On the coffeetable?
By Jana on Oct 6, 2006
How many of you put your latest copy of Sunstone out on the coffee (postum)table along with the Ensign? Or do you hide it away on your nightstand? Does your spouse or someone else in your household read your Sunstone, or is your subscription a private indulgence?
I started thinking about this as I was reading the comments on John’s post about banned books. I found the image of Elise surreptitiously reading Sunstone in the BYU library, very surprising. And there’s a certain thrill to knowing that Sunstone has such subversive weight, one that’s more powerful than walking into a church meeting with hot cocoa in a Starbucks cup. Like last week I learned that Sunstone is specifically banned from being used in CES lessons–I can quote from Psychology Today, High Times, or the DaVinci Code in my Institute class, but not any writing from Sunstone or Dialogue.
So the next issue is at the press and will be in your mailboxes in just a few days. And it promises to be a fantastic read—with P.D. Mallamo’s article about his experiences interviewing homeless people in Salt Lake; a piece by public defender Ken Driggs describing his death row clients and his own feelings about freedom, accountability, and judgment; and an essay from Marylee Mitcham about her work as a nurse in a psychiatric ward.
It may be that your subscription needs renewing–maybe you just haven’t gotten around to mailing in your renewal form or subscribing via the web. So now is the time, my friends. In addition to the articles I mentioned already, you don’t want to miss the latest installment of your favorite Sunstone column, you’ll get caught up on all the happenings of the SLC Symposium, and you will certainly want to see the lovely picture of moi on page 5. But more than anything, you need to make sure your subscription is current because when the home teachers drop by in a few weeks, you’ll want something interesting to lay alongside the correlated magazines on your coffeetable. This particular issue, with its emphasis on compassion and with a striking engraving of Christ on the cover, promises to be a great eye-opener and missionary tool for the unsubscribed.
My dear wife is just fine with my subscription to Sunstone so long as I keep them stashed away in a box in the closet…. like a porno collection.
I personally wouldn’t mind leaving it out on the coffee table. Not that the home teachers would see it…. no one from our ward has ever visited us or called us. I think I have become somewhat of a pariah already for a few LBM moments in Sunday School and for having some very open discussions on the radio about Mormon Studies with John Dehlin and Armand Mauss (which, btw, have had the most positive interest and feedback of anything I’ve done).
All well.
I will say that at times I am sad from being a pariah. One of my favorite things about Mormonism is the sense of community and I miss it tremendously. I still love the Church, the Gospel and the rich history of the Restoration. I still have faith. But I am not afraid to discuss the interesting and often tough issues.
I wish there was a Sunstone Ward, actually a whole freakin Stake. The irony of being in a town that is 80% LDS and being completely isolated is hard to believe, but it’s very true.
I think anyone who gets involved with Mormon Studies or Sunstone risks being marginalized at Church. I guess that’s the calculated risk people take.
Comment # 1 by Tom Grover | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Ah, brother Tom, how well I know this place you lament!
Yes, the risk of becoming a serious seeker will always be that of being marginalized at Church by those who fear being defiled more than they fear not loving well enough. It is no true loss, friend! Look at how many new friends you have in this virtual community.
Comment # 2 by Eugene Kovalenko | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
HI Jana, Your link for Elise doesn’t seem to be working, at least not for me right now. As for my Sunstone, it usually ends up buried in the clutter somewhere. I’m about the only reader at our house right now, but occasionally my husband will read some of it. I’m not sure how many people in my ward would even know what it was if they saw it. I do remember the good old days when I lived in a ward in Ann Arbor where everyone discussed the latest issue at church as soon as the issue had arrived.
Comment # 3 by paula | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Paula–
The Elise link should open up into a new browser window. I just tested it and it seems to be working for me. Can other readers try it and see what happens?
Yes, I am also often surprised by the numbers of Mos who haven’t heard of Sunstone. What a shame.
I keep my copy of the latest Sunstone in a basket by the toilet rather than in the LR. It’s more likely to get read that way
Comment # 4 by Jana | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Hi Jana, the link is working now, just fine. I tried two or three times before. Oh well…
Comment # 5 by paula | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
I can hardly imagine having to worry about what’s on our coffeetable these days, having been excommunicated twice. Was it really that bad so long ago?
The only comparison I can imagine is when I first went to Russia back in 1973-4 as a businessman. Even though I was out of the church in those days, I was still a missionary over there, making them aware of the similarities between my mother’s people, the Mormon pioneers and my father’s people, the Russian/Ukrainian revolutionaries. The big ideological picture of the Soviets was the same as for Mormons: “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” The only real ideological difference was a lilttle quibbling about God. Their behavior over there was the same as our behavior over here. Their success with this grand motto is the same as ours here: it hasn’t worked.
Since I didn’t want to get into quibbling, I concentrated on issues of common interest, such as trade and commerse, science and music. Any time I could, I would ask to sing a Russian or Ukrainian folk song. Inevitably the stiffness and defenses would dissappear and I would frequently be invited to come to the home of one of my contacts. It was a wonderful eyeopener. They would often have copies of their “Soviet Life” lying around on their coffeetables. But that was before Sunstone, else I would have exchanged my copy for theirs.
