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Welcome to Arras Theme!
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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Latest Headlines
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Equality is Not a Feeling, 2.0
Posted on October 19, 2013 | 34 CommentsI have “equality” on the brain these days. What does it mean? What does it look like? How do you know when you have it and, more importantly, how do you know when you don’t? As Kate Kelly mentioned a couple weeks […] -
Equality is not a Feeling
Posted on October 16, 2013 | 40 CommentsTwo-part proclamation from me: 1. I don’t know what I think about God these days, but this much I know: God is not the author of inequality. I don’t care who claims otherwise. I’m not buying what you’re selling. 2. […] -
79 Psaltery & Lyre: Rima VIII de Bécquer, translated by Charles Patterson
Posted on October 11, 2013 | No Comments"it seems possible to tear myself / from the miserable ground / and float with the golden mist, / in weightless atoms, / undone." -
Not the Same Mormons
Posted on October 8, 2013 | 18 Comments"When I was a kid I loved to read fiction and non-fiction books about the Old West. There was always a colorful blend of characters: cowboys and Indians, mountain men and pioneers, gunslingers and prospectors, Anglos, French, and Mexicans. One character type that occasionally appeared was "the Mormons." These were an angry mob of bandits led by their mustachioed outlaw leader, "Joe Smith," who went around robbing and harassing everyone else. I was and always have been LDS, but I didn't recognize anything of myself, my fellow ward members, or the teachings of the Church in these Mormons that I read about. In fact, I didn't even realize until years later that the authors were even attempting to depict members of the LDS faith in their books. I just assumed that there was another, unrelated group out there also known as the Mormons." -
Miracles: Don’t Look Behind the Curtain
Posted on October 6, 2013 | 24 CommentsI want to believe in miracles. Here's the deal, though. Every time I hold up a miracle to the light and examine it, I'm disappointed. -
78 Psaltery & Lyre: Deja Earley, “Your Ex-Girlfriends Ruined All the Good Baby Names”
Posted on October 3, 2013 | 5 Comments"Forgive the walk in Central Park, / my pitter-pat over prams and kites and tiny shoes / the color of jelly beans. Forgive my weakness / for striped bellies, for onesied rumps pointed skyward." -
Smog-Breathers
Posted on October 1, 2013 | 4 CommentsI just read an amazing book called “Multiplication is for White People”: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit,an insightful writer whose work I have admired for the last ten years, which is about when I was first exposed to her. I […] -
Ordain Mormon Women
Posted on October 1, 2013 | 5 CommentsDoves and Serpents just received word that the fantabulous Cate has penned a song for the women (and men) of Ordain Women, who plan to stand in line this Saturday, October 5, in order to get into the priesthood session of General Conference. If […] -
77 Psaltery & Lyre: Christen Mattix, For Longing [Cyanotype Blue]
Posted on September 26, 2013 | 1 Comment"your fingerprints stuck / to the tape like mushroom / spores or the dust / of a moth wing." -
Women, the Priesthood, and the Cookie Jar
Posted on September 25, 2013 | 16 CommentsWe don't like to frame it that way. We like to talk about how men and women are equal partners (as long as it's understood that men "preside"). -
Women and the Priesthood: It’s Complicated
Posted on September 24, 2013 | 92 CommentsOnce you become aware of the problem, you see it everywhere. It's cultural. It's systemic. It's grounded firmly in biases, faulty assumptions, and, fundamentally, in a lack of imagination. -
Ride to Church in Oakland, CA
Posted on September 22, 2013 | 2 CommentsToday’s complicated ride to church comes to us from TopHat from the Exponent. TopHat says: My family lives in Oakland, CA, and we go to church up at the inter-stake center on the Oakland Temple grounds. For those of you who don’t know, the […] -
Ride to the Edmund Pettus Bridge
Posted on September 15, 2013 | 7 CommentsGrowing up, I only learned the “standard” stuff about the Civil Rights movement. Pretty much just what was in my Texas-state-adopted-history textbooks, which means that I missed a lot. It wasn’t until I began working on my Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, in […] -
Psaltery & Lyre in Print!
