O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.
Well, I’m back briefly to say this:
I know that not everyone decides the same thing I decided regarding what to do with my last name when I got married. And truly, I think that whatever someone decides to do is the right thing to do–so long as they 100% decide on their own. As long as it is their decision and they thought about what THEY wanted to do.
But lately, I’ve been getting SO FED UP with people that know what my last name is–people that I have told many times–but still insist on calling me by the name that THEY think I should have. Like they have the right to label however they want to label me.
I guess they can do that all they want. Call me by some name that isn’t and never was mine. But what they really can’t do is expect me to be happy about it. Or smile about it. Or be totally cool about it. I can’t stop you from doing it, obviously(especially when you do it just to spite me). But don’t get all offended when I glare or roll my eyes or don’t-react-positively-at-all. You are being so disrespectful. (again, I’m not talking about when people make an honest assumption, with no malice. I like to think I’m not a total jerk about this to random people).
Because names are important. And I’d like for my decision to be respected. So I’m not going to humor you because you can’t handle it. Ok Mom/Mother-in-law/Bishop/Aunt/Uncle/Sister-in-law? Ok?
Contrary to popular belief, I am under NO obligation to pleasant to you all the time. Especially not when you act like that.
Just as a side note here: You know that just because you continually call me the wrong name, doesn’t mean I’m just gonna start being like “Ok yeah…that’s my name now. Silly me.” What kind of passive aggressive bs are you trying to pull here.
I sort of talked about this with my sisters recently. And the two reasons we could think of why a person would continually be such a jerk about this were
1. They are concerned about what other people think and for some reason think that a decision not to change our last names when we got married will reflect badly on them or
2. They are just trying to calculatingly mean.
Neither of which are good reasons at all for that kind of behavior.
And please, PLEASE. If it really bothers you in legitimate ways, you can talk to me about it. Really. (Or! You could even talk to Spouseman about it. If that would make you feel better Mother/Mother-in-law/Sister-in-law/bishop). Because I’ve found in life that when you are intimidated or confused by someone’s decisions, things usually get ironed out when you actually talk to them about it and take a second to understand them. I’d love to (and you all should remember the times that I’ve tried to talk to you about this stuff? Remember all those times?). But no one has been willing. And it just makes me unspeakably angry that you continue to do it and then pull a “oh! Annette is so mean and hateful to us! What did we ever do to her! Everyone feel sad for us because Annette is so so mean! She must not be reading her scriptures or praying or else she wouldn’t be doing all this evil stuff like working! In an office! And not having babies! And not changing her name!”
I’ve had enough of all your crap. I think I’ll start sending mail back with a note that says “That person doesn’t live here. I’ve never heard of a person named that. Try again. I bet you can get it right if you reeeeally try.”
OH AND I WILL LOSE IT COMPLETELY NEXT TIME I GET A LETTER ADDRESSED TO “MRS. EVAN MOSS” FROM ANY OF YOU. From any of you. I’m serious. I am extremely offended by that. Especially because I knoooow why you do it. And it has nothing to do with tradition (because that’s not how you do it normally anyway) and everything to do with you just trying to make you feelings clear about what I should do with my identity. You just want to lay in on thick. (Don’t give me any of your crap about “Air Force Protocol” either, Mother. Sounds like Air Force Protocol needs to wise up and stop being offensive to half the human race. And also you don’t have to feel bound by freaking Air Force Protocol to send a birthday card to your daughter. You know?!?!?!)
Whoa. That was not as brief as I originally intended. But I’m glad I got it out.
Oh heeeey,
Just so you all know, I’m not really doing anything with this blog anymore. I might come back, or maybe not. Who knows.
Mostly I just don’t feel like I need to vent that much anymore. Thicker skin maybe. Crap happens all the time on the Facebook and at church and in life, but I guess I’ve just been rolling with the punches more successfully? I dunno. It makes for a much more peaceful life…albeit a much more boring blog.
HOWEVER, I have recently dived right into Tumblr! And I really quite enjoy it. I can blog all the gifs my heart desires. Mostly it’s a bunch of The Walking Dead fandom stuff (GREAT SHOW), pictures of babies, pictures of flowers, and quotes. You can find it here: http://annettie-spaghetti.tumblr.com
Also I’ll be blogging more at Zelophehad’s Daughters as well. So keep reading that.
