Books to keep you company in hell (strap them to your thigh)

.

033) Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished July 2

This is a science-fiction Canterbury Tales. Seven pilgrims off to see a violent god-like creature on an alien planet. Each tells a story en route. The first twist is that the stories are actually relevant to the journey. The second twist is that there is a sequel covering what happens with they arrive. (I haven't read that yet, but I have a copy. A student I've never taught brought me both these books a few months ago. At first I just skimmed the glue sections. The stories themselves, however, range from the enjoyable to the excellent. Exceedingly worth reading.)

I'll report again when I've read the second book, but of this one I'll say that I enjoyed the stories quite a bit while it took me a long, long time to care about the frame story. I have some stylistic issues, but as a whole, I would recommend this for science-fiction readers who enjoy both short fiction and novels and have a terrible time choosing between them.

months



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032) A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck, finished June 27

This tiny little book, now that I've finished it, weighing on me. I was told it would ---and don't all the Amazon reviews say as much? or those at GoodReads?---but I knew the premise and did not expect that the telling could be any worse than the knowing.

But oh how it is.

Now that I've finished it, the book won't let me alone.

I almost never want to see a book again.

Although I've tried to grapple with despair and unexpected afterlives and eternity in my own fiction, Peck's really nailed all three in just a hundred page.

It's the sort of book that everyone should read because then we'll all have something to talk about. Which would be good. Which will be necessary.

Brrrr.

one day



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031) Kampung Boy by Lat, finished June 22

I have to admit: for a book that's garnered such a breadth of international praise, I found this book to be tedious and boring. I read almost half when I first picked it up. Misplaced it for three weeks. Read most of the rest, skipping around, and returned it to the library. I had time to read each page, I just could not care enough.

three weeks but only the first and last day of that stretch




===========================================================


Previously in 2012 . . . . :

Read the reviews of 25-28.
034) The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple, finished June 20
033) Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, finished June 18
032) Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, "finished" June 18
031) Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese, "finished" June 15
030) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, finished June 9
029) Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, finished early June

Read the reviews of 25-28.
028) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, finished May 24
027) The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan, finished May 16
026) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, finished May 10 (I'm astonished a month has passed since I've finished a book)
025) Dominant Traits by Eric Freeze, finished April 10

Read the reviews of 21-24.
024) The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, finished April 2
023) UNTITLED MS by Kyle Jepson, finished March 12, 2012
022) The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 4
021) The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, finished March 3

Read the reviews of 14-20.
020) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
019) Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson, finished February 26
018) Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC by [everybody], finished February 25
017) Billy Hazelnuts and Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
016) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
015) Habibi by Craig Thompson, finished February 20
014) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, finished February 15

Read the reviews of 12-13.
013) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, finished February 12
012) Black Hole by Charles Burns, finished February 11

Read the reviews of 6-11.
011) The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 4
010) Blankets by Craig Thompson, finished February 4
009) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, finished February 2
008) The Millstone Necklace (forthcoming) by S.P. Bailey, finished January 31
007) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished January 27
006) Across a Harvested Field by Robert Goble, finished January 23

Read the reviews of 1-5.
005) Hark! a Vagrant! by Kate Beaton, finished January 21
004) The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark, finished January 12
003) Bucketfoot Al: The Baseball Life of Al Simmons by Clifton Blue Parker, finished January 9
002) Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly, finished January 9
001) What of the Night? by Stephen Carter, finished January 5

Mormons and Marriage (long long ago) #svithe #proposal

.

From Bancroft's History of Utah:

There is a difference between marriage and sealing; the former is secular, and the latter both secular and celestial, as it may be either for time or for eternity, in person or by proxy, and with the living or with the dead.

And now some excerpts from the exceedingly long footnote for the paragraph from which that line comes (follow the link and read the whole thing---interesting stuff, but offtopic today):

Gentile marriage and divorce are not recognized as valid in the Mormon church. In its early days, the church had no marriage ordinances of its own, and the requirements, conditions, and ceremonies incident to the rite were similar to those of the various protestant sects. Nor had it officials legally qualified to marry, other, perhaps, than a few such men as Sidney Rigdon, wire, having been duly appointed to preside over churches of other denominations, were still competent to join in legal marriage. In 1836, when the church was three years old and the Kirtland temple about to be dedicated, we find Joseph petitioning the court of Medina county, Ohio, for licenses permitting his elders to perform marriage ceremonies, which authority had been refused them by the Geauga county court.

Later, when the church had gained power, the result of more complete organization, Joseph announced, as its belief respecting marriage, that it 'should be solemnized in a public meeting, or feast, prepared for that purpose,' and that the celebrant should be 'a presiding high-priest, bishop, elder, or priest.' But no prohibition was issued against marriage by any other authority. Neither were church-members forbidden to marry out of the church, though any so doing would be considered weak in the faith.

In some European countries (and, I hear, most places outside the US), the Church still has no power to legally marry couples. That's done by civic authority with sealing to follow.

Perhaps it's time to step away from our American assimilation and follow this template---and stop performing legally binding marriages. Then the question of what is or isn't marriage won't matter. The Church can seal as it pleases and we can take our time figuring out just what the eternal implications of sexuality are.

Clearly there's historical precedent.

The great thing is we don't have to wait for legislation to decide A or B or Z, we can just act.

Why not?

I tied a bow tie

.

Tada!

I've been wanting to learn to tie a bowtie for sometime and Lady Steed gave me a couple for Christmas, but I haven't taken the time to get both YouTube and a handmirror at the same time until today. Then I pulled up the video I selected as the best clear back in February, propped the mirror up at the edge of my laptop and it only took one try. Not bad. Not perfect, but given the quality of the image, perhaps you can't tell.

Now I just need to take a deep breath and untie it. So I can do it a hundred more times and develop some muscle memory . . . .

Reading books to pass the time on the road. Also some to help define my future.

.

