really, really good at literature.

Literature is religious by virtue of how it is approached by those who, simply put, are really, really good at it. We do not start out understanding the complexities of Oedipus or the subtleties of Hamlet. Nor do we start out understanding the eternities or what the Atonement of Christ truly is. But once we get to the point of being experienced in looking at literature and looking at religion, then we can better understand it and see deeper meanings than we ever could have if we would have stayed reading Go, Dog, Go or just watching bible videos.

To begin this comparison, we can look at how we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints begin to be ‘religious’. We start in nursery, being more or less babysat by people in our ward. They teach us lessons of Christ that

perspective: Book of Jer3miah.

In the short series of 3-5 minute episodes of The Book of Jeremiah, I noticed a very strong theme of perspective, especially emphasized in the very first couple of episodes. As Jeremiah navigates his freshman year at college, his life changes dramatically and very suddenly without any warning. He keeps his video camera on him, the last give he received from his parents before their untimely death, and records different parts of his interactions through video recording. This type of filmography is interesting because it allows the viewers to watch the events directly through the eyes of the one holding the camera.

In the first and second episodes, his father is chastising him for having “one of those feelings” that Jeremiah claims is from the Holy Ghost. From Jeremiah’s perspective, these feelings are very real and very consequential.

real sons of real fathers.

For anyone who may have read the Book of Mormon before, there is a significant amount of scripture dedicated to some men referred to as the sons of Mosiah, along with Alma the younger. Usually when they are thought of or talked about, there is an emphasis on how they were quite awful human beings at first, but then became some of the greatest missionaries in that time. Little is said about their conversion, especially regarding the sons of Mosiah, and not much is mentioned about how they changed from being ridiculously wicked to being impressively righteous. However, if we look closely at certain scripture verses, we can see aspects of characterization through descriptive writing to delve a little deeper into the understanding of what these young men went through regarding their repentance process and change of heart.

befriending the Book of Mormon: revised post.

There are many challenges that come with reading the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Sometimes it’s simply hard to follow. Sometimes it’s really annoying when the writer goes off on a huge tangent about confusing things, like Isaiah or the money system. Sometimes the language is too thick and it’s near impossible to understand what they are trying to say. Sometimes it’s just too difficult to relate to the people being talked about, because gosh darn it, I’ve never been to war or been in a place where a type of punishment is being stoned to death or burned alive.

Despite all these difficulties, there is still hope. Before you roll your eyes or let out an exasperated sigh, let me share an experience of my own that might shed some light on this ‘hope’ I speak of:

"hair like spun glass."

The poem in “Fire in the Pasture” I read that stuck out to me the most was My Daughter’s Favorite Bedtime Story by David Nielsen. It’s about how his daughter’s favorite bedtime story is Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman. He thinks it is interesting because he’s read it to her so many times, but she always wants to read it again. He uses a lot of descriptive language; “hair like spun glass” and “the black water smooth as sleep, or maybe death” being the most prominent. At one point, he reflects on if his daughter sees some of the details that he sees, then compares it to wondering if how seeing so much is how God feels about watching His children on earth:

Does she see in the sky/ a smile of teeth for a moon? I wondered once,/…if it’s how God feels, watching the pages,/knowing the end and the beginning,/ having already read it a hundred times,/ or more.

Rack, Shack, and Benny.

I remember Sunday school, growing up there was a girl who was one of my best friends in my age group. She came from a big family and I remember her impressive abilities to recite the stories from the Old and New Testament in the Bible, just like that. It came from her parents teaching their children Bible stories via the kids cartoon, Veggie Tales. When I would go to her house, we would sometimes watch this show and it was highly entertaining while also being somewhat informative. Her favorite bible story was about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but as per learning it from Veggie Tales, she affectionately called them Rack, Shack, and Benny and could only remember them as vegetables. I was always so impressed by her ability to remember these stories, however child-like they were. It was as if she was really learning about these individuals, not just about the stories.