Over and out.
I HATE HATE HATE. when I will post something on Facebook or a blog, and then am answered with a copy and paste from a general conference talk.
Oh you wanna play that game, queen of passive aggressive? I bet you a million dollars I can find a general conference quote that contradicts the one you posted. Or if you want to make things even more challenging, I’ll wager that I can find a contradictory quote for anything you throw at me from Joseph Smith alone.
Oh and also, what do you expect me to say when I read that? “Oh! What! I never considered that before! It happened when I was taking a bathroom break last October during the morning session, (I know, I know…should have saved it for a woman’s talk) but now that you have copied and pasted it to my wall, it ALL MAKES SENSE! The personal struggle that I opened up to you about that I have been dealing with for years and years…somehow it simply VANISHED when you posted those three paragraphs. Amazing. Incredible. You’ve saved me from myself.
Ridiculous.
I just started crying in the car to Spouseman because I want ice cream so badly.
It’s been a very hard day.
today I discovered that both my representatives in state congress are women. And democrats.
Whoa. What a pleasant surprise!
I have this acquaintance. She was in my ward for a while…she sung in the same choir as my husband for a while.
Anyway. She has this thing about Mormon feminists. They REALLY bother her. Usually she’s pretty cool about it though and doesn’t get TOO mean to me and a few other out Mormon Feminists she seems to have the misfortune of knowing on a personal level.
Lately though her strategy has moved from addressing things directly to writing general blog posts to get us all with one stone I guess.
I will paraphrase briefly how these blog posts of hers go:
“I have some friends who are feminists. I’m not trying to start a debate about this, but I just want to get it out there. I respect my feminist friend’s beliefs and I understand where they are coming from.
But I’m not a feminist because I actually respect God and I actually have a testimony of the Gospel. And I am actually righteous and I actually try to repent and I actually read my scriptures everyday like we have been told our whole lives. Oh, and I actually love my husband and we actually have a good relationship. Unlike my feminist friends, I haven’t been morphed my the evils of the world and I don’t have summer home in Babylon. I’m not a feminist because I am actually a good mother to my baby.
The church isn’t a place to push your political beliefs. So I wish my feminist friends would stop trying to make a feminist and would just be like I think women should be. 🙂 <3”
So…yeah…I can feel your respect and understanding through the computer screen! There is not really anything to do–you can’t properly rebuttal that because every single sentence is unspeakably offensive…so we just sit there and take wait for the next one. So that’s kind of hard.
Funny story–this friend once saw me and Spouseman at a reunion for the choir they sang in together. And she just walked up to me during it while he was catching up with some of his other friends and asked if I ever feel guilty for leading him down a path contrary to the gospel and changing him from “good, wholesome, righteous” person she once knew and who even she was interested in dating at one time…to a person who is tolerant of feminist ideas in his own house.
I just stood there clutching my mint brownie and fruit punch in shock. Because how do you respond to something like that when you assumed when she came up she would ask…like…”How are you?” or something?
I remember stammering something like “I…I…I found him like that?” and then she said something like “No you didn’t. I would have known because I sang with him and didn’t get those kinds of negative feelings from him.” and then left!
It’s weird stuff. BUT, I appreciate that is direct about things at least. I’ll take that over overwhelming passive aggression any day.
I think.
I dunno.
I highly recommend listening to the Feminist Mormon Housewives podcast episode about Church Discipline at your next possible convenience.
Important stuff. Disturbing stuff….but important stuff.
After this, I promise not to post about Beyonce for at least a few days.
But I just have a new jam, I want everyone to hear it!
turn this up and sing it as loud as you can while you are driving. Make sure your windows are down for the full effect.
Matt Walsh wrote a post about how Beyonce is a bad role model!!!!
Which I mean…I guess it’s fine to have issues with her lyrics. They can be pretty graphic at times. But maaaaaan. They’re also really good! And it’s clear she and Jay-Z like each other verrrry much. (If you know what I mean. Which you probably know exactly what I mean. But, they are are married after all. And what is the big deal about a little consensual bow-chicka-bow-wow with your spouse?!)
Anyway. That is beside the point.