034) The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple, finished June 20

I read this book at least one section per day (each chapter is broken down into smaller sections), never missing a day until I finished. I had to because, although it was good, I knew I would never finish it (without taking a couple years) unless I was disciplined. And so that's what I did.

I'll write a Motley Vision review on this later and will link to it [here] when it goes up. Hopefully this week.

In the meantime, I've written the Wikipedia article(s) and added a bunch of examples to Wiktionary.

a bit over three months



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TRAVEL BOOKS

033) Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, finished June 18

I've never read this Dahl even though I've now seen the movie dozens of times (I like to think he would have liked it) and even though I read tons of Dahl as a kid. (And as an adult, while we're at it.) This is just exactly what I expected from a fifty-page Quentin Blake-illustrated bit of Dahl. Read it. And don't miss the movie.

a morning


032) Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, "finished" June 18
031) Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese, "finished" June 15

While we were spending a couple weeks staying with friends and family, I read most of these two books. Probably 80-95% of Wicked Plants and, if you ignore the actual recipes, at least 60% of Make the Bread---probably past 70%. And I loved them both.

Although now I'm afraid of all plants I don't have copious experience eating (though I want to try kudzu sometime).

Also: I'm starting with making my own kimchi. Maybe some worcestershire sauce. Definitely not pastrami. Don't have the pantry space.

Folks, this is what libraries were born for. Try them out.

between the two a week



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030) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, finished June 9

This has been on my too-read list for some time, but I finally picked it up because I'm embarking on an althistory project and although mine's not hardboiled, when I trod where Chabon hath trod, I want to read his travelogue. And I'm glad I did. It's a great novel. And the way he realized Jewish Alaska is a better than I had planned version of what I had planned for my own project. It sets a high bar. Plus, he wrote a longer version and completely threw it away. The published novel is its sorta sequel. I find all that trashing inspirational.

Sure wish I had time to write disposable novels. . . .

Anyway. Neither here nor there. Better write a good one the first time.

monthish



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029) Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, finished early June

This book is such a remarkably easy read, I found it hard to remember that I didn't already know this stuff. In fact, I knew almost none of it. I did not know Squanto was such a Machiavellian. I did not know King Philip's War was just one generation after the Mayflower landing. I had no idea that the Pilgrims and the Indians were so close to establishing a lasting peace. If only there had been a bit of miscegenation, methinks, American history would be gobsmackingly different.

Reading through the copious notes at the end of the book, I learned that while the information in the book has been gradually becoming available over the last decades, it's never been compiled. In a very real way, what I learned singing songs and making handprint turkeys as a kid.

And to be so riveted in the process? Priceless.

six or seven months



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Previously in 2012 . . . . :

Read the reviews of 25-28.
028) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, finished May 24
027) The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan, finished May 16
026) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, finished May 10 (I'm astonished a month has passed since I've finished a book)
025) Dominant Traits by Eric Freeze, finished April 10

Read the reviews of 21-24.
024) The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, finished April 2
023) UNTITLED MS by Kyle Jepson, finished March 12, 2012
022) The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 4
021) The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, finished March 3

Read the reviews of 14-20.
020) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
019) Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson, finished February 26
018) Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC by [everybody], finished February 25
017) Billy Hazelnuts and Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
016) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
015) Habibi by Craig Thompson, finished February 20
014) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, finished February 15

Read the reviews of 12-13.
013) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, finished February 12
012) Black Hole by Charles Burns, finished February 11

Read the reviews of 6-11.
011) The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 4
010) Blankets by Craig Thompson, finished February 4
009) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, finished February 2
008) The Millstone Necklace (forthcoming) by S.P. Bailey, finished January 31
007) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished January 27
006) Across a Harvested Field by Robert Goble, finished January 23

Read the reviews of 1-5.
005) Hark! a Vagrant! by Kate Beaton, finished January 21
004) The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark, finished January 12
003) Bucketfoot Al: The Baseball Life of Al Simmons by Clifton Blue Parker, finished January 9
002) Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly, finished January 9
001) What of the Night? by Stephen Carter, finished January 5

The semi-finals are over

.

Last year, with a reasonable lead in the semi-final game, the umps and coaches decided to what-the-heck play one more inning and the Big O's team fell to the Diamondbacks and lost.

This year, after a seesawing lead and a tie at the start of the final-for-sure inning, his team put up four runs then held the Angels to one. They're off to the championship game.

The playoffs are double elimination and O's team, the Padres, lost their first game. So it was hard at that point to imagine them making it much further, especially since game two was against the team with the best regular-season record---a team that had already beaten the Padres twice---a team that went up 9-1 by the end of the first inning. In a league that ends games automatically if the run difference hits ten.

But they came back and won, 12-10.

Largely on the back of great pitching. After that first inning, the fielding came together and the pitching was rocksolid and they didn't give up another run till the final inning.

The Big O pitched one of those innings, but just one. To keep his pitch count low so he could start the next game.

[Aside: O can only pitch 50 innings in a game (or, if he hits fifty during a batter, he can complete the batter). If he pitches >20, he can't pitch the next day. More than 35 and he can't pitch until two calendar days have passed. >50 and it's three days of rest.]

Although, given how much he practices I perhaps shouldn't be, I'm amazed that this son of mine can really really pitch. I was never even comfortable tossing a ball clear into adulthood and he has half a dozen pitches at eight years old.

Anyway, after that come-from-behind second game, the playoffs have felt a bit inevitable. Every game could have been the last, but they won four games in four days, the last one against a team that hadn't lost yet. That's the team they played again last night. O went three innings. The lead bounced back and fourth. For the first time since the first inning of game two, nothing felt inevitable. I just didn't know if they would win or not.

But they did.

And this weekend they play for it all.

Whether he wins or loses hardly matters. It's been an incredible season, he's had fun and he's played extremely well. I'm satisfied.

No way to know if more championships will be in O's future (in a way, what a bummer to have second grade be your best year ever), but something of destiny seems to hang about him. So, maybe? We'll see.

