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Thoughts by Sister Mary Lisa (10 unread)

Make a note...

Posted: December 17th, 2008, 6:10am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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The pretty striped red tin of Costco's Kirkland brand European Cookies with Belgian Chocolate is NOT a cool gift to give. For my workplace, it's like the holiday fruitcake. We have vendors and business associates gifting our firm stuff like crazy, and we just received our third red tin.

Is it just me or is a Costco brand bulk item a cheesy gift to give? We paid over $170,000 this year alone to one of the vendors who gifted us this, and in thanks we get a $12 tin of stale cookies.

Huh.

I just don't get it.
Hmmm...

Posted: December 8th, 2008, 6:31am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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Am I the only one who finds it funny that my Hammermill paper ream comes packaged in plastic?
Howdy!

Posted: December 3rd, 2008, 3:44am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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A shout out to rrdogma over at iH8Mud.com. SHE apparently googled the word "weenis" and got my blog, then linked it, causing me to get massive hits to my blog today.

Apparently my avatar is popular outside ex-Mormon circles as well. As Sideon so aptly put it, "boobs are universal." Quite so.

(Edited to properly acknowledge that rrdogma is a woman. Which totally proves that boobs are universal.)
Thankful

Posted: November 26th, 2008, 6:08am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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What kind of SML would I be if I didn't write some of the things I'm currently thankful for?

~my kids
~paid days off
~high speed internet
~no snow
~good friends
~nay, GREAT friends
~closure
~chocolate covered cherries
~travel adventures
~good times
~good health
~happiness
~family
~airplanes
~gas prices going down
~my sweet dog
~blog readers who haven't disowned me yet
~trees
~800 thread count sheets
~budgets that are black and not red
~new contacts
~hugs and kisses
~kisses and hugs
~fresh air
~space to be me
~the fact I don't have to cook this Thanksgiving

Did I mention happiness?

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends. What are you thankful for?
Roots of Mormon Bigotry

Posted: November 18th, 2008, 4:07am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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My last post about Proposition 8 in California got this anonymous comment:

I know this is a painful issue for you, and I know you aren't addressing a Mormon audience here, so I don't mean to be disrespectful. But really, I grew up with a lot of family home evening in a very conservative Mormon family and was never taught that those things at home or in church. Maybe I was just lucky or maybe you are vilifying just a little.

I don't think I'm vilifying, and below are some of the teachings of prophets and apostles of the LDS church and scriptures which can be found in teaching tools available to all faithful parents who are able to teach these things to their children if they desire. I have no doubt that there were LDS parents who did have their children listen to General Conference talks back then, and who taught their children what the prophets were saying about the cursed blacks. I'm sure there were teachers in classes in church who did the same. Why would they not follow the prophets and believe them?

So if we have evidence of blatant bigotry from our beloved past prophets and apostles, and we dismiss their words now because back then they were "speaking as men, not as prophets" ~ then who's to say that our prophet RIGHT NOW isn't doing the same when he pushed members to lend their money and time in support of Proposition 8 which took away the right of gays to marry in California? Is this not also evidence of bigotry?

ROOTS OF MORMON BIGOTRY (as copied from Emily Pearson's blog)~ thanks, Em!

Friday, November 14, 2008
Roots Of Mormon Bigotry
Elder Mark E. Peterson
Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level,
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 27, 1954.

"God has commanded Israel not to intermarry. To go against this commandment of God would be in sin. Those who willfully sin with their eyes open to this wrong will not be surprised to find that they will be separated from the presence of God in the world to come. This is spiritual death. The reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a Negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. ["No person having the least particle of Negro blood can hold the Priesthood" Brigham Young.] It does not matter if they are one-sixth Negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the Priesthood marries a Negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the Priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a Negro is to forfeit a 'Nation of Priesthood holders'...."

"I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people... it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race... Now let's talk about segregation again for a few moments. Was segregation a wrong principle? When the Lord chose the nations to which the spirits were to come, determining that some would be Japanese and some would be Chinese and some Negroes and some Americans, He engaged in an act of segregation. Who placed the Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God?... Now we are generous with the Negro. We are willing that the Negro have the highest education. I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves."

Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Mormon Doctrine

(Pg. 102) "Though he was a rebel and an associate of Lucifer in the pre-existence, and though he was a liar from the beginning whose name was Perdition, Cain was cursed with a dark skin; he became the father of the Negroes, and those spirits who are not worthy to receive the priesthood are born though his lineage. He became the first mortal to be cursed as a son of perdition."

(Pg. 343) "Through Ham (a name meaning black) the blood of the Canaanites was preserved through the flood, he having married Egyptus, a descendant of Cain. Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. The gospel message of salvation is not carried affirmatively to them. Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned...

2 NEPHI 5:21-24

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.

And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.

And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.

And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.

President Spencer W. Kimball
General Conference Report, October, 1960.
Improvement Era, December 1960, pp. 922-923.

"I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today.... The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation. At one meeting a father and mother and their daughter were present, the little member girl - sixteen - sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents - on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather.... These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated."

President Joseph Fielding Smith

( Doctrines of Salvation, pp. 65-66) "There were no neutrals in the war in heaven. All took sides either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his agency there, and men receive rewards here based upon their actions there, just as they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done in the body. The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits.