All I really wanted to say was…I can’t wait for the whatismattwalshwrongabouttoday post about it!!!!!!! I hope it’s good!!!!!
Wanna know how much Beyonce probably cares about what Matt Walsh thinks?
(the same amount the rest of us care what Matt Walsh thinks)
Feeling the almost uncontrollable urge to make one or both of these my facebook status right now:
ugh.
Here’s the back of my head at the Senate hearing last night regarding LGBT discriminiation in Utah.
It was really good. Everybody gave wonderful speeches. Even Lt. Governor Cox was touched.
Gotta say, my hair was looking great from the back.
Hey “The Church”–
WHY IN THE WORLD IS IT SO HARD TO JUST TALK ABOUT HEAVENLY MOTHER?! WHY.
You’d rather just keep leaving the whole gaping open with correlated passages like:
Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense; they consider every person divine in origin, nature, and potential. Each has an eternal core and is “a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents.”1 Each possesses seeds of divinity and must choose whether to live in harmony or tension with that divinity. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all people may “progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny.”2 Just as a child can develop the attributes of his or her parents over time, the divine nature that humans inherit can be developed to become like their Heavenly Father’s.
I mean. REALLY. You’re gonna acknowledge the doctrine of parents, but then just leave her out? You have parents…be like your parents….you know, like your father.
Um…ok. How bout MOTHER.
This is almost past the point to me where I’m sad about it, and now I’m just so tired and perplexed by it.
Like in relief soceity. RELIEF SOCIETY. A room full of women. And we are talking about how we have babies. And how awesome that is. And how we work together with our husbands as partners…and then you wrap it all up by saying we should work to be like Heavenly FATHER (a man) or that Heavenly FATHER (again…he’s a man) made us in HIS image.
I die. Because, ARE YOU SERIOUS.WE ARE WOMEN.
I have this fun game. Where I listen to talks and lessons in church. And whenever there is a buildup for a mention of Heavenly Mother that will make complete logical sense…and is instead sidestepped for a completely illogical mention of only Heavenly Father instead, I make a tally mark on this little piece of paper I have in my scripture case.
(I got 5 just last Sunday.)
Like here’s an example. “I have a testimony that my family will be together forever. That me and my husband will continue to have our relationship as husband and wife and parents through eternity. I know that my husband will always strive to be a father like our Heavenly Father…and I hope that I can always strive to be a mother… like our Heavenly Father.”
Does that seriously not sound bizzare to ANYONE FREAKING ELSE IN THE WHOLE CHAPEL. Does that not just catch in your throat or make your mind be like “Oh hey, that doesn’t make sense” while you are saying it? You don’t have to be a Mother like our Heavenly Father…because Father is a word we use for men…and Mother is a word we use for women…and you are a woman…so be like the WOMAN God we know exists because maddeningly, “the Church” will say Heavenly Parents just to torment me I think, but will never I mean NEVER say Heavenly Mother.
I just can’t.
BONUS: Ghetto Hikes. Personal guilty pleasure. Hilarious. You can also follow it on twitter if that is more your style.
Today an acquaintance told me (via facebook message) how I need to check myself. How I need to stop being so critical of the church publicly and, if I really DO have any semblance of a testimony I should post more favorable things about the church.
I assume that means more general conference quotes in whimsical fonts laid on a chevron background.
LOOK AT ME! I’M A MORMON.
The chevron makes it even MORE true
Oh shoot, there I go being cynical again.
But in all seriousness. I realize that I post on facebook more articles and videos that are more on the critical side regarding my religion. I’m not one to share every new I’m A Mormon video or weekly testimony posts about what I learned in my personal scripture study or Sunday School. I know that I don’t post those things. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have those experiences or thoughts. I just don’t post them. I think maybe it says a lot about the norms of our religious life that people assume I don’t have a testimony because I don’t have a pinterest board called “I’m A Mormon!!!! <3”
The truth is, I find that kind of thing much too personal to post. I want to keep my spiritual experiences and thoughts to myself and sometimes share them with Spouseman. I think my testimony is between myself and my Heavenly Parents. And frankly, I think it does more harm than good for people to see declarations of testimony all over their newsfeed when it’s not something they are in to.
You wanna know what makes people uninterested in “investigating” the church? Annoying Mormons.
