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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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Don’t You Want Muffins?
Posted on September 19, 2012 | 9 CommentsI was born with a seemingly infinite number of machine parts in my head — springs and sprockets and gears and levers and wires and nuts and bolts. They were mostly unassembled at birth — just random parts jangling around as I rolled and crawled […] -
Driver’s Ed
Posted on September 19, 2012 | 7 CommentsOur oldest daughter is approaching the magical age of 16. When I was her age, I took a semester-long course at school during which we learned all the rules and even practiced driving. If that were still an option, I would’ve signed up […] -
40 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: “A Public Meeting, or Feast”
Posted on September 18, 2012 | 17 CommentsBrigham Young later removed this passage. A combined wedding and sealing, apparently, had certain operational advantages when it came to keeping early polygamous marriages a secret. -
Choosing Faith in the Face of Doubt
Posted on September 17, 2012 | 10 CommentsThe truth is that some things will hurt and be difficult. The truth is that some questions will never be fully resolved. Part of a mature faith is accepting the inherent ambiguity of life and acting in accordance with our deepest hopes anyway. -
Ride to Holy Places in Sarnath and Varnasi, India
Posted on September 16, 2012 | 10 CommentsToday’s amazing Ride to Church comes to us from Angela Clayton and Ken Clayton (who took the stunning pictures). Angie writes: “Varanasi is considered a holy city by Hindus (as immortalized in the movie “Gandhi”), but it is also holy to Buddhists and […] -
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? -
Grondahl Restored 36
Posted on September 15, 2012 | 3 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. -
15 Psaltery & Lyre: Christine Butterworth-McDermott, “Holding Anna”
Posted on September 13, 2012 | 4 CommentsChristine Butterworth-McDermott is an associate professor of English at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she teaches creative writing, fairy tales, and act as the poetry editor of REAL: Regarding Arts and Letters, a national literary magazine. -
Unyielding: It’s How We Operate
Posted on September 13, 2012 | 22 CommentsDuring my ex-boyfriend’s honeymoon, I sent him a dozen red roses, along with three singing telegrams, which I had delivered three days in a row. The girl paid to sing to my ex was yelled at by his new wife, who was angry at the […] -
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. -
Shielding Children from our Emotions
Posted on September 12, 2012 | 10 CommentsI’ve read some really sad things lately and have been experiencing some of my own sad moments (hey, I’m 39, so it’s time, no?), so I’ve been thinking a good bit about grief lately and about what grief looks like once you’re a parent. […] -
Walk to the World Trade Center Memorial Site
Posted on September 11, 2012 | 5 CommentsToday’s installment of our Ride to Church feature that we usually run on Sundays is a Walk to the World Trade Center Memorial site, which my family visited in June of this year while spending a week in New York City. As I’m sure […] -
Powerful
Posted on September 11, 2012 | 3 CommentsWhere does your head go when you want to channel some power? -
Guest Post Invitation: Single Experiences
Posted on September 10, 2012 | 13 CommentsWe want to hear your personal stories about why there is less than a perfect fit between your spiritual needs and what the church offers. -
Ride to Church in Silver Gate, Montana
Posted on September 9, 2012 | 3 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church comes to us from Carole (who has also graciously shared her Rides to Church in Avon and Paradise, Utah and a last Ride to Church in Avon, Utah) who visited Silver Gate, Montana with her family. Carole writes: Cooke City, […] -
“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 […] -
Grondahl Restored 33
Posted on September 8, 2012 | 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. -
The Pillars of Love, Part 1: Authenticity
Posted on September 7, 2012 | 1 CommentTo be pure, love must be authentic. This is much more than saying that love must be authentically felt. What I mean is that pure love must come from a heart that is stripped of deceit, for love cannot survive otherwise. -
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. -
14 Psaltery & Lyre: Christine Butterworth-McDermott, “Wedding Cake”
Posted on September 6, 2012 | 5 CommentsChristine Butterworth-McDermott is an associate professor of English at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she teaches creative writing, fairy tales, and act as the poetry editor of REAL: Regarding Arts and Letters, a national literary magazine. -
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 […] -
To Read or Not to Read (Your Teenager’s Private Business)
