“Make Strawberry Wine” (Woman’s Exponent, “Household Hint,” May 1, 1873)
Author: Kylie Turley
Kylie teaches honors writing at BYU (so watch those errant commas and inscrutable relative pronouns in your comments!) and is also on the staff of the LDS literary journal Segullah. Kylie is a native of the great state of Wyoming and researches Mormon women’s history.
Congratulations
I’ll be attending a wedding later today. The couple will be married in the church, and a new baby will be joining them somewhat sooner than later. For a faithful LDS family, this is difficult.
A Tender Mercy
My 13-year-old daughter came down with Bell’s Palsy last weekend. I was reeling a bit from the diagnosis
When Woman Means Man
When I was growing up, “woman” meant “woman” and “man” meant “human.” Or “man.” Depending on the context.
Relief Society Moment
I ran across this Relief Society moment in the March 15, 1873 Woman’s Exponent. Maybe it will make you smile, too:
Faith and Healing
“And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed. He who hath faith to see shall see. He who hath faith to hear shall hear. The lame who hath faith to leap shall leap.” (D&C 42:48-51)
Intentions
5-year-old son: Mom, he hit me with his backpack! Me: Did you hit your brother? 11-year-old son: No. 5-year-old: Yes, he did! He did!
Intellectual Conversion
Seven Storey Mountain is Thomas Merton’s autobiographical account of his increasing restlessness with a worldly life. He converts to Catholicism and eventually enters one of the most strict (the strictest?) Catholic orders: a Trappist monastery. What has fascinated me
Millennial Vegetarianism
Enjoy that Thanksgiving turkey . . . while you can. You may be a vegetarian during the millennium.
Just Say No (to members)
A few months ago, a sister in our ward asked my daughter to babysit. On a Monday evening. That’s right. Monday Evening. We try to be diligent with family home evening on Monday night, so the answer needed to be “no,†but I was a bit confused about how to convey that message.
Vote Early, Vote Often
Just kidding about the “often†part. Are you an early voter or a procrastinator? Here’s why I voted early:
Polygamy Poetry
Polygamy was a topic for persuasive prose, not poetry in nineteenth century Utah.
Compassion and Creativity
Most everyone I’ve talked to loved President Uchtdorf’s talk at the General Relief Society Broadcast. But I have a question (and yes, men, this is for you, too—since I assume that as a son of God, you also get joy in following the Father’s example of creation and compassion):
My inner historian smiles
The little historian in me cheers for small things, such as correct phrasing. At the General Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday, September 27, Sister Barbara Thompson
Morality, Legality and Alcohol
The church issued a statement about alcohol laws in Utah. The last paragraph reads: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that Utahns, including those who work in the hospitality industry, can come together as citizens, regardless of religion or politics, to support laws and regulations that allow individual freedom of choice while preserving Utah’s proven positive health and safety record on limiting the tragic consequences of overconsumption of alcohol.â€
Are we not funny?
I freely admit that I’m not the funniest person in the world, but I do think I have a sense of humor. I like a good laugh as much as anyone. Or perhaps I should say, “I like a good laugh as much as anyone who is LDS.â€
Kindness and Technology
“I seriously doubt whether there will be anyone in the celestial kingdom who is not kind.†“An important measure of our efforts for the celestial kingdom is how we treat others.†(Elder Jensen, Regional Conference meeting, September 7, 2008).
Special Feelings (more on Mormon Language)
This morning I heard a member of Utah’s delegation to the Republican National Convention tell a radio talk show host that “there is a really special feeling among the Republican delegation.†Could you run that by me again?
Garden Fights
Between loving fresh vegetables and an assumption about gardens being “doctrine,†I find myself planting every spring and harvesting what the bugs didn’t nibble in the summer and fall. Except for a few condo-living years when dirt was a scarce commodity, I have planted religiously. But
What We Didn’t Discuss
The gospel doctrine lesson on Alma 43-52 proposed four principles of war as waged by the righteous:
Reverence Practice
The bishop is worried about ward reverence. He should be, truth be told.
Eve
(I hope you haven’t discussed this before, at least not in this way.) At the height of national debate over the Equal Rights Amendment, Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained that all LDS women should look to Eve: “Eve, the mother of all living, is truly the perfect pattern for all her daughters. Oh that all women would follow the path laid down by the first woman of all women and do the things that she did that all might be saved!†I have done some preliminary research and realized members of the church interpret the Eve story diversely—
Wish I’d Been There
Need a smile? Then you might wish you’d gone to sacrament meeting on March 15, 1857 in the Salt Lake Thirteenth Ward:
MMM for Youth?
I don’t want to debate the ins and outs of the tragedy at Mountain Meadows. It was horrific no matter how you cut it. My more immediate problem is personal
Yesharah
Did you know that BYU had a combined-gender missionary club in the early 1920’s named the Y.D.D.? It took me a month to discover the secret of the initials: “Young Doctors of Divinity.â€
Vampires
You are probably too erudite to discuss this, but I’m bringing it up anyway: vampire books. You know what I’m talking about.
Socialism and United Order
I stumbled across a few LDS socialist stories when I was writing my MA thesis.
Political Remembering
Fascinating Utah history factoid:
Death and Doctrine, II
Can you help me a bit more with this topic? . . . Since LDS funeral sermons were given exclusively by men before 1900, they make an interesting comparison with LDS women’s death poetry of the same time period.
Death and Doctrine
I have an uneasy relationship with death.