Posted on September 13, 2013 | No CommentsOur first print volume of Psaltery & Lyre is ready to come live at your house! It includes the outstanding poetry of Michael Hicks, Christine Butterworth-McDermott, Tyler Chadwick, Elizabeth Pinborough, M. Brett Gaffney, Aaron Michael Kline, and many more! Click HERE for more info. […] -
Speaking of Spirituality
Posted on September 13, 2013 | 5 CommentsPhyllis Barber is the author of eight books of fiction and creative nonfiction, including How I Got Cultured (voted one of the five best books written about Las Vegas), Raw Edges: A Memoir, and To the Mountain: Memoir of a Mormon Seeker, forthcoming from Quest […] -
A Letter from the Past for Today
Posted on September 12, 2013 | 35 CommentsI am a college writing teacher and every semester, I assign my students the argument classic “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King, written in 1963 in response to Alabama clergymen who believed King’s visit to Birmingham under the auspices of the Southern […] -
76 Psaltery & Lyre: Murray Alfredson, “Peaceful Blessing”
Posted on September 12, 2013 | No Comments"I could not pick his speech, and asked / where he had come from. 'Afghanistan.' I told / how once his folk were honoured in this town, / their little mosque a glory, qibla tiled / deep blue." -
Letter to A Bishop: Can I be a witness at my daughter’s baptism?
Posted on September 10, 2013 | 19 Comments"In preparation for my daughter's upcoming baptism, I was asked to organize and make the necessary assignments regarding who would do what for the program. Among the assignments was that of who would be witnesses to her baptism. I am writing this letter with two questions in mind: First, would it be possible for me to be a witness at my daughter's baptism? And second, if not, do you know why this assignment is reserved only for priesthood holding men?" -
My response to a Letter of Kindly-Intended Correction Regarding My Pro-Female Ordination Stance
Posted on September 9, 2013 | 72 CommentsBy Spunky On October 5th, there are a group of Mormon women who will go to the Priesthood Session of General Conference and request entry. The action is meant to draw attention to the inequality of a male-only presiding priesthood, and draw attention to the […] -
75 Psaltery & Lyre: Becky Sirrine, “An Original Thought”
Posted on September 5, 2013 | No Comments"Raised religious, / so many words, sentiments, / (buzzphrases, actually) / were programmed into me / little square holes of doctrine / like punches in old-style Hollerith cards . . ." -
74 Psaltery & Lyre: Theric Jepson, “Being a High-School Teacher Is a Great Disguise”
Posted on August 29, 2013 | 1 Comment"Being a high-school teacher is a great disguise . . . " -
Straight Thinking on the Role of Women
Posted on August 25, 2013 | 76 CommentsElder Ballard addressed an audience at Education Week at BYU on August 20th, 2013. The topic of his address was the role of women where he reiterated that women have a separate but equal role to men, specifically, that the role of women necessarily […] -
73 Psaltery & Lyre: Kayla Haas, “I Am Not Vanilla”
Posted on August 22, 2013 | 2 Comments"Put me in a ruby red / corset and lace me up like pleather / knee high boots. Measure my thighs / in degrees of sexiness and run a tongue / under my ear lobe to make me shiver." -
Grondahl Restored 66
Posted on August 18, 2013 | No CommentsFor other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. – See more at: https://dovesandserpents.org/2013/06/grondahl-restored-61/#sthash.wtM6u3PT.dpuf -
This Must Stop: A Call to End Sexually Invasive Interviews Between Priesthood Leaders and Minors in the LDS Church
Posted on August 18, 2013 | 396 CommentsTRIGGER WARNING: sexual and spiritual abuse When I was 13-years-old, I was violated in a very personal way. A middle-aged man from my neighborhood pulled me aside, brought me into a private room, and asked me explicit sexual questions. It was a traumatic experience. It […] -
72 Psaltery & Lyre: Murray Alfredson, “Silences”
Posted on August 15, 2013 | 1 Comment"A dog sits silent. Her gaze shafts up / in study of her master's face; / nostrils twitch and forelegs quiver - / she waits the crinkle of a smile, / the open hand that reaches down, / that turns her silence to a lick . . . ." -
The Next Generation
