Sunstone Sessions are Now Available for Download!
One of the things that Sunstone has that your standard LDS ward doesn’t is the downloadable audio recording. Perhaps this is for the best (”Brother and Sister Payson, we’re sorry you missed High Council Sunday, but not to worry, we burned the talks to this CD here!”). So if you weren’t able to make it to the SLC symposium this year, or if you were there but were frustrated that six great sessions were all scheduled at the same time, the technical wizards at Sunstone have worked day and night to provide you with mp3s of each of the sessions.
I recommend session #SL06272, “Join None Of Them, For They Are All Wrong.” In this panel, wonderful speakers like Parker Blount and Phyllis Barber and Robert Rees explore how participating in other religions has enriched their Mormon spirituality. If I remember right, at least two active members spoke about how their testimonies of Christ were strengthened in excursions outside of the Church. I should note that I also spoke in this session about my getting called to the floor in an African American Episcopal Church and the opportunity I had to witness the selection of a gay pastor at a United Congregational Church.
Now it’s your turn. I hope that all of you out there who attended the Symposium can take a moment to pick the one panel or lecture that you think no one should miss out on. Be sure to include the session number (e.g. SL06272), the session title, and why you recommend that session.
Then the rest of you, get to downloading and listening!
You can access the files by following this link, selecting “2006 Salt Lake Symposium” at the top of the page, and lastly, clicking on “Show Event Details.” The mp3s for the summer symposium then appear in the scrollable window at the bottom of the page. It’s four dollars a pop, but oh so worth it!
August 28th, 2006 at 8:15 am
Can you buy all the sessions on a CD? And when will they come?
August 28th, 2006 at 10:59 am
If you go to the second option there, scroll down and you’ll see that the second choice is 90 sessions of the SLC 2006 symposium. It is $99. Someone else will have to handle the question of when.
August 28th, 2006 at 11:39 am
I’m glad they’re available now! I came home with the one cd I couldn’t leave without, but now I’m ready to get the other ones I particularly liked!
August 28th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I got the whole shebang on 2 CDs for $99 (holy cow! $1 a session!), but when I checked out the reciept said I had been charged $744. But WIlliam at the Sunstone office said I was really only charged $99.
He says he’s fixing it, but I thought I’d get it out there just in case someone else gets dinged.
My favorite session was:
SL06273, For Better, For Worse, For Apostasy? How Faith Issues Affect Couple Relationshps -
Three amazing examples of people who learned how to love their spouses as people, rather than as roles. GET THIS SESSION.
I also enjoyed:
SL06312, Polygamy, Pornography, And Patriarchy: Where We Are, How We Got Here, And What Is Ahead
A provocative speech on how the conditions of society today are making polygamy and pornography irrelevant as far as evolution goes. I”m going to write a blog post on this sometime soon.
And of course, if you want a laugh there are some terribly funny people in:
SL06233, The Sugar Beet: 4 Years, 5 Months, 7 Days, And 3.52 Hours Later
at least, they think they’re funny.
And for those with teens the following session is indespensible:
SL06173, Afraid Of The Dark? Toward Healthy Communication With Teenagers About Sex
How about that, both sessions I participated in are listed as my favorites.
August 28th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
I was going to nominate my favorite, but Stephen’s beaten me to it. So here’s a second vote for:
SL06273, For Better, For Worse, For Apostasy? How Faith Issues Affect Couple Relationships -
This issue affects quite a few couples I know– and it was a great session.
August 28th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
FYI. The CD with all the sessions in MP3 format is available right now. Hot off the press. We’d be able to ship within a couple of days of someone’s ordering it.
Cheers!
Dan
August 28th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Thanks Stephen and Paula for the specific recommendations. I’m definitely going to listen to the Couple’s session.
Dan, other Sunstone bloggers and readers–what are your recommendations?
