Category Archives: Polygamy

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Hows an NBA players career defined?

Most think its measured by statistics, championships won, or perhaps community involvement. All three are your typical generalized predictors of player worth both during and after a career.

In my interview with Lance Allred, his monumental impact was something altogether different. Now a 39-year-old motivational speaker, Allred graced his presence in The Association for just a flash of time. However, this is just the beginning of his transcendent story.

Lance Allred talks to student-athletes from various schools at Pittston Area about perseverance, accountability, and integrity. 10/18/2016 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader

Legally-deaf from birth with 75-80 percent hearing loss due to Rh disease, Lance was raised within a Mormon Polygamist Cult in rural Montana. No sign language. No cochlear implants. No road to follow.

Allred used lip-reading, toneless speech, and writing as his means of communication in a world where they meant very little. Breaking free from polygamy at 13, it didnt take Lance long to discover his true calling.

Basketball.

Growing from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-4 as an eighth-grader, Allred discovered that hoops was his safe haven. Now feeling accepted on a team, Lance stated, I get to belong to a tribe again.

In 2000, living just five blocks away from campus and joining a top-five program, Mr. Allred accepted a scholarship to the University of Utah. Playing the center position, Lance now stood 6-foot-11. At first, late head coach Rick Majerus loved Allreds utter passion and remarkable work ethic. During Lances sophomore season, he saw a proverbial switch flip in regards to Coach Majeruss psyche. After Majerus was informed that his mother was diagnosed with cancer, his change in demeanor became evident. As a result of continued verbal abuse from his coach, one in which he was ripped to pieces in front of the entire team, Allreds time in Salt Lake City ended.

Allred told me that Majerus called him out on the baseline of Saint Marys College on January 6, 2002, in front of teammates and coaches saying, Lance, youre the worst of all. You use hearing as an excuse to weasel yourself through life, and youre a disgrace to cripples. And if I was in a wheelchair and saw you play basketball, Id shoot myself.

Shortly thereafter, Lance transferred to Weber State in Ogden, UT, just 40 miles up the road.

Image courtesy of Future of Personal Health

He finished his collegiate career in Ogden, spanning from 2003-05. In his senior season (2005) with the Weber State Wildcats, averaging 17.7 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, Mr. Allred helped lift his squad to the Big Sky Tournament championship game.

Lance started his professional career (2005-16) playing overseas. Three years later, he finally got his big break.

Two ten-day contracts in, Lance signed a deal to finish 2008 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The short stint made up the entirety of Allreds NBA career. Three games played. Three total points. Thats it? Yes. Lance was devastated, but he certainly wasnt ashamed. As the first legally-deaf player in history to make an NBA roster, those three points resonated loudly.

(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

Due to nervousness, his first point came off the window from the charity stripe. You read that right. A banked-in free throw. It was awkward, but it was a point nonetheless. Minutes later in the same game against the Detroit Pistons, Lance used the glass once again to smooch-in a two-point field goal.

When I asked Allred what his favorite moment was from his brief stay in the league, he didnt say anything about those two made baskets, nothing about playing with LeBron James and gave no mention of his basketball journey.

He simply told me, My opportunity to visit a deaf school in Cleveland, and give back to those kids through my own experience, letting them know that they can reach their dreams.

Okay. I do have more from Lance regarding his thoughts about LBJ among other things, but Ill save that for next week.

Lance Allreds NBA career wasnt defined by any of your typical generalizations. Instead, the atypical can now be heard. Grasping the fabric of human kindness, self-worth, and choice as a motivational speaker, Allred continues to forge a path written with integrity.

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The Lance Allred Story - Part 1: Breaking the legally-deaf barrier in the NBA - NGSC Sports LLC

When Nexflix announced a series adaptation of Lola Shoneyins award winning novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segis Wives, it didnt take long for twitter fans to chime in with casting suggestions best suited to portray some of their favorite characters from the book. It has been 10 years since the U.S. debut of Shoneyins humorous and eye opening novel about a polygamous family in Nigeria. The novel isnt new to adaptations; since its release it has enjoyed a life as a one woman show, a stage play, a BBC Radio play and a graphic novel.

