Panel, Does Tattoo Taboo Ring True For Mormon Youth? When Brigham Young University basketball star Rafael Araujo’s obvious tattoos drew media attention in 2004, and the team’s media guide used electronic means to scrub his image by manipulating a photo, the flap attracted national coverage. Do tattoos violate Mormon reverence for the body? What motivates …
Speaker: Paul Swenson
Gender, Sex, Violence, And The Literary Search For A New Mormon Masculinity
Gender, Sex, Violence, And The Literary Search For A New Mormon Masculinity In Larry Rigby’s novel, The Jaeger Artist, new wealth, ambition, talent and an expensive “Liposculpting” transform middle-American Preston Wright into The New Man. But in bohemian Berlin, he wrestles with inflated artistic success, sexual excess, a thirst to avenge past wounds, violent instincts, …
May Swenson’s Intelligent Design: Getting Under The Skin Of God, Evolution, And Man As An Animal
May Swenson’s Intelligent Design: Getting Under The Skin Of God, Evolution, And Man As An Animal Firstborn of immigrant Swedish parents in Logan, Utah, who had come to this country as converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, May Swenson early identified herself in ways that would distinguish her life’s path as …
Poets and the Prophets
While it may be true, as he said of himself, that no one knew Joseph Smith’s history, poets from the early days of the Restoration have attempted to capture the Prophet through the power of poetic language. This session consists of readings of poets from W. W. Phelps and Eliza R. Snow to modern Mormons …
Advancing Feminist Sensibilities Among Mormon Men
Why aren’t there more visible and vocal male feminist voices within the Mormon community? The all-male panel will talk about their journeys toward becoming feminists, the challenges they face in maintaining feminist sensibilities in Mormon culture, and ideas they see for encouraging other Mormon men to take more active feminist stances. Michael J. Stevens, Paul …
ANTIDOTES TO VOTING BY ROTE: HOPE FOR A YOUNG, EDUCATED, AND INDEPENDENT UTAH ELECTORATE
Three young Utah Mormon college students and one young, university graduate meet for the first time and hash over their concerns and passions. Out of this collision of fervent views and disparate voices comes the decision to probe the mysterious and arcane proclivities of the Drone Democraticus, a species of semi-conscious, young Beehive State denizen …
THE POETRY BUG BITES, EARLY AND LATE
That ticklish sensation can be a thrill or an irritation. An inflammation of the senses, it reveals itself as a subtle pleasure, or as a demand to scratch the itch. Once bitten, however, the urge is in the bloodstream. The young poets here write directly from a fresh inoculation of passion and introspection. The panel’s …
MICHAEL MOORE’S FAHRENHEIT 9/11: HEAT OR LIGHT?
Part documentary, part mockumentary, part passionate political witness, part uproarious entertainment, this surprisingly commercially successful film criticizing the Bush administration’s response to the World Trade Center attack; the president’s launch and conduct of the Iraq war; the Patriot Act, and the Abu Ghraib torture scandal has provoked national debate. Meanwhile, two Mormons, Bush administration lawyer …
A FIGURE IN THE TAPESTRY: THE POET’S FEELING RUNS AHEAD OF HER IMAGINATION (GREENWICH VILLAGE 1949–50)
May Swenson, Utah-born poet of Swedish Mormon immigrant parents, whom critic John Hollander calls “one of our few unquestionably major poets,” was within a few days of her thirty-sixth birthday when she met Pearl Schwartz. A woman of Mediterranean descent just past twenty-six, Schwartz was an attendant at a contagious disease hospital. Swenson would soon …
A SUNSTONE TOWN MEETING
Grab a quick bite, then meet with members of the Sunstone staff and board of directors, who will report on the current state of Sunstone, including its finances, subscription efforts, and other statistics and activities. Learn about future plans. Bring your questions and suggestions! Come prepared to help shape Sunstone’s future! (Town meeting will begin …