August 28th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with the panel on blogging, SL06131, “Mormon Feminist Bloggers: Can Blogging Help Mormon Feminism?” It was really a _fun_ session. [Note: I was one of the speakers so my opinion might be biased :)]
Other favorites included:
SL06173, Afraid Of The Dark? Toward Healthy Communication With Teenagers About Sex
SL06164, Reflections On Mormon Liminality: A Generational Response
SL06272, Join None Of Them, For They Are All Wrong
A few that I didn’t see, but I’m looking forward to hearing:
SL06091, Religion and Pop Culture: Shotgun Wedding, Marriage of Convenience, or Match Made in Heaven?
SL06124, Women’s Prophetic Drumming Tradition
SL06153, Visions In The Nightime
SL06162, Toward A Comparative Mormon Erotics
SL06211, Are Boys More Important Than Girls? The Conflict Between Gender Difference And Equality In Mormonism
SL06231, Why We Stay
SL06273, For Better, For Worse, For Apostasy? How Faith Issues Affect Couple Relationshps
SL06275, Author Meets Critics: A Rascal By Nature, A Christian By Yearning: A Mormon Autobiography
SL06332, Women In The Ministry
SL06391, Improvising a Life: A Series of Fortunate Events
Whoa, this list is pretty long. But all these sessions sound so good!
August 28th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
If you really want to be inspired and entertained listen to Ardean Watts “Improvising a Life: A Series of Fortunate Events,” SL06391. I told him after his presentation that if Church were like that I would attend all of the time. He said, “Oh, I wouldn’t like to be held responsible for that.”
August 29th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Hi Stephen,
I’m glad you enjoyed my paper, Polygamy, Pornography, and Patriarchy. I had to condense 150 pages into 20 for the presentation and hoped it would still be understood.
Let me know if you end up writing a blog… or if you want any thoughts or comments!
Grace and peace,
Jennifer
September 1st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
I just finished listening to several really good sessions. I thought this year’s “Why I Stay” (#231) was one of the best ever. Unfortunately it starts a couple of minutes into Cherry Silver’s (the first speaker) remarks (the computer doing the digitizing froze and had to be rebooted causing all the 230s sessions to start late; in the other cases, we were able to recover the beginning from the tape, but in this case, the tape was never started properly), but it’s an amazing session full of some really wise perspectives.
I’ve also just finished listening to the session on movies that have altered the way people look at their religious world (#132). Some really strong insights and great film recommendations. I also thought the one on Mormonism in the Academy (#134) was really interesting and excellent for those who are interested in that subject, and even for those just wondering about some of the issues at play in today’s colleges–both classroom and in the areas of funding and campus politics.
Parker Blount’s session, “Scarlet Threads in the Lineage of Jesus” is also terrific and very moving especially as he tells a few stories and shares his conflicts in the late-going about hearing confessions about sexual sins while he was a stake president.
My iPod with all the sessions copied in is in constant use these days! I’m sure I’ll write with a few more recommendations soon.
Cheers,
Dan
September 8th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
I’ve listened to several sessions since returning from Sunstone. So far, I can highly recommend:
SL06272, Join None of Them, for They Are All Wrong - speakers: H Parker Blount, Phyllis Barber, David Youkstetter, Robert A Rees, John Dewey Remy
SL06332, Women in the Ministry - speakers: Susan D Skoor, Vickie Stewart Eastman, Nadine R Hansen
SL06173, Afraid of the Dark? Toward Healthy Communication with Teenagers about Sex - speakers: Stephen Carter, Bill Gardiner, Anne Arnold H Wayne Schow, Glen Lambert
All of the above are grade “AAA”
I also have to put another plug in for:
SL06253, Varieties of Irreligious Experience: Schoolmarmery, Success-Mongery, and Sycophancy - speakers: Paul Toscano
I saw it live in SLC, but I plan to listen to it again this weekend. Toscano has a dazzling command of language.
If you are a fan of scriptural exegesis, I can recommend my good buddy Richard Russell’s:
SL06325, That’s Not What It Says: Part II - speakers: Richard C Russell