Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Poetic License: In Defense of Taking Scripture Out of Context

This is the first in a series of guest posts by Deborah– a middle & high school English teacher, an amateur poet, and a blogger at Exponent II.
I WENT out to the hazel wood
Because a fire was in my head
I do not know the rest of the poem by heart. [...]

Eat, Drink, and be Married

It practically reads like a sonnet, and I can’t get it out of my head:
“The folks have been here today, but have gone to their homes. The clatter of racing feet, the laughter and babble of tongues have ceased. We are alone, We two. We two whom destiny has made one. Long ago, it has [...]

Harry, Harry, Harry

Does Harry Potter have anything remotely literary or important to say? Can anything scholarly be said for the Magical School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that currently so occupies public consciousness?
To this I must say yes.

The Trendiest Commandment

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater [...]

Hearing Voices

What is the female voice? How has Segullah’s effort to foster this voice impacted your life? Tell the bloggernacle–post your response to my latest guest post.

Pioneer Day Fatigue

Ten years ago the Church celebrated the sesquicentennial of the 1847 arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. I missed all the hoopla, the documentaries and nationwide news coverage”“I was on a mission in Ecuador. I got echoes of the festivities through letters and weeks-old copies of the Church news. Also it seemed [...]

Fleshy Tablets

Read my guest post at Times and Seasons.

The light is red

DH is colorblind.  When I tell people this, I often get the question, “What does that mean?  Does that mean he sees in black and white?”
Of course, I say ‘I’ get the question, because DH refuses to speak about it.  He doesn’t say it, but I think he views it as a sign of weakness.  I tell [...]

Selfish Feminism

I am not a bra-burning feminist: first, because I think bras are a rather nifty invention, and second, because this is a bad time of the year to be burning anything. Check out those Utah wildfires, yes? That being said, I do consider myself a feminist–sort of a worried-about-stereotypes-and-rigid-roles, hate-being-penalized-or-pedestal-ized-just-because-I’m-a-woman, and fairly-sensitive-to-gender-issues type of feminist.

My Mormon Adult Beverage

Tonight I will take my journey to that remote, dry desert place where no man treadeth without warning: Girl’s Camp. Should I not survive, go on without me in peace and posterity and please keep watching “So You Think You Can Dance” . . . for me.
People have been so kind. E-mails, phone calls, stop-bys [...]

Lives Sewn Together into One Great Whole

We are delighted to announce our Summer 2007 issue, Patchwork: A Literary Sampler.
Read about Mary, Martha, Abish, Eve, the Manti Temple, a mother’s final quilt, breastfeeding, panic attacks, corsets, and the quiet stillness of an ordinary afternoon.

Surprised by Grace

Grace surprises Angela Schulz in a Native American ceremony: she attends it looking for happiness, for beauty and power, and ends with a life-changing experience that unexpectedly turns her towards the Church. It’s a powerfully written essay, and there are so many layers to it that I almost hate to pick this one aspect [...]

Life: “There’s wonderful for you.”

I’m bleary-eyed and sleepy. But I did it. Fifteen hours, less than one week, three books. Well, almost three books. Les Miserables will probably never be finished. But Water for Elephants and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn were.
(Late night note to self: why have I never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? I love A [...]

Holding My Tongue

“May we all rejoice in the thought that when we say edifying, encouraging things unto the least of these, our brethren and sisters and little ones, we say it unto God.”
”“Jeffrey R. Holland (April 2007 General Conference)
This is the thought I shared at Primary Presidency meeting yesterday. This is the quote that has been [...]

Happy Trails to Me and Me

Oh Segullah! It’s been so long since I’ve posted my heart here. Let’s reacquaint. I am c jane. You are Blog Segullah.

Plastics and Tuna

So, have you ever had a boob job?

Book Challenge? Come on.

Magic. It happened in the early mornings and after my children went to bed. I awoke not to bony elbows climbing my still body for a morning love or to the loud screams of my toddler. Instead, I awoke to the dead quiet of pre-dawn. And you know what I did?

American Express, the Beautiful

As many of you know, I have a young son with Down syndrome, and part of my life now is acting as an advocate for him and for all other people with Down syndrome.

Free to Be

All together now:
“Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free…”
If this isn’t an anthem of sorts, I don’t know what is.

Do you want to post on the Segullah Blog?

We want to hear our readers’ voices!
Are you waxing poetic about freedom this time of year?
Or having any interesting thoughts about an essay from one of our past issues?
Do you have any other ideas for a great post?
Then e-mail me right now at brookebenton@yahoo.com, and we’ll talk about it.

Navel Gazing

“…I began to think that when the umbilical cord, like any other appendage, is severed from the body, the spiritual essence of it might still be there.  If you don’t believe that spiritual appendages remain, try telling an amputee he can no longer feel his missing body part.”