Its a wonderful feeling, that the book is still resonating and still finding new audiences. Shoneyin tells Observer. Its like having a prized piece of play dough and every time somebody takes it from you, they mould it into a masterpiece.

SEE ALSO:Ottessa Moshfegh Doesnt Want to Write Moral Stories

Shoneyins writing history dates back to an early childhood as a voracious reader, representing her school at poetry competitions. Defying her fathers preference that she study medicine or law, Shoneyin would eventually settle on a degree in English literature at Ogun State University in Nigeria. It was important for me to do something that I enjoy because I knew that I had that high capacity to become bored quite quickly and quite easily. she says.

In her last year at university, she fell hard for poetry and got hooked on a diet of African American feminist writings from names like Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. I felt quite safe within poetry because I didnt need to say too much and I could just say enough. It was a way of throwing parables into the world.

Shoneyin eventually published three collections of poetry, but her first two novels failed to secure a publisher. These days when you hear these horror stories of publishers saying we already have a black author, and basically saying it like they have made their black quota.that stuff really happened to me. I was really in the middle of that kind of talk and feeling very powerless.

Living in England at the time, simultaneously raising four children, studying for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, working as a teacher and frustrated, Shoneyin decided to take a final stab at getting published. It was at this moment she remembered a story told to her when she was 14 by her older brothers girlfriend, a medical student. The story was about a spare parts dealer who drove into the hospital with his graduate wife informing the doctor that his wifes womb was ruined. That story would form the basis of this novel exploring polygamy, impotence, envy, and sexual assault that stayed percolating in her mind for a number of years.

After eventually making a casual call to her agent about the story, eighteen months later, The Secret Lives of Baba Segis Wives was born. Shoneyin was in no doubt that her debut would be successful, regardless of her early dark experiences with publishing.

I knew it would resonate with just about anybody. Some of the themes that I explore in the novel are universal themes. Everybody feels jealousy and insecurity.

She didnt want a book that was so literary and inaccessible to regular readers. I wanted it to be, as one of my agents described, the commercial end of literary fiction. That accessibility was important to me.It is that accessibility, wit and agency that has made the novel endearing to its readers worldwide and garnered a huge following.

The Netflix adaptation is spearheaded by Nigerian television and film producer Mo Abudu who optioned the rights in 2017. I have met very few people in my life who have the level of foresight that she has just as a human being, Shoneyin says of Abudu. She is ambitious, and I wanted her to succeed.

Shoneyin believes this adaptation to be a win for African storytelling as African literature gets to be reintroduced to a new generation through film and the economic value is not lost on her. We are going to have a crop of screenwriters who can see the value in adapting our stories for the screen. Thats just another means for a writer to make money and there is a lot of value to that, she says.

It has been impossible to ignore the publishing industrys moment of reckoning with systemic racism amidst the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests. Shoneyin is hopeful that part of the change will include a burst of creative energy, ushering in a new vanguard of Black storytellers. The world is in an interesting place right now, where people want to hear Black voices and Black voices are not about to be silenced by anybody, she says.

As for the long awaited second novel, she neither feels paralysed nor pressured by the success of her debut but rather continues to indulge her restlessness in her current role as festival organiser for Lagos annual Ak Arts and Book Festival. I love promoting other writers, especially giving them a global and continent wide space with the Ak festival and Kaduna books and arts festival. The truth is that Baba Segi seems to be the gift that just keeps giving.

Read more from the original source:

10 Years After Her Hit Novel Debuted, Lola Shoneyin Knows the Netflix Series Will Resonate - Observer

SISTER Wives star Meri Brown had a very clear message as she went for a solo stroll on Tuesday.

The reality star - who snubbed polygamist husband Kody on Father's Day - was listening to Keane's Everybody's Changing.

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The song, which she shared on TikTok, features the lyric, 'Everybody's changing and I don't feel the same."

It comes amid speculation that Meri and Kody have split.

She reserved her affection for her dogs, cuddling up to them on Instagram and calling them, "my boys," in a cute post.

The TLC star, 49, has been sparking separation rumors in recent weeks with cryptic quotes and photos without her wedding ring.

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On Sunday, she omitted to mention Kody - with whom she shares 25-year-old daughter Mariah - in a Father's Day tribute.

Instead she only praised her own father.

