash of blood slowly coats the […] -
Needing it Now and the Eye of the Storm
Posted on July 7, 2011 | 1 CommentAs I watched from my TV with a newborn baby, I was physically ill at the sight of those not able to escape New Orleans as the ravaging effects of Hurricane Katrina flooded their city and threatened their lives. The city was special to me, […] -
Passing up Girls’ Night Out
Posted on July 6, 2011 | 6 CommentsI consider myself a friendly, outgoing person. I had a great group of girls I was friends with in high school. I like to think people find me easy to talk to and easy to get to know. I can easily kill a half hour […] -
Rasputin Records
Posted on July 5, 2011 | 10 CommentsMy husband and I both enjoy a really broad range of musical genres. As such, I’ve often wondered — how will our kids find a way to fulfill the role of the rebellious teenager at our house when we as parents seem to appreciate most […] -
A View into Tiny Worlds
Posted on July 4, 2011 | 5 CommentsA couple of years ago I acquired a macro lens for my camera, and had all sorts of fun working out the fuzzy science of getting photos of the tiniest things possible. Once you get down to this scale, everything looks dirty and rough – […] -
Independence Day
Posted on July 4, 2011 | 4 CommentsBecoming a citizen was a long, expensive process for my husband. I can't imagine how difficult it was for those people from Burkina Faso, Serbia, Jamaica, Colombia, Cambodia that we shared that day with at the immigration office. -
Erin’s Ride to a 10-Day Silent Vipassana Course
Posted on July 3, 2011 | 5 CommentsOur beloved Erin just wrapped up a 10-day silent vipassana meditation retreat, or as some people call it, “meditation boot camp.” Hopefully she’ll tell us more about it here later. For now, some pictures of her ride to the retreat center in Dallas: -
This Wild Playground
Posted on July 3, 2011 | 5 CommentsThis week I found myself hanging upside-down from aerial silks in an artist’s studio in Oakland, when the blasphemous words came out of my mouth, “I can’t!” I found new levels of humility while failing to find muscles I knew I had somewhere, and trying […] -
01 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: On Being a Church Loser
Posted on July 2, 2011 | 33 CommentsIf my religion were a sports stadium, then I'm in the nosebleed section. I've got a big Diet Coke, a bucket of popcorn, and the field is the size of a postage stamp. -
Beautiful!
Posted on July 1, 2011 | No CommentsCheck out this beautiful photo blog entry: (Click the photo to read.) -
Winter’s Bone
Posted on July 1, 2011 | 7 CommentsAmong its confluence of forces and traditions, it is impossible to ignore that the mythological potential of America is enabled, at least in part, by its sheer size. As the borders of the United States pushed relentlessly West, spaces opened up in the endless flats […] -
Joining the Jesus Freaks
Posted on June 30, 2011 | 1 CommentDo we believe, deep down, that the poor are that way because God wants them to be? -
The Evil One
Posted on June 28, 2011 | 8 CommentsDoes reading make you a better person? -
The Great I AM
Posted on June 27, 2011 | 3 CommentsStopped at a light one Saturday morning, I met some teenage girls and their mothers with buckets requesting money to send the girls to basketball championships. My first reaction was annoyance, but I decided if they needed it enough to ask, I could definitely spare […] -
JaneAnne’s Ride to Church in Portland
Posted on June 26, 2011 | 16 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church comes to us from the West Coast–Portland, Oregon. JaneAnne writes: “I live in Willamette Heights, Northwest Portland, Oregon, and attend church in Beaverton. Although I mostly grew up in Salem, Oregon, my family lived in Beaverton when I was a small […] -
Patriarchs I Have Known and Loved
Posted on June 26, 2011 | 8 CommentsMy father grew up in a troubled home, poor as coal dust. A child of the depression and of divorce, he lined his broken-soled shoes with newsprint. As a child, he learned to hustle, earning nickels at the ballpark any night he could. There was […] -
Joseph Smith and the Archetypes of the Collectively Unconscious Male
Posted on June 25, 2011 | 5 CommentsIn their 1990 publication, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette suggested during the apex of the “men’s movement” that males should listen to the wisdom of the ages in searching for mature expressions of modern […] -
Men On Film
Posted on June 24, 2011 | 15 CommentsAs part of this week’s discussion on “Mature Masculinity,” I thought I’d take a closer look at films and television shows that depict men grappling with questions of identity and what it means to be a man in the modern world. As we’ve discussed this […] -
Proxy Work
Posted on June 23, 2011 | 5 CommentsAs a lone-parent, five-child family on welfare, we were hardly the ideal Mormon family. -
‘Men’ in the Dock
Posted on June 22, 2011 | 14 CommentsThis is a post about men. This is a post about women. No wait, this is a post about ‘men’. This is a post about the relationships between women and men, ‘men’ and ‘women’: in a time of war. Of course, the work of feminism […] -
