Welcome Back, at long last, to the TBM Podcast!

Episode 12 is our long-awaited “Books for Boys” episode, recorded several months ago. It was rumored that this episode lay in a secret chamber along with the 116 lost pages of the Book of Mormon. Some even wondered if “the real Episode 12 is all the friends we made along the way.” But joyfully, here it is for your listening pleasure. (more…)

[“Instead of just standing there watching, can you get me more popsicle sticks for my important STEM work?”]

Coming home from work today, my daughter greeted me with, “Daddy, look what I made in STEM today!” This year the kids have been attending a 2-day/week homeschool co-op. “STEM” is one of their subjects, and yes, it stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.”.

What she made was a little caterpillar marionette, constructed of colored fuzzballs on a string, draped from a popsicle stick. It was cute, and I am a proud papa. It’s the perfect sort of activity for a six-year-old. It was also what in a more innocent age would have been called “arts and crafts” rather than anything to do with “STEM.”  (more…)

My oldest will be old enough for Kindergarten in the fall. The small talk question of the moment from our fellow parents is, “Where are you enrolling him?” In our school district, that’s more than a geography question. It’s a big district with more or less open enrollment, and they’ve done an admirable job of making sure there is an abundance of options. Gifted programs, foreign language immersion schools, charter schools with a patriotic focus, etc.

He won’t be going to any of those, however. As we’ve anticipated since before he was born, he’s going to be homeschooled.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you homeschooling? Is it for academic or moral reasons or what?”

No one asks these questions of parents who send their kids to the Japanese immersion school. (more…)

I guess I should be encouraged that 150 students were willing to walk out of their classes to protest the arrival of perversity and Orwellian mind control at their high school. But they left out the essential second step. In order for this to have been a truly successful blow against the System, they needed to:

1. Leave Class (check)
2. Never Go Back (sadly incomplete)

The battle won’t be won until the schools are ghost towns, their derelict buildings are burnt to the ground, and the former campus littered with land mines to prevent even the thought of building another school there.

P.S. The “There are monkey-boys in the facility” category is unusually apt for this post.

While once trying to explain to a non-Mormon friend why missionaries had such a strict dress code, I talked about showing respect for others, about norms of economic equality between rich and poor missionaries, but none of it seemed to register. Finally I said, “Look, becoming a missionary is like joining the Army. They have a collective goal, and everything is focused on that goal, to the point where things that you might otherwise find bothersome really don’t matter. If you are so concerned about individuality that you resent having to wear a uniform, then you are probably out of place there.” That made sense to him.

That sparked a years-long reflection on my part about how many aspects of Christianity in general, and Mormonism in particular, make more sense if you remember the words of the hymn, “We are all enlisted ’til the conflict is o’er.” As I’ll explain in more detail below, points of doctrine or Church history that might be troubling and confusing become less so when one realizes that we are in a spiritual war.

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Mrs. MC: Did you tell our son that he could head-butt Jerome [a boy in his preschool class]?

MC: No.

Mrs. MC: Why does he think you told him that? (more…)

I did a search for “BYU” on Twitter on Saturday night to look for articles about the Cougars’ thrilling basketball victory over Gonzaga.* Instead I got a steady stream of 17- and 18-year-old Mormon kids either celebrating getting into BYU or lamenting their rejection letters. It’s that time of year. (more…)

Those words would be as good an answer as I could give to the question originally addressed to Conan the Barbarian: “What is best in life?”

But they’re actually taken from this passage: (more…)

[Editors–we hope that this unusual account of a Church-run focus group, along with the ensuing discussion, will be of general interest]

The church was mostly quiet last night. Brother and Sister Markoff were in the cultural hall with their two younger children planning the stage arrangement for the Christmas program Sister Markoff has been rehearsing with Primary children for the past month. There was no sign of anyone downstairs around the bishop’s and clerks’ offices. Back upstairs, outside the Relief Society room, a few middle-aged parents sat waiting and talking. More arrived. Brother Fletcher joked that we were going to find we had came for a half hour presentation encouraging us to prepare for senior missions. Some continued along that theme that we had actually been summoned to discuss lowering the age for senior missionaries. A quarter before eight, the Relief Society door opened, and four priests and six laurels walked out. In we went, where a man in his young thirties sat dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and tie.

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