Click on the photo to see a few more. These are just some of the great photos taken of the team by this gentleman.

The Dominant Potato Loves the Wallflower

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028) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, finished May 24

Great title, Perks of Being a Wallflower. And it's been recommended to me a number of times, most recently and critically by Tolkien Boy, who said it had the "the Bat sensibility, but more heart" and "Even if you don't like the book, it's worth picking up on its own terms."

I'm not sure I agree with the first part of that thought, as, except for it being about kids who are a little less mainstream (in this book's case, that's more purely a mere matter of perception), I found it entirely disparate in tone. Weetzie Bat is light and airy and floats in the breeze. Perks is heavy and sad. Both books are seasoned with bits of the other and I can certainly see how they could be grouped together, but it's not a grouping that would occur to me naturally.

I do agree though that the book was worth picking up, even if I'm not completely enamored with it. I suspect many people, reading it, will feel likeit's an accurate depiction of high school. It's nothing like the life I lived in high school, but it did help me understand why so many people I knew (and know) do the things they do.

It wants to be treated as archeology of high school, 1991. And I think you'll enjoy the book more if you let it convince you of such.

nine days



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027) The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan, finished May 16

I've been hearing about Levithan from friends for a while (and while I remember mostly postive, in looking for a link, I realize it hasn't always been so). Anyway, I was at the library to pick up another book recommended by another friend and I saw this on the New Books shelf and grabbed it. Even though, when I saw it was a novel in dictonary form, I had a bad reaction.

Obviously it's a gimmick and not indicative of what lies behind the gimmick, but I had a bad reaction to the last such novel I attempted (and I attempted it more than once), so I was skeptical. But I read the first couple entries and decided it was worth the effort.

I've pulled out two entries---they're less storytelling, but almost thesis statements. The first for the form, the second for the tale:

ineffable, adj.

These words will ultimately end up being the barest of reflections, devoid of the sensations words cannot convey. Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how amny words there are, there will never be enough.


tenet, n.

At the end of the French movie, the lover sings, "Love me less, but love me for a long time."

People who read YA lit, serious people, explain to the skeptical that more formal experimentation---without the sacrifice of actual storytelling---happens in YA lit than adult lit. And so I'm happy to see a YA author bring that level of experimentation to adult lit. And, I'm happy to say, the book is essentially successful. He had the good sense to keep it short. He played different games with different words. He put together a cohesive story and well rounded characters.

That said, the book does have some of the flaws inherenet to experimental writing, and does have some obnoxious, deliberate ambiguities. But overall, I greatly enjoyed this read and commend it to you.

We should all write a dictionary now and then.

three days



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026) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, finished May 10 (I'm astonished a month has passed since I've finished a book)

My colleague MM pressed this book into my hands and told me I must read it, which is much stronger than what she's said about other books she much liked such as Little Bee. And I can see why. This is a book which, I'm afraid, it's a crime to not to press upon fellow booklovers.

I've been aware of this book, of course. Naturally. It's been everywhere. (So I'm a little offended no one forced me to read it before.) I had not been that interested. It has a cutesy title and seemed, in appearance, too purely an example of unequivocal WOMEN's fiction. Then I took to school on Monday and read 100 pages.

I'm always skeptical of the epistolary form, but no question when done well, it is a joy. And this book is an utter joy. It's bright and cheerful and romantic and eccentric without being silly or quirky or fey or sentimental. It's a wonderful book and perfectly made a book lover to read in a day or four. Bitesize letters will keep you returning for just one more. And while you're enrapt with the charm and story, you'll also be aware of how the authors subtly narrow the points of view in order to tell the story properly. To cite a book mentioned in Guernsey, it's much like what Jane Austen did in Pride and Prejudice, starting omniscient and slowly focusing on Elizabeth.

Another virtue of this book is that it's made me want to check out some writers I've never considered before---Charles Lamb and Seneca, to name two.

Anyway, I thought it was going to be a big block of cheese, but I genuinely loved it. You should grab a copy for yourself.

four days



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025) Dominant Traits by Eric Freeze, finished April 10

Read the full intereview at AMV.

two weeks or so



Previously in 2012 . . . . :

Read the reviews of 21-24.
024) The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, finished April 2
023) UNTITLED MS by Kyle Jepson, finished March 12, 2012
022) The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 4
021) The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, finished March 3

Read the reviews of 14-20.
020) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
019) Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson, finished February 26
018) Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC by [everybody], finished February 25
017) Billy Hazelnuts and Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
016) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
015) Habibi by Craig Thompson, finished February 20
014) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, finished February 15

Read the reviews of 12-13.
013) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, finished February 12
012) Black Hole by Charles Burns, finished February 11

Read the reviews of 6-11.
011) The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 4
010) Blankets by Craig Thompson, finished February 4
009) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, finished February 2
008) The Millstone Necklace (forthcoming) by S.P. Bailey, finished January 31
007) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished January 27
006) Across a Harvested Field by Robert Goble, finished January 23

Read the reviews of 1-5.
005) Hark! a Vagrant! by Kate Beaton, finished January 21
004) The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark, finished January 12
003) Bucketfoot Al: The Baseball Life of Al Simmons by Clifton Blue Parker, finished January 9
002) Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly, finished January 9
001) What of the Night? by Stephen Carter, finished January 5

"The Legend of Boitown"

.

"The Legend of Boitown" (under one of the many titles it's had over the years, but I can't recall which) was originally presented to Donlu Thayer as part of the portfolio for a class I was taken from her. Her note at the end was something like, "Wow! Why didn't we read this in class?" Which I interpreted to mean it was pretty good.

And it is pretty good, actually. Not bad at all.

The problem is the way it ends. Which is the whole point of the story but, as it ends up, is a bit of a cliche in literary fiction. Something I did not know in 1998.

In 2002 (this is about thirty months later) I attended Endercon. Thereat, I listened to Michael Collings, then still at Pepperdine, talk about Ender's Game as epic poetry. One of his evidences was that the book's major sections are punctuated with a particular meter.

