Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Tell me something happy

It’s been a season of heartbreak. Strolling up and down the streets of my neighborhood I can describe the anguish in one house after the other: a baby born still a house under foreclosure after the loss of a job a teenage son addicted to marijuana a marriage broken by pornography addiction the sudden death [...]

What happens when my ADD of housecleaning spreads to writing

What you almost got from me today: How we come to terms with our own not-enoughness. What it feels like to be a Republican deep in the heart of Utah County fearlessly campaigning for a Democrat in the upcoming election. Funny things I observe or overhear while serving in my new calling in the Primary. [...]

Be not silent, nor unquestioning.

Religious persecution is not a cross I have to bear.  Although at times I feel like a stranger in a foreign land when it comes to the beliefs and convictions that separate me from the general populous, I have only to glance backward at history to know that I have been born in an age [...]

Splendid Isolation on Hinchinbrook

Day One “Welcome to Splendid Isolation,” says the large wooden sign posted over the dock. As our boat slows to a stop, I get my first up-close look at Hinchinbrook, the island just a couple of miles away from the Great Barrier Reef where my husband, our four children, and I will be spending the [...]

Say Something

Alright, I admit it. That was me. I was coming out of a light snooze when someone in Sunday School said something political, and I’d had it. Week after week little political barbs had been flying around the room, and in the haze of awakening, when my filter is at its lowest setting, and one [...]

Unexpected Adventures

Today’s UP CLOSE post is from the trips and travels of Ellen Patton of Lexington, Mass. Late-night baking, antiquing and exploring New England are some of her loves.  She believes strongly in writing letters and mailing them with real stamps, spending time with friends, and enjoys photography. She adores her loft condo with 18 foot ceilings in a converted high school. During the [...]

The Fear of God

It’s been a while since I’ve given the Old Testament much attention. Since I toiled for years in the Primary, I haven’t really studied the O.T. since I was in my early twenties. And when I was in my early twenties, I was easily distracted. [Disclaimer: I am not disparaging those of you in your [...]

I Write?

I accidentally wore my Segullah t-shirt to the bank last week. “So you’re a writer,” the banker said. Dang, I forgot I was wearing that shirt. “Um, yeah,” I said (my brilliant way with words already obvious). “What do you write?” he asked. Dang again, why do people always ask that? “Creative non-fiction,” I said, [...]

Witnessing of God

As a teenager I recited the Young Women theme every week in church. “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places…” I thought that the phrase, “stand as witnesses of God,” [...]

Revisiting First Impressions

Rosalyn Collings Eves is our UP CLOSE Trips and Travels guest author today.  She enjoys traveling, although she hasn’t been able to do nearly as much of this since becoming a mother to two young children: a four-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl. When not trying to plan and execute child-friendly trips, she plays with [...]

Finding space

I have vivid memories of a couple of secret, magical places of my childhood. I can conjure the smell of the earthiness in the old, empty wooden hut tucked into the lilacs surrounding our backyard. I remember the vast, shady real estate between the rows of sheets hanging on the line where whole dynasties were [...]

Gainfully employed

Every so often, when my mom was too fed up with us to cook or soft-shell crab was in season, my parents loaded us up to take us to Marnick’s, a little diner on the beach in the Connecticut town where I grew up. We snagged a table that looked out over the water, and [...]

Travels in the Islamic World

Today’s UP CLOSE trips and travels post comes from Melanie, who  lives and works in the Washington, DC area.  She loves planning trips almost as much as she loves taking them, and sometimes she has trouble remembering where she’s actually been and where she’s just dreamed of going. Most recently her travels took her to [...]

Going home

I spent yesterday and this morning (hence the extreme lateness of this post) making the journey up from Arizona to northern Utah, where I grew up. The journey is both physical and mental for me. As I drive through small farming towns tucked into rolling valleys, I’m reminded of the small town I grew up [...]

Going For Goals (without the annoying drone of the vuvuzela)

When I was 24 my life changed forever. I wanted to be a poet. Well, a poet and a mother. And one of those things had finally come to fruition: I had a baby.

Segullah Writers’ Retreat Recap

Were you at the Segullah Writers’ Retreat?  I was.  Well, if you weren’t able to make it, I thought I’d fill you in on how it was… and it was, in a word, amazing.  It was a perfect Saturday, filled with delightful company and writing inspiration, not to mention great food. Truly, every person I talked [...]

Independence Sabbath

It may be only the 3rd of July where you live, but in Utah, Independence Day is in full force. We’ve already come home from the neighborhood parade where fresh faced kids on streamer trimmed bicycles tossed candy to an adoring crowd; our fingers are sticky from the community pancake breakfast and our ears are [...]

Line Upon Line, Precept on Precept

The lines have become more fluid over the years- sometimes invisible, sometimes deep. But I ask myself, “Should they exist at all?”

  • be our friend.



  • Contact Us

    Journal subscriptions: journal.subscriptions at segullah dot org
    Technical issues:
    webmaster at segullah dot org
    Other inquiries:
    info at segullah dot org

  • More Kinds of Segullah

  • How Do You Say Segullah?

    se-goo-law rhymes
    Oo-la-lah, Segullah
    write and draw, Segullah
    coup d'etat, Segullah
    Blanche DuBois, Segullah
    shock and awe, Segullah
    Lah-dee-dah, Segullah
    looky, ma! Segullah!

  • Get published.

    The clock is ticking! Gear up to enter Segullah's annual personal essay, poetry, and fiction contests. Guidelines here. Deadline is December 31.

  • Admin