Posted on September 5, 2012 | 15 CommentsWhen I was a teenager, I kept a journal. I wrote in it a lot. I sometimes worried about my parents reading it, so I hid it-in various places, to throw them off the scent. And sometimes I would do things like […] -
A Whole Lot of Craziness
Posted on September 2, 2012 | 10 CommentsIt’s funny how one story can take on different meanings, reveal different themes, and speak to us in new ways depending on who we are during the time of reading. Case in point – I’ve read The Catcher in the Rye three times (conveniently in […] -
Grondahl Restored 32
Posted on September 1, 2012 | 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. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Lost and Found
Posted on August 31, 2012 | 2 CommentsWhen I showed up the next week (closer to 10:10 a.m. this time), the little old lady said, "You came back." I had found my spiritual home. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Light and Shadow
Posted on August 30, 2012 | 8 Comments"I don't know much," I think to myself, "but I know there is truth in their steady breathing, and in their dirty laundry scattered on the floor." -
13 Psaltery & Lyre: Dayna Patterson, “I Wear Pants to Church”
Posted on August 30, 2012 | 31 CommentsFor women, this isn't allowed. If I were my brother, no one would notice. I'm breaking the rules -
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. -
Restoring America?
Posted on August 29, 2012 | 4 CommentsPolitics is like blood sport at our house. We love it. I have a picture of Kennedy as a newborn, sitting in one of those vibrating rocker seats, “watching” Meet the Press with us on a Sunday morning before church. Our kids […] -
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? -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: The Feminine Divine
Posted on August 27, 2012 | 3 CommentsShe pointed to two girls and told them, then she pointed to me. "You, with the blonde, your Goddess is as clear as the blue sea on our coasts. Your Goddess is Iemanja." -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Coming Out
Posted on August 26, 2012 | 7 CommentsThe premonition was followed by two additional thoughts. I needed to come out of the closet. I needed to resign formally from the church. -
Grondahl Restored 31
Posted on August 25, 2012 | 4 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. -
12 Psaltery & Lyre: Ed Snow, “The Danaid”
Posted on August 24, 2012 | No CommentsMy fingers glide across your nape, shoulders and waist. . . -
College Success 101
Posted on August 22, 2012 | 6 CommentsI teach some combination of undergraduate teacher education courses and graduate education courses. Most of my students are college juniors, so they’ve had a couple years of experience before they get to me. Starting next week, I’m teaching a course that our university […] -
Starfish Beyond Mountains
Posted on August 19, 2012 | 4 CommentsEveryone knows the parable of the starfish. Some of us even have a framed print of the parable, maybe a shadow box with an actual dried starfish, hanging in the guest bathroom. It’s a simple tale, even a little worn with familiarity, but the moral […] -
Grondahl30
Posted on August 19, 2012 | 1 CommentFor other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: I Don’t Know How It Ends
Posted on August 19, 2012 | 6 CommentsDoesn't matter what you call it. What matters is that it calls you. It's been calling poets and preachers, artists and alcoholics all along. People who see things that aren't supposed to be there. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Sacred Artifacts and Rituals
Posted on August 17, 2012 | 4 CommentsI'm a faithful skeptic, a doubting believer; this is why these spiritual experiences were so unexpected. -
11 Psaltery & Lyre: Heather Olson Beal, “Quiver Full”
Posted on August 16, 2012 | 2 CommentsHeather Olson Beal is a regular blogger at D&S. See her complete bio on the "About Us" page. -
Staff Stacks, Pt 1
Posted on August 15, 2012 | 32 CommentsWhat the writers of D&S are into now. -
Savoring (or failing to savor) the Present
Posted on August 15, 2012 | 19 CommentsOn one of the nights in the last two weeks when the Olympics were on, I got up from my home office chair, left the computer, and went into the TV room where all three of our kids were blissfully watching whatever Olympic event was […] -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: An Object Lesson
Posted on August 14, 2012 | 11 CommentsI have felt those same feelings in and around mosques, synagogues, and churches of many different Christian denominations. Let's add mountaintops and porch swings, too. -
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. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Mormon Soccer
Posted on August 13, 2012 | 2 CommentsIt all feels organic and authentic in a way Church no longer does. Yet something about the early morning routine, the weekly exercise and exhaustion, the socializing with people I otherwise wouldn't-it somehow feels like Mormon soccer to me. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Spirit or Ghost?
