I am Not a Mother

Today’s guest post is by Reachel Bagley. After searching for their children for over 5 years, Reachel and her husband finally found their daughter Coco through adoption. They will be adding a son to their clan this December. She encourages women everywhere to continue searching for those in need of mothers everywhere. When not writing [...]

On Halloween thievery

Some questions for all you Halloween thieves on this day of days: 1. Why does stolen candy taste much better than candy lawfully purchased? 2. What’s you’re preferred method of thievery? a. Carrying your own bag during trick-or-treating and claiming you have a sick kid/sibling/ niece or nephew back home b. Imposing an imperial candy [...]

Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for a good holiday, and Halloween is one of my favorites. I can’t decide which part I like best–the dressing up, the decorating, the parties or the license to eat candy. The games can be pretty fun, too. Here’s a little Halloween meme I created just for you.

Beautifully, Impossibly Wonderful

I had a rather serious, soul-wrenching post planned today, but I just don’t have it in me. My oldest son received his mission call to Milan, Italy last night and I am giddy, silly, over the moon with joy. Italy. Are you kidding me? Florence, Venice, gelato, pasta, rolling vineyards, soaring Alps. It’s all too [...]

Jumping Into Change… or Not

For some time now, I’ve known that change is coming. I’ve been told in prayer, in conference talks, in myriad different ways that life is going to change, yet – once again – I was standing without any defining details or factual flares to light my path. Then, in the course of a week, the Lord [...]

Slow Down

In the summer of 1999 my husband discovered that his business partner had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars of company money and, worse, had double collateralized on a significant business loan and line of credit in my husband’s name. As the whole sordid mess came to light and the bank demanded immediate repayment of [...]

I Don’t Have a Friend

Last Sunday I looked around the Relief Society room and realized that after more than a year in my new ward I don’t actually have a friend. This is a somewhat unusual position for me: I always have a friend, and if I don’t, I make one right away. My ward is mostly friendly, but [...]

Origin of the species

Mormons are named for the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is named for the prophet/historian Mormon. The prophet/historian Mormon was named for the land of Mormon. The land of Mormon was named by a malevolent king. The land of Mormon is where one of the king’s wicked priests became a prophet. The land of Mormon [...]

Announcing Segullah’s New Short Short Fiction Contest

Contests in both creative nonfiction and poetry have been sponsored by Segullah for years now, but I’m excited to announce that we’re adding a short short fiction contest to our lineup.

Virgin lips

I was in ninth grade (late bloomer, me) and on a field trip to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. My friends and I attracted the attention of this guy, age sixteen or so, who had dropped out of school and spent his days hanging around the waterfront talking to people. A total loser, yes, but to fourteen-year-olds [...]

Segullah’s New Book Club. Yes, It’s About Time!

Ever since I joined Segullah three years ago (three whole years? seriously?) I’ve been wanting to form a book club with the articulate, intelligent, book-loving women who frequent this blog. Myself, I’m a book club person. Especially when my kids were small, I looked forward to my monthly book club outing with a little thrill [...]

Mad skillz

Music is one of those talents that sort of play well in the church. If you can play the piano, or sing in the choir, it’s a easy thing to point to that you can do well. It’s a visible talent, and one that is easily applauded. But what about talents that aren’t so visible? [...]

Like Grandma

My grandma has always been a sun that pulled everyone else into her orbit. Bright and brilliant, gifted and glamorous, I grew up hearing stories of how she began playing Chopin as a girl, soloed with the Utah Symphony in high school, and went on to become a professional musician and teacher. She was also [...]

Nominate Whitney Finalists

This year, instead of just reading the Whitney finalists when they are announced, I’ve decided I want to nominate some books for Whitneys as well. The Whitney Awards (awards for fiction written by LDS authors) begin with reader nominations, as specified by the rules. Any book that receives five or more nominations will be placed [...]

Beyond Dress Ups

My two-year old daughter has recently started going through the princess phase. You’re all familiar with it: the one where she wants to wear princess clothes (or anything close to it) all the time–not just for half an hour during dress-ups, but all day, out in public, to meals and even to bed. Usually I [...]

A confession.

So, last night the mutual kids had a Halloween carnival for the primary kids. I went to pick up my brood at the appointed time and the carnival was still swinging, so I went to find them in the cultural hall. I noticed that some kids were eating chocolate cupcakes. I wanted a chocolate cupcake. [...]

Of all people

With the recent reports about the devastating effects of bullying, my thoughts have turned to an experience my daughter has struggled with recently: running interference between John*, a non-LDS high school friend of hers, and Doug and Carl*, two LDS boys in our stake who have been harassing him. The three boys only know each [...]

The Housekeeper

I did something today that I never thought I’d do: I hired a housekeeper. I had recently accepted a freelance writing job, and on top of the part-time teaching job, care and keeping of two normal, healthy little boys, and one severely disabled older boy, things were getting left by the wayside. The pink mold [...]

Go Away

My 2 1/2 year old sucks her thumb. In my mind, that’s fine. She can suck her thumb for about six more months before I’ll even consider trying to get her to stop doing it in public or anything like that. Maybe because I know there’s no way I’ll really be able to make her [...]

Are you bored with blogs?

A few years ago, I ate, slept, dreamt and breathed blogs. I wrote nearly every day, commented regularly on my friends’ blogs and on blogs around the bloggernacle, and looked forward to the odd spare minute when I could sit down with Google Reader and get my fix. Gradually, every day blogging turned into every [...]

Why Segullah?

I just finished reading Segullah’s marriage issue – the fifth anniversary edition. Did you receive your copy yet? I could rave about the essays, draw out lines from each poem that made me go tingly, or open a discussion about the juicy, provocative, heart-rending nature of a subject like marriage. But instead, I want to [...]

Meet the Author: Krista Clement

Segullah plans to feature more of our journal’s authors on the blog–not just posts responding to their writing, but mini interviews with the authors. To that end, I am delighted to introduce you to Krista Clement. She’s the author of Silent Season and Princess, and I lucked out when I met her. Our daughters are [...]

In our Lovely Deseret

Utah. I love it and I hate it. I am not from there (although my mother is). I am from The Mission Field. Like most Mormons Utah was always in the periphery of my life. It was the destination of many summer roadtrips, the place where all things churchy originated, the land where many members [...]

I Write?

We at Segullah have been basking in the glow of the 5th anniversary edition of our literary journal, but the basking must come to an end! The time has come for you to help us create the Fall/Winter 2011 edition. The deadline for the Heather Campbell Personal Essay and Segullah Poetry contests is fast approaching, [...]

Do Holes Make You Unholy?

I am so lost in the Isaiah chapters of Gospel Doctrine that I’m almost embarrassed, and so I sit in the back of the classroom, near a door, claiming “baby distraction,” or possible “baby emergency,” all the while not following the discussion in the least. Till a couple of weeks ago, when a woman raised [...]

Filler Spaces and “Eureka!”s

I’ll admit it; I love a good old Adam West Batman KAPOW! I wear red patent shoes, and love the thrill of boarding a plane with my passport in hand. I can’t deny having a crush on excitement and new things. Still, for every pair of hot shoes, I have stretchy black yoga pants and [...]

Are a bunch of morons raising our kids?

Conversations at our dinner table have been robust this week over two articles: first, How to Raise Boys That Read from the Wall Street Journal and next, Are we raising a bunch of idiots? from Associated Press (printed in the Deseret News). A few excerpts: WSJ– So why won’t boys read? The AP story drops [...]