( Juvenile Instructor, vol. 26, p. 635) "It is very clear that the mark which was set upon the descendants of Cain was a skin of blackness...It has been noticed in our day that men who have lost the spirit of the Lord, and from whom His blessings have been withdrawn, have turned dark to such an extent as to excite the comments of all who have known them."

President John Taylor

(Journal of Discourses, Vol. 22, pg. 304.) And after the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced upon Cain was continued through Ham's wife, as he had married a wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? Because it was necessary that the devil should have a representative upon the earth as well as God."

( Millennial Star, Vol. 14, pg. 418.) "For instance, the descendants of Cain cannot cast off their skin of blackness, at once, and immediately, although every soul of them should repent... Cain and his posterity must wear the mark which God put upon them; and his white friends may wash the race of Cain with fuller's soap every day, they cannot wash away God's mark."

President Brigham Young
Journal of Discourses
Vol. 7, pg. 290-291

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African Race? If the White man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."

"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they should be the "servant of servants" and they will be, until that curse is removed.
Thoughts on Prop 8 Passing in California

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 12:41am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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Once upon a time, good God-fearing LDS folks taught their kids in family home evening that black men should not have the priesthood because they are cursed by God. Once upon a time, good God-fearing LDS folks taught their kids that it was morally wrong for a white person to marry a black one. Once upon a time, good God-fearing LDS folks taught their kids in family home evening that women should NOT be afforded equal rights and that the Equal Rights Amendment should be opposed at all costs.

And then the church grew with the times and suddenly these things were OK by God.

How great to be among the people who realize intrinsically that we are all equal as human beings. How great to finally see that imposing one’s religious morals that hinder true equality and basic rights for certain groups through non-religious means like constitutional amendments is wrong. I really look forward to the day when bigotry dissolves and people can become comfortable enough with who they are to allow others to be who they are without any need to try to change others to conform to what or who they are.

Saying that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because it’s morally wrong seems as ridiculous to me as someone saying that brown-haired people should not be allowed to marry brown-haired people, and the law should reflect this truth! It hurts nobody that someone is attracted to the same sex. Actively homosexual neighbors are every bit as harmful to you and your family as brown-haired neighbors are.
Busy again!

Posted: November 3rd, 2008, 5:43am EST by Sister Mary Lisa

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I recently went to Salt Lake City to attend the Ex-Mormon Foundation Conference and visit friends. It was a great time, and a much-needed getaway. It was good to see my family in Utah at the same time.

Halloween was AWESOME because the weather was perfect. For the first time in years, I was able to go trick-or-treating with my little pirate and I didn't have to wear full winter gear due to cold. It was a balmy 60 or 65 degrees, and it was wonderful. My mom came up as a surprise to the kids, so it was a great weekend hanging with her.

Work has been gearing up for year-end and I'm also in Hell Week. I know, what's new, right? It seems I'm always in hell week. I'll try to make time soon to answer the questions I haven't forgotten you asked of me a few posts ago, my friends...

Happy Monday!
Bought the wrong window cling last week...

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 3:02am EDT by Sister Mary Lisa

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I'm not ready

Posted: October 9th, 2008, 12:38am EDT by Sister Mary Lisa

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At 9:00 p.m. tonight it's supposed to begin snowing, and the weatherman says over the next two days we'll get nine inches of snow.

Suckitude.
Portrait Process

Posted: October 1st, 2008, 3:06pm EDT by Sister Mary Lisa

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Cele once asked me to describe for her my art process, and I figured this graphite portrait of my niece would be a good place to do so. I had to remember to take photos as I went, so that I could successfully show what I do to get a finished portrait from a blank piece of paper.

First, I have to either be inspired by an image or create an image I imagine in my head. I've only once created art from my imagination that I didn't use a reference photo for. If I want a portrait to turn out well, the reference photo has to be good and inspire excitement in me. I prefer to take my own reference photos, and so that's what I did when my brother-in-law called to commission me. He got the girls ready and I went over with my camera and we had a little photo shoot out in the back yard. :) Then we headed indoors to upload the photos and choose which one(s) were best, which we narrowed down to one favorite from each girl. Here is the one we chose for T:

We printed the chosen photos, then I took them home and got my drawing paper out and taped it to my drawing board. I measured my drawing to fit the frame and mat that we had chosen. Using the lightest (hardest) pencil I have (2H), I lightly drew in the outline of her face, measuring for proportion constantly as I went. Sometimes I have a direct size match from the photo to my drawing, as happened with this portrait. I freehand the drawing either way. I do draw one line through the center of the drawing horizontally and one vertically, so that I can verify that my proportions and dimensions are accurate. Some artists use a full grid system, but I don't have the patience for that much work, and they risk being unable to successfully erase the grid once they're done.

Since I'm right-handed, I tend to draw left to right to avoid smudging and smearing, which is a real risk when drawing on a board in my lap. Once I'm confident that my drawing is sound and is proportioned right, I begin shading in the background and face. I use a 2B pencil almost primarily for this stage of the drawing, unless the background or hair or clothes are black, then I'll use a softer, darker lead size like 4B or 6B.

I continue until I have finished, which I clean up using my kneadable eraser, and I sign it, then spray using a fixative varnish spray to prevent smudging. After it dries for a night, I frame it in the cheap frames I can afford. Sometimes the person who commissioned me has it professionally framed.

My beautiful niece, T.