Immediately, in my head, I reran the final line of "The Legend of Boitown" which obeys the same laws. Which I suppose is why I could remember it.

Anyway, after being rejected by, in reverse order, Cutbank, Ploughshares, The New Yorker, Renovation Journal, Zoetrope, Georgia Review, and Zyzzyva, it's finally been picked up by the lit rag Children, Churches & Daddies. It will show up there soon, but it's now available on their online sister, Scars.tv. You can read that (awkwardly formatted) version now.

It's a great relief, having that story out of the queue.

Let me know what you think.

The LDS Eros: Pornographic Dialogue

.

Dialogue published a letter of complaint about the fiction in Vol. 43, Num. 1 - Spring 2010 ("Straight Home" by Lisa Torcasso Downing and "Badge and Bryant, or, the Decline and Fall of the Dogfrey Club" by Levi S. Peterson). Editor Kristine allowed both Lisa and Levi to respond. Levi did, and his comments match what we would expect of him; Lisa did not, but told Kristine she "was too busy laughing . . . then begged her to please, please, please run the guy's letter."

(She told me this when I congratulated her on her new membership in the League of Mormon Pornographers.)

Lisa sent me a copy of her story upon my request, and I took so long to read it that Levi's is now available for free online.

Let's discuss them, shall we? It feels like we haven't talked about sex in literature for ages.


"Straight Home" ^read

For all Lisa's protestations to the contrary, the story has plenty enough sex. Especially if you include ogling naked women, which I suspect many readers will. Especially the reader ready for a pornographic event.

That said, to call the story prurient is to, sigh, dismiss sexuality as a legitimate concern of literature. Which, if you are still reading these posts, I presume you must agree with.

Anyway, a bit of SPOILERy plot to orient you, then we'll dig in.

Bart marries Natalie. She has strange "birthmarks" which end up being evidence of childhood abuse. The psychological damage leads her, later in their marriage, to engage in activities that are clear neither to the reader nor Bart (whose point-of-view we're viewing things through). She may be cheating on him, she may not, who can tell. Anyway, their marriage has been damaged enough that Bart can interpret his still being with her as evidence of his excellence of a human being. (Not to suggest he lacks self-awareness. He's aware that his feelings lean in this direction and though he agrees with them, he is not proud of them.)

Natalie spends much of the story naked or getting naked. The flashback to their post-consummation honeymoon morning. Her taking off her clothes after church in order to take a shower. The shower.

But Natalie is naked in other ways, ways her husband has forced upon her. Like her scars, her nakedness is also both physical and psychological. Her husband, through his shrink, has come to recognize her cigarrette burns for what they are; and he has told their bishop and sicced him on her.

The overlay of nakedness and pain, sex and abuse, continues throughout the story. The scars he first sees, that honeymoon morning, are placed on a "hidden, erogenous area" behind her hair (which, tellingly, has grown longer, not shorter, since first they met). But the hair that he thinks of most over the course of "Straight Home" is the hair hiding a scar of another sort.

Speaking of erogenous areas, and yes I mean Natalie's vagina, when Bart looks at her naked body now, his thoughts are not just about sex, but the emotional and physical results of intercourse:

His eyes caressed her, moving from the crown of her wet head
down to the breasts with which she had suckled their children, then on to
the abdomen that had swelled, and to the region that had delivered. Finally,
he took in the legs that once upon a time had wrapped around him and made
him believe she had wanted him.

That she has given birth is not obvious in looking at her. Those are scars she also hides.

Bart and Natlie have not been engaging in sex together, and Bart is afraid their marriage is collapsing and he fears losing their kids---he thinks is disappearing, invsible---but, at the end, when they do have sex? He is "satisfied." That is all it takes. That is all he needed. Is her surrender.

Just prior to leading him to bed, Natalie recognizes something in him and begins a seduction as she steps from the shower and sits on his lap. "Tiny dots, pin pricks, rose all along her curves." At first, before I realized I was simply seeing goosebumps, I read these pricks (advertant pun, methinks) as new, fresh cigarette burns---evidence that she has a new beau (so to speak). But no. Just the cold. Because she has left the shower still wet to please a man.

Among the things she says on his lap is "'I’ve been a very naughty girl.'" A sentence which, let's be honest, makes her sound pretty darned regressive. But is it a sign of her psychological unhealth? Is it is some sort of lolita sexplay---and if so, is it a sign that she views Bart as the latest in a line of male dominators . . . or just that she's seen enough sitcoms to know this is sexy? Or, or is she completely serious? And she does feel that "naughty" is the best way to decribe her hours-long absenses and closed legs?

And then when she says, "'Take care of me'"? Is she unable to grow up? Unwilling? Prevented by her past or by her husband?

Can she be healed?

Will Bart ever stop feeling that the scars from old abuse are eyes staring at him, no matter which way she turns?

"Straight Home" (which could be double entendre itself), for all it's naked lady sexy sex, is a complex look at the relationships between sex and power and love and abuse and commitment and marriage and children and hope. It's an ambitious story. And one that I think could provide an opening to couples with true sexual issues to discuss their own difficulties. If this is pornography, it is a moral pornography.

"Badge and Bryant, or, the Decline and Fall of the Dogfrey Club" ^read

Lisa's story is about sex between adults. Levi's is about kids who are just becoming aware of the eixistance of such relationships and, in connection to that, how a fourteen-year-old boy can turn a woman crossing the street into a pornographic event. It's amazing what kids can do with a small amount of information and vast stores of ignorance.