Comment # 6 by Zhenya | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
I don’t know anything about a CES ban, but our Institute library has a good collection of Sunstone, Dialogue, the new biographies of Smith, McKay, and Kimball, the JPS Torah commentary and others, as well as the Ensign, etc.
I’m curious what exactly this supposed ban covers.
Comment # 7 by Ben | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Ben: I’m very impressed. I wonder if CES rules are different in various regions?? I know BYU subscribes to Sunstone and Dialogue, but I don’t think they use them in their Religion classes
Comment # 8 by Jana | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Paula: You were right, the link was buggy (it only seemed to work for me) until John fixed it this morning. Thanks for the heads up.
Comment # 9 by Jana | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Jana and Tom: Why do I suddenly feel invisible? Please help me understand.
Comment # 10 by Zhenya | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Comment # 7 by:
Ben October 7, 2006 | 1:15 pm
I don’t know anything about a CES ban, but our Institute library has a good collection of Sunstone, Dialogue, the new biographies of Smith, McKay, and Kimball, the JPS Torah commentary and others, as well as the Ensign, etc.
I’m curious what exactly this supposed ban covers.
I reply:
CES personnel who publish in Sunstone or Dialogue, or who attend a Sunstone Symposium will be dismissed from their employment with CES. Similarly, if it is discovered by the people who run CES that their personnel write anything on Internet discussion lists of which they do not approve, they will be terminated. It has happened.
Comment # 11 by Preston Bissell | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Preston, do you know when this kind of anti-intellectual CES intimidation began? Surely not during Lowell Bennion’s tenure! The only way such intimidation can survive is that good people turn a blind eye to its evils in the name of “obedience”. That’s the way it was in my dad’s native land, until a new breed of bright, well intended young leadership (Gorbachev, et al) came into power and managed to make an accurate assessment of the world situation. Only then could they work out a creative and effective stategy for chang. Thus was born a bloodless revolution called perestroika.
Comment # 12 by Zhenya | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Preston, you write:
I don’t want to threadjack here, so let’s not allow this to turn into a huge deal, but this seems like a bit of hyperbole to me. Granted that there may be a couple of cases where some CES people have fallen to overzealous managers, but I doubt this is an across-the-board institutional policy.
Jana, to your original post, when Dan and I golfed with my father, Dan gave him a copy of Sunstone. I didn’t think very much of it, until my mother recently asked me if I had any more of those magazines. It turns out she read it cover to cover and loved it. Wha??? (Sorry mom, you are now being used as an example on the internet). I should share the publication more, and I think this demonstrates really how broad the appeal of Sunstone is - it just suffers from some lack of awareness, but it actually has elements to appeal to a broad section of readers.
So, I’m taking advantage of the gift subscription rate offered by Sunstone. It’s a great deal! And now mom can have her own copies.
I’m also thinking of extending such a gift subscription to my home teachers and wife’s visiting teachers. It’s only common courtesy, seeing as we are the recipients of the kind gift subscriptions to the Ensign.
In all seriousness, I absolutely second your encouraging words to subscribe, as the upcoming issues have some very interesting and uplifting articles, and we will be discussing them here.
Comment # 13 by Rory | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Rory #13: Funny, I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing (gifting a subscription of Sunstone to a few friends). I had just resolved the other day to select 4 people, at least 2 or 3 of them from my ward, and send them gift subscriptions (only $29/subscription) by the end of the year.
To everyone: I’m not afraid of leaving a copy of Sunstone on my coffee table, but because my kids tear our Ensign, Fortune, EW, etc. magazines to shreads, I keep Sunstone out of reach.
I’ve occaisionally caught myself stammering self-consciously, or bracing myself, when I mention my affiliation with (or interest in) Sunstone to a fellow Mormon I don’t know well. I guess I have that momentary fear of being judged (or, as my old BYU roommates lovingly call it, “faith raped”). It’s the same feeling I get when I mention an R-rated movie I might have seen. (Ironically, its the same feeling I get when I tell a “Gentile” I’m Mormon.) In any case, more times than not, I’ve found that most people have never heard of Sunstone. So far, nobody has given me a dirty look when I’ve mentioned Sunstone. Knock on wood.
The experiences of Ben (#7) and Preston (#11) both reflect reality. This is true not just for CES Institute classes, but for Priesthood/RS and SS classes worldwide. While 100% anything-goes-free-inquiry will never exist, there is a wealth of learning experience in the Mormon Church that runs the gamut from fear and strict correlation on one extreme, and relatively enlightened seeking and questioning on the other extreme. The average “center of gravity” probably rests on the correlated side of the spectrum, but there are at least some bastions where Sunstone-like discourse is happeneing out there. Possibly at Ben’s Institute.
