Recently my alma mater, Brigham Young, mailed a request for donations. To my great surprise, it was addressed to a woman I’ve never met: Emily Ashcroft. You see, my husband’s name is Gary Ashcroft, which leads to all sorts of mix ups where people assume I go by his last name. When we got married, generous people wrote out checks to “Gary and Emily Ashcroft” without realizing that I had no way to deposit them. And every time... Read more

There’s no denying the historic nature of Saturday’s sustaining vote for two new apostles. Elder Gerrit Gong is Chinese American, while Elder Ulisses Soares was born and raised in Brazil, where he established his career before working for the Church. Like many members of the Church, I was overjoyed to see two men of color join the Quorum of the Twelve, a development I didn’t dare hope for after so many uninterrupted years with only white apostles. But there’s another... Read more

The more stories break about women who’ve been abused or sexually harassed by Mormon leaders, the more I realize how lucky I’ve been. Still, a recent guest post at The Exponent hit close to home because the writer, another Emily B, shares my first name and last initial. There are many Emily B’s in the world, but reading this article by someone with my name felt like watching another version of myself through the looking glass. It underlined how easily I could... Read more

The interview between an anonymous woman and Joseph Bishop, a former MTC president, is difficult to listen to. Last night I read the entire transcript and listened to the most pertinent portions of the recording. In all literalness (and I’m a writing teacher, so I mean it when I say “literal”), it left me feeling sick to my stomach. What Happened: If you haven’t already listened, here’s the gist: the interviewer initially presents herself as a reporter who is covering... Read more

  Author’s note: I originally wrote this post months ago, just as the #MeToo compaign was getting started, long before the #MormonMeToo movement had gained momentum. Several times now, I’ve gone through this post and updated references that were outdated, but each time I’ve stopped short of posting. This post shares some stories from my extended family, and even after years of sharing these experiences, it’s still difficult to make myself vulnerable in that way. But I’ve also hesitated because... Read more

More than a week since opening night, A Wrinkle in Time has evoked some surprisingly polarizing responses. Most seem to either love or hate it, with a few taking middle-of-the-road positions. I fall into the disappointed camp after seeing it on opening night (technically the day before opening night, though I’m still not sure why the theatre can do that). Despite the misgivings that some of the later trailers gave me, I went in hoping against hope that it would... Read more