Badge is, as is incorporated into his name, the "bad" cousin. He's the one who comes up with the notion of the Dogfrey Club, the members of which are expected to swear they will get not get married unless it's a shotgun married. Then he spends the summer creating extravagent fantasies regarding that scenario. But as we slip inside his mind and view his fantasies, they don't seem to be heavy on fornication. They deal more with the girl's brothers beating him up. And after the wedding? The fantasy ends with a kiss:

Glancing piteously up at him, she obviously expected at best
a callous indifference on his part. Happily, the narrative
now called for Badge to yield to his throbbing love and allow
a warm, reassuring smile to replace his hitherto stolid,
apathetic countenance—a transmutation which the long-neglected
girl at first did not dare accept as sincere. It was not until
he took her in his arms and pressed a long, fervent kiss upon
her lips that she began to feel the first inklings of a hope
that had eluded her for weeks. Suddenly, relief and gratitude
swept her wan, fine-featured face, and her eyes welled with
happy tears. With that, this version of the saga ended.

Badge, for all his new swear words and casual knowledge of sex stuff, is still a good kid. He's learning how to navigate his knew knowledge and the approach of adulthood ("Sorting out an adult identity was perplexing, to say the least."), and that seems to mean exploring the bad as well as the good.

Bryant (with the beginnings of "righteous" hidden inside his name) has been happy to play along with Badge, but the Dogfrewy club seems to be a step too far:

. . . sex was too delicate, too problematic, too fraught with
ambiguity, to trifle with by inventing such a superf luity as a
Dogfrey Club. Sex being what it had turned out to be, as much of
a messy necessity for human beings as for animals, you shouldn’t
come to it via the back door by not even taking the trouble to
get married first when getting married was what you had in mind
all along.

Because remember---the purpose of the Dogfrey Club is not sex, but marriage. A certain kind of marriage that will spread scandle, but in the end, Badge just wants to end up with the girl he loves.

Badge had fed on lust for LillieDale without thinking of it
as lust. It was love—tender, grand, unique in the annals of
history, light-years beyond mere lust.

I'm going to leave the story behind for a second and philosophize, if that's all right. I think there's a real lesson here for adults in Levi's tale. These are good boys. They're trying to reconcile their understanding of love and marriage, received from their parents, with their understanding of sex, informed by certain Changes no one's explaining to them.

Lust was not an emotion that any Mormon male, old or young,
could easily admit to, it being generally supposed in the
Mormon world that there is no similarity between the sinful
emotion of lust and the ardor which drives a husband to beget
legitimate babies upon his duly-wed wife.

And with no one explaining it to them, they have to work it out for themselves.

This important part of growing up---how should we help our kids out with it? Or can we?

The story is third-person limited, but limited to two characters, both Badge and Bryant (which I suppose one might call omniscient, but that seems inaccurate here). Both undergo some serious bildungsroman, but Badge's change is more consscious, thoughtful, grudging, and thorough.

He grows to understand he is not only capable of recognizing a woman's sexual draw, he is incapable of not noticing it. And if that is true of him, it must be true of everyone. The Mormon men he looks up to included. And if that's true, then they must be as capable of imagining sin as he has been happy imagining sin. And if that's true, and they are adults, nothing can stop them from gross sexual misconduct. And if that's true, aren't they all guilty?

Navigating this crisis forces Badge to look for a solution that does not require relying on the evaporated good examples of his youth.

And that grappling and solving of crisis is what makes him into a new person and the demise of the Dogfrey Club.

It's a lovely story. I kind of want to slip it to the young men in my ward and see what they think. But I'm not really in a position to do that. . . . And I'm kind of too much of a troublemaker anyway, doncha think?

WARNING: This post is scatalogical in nature

.

The English language is the most beautiful and inclusive thing on the planet. And yet it has a serious lack---or at least my own English vocabulary does. I've brought this idea cavity to the public's attention before (including on this very blog), but everyone always thinks I'm joking around. I am NOT joking around. this problem needs to be solved.

Here's the problem. There are certain basic physiological needs that humans have. And each need can be expressed with use of a single adjective. For instance, if I am in need of food, I am hungry. I may be famished or starving or, on the other end, peckish. I am in need of food, expressed with a single adjective.

I am thirsty. I am parched.

I am tired or sleepy. Exhausted.

I am choking or suffocating. I am in need of oxygen.

I am horny. Aroused. Titillated. (I need you.)

But what if I need to expel waste from my body? What single adjective do I have to express myself? This is the great lack of which I speak.

But fear not, anglophones. I, Thmazing, have solved your linguistic abcess. And the word that the Muse delivered to me? Poopish.

It's not elegant, but I think it's clear. "Excuse me, I'm feeling poopish. I believe the others at the table will catch your meaning.

Of course, poopish is only half the story. So we need a second word. Peeish? Peïsh? No. Urinish? Eh. Even worse. Littlegirlroomish? Egad.

And then I had it:

Leakish.

That should do the trick.

Now, poopish and leakish are not refined, but the euphemistic tendencies of English should help us there soon enough.

But finally, this ancient weight has been removed from my shoulders.

Feel free to thank me.

"In Praise of Thmighty Theric" by D. C. Nelson

.

Thmighty is Theric; yes, thmighty is he,
thever and thever we'll praise him, you see.
From thheadland to valley, from thmountain to sea,
thenuthiasts gather to sound this decree:
thmighty is Theric. Yes, thmighty is he.

Tharticles he writes have a passion and grace
and thintricate working, like letter-sprung lace.
Though thmisandrists may gather his works to efface,
not one spot of his works can they find to therase.
(And, on top of all this, he has a nice thface.)

The thtories he writes are both clever and pure,
the thort of good writing we know will endure.
His thtylings of thentences have their allure,
and thalso his diction! His thtalents can blur
the fine thline between genius and the thobscure.

So, hail thawesome Theric! His writing so crisp
on many a thubject, on sparities disp,
remind us there’s thnothing, not even a wisp,
in writing that isn’t improved with a thlisp.

Sometimes I'm amazed at the things I know

.

For the piece of fiction I'm working on, I needed a small town near Pittsburgh. I guessed Allegheny. There isn't a town named Allegheny near Pittsburg, but the county Pittsburgh's in is Allegheny County. I think I deserve at least partial credit for that.