A source explained told The Sun that Meri and Kody have definitely called it quitsafter she removed her wedding ring.

To take a wedding ring off is big in polygamy. Its Meris way of saying, 'Im done,' the source told The Sun exclusively.

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In April, theyignored their milestone 30th wedding anniversary.

Kody, 51, and Meris marriage has been tumultuous for years, as she has contemplated leaving the family multiple times.

In 2014, Kodydivorced her to marry fourth and "favorite" wifeRobyn, 41, which Meri cried over on the most recent season.

She was involved in a catfish scandal and fell in love with another man, who ended up being a woman.

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On the most recentSister Wivesseason, Meri admitted theirmarriage has beenpretty rocky for a while, as Kody claimed he regretted their relationship.

Kody, who is also married toJanelle, 50, andChristine, 48, explained on an episode: I feel like I was deceived into a relationship that was very different than what I expected.

"Meri and I had a fast courtship with a lot of expectations and a lot of not communicating.

Meri added: The relationship he and I had,its dead, its gone, its over.

Originally posted here:

Sister Wives Meri Brown cuddles with her boys and takes solo walk after snubbing husband Kody on Fathers D - The Sun

SISTER Wives star Meri Brown dissed her husband, Kody Brown, by thanking her own dad on Fathers Day, and leaving the father of her daughter out entirely.

The mother of one failed to celebrate her own husband amid their marriage issues.

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Meri, 49, took to Instagram to celebrate Father's Day by talking about her late father.

Along with the post, she shared two photos of her father: one where he was dressed in a military outfit and the other of him before his passing.

She wrote: "Happy Father's Day to this amazing man I get to call Dad.

"Although the world lost his kindness, his laughter, his passion, his loyalty, his strength, 13 years ago, anyone who had the blessing of knowing him will never forget him and mountain of a man that he was.

"Happy Father's Day!"

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However, Meri failed to celebrate the father of her daughter as the two have been in an ongoing marriage crisis.

In fact, a source explained that Meri and Kody have definitely called it quits after she removed her wedding ring.

A source exclusively told The Sun: To take a wedding ring off is big in polygamy. Its Meris way of saying, 'Im done.'

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Kody's first wife has also undergone a makeover, as shes lost weight andcut her hair.

The insider said her new look is a hint shes planning to leave polygamy: Her weight loss and hair cut is a good sign! Thats, Okay time for me!

Having her own life, doing fun things, finding friends is the best thing she can be doing for herself.

"Shes finding herself, what she wants and believes. I hope Meri wakes up and ditches this insanity.

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The source believes the couple could be over.

The insider said: Thats definitely my feeling, theyre separated. I think shes been too hurt by him.

You cant keep playing that role forever. They are unhappy living this way, but they are content because they believe they are happy. They are doing what God wants them to do and fulfilling their rigorous works.

The family's religion doesnt believe in divorce, according to the source.

The insider continued: Shes going to continue being single the rest of her life unless she leaves.

"If she finds another person she can fall in love with and loves and respects her, she would be tempted to leave.

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In addition to no ring, Meri has also been sparking split rumors with cryptic quotes.

Hermost recent post read: Keep your eyes open and your feet moving forward. Youll find what you need.

Kody and Meris marriage has been on the rocks for years, as she has contemplated leaving the family on the TLC series.

In 2014, Kody, 51, divorced her to marry fourth and "favorite" wifeRobyn, 41, which Meri cried over on the most recent season.

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She was involved in a catfish scandal and fell in love with another man, who ended up being a woman.

On the most recentSister Wivesseason, Meriadmitted their marriage has been pretty rocky for a while."

Kody admitted he "regretted" their union.

Kody, who is also married toJanelle, 50,Christine, 48, explained in an episode: I feel like I was deceived into a relationship that was very different than what I expected.

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"Meri and I had a fast courtship with a lot of expectations and a lot of not communicating.

Meri added: The relationship he and I had, its dead, its gone, its over.

Most recently, the two ignored theirmilestone 30th wedding anniversary in Apriland haven't posted on social media together in over a year.

Read more from the original source:

Sister Wives Meri Brown disses Kody by thanking her own dad and NOT her husband on Fathers Day amid mar - The Sun

SISTER Wives star Christine Browns loved ones are urging her to leave her husband, Kody, and her sister wives, Meri, Janelle and Robyn, a source exclusively revealed to The Sun.

