Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Sweet Hours of Prayer

When Adrienne Zenzo prays, it’s a full body experience. Eyes clamped shut beneath brows gathered like small drifts of chocolate mousse; ample features rustling-spreading-contracting like cocoa-colored suede being fitted  around bones hardly discernible; lips as regal and rouged as Nefertiti; her monologue’s syllables peaking and lulling like a row boat on rough water sending a [...]

This was not in the brochure

The other day I was wandering the aisles of Costco somewhat aimlessly when all of a sudden I was stopped in my tracks. I looked before me and saw something I’d seen a dozen times, but never quite in the same way. Instead of just seeing the moment simply for what it was, I saw [...]

Elephant Tears

I don’t cry a lot. I exercise my tear ducts often enough to make sure they still work, but I have hardly been called a water-works, cry baby or someone with leaky eyes. Yet, I am not at all like my husband, who I have never seen cry. In our ten year history I have [...]

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

As I knocked on the peeling front door, an old fat dog pushed against my knee, wagging his stump of a tail, waiting with me for permission to enter. “Shirley?” I called, “It’s Lisa from Meals on Wheels. Can I come in?” A querulous voice responded, “Yes, yes, come in.” I pushed open the door, [...]

Black Friday (or not)

Today my parents asked me what Thanksgiving memories I had. The truth is, not many. We never lived close to extended family and so the holiday was usually a low-key one. I know we usually had turkey and rolls and pie and all the other fixings, but I don’t have a lot of memories of [...]

Where Art Thou, Inspiration?

I am not my right breast. Uh, okay. I thought in response. I’ll take your word for it. I was browsing the “For Sale” books at my local library, and that first line was the title, stretched out along the peeling spine of a hardcover. I continued looking over the assorted bundles, sniggering at the [...]

How Great Thou Art

Last Sunday our ward had the rare privilege of hearing Alex Boye sing a solo in sacrament meeting. I must confess at the time I didn’t know who he was, but when he started to sing a gospel rendition of “How Great Thou Art” I, like many other ward members, sat up straight in my [...]

Whitney Nominations Contest

Tis the season to nominate books so that they can become Whitney Award finalists. A book must be nominated five times to be read by the Whitney judges; those judges then choose five finalists which are voted on by the Whitney Academy. Just for fun, I thought Segullah could host a little contest here. Read [...]

Mormon Lit Blitz Call for Submissions

Segullah is not a sponsor of the following literary contest, but we’re more than happy to spread the word. If you have a killer 1,000 words? Send ‘em in! It might win you a Kindle. And Mormon literary fame. CALL FOR CONTEST SUBMISSIONS Now announcing the first ever Mormon Lit Blitz Writing Contest. Send up [...]

Thanks(giving) for the Memories

On a recent flight, my daughter sat next to an actress affiliated with a Chicago based comedy troupe. The actress needed some ideas for an upcoming Thanksgiving sketch routine and asked my daughter if she had any funny family holiday meal stories. The story my daughter shared was one my husband and I have no [...]

Early Morning Seminary

I’ve been teaching early morning seminary for a few months now, and so far I’ve learned a few things: 1-I truly believed before I started teaching that I could get all my prep work done if I gave myself an hour a day. I look back on those innocent days of summer, and I laugh [...]

Unholy combinations

Mormons eat weird food. I’m surprised this hasn’t come out in all the media hype about us. I mean, we worship Satan as the brother of Jesus Christ, we wear magic underwear, and we think we’re all going to have our own planets some day, but with all of that, not a single news outlet [...]

Labors of Love

I hate going to the doctor’s office, and probably not for the reasons you think. Of course, sitting around wearing nothing but a paper sheet is no fun, I absolutely abhor being weighed, and I have an unreasonable fear of having my blood pressure taken, but one of the things I dislike most is filling [...]

You People with Depth Perception Scare Me

That’s what I said to my husband as I squeezed my eyes closed, certain he was going to back the pickup right into the garage door. He finally did brake, slid the gearshift into park, and turned to me. “No, it’s you people without depth perception who are scary.” I laughed. He had a point. [...]

All That I Must Be

I don’t know much about the history of LDS hymns, but I do know that in 1957, then-Elder Spencer W. Kimball asked Naomi Randall, the author of the lyrics of “I Am a Child of God” to change the lyrics from “Teach me all that I must know/ To live with Him someday” to “Teach [...]

Let it be

I brought the postcard of this painting home from the Musee D’Orsay. It sits on the shelf above my desk and my heart pings a little every time I look at it. According to my rusty college French, the title translates to something like The Disciples Peter and John Rush to the Tomb on the Morning [...]

A Paradox

I walked down the stairs from the newsroom as my eyes brimmed with tears. In one day I had found myself discussing a cold murder case, prescription drug abuse, and a lawsuit. My head swam with hard facts, but my heart ached as I mulled over the details of others’ tragedies. When I got home [...]

The Uses of Argument

Recently, I had a confrontation with someone close to me, a confrontation that left me feeling hurt and defensive. I knew my immediate reaction (to withdraw entirely) wasn’t very healthy, but I wasn’t sure what I should do or say. That afternoon, I was teaching a writing class where, not so coincidentally, we’ve spent a [...]

I’d like to unbury my testimony…

Yesterday was Fast Sunday. As I sat in the back of the chapel, okay, as I sat near the front of the cultural hall (an improvement for us), I had a strong desire to share my testimony concerning some elements of the atonement and power of Christ. As I am wont to do, I sat [...]

Census of My Sisters

Today’s guest post comes from Amy S., who is not really a writer. She majored in  fashion design at BYU (one of the few and the brave) and worked for a time as a costume designer for a dancewear company. She knows a lot about sequins. She gave up that job to stay home with [...]

A Letter to My Fellow Conference Attendees

Dear fellow attendees and presenters at last week’s Western States Literacy and Rhetoric conference, Thanks for an intellectually stimulating weekend. I enjoyed many (but not all!) of the sessions I attended and I’m glad for your feedback on my own paper. I’ve been thinking, though, about the awkwardness that followed my answer to your questions [...]

Silky shorts and other horrors

My 14-year-old son has a pair of bright orange silky shorts. I loathe silky basketball shorts. I’m sure I must have bought them for him because I buy all his clothes. But what was I thinking? Was I so exasperated with clothes shopping that I just said “fine” when he waved them in front of [...]

What He Sees

I love people watching and have convinced myself that I’m a pro: my sunglasses hiding the direction of my gaze or the incognito peering from behind the pages of an uninteresting library find. Inevitably the words hold little sway to the treasures of humanity beyond the pages and the assurance of real, live social graces [...]

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