Symposium Recap - Salt Lake 2008
My first Salt Lake Symposium as Director of Outreach and Symposia is behind me. Whew!
I’m elated about the positive feedback on the event, unsurprised about most of the complaints, a little sad–and a lot relieved–that it’s over, and I’m already thinking ahead for the 2009 symposium 12-15 August.
We’re working on getting the mp3 audio recordings ready to upload to the Sunstone web site. In the meantime, you can read some of the news and blog coverage of the symposium here:
A photo from the La Vida Online panel on www.dooce.com
Salt Lake Tribune coverage of the Sex and the Young Mormon Soul panel discussion; the panel, Does the BYU Honor Code Honor Mormon Values?; a presentation entitled Mormon Nudists: Naked and Not Ashamed; and a story about Affirmation’s Sunstone session, The Expression of Spirituality of the Rising Gay Generation, and Affirmation’s attempts to meet with LDS church leaders.
The Deseret News covered the session, Mormon Motherhood: Choice or Destiny? and the Affirmation-sponsored session on the spirituality of gay and lesbian Mormons, a session on environmental sustainability and a discussion of Mormons and the Cross.
The Deseret News also compared treatment of race at Sunstone and the FAIR conferences.
Q Salt Lake covered four sessions of interest to the gay and lesbian community.
And then there’s the blog coverage:
A photo opp from the La Vida Online panel.
A personal wrap-up on the symposium and the text of this contributor’s This I Believe statement.
A review from a participant.
The discussion at By Common Consent and Times and Seasons.
Know of any other places where the 2008 Symposium is being discussed? Were there any sessions you found especially compelling or provocative?
Please add your two cents (or more) to the discussion. I’d love to hear what you thought about this year’s symposium!
August 12th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Oops, I misposted this comment. Here it is again, hopefully in the right place.
For me the highlight of the symposium was Susan Skoor’s deeply moving Pillars of my Faith story. It was the essence of the Divine Feminine, spoken with grace, simplicity, honesty, vulnerability, transparency and humility. Hers is a fearless, timeless example for any spiritual leader. When I took her hand to look into her eyes the next day, I reminded her of a “typo” in a letter written at the death of her beloved John: “The Lord works in mysterious ‘waves’ his wonders to perform…” She remembered and squeezed my hand. It made my day and the symposium.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
A few other Blogs talking about Sunstone:
Zelophehad’s Daughters:
http://zelophehadsdaughters.com/2008/08/14/crises-of-faith/
Mormon Matters:
http://mormonmatters.org/2008/08/13/the-sunstone-report/
Bored in Vernal:
http://kolobiv.blogspot.com/2008/08/gods-in-embryo.html
August 16th, 2008 at 10:04 am
[...] I’d expect to discuss it, like Mormon Matters had little to say. The Sunstone Blog had up a brief recap with links to newspaper stories. BCC had up an open thread on it. T&S had up a discussion that [...]
August 16th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
This was my first symposium, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next one!
What stuck out to me the most, besides the strong sense of community, was the inartificial outreach to new ideas and ways of thinking.
Before going I was a little afraid that many of the sessions were going to be a repeat of what was already discussed in the Bloggernacle. This turned out to be not true, and I always left the sessions filled with new ideas.
The highlights for me were the “pillars of my faith”, human deification”, and “why we stay” sessions. They were the most tangible and helped me in my experience of Mormonism.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
That’s odd… my comment didn’t show up. Do they require approval first?
August 21st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Weird… whenever I try to post a link, my comment doesn’t show.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Chris,
Can you resend your comment to me and I’ll post it? mary.ellen at sunstonemagazine dot com.