Christine, 48, joined the Brown family in 1994 as Kodys third wife and welcomed six children with the patriarch.

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Christine, who has been dubbed the jealous wife by fans, often posts about her relationship with Kody, but her loved ones dont buy that she's happy in the marriage.

The insider said: Her loved ones hope Christine leaves. Her mother left polygamy a long time ago. She has the support. They hope she finds someone else.

She is unhappy living this way, but she is happy because they believe whatever they call happy. They are doing what God wants them to do and fulfilling their works.

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On Sister Wives, Kody designed a massive home with four compartments for all of the wives and children to live in.

While Meri, 49, Janelle, 50, and Robyn, 41, were open to the idea, Christine was adamantly against it.

She said on the episode: I just dont want to. I would feel like I cant master my domain anymore if I had to live with everyone again. I wouldnt be in charge of my own home. Why live in a beautiful paradise if I cant really have what I need there?

I would never go back to this. Never.

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The insider said of her being against living together: Wanting her own place, every woman wants that. Heres the man who wants the same house so they don't have to travel and is closer.

She needs to feel like she has a husband and she cant do that in the same house.

Christine recently bragged about dressing up sexy for her date night with Kody, as she also revealed their bedroom attire on Facebook.

The insider said: Its her way of stating her position and status. The more wives you have, the more you have to compete and fight for positions. Thats why the men have big egos.

Its like, 'I am Im in your face, dont forget it. Im Kodys wife too.'

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But Christine may not be the only "unhappy" wife, as first wife Meri has been sparking split rumors with cryptic social media posts.

She has also posted photos without her wedding ring.

An insider previously told The Sun: To take a wedding ring off is big in polygamy. Its Meris way of saying, 'Im done.

The source said her makeover is also a hint shes planning to leave polygamy: Her weight loss and hair cut is a good sign! Thats, Okay time for me!

Having her own life, doing fun things, finding friends is the best thing she can be doing for herself. Shes finding herself, what she wants and believes. I hope Meri wakes up and ditches this insanity.

6

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The source believes the couple could be separated.

The insider said: Thats definitely my feeling, theyre separated. I think shes been too hurt by him.

Shes going to continue being single the rest of her life unless she leaves. If she finds another person she can fall in love with and loves and respects her, she would be tempted to leave.

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Sister Wives star Christine Browns loved ones urge her to leave Kody and family - The Sun

CAPE CORAL

A woman in Cape Coral accused of stabbing her mother to death is claiming to be a former cult member.

Mariya Lynn Kelly, 21, who faces a manslaughter charge for stabbing and killing her mother, says she was a member of a cult that identifies itself as Carbon Nation.

Cape Coral police say Kelly stabbed her mother to death during an argument while doing the dishes at home Wednesday.

We spoke to a neighbor Friday about the murder investigation of Kellys mom.

I was surprised when I found everything out, neighbor Steven Ramirez said.

Ramirez lives down the street from Kelly.

The name of Kellys mom is not being shared by Cape Coral Police Department. Kelly claims her mother hit her over the head. Kelly admits to police she had a kitchen knife in her hand and used it to stab her mother.

I had a lot of mommy issues, Kelly shared in a social media post.

The cult Kelly claims to have been affiliated with reportedly practices polygamy and nudism. In February, Kelly posted a video on social media explaining why she left Carbon Nation.

I think Carbon Nation was a little bit too extreme for me, Kelly said in her post. I just knew at that point this is not for me.

Ramirez says nothing seemed out of the ordinary with the family.

I didnt know them personally, but Ive seen them out in the street walking with the baby, Ramirez said. And everything seemed like a nice enough family.

Ramirez said he met Kellys mother a few weeks ago.

Very nice lady. You would never ever imagine that there was anything wrong, Ramirez said. The daughter was there too, and everything seemed fine.

Kelly is in Lee County Jail on $250,000 bond.

You can never be too safe, Ramirez said.

Read the original here:

Cape Coral woman accused of killing mother claims to be former cult member - Wink News

A plurality of Americans say abortion is morally wrong, according to Gallups annual Values and Beliefs survey, which also shows a record percentage of Americans saying divorce is morally acceptable.