So I post things about the aspects of my religion that I think are harmful and should be changed. Because I think I can criticize and still believe. And I have enough respect and hope for my religion that I want it to progress and get better, not just stay the same. You know, line upon line and all that. (an idea that I learned…from my religion).
And I’ll never be one to let everyone know how devoted and righteous I am all the time. I don’t know–I guess I wouldn’t be a good missionary. And maybe that’s wrong and I need to be better and post more quotes and videos. But I just don’t think that changes anyone’s minds. The people that agree with the quotes press like, and the people that don’t will scroll on or roll their eyes. Sometimes I think people just do it so that all the other mormons will see that they are doing it. It’s a check on the list–“I used Facebook to share gospel. 10 points for me. And everyone knows it.”
Oh shoot. There I go being cynical again.
and P.S. I post about pizza more than anything else, so I mean…
today I found out that all city housing authorities unexpectedly lost ALL money for HOPWA housing vouchers. Last week.
HOPWA stands for Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids.
You want to know what THAT means?! starting in March untold thousands of families affected by HIV/AIDS that could not afford to pay rent because they are too sick to work or spend too much money on the medications they need to keep them alive and healthy will be homeless.
Most of these families are single mothers. Many of those are my clients at the refugee center. Victims of a failed health system–and now soon to be homeless. Because for some mysterious reason, all the money that paid for their housing assistance so they could have a safe, permanent home for themselves and their families when so much about their lives is uncertain–simply vanished. Sometime late last week.
Most likely by some politician somewhere who won’t have to answer the panicked phone calls from people who need that help next month when rent checks stop coming. Guess you gotta balance the budget–take a little from foodstamps, take a little from SSI, take a little from HOPWA. How much of a difference could it make?! We need to make more bombs and fighter jets. We need more tax breaks for those wealthy business owners who BUILT IT THEMSELVES.
I swear. That if I hear or see ANYONE today say something about government handouts to lazy poor people and how “unjust” and “unfair” that is, I will lose it. Why does it seem that the people in the most crisis just keep getting kicked when their down. They never get a break. Never.
So there’s a little something for you to pray and fast for in these coming weeks, if that is what you’re in to. It probably won’t get any attention or outrage publicly. It is really easy to forget these most vulnerable people in our society. You know, the ones that need the most help. What twisted irony.
I’m pretty much over seeing so many people post this story along with variations of the comment “LOL! THIS IS HILARIOUS. WHAT AN IDIOT.”
There is nothing funny about that. At least not that I can see.
You know, I really like the idea of using essential oils for better health. I like the idea of, in the event that you get a headache/upset stomach/skin rash/cramp pain’ that you can turn to essential oils instead of a pill. I think that overmedicating is a problem we have as a society, so I’m attracted to other options.
I can even attest to benefits some essential oils have had on Spouseman’s anxiety attacks, and I went through this weird month a while back where I was chronically tired ALL THE TIME and Wild Orange essential oil helped me keep going at work. Also, when I was a little girl I had this crazy allergic reaction to something (that was never pinpointed for sure) that covered my entire body in terrible hives for days. My parents tried everything, doctors prescribed expensive pills and creams. But what finally took the hives away was a tiny bottle of Meleluca oil one of my mom’s visiting teachers brought over. I still remember the smell–and the sweet, sweet relief it brought.
But I’m not totally on board with the camp that says, in great passion, that doctors are crazy, medicines are useless, and only essential oils will save you (“here, buy this basic set of essential oils for $1500”).
I took a community class the other day about essential oils to see what I could learn, and the teacher gave a very impassioned lecture in the middle of the class about how lemon essential oil has AMAZING antibacterial properties and works so much better than anything else and the government is trying to cover it up because the pharmaceutical companies! (or something like that)
But–and I’m just thinking out loud here–there is a reason penicillin is the thing that saved millions of lives in World War II (and uh…still saving a bajillion people today) and the big breakthrough wasn’t a bunch of lemons on the battlefield. Right?
So, I think they are cool–and I’m glad that Sandalwood Essential Oil helps my spouseman, and I’m glad that a whole assortment of other essential oils helps lots of people (including me) with a whole bunch of different stuff.
But I’m glad we have penecillin too.
