The Valley of Death

Editors note: We are thrilled to introduce Melissa Dalton Bradford as a new contributor to the Segullah blog. You may recognize her name from several poems featured in the Segullah literary magazine; Melissa’s grace, beauty and wisdom and an incredible asset to our community. I’m sitting in a pediatrician’s examination room. We’ve been living in [...]

Thoughts on Jack Harrell’s A Sense of Order

A Sense of Order and Other Stories Jack Harrell Signature Books, 2010 Hardcover, 220 pages This isn’t a formal book review—more like a brief and somewhat elusive personal response. Writing a thorough review right now would be tricky, given my shortage of minutes and brain cells in the face of looming holiday chaos. More importantly, [...]

Give Thanks? For This?

I was asked to teach the lesson in Relief Society this Sunday based on President Thomas S. Monson’s talk in the most recent General Conference entitled, “The Divine Gift of Gratitude.” I read and re-read this wonderful talk, highlighting appropriate quotes about gratitude: “Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it [...]

Black Friday? Pshaw — Spend it at the Segullah Store Instead!

Do you really want to get up early this morning, stand in long lines in the cold, and potentially engage in fisticuffs over the last $100 LCD TV? I didn’t think so. Spend it instead in your jammies and bunny slippers, sitting in front of a roaring fire and your laptop, sipping creamy hot chocolate, [...]

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come!

Only the comforting drip of water disturbs the silence of this sleeping house. It is Thanksgiving morning and everyone is counting their blessings with an extra hour (or two) in bed. I imagine that my sister is awake upstairs reading her scriptures and whispering to her husband before he departs for his rounds at the [...]

Everyone Loves A Love Story

I had several ideas for this post. Intriguing, amusing, thoughtful ideas, all jostling for space and attention in my head, slyly shoving each other while smiling broadly at the camera, vying to be chosen as the post winner. I spent last week drafting the piece, mental wheels spinning as I slalomed the forklift through my [...]

Peruvian Thanksgiving

November 21st, 1984. I’d been on my mission for fourteen months. I was working in Puno, high up on the Altiplano at 12,500 feet on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Besides Elder Moore—a culture shocked, baby-faced elder straight from the States whose sunburned nose was blistering in the altitude and whose stomach was in constant [...]

An Inner-Height Love Story

Michelle Larson is: wife, mom to 5, future adopted mom to a child from Ethiopia (waiting for referral), director of a non-profit called Grow.Learn.Give., sister of twenty-six (counting in-laws), daughter to four, teacher of lots of church kids, runner- skier- dancer- writer for herself, health teacher to anyone that will listen, chaeuffer and slave to [...]

So, What else do you “do”?

This if for my friend who recently wrote me an email about her discouragement. She has a three-year-old and a new baby. Someone asked her the other day, “So, what do you do besides keep 2 children alive?” They laughed a bit, but the girl waited for an answer and my friend stood there thinking, [...]

Season’s Greetings – yikes!

Every year about this time I feel the pressure build. What am I going to do for The Family Christmas Letter? There are a lot of styles of family Christmas letters. One of them is Brag Rags. Of course we enjoy the highlights of our friends’ years. It’s the kind where the “typical accomplishments” involve [...]

Segullah Book Club: Mockingjay Discussion

Today is the day! Our inaugural Segullah Book Club Discussion. We’ll be discussing four books a year here on the blog, and we’re kicking things off with a novel that’s had readers buzzing since its release in August: Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay. Mockingjay is the final book in the Hunger Games series, a trilogy of novels [...]

Welcoming outsiders

I didn’t serve a mission. When I was 21, I took a job working as a personal care attendant for 2 quadriplegic teenagers. I lived in their home, took care of them at night, and, if there was no nurse, during the afternoon as well. It wasn’t what I expected to find myself doing at [...]

Tunnel vision

I read last week about Elder Scott’s watercolors being displayed in Salt Lake during the holiday season. As I scrolled through the images of his paintings, several thoughts ran through my mind. The first was that I hadn’t realized that I’d viewed him with tunnel vision until his artwork took him out of that tunnel. [...]

To Thank a Teacher

Last week I visited my old elementary school, Eno Valley Elementary. I had fantasized about going to the office and asking for contact information for my favorite teachers. I wanted to have one of those teacher appreciation story moments. I was thinking especially of these women: -Mrs. May, second grade, who taught me how to [...]

The Macey’s Grocery Store Angel

WARNING! This post contains reference to the supernatural – i.e. angels, coincidences, conversing with the Spirit, and strange happenings. If you have a problem with that, please do not read on. Setting: Macey’s Grocery Store Situation #1: The first time I saw him I knew there was something very unusual about him. This 85-year old [...]

