Mormon Bloggers

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced its intention to distribute a new Relief Society manual. Entitled “Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society”, the 208-page book is organized by themes such as family, sisterhood and charity. Each chapter includes stories of Latter-day Saint women throughout history and around the world today. It is intended to be an additional resource for personal study, teaching at home, and in Relief Society and other church settings. The manual won’t be posted online until paper copies are distributed worldwide. Sister Julie B. Beck, President of the Relief Society, discusses the manual in the video embedded below. She notes that the history portion is intended to address some of the insecurities and myths many LDS women have felt about themselves and their religion. Those insecurities are frequently expressed and discussed on the two leading feminist-oriented Mormon blogs, Exponent and Feminist Mormon... Read the rest of this entry »

A National study was released in Canada about 15 year-olds and their academic achievement.  It used results from the national tests in math, reading, and science.  The results of 2009 were paired up against results from the previous national test in that subject.  The finding is that on a national average, and in each province, there was a decrease in the average scores in math, science, and reading.  With the biggest struggles coming in math and reading, and a little in science. What was interesting, was looking a school preparedness, children seemed adequately prepared for grade-school in the early years, but left lacking as they got older.  So here are a few recommendations to keep your kids up to pace with receiving good grades at school, and fair better in math, reading, and science. First, keep reading to, or with your children.  Read books at their age appropriate level, but also challenge them in their reading. Read aloud together.  Read... Read the rest of this entry »

~by Michelle There’s nothing quite like the annual BYU Women’s Conference. To gather with thousands of women who are eager to learn, serve, and build their faith is a wonderful experience. BYU Women’s Conference is co-sponsored by the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is held every spring. This year’s conference will be held today and tomorrow on the Brigham Young University campus. Preparations for BYU Women’s Conference begin months in advance, including choosing a theme, selecting speakers, preparing for the large-scale service projects. (See a list of this year’s service project and opportunities.) I love this year’s theme: “By Small and Simple Things Are Great Things Brought to Pass” Alma 37:6–7. (Be sure to read Sandra Rogers’ message on the Women’s Conference home page.) We invite anyone who is attending to share thoughts and experiences, or to include links to your own blogs, in the... Read the rest of this entry »

Cafe patron Stephen Schmalhofer sent this e-mail to me today.  I post it here in full, with Steve’s generous permission. I hated freshman economics at Yale.  It was the only C I ever received. Taught in a massive lecture hall, the professor posted endless equations and formulas.  It wasn’t real.   My father was the CEO of a poultry company in rural Pennsylvania.  I wandered the plant as a child and saw chickens raised in Pennsylvania, fed soybeans from Brazil, transported by trucks assembled in Detroit and Kentucky, processed by special machinery built in the Netherlands and operated by workers from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and finally shipped around the world.  (Even the feet were sold to China)  This is economics and it isn’t boring!  It’s gorgeous, like the spontaneously coordinating steps of a couple on the dance floor, a flock of birds or a school of fish.  It’s the delightfully humanizing marketplace- that virtual site of exchange where a man from Chile trades... Read the rest of this entry »

The original title for this post was “How I Made Six Figures”. At some point after starting this post, I realized that to more fully convey deep, heart-felt understanding regarding the blessings of prosperity, that would require me sharing more than I’ve ever been comfortable sharing.  But it lays the premise for teaching something I want to pass on.  Especially in these times of economic hardship.  The financial blessings of heaven are real.  They are attainable.  I would like to see you have them too.  I hesitate to tell my story so fully, especially this story, because it is so extreme that few people can buy it.  When I tried to tell this story to those who “should” know at the time it happened, I got the “Job” response.  YOU must have done something to him, or you are hiding something,  or you’re exaggerating, or he had a reason to act that way…  As a consequence, very few people... Read the rest of this entry »

Jessica Purcell, a math professor at Brigham Young University, was recently honored as one of 20 mathematicians to receive the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship. Jessica is a champion of women in math and the sciences. You can read more about Jessica and her recent award in the following article: Math professor Jessica Purcell wins prestigious science fellowship  Read More →