In the past, this would be the week I became a widower

.

Today Lady Steed had the opportunity to go get some morphine and some laproscopy. And now she's one appendix lighter.

Remarkable isn't it? That a death sentence not so many generations ago is as routine as pie?

So routine that I'm having a difficult time being as grateful as I ought to be.

But if my heart and mind are slow to realize how lucky I am, rest assured that the rest of me knows, the rest of me knows.

If I were in Utah, I would be doing this.

The haters seem to be slowing down. Time for my defense of Lana Del Rey.

.

Poor, deceived hipsters

That hipsters were tricked into liking something corporate makes me feel not even a little bad. Like music for what it is. Needing someone to tell you what to hate isn't different from needing someone to tell you what to like.


But srsly---corporate makeover?

While I admit that Lizzy Grant working with a bunch of suits then coming out the other end as Lana Del Rey is offputting, it is, after all, part of a great American tradition. Check out the Kristen Wiig version of Lana defending the real Lana (skip ahead to 3:15):



Selling out is a great American tradition. In and of itself I just don't think it's sufficient reason to dismiss someone as a money-grubbing whore. It's a solid piece of evidence, but insufficient to convict.

I learned that there's no reason why people decide they like music when they do. Even if you're the best singer in the world, there's a good chance no one will ever hear you. You make a decision to keep singing or to stop. I've been singing in Brooklyn since I was 17 and no one in the industry cared at all. I haven't changed a thing since then and yet things seem to be turning around for me. Perhaps the angels decided to shine on me for a little while.
(x via y)

Woman-hating woman

Hard to respect the point-of-view character in "Off to the Races," I grant you. Here's the chorus:

And I'm off to the races, cases of Bacardi chasers
Chasin' me all over town 'cause he knows I'm wasted
Facin' time again on Rikers Island and I won't get out
Because I'm crazy baby,
I need you to come here and save me
I'm your little scarlet, starlet, singin' in the garden
Kiss me on my open mouth
Ready for you

And there are more characters like this in Born to Die---characters that seem born of a misogynist mind. Lana Del Rey who, at first glance, seemed like a woman who was going to be strong like Billie and take the songstress persona and recreate it with the sensibility of a Tori . . . or at least an Alanis.

Del Rey isn't the pop star we've come to expect in at least one other sense: The songs on her new album, Born to Die, aren't only small—they're powerless. Which is to say, she writes about women who are unhinged and consumed by the love their men provide.

FAIL.

Or did she?

Let me put one word in your mind, then go read the next session. We'll get back to it shortly.

The word is:

SATIRE.


Lolita

I was surprised this accusation wasn't the first and the loudest made. But it finally did show up, and rightly so, and now it has gotten a little loud. As Luke O'Neil says,

In “Off to the Races,” she pays direct homage to Lolita, quoting Vladimir Nabokov, when she sings I'm the “light of your life, fire of your loins” over the persistent soundtrack of playground noises and children in the background.

In “Put Me in a Movie” she is the most straight forward about her pedophile undertones when she begs, “Come on you know you like little girls. Come on you know you like little girls. You can be my Daddy.”

And that's not even mentioning that the new album has a bonustrack called---wait for it---"Lolita". You read that right.

All great songs. All imminently hummable. All likely to get stuck in your head. Ergo, we had better address this.

We won't make excuses for her because of pedaphilia's historical and current prominence in pop music (for the record, I never call my baby baby without an accompanying dose of irony), but that is backgroud that should be considered. And while the corporate issues discussed above take what I'm about to say into serious question, I do think that we have to accept as very real the possibility that Lizzy is purposefully pushing these typical pop-music posturings into an absurd space where we are forced to stand back and say, yes, this is ridiculous. I can't possibly take this stuff seriously.

But wait.

Then why do I take it seriously every other time I turn on the radio?

And while we're at it, I would like to point out that what we're really talking about here is not pedophilia---or even hebephilia, probably. But ephebophilia or maybe even collegeagedgirlsophilia, which I think is significantly different from pedophila or hebephlia. Not that I'm in favor of older men picking up much younger women, but I think if we're honest we have to admit there's a difference between lusting after a seven-year-old and lusting after a seventeen-year-old. (Even if I'm prone to arguing that a 2012 17er is probably less prepared for sex and marriage than a 1712 17er.)

Now let's get into my satire argument.

Here's an extended quotation from "Lolita":

Would you be mine? Would you be my baby tonight?
Could be kissing my fruit punch lips in the bright sunshine
'Cause I like you quite a lot, everything you got, don't you know
It's you that I adore, though I make the boys fall, like dominos

Kiss me in the D.A.R.K dark tonight
D.A.R.K., do it my way
Kiss me in the P.A.R.K. park tonight
P.A.R.K., let them all say

Hey, Lolita, hey
Hey, Lolita, hey
I know what the boys want, I'm not going to play
Hey, Lolita, hey
Hey, Lolita, hey
Whistle all you want, but I'm not going to say

No more skipping rope, skipping heart beats
With the boys down town
Just you and me, feeling the heat
Beating when the sun goes down

I could be yours, I could be your baby tonight
Topple you down from your sky, forty stories high
Shining like a god, can't believe I got, you inside
Look at what I've got, might have second thoughts, oh, Romeo

Ah, Romeo. And his almost-fourteen bride. I may be inadvertently invoking Poe's Law here, but I've listened to this album dozens of times. And I'm convinced Lizzy's dopey lolitas are not evidence of misogyny or childhood sexysex or anything other than a sly mocking of these trope's pervasiveness in modern pop music. And if you're waiting for Lizzy to crack a smile first, you're missing the point. As soon as she starts laughing, her effectiveness ends. I'm not about to call her a genius or anything, but if she's doing what I think she's doing, then she's at the very least a bold artist who has found a way around the suits to deliver her political message.

