for my mister

hi big c. it's your wifey missing you a lot while you at working the night shift. i don't think i tell you enough how proud i am of how hard you work. though sometimes the hours managing the apartment complex on top of your night gig of editing feels like mindless droll on top of pointless conflict, you are slowly making your name in the world's most competitive industry. i think i missed you the most tonight when the previews were showing before my "six feet under" menu came into view and there was a preview for a supernatural series about southern depression-era carnies. complete with a faith healing or two and more than a bit of blood. it looks awesome and i think you'd like it too.

now they're showing griffith park on "six feet under" and we really like that place.

hey, i am super proud of you for editing that short film we saw on sunday and i'm super glad that we stayed to watch it, and i'd like to take back the swear word i muttered under my breath when i heard that your film was going to be last.

now the new boyfriend character on "six feet under" is showing the mom his really horrible, enormous tattoo and i'm really happy that we both laughed out loud when we saw it and had the same reaction of "oh honey no!!!"

smooches,

miss meaygghan

I'm a Mormon and I'm not voting for Mitt Romney

I'm a Mormon and I'm not voting for Mitt Romney.

I want to focus on secular problems, the problems of this world and help to bring about social justice. I want to put my energies into solving problems like poverty, inequality, and illiteracy. I want equality and justice for all: male and female, black and white, gay and straight. I want transparency from the organizations I buy from, including the organization I tithe to. I want to live in an egalitarian society, not a patriarchy where women are "separate but equal." I want a society where racial and sexual minorities are protected. I want to live in a society where mental health problems are seen as valid as any other physical ailment. I want to live in a democratic society, not one where the wealthiest make decisions that are somehow supposed to reflect the best interests of a fractured society. I want to live in a society where Muslim people are allowed the privilege of worshipping "how, where or what they may" without recluse or hatred.

I believe that the founder of my religion, Joseph Smith, envisioned a Zion and a society that would be egalitarian for both sexes and all races. There are evidences in history to suggest that Joseph Smith had a different view of homosexual sin than we do in our modern church. I take pride in those ideas of Joseph Smith, and hope that with those ideas we can live in a more peaceful society. I believe the founders of our American constitution had a very nuanced belief system of their own Christianity, and wanted others to enjoy the freedom of a personal relationship with God that was free from institutionalized shame.

I'm a liberal, and I'm a Mormon.

the fat bank

i heard about a bank in florida opening up that will allow clients to store their fat removed from lipsuction surgeries. just in case down the road, you decide you want to shoot some of that stuff into your lip or boobs or use it for a hair treatment or something.

of course, i've just seen "fight club" this weekend. i was struck by how the physical act of beating the tar out of their brothers really allowed these angry, blue-collar young men to bond together. they felt a closeness out of releasing their tension of being cogs in a wheel all day at work. of course i am a cog in a wheel, and pissed off at the state of this country so the tone of the film, while quite violent, also struck something of a chord with me.

i read articles about how people my age are fresh out of good colleges with copious amounts of student debt and then are released into a stunted economy. we are a generation that probably will not surpass its parental generation in wealth. the upward trajectory of middle-class america is being trod underfoot like a clumsy giant hurtling its way up a hill. we are battling questions of economic status and are reevaluating what equality means.

so the combination of these elements, the fat bank being a symbol of extreme consumer wastefulness, along with a disgruntled class of low-income people, and all the energy of a highly education, unemployed youth culture, is combining to make something powerful. i hope it's not fight clubs around the nation building bombs in the garages of credit institutions at night. but sometimes, that idea makes a lot more sense than some of the yahoos they've got on the republican presidential candidacy circuit.

chew on this while i pay tribute to the pixies and ask you, "did we learn NOTHING from fight club?"

orange alert

men on high orange alert:

-gordon ramsey

-the situation

Nobody Knows

I'm an avid listener of podcasts, two of my favorites being "Mormon Stories" and "Mormon Matters", produced by John Dehlin and Dan Wotherspoon. A few of their episodes have featured interviews with Darius Grey and Margaret Young, a team of active Mormons who have dedicated a lot of time and effort to telling the story of the black Mormon experience. They have chronicled this story from the first black members of the Church, all the way to the 1978 revelation allowing all worthy men to hold the priesthood, to current racial attitudes and barriers in the Church.

I bought a copy of their documentary, "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons". Please watch the trailer here:

http://www.untoldstoryofblackmormons.com/trailer.html

I'm very excited to see this documentary. I am also anxious to have some more free time around Christmas to read the pair's novel trilogy: "Standing on the Promises", which chronicles the same issues.

the moth

Great story and an interesting reminder that sometimes our own friends and families are more interesting than elusive celebrities.

Polygamous Heaven

Broaching the topic of polygamy is very difficult for the Saints, especially the women. We feel so much pain in our hearts to hear this discussed. Our temple sealings also have implications for whether marriages will be polygamous in the celestial realm or not. Since the mainstream Church hasn't provided us with many answers on this, we are left to wonder. And hope against hope that after living a full life of service in the Church, we won't be asked to share our husbands.

After listening to some podcasts about current fundamentalist Mormon polygamy practices and post-manifesto polygamy practices in the early Church, it's no secret that polygamy is messy business. However, I felt less anguish in my heart about the issue after learning that many women who practice polygamy today live happy lives. Polygamous relationships can be abusive or healthy, just like monogamy. Now, I'm not saying that I want to become a polygamist or I will be okay with it in the next life. I'm just saying there are aspects to this lifestyle that I might not have considered: that some people live productive, happy and healthy lives in this system. And hey, if you're finding a way to attain that happiness, more power to you.

Many women worry that in order to attain celestial glory, they will have to take on polygamy in the spirit world. Here is my thought: I don't think we'll have to. The eternal principle of the gospel is free agency. Apparently, we fought a war in heaven over this issue. To me, that says that agency is an eternal principle. We have always had our agency to act and to choose to take on ordinances and covenants if we desired to. Are we strongly encouraged to go to the temple and get sealed in the temple? Of course. But no one in the Church is forcing you. You may have to deal with the weight of gossipy judgement, but those people are not living your day to day life.

If polygamy is like a kind of ordinance, then you don't have to participate if you don't want to. Will it cause differentiation between the Saints? It could. Maybe it could be something as not-so-subtle as Church callings: like you get the "good", highly visible callings if you're a polygamist. If that's the case, I am completely fine with the polygamists running themselves ragged while I spend some more quality time with my husband on our couch made of super-fine-matter or whatever it's supposed to be.

We experience a lot of pressure in the Church in regards to our family lives. If polygamy in heaven does exist, and our people are the same people they are today, it could be like other major transitions in our lives that other people feel they have an input in: like dating, marriage and childbirth. Everyone wants to see you happy and see who you will end up with, because it's just so exciting!! when that happens. Of course it is. But until you are ready for those blessed events, let's not rush things. I think of polygamy in heaven the way that I think of having a baby: it's no one's business but yours and your husband's. You make a decision as a couple and you stick with it. If anyone were to ask me why I don't have a baby right now, I'd say: "Oh, sounds like you're offering to pay for my rent or give me free child care, or wake up for me in the middle of the night when the baby cries. No, that's not what you're saying? Oh. Guess you'll have to wait a little bit longer for a baby outta me."

We're all about choices in the Church. Let's not forget that as we contemplate our futures.