Sunday in Outer Blogness: Fourth Of July Edition

postmormongirl here, filling in for chanson as she prepares to go to the Sunstone convention. It was a good week in Outer Blogness with a lot of very spirited and varied conversations.

There was quite a lot going on today in Outer Blogness this week, some of which hit the mainstream. One of the big stories was a NY-Times article The Mormon Lens On American History. In light of all the apologetic dustup, I am really glad to see that outsiders are starting to take interest in the subject of Mormon history. Salon also ran a very honest piece on Mormon Magic Underwear, which I feel most people here would relate to.

In a similar vein, there was musing on the differences between the Mormon Churchs rhetoric towards the Constitution and their actions, along with an American’s personal wishes for her country. Along with musings on personal authenticity versus the demands of your religion.

Moving on to the subject of related subject of the Fourth of July, there were some stories of how people celebrated (and didn’t celebrate).

There were a lot of stories this week about patriarchy and negotiating your identity as a person. There were musings about being scornful, learning not to fear sex, pride in growing older, realizing that your Mormon up-bringing will always be there, grappling with your identity as a Utahn, as well as re-defining your life after a near-death experience. And the idea that sometimes you just need to admit that you can’t do everything.

In terms of patriarchy, there was a very disturbing discussion on dressing immodestly which made its rounds on the web, which The Mormon Child Bride addressed in a very honest and moving fashion. There was also a very thoughtful commentary on what the role of men should be in breaking the patriarchal grip within the Mormon Church. On a more depressing note, there was an example of Relief Society women being asked to assume responsibilities for their husband’s actions. And there was also a hilarious example of husband/wife miscommunications.

On a very sweet note, Dad’s Primal Scream wrote a very lovely and movingnote to his son for Pioneer Trek. And Donna Banta wrote a fabulous review of Runtu’s book “Heaven Up Here”, which is worth reading even if you have already read the book. And in terms of Donna’s book “The Girls From Fourth Ward”, some of the scenes in the books sparked personal memories for this post-mormon girl.

It was a great week for Outer Blogness – I had a lot of fun poking my head around the online world of former and atypical Mormons. And kudos to everyone for all of your wonderful posts – I am so very glad for the work everyone does in highlighting the issues and quirks of Mormonism!