Posted on August 10, 2013 | 18 CommentsI’ve written plenty here about the (what feel to me like unrelenting) gender inequities in the Mormon church. And then I got tired of it. I just ran out of fight. I feel like I want to take my energy somewhere else, […] -
71 Psaltery & Lyre: Kayla Haas, “An Elegy for the Phoebe Caulfield of the South”
Posted on August 8, 2013 | 2 Comments"Bring back fireflies in mason jars, / bring your bell curls as blonde / as blonde could be." -
Ride/Walk to the Tokyo Temple
Posted on August 4, 2013 | 1 CommentOkay, so I’m a bit behind on this ride/walk to church that I’ve been meaning to do since we got back from Tokyo in March. Nonetheless, here it is: On the second day we were in Tokyo, Marin and Stuart went to school with […] -
70 Psaltery & Lyre: Becky Sirrine, “The Martinet”
Posted on August 1, 2013 | 1 Comment"Colors are brighter, and the days / are far too short. / People look at me / As if there's something different in my face. . . ." -
69 Psaltery & Lyre: Theric Jepson, “Amtrak to SAC”
Posted on July 27, 2013 | No Comments"The next pier is blackened by once living flames. / Then a rusted mount of steampunk in the brackish waters. / So many broken teeth reaching from the brackish shallows. . . ." -
68 Psaltery & Lyre: M. Brett Gaffney, “Salt Girl”
Posted on July 21, 2013 | 3 Comments"Wind / scattered my crystals / to the lands beyond our city. . . ." -
Posted on July 17, 2013 | No Comments; For other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. – See more at: https://dovesandserpents.org/2013/05/grondahl-restored-60/#sthash.icYzuaps.dpuf -
Posted on July 17, 2013 | No Comments; For other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. – See more at: https://dovesandserpents.org/2013/05/grondahl-restored-60/#sthash.icYzuaps.dpuf
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Book Review: Salt
Posted on July 11, 2013 | 5 Comments"Each poem in this collection is a little jack-in-the-box, tightly coiled and waiting to spring." -
Ebenezer Baptist Church and Marriage Equality
Posted on July 9, 2013 | 2 CommentsOn Friday afternoon, we saw the Edmund Pettus Bridge--the bridge on U.S. Route 80 that spans the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama--and told our kids about Bloody Sunday when armed police attacked a group of peaceful civil rights demonstrators in 1965 during the civil rights movement. -
67 Psaltery & Lyre: Theric Jepson, “God”
Posted on July 7, 2013 | No Comments"God / was here this morning while I was out . . . " -
66 Psaltery & Lyre: Becky Sirrine, “Night Sky”
Posted on June 27, 2013 | 4 Comments"To look out into space is to look back in time." -
65 Psaltery & Lyre: Kay Porter, “The Lamb’s Vision”
Posted on June 20, 2013 | 2 Comments"The water rose over my torso, washing / away the dirt and sin. It crept up, over my chin, / engulfing the stubbled cheeks, caressing my scalp / like a lover . . ." -
Grondahl Restored 62
Posted on June 16, 2013 | No Comments -
64 Psaltery & Lyre: James A. Clark, “The Captain”
Posted on June 13, 2013 | 3 Comments"I listened, breathless, to his stories of the sea. / I rode with him on remembered waves, / imagined the taste of salty air . . ." -
Ride to the Genesis Group’s Commemoration of the Priesthood Revelation
Posted on June 9, 2013 | 1 CommentToday’s Ride to Church was submitted by Mark Brown, who recently attended the Genesis Group’s gathering to commemorate the 1978 priesthood revelation. The Genesis Group is pretty interesting. Check out their website if you want to know more about them. ; ; -
Our Favorite Mormons: Freda Lucretia Magee
Posted on June 8, 2013 | 1 CommentMost of us learned history from books written by authors who subscribed to Great Man history, the idea that history is made by prime ministers and generals. But there is another approach to historiography which holds that the real history is made when ordinary, obscure […] -
63 Psaltery & Lyre: Annaliese Wagner, “There are Volcanoes in Iceland”
Posted on June 6, 2013 | No Comments"They must look like chalices toasted / by tectonic plates, their lava must taste like red wine. / They bubble like witches' caldrons, stirring up trouble . . ." -
Ride to Lakewood Church
