YSA 1st Stake

[Portia]

I like the communal feeling of regular ward meetings, and Stake Conference messes with that routine. If only Dieter Uchtdorf could just always be the guest speaker . . .

I actually really second the idea that 23-, 24- and 25-year-olds, if they like it, should put a ring on it. But I don't know if I have ever met anyone LDS who could be married but simply hadn't thought of it before. I feel like social conditions are unfavorable for many reasonably smart, attractive, people in this age group to get married, and I honestly have yet to meet anyone who traded their honeymoon for an FF. I'm not offended when leaders state this, so much as I find it sort of funny and unrealistic. I don't know if women widely differ from men in this respect, but trust me, I might part with at least one (but no more than three) major organs to be married right now. I mocked it mercilessly in my youth, but that gathering rosebuds stuff that embittered (but not jealous!) lady hates has merit, because in Mormon culture, it seems to be near-impossible to get married off the "track," as so hilariously elucidated by the board answer about Semester weddings. (It's funny because it's true!) Organizing weddings in "the real world," post-college, seems to be very difficult unless you are fabulously wealthy or have an incredible amount of free time and patience.

In short, kudos to my bishopric and their wives. Mrs. B., especially, is the bomb!

...who are you, and what have you done with Portia?

Lest you forget, I am no more "Portia of Belmont" than you are the director of the Tabernacle Choir. I very much care about maintaining a good social standing among my family and friends, so if I launched into my causes celebres in inappropriate fora, I would lose a lot for no gain. I'm not dumb, just opinionated. I highlight different parts of my personality depending on if I am at work teaching math to a fourth grader or on the phone with a boyfriend: why would my online life be a perfectly transparent copy of my societal self? This is one of my biggest beefs with Monsignor Zuckerberg: fat chance that self-editing is "lying" or missing out on some "authenticity." You know what you'd call someone who said everything they thought, all the time? Mentally ill, or Sue Sylvester.

[Craig Jessop]

I would like to point out that Mack Wilberg is director of the Tabernacle Choir. I am currently employed in Logan.

[Avery]

This reply is kind of irrelevant now, but I just read this thread and wanted to post my thoughts on the conference, since I'm in that stake, and I happened to talk to a number of people about their perception of the Sunday session that same day. (And I kinda want to rant for a bit.)

Although I can see how it could be controversial, at least, none of the people I talked to about their perception of the conference mentioned the ERA comments, except during conference my roommate did ask me to explain to her what it was. Generally, people remembered how every talk except for two-- one which was largely a conversion story, and the other which was about covenants--were about marriage. And a lot of them felt really guilty because they weren't married or seriously dating someone, no matter how old they were. I do think that they had a, "it's not a sin to be single," section of the conference, but since the whole thing was about how wonderful marriage is, that didn't sink in for a lot of people.

The main thing that bugged me was that marriage was discussed so much more than Christ or any other doctrine. Mostly I noticed that He was mentioned in the hymns and the closing of prayers. It made me want to say, "Hey, this isn't the Church of Eternal Matrimony and Lovely Domestic Statistics, there are other parts of the gospel." The parts about specific parenting techniques also seemed like a weird topic for a YSA ward. I think it was the same lady who mentioned the ERA who also spent a good amount of time talking about how touched she was at how a certain father had handled his daughters' rowdy thumbwar matches. This started lots of thumbwars. And the poetry, a lot of which I thought emphasized how the man's wife fit the Mormon-culture-ideal-image, as well as his love for her, just kinda made me think, "Alrighty, then."

It seemed like everyone speaking meant well, but to me it just seemed kind of over the top. Another interesting fact is that the 1st Stake also just had a Stake Dance, which was advertised as a strictly guys-must-ask and only-couples-may-attend deal. In my ward, the week before, the stake activity reps went through, asked the Priesthood to who had already arranged dates, guilted everyone who hadn't lined up a date yet, and then went to the Relief Society to report the statistics and give tips for hinting. Fun times.

[Katya]

The main thing that bugged me was that marriage was discussed so much more than Christ or any other doctrine. Mostly I noticed that He was mentioned in the hymns and the closing of prayers. It made me want to say, "Hey, this isn't the Church of Eternal Matrimony and Lovely Domestic Statistics, there are other parts of the gospel."

Let's be friends.

[wired]

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=10979

[Craig Jessop]

It seemed like everyone speaking meant well, but to me it just seemed kind of over the top. Another interesting fact is that the 1st Stake also just had a Stake Dance, which was advertised as a strictly guys-must-ask and only-couples-may-attend deal. In my ward, the week before, the stake activity reps went through, asked the Priesthood to who had already arranged dates, guilted everyone who hadn't lined up a date yet, and then went to the Relief Society to report the statistics and give tips for hinting. Fun times.

Ah, I remember how that felt. I also remember being told how apostate I was when I told my roommates that I had no intention of going, stake president mandated event or not. Imagine my surprise when I found out that not all YSA stakes (or roommates!) are like that...