Sometime Bloggernacle commenter Chino Blanco has a post up at the prominent liberal blog Daily Kos encouraging protest of the Church’s letter in support of the proposed amendment to the California state constitution. Contra Chino Blanco, I don’t consider the letter a betrayal and I don’t consider it hypocritical. I don’t want to debate that here, though. I do want to point out that I think Chino Blanco is mistaken in both his assessment of how Mormons in general will react to the letter and in how they would respond to acts of protest inside and around their own chapels. (more…)

Some people are liberal with their “quote” marks. Others enjoy…the ellipse. I love (wait for it) parentheses. I’m always using them, so much so that when I write something (usually blogs and email) I have to go back and pare down my usage (like every OTHER sentence rather than every one) so I don’t seem so freakish. I don’t know where this affinity came from, though I’m pretty sure I often misuse them (as well as mispronounce “often” with a “t” sound).

Anyone else have an irrational bias for a certain punctuation or writing device?

Has anyone else noticed that whenever religion is involved in a science fiction book or movie, the “religious people” are almost always completely bats? And not in the charmingly slightly unhinged way of your local psychic, I mean Jim Jones, cyanide cool-aid, Spanish Inquisition kind of nuts. (more…)

I don’t remember exactly when it started but it has finally gotten to the point where it really bothers me. (more…)

Usually when I think about the Atonement, I think of it from two different viewpoints. The first is my own—what it means for me, personally. I think about my own experiences with repenting, forgiveness, redemption. The other viewpoint is a general one. I think about the Atonement as an infinite thing, something Christ did for everyone, generally.

But I never think about what it means that he did it for everyone else, specifically, too.
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I’m a visual learner. I also love to spot poetry in everyday situations, objects and people. So, when me and my wife were asked to give a talk on symbols and allegories in the gospel (past and present), a flood of thoughts came into my mind. (more…)

True heroism. (more…)

Warning: This post is the very definition of navel-gazing. If you’re looking for Quality Mormon Content™ you’ll find none here.

Four years ago I discovered the Bloggernacle and started this blog. I have been a regular participant in the community for years. I wrote a bunch of posts, invited some pretty great guest-bloggers, guest-blogged at T&S, initiated the Banner of Heaven exposé, designed some Bloggernacle/Mormon trading cards, started a few other blogs (some more successful than others), brought on some wonderful permabloggers and we’ve had loads of great conversations throughout.

Six weeks have passed since I’ve written anything and three months since I changed the header. Things have changed. (more…)

The bigger the corporation the more opportunity for it to waste money. Each department or division usually has a budget. They try to increase their budget….gives them power. They then make sure and spend ALL of their budget or they lose it. (more…)

Extroverts just don’t get it. They don’t get how hard it is for us introverts to sit in a room of people we don’t know and try to socialize. Small talk is painful. It’s draining. It can be torture.

Get me one-on-one and I’m fine. I’m not shy at all. I’ll talk your ear off. I just can’t stand socializing in groups of people I don’t know…Mingling.

Even the word sounds horrible.
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