As one studies the Book of Mormon, one might take the same approach my dear childhood friend took as she learned the names, even used the nicknames given in the cartoon. There may not be cartoon reenactments of the stories and histories found in the Book of Mormon, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from creating their own reenactments. How many movies are based on actual historical events? How many plays simply recreate a history so students can actually learn them properly? Because really, what high school student (or most college students for that matter) cracks open their history textbook before the test comes around? Reading scripture is hard—totally worth it. But still hard. So, to humanize the ‘stories’ we read about in the Book of Mormon, we need to visualize them actually happening, with real people, in real situations.

Maybe someday I can be as familiar and comfortable with the history of the peoples found in the Book of Mormon as my friend was with Rack, Shack, and Benny.

John 11:35-36.

Jeshua laughed as Peter, the boy who lived in a house nearby, dramatically swung his broom around like a sword. This wasn’t the first time they both put off doing their chores to pretend to duel or just to fool around. His mother Mary, however, did not find it so amusing.

“Boys, don’t you break those brooms! I’ll have you sweeping with your hands if they even splinter the wrong way.”

perfectly human.

Kenny Kemp’s The Welcoming Door is a compilation of the parables found in the Bible, taught by Christ. The perspective is from the people in the parables; the prodigal son, the servants and multiplying their talents, and the good Samaritan. Christ plays His part as a carpenter; fixing a door, building a well, and adding new rooms to an inn. It depicts Christ, named Jeshua in the telling of these parables, as a person who works and interacts with normal, everyday people.

As he works on a door for a wealthy man, he observes the family relations as the younger son is gone, living riotously, while the older son remains, faithful and hardworking. He watches and is kind to all, as he works hard and listens perfectly. He sees the best in those around him as he builds a well—the readers see him work even harder, struggling to be successful in his work, nearly discouraged, but never giving up. He finds the most redeeming qualities of even more individuals as He works at an inn, coming into contact with thieves, liars, and imposters. He humbly teaches a murderer to pray as they all navigate through miracles surrounding Jeshua. Readers can see Him sad, frustrated, hard-working, and perfectly human.

It may seem unrealistic with how understanding and non-judgmental Jeshua is portrayed as—but He’s not just another character that this LDS author is writing about. It is the person of Christ, of the one perfect being to walk this earth. I was not bothered by any of the seemingly idealistic outcomes from these stories because Christ was a player in them. These are interpretations of Christ’s life during His years the Bible does not cover, so they are fictional. However, any Christian wanting to become closer to and understand Christ better should read this book.

complete, resolved, and fulfilled.

The Latter-day Saint community has a reputation for being unfailingly optimistic. This outlook on life permeates their literature, from Will Wonders Never Cease where a teenage boy survives alone in an avalanche, Dispirited where a young woman is faced with many challenges and overcomes all of them, to Mountains Between Us where two co-workers at a school for troubled teens navigate their personal lives as they help those around them and fall in love with each other.

Eliza is a young, vivacious social worker who gets her first big job at a school basically in the middle of nowhere. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she expects little to no contact with many other members. However, she learns nearly as soon as she gets there of the English teacher, Henry, who also happens to be a member. The story follows each of them as Eliza struggles with her familial issues of having a mother in recovery and her sister living as an alcoholic and Henry copes with his somewhat recent divorce, the growing distance between him and his son, and his sparked curiosity of his biological father he doesn’t even really remember.

Even though many of these situations are realistic, in the way each character reacts, the way they interact with each other, and their LDS perspectives and

out of the snow.

Doug Thayer’s novel Will Wonders Never Cease is very ‘stream of consciousness’ novel from a 15 year-old boy who gets stuck in an avalanche for 9 days. Kyle is able to survive by using what skills his grandfather had taught him (reaching into a Latter-Day Saint theme of family) and by eating the food he had been driving up the canyon with at the time of the avalanche. The majority of the book is simply inside of Kyle’s head, his thoughts and feelings as he is fighting off hunger, hypothermia and frostbite, and despair. Because of this style, Thayer is writing in a stream of consciousness, the ideas flowing out of each other and never seeming to end. This type of style has its pros and cons, mostly depending on the reader. It sometimes can get confusing to follow the plot and there are many times where Kyle’s thoughts leave the reader with way too many questions and not nearly enough details. But because of the continual returns to the same ideas and topics, most questions the reader might have about Kyle and his life are, more or less, answered.

