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Latest Headlines
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Walk to the Book of Mormon Musical
In September, Brent and I went to New York City to attend a party to celebrate my aunt’s wedding to her partner of nearly 40 years. It was a quick... -
Grondahl Restored 4
Posted with the kind permission of The Sunstone Foundation, the publisher, and Calvin Grondahl -
Ride to Church in Jerusalem
From all of us at Doves & Serpents, we hope you had a Merry Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year! We’ve so enjoyed writing for you and... -
Ride to Church in Scotland
Today’s beautiful Ride to Church(es) comes to us from Amanda Klein Nokleby and Matt Nokleby, who spent Christmas Day 2009 in Scotland and were nice enough to share some of... -
Grondahl Restored 3
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Christmas Music Hangover
Today, a special Christmas guest post from Colin. They say that the first step in recovery is admitting that you have a problem, so here goes: Hi, my name is... -
10 Dear Jack: Abundance
In the new year I’ll be back to answering your questions about life and Mormonism, but I wanted to do something a little different with today’s column, my tenth, and... -
Santa and I
The year I turned four or five, we drove to my grandparents in central Wisconsin for Christmas. Actually, we did this for most years of my early childhood- until I... -
Christmas Eve on the Mighty Mississipp’
We spent eight really fun years in Louisiana (2000-2008). It’s a pretty unique place. The people there know how to enjoy life. Every time I turned around, there was a... -
Like a Kid on Christmas Morning
This year, I’ve been having a difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit this season. Heck, I’ve had difficulty even defining what “is” the Christmas spirit. For my kids, the... -
Reboots: Comic Book Heroes, Origin Stories and Mormon Myth
As a kid I read a lot of comic books. I enjoyed studying the intricate character storylines consisting of their origin stories, their many adventures and their overlapping histories with other... -
Grondahl Restored 2
Robert Kirby says that his first look at this week’s cartoon marked the beginning of his career in Mormon humor: Tribune humor columnist Robert Kirby says Grondahl, then an editorial cartoonist at... -
09 Dear Jack: Sternly Part of It
Hello Jack, I just found out about this site. Is it really for people who have left the church? If so, how can it co-exist with those who are sternly... -
Grondahl Restored 1
In early 70s, if you’d wanted to buy a Mormon book, you’d have had to walk into a Deseret Book somewhere, or, a local bookstore in the Mormon corridor, where... -
(Near) Death by Supposed-to’s
I am realizing these days that I do a LOT of stuff because I’m supposed to. Mel calls this her “approval whore,” which is a hilariously apt description. I do... -
Do Not Go Gentle Into Christmas Eve
I suspect every family has a list of Yuletide must-see TV such as “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, ” “A Christmas Story”... -
Mormon RUMPspringa: When Mormons Go Worldly
In light of the silly controversy that occurred last week at BYU-Idaho wherein a female student was denied access to the testing center for wearing skinny jeans, we thought it... -
Ring Out, Wild Bells!
Is your ward like mine — that first Sunday of January brings another round of Sacrament Meeting talks on setting goals? For the record, I love those talks. I’m actually... -
Ride to “Church” in Culpeper, Virginia
Today’s ride to “church” comes to Doves & Serpents from Matthew Crowley of Culpeper, Virginia. Matthew writes, “Sundays for our little family are often days for outings, particularly to locations... -
08 Dear Jack: Nourishing the Delusion
Dear Jack, I believe that one of the greatest gifts God has given us is our capacity to think for ourselves. If I do my best to understand a particular... -
Prodigal
Last week, at a familiar intersection, the sign a man held up said, “It doesn’t take much to be kind.” -
When Kids Don’t Believe
I never had much angst about the whole Santa thing. We did Santa when I was a kid, but not too extravagantly—no cookies by the fireplace or manufactured footprints outside.... -
In Defense of Coldplay
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with some of my students, seniors in a small, rural Texas high school, about what we were listening to. “Mylo Xyloto, the new... -
Calling a Truce in my own Mommy War
I reminisced about the lunches with other moms and days spent at museums and pumpkin patches without quite remembering the soul-crushing isolation felt when there was no adult conversation several... -
The Economics Professor
The story about the economics professor and the effects of “socialist” grade sharing is circulating again. If you aren’t familiar with it, I’ve included a version of it at the... -
Lighting the Way
When I moved to Texas several decades ago as a naive, hopelessly midwestern college student, adjustments had to be made. I had to get used to the way people here... -
Walk to Church in the Czech Republic
Today’s “ride” to church comes to us from Nathan, Claire’s brother, who writes: My sister Claire asked me to submit a “Ride to Church” episode for her blog. So,... -
November Staff Stacks
See what we’re into this month. -
Happiness Project 2011/12
I’ve read a number of challenge books this year. You know what I mean—a new genre seems to have emerged wherein the author decides to do something for a whole... -
07 Dear Jack: The Eternal Flame
Dear Jack, When I think about my testimony of the truth claims of the LDS church, I imagine a candle in my soul flickering. That inner candle used to burn... -
Walk to School
Today’s Ride to Church is actually a Walk to School–and it comes to us from Amanda in England. Amanda asked whether we’d be willing to run a series of photos... -
I was thinking about my post from last year and thought it might be worth re-running this simple but profound message this year. Wishing all our readers an abundant Thanksgiving. ...