Restoring Margin

WARNING: System Failure Ahead. If only a neon sign could drop down from the sky and flash these words in front of my face when it is obvious (to everyone except myself) I am heading towards shutdown. Since God rarely writes me notes in neon, I’ve been exploring the idea of margins and I have [...]

Blogging in Zion

My remarks from “Across Web Time, Cyberspace, and Blogging Disciplines,” a panel discussion moderated by Mormon Times columnist Emily Jensen at BYU’s Mormon Media Studies Symposium yesterday. Great to see those of you who attended! It may seem suspect to draw a connection between blogging and Zion. Blogging is often maligned–and sometimes rightfully so–as navel gazing, [...]

Book Club Reminder: Mockingjay Next Thursday

A quick reminder to those interested in participating in our first ever book club discussion: we’ll be discussing Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins here on the blog next Thursday, Nov. 18th. You have less than a week to finish reading it, but there’s still time. Anyone who’s read the book is welcome to participate in the [...]

Advanced warning system

When I look back at pivotal events in my life, I am often retrospectively aware of the blessings of advanced warning, little nudges from a loving God who knows I do not handle surprise well. This happened recently when my husband and I both had promptings in advance of his eventual call as bishop. I [...]

Mourning the Plan

When the doorbell rang at 7:30 in the morning, I wasn’t sure I should answer it. Who would be coming over so early in the morning? I peeked out the window and saw it was a FedEx delivery man. Did I order something online? I was briefly excited for the morning surprise. As I grabbed [...]

Finding Balance: Thrift versus Consumption?

I have a confession to make: I like shopping–even grocery shopping (if I can do it without kids). I enjoy browsing through merchandise displays; I get a real rush from finding a great deal. This hasn’t always been true of me—as a kid I remember being dragged reluctantly to clothing stores. Back then, I only [...]

Catching the worm

When I was five, I was the flower girl at my godmother’s wedding. At the evening reception, I curled up under the dinner table and willed myself to sleep, anxious that if I stayed up too late, I might be tired the next day. When I was eight, we went to my parents’ friends house [...]

Be there.

I’ll be participating in two panel discussions at the Mormon Media Studies Symposium on Thursday, November 11 at 10 am and 1 pm. Abstracts for my gigs are below. Check out other awesome possibilities in the symposium schedule. See you there! Panel: “Mormon Media Studies: Across Web Time, Cyberspace, and Blogging Disciplines” Panel Moderator: Emily W.Jensen: MormonTimes.com [...]

The Custodian of My Emotional Suitcase

Lisa Rumsey Harris teaches honors writing part-time at BYU. In 2006, she won the Heather Campbell Personal Essay Contest with her entry “Honor in the Ordinary.” She just completed her first novel, Watching Treasure Blume, all about a pear-shaped first-grade teacher with a family curse. Check out her world at www.treasureblume.com. My husband formally asked my [...]

Ere You Left Your Room This Morning

Like every other Mormon household on Sunday mornings, ours was one of chaos. During my teenage years, my three sisters and I rushed through our a.m. routine — maintaining focus on the vanity of adolescence, of course — while battling over showers, mirror space, hair dryers, flat irons, makeup, dresses, and heels. Living in a [...]

Constructing Our Own Pink Couch: Segullah and Images of LDS Women

A 70-year-old grandmother learns how to make state-of-the-art digital images for the video game SIMS, all because her granddaughter wanted a pink couch for her virtual home. Hundreds of people use complex math formulas when discussing online how best to use “bloodlust” in World of Warcraft. These are just two examples of how digital media [...]

My Drabbest Self

Last week for Mutual (if it’s still called that) I was asked to show up at the local mall disguised somehow. The idea was that the kids would go on a scavenger hunt for ward members. I pondered my costume choices and decided to go with “Frumpy and Plain Middle-Aged Woman”. Three towels were wrapped [...]

Hearts Turn

This morning the texts are flying back and forth like a frenetic game of ping-pong. I wish I were there. I can imagine the scene if it was 20 years ago, and my parents would have let us miss school for the day and we’d be snuggled up to cocoa in paper cups and those [...]

Had it With Homework

. When my children explode through the door at 3:15 and open their backpacks and folders, I find my blood pressure rising. It’s not just the chaos of the afternoon, the recounting of the day, the voracious snack consumption, or strewn backpacks, shoes, and coats. It’s the homework. I’ll admit it—I am a conscientious objector [...]

Are We Remotely in Control?

As much as I would love to take credit for the piece here, I cannot. I opened my email this morning and found the following thoughtful colloquy on the effects of watching television by my brother, Zachary Hutchins. He’s a writer and educator, helping his wife to raise three small boys while living in the [...]