For the past several months I have been really trying to figure out what exactly my calling in life is. What is my unique path? I have read a few books and tons of blogs on the topic. The trick is to really decide on something and discover how that journey could become a reality. Tonight I believe I had a breakthrough on how to pursue my passion and fulfill my life calling. My Passion and My Gift First, let me tell you what my interests are. I am interested in learning. It is ironic in a way because I really loathed school. That is another story for another day. I love learning random interesting things. That is why I love the internet so dang much!!! I have seemingly limitless information at my fingertips. I also love sharing what I know with others. To me, knowledge is power. Knowledge is priceless. You can’t really lose it and no one can take it from you. I believe you carry what you know beyond this life and through eternity. The purpose of this life is to learn... Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been thinking a lot about Janelle’s response to the question about if all Mormon moms stay home after having children. She brought up a lot of important points, including some of the teachings about womanhood and motherhood that have a great influence on Mormon women as they make decisions about how to balance their family roles and their professional goals. I wanted to piggyback off of that post and talk a little more about some of the principles she discussed but didn’t have the space to expand upon. Today, I’ll talk about education and self-reliance, and in the future, I want to talk more about the principle of agency that Janelle mentioned. (As is always the case, we share our perspectives and understanding here, but do not speak for the Church officially. We do try to point you to official teachings so you can read and consider more on your own about what Mormons believes.) For today, I will focus on the statement Janelle made, which is that Our Mormon... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: Two weeks ago, I read an article in LDS Living about Lindsay and Lexie Kite and their research focused on helping people be more media literate. They want to raise awareness of the way profit-driven media can influence and distort our perception of beauty and worth. We are excited that these determined, passionate Mormon women agreed to talk with us about what they are doing. ~Michelle MW: First, could you tell us a little about yourselves and your research? We are Lindsay and Lexie Kite, 25-year-old identical twins and second-year Ph.D. students studying media and body image at the University of Utah. Our project, “Beauty Redefined,” aims to help all people recognize and reject harmful media messages about women’s bodies, and redefine beauty for themselves. With body hatred at an all-time high and an appearance-obsessed society reinforcing dangerous ideas about women’s worth, we believe this work is crucial. After having a very twin-like experience... Read the rest of this entry »

Anne Osborn Poelman is a Mormon woman and a world-renowned neuroradiologist. She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while in medical school at Stanford University. She was impressed by the demeanor of one of her professors, and was very surprised when she found out he was Mormon. But she didn’t think much more of it until two years later, when she met another man with a similar demeanor. She must have somehow known that he was LDS, because she approached him and asked if he would tell her a little about the Church. She shares this about his response: Well, unlike every other Mormon that I’ve ever known since then, he didn’t immediately launch into a discussion of that. He kind of took a step back, and he looked at me, and he said, “Well, why do you want to know?” And I said: “You know, that’s a really good question. I’m not really sure. I only know one other Mormon, and there’s something very different about the way... Read the rest of this entry »

Many parents find themselves being asked to attend an IEP meeting about their child and having no idea what to expect. First of all, what is an IEP meeting? IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan. The purpose of an IEP meeting is for the parents and the school to collectively come up with appropriate goals for the child to complete within the next year. The idea behind these goals is to help foster the best learning possible… for a child that may need extra help (for example, a child who has a learning disability would have an IEP meeting to set appropriate goals to give the child the best environment to succeed). While IEP meetings are designed to be useful and beneficial for all involved, it usually leaves parents very confused and full of questions. Most of the time, as a parent we don’t know what to expect going into an IEP meeting. Here are some suggestions to help prepare to attend your child’s IEP meeting. Know who will be in attendance: It helps to know... Read the rest of this entry »

Today is definitely a very productive and busy day. Cleaning up after Megan is always a constant chore. My wife uses the analogy of trying to shovel away snow in a blizzard – you are not going to get very far. While there is still much to do around the house, the fact of the [...]  Read More →