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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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Olympic Moms
Posted on August 1, 2012 | 3 CommentsI’ve been really enjoying watching the Olympics the last few days. The kids planned an opening ceremonies party on Friday night. They made “patriotic eagles,” red-white-and-blue strawberries, and Olympic rings brownies, as well as a host of other “international” foods-gumbo (because Louisiana’s kind […] -
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. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: You Don’t Have To
Posted on July 29, 2012 | 3 CommentsMore valuable than being obedient was the reminder that I have a personal connection to the Divine, and while a third party's interpretation may be useful, it is not necessary. -
Ride to Mosque
Posted on July 29, 2012 | 4 CommentsToday’s Ride to Mosque comes to us from Shayda, who writes: My name is Shayda, and I am half Iranian and half American. I am very proud of my Iranian heritage and got to experience it for myself two years ago. I wanted to go […] -
Grondahl Restored 28
Posted on July 27, 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: And Have Joy Therein
Posted on July 27, 2012 | 22 CommentsEven then I knew my dream of open, inclusive temple worship was idealistic, unlikely to be realized. For now, however, everything was right. Somehow the experience had turned out perfectly. -
8 Psaltery & Lyre: Cheryl L. Bruno, “The Sister-Wife”
Posted on July 26, 2012 | 8 CommentsCheryl L. Bruno is a writer and blogger with research interests in 19th century Mormon history. -
Scrapping the Scouts?
Posted on July 25, 2012 | 34 CommentsStuart started participated in Cub Scouts last year when he turned 8 (which is when Mormon boys start participating in scouting. We have our own troops and we kinda play by our own rules.) I was thrilled because all three kids could go […] -
37 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: The 1800s Called
Posted on July 25, 2012 | 6 Comments. . . they want their magazine back. -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: The Mystery of Spiritual Experience
Posted on July 24, 2012 | 11 CommentsAnd it all comes down to one thing: experiencing a sense of Connection. Connection with God. Connection with other people. Connection with the natural world. -
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. -
Objects of Faith and Desire: A Seal Upon Thine Heart
Posted on July 24, 2012 | 5 CommentsIn this series of posts I will explore ancient (and possibly modern) artifacts that relate to matters of faith and aesthetic desire. Among artifacts of the lands of the Bible, called by scholars the Ancient Near East (ANE), no object is more ubiquitous than […] -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: That Amazing Grace
Posted on July 23, 2012 | 9 CommentsIt goes on and on, this tapestry we weave with the Divine that moves in and out, going from the seen to the unseen, letting us know that behind it all are threads that connect everything. -
My Own Personal Canon: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Posted on July 22, 2012 | 1 CommentA little more than a year ago, I was on my way home from a ten-day vipassana meditation course. I had spent twelve days in total at the center, ten of them without talking, with nearly fourteen hours a day dedicated to meditation. I had […] -
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. -
Ride to the Columbine High School Memorial
Posted on July 22, 2012 | 3 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church is not actually a ride to church; rather, it’s a ride to the Columbine High School shooting memorial, brought to us by Stephanie Siggard Stevens, who drives by the memorial on her way to church every week. Stephanie writes: On […] -
Grondahl Restored 27
Posted on July 21, 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. -
7 Psaltery & Lyre: Joshua Lyons, Two Poems
Posted on July 19, 2012 | 1 CommentJoshua Lyons graduated with a BA in English from Stephen F. Austin State University and is currently working on his MA in English. He plans to continue pursuing his education and to continue writing poetry and children's stories. -
The Green Room Piano
Posted on July 18, 2012 | 13 CommentsGrowing up in the Olson household, playing the piano was just something you did-kinda like breathing or eating. There were four of us-two older sisters, then me (four years later), and then my brother, the caboose (six years later). When I was a […] -
Ride to the Grand Canyon
Posted on July 15, 2012 | 5 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church comes to us from Blake, who visited the Grand Canyon and writes: Westerners transplanted to the Great Plains, my family now lives in and enjoys Kansas City. We like the uber-green of the little hills and the open plains. We came […] -
Grondahl Restored 26
Posted on July 14, 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. -
36 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: Truth or The Onion?