P.S. Funny Story–in the community class I was in, I was literally the only person in the room that wasn’t a professional or semi-professional psychic. It was wild.
i hate that “LOL SO IF WOMEN ARE EQUAL CAN I PUNCH YOU” crap bc 1 in 3 women are abused
y’all are already punching us
the issue is that we’d like you to stop
Mistake: Watching The Road on netflix when you are home alone for the whole.entire.night.
Not much sleep happening tonight. Because cannibals.
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Check out this outlandish stuff I’ve been seeing in my newsfeed: This doozy of FAQ section: You’ll notice how it is completely absurd. Summary: IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN! (except for gay marriage doesn’t hurt children. So…pretty shaky foundation to start on) … Continue reading
Hey,
I don’t like it when you make terrorist jokes about my friends and coworkers when you hear their Middle Eastern sounding names or see the way they dress. I thought that after so many times of me 1. not laughing and 2. telling you that you are racist and need to stop it, you would get the hint and cut it out.
Guess I was wrong.
Unbelievable.
Don’t talk to me.
I think people that don’t let their kids believe in Santa are evil.
really really evil.
There I said it.
Things that make me sad to hear:
And…just to lighten things up from the rather heavy and depressing things listed above–here’s something that makes me laugh
I wish that I had little red stickers with the words “That was sexist!” that I always had in my pocket and everytime I heard something sexist, I would slap it on the forehead of the person who said it.
Then probably run away.
Hey! I got nominated for a major award! Check out the blog www.wheatandtares.org under the Wheaties and Tareific awards! right there under “Best Personal Post” is yours truly with a post I wrote for Zelophehad’s Daughters as Pandora.
I don’t know what it means to be nominated for this award…and I don’t really know what the award is…but I’m feeling good! Congrats to me! Spouseman was so stoked he made me cheesecake–so basically I’ve already won. (I think he was just looking for an excuse for cheesecake)
And y’all will want to keep up at Zelophehad’s Daughters, because I have a couple drafts coming together for new posts over there that you probably won’t want to miss like: “What I learned about Mormon romance on Pioneer Trek” and “It’s not cool to be racist.”
Also, here is a really good sing. Listen to this lady’s voice, y’all. And this is LIVE.
And lastly: new year, new goals y’all! Mine are to floss more, to stick to a budget, and stop drinking soda. I don’t even like it that much. I don’t know why I drink it.
Also, this time next year, if all goes according to plan, Spouseman and I will have a mortgage to pay. Holla for home equity! And for having a garage and a washer dryer hookup. And at least one extra room for family expansion purposes. We have officially decided to have as many kids as it takes to make a complete bluegrass band which we will call The Harris Moss 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution. So I suppose that is another new years resolution–buy a house in December. Yikes!
Oh ALSO…we finally named our Scooter. He is affectionately called Hermes…as in the Greek God Hermes. Wikipedia says “he is quick and cunning, and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods” so we were like Heck Yeah! Sounds like our scooter!
Now that Christmas is over, my coworkers sabotaged my Christmas Countdown white board. We are now counting down to Ramadan. 222 days you guys. Start preparing now, I guess. I once heard a cute little missionary trying to explain what a faith promoting trial fast sunday’s are and how Mormons have the greatest understanding of the importance of fasting of any other religious group in the world…to one of my Muslim coworkers. She laughed right in his face. Because Ramadan…and fast sundays are WEAK SAUCE compared to that.
Speaking of Islamic Holidays. I accidentally bought Eid Greetings stamps for our christmas cards because I thought it had pretty design of a Christmas Tree. Turns out…it wasn’t a christmas tree at all, but rather stylized arabic that says “Eid Mubarak” so that was kind of embarrassing but mostly it’s hilarious because we sent out Christmas cards to our family with stamps that say Eid Greetings. Take THAT aunt and uncle who think terrorists are taking over the world because a mosque is being built in their city. Eid Freaking Greetings. Here’s our Christmas Card. Put that in your War-On-Christmas Pipe and smoke it.
This just in.
“Call the Midwife” is a REALLY good show.
All y’all should watch it.
But if you don’t want to read it, let me paraphrase it for you.
My wife was skinny and ugly until I started buying her stuff and putting her on a pedestal. Now she’s hot again. Bazinga!