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I am thankful for . . .
In the first couple of days of November, I had the brilliant idea to go to the teacher supply store and get a big piece of bulletin board paper so... -
Songs for Winter … and Summer
Something is wrong with me. I’m not going to even make a case that the way I listen to music is in any way normal. A few years ago, a... -
Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s Forty!
Dear body, We have a pretty big day coming up tomorrow. It’s been a long time since we talked, old friend. I hope you still consider me your friend. I’ve... -
My Own Personal Canon: Southern-fried Love
In Paul’s 2nd epistle to Timothy, chapter 3, verses 14-17, we read this ringing endorsement of inspired writings: But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been... -
Ride to Affirmation Conference in Kirtland, Ohio
Today’s Ride to Church comes to us from Hugo Salinas of Oxford, Ohio, who shared pictures from the annual Affirmation conference in September. Hugo writes: On September 16-18, some 110... -
18 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: The Polygamy Problem
Polygamy is a system in which MEN “progress” and “expand their stewardship” by increasing their patriarchal reach. They do it by collecting women like Jay Leno collects classic cars. -
06 Dear Jack: The Weight of the World
Dear Jack, Our ward primary program is coming up and my six-year-old daughter wants to wear her favorite “fluffy” dress to this special occasion. The dress is white and red... -
Bonfire of the Vanities
The idea of a bonfire to rid ourselves of vanity sometimes has it’s appeal, especially on mornings when I’ve braided my 12 year old’s hair three different ways and she’s... -
Pursuing Youth and Beauty: Why You Should Never Stop
Today’s guest post comes to us from Bella Swan. A few short years after my husband, Edward, turned me into a vampire, I was asked to come up with a... -
An Attitude of Gratitude
When my oldest son was about 18 months old, he used the term “thank you” for “give me.” With his cute little baby accent, he could get almost anything he... -
Our Holy Obligation to Ask
The Epistle of James, held by many Latter-day Saints as written by the brother of Jesus and directed to the twelve tribes, including us in our day, is well known... -
Walk to Church in Australia
Today’s Ride to Church comes to us from Queensland, Australia, courtesy of Spunky from The Exponent. Unfortunately, some of Spunky’s pictures were smaller than others. When I asked her to... -
05 Dear Jack: What the Hookah?
Dear Jack, My husband and I are DNA Mormons, 5-7 generations on all lines. We have two young adult sons, neither of whom believe in LDS church teachings. My husband... -
The Feast of St. Francis
This year, our family observed General Conference by attending the local Episcopal church. -
Dating 101
My oldest daughter is almost 15. She is not dating yet, but it’s on the not-too-distant horizon. Because Facebook makes teenagers’ lives so visible and public, I feel like I... -
17 A Mormon in the Cheap Seats: True or False?
The last time this was laid out for me in a sunday school lesson I decided to diagram how it actually works. I’ve tried to be as accurate as... -
Return and Report: Chatterton Square
“She’s pretty, but it’s much more than that. What is it?” she asked in innocent inquiry. “I think it must be because she’s so full of life, but not fussily,... -
Leaving
I had only been a member a few months, but was reticent to share my new beliefs with my parents when I met them for vacation. But there was no...