BTW, I recently spent about 20 minutes looking through the available LDS-related titles at the BYU bookstore. Both Sunstone and Dialogue were on sale, and several Signature titles were available (though many key titles were missing, in my opinon) as well. Of course, you had to look hard to find any of these items, while BYU Studies and FARMS stuff seemed to take up half the store (for obvious reasons).
Comment # 14 by Matt Thurston | Oct 8, 2006 | Reply
Comment # 13 by:
Rory October 7, 2006 | 8:30 pm
Preston, you write:
CES personnel who publish in Sunstone or Dialogue, or who attend a Sunstone Symposium will be dismissed from their employment with CES.
I don’t want to threadjack here, so let’s not allow this to turn into a huge deal, but this seems like a bit of hyperbole to me. Granted that there may be a couple of cases where some CES people have fallen to overzealous managers, but I doubt this is an across-the-board institutional policy.
I reply:
I am pretty certain that it is “across-the-board institutional policy.” I will contact a friend of mine who was formerly employed by CES and make certain.
Comment # 15 by Preston Bissell | Oct 8, 2006 | Reply
Matt:
Thanks for reminding me that I had a few people I want to give gift subscriptions to. Took care of one of them online just now.
What an easy (and cool) gift for all of the liberal Mormons on your holdiay gift list
Comment # 16 by jana | Oct 8, 2006 | Reply
Comment # 13 by:
Rory October 7, 2006 | 8:30 pm
Preston, you write:
CES personnel who publish in Sunstone or Dialogue, or who attend a Sunstone Symposium will be dismissed from their employment with CES.
I don’t want to threadjack here, so let’s not allow this to turn into a huge deal, but this seems like a bit of hyperbole to me. Granted that there may be a couple of cases where some CES people have fallen to overzealous managers, but I doubt this is an across-the-board institutional policy.
I reply:
I am pretty certain that it is “across-the-board institutional policy.” I will contact a friend of mine who was formerly employed by CES and make certain.
My CES friend tells me:
It was pretty much unwritten but understood. It was implied at every
level. We were not allowed to keep Sunstone or Dialogue in the
seminaries or to use budget funds to pay for subscritions to either.
U. Carlisle Hunsaker was told not to present a paper at Sunstone. He
was already committed to it. He was told not to tell the Sunstone
people (or anyone for that matter) that he had been instructed to
withdraw. He refused on the grounds of integrity. They would move him
to Nevada if he did present and he was unwilling to be moved so was
terminated after he presented.
They told us never to attend symposia. One teacher had been a regular
but decided not to risk his career so ceased attending. After a couple
of years of non-attendance that he had told no one about, never talked
about it, his supervisor mentioned casually that he knew the man was no
longer attending. That was chilling.
Comment # 17 by Preston Bissell | Oct 9, 2006 | Reply
As Sunstone editor, I’ve had more opportunities than most people to share issues whenever/whereever I can–and without charging myself for giving gift subscriptions. (Thank you, very much, to you who do! And thanks, Rory, for sharing that fun bit about your mom!)
The most gratifying experience in doing this though has been to see my list of ward members who I deliver issues to grow. At first, I brought new issues to only two ward friends, but over the past three years or so, primarily due to word of mouth mentions between them and other ward members that they’d read this or that in the magazine, several other ward members have sought me out to ask if they could get copies of the magazine whenever it comes out. The end result is that my delivery list is now seven copies of the magazine to members of my ward and a lot more neat conversations in the hallways and at outside gatherings than I’ve ever had before, probably half involving something they’d read in the magazine.
Sharing Sunstone has been a great blessing to me in my ward life. I’ll occasionally hear from one or two of them that something in the magazine struck them as a bit too flippant or adventurous for their taste, but they recognize that the occasional discomfort they feel doesn’t invalidate all the good things they find. But most of all, my experience in sharing the magazine and conversting with my neighbors in the ward has really opened my eyes to the fact that even though people may seem in every visible way and in their Sunday School rote responses to be super conservative, “every one of life’s challenges handled by the gospel no sweat” kind of folks, they’re not. There is a lot going on in everyone’s life that opens them in some way to new ideas and an awareness of the need for deepened understanding. Thanks to my experiences sharing Sunstone, I’m far less cynical about who is sitting alongside me in the chapel pews.
Cheers!
Dan Wotherspoon
Comment # 18 by Dan | Oct 9, 2006 | Reply
Dan, your experience in your ward is a perfect example of the “recrystallization of the Church” metaphor [see my Sunstone Symposium paper Annnealing and Healing], where new, relaxed and well ordered grains (new crystals) are able to grow within a stressed metal to allow it to be once again more flexible and able to absorb new stress and to be reformed.
Comment # 19 by Zhenya | Oct 9, 2006 | Reply
“CES personnel who publish in Sunstone or Dialogue, or who attend a Sunstone Symposium will be dismissed from their employment with CES.”
I had heard this, but it’s not the same as being prohibited from discussing any of the content of said publications in a lesson.
CES has loosened up, I believe, if such stories are true. Or at least, CES outside of Utah is different.
Comment # 20 by Ben | Oct 10, 2006 | Reply