Atticus Finch: Fatherhood Gold Standard
Posted on June 21, 2011 | 15 CommentsFor years, I’ve cited To Kill a Mockingbird as my favorite book whenever asked. But I’ve read a lot of books since I first read that book in ninth grade English class. So thanks to a book club I’m a part of, I re-read it […] -
Burying the Weapons
Posted on June 20, 2011 | 13 CommentsWhen I became a mother I was certain my children would grow up enlightened. And for me enlightenment meant my children would not ascribe to any traditional gender stereotypes or roles. My girls would play sports and revile Barbie. My boys would wear bow ties […] -
3,218 Nights of Bedtime Stories
Posted on June 20, 2011 | 1 CommentI stumbled across this sweet article about a dad who read to his daughter for 3,218 nights in a row. And now that the daughter is grown and gone, the dad reads picture books to senior citizens every Friday. Of course I want to read […] -
A Most Important Proclamation
Posted on June 19, 2011 | 8 CommentsWhen I was about six years old, my Dad walked me to primary class. We passed a man in the ward who nodded at the baby girl in my dad’s arms and said, “Wow. Four girls. I guess you’ll be going for baby number five […] -
Heidi & Torben’s Ride to Church in Long Melford, England
Posted on June 19, 2011 | 7 CommentsToday’s ride to church comes to Doves & Serpents from our beloved Heidi, who writes Stacks for us every Tuesday, and her brother Torben. ; This is the parish church in the nearby village of Long Melford. I pass it every day and I’ve been […] -
Welcome to ‘Mature Masculinity Week’
Posted on June 19, 2011 | 11 CommentsGrr! Hmph! (Flex!) It’s Father’s Day, and that means that the next seven days on D&S will be dedicated to that strange cultural elaboration on the XY chromosome: it’s ‘Mature Masculinity Week’! “‘Mature’ masculinity?” I hear you cry! “Isn’t masculinity, by definition, more mature than […] -
Stories and Stone
Posted on June 18, 2011 | 9 CommentsHaving arrived in London last week on an ordinary mid-week mid-morning, I exited the lofty frame of St Pancras International Station, onto Pentonville Road. Consulting the compass on my phone, I walked West first, the great art galleries near Trafalgar Square as my destination. The […] -
WikiLeaks: Newest Edition of the Book of Mormon
Posted on June 16, 2011 | 16 CommentsTrevor Price was kind enough to share this leaked picture of the newest edition of the Book of Mormon. Can’t wait to get my copy! -
No Soup For You!
Posted on June 16, 2011 | 1 CommentI recently read this article in the Orlando Sentinel reporting on a third round of arrests of activists arrested for violating an ordinance prohibiting the sharing of food with large groups in a city park more than twice a year. The group Food Not […] -
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall . . .
Posted on June 15, 2011 | 8 CommentsMy 14-year-old daughter recently said, “Mom, do you realize how many of your sentences begin with, ‘I just finished reading a book . . .’?” I paused for a moment, thinking about her question, and then realized-somewhat sheepishly-that she was right. So, in order to […] -
Staff Stacks
Posted on June 14, 2011 | 22 CommentsTake a look at what we're into right now. -
God is not Christian
Posted on June 14, 2011 | 1 CommentI can’t wait to read Desmond Tutu’s newest book, God is not Christian. I read his book Made for Goodness and found that it contained so much wisdom and light and truth. If the book is anywhere near as good as this excerpt, it […] -
Fear Factor
Posted on June 13, 2011 | 8 CommentsI am terrified right now. In fact, I literally just sent a text to a friend that read, “I am terrified.” You see, this week, I set off for a ten-day silent meditation course. When it’s all said and done, I’ll be there for at […] -
Be Ye Therefore Perfect
Posted on June 12, 2011 | 9 Comments26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. — Michael Jordan In one of the best Relief Society lessons I’ve heard, the teacher […] -
Battles – ‘Gloss Drop’ Tour, London
Posted on June 11, 2011 | 1 CommentFrom the packed-in floor of a dark club (under Victorian railway tracks), and through the dancing columns of sound and light, the three members of Battles appear as conjurors, athletes, inventors, and heroes. Playing mostly material from their brand-new album (released this week) ‘Gloss Drop‘, […] -
I Love the Smell of K-Y Warming Jelly ® in the Morning, or, Marital Apocalypse Delayed
Posted on June 10, 2011 | 8 CommentsAlthough best known for “The Seventh Seal” and other serious “art house” films, I suggest Ingmar Bergman’s best work is his delightful “Smiles of a Summer Night.” Whether you watch it as a momentary diversion from a sweltering evening this summer or view it as […] -
The Parable of the Potato Soup
Posted on June 9, 2011 | 15 CommentsOnce upon a time, a woman in our ward (=church congregation) had a baby. In typical fashion, the women at church mobilized and quickly sent around a list for people to sign up to take a meal over to her family. Kennedy was very excited […]