The poll, conducted May 1-13 and released Tuesday, shows that 47 percent of Americans say abortion is morally wrong and 44 percent say its morally acceptable. Although neither percentage is a record, it continues a two-decade trend: The percentage of those who say its morally wronghas been higher than the morally acceptable position every year since the question was first asked in 2001.

Last year, 50 percent said abortion was morally wrong and 42 percent morally acceptable. When the question was first asked in 2001, 45 percent said it was morally wrong and 42 percent morally permissible.

The poll also shows that on four family-related issues divorce, sex between unmarried individuals, having a baby outside of marriage, and polygamy a record-high percentage of Americans say each one is morally permissible.

Arecord-high of 77 percent say divorce is morally permissible and a record-low of 18 percent say it is morally wrong. Four percent say it depends on the situation. When the poll was first conducted in 2001, 59 percent said divorce was OK, 28 percent said it was wrong and 12 percent said it depends.

A record-high (72 percent) also say sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally permissible, with 27 percent saying its wrong. (In 2001, 53 percent said it was morally acceptable and 42 percent said it was morally wrong.)

On the subject of having a baby outside marriage, a record-high 66 percent say its morally acceptable and a record-low 32 percent say its wrong. (In 2001, 50 percent said it was wrong and 45 percent said it was OK.)

On polygamy, a record 20 percent say its morally acceptable and 78 percent say its wrong. (In 2003, when the question was first asked, 7 percent said it was permissible.)

Acceptance of gay and lesbian relations (66 percent) is one percentage point from a record high (67 percent, set in 2018).

Meanwhile, a record-low 54 percent of Americans say the death penalty is acceptable and a record-high 40 percent say its wrong.

Abortion remains the most ideologically polarizing issue asked about, with 70% of liberals and 18% of conservatives classifying it as morally acceptable, Gallups Megan Brenan wrote in anonline analysis. Gay or lesbian relations and teenage sex are the next most divisive issues, with acceptability gaps of 41 and 40 percentage points, respectively.

Gallup analyzed public perception on a myriad of other issues including birth control, drinking alcohol, gambling, smoking marijuana, cloning humans and more. View the full results here.

The survey was based on interviews with 1,028 adults.

Photo courtesy: Maria Oswalt/Unsplash

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press,Christianity Today,TheChristian Post,TheLeaf-Chronicle,the Toronto Star andthe Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Read the original here:

For the 20th Straight Year, Americans Say Abortion is 'Morally Wrong,' Gallup Shows - Christianheadlines.com

A lot has changed since the 1960s. And the world can change quickly, too. The country feels like a different place lately, even compared to January of this year.

But there is a continuing battle for racial justice and equality, and as most know, its been a long, hard road.

In honor of the current actions being taken to reach that goal, we thought itd be appropriate to honor a big win that came in 1967.

National Loving Day is held on the anniversary of the day that all anti-miscegenation laws were struck down. What does that mean? In short, people were allowed to marry interracially.

But let us tell you a little more about the case that changed lives, because its a story worth telling.

Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter fell in love after knowing each other for years. The two grew up in the small town of Central Point, Virginia.

In June 1958, Richard, a white construction worker, and Mildred, a woman of mixed African American and Native American ancestry, married in Washington, D.C., according to History.com.

At the time, many states still acknowledged the Act to Preserve Racial Integrity.

Racial integrity laws, as they were called, were passed by the General Assembly to protect whiteness against what many Virginians perceived to be the negative effects of race-mixing, according to Encyclopedia Virginia.

Virginia was included in the states that still recognized the laws, but in D.C., interracial marriage was legal. So Richard and Mildred wed there, but five weeks after returning home from their wedding, they were arrested by the local sheriff and indicted on charges of violating Virginias anti-miscegenation law, according to History.com.

The couple pleaded guilty the next year and were forced to leave Virginia and not return together for 25 years.

In 1963, the couple had three kids and resided in Washington, D.C., but wanted to return home.

Here is where the story takes a turn.

After writing a letter to then-U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the American Civil Liberties Union agreed to take their case, thus bringing about the Loving V. Virginia Supreme Court case, which finally made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in April 1967.