Posted on July 14, 2012 | 6 CommentsBecause Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, it's important that it is 'dressed appropriately.' -
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. -
6 Psaltery & Lyre: Christine Butterworth-McDermott, Two Poems
Posted on July 12, 2012 | 7 CommentsChristine Butterworth-McDermott is an associate professor of English at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she teaches creative writing, fairy tales, and acts as the poetry editor of REAL: Regarding Arts and Letters, a national literary magazine. -
Help Wanted: Punishing tweens and teens
Posted on July 11, 2012 | 15 CommentsWhen I was a tween/teen, we didn’t ever really get punished-at least I don’t remember being punished. We didn’t really have rules per se, either. We were all motivated by desperately not wanting to disappoint our parents, so we pretty much did what […] -
Unexpected Spiritual Experiences: Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Posted on July 10, 2012 | 8 CommentsI got into gear. This was the main event. We took out our scriptures and flipchart. We only had about 25 minutes left, so we skipped right to the apostasy, the first vision, and the Book of Mormon. -
Our Favorite Mormons: A Hidden Jewel
Posted on July 9, 2012 | 8 CommentsThis summer as you watch Olympic athletes receive their medals, I ask you to remember the individual who founded a Utah company that manufactured many of these medals in years past, a founder named Obert C. Tanner who started the Utah jewelry establishment O.C. Tanner […] -
Ride to Church on Texas State Highway 21
Posted on July 8, 2012 | 2 CommentsDuring a recent drive through east Texas, on a 130 mile stretch of Hwy 21 that I have driven a number of times, each time noting to myself that ‘Dang! There are a lot of churches out here in the country!’, I stopped to photograph […] -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Tools, Tents, and Radiant Hope
Posted on July 8, 2012 | 4 CommentsToday’s powerful and inspiring Mutual Improvement Associations comes from our guest blogger, Mark. Let’s begin in typical LDS-sacrament-meeting-talk fashion and define the meaning of some words. Mutual Improvement Association. What does that even mean? It sounds awkward and clunky and a bit old-fashioned. But when […] -
Grondahl Restored 25
Posted on July 7, 2012 | 2 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. -
5 Psaltery & Lyre: Tyler Chadwick, “On Crucifixion by J. Kirk Richards”
Posted on July 5, 2012 | 10 CommentsTyler Chadwick is a doctoral candidate in English and the Teaching of English at Idaho State University and his poems have been published in various journals: Dialogue, Metaphor, Irreantum, Salome, Black Rock & Sage, Wilderness Interface Zone, and Victorian Violet Press Poetry Journal -
Guest Post Invitation: Unexpected Spiritual Experiences
Posted on July 5, 2012 | 7 CommentsI begged God to change her. But instead, God changed me. . . By the time we arrived in Massachusetts for Cholene's wedding, God was already there. -
On conquering our fears
Posted on July 4, 2012 | 8 CommentsMy Stuart is a pretty cautious kid. (That’s a nice way of saying he’s scared. Of pretty much everything-except for peer pressure pertaining to the fact that dance is his favorite hobby, and that takes some bravery, to be sure!) He’s afraid […] -
Teaching Sex: On Labels
Posted on July 3, 2012 | 3 CommentsLabels affect how we treat others. When we label someone as gay or straight, we often treat them as though they fit all that label implies. -
Teaching Sex: It Seemed Terrifying
Posted on July 2, 2012 | 6 CommentsWhen dating I thoroughly enjoyed cuddling, holding hands, and kissing. I felt guilty for just how much I enjoyed kissing and frightened by the emotions that were raging inside me -
Ride to and walk through Pride with Mormon Allies
Posted on July 1, 2012 | 2 CommentsToday’s Ride to Pride comes to us from Ren, who has done another Ride for us and has shared some of her amazing photography with us as well (see here and here). Ren writes: Hi, I’m Ren. I live in Minneapolis, MN and love […] -
Grondahl Restored 24
Posted on June 29, 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. -
35 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: A Visit to the Grandin Printing Shop on E. Main
Posted on June 29, 2012 | 10 CommentsI'm in the Grandin Printing Shop on E. Main in Palmyra. An affable guide is doing his best to impose some structure on our visit, but I'm not cooperating. -
4 Psaltery & Lyre: Aaron Michael Kline, Two Poems
Posted on June 28, 2012 | 6 CommentsAaron Michael Kline received his BA in Theatre and English from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. -
PROUD
Posted on June 27, 2012 | 10 CommentsPart 1 — Setting the Stage Earlier this week I sat and thought about the weekend. Should I march in the Pride Parade? Do I belong there — as a Mormon? I’m not the most active or believing Mormon in the bunch, after all. Yet […] -
525,600 minutes
Posted on June 27, 2012 | 5 CommentsWe’re on a family trip. Notice that I didn’t call it a family “vacation” because that implies rest and relaxation, which this experience does not include. We travel about once a year, but it’s usually in conjunction with my extended family, which dramatically […] -
My Own Personal Canon: Being Happy
Posted on June 25, 2012 | 7 CommentsBefore we begin, I have a few announcements to make. First, I turned forty this week. I know! That’s a birthday to be reckoned with. No joking around with the decade-commencing birthdays. Believe me, I’m not joking around. But we’ll get back to that. Second, […] -
34 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: Charity by Force?