Posted on June 2, 2013 | 8 CommentsBack in March, I went to Houston to attend the Houston Mormon Stories regional conference (= great fun). Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Brent took our two youngest (ages 10 and 13) to a very-long-day dance competition in Fort Worth (which is 3.5 hours […] -
Grondahl Restored 61
Posted on June 1, 2013 | No CommentsFor other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. -
June: A Tough Pull
Posted on May 31, 2013 | 12 CommentsThe June lesson line-up for the Young Women and Young Men of the church is a tough pull. First, in Sunday School, a whole month of Sundays (there are five in June) on the priesthood. My personal favorite bullet point is the first one: […] -
Nerd Version of “Dance Moms”
Posted on May 30, 2013 | 5 CommentsI may have been known to make fun of “dance moms” and “cheer moms.” If I had a son who was into sports, I’d probably be making fun of the super competitive dads that are yelling at their kids when they strike out and […] -
62 Psaltery & Lyre: Theric Jepson, “Rifflection: ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’ by John Donne”
Posted on May 30, 2013 | 1 Comment"My favorite part is when you take political control and License / my roving hands, and let them go / Behind, before, above, between, below, / Turning you from queen to America, my new found land . . ." -
Ride to Church in Little Havana
Posted on May 26, 2013 | 1 CommentBack in January, Brent and I went to Florida to present a paper we had co-authored together at a conference on school choice. The conference was in Ft. Lauderdale, where neither of us had ever been before. Once we had moved heaven and […] -
Grondahl Restored 60
Posted on May 25, 2013 | No CommentsFor other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. -
61 Psaltery & Lyre: Kay Porter, “Mother Mold”
Posted on May 23, 2013 | 4 Comments"Palm to palm, / hands clasped in front of unbeating hearts, / they look over their congregation / never quite meeting the eyes / of the men that long for them but settle / for the farmer's daughter . . ." -
Ride to Church in Hyderabad, India
Posted on May 19, 2013 | 4 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church comes to us from KC Kern, who recently did a Ride to the Book of Mormon Musical in Boston for us: A few weeks ago I found myself in India as part of an academic field study project. I was staying […] -
60 Psaltery & Lyre: Jeremy Windham, “Goliath in Love”
Posted on May 16, 2013 | No Comments"Summer has never gifted me with love, / the sparkling spell of July's golden hand / does not know my shoulders. . . ." -
Flooding the Book of Mormon with the Book of Mormon
Posted on May 14, 2013 | 7 CommentsIn October of 1988, President Ezra Taft Benson stated: “I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music, and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon.” Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Bobby Lopez’s broadway smash hit The Book […] -
Battle Hymn of My Mormon Mother
Posted on May 13, 2013 | 8 CommentsFirst thing: It is somewhat appropriate that my tribute to my mom is showing up after Mother’s Day proper. My card and gift also showed up after Mother’s Day proper. No, I didn’t say this was commendable! I’m not proud of being tardy to the […] -
A Celebration of Motherhood
Posted on May 12, 2013 | 2 CommentsMother’s Day is a pretty complex day–full of pain, annoyance, and sadness for a lot of women for a whole host of reasons, as well as fun memories and love and laughter for others. I love seeing these pictures of all kinds of moms […] -
Motherhood Is Not the Essense of my Personhood
Posted on May 11, 2013 | 26 CommentsDear Kennedy, Marin, and Stuart, Mother’s Day is tomorrow. Mother’s Day is not my favorite–for a whole host of reasons I’m quite sure y’all know about because I tend to not self-censor much with anyone. That includes y’all. I woke up this […] -
3 Little Gurus
Posted on May 9, 2013 | 13 Comments“The greatest advantage of not having children must be that you can go on believing that you are a nice person. Once you have children, you realize how wars start.” Fay Weldon This week, I’m especially mindful of the familial relationships and how they can […] -
59 Psaltery & Lyre: James A. Clark, “Elegy for a Stranger”
Posted on May 9, 2013 | 1 Comment"God, what a shame / to die so young. Soon after, the rain came. / Fat, angry drops began to pelt and sting / my skin."