It wasnt an easy or quick change of the anti-miscegenation laws. In fact, during the case, Virginias then-assistant attorney defended the law, comparing it to regulations against incest and polygamy.

But two young ACLU lawyers who were aiding the Lovings argued the law -- and others like it -- were rooted in white supremacy and racism, according to History.com.

These are not health and welfare laws. These are slavery laws, pure and simple, Philip Hirschkop, one of the couples lawyers, argued.

He added that the Virginia statute was illegal under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which forbid states to restrict basic rights of citizens or other persons.

The Supreme Court announced its unanimous decision on June 12, 1967, that Virginias interracial marriage law violated the amendment. It not only overturned the conviction against the Lovings from 1958, but it also struck down laws against interracial marriage in the remaining 16 states that still observed the law.

Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the state, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote.

Though some states were slow to change their laws, the ruling on the case dealt a major blow to segregation.

The Lovings moved back to Central Point, Virginia, where they went on to raise their three children.

And while there are still many hurdles to jump in achieving racial justice and equality, we believe this huge win now commemorated every year as Loving Day is one worth recognizing and celebrating.

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#LovingDay story Joshua and Brandon @joshua.l.morton @brandonrdwyer . . "Love comes in many forms, love for your family and friends, love food and nutrition, love for nature and the world surrounding you. When you find love in a partner, you share your experience, viewpoints and passions with that individual. We are all only circumstances of our situations. Our world is full of discrimination and greed, but also abundant with beauty. We need to see the world for what it truly is, we must fight those fights for equality for our spouses, neighbours, communities, countries and the health of our planet as a whole. We are only as strong as the world we live in, and if we allow our differences to define us, we will miss out on learning the beauty others have to share with us. Joshua and I have been married for five years, and we continue to be open and share our past and present with one another so we continue to learn together, grow together, and discover ways to be our best selves. I hope we can all visualize a world that works for everyone, as thats a world we can be proud to call home."

A post shared by #MixedintheSix (@mixedinthesix) on Jun 8, 2020 at 6:45am PDT

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#LovingDay Story Vee & Allie (Portugese/Serbian & East Indian) "We both attended the same elementary school, where we were friends. Twenty years later we reconnected and rekindled our friendship and to our surprise, it quickly blossomed into a romance. Being in an interracial relationship has come with so many blessings and opportunities for self-growth, which has made us stronger as a couple. We approach our relationship with an open mind and taken every opportunity to embrace one anothers culture. We grew up in the same neighborhood with a lot of Portuguese influences. Over the years he attended cultural festivals that helped him learn more about my culture. Although he his Hindu, he attended a Catholic elementary school where he learned more about my faith. There was a comfort knowing that he was already familiar with my background, but nonetheless, still desires to learn more about both of my cultures. Were making plans to visit Portugal and Serbia next year. I too have had the opportunity to learn about the Hindu culture. In a recent trip to India for a family wedding I had the pleasure of participating in all of the traditional Hindu ceremonies and immersed myself in the culture and the many new enlightening experiences. While this could have felt overwhelming, I was welcomed and treated like family right from the beginning. One of the many reasons that we have a successful, healthy and loving relationship is because we share so many similar values; the most important is family. Navigating family has been effortless from day one. We are blessed to have loving and supportive families and friends who have never set any expectations for us. They have always had our best interests at heart and want nothing but the best for us. Every time we visit with our families we are greeted with open arms and big smiles and it brings us so much joy seeing our parents faces light up with happiness when they see us together. We recognized early on that our willingness to learn about our cultures and lead with love and respect for another, race would never be an issue in our relationship. "

A post shared by #MixedintheSix (@mixedinthesix) on Jun 10, 2020 at 2:29pm PDT

Original post:

National Loving Day isnt just a random sweet holiday. Heres the deeper story, and why youll want to celebrate. - KSAT San Antonio

With The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cautiously resuming worship services, its possible that COVID-19 may come to be regarded as a judgment from on high. Its happened before.

People dying by the thousands has long been considered by deep blue believers as proof that Gods patience isnt infinite. Maybe we are/were being taught a lesson, and that its time to shape up.

If this mentality takes hold, Mormonism may undergo another reformation. Yup, well have to get right with the Lord again. Well have to be rebaptized.