Posted on June 24, 2012 | 9 CommentsAll those in favor of building a new sports stadium, please bring $100 cash and come down this Saturday and Sunday to help pour concrete. . . -
Walk to Church in Hyde Park, Chicago
Posted on June 24, 2012 | 1 CommentToday’s Walk to Church comes to us from Jenna in Chicago, who writes: We are moving from Chicago to the Bay Area this year, and I finally convinced my husband to get up early enough to walk to our LDS meetinghouse so I could document […] -
Grondahl 23
Posted on June 23, 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. -
3 Psaltery & Lyre: Sarah Dunster, “The Death of Ginny”
Posted on June 21, 2012 | 11 CommentsSarah Dunster is an award-winning poet and fiction writer. Her poems have been published in Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought, Segullah Magazine, and Victorian Violet Press. -
Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut
Posted on June 20, 2012 | 24 CommentsLast week I read this comment in an online Facebook group: “My daughter’s handout from Young Women’s today: Your greatest role in life is to be wife to your “sweetart” and mom to your “sugar babies.” Along with accompanying candy. I get it! Mormons […] -
Teaching Sex: Confronting Corianton
Posted on June 19, 2012 | 6 CommentsHe came home weeping after meeting with the Lord's representative and feeling like he was dirt because he was told he was committing a sin . . . -
Ride to Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Posted on June 17, 2012 | 5 CommentsToday’s Ride to Church comes to us from Joanna in Albuquerque. Joanna is one of the first non-Mormon people to send us a ride to church, so props to her (and to Elizabeth!). Joanna writes: My ride to church is from my home […] -
Teaching Sex: It’s Not the Stork
Posted on June 15, 2012 | 3 CommentsSometimes, he would preface with, "do you really want to know, because you won't be able to un-know it." -
2 Psaltery & Lyre: M. Brett Gaffney, Two Poems
Posted on June 14, 2012 | 2 CommentsM. Brett Gaffney graduated with a BA in English from Stephen F. Austin University and is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. -
Teaching Sex: Sex Talk (Somewhat) Misremembered
Posted on June 13, 2012 | 6 CommentsMy only hope now is that my son will also positively misremember my talk with him. -
I’m not a Runner
Posted on June 13, 2012 | 15 CommentsI recently went to the doctor to discuss my “blood pressure issue” (read = I have high blood pressure). My regular physician recently had a baby, so her husband (with whom she shares a practice) was seeing her patients. We discussed some lifestyle […] -
Letting Live
Posted on June 11, 2012 | 13 CommentsIf there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that my perspective on life is limited. Life itself is complex and multi-faceted, and the more I am able to listen to other people’s stories and lean in to understand a different perspective than my own, the more […] -
Grondahl 22
Posted on June 10, 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. -
Ride to Pride
Posted on June 10, 2012 | 5 CommentsToday’s Ride to Pride is a slideshow of pictures from last week’s Pride Parade in Salt Lake City, UT in which nearly 300 straight Mormons marched in support of their LGBTQ brothers and sisters. I asked participants to submit pictures of the march and […] -
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. -
Teaching Sex: Two Tables?
Posted on June 7, 2012 | 7 CommentsHe walked forward and thrust in his hand. He pulled it back out to reveal . . . the centerfold from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue! -
Grondahl 25
Posted on June 7, 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. -
1 Psaltery & Lyre: Our Lord Jesus in Drag
Posted on June 7, 2012 | 13 CommentsDayna Patterson is the newest blogger at Doves & Serpents. Her poems have appeared in Dark Lady Poetry, Persona, Words Work, Exponent II, Segullah, Borderline, and BlazeVOX.