Vol. 41 No. 3 – Winter 2022
This issue asks us to re-examine phrases we’ve heard so many times that we may have forgotten what they can actually mean.
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This issue asks us to re-examine phrases we’ve heard so many times that we may have forgotten what they can actually mean.
I remember in the early days of the pandemic feeling almost a wonder or reverence for the situation we had all just been thrust into.
It was he who surprised her…not to confess but to propose: he’d be taking a second wife.
I know without a shadow of a doubt. The certainty – an unassailable wall for my fifteen-year-old mind. The cold stone barring the warmth of — Belonging. Doubts swoop at my head, yellow talons extended, slash at my unprotected heels. Hope might be chink-hold for my tennis-shoed foot but even a crack would have shadows. I beat my fists against the wall with no toe holds.Lorraine Jeffery is a retired public library manager living in Utah while traveling and writing. (Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash)
“I’m more of a ‘flirt to convert’ missionary,” said a fellow Young Woman, laughing.It was a Sunday back in the 1980s. We were learning about missions from our female leaders who had never served missions and seemed to be teaching this specific topic only by handbook assignment. Soon the Sunday lesson moved to an informal discussion on the virtues of “flirt to convert” as a type of missionary work. The leaders all seemed to know “someone” who convinced a young man to join the church, serve a mission, and then marry in the temple. “It’s not uncommon!” they promised.That all […]
Life is too short, but you didn’t really know it at thirteen — that first time you dyed your hair at a sleepover. From a dull brown to a vibrant red. I sank into a corner in our bedroom as Dad’s face went from ruddy to purple, as he wagged a disapproving finger because you’d done something without permission. It seemed so stupid and yet so brave to me, the little sister who couldn’t imagine defying Dad. You’re always making the hard choices first, it seems. Thanks for paving the way.It was only a few years later I felt jealous […]
Home drums beat first: Before taking on someone’s else’s problems, you should first look after your own affairs.*Surrounded by seas of whiteness, I craved my accent.A few years ago, filled with excitement and hesitant optimism, I visited friends in Idaho and Utah for eight weeks. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I believed that the shared religious identity would connect me to those whose skin differed from my own instead of proving how different I was.I didn’t feel discomfort in Idaho, easily slipping into my hanai (adopted) family. I got used to Costco runs […]
Faith isn’t like a seed It’s a garden grown within. Winter flowers bloom in chill As daisies burst in spring Leaves once bright in autumn Rot away in mud and rain Pleasant plants erupt from hidden places Only later to wither away Then in times of trauma In grief and devastation Fire tears apart my garden heart In raging flames of desecration. Alone in the ash, I feel I might break. Can’t truth survive the flame? Was this small garden just a fake? As the smoke clears My heart settles and cries Rain soothes the ashened ground Will my garden […]
Last week I took my baby, now eighteen years old and almost a foot taller than me, to the airport so he could leave me to serve two years in a faraway country. I hugged him for longer than his dignity could stand, then watched him swallow hard and turn away to go through security. And just like that, my time as a mother with children in my home was over. In the car on the way home from the airport, I was not fully present. Part of me was waiting at the gate, walking onto a plane and finding a seat, […]
We pulled into a premium parking spot right in front of the entrance to San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. I laughed. My husband turned to me, eyebrows raised, expectant.“We aren’t supposed to be able to park here,” I said, “we’re supposed to have to circle around the block several times, stressed and frantic, yelling at the kids to be quiet as we parallel park in a space too small for our minivan.”I laughed again, awed by the ridiculous luck of not only one, but two empty spots right in front with meters that accept credit card payments. We got out of […]
Exponent II provides feminist forums for women and gender minorities across the Mormon spectrum to share their diverse life experiences in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. through these exchanges, we strive to create a community to better understand and support each other.