In the mid-1850s, with Mormons secure in our mountain fortress, Brigham Young came to the conclusion that the church needed to rededicate itself to God. This decision followed a drought, a locust infestation and public announcement of the practice of polygamy.

Exactly which of those forms of horribleness was the spark for large numbers of early Mormons being rebaptized is still a matter of speculation. My money if I had any would be on plural marriage.

Getting rebaptized is a foreign concept to most Latter-day Saints today. It used to be that getting rebaptized was just for those who had been excommunicated, or booted from the church. A good example would be, oh, say, anyone continuing in polygamy after God or others came to their senses and got rid of the practice.

After repenting of their wretchedness, those desiring readmission to the fold had to rededicate themselves in a baptismal font.

During the reformation, however, this applied to just about all Latter-day Saints regardless of whether they had done anything wrong. It was a time of zealous recommitment.

One of the bad things about zealotry is that it can get out of hand in a hurry. Thats why I am going on record to say that I will not get rebaptized. Im drawing a line in the water.

See, theres too much of a risk in this whole re-whatever thing getting out of control. What if to prove my rededication I was called on another mission?

Not happening. Im too old and annoyable to learn another language, live in a dump with someone I might soon be inclined to murder, or knock on doors while suffering from severe stomach cramps. Did that. Not doing it again.

Sound impossible? Well, far too often, one thing leads to another and soon were doing some of the following just to prove how rededicated we are:

RE-TITHING This would involve paying 10% of whatever youve already paid as a tithe? For example, say you paid $500 in tithing. Re-tithing would mean you have to come up with $50 on that amount, then $5 on the $50, and so on until it zeroed out.

RE-MINISTERING Already made your monthly visits to your assigned families? Good. Now do it again. If you waited until the last day of the month, too bad. You go back for a second visit that day, even if you have to squeeze it in before midnight.

RE-MISSION Already served the Lord full time for two years or 18 months? Good. A second call will be especially good for you. That old Primary song will soon be sung in sacrament meeting, I hope they re-call me on a mission

Originally posted here:

Robert Kirby: Another Mormon reformation? Is anything worthy of doing once worthy of doing again? - Salt Lake Tribune

For years, Ive wanted to read the memoirs of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, especially since Id heard that Mark Twain was the moving force behind Grants writing. I imagined that there would be a lot of humor in the retelling of the Civil War. How dumb can you be?

Later, I found out that all of the memoir was written exclusively by Grant, and Twains role was mainly to encourage and promote the book for his own company and for profit. One only has to start reading to see that Grants style is strictly his own; just the facts, maam is the way he writes.

Also, I knew that Grant was known to have a drinking problem, and since addiction runs in my family, I was curious to how see how Grant was able to be a winning general and still be an alcoholic.

But at first, the size of the book I ordered, 784 pages, put me off. On opening it, I found that half of every page was comprised of footnotes, detailed listings of every mans name Grant mentioned, the birth, death, schooling and all other pertinent information, such as what each man did after the war.

Numbers of casualties and those missing were also corrected if they did not agree with Grants numbers. I soon found the footnote facts almost as interesting as what Grant was writing about. Everyone, whether they know it or not, has had a fascinating life and worthy of being written about.

As most people are aware, after the war and after his presidency, Grant had serious financial problems. He was often taken advantage of, not realizing how duplicitous some people can be. A Ponzi scheme was the final blow to his and his extended familys fortunes.

All the while writing the memoir, Grant had serious physical maladies, a fall on ice that left him partly crippled and mouth cancer that eventually killed him. In spite of these problems, Grant wrote five to seven hours each day until, on July 20, 1885, he laid down his pencil for the last time.

What makes Grants Memoirs so appealing to readers is his humility about himself and his infrequent criticism of others. Henry James found the Memoirs to be as hard and dry as sandpaper, but great is the name, when so great a bareness practically blooms.

Later readers, such as Gore Vidal, said, It is simply not possible to read Grants Memoirs without realizing that the author is a man of first-rate intelligence. His book is a classic.

Robert Johnson, a Century Magazine editor, gave Grant the best writing advice. Johnson told Grant to write as though he were speaking to a group of friends after dinner.

