A Queer Life

A dying man with his wife by his side, said, "I have something to confess." "There isn't anything to confess," his wife replied. "Everything is ok."  "No, no, I must die in peace," he said. "I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!"  "I know," whispered his wife, "that's why I poisoned you." Hello my pretties! What the hell is the deal with forgiveness? I mean really. Hearing about forgiveness as a kid, I thought sure, whatever, but the older I get the angrier it makes me. Want to hear my angry rant? Let's talk.  My Sunday School teachers said things like: "Withholding forgiveness cankers your soul." Or "A lack of forgiveness hurts you more than the person you refuse to forgive." And because church wires you to absorb without filters, I believed them. It made logical sense. Don't keep thinking about all the pain you experienced; forget about it ...

When your spouse gets a little upset, just remember a simple “calm down” in a soothing voice is all it takes to get them a lot more upset. Hello my pretties! Do you want a little story today? Let's have story time. Personally, I hate wedding culture. I don't hate that it exists, I just hate it for myself. Throwing a big princess party for me and my Ken doll just seems like a giant pretentious embarrassment. And I hate that it is shoved onto women because "that's what women want", when, surprise!, women are not all the same. And nowhere is wedding culture more pronounced than in Mormonism, complete with the castle-temple at the center of your wedding day. Temple marriage is a big deal for Mormons. It is the biggest deal. And I mean the BIGGEST deal.  Because it is such a big deal, every bride-to-be is very proud of their impending temple marriage. Wedding invitations feature the temple, plus the announcement of the wedding inside the giant glowing building. Even if...

I bought some shoes from a drug dealer. I don’t know what he laced them with, but I’ve been tripping all day! Hello my pretties! I'm contemplating how being raised Mormon is still affecting how I interact with the world.  At eight years old I was taught a formulaic prayer to cast out evil spirits. One time when my dad came home and found four of us kids angry and fighting, he had us kneel in a circle and we each took turns praying that exorcist prayer until we felt the spirit of anger leave our home.  I don't know how old I was when I heard the story of the three Nephites who in 32 BC asked Jesus for the blessing to live forever so they could spend a millennia spreading the gospel. Subsequently, I heard lots of stories in church from people swearing that some stranger approached them to give them exactly what they were looking for and they just knew that person was one of the three Nephites.  There was also the idea that if I prayed with a pure heart with real intent God ...