Ex-Mormon Carnival of the Veil October 21 2007

Hello and welcome to this issue of Carnival of the Veil. At present we are having unusually warm sunny days. This is not uncommon in October in Britain. But the cloudless days give way to cloudless nights and the damp cold does then start to bite. And we are getting ground frosts. Time to get the vulnerable plants under cover or in doors. We are sharing our kitchen with two potted trees at the moment. Eventually when we build a conservatory, they will live in there.

First off this time is a post from South Bay Soliloquise

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/knotts-scary-farm-2007.html

“I went to Knott's Scary Farm last night.I had, for want of a better, more intense, more descriptive phrase, a blast. Everyone in our party of six got spooked at least twice.Some friends from my happy hour group got together and we carpooled down to Buena Park. For dinner we went to the pre-scare dinner special buffet - Mrs. Knott's fried chicken, mashed potatoes, assorted salads, dinner rolls (with boysenberry jam!) and pie. I, of course, had to have a slice of the boysenberry pie. The fried chicken was most delicious.”

Sounds like a great time was had by all!

Next up is Equality’s Blog.

http://equalitysblog.typepad.com/equality_time/2007/10/recommended-sit.html

“With all the great resources out there for people who are engaged in religious studies generally and Mormon studies in particular, I thought I would start a new recurring feature here at Equality Time to help people find the best blogs and web sites out there on the "Internets" that deal with these subjects. For the inaugural post in what I intend to be a regular series, I feature a newly created blog by a talented artist (who, it seems, at this point wants to remain anonymous). The blog is called Images of the Restoration. The author/artist of this blog has created a number of compelling depictions of events from Mormon history--events that Mormon apologists, studious members of the LDS Church who venture outside the correlated materials, and critics of the LDS Church alike are aware of but which are seldom if ever mentioned or depicted in official LDS Church lesson materials.”

Cool! Looks like this could be a really great idea for a continuing series on the blog.

Sister Mary Lisa (blogger and artist) is here with

http://sistermarylisa.blogspot.com/2007/10/leavin-on-jet-plane-part-three.html

“Jet lag was a term I had heard of but had never experienced until I arrived at that scouting lodge in Austria. We were shown into big rooms full of single twin beds and bunkbeds, where we all fell into an exhausted sleep almost immediately.

I discovered cultural differences the next morning while getting ready that until then I had been ignorant of. Standing at the sink next to a girl from France, I reached for the cold faucet and turned it on at the exact same time she turned on the hot. We had each also simultaneously lowered our toothbrushes under the water to get the toothpaste wet before brushing. We looked at each other in surprise, and she spoke first. “You use cold water when you brush your teeth?!” I replied, “You use hot?!” Interesting. I let her go first. She shook her head and laughed about using cold water with another French girl.”

(HOT water? Gosh! Do these French people have no shame? No sense of conservation?!)
By the way, I might have mentioned this before, but Sister Mary Lisa has the coolest photograph I have ever seen on any blog. Ever. Just check it out to see what I mean.


And from Fiddley Gomme we have a General Conference blog post
http://fiddley.com/archive/200710/conference_weekend “Around our house, LDS General Conference has become and excuse for Donna to hole up in her craft room and scrapbook with a friend. For them, the weekend is meant to be free of spouses and children. An orgy of die-cuts and heart-shaped punches, not to be interrupted by the trivial goings-on of the rest of us.” Crafting is a damn serious business! And finally, here is my blog for this edition of Carnival of the Veil http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/10/matt-really-must-get-his-act-together.html “I really must get my act together and finish of my book. I am writing my very own “book of the bog” a book based on the best of my posts here at Notamormon.
Why? Well I have always wanted to write a book and as I already have the material that I have published on the blog it would seem to be silly to ignore that wealth of material.”

Matt REALLY must get his act together!

I really must get my act together and finish of my book. I am writing my very own “book of the bog” a book based on the best of my posts here at Notamormon.

Why? Well I have always wanted to write a book and as I already have the material that I have published on the blog it would seem to be silly to ignore that wealth of material.

It will tell some of the highs and the lows of being a former Mormon. And God knows, there are enough highs and lows.

Being an ex-Mormon is hard enough if none of your family members joined the Mormon Church. But if your entire immediate family joined or you family has been under the cosh of the Mormon cult for many years, then it must be infinitely worse.

Does anyone know of a publisher who might want to take a look at my ex-Mormon book? If you do, then please email me their contact details at matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk

By the way, do you know anyone who writes an ex-Mormon or post-Mormon blog and who is not yet a member of the Carnival of the Veil? If so, please do invite them to join us here at the Carnival of the Veil. All they need do is to email me at matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk and I will add them to the Carnival of the Veil mailing list.