In the beginning, Grant quickly deals with his education and family, and that at the age of 7 or 8, he began hauling all the wood used in the house and shops. At 11, he was finally strong enough to hold a plough. And from that age until he was 17, he did all the work with horses, which gave him a life-long consideration of animals and forage.

Two other telling incidents gave Grant a life-long disdain for fancy uniforms.

When he was accepted to West Point, the tailored uniform came, and wearing it, Grant rode out, thinking how grand he looked. A little dirty ragamuffin, his own clothes in tatters, called out: Soldier! Will you work? No siree; Ill sell my shirt first. The other circumstance was closer to home, when a barefooted stable-man, dissipated but possessed of some humor paraded the streets wearing a pair of sky-blue trousers, just like Grants, with a strip of white cotton sewn down the outside seams.

The Mexican War was where Grant actually cut his teeth and learned what war was all about. He saw how little interest the actual soldiers had in the results of the war and how little knowledge they had of what it was all about.

The main thing for them was being fed and feeding the horses and mules that the army ran on. General Taylor in the Mexican War made a great impression on Grant, going about dressed entirely for comfort, sitting sideways on his horse the better to see the battle, and not often having staff following him. Taylor was not a conversationalist but wrote out orders so plainly there was no mistaking their meaning.

In the first part of the Memoir, Grant writes much on the Mexican War, seeing it as an unjust war, a stronger country against a weaker one in order to acquire territory, an instance of a republic following the bad actions of the European monarchies. One should never forget that a large portion of the West was taken from Mexico by force.

Grant also states several times that the Civil War was one fought solely to have slavery abolished. He hopes that as time passes and a true history is written that there will be no celebrations for either side, that people will realize that slavery was unjustified, no matter how it was framed, equating it to the practice of polygamy.

As a major-general in the Civil War, Grant carries the lessons of food for the soldiers and forage for animals into his directions down to the smallest details. At the end of a long plan of attack, he writes: Require your men to keep three days rations in their haversacks, not to be touched until a movement commences.

He also pays close attention to terrain, how hills and water play a big part in winning a battle. Often alone in the early morning hours, he would go out and survey the battle lines. That the scouts on the other side never fired on him was a mystery, although he was sure they recognized him. But I think it reflects the honorable conduct of the men of that era, true gentlemen.

There are very few moments of levity in Grants writing. He writes of those who traveled over the Isthmus of Panama, and says: the natives were not inconveniently burdened with clothing.

In one long passage, a reader has to ferret out Grants meaning, that he had a superstition that he should never apply for a position, but if it is given to him than he should do the job to the best of his ability. Early on, hes told he should ask for a position as a cavalry officer, and he says, hed rather cut off his right arm. Also, Grant relates, without comment, of how Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, often, before and after the war, calls himself a superior military genius.

Grant does show his own genius in using Shermans army to cut off all of Georgias food and forage supplies to the Confederacy. Sherman, himself, relates how the sweet potatoes seemed to pop up out of the Georgia soil.

But to me, the most telling story is that after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, he remarked to Grant that his troops were in bad condition for want of food, and had been living for some days on parched corn and that he would have to ask for rations. Grant answered, Certainly and asked for how many. Lee said, Twenty-five thousand.

In the October 2017 issue of The New Yorker, (given to me by Norman LaHood) an article by Adam Gopnik, Shot of Courage reviews Ron Chernows book, "Grant," and Grants conduct during the Civil War and his presidency. He admits to Grants addiction, but like Lincoln, who when told that Grant was drinking whiskey, said, Please send a keg of whatever hes drinking to my other generals. I would advise anyone even slightly interested in the Civil War to read that book and that article.

Times are a bit hard now with this virus that seems to pop up every hundred years or so, but when one thinks of all the U.S. has been through: the American Revolution, (5,000 dead), the Civil War, (700,000 dead), World War I, (68,000 dead), the influenza of 1918, (200 million dead), World War II, (417,000), its a wonder we still exist.

Keep praying that we are a nation that stands for truth and justice, even if its sometimes obscured, and therefore will not be like other empires, doomed to fail.

Roberta George is a resident of Valdosta and the founding publisher of the Snake Nation Press.

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GEORGE: Reviewing the life of Gen. Grant - Valdosta Daily Times