-Brad Pitt (which is obviously absurd. Brad Pitt didn’t write that you weirdos.)
Reading between the lines: Women are dependent on men to make them worth anything. They will become ugly and sick if they don’t have man buying them stuff and telling them how great they are. There’s even an allusion to her becoming a trophy wife (how…cute? romantic?!? WHAT IS THIS EFFING CRAP?!?!)
Teachers in Utah get to pick 2 magazine subscriptions from a list they can get for free for 6 months.
We decided we would each pick one.
We found out later that Spouseman had picked Good Housekeeping. (“The recipe section is OFF THE HOOK”)
I picked Popular Science. (“there is stuff about space!!!!”)
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, gender stereotypes.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I want to make this my cover photo like….15.
But that will be #drama probably. So I shall resist. For now.
Everybody needs to calm themselves down about Phil Robertson (who…is making a ton of money by being just a weird red-neck dude on a reality show) being suspended from that classiest of shows…Duck Dynasty.
He’s weird. And he says weird, narrow minded stuff to get a reaction from people…that is why he has a reality show. And what he said actually was a terrible, homophobic, offesive thing to say. So…the network drew the line. And thank heaven they did.
Stop getting all up in arms about how people’s freedom of speech is being taken away. Stop working so hard to convince yourself you are being persecuted. You’re not being persecuted. Your freedom of speech is not being taken away. You’re just being jerks.
A little e-mail discussion with a friend today made me think about this.
I love how people say that the priesthood ban for people of African descent was part of the church because they wanted to avoid persecution and political backlash.
That is a load of freaking baloney because…let’s not forget polygamy and the MASSIVE persecution us Mormons faced because of THAT. But the church was all, “This is totally worth it! Because law of Heaven, etc.”
So we can’t take the stance that it was allll a big PR move so that the church didn’t look bad (?!) to refuse people the priesthood based on race because in OTHER things, we didn’t care the heck about what other people thought of us.
If I had a nickle for every time I had a hard case at work and I said or thought something along the lines of “If this person had medicaid, this would not be a problem” I would have a lot of money.
If Utah doesn’t expand medicaid…and soon…I am going to burn down a building and punch everything I see.
We are having our work christmas party today! Which includes a White Elephant Gift Exchange.
Here are my favorite conversations heard around the office regarding the White elephant Gift exchange, by my various coworkers from around the world who have never heard of such a thing before.
“I’m really worried about the gift exchange because I thought that Ivory was illegal in the US or something, and I can’t find any that I could even afford. Why can’t we just buy nice soap or something?!”
“Have you been able to find a white elephant gift?” “Oh yeah, I looked everywhere and finally found a white stuffed elephant at Toys R Us” “What do elephants have to do with Christmas?” “I dunno…I read an article about how in the US, christmas traditions come from Sweden and Denmark. Maybe it’s from there” “There are no elephants in Denmark…” “I don’t know! American’s are weird about some things! Look it up on google”
“I think it’s weird that American’s have elephant traditions when there aren’t even elephants IN America except for in zoos and there are elephants everywhere in my country and we don’t Elephant Gift Exchanges. Mostly we just get mad because they break our fences.”
“Kelly has been talking about how funny the white elephant exchange is going to be so funny. But I just don’t see what is so funny about White Elephants and I am worried I won’t be able to laugh convincingly enough and she will feel bad. Is there a book somewhere about how to understand American Humor?”
” Oh did you see that e-mail about what a White Elephant exchange really is? I’m glad it is not literally white elephant stuff…I didn’t understand that. But, I have to be honest…I still don’t get it. We just bring…anything? And it’s supposed to be funny? I still think Americans are weird.”
Here’s a thing I hate.
Contradictory comments to a blog post or something that are telling you are stupid…but the writer puts a lot of smiley faces and “lol”‘s to lighten the mood.
Cut the crap, commenter. Just say it like it is. It is almost impossible to have a real conversation about something hard when one party refuses to acknowledge the seriousness of it and instead tries to say what they think in the least confrontational way possible (which…just means adding smiley faces and lol’s). It ticks me off.
My coworkers are from Somalia, Nepal, Eritrea, Thailand, Sudan, Iraq, India, Afghanistan, Burma, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, and Vietnam.