It is rather heartwarming to read as Kyle changes, somewhat, in his attitude and perspective, especially on his family and his religion. Even though he may not have matured as much as maybe he could have, he comes out of the snow a different young man than the boy who cruised up the canyon.

what I found.

I literally just used Google and clicked around, reading, until I found blogs I found engaging enough to continue looking into. I sound so snobby, but there's the truth. But, here is what I found:

I found this blogger here, http://wellbehavedmormonwoman.blogspot.com/ , and went through her posts thinking that it was going to be a pretty subtle mommy-blogger but was pleasantly surprised with her boldness. She writes mostly about politics and the up-to-date happenings with the Church. Obviously her posts include her own opinions, sometimes gets a little sassy, but it’s enjoyable to read and think about the things she is writing about. I commented on a couple of her posts but they needed to be approved first, which totally makes sense.

I also found http://askmormongirl.com/ where the blogger takes comments/emails of questions from her readers and answers their questions with her knowledge of the gospel, of historical evidence, and her own experience. I really enjoy this blog because it seems less opinionated and more informational. Again, obviously there are opinions there, but they aren’t necessarily explicit. I think it’s really cool that this blog is working for her—I think my fear in this type of blog would be getting people to ask questions in the first place, but she seems to get a lot of them.

I think it’s important to interact with those who are also in this sphere of blogging, of sharing their content, because it allows us to engage with the now, with the issues and ideas being discussed, instead of hoping someone will find our content interesting regardless of how dated it might be. Conversations are happening whether or not we are a part of them….might as well have something worthy to contribute, right?

kind of real.

Luisa Perkins’ novel, Dispirited, is quite riveting and rather engaging as it navigates alternate realities/realms of existence, death and limbo, and ownership of our bodies. While there have been novels, TV shows, and movies that depict alternate realities and realms of existence, not many quite make it so real, so in-your-face, they’re-walking-among-us kind of real. Which leads to the existence of Bunny and how he came to be where he is at—he’s in a limbo, both in this world we call reality and in his own reality with few others for him to be with. It’s as though he is overlapping between two movies playing at once, on the same screen. And this is because he loses ownership over his body—we have seen movies where people become possessed or even telepathically controlled, but to take yourself out of your body and then lose it to some other being? That seems kind of new. And terrifying.

I think Dispirited resonates some of the LDS beliefs and doctrines,

just, whatever.

I’ll be honest. Basically, I’m the worst. I was out of town this past weekend and had no time to get this done. So, I failed. I ended up sharing my extended post with my mom and sister, which are technically homies, but they’re actually people I would share my writing less with than my friends who I had shared with before (that was awkwardly phrased...). The reciprocation was in the fact I was with them this past weekend for a trip to Seattle and they think it’s just a treat having me up there, so I paid for their feedback in gas money and 28 total hours of driving. I asked for more specific feedback as well, though they aren’t the most specific of people, so that came through in their responses. Anyway, here are the comments from my sister and then my mom:

I am not familiar with Debbie Frampton’s essay Letting Daddy Die. You skip around a lot... is that what she does? Sweat-sheened? With or without a dash? You paint a very vivid picture. Intense and honest. Honestly: I don't ever want to hear dad's 'pep' talks again. I don't remember anything positive about them. But it reminds me of Clueless when Cher is evaluating her friends and how her friend Christian is critical, but only because he wants everything to be perfect. Well done! Is that what you wanted from me?

I will write what I was going to say in the comments: so, I have to ask, are you still bitter? I think your story was well written, it doesn't say how much growth you experienced because of adversity but maybe it wasn't intended to. It ended on a kind of down note, I realize not everything in life is unicorns and cotton candy...I saw the scripture but you didn't reference how this helped you in any way. A good description of real life-I know, I was there.

So, that was fine. No one I’ve shared with seems to acknowledge my questions I ask in their feedback, even though they are in fact specific. But whatever, I guess. That’s kind of how I feel about the feedback I’ve gotten; just, whatever.