Apologies to Teresa, I haven't been reading ML very long, so I didn't realize how redundant my post was (what a horrid sentence, I apologize for that, as well).
Since I knew nothing about Mormonism until I married my husband, I foolishly assume that most people don't know much about it, either. So, again, I'm sorry for making such an assumption. Thanks Xopher for hitting me with the clue stick.
ethan @ #604: I'm also a high-school dropout! Although, in my case, it was a complete technicality. (Long story shortened: for medical reasons, I had been excused from P.E. since I was in elementary school and I was told my senior year of high school that the rules had changed and now I had to make up the missing P.E. credits with electives, which could only be done in summer school after I "graduated" with my class. I could've petitioned the CA State Board of Education to over-throw the school district's new rules, and I probably would've won, but I didn't care anymore by that point.) I'm not particularly successful (by my own standards) but I'd be glad to help your friend with her project. It's something I've been thinking about doing, as well, because a high school diploma nowadays is completely meaningless, but yet those of us without them are frowned upon because we are presumed to be really, really stupid. I'm thrilled that your friend is taking on the project.
Your friend might be interested in the fact that, although I'm a high school dropout, both of my parents were teachers at the time (now retired) and my Dad actually taught for 30 years at my high school. Between the two of them, they taught for almost 70 years and you would think they would've been upset that I never got my diploma but they agreed that the system is completely flawed and they certainly weren't going to force me to take electives.
(Does being a dropout make me cool like Patrick? And yes, I think Patrick is cool.)
Teresa @ #460:
"Yes. It's called 'being Mormon'."
But do you all know WHY geneaology is so important to them? So they can baptize the dead.
My husband was raised Mormon and his family has traced (a portion) of their ancestors back to Brigham Young's time. In fact, they learned that one of their ancestors, a General Higbee, helped Brigham engineer the Mountain Meadows Massacre on September 11th, 1857.
They've also recently learned that their ancestors came over on the Mayflower, and when I gently pointed out that they must have been Pilgrims, I got yelled at by my grandfather-in-law. Even though good ol' Joe Smith hadn't been born yet, they were still Mormons, gosh darn it.
Anyways. Part of being an active Mormon is performing Baptisms For the Dead. Without going into the Mormon idea of afterlife ('cause it's whacked), by baptizing their dead relatives, those relatives can then travel to whatever planet the baptizers are on and they all be together in the afterlife.
My husband has done hundreds of these (according to him) baptisms and it basically involves being in the Temple, having a church member say the dead person's name aloud while the baptizer (my husband, in this case) thinks about that name while water is dumped on his head. He said it takes a few seconds per baptism and they'll baptize as many dead people as they can until their live volunteers get tired of kneeling and having water dumped on their head.
Since I know my mother-in-law is hoping to out-live me JUST so she can baptize me after I'm dead, I've already petitioned the LDS church to leave my dead soul alone.
Also thanks Xopher @ #471 for the information about Gardnerian Wiccans. I've been a practicing solitary witch since I was sixteen (and no, my Mormon in-laws have no idea that I'm a practicing witch because I'm sure we can all imagine how well THAT would go over with them) and I didn't realize that I might not be considered a "real Wiccan" by some Gardnerian Wiccans. Although I'm with you on the matter--I don't care what people think about the fact that I practice witchcraft (I have gotten prejudice from some covens who try to tell me that I'm not really Wiccan since I'm a solitary practitioner, which does hurt a bit).
And thanks to Fragano @ #324 for enlightening me about pooter. I thought it was some bizarre colloquialism and, of course, knowing what it means doesn't help me figure out that wretched sentence (not your fault, I just can't figure out how someone's expression could be reminiscent of genitalia). Although it did make for some odd imagery.
And (the last one) abi @ #454: Ha! I thought the same thing when I was reading the thread! After trying to figure out the pooter-faced thing, it was nice to think about The Man in Black (not Johnny Cash).
Longtime lurker and newbie poster.
This was a fun (and enlightening) way to spend my working day (don't tell my boss).
#215 (C.E.): Thanks for the DNSStuff link. I have a feeling that is going to come in handy for many of us (me, I'm just nosy but some of you will put that to great use researching the disemvowelled, I hope that I never fall into that category).
Also don't know if this link has been posted yet (I combed the page a few times and didn't find it) but here's another lovely excerpt from Ms. Noonan's "Backwoods East Jesus."
Deep In The Reverend's Closet--K. Noonan
Can anyone help me figure out what she means by saying someone was "pooter-faced?" And just for fun, I did a find to see how many times the word "like" popped up in the fiction excerpt because it's all over her poorly written blog.
Seven times. Seems like a lot of like for a small excerpt.
Also--Does anyone have any idea why she yanked the blog so quickly? She posted here yesterday (#30) telling you all that no amount of flaming would make her shut down the blog and yet the blog was shut down 24 hours later.
Seems odd.
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| 2007 | 4 |
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