And let me just say that Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches seem remarkably pathetic when sitting at the same lunch table as food from all of those above mentioned places.
Embarrassing.
When a relative posts this…yesterday…and they are completely serious about it.
That is when you can officially give up and cry because your relatives are, in fact, completely insane.
Look. In one of the many facebook format changes, the quotes section became a little hidden.
And I take very seriously my collection of quotes on facebook.
So here they are. Because I want people to read all the amazing quotes I have on facebook:
“Six months ago the Earth was on the other side of the Sun. Look how far we have come!” -Spouseman
I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I’ve been closer to Him for that reason. – Elie Wiesel
“Uncertainty is a hard thing to feel, but I much prefer a cautious questioning than a misinformed certainty.”–Apame (http://zelophehadsdaughters.com)
“The Stone Age didn’t end for want of Stones”
“Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate where belief may flourish”–Austen Farrer (quoted by Neil A. Maxwell)
“They don’t think evil, but they speak it”–Mansfield Park
“The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism… the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearances.” — Hugh Nibley, 1973
“How are you ever going to change anything if you only look at what’s pretty?” –Bob Dylan
“It is better to feed ten impostors than to run the risk of turning away one honest petition.”-Joseph Smith
“He drew a circle that shut me out- Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle and took him In ! ― Edwin Markham
“Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We’re not inherently anything but human.” – Robin Morgan
While traditions often serve to bind societies together, we also want to point out that traditions are man-made. If we learn that they are harmful, we should change them.-Desmond Tutu
If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.–Les Miserables
“People are the real wealth of a nation” –Mahbub ul Haq, UN Development Report 1990
“…But not all who wander are aimless, especially those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image.”–Mona Lisa Smile
“We need never feel hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken”
“Why did they train Luke up and not Princess Leia who was cooler, and had more to fight for, and was less screwed up? PATRIARCHY!”
— John Green
“Women are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when, in fact, men are insultingly supporting their own superiority.”
–Mary Wollstonecraft
“I said to the sun, ‘Tell me about the big bang.’ The sun said, ‘It hurts to become.” – Andrea Gibson
My father used to say: Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument–Desmond Tutu
“Racism today is more like Jim Crow had a son who is more polite and knows to leave his hood at home.” – Gary Young
Ok. So there was a massive Typhoon in the Pillipines. You may have heard about it.
And yeah, there are a fair number of LDS missionaries there.
And I don’t know why exactly, but it is grating on my nerves that every time I look through my facebook newsfeed there are 50 more articles about the hardships those missionaries have faced and pictures and everything.
Yes-I believe that it is true the missionaries had hard times. And yes, I do acknowledge the miraculous nature of some of the stories (I do fear the Mormon legend effect though…and I am wary of the more fanciful stories from the Phillipines. Oh me of little faith I guess). But it’s not like the LDS missionaries are the only people that had hard times in the Phillipines, y’all. There are people out in the world OTHER than Mormons.
More appropriate than posting ANOTHER article about how 2 sister missionaries survived by doggie paddling for 5 hours until they were miraculously found by…of course…2 elders….would be an article about the relief efforts globally with maybe some links of where to donate money for ALL the people that just had their lives as they knew them completely destroyed by a Typhoon.
Not people who have lived there for a short time, and will leave in a short time, and will forever use those stories in sacrament meeting talks. Forever.
Had my first shifts on the SLC Rape Recovery Center Crisis line this weekend.
Can’t say much because of confidentiality laws.
But let’s just say that I have officially had it up to my eye balls with patriarchy and male privilege and rape culture. I thought I had had already had it with all those things…but now, I am officially done with those things on a whole new level. And bishop’s lack of training about these issues is, quite frankly, an emergency that is hurting and ruining people’s lives.
I hate the things that happen in this world sometimes.
http://redemptionpictures.com/2013/11/12/how-feminism-hurts-men/
Ok so this. This is prompting discussion on a friend’s wall, about how feminism is evil and ruins families and they think they should be “masculinists” because men just have it really rough and feminists are ruining their lives.
I just wanted you all to know that that was really happening. It’s just one big huge mes of male, white, middle class privilege over there. Which for short I like to call “BYU Bro Privilege.”
Ugggggggggh.
confessions of an oxymormon 