Voices from the Dust: March 1997
previous: Voices from the Dust: February 1997
from bob wyman (w████@d██████.com)
1 Mar 97, 1:34 a.m.
I am a radical atheist with a incredible sense of humor!! your site was a great source of humor, thank you very much!!- I grew up in arizona and everyone was telling jew- ish jokes, and catholic jokes, baptist jokes, etc., but no mormon jokes, my whole friggin' life except- " how does a man in the mormon church become a bishop? -they make him crawl through death valley and see if he can make five tracks in the sand..."
Ah. No wonder the women at church used to get such a gleam in the eye when they predicted I'd be a bishop someday . . .
from Steve (E██████@a██.com)
7 Mar 97, 11:16 p.m.
I searched a lot and never got to the conclusion (other than "Beware of God" and "my father had a bizaare approach to science fiction").
It looked like you rebelled against the mormon culture rather than the LDS Church.
Just a couple comments. You might want to consider a consistent background metaphor rather than continuous changes in wallpaper and background on every page -- it will read better and load much more quickly.
You might also want to put together a link from your First Article of Faith to a condensed story. Reading through to Kaysville and your entry into Jr. High was entertaining, but not very enlightening, other than observing the cultural artifacts.
Do you ever get to the strong counter-movements in the LDS Church that focus on the social/cultural aspects that disturbed you? Do they matter?
Just curious (you are on the "next 5" from my site and I thought I'd take a look).
A "consistent background metaphor"? God, what a ridiculous idea.
from Steve (E██████@a██.com)
8 Mar 97, 8:59 a.m.
Liked the writing. No complaints or comments other than I'd like to see more.
Also liked the &@+!f&=#.com home page material. The url for the bibliography ended up refusing me entry, so I worked my way down the directories.
Don't know why that happened, but the trip was worth the effort.
Um . . . glad to hear it.
from Blaine H. (f███████@a██.net)
9 Mar 97, 12:23 a.m.
I never thought that the incident that happened in Canada had the affect it did later in your life. I thought that you continued a member of the church and that the problems were put behind you.......Mormon hater?
Excuse me, but do I know you? You're talking like you thought you already knew the ending before I even started telling the story.
from b███████@i█████.net
9 Mar 97, 8:17 a.m.
i am a "starving" writer who has never actually submitted a manuscript before and really appreciates the fabulous resources found here on the web. i have looked over many sites by now and have found none that offers the kind of solid practical advice that yours does. you don't preach about what to write or how to write but just how to submit it. it is incredible nice toe able to know these things before sending anything out. thank you.
You're quite welcome.
from Jeff Colbert (2██████@m██████.com)
11 Mar 97, 2:14 p.m.
I really enjoyed your story about the "Incident" that happened in Canada. I am from a town about 10 miles away from Nauvoo, so I am somewhat familiar with LDS missionaries. My wife thinks that missionaries are such "NICE BOYS". I am an athiest, she not shure, but with pagan leanings. Glad to hear that things worked out for you. I especially like your tolerant attitude. I would have to say that a good portion of that is due to the "Mormon Thing", as I have noticed that mormons tend to be tolorant of others. I guess so they have that chance to get them to the church and heaven and all that.
If you have not had it published, you ought to. A great piece of writing that had me hooked from start to finish.
BTW, I was 10 years military, short hair, gung ho. I got out, work for MCI, long hair/mustache, road a bicycle across the USA. Ain't change great!
Change is the best! But as Neil Peart said, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
from Chris Dye (/dust/1997/03/voices-from-the-dust-march-1997.html)
22 Mar 97, 6:08 p.m.
It seems like the primary reason that people leave the church is because of other people that they don't like. i can't understand why. i mean, the most important thing in any chrurch is God, and if you believe in Him, then you can work around the people side of things. i get sick of the people that i know that tell me that i should go to church more, but i still believe in the stuff that is taught. it's hard, but i do it. occasionally i meet a very spiritual person who is down to earth, and doesn't intoduce themself as "bill _____, a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, would you like to hear more..." I know that the Mormon church is true, and that i need to improve on a lot of things. i'm working on it.
I think I've just gotten a letter from Saturday Night Live's Middle-Aged Man: "I'm workin' on it!"