Posted on August 12, 2012 | 4 CommentsWas it all in my head? Maybe. Was it a product of my environment? Maybe. Was it the result of a physiological condition? Maybe. But regardless of the cause, the results are the same. I am, without a doubt, a believer in spiritual experiences. -
Ride to Church (History Sites in Palmyra, New York)
Posted on August 12, 2012 | No CommentsIn June, we took a family vacation to New York. We spent 6 days in New York City and then rented a car and drove to upstate New York. We met my in-laws in Palmyra, where founding events of the Mormon church took […] -
Grondahl 29
Posted on August 11, 2012 | 1 CommentThis one’s for Heather. :)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. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Letting the Sea In
Posted on August 10, 2012 | 9 CommentsThis wasn't how it was supposed to be. That thought thrummed constantly below the surface, a drumbeat following me everywhere. -
10 Psaltery & Lyre: Bennett Durkan, “State Colors”
Posted on August 9, 2012 | No CommentsBennett Durkan is pursuing an M.A. in English at Stephen F. Austin State University. -
Whole Lotta Hate
Posted on August 8, 2012 | 15 CommentsThere’s an awful lot of “hate” being thrown around on-line and in the media these days. Mormons and evangelicals hate gays. Chick-fil-A (the business and apparently, every employee of the company, by definition), hates gays. A deranged gunman hated Sikhs. Fred […] -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: The New and Everlasting Covenant
Posted on August 7, 2012 | 14 CommentsThe three of us met in a park one night and I basically gave them permission to date. It was weird, but at the same time, I felt like God was somehow preparing us to be the pioneers of polygamy IN the church at this period of time. -
Our Favorite Mormons: Merciful Minerva! (Teichert, That Is)
Posted on August 6, 2012 | 16 CommentsOf all the superhero catch phrases, Wonder Woman’s frequent invocation of “Merciful Minerva!” puzzled me most as a kid since Minerva (the Roman version of Athena) represented wisdom and learning, inventiveness and the arts, hardly someone whose name and memory might embolden you to, say, […] -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Redemption from Pride
Posted on August 6, 2012 | 15 CommentsI kept toward the back, filled with the peace that comes from doing the right thing. I carried a sign that read, "Sorry We're Late" and took in the positive response from the spectators. -
Ride to the Sensoji Temple
Posted on August 5, 2012 | 4 CommentsToday’s Ride to “Church” (=Sensoji Temple) comes to us from Emily: In May of this year, I had the opportunity to take a group of five 8th grade students on a trip to our sister school in Kagoshima, Japan. I couldn’t help but make […] -
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. -
Grondahl 28
Posted on August 4, 2012 | 1 CommentFor other cartoons in this series, click here. This cartoon, as always, is posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation and Calvin Grondahl. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: More Than Meditation
Posted on August 3, 2012 | 3 CommentsGod knows that I have some deep and abiding struggles--religious conundrums with which I have grappled for years. -
9 Psaltery & Lyre: Angela Felsted, “The Cello String to God”
Posted on August 2, 2012 | 2 CommentsAngela Felsted 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 on her blog. Her chapbooks, CLEAVE and Scarred were published in 2012. You can visit her at www.angelafelsted.com. -
38 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: The Real Threat to Religious Liberty
Posted on August 1, 2012 | 9 CommentsThe problem with McBride's "Threats to Chick-fil-A are a Threat to Religious Liberty" article in Meridian Magazine is that she doesn't seem to understand what religious liberty is or why it's important.