So take issue with the idiotic unliberated women and the blatant lolitas in her story-songs, but at least admit, as you do so, that her intent may well be satirical.


She's dating Axl Rose

Wha---?

No defense for that.

None at all.

Gross.

Can I get sued if I call fiftyyrold Axl a justgotanMAagedwomanaphiliac?

More on Phil

.

After my last jaunt to Mansmansylvania, I hinted that Phil the Barber might be a lapsed Mormon. I take that back now.

I've spoken with some of the people he namedropped and now I have a better theory.

See, fifty, sixty years ago the East Bay was loaded with Mormons. Why, even thirty, forty years ago each grade level at my high school had at least thirty Mormon kids. These days? I doubt there are tha many in the whole school. Maybe not half that many.

Having read the Oakland Stake's history, I know that where now we have one stake we once had at least four. The number grew then shrunk as the number of Mormons grew, then shrunk---a combination of white flight and The Rent Is Too Damn High. (Notes: 1. These things don't usually go together. 2. Not that all Mormons are white. Though they proabaly mostly were, here, at that time.)

Anyway. The point is not that Phil the Barber must have been Mormon but that, at the time, he lived in a Mormon town, had Mormon friends---Mormons Mormons Everywhere.

Which provides a new piece of the puzzle in understanding my new home.

That is all.

Return to Mansmansylvania-or-You never can tell-or-It's a small world after all

.

It's been a long time since the best haircut I've ever had or, in other words, since my last trip to Mansmansylvania, my term of endearment for the shop down the street.

I asked about the Saints scandal (he thinks its ridiculous---they had bounties in his day too---you didn't want to get hit that way, you let the guy know you could tell he was thinking about it and he would back off). I asked about his horses (he hasn't had one for several years). We talked about fishing and genealogy. I learned that the El Cerrito Plaza used to have a dog track and a football field. Good times.

He also happened to ask how Lady Steed and I met. "At college. BYU. In Utah." (I feel less constrained to speak in complete sentences when visiting Mansmansylvania.)

Then I started to learn that Phil the Barber knows all the oldtime Mormons in the area. Ends up we had a Mormon in the area connected to the Thunderbird hotel chain. Maybe that was the same one who was the son of George Dewey Clyde, governor of Utah? Then he knows Larry around the corner and Tom over the other direction. And he always referred to wards and missions and the Church---never that word "Mormon" I just dropped.

Suggestion?

Holy crap. The barber-king of Mansmansylvania might be Mormon.

============

April 16 UPDATE

The LITTLE Book! & friends

.

024) The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, finished April 2


Can you believe I've never read this before? It's always amazed me when I stopped to think about it. It is "the little book," after all.

And I must say that reading it was an utter and absolute joy. Not hard to see how Strunk affected White, one of our great writers.

In a way, I guess I'm glad that I've figured out all this stuff on my own already (exception: I finally understand why some people are so uptight re that-v-which), but frequently, as I read a sentence or paragraph, I would want to be in my classroom, grab my students' heads, and shove them into the book and yell, This! This is what I'm trying to tell you!

I think when I read it again (of course I will), I'll carry with me a highlighter to mark all those bits, then make posters to plaster upon my rooms' walls.

To quote from White's original New Yorker essay that inspired Macmillan to republish Strunk's masterpiece on usage,

I think, though, that if I suddenly found myself in the, to me, unthinkable position of facing a class of English usage and style, I would simply lean far out over the desk, clutch my lapels, blink my eyes, and say, "Get the little book! Get the little book! Get the little book!"

perhaps a month---I don't really know



===========================================================



023) UNTITLED MS by Kyle Jepson, finished March 12, 2012


A great read. Hope to be able announce its publication sometime.

three days



===========================================================



022) The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 4


The utter joy the early books delivered by, say, having Linus appear for the first time
or Snoopy stand up for the first time
or Sally learn how to speak
that joy has passed. The strips have their essential cast and essential rules fully established. Now the joy provided by Complete Peanuts is just that of watching a master of his craft do what he does best. And it is utter joy.

One bit of a note for this set, the intros are excellent. Which has not always been the case (they are clearly the most uneven aspect of the series). But Al Roker (who surprised me) and Lynn Johnston (who did not) both wrote thoughtful, interesting, worth-reading introductions to their respective volumes.

We're more than halfway through the over 17,000 strips now and while we've years to go, I'm reminded of how sad I was to learn he had retired, that he had died, to read his final strip. In the next volume for instance, is Violet's final speaking role. Shermy's already been gone for years. And Frieda.

And someday God too will turn out the lights and walk away.

about a month



===========================================================



021) The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, finished March 3


I know Adam Rex as a creator of comicsy picture books, so when a student told me this was her sister's favorite book and constantly being quoted around their house, I asked the library for it and expected it to be a three minute read. When it turned out to be a 400+page novel, I nearly did not check it out. But I did and I read it and it was a lark.

Here's the idea: a girl is writing an essay for class. The best essay will be entered in a national competition. The topic? The year aliens---first the Boov, then the Nimrog---took over the Earth. She has a remarkably unique view on those events and thus it takes her many many pages to fulfill the assignment. Even so, half the book she keeps hidden away because she doesn't want all the facts out there.

Her mother is abducted twice. The first time leads to her being shunned by her community, the second time happens on Christmas Eve, the day before Smekday. And our hero, Tip, has to try and find her mother.

People who are looking for strong female characters of color in their YA lit, rejoice! Tip is your character!

Adults who like being amused for hundreds of pages and kids who enjoy constant laughter, rejoice!

People who like smart funny new science-fiction ideas, rejoice! (At least, to someone with as much background in the genre as me.)

People who enjoy references to classic literature (example: Huckleberry Finn), rejoice! Especially if you don't like the author drawing attention to said references.

People who enjoy deeply embedded references to historical events, rejoice! Especially if you don't like the author drawing attention to said references.

If you enjoy your science fiction loaded with fun and ironic references to classic science fiction, rejoice!

