Condensed Thoughts

 I learned this morning that the church is tearing out the pioneer era murals of the Salt Lake and Manti Temples and getting rid of the live endowment. Words can't adequately express how heartbroken and angry I am. It hurts that the church clings to homophobia, racism and misogyny in the name of "tradition" while throwing the most beautiful and unique parts of our heritage in the garbage for the sake of "familiarity" I know when compared to how vicious the church can be for those who aren't a straight white man living in suburban utah this is really small and I know there are so many worse things happening in the world today but this hurt me in a way I was not expecting. I think it is emblematic of how the church seems to want nothing more than to alienate and reject anyone who does not fit into a very narrow definition of what it is to be a Latter-Day Saint. Anyway my friend Camilla said all this better than me anyway so you should just read her post here

Haven't done one of these in a bit but I've got enough stuff that I want to share that I will do one now. I'm very behind on my NaNoWriMo this year but I've been more behind. I also got called to be the Primary President, which is kind of stressful, but we're trying to get through it as best we can. Which U.S. Presidents Were Wife Guys? An Investigation - The Cut, this is for real one of my favourite articles and I think about it often. Gave it a reread due to Joe Biden's election. Without doing much research, it's hard for me to imagine Dr. Jill Biden allowing him to be a wife guy, but who knows. Costly Signalling, Cheap Grace and Loving Our Enemies after an Election - By Common Consent, this was relevant for me in a lot of ways, both in terms of news happenings but also it gave me some insights wrt some theological stuff I've been wrestling with for the past few years How Do You Know When Society Is About to Fall Apart? - The New York Times Magazine...

 I thought I would share it here for anyone interested. I tend to be VERY off the cuff when I speak so this doesn't line up perfectly with what I said, but it should be most of it. I may come back later and clean it up a little so it's more like a post and less like a bunch of notes... but probably not. Hope you enjoy! Good morning my fellow siblings in Christ (be like I hope the zoomers can hear me ok) Hello everyone it has been a year. Are y’all good? Do we need to take a collective deep breath? I hope I don’t need to detail the griefs we are all collectively carrying at the moment (I think we’re familiar), not to mention all the personal sorrows of which I will never know that are surely being borne by those among us today. For all who are struggling, I’m here to say I see you, I love you, and I hope that you can find comfort in what I’m going to talk about today. Now I think some of you might respond to that by saying to yourselves “well, I’m ok, I’ve managed to get through...