Carnival of the Veil 7 October 2007

Welcome to this edition of Carnival of the Veil, for 7 October, 2007.

First we kick of with something from South Bay Soliloquies.

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/im-leaf-on-wind-watch-me-soar.html

“I don't know what happened the past couple of days that turned my mood around.

Okay, I have an idea, but I never knew that it would bring me into the happiest state I've ever known myself to be in. I wish I could share the gritty details but it's a little too personal to share with the world. Some secrets are best left secrets.”

And another one

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/tied-to-ideals.html

“It never ceases to amaze me how much we value ideas, especially those ideas pertaining to hope, freedom, and happiness. Those ideas enrich our souls and give meaning to life.

I think this is why I enjoy reading dystopian fiction so much - in forcing a society to live up to an ideal, the society ends up robbing the people belonging to it the very things most societies (and people) should value most.”

And here is Emerging From the Ashes. (Being from Britain, I always expect this to be about Cricket. But of course, it never is! -The Ashes is a major Cricket Tournament between The MCC (The English/Welsh cricket team and the Australians)

http://emergingfromtheashes.blogspot.com/2007/09/remembering.html

“Do all churches do this? Do all churches eulogize and remember a person as if he had been a perfect, faithful, believing member? Even when he hadn't been to church since he was old enough to tell his parents, "I ain't goin' "? Do they all pick songs to sing at the funeral that the deceased probably didn't recognize, let alone like?

"Rebellion" and swearing and alcoholism and bar fights and no-mission and no-temple are all rendered "free spirit" and "did things his own way," with a sideways smile. They are, I suppose, trying their best to be nice and polite and remember the best of him. Which is fine. Who doesn't want to be remembered well? For people to forget the foibles and faults. But foibles and faults according to whom? The deceased? Sure, I'd bet he'd admit he did some stupid things in his life, that there were some things that he'd not repeat if he had the chance.

A special post, next. A guest appearance from Fiddley Gomme’s wife! Who is marking a very important anniversary!

http://fiddley.com/archive/200709/its_all_about_me

“Since tomorrow is the fifteenth anniversary of our first date, and of my nineteenth birthday (don't spend too much time doing the math) I thought it was time I formally introduce myself.

My name is Donna and I am married to Pete. We have been married most of those fifteen years and have 4 beautiful girls. And I'm not just saying that because they are mine, everyone says so. Even the ones that don't look like me.”

And here is my effort for this time

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/10/general-conference-it-used-to-be.html

"General Conference. My God. That used to be so important to us, as a Mormon family, living in Britain.

We used to have to go by coach to the Stake Centre 30 to 40 miles away and join with everyone from the stake listening to the conference brought by transatlantic cable."

And that is it until next time in two weeks. Please do send your entry in to matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk in time for Sunday 21 October. See you then!

PS. If you know anyone who has an exmo blog but who doesn't subscribe to COV, please forward an invite for them to get on board!

General Conference. It USED to be important to me...

General Conference. My God. That used to be so important to us, as a Mormon family, living in Britain.

We used to have to go by coach to the Stake Centre 30 to 40 miles away and join with everyone from the stake listening to the conference brought by transatlantic cable.

Every so often during the broadcast we would hear the following exchange, always in a flat South East England accent: “Hello New York, Hello New York. This is London calling for a line check.” For some reason we never heard the reply from New York.

One year –does anyone else remember this? - we accidentally got the Spanish language version of the conference for about 30 minutes until someone (maybe Mr “Hello, New York” or the person he spoke to in New York) realised there was a problem and sorted it out.

One year, at the insistence of the rat faced Sister missionary, whose husband was the branch president, the coach went early so we missed the trip to the conference.

We walked back home and I spent an hour or so combing the short wave bands until I found a radio station that was carrying the live feed from Salt Lake City. WNWY, Radio New York, World Wide, it was, a station then owned by The Mormon Church.

“It was SUCH a pity that you missed the conference!” wittered sister Busybody, the branch busybody.”

“Oh, but we didn’t! Said my mother. “Matt was able to find it on the radio for us, so we heard it all live!” That shut her up. “Nice one, mum,” I thought.

But now, as an exmo, I can’t see why many of my fellow exmos are so interested in the conference. After all, it is the same crap year after year. “Tithe, tithe, tithe! Temple, temple, temple! Missionary work, missionary work, missionary work!”

All set to the backdrop of lies, distortions and half-truths from the paid clergy of the Mormon Church. (See, the point is that when the Mormon Church tells you it doesn’t have a paid clergy, they are lying. They DO have a paid clergy, although not as many as some churches do.