30 and (probably) diabetic

You know how people always joke about their bodies falling apart when they hit milestone years? Well, now I know why. It’s totally true. (Okay, not really — if I really had to pick a point when my body failed me it would be when I got CFS, which was when I was 16. Still, I find this situation ironic.)

I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago to get general blood tests done so I could save money on my insurance next year. Most of the tests came back normal, but one test didn’t — my HgA1c level was high. For those of you not in the know (I wasn’t) this indicates that my blood sugar over the last few months has been high. Read More

The Fourteen Fundamentals of Following the Bloggernacle

First: What happens on the bloggernacle, stays on the bloggernacle.

Second: The latest comment will be more controversial than the original post.

Third: The current post is more important to us than whatever we said last week.

Fourth: If the prophet leads the church astray, the bloggernacle will be sure to point it out. (Also, even if he doesn’t.)

Fifth: The commenter is not required to have any particular credentials or training in order to call the original poster to repentance.

Sixth: The commenter does not have to say “This is just my opinion” for it to be just her opinion.

Seventh: Whether you need to know it, or want to know it, or wish you’d never heard it, you can find someone on the bloggernacle vehemently defending it.

Eighth: The feminism of the bloggernacle  is not limited by men’s reasoning.

Ninth: The bloggernacle  can start flame wars on any matter – temporal, spiritual, ontological, ecumenical, grammatical, fiscal, or edible.

Tenth: The blogger may be involved in your local congregation. (Little do you know!)

Eleventh: The two groups who have the most difficulty following the bloggernacle  are the proud who are Correlated and the proud who still have dial-up.

Twelfth: The bloggernacle will not be popular with the popular.

Thirteenth: The bloggernacle and its blogs make up the unwashed masses – the lowest quorum in the church.

Fourteenth: Threats will get you nowhere.

Why I Do Want to Believe in Heavenly Mother

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post titled “Why I Don’t Want to Believe In Heavenly Mother.” Basically, I argued that our teachings about Heavenly Mother in their current form raise more feminist problems than solve them, and I concluded, “I sometimes think I might rather deal with the difficulties of no Heavenly Mother at all, than with the challenges posed by the doctrine of a Heavenly Mother who is irrelevant to the Plan of Salvation, and who is either unable or unwilling to communicate with her children.”

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New ZDs!

We are excited to announce that after several years of discussing whether we should add new bloggers but never getting around to it (in classic ZD fashion), we have recruited two new bloggers: Apame and Petra.

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Nine Reasons I Can’t Write a Post Right Now

1. It’s after midnight and I really should be going to bed.
2. I’m too busy reading through all of the blog posts I started but never finished.
3. The gelato in the freezer is calling my name.
4. The cursor on my computer keeps jumping around, making it just too difficult to type.
5. I have to harvest my rice in Farmville so that I can get gold in the Co-op I started.
6. I need to give moral support to Lynnette as she organizes her CD collection.
7. I either have to reorganize the apps on my iPhone or the files on my computer, I haven’t decided which.
8. I have to rip the twenty-four CDs I purchased today.
9. Robot. Unicorn. Attack.

Recording Talks

In the past couple of years, I’ve presented at quite a few Mormon Studies kinds of conferences. Almost all of them have been recorded–some just with audio, but some with video as well. (I’ve found this far more common in the Mormon Studies conferences I’ve attended than ones in my academic field more generally, which is why I mention them specifically.) I can appreciate why this is done; there are a lot more people who are interested in hearing what happens at these events than are able to actually attend, and from that perspective, it’s great to have the material available. Read More

St. Augustine and the Sunday School Teacher

In reflecting on the value of figurative language in On Christian Doctrine, Augustine explains that “I contemplate the saints more pleasantly when I envisage them as the teeth of the Church cutting off men from their errors and transferring them to her body.” I’m totally with him in that I love the idea of Aquinas, Joan of Arc, and hey, maybe Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon too, chomping us down into the digestive tract of Christian devotion; it offers something for the imagination to chew on during a dull sacrament meeting. Read More

New Mormon Blogs

Launching today are two new Mormon group blogs. Wheat and Tares features many of the bloggers who recently left Mormon Matters. Also launching today is Doves and Serpents, where “Daily columns will cover Arts, Film, Religion & Spirituality, Family & Gender, Service, ‘Exploring the World’ and more” (quote is from their Twitter feed).

Rumors that a third new Mormon blog, Seagulls and Crickets, would also be launching today have not been confirmed.