In other words, this is the thinking person's kiddy SF book.

Here are some scans.

This first one comes after tip befriends a Boov under the name of J.Lo who fixes up her car:

Next, the first comics page from the book. J.Lo draws the comics (Earth languages are too difficult for him to write) and Tip adds the captions.

After their trip to Florida proves to be a bust (the Boov have moved all the American humans, including Tip's mom, to Arizona), they buy a map. Here's the page showing the map:

One of Tip's smart observations is that, should the alien invasions end, the rest of the country will return home yet Arizona will now be part of each American. While Arizona will be sullied for the native Arizonans. It's a smart observation and presented through Tip's mature-but-child perspective and typical of what I like about the thematic presentations in the book.

If you look close at that last scan, you'll see this:

This, of course, I am emphasizing not because it is vital to understanding Smekday but because I am contractually obligated to emphasize any and all Mormon content. So here's the first part of the next page as well:

Tada!

Anyway, fun book. One of those books that, having read, I can image the young Theric checking out again and reading again and again and again.

Some mild language (which Tip usually apologizes for or censors) and some violence (the most horrifying moment of which is later dehorrified).

less than a week






Previously in 2012 . . . . :

Read the reviews of 14-20.
020) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
019) Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson, finished February 26
018) Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC by [everybody], finished February 25
017) Billy Hazelnuts and Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
016) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
015) Habibi by Craig Thompson, finished February 20
014) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, finished February 15

Read the reviews of 12-13.
013) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, finished February 12
012) Black Hole by Charles Burns, finished February 11

Read the reviews of 6-11.
011) The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 4
010) Blankets by Craig Thompson, finished February 4
009) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, finished February 2
008) The Millstone Necklace (forthcoming) by S.P. Bailey, finished January 31
007) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished January 27
006) Across a Harvested Field by Robert Goble, finished January 23

Read the reviews of 1-5.
005) Hark! a Vagrant! by Kate Beaton, finished January 21
004) The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark, finished January 12
003) Bucketfoot Al: The Baseball Life of Al Simmons by Clifton Blue Parker, finished January 9
002) Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly, finished January 9
001) What of the Night? by Stephen Carter, finished January 5

Thoughts on the Thin Man remake

.

I've been expecting a Thin Man remake for about ten years now. I've been expecting it with both joy and dread. Dread because most remakes insult lovers of the original. And joy because the Ocean's 11 remake remains one of the coolest movies I've ever seen.

Like any good fan faced with this inevitability, I've cast the leads in my mind. Once I hit upon my Nick, I knew I had nailed it. Nick must be Hugh Laurie.

His work on House has proved he can do American as well as any American. The man can wear a suit and still be believable as a friend of the lowlifes. Plus, he's effortlessly hilarious. Plus, he can play piano. Love Johnny Depp as I do (currently cast as Nick), he just can't do Nick as well as Hugh Laurie can do Nick. Of this I am certain.

Recasting Myrna Loy is more difficult. In part because I'm kinda in love with her, and partly because---

No, it's just because Myrna Loy is probably the best actress like ever and I totally am in love with her. She's unreplacable!

Who I keep arriving at is Cate Blanchett.

She could do it. The best evidence might be her turn in The Aviator, but I'm almost leery to link to it if you don't know her already as you could get the wrong impression.

But I've never been 100% sold on Cate which is why this blog post that's been percolating since c. 2005 has never been written until now.

This list, which is what introduced me to the Thin Man remake, has some actresses I like, but most of them are too young, imho. Especially if you're matching them with Hugh Laurie (or Johnny Depp, for that matter). The exception, and it's a striking one, is Kristin Wiig. She's a newly minted movie star, and her work in Bridesmaids makes me think she could do this. But if she goes into one of her two or three funny voices, I'm not sure I would like that.

I don't mean to come off as a stick in the mud, but I don't want this played to broad. In my opinion, the beauty of Nick and Nora is their understatement. Something Hugh Laurie is great at. And something Kristin Wiig can be great at. But it's not what Kristin Wiig fans would be coming to see.

So I'm still not sure about Myrna's replacement.

In the end, I don't mind the movies being remade. They're old, and the best way to get people to watch them in 2012 is with a successful remake. And solid married couples are too rare in the American cinema. Never do you doubt that Nick and Nora will be together forever and that allows them to rely on each other and create that certain magic that only confidently married people can pull off. So let's go on with the remake.

But if Johnny Depp drops out, oh passingby casting director, get on your phone and start selling the studio a helping of Hugh.

Thanks.

In lieu of Svithetacular, a list of talks to reread

.

read/listen/watch

(saturday morning)

Elder Oaks

Why?

With the kids yelling, he seemed to be saying things he could not possibly have been seeing.

Elder Eyring

Why?

Because I need to savor the first General Conference talk to ever feature giant robots.

(saturday afternoon)

Elder Holland

Why?

Remix of one of my favorite talks ever, using a new parable

Elder Cook

Why?

His listing cities to be destroyed prior to second coming. (He gave his native San Francisco better odds of surviving than Salt Lake.)

Elder Scott

Why?

I . . . don't remember . . . .

(priesthood)

---nothing happened here, ladies---


(sunday morning)

President Uchtdorf

Why?

Don't judge me because I sin differently than you.

Elder Christofferson

Why?

Using counsels and good sense to suss out wisdom from dumb thingies. "The Church will know from the Holy Ghost manifest in the body of the members . . . ." (molaq)

(sunday afternoon)

Elder Wilson

Why?

The helpful guide re unrighteous dominion.

Elder Evans

Why?

Fresh new take on Choose Ye This Day.

Elder Anderson

Why?

Because I totally wasn't paying attention. Though that story kicked me in the teeth.

previous svithe, the presvithetacular


Real Svithetaculars
176.0 * 176.5 * 177.0 * 177.5 * 178.0 * 178.5 * 179.0 * 179.5 * 180.0 * 180.5 * "181.0" * 181.5