From Angst to Enlightenment: Reflections on Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool

May 15, 2016 By Guest Contributor

Editor’s Note: This review comes to us from guest contributor Brandon Habermeyer. You can read more of his reviews and commentary at his blog, DonaMajicShow and follow him on Twitter @DonaMajicShow. Radiohead’s latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool, has been out for a week now and continues to unsettle, dismantle and weirdly uplift me. It plays on auto-loop wherever I go, quietly getting under my skin and dissolving my expectations. This seems to be the standard the band has set since Kid A, always 15 steps... Read more

Trans Win: Federal Government to Sue North Carolina

May 13, 2016 By Nic Jensen

The Department of Justice recently announced it will be suing North Carolina for House Bill 2–an anti-trans law that requires individuals to use the bathroom of their assigned gender at birth. This is in addition to the other ways that HB 2 hurts the LGBTQ community, such as invalidating several LGBTQ anti-discrimination measures that local North Carolina governments enacted. Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in as US Attorney General just over a year ago, held a press conference this past... Read more

Mormonism Doesn’t Have a Monopoly on Rape Culture: It’s Just an Easy Target

May 10, 2016 By Emily Belanger

I’m normally a fan of Peggy Fletcher Stack’s articles at the Salt Lake Tribune, but her recent article, “How outdated Mormon teachings may be aiding and abetting ‘rape culture’ “ strikes me as irresponsible. In the article, Peggy Fletcher Stack and co-author Erin Alberty recount anecdotal evidence that Mormon culture and teachings support rape culture, such as a bishop who, upon learning a woman had been raped, responded “let’s begin the repentance process,” or outdated 19th-century language in the Book of... Read more

What BYU’s Honor Code Office Doesn’t Understand About Trauma is Endangering Victims

April 21, 2016 By Emily Belanger

By now, I’m guessing you’ve heard about BYU’s track record of using Title IX investigations about alleged instances of sexual assault as an opportunity to investigate the alleged victim for any potential honor code violation, a track record that may not only discourage victims from coming forward but may even, in one extreme case, interfere with a criminal case. For their part, BYU and the Honor Code Office are firmly denying that they would ever punish someone for being assaulted. the... Read more

Ritual and Renewal in Zootopia

April 11, 2016 By mhaycock

If you haven’t seen Zootopia, go. Despite the fact that it is a Disney animated feature, it deals with some pertinent and broadly applicable social issues with nearly unmatched thoughtfulness. And the thoughtfulness isn’t accidental–the team that made the movie put a lot of effort into crafting it. It’s well worth your time and, as the post below is mostly about the ending of the film, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Furthermore, the use of animals here... Read more

Where Is Mormonism On Civil Rights?

March 28, 2016 By Guest Contributor

This week I went to an anti-racism rally here in Lexington, Virginia in response to Ku Klux Klan fliers being dropped around town. It was such a remarkable experience. It was uplifting and awesome for a multitude of reasons. I got to hear people stand and repudiate the KKK. A black Washington and Lee professor stood up and called on us to examine more than just the clearly racist actions of a few; to be introspective in how we are... Read more

Ted Cruz’s Weak Islamaphobia

March 22, 2016 By Cody Ray Shafer

In the aftermath of this morning’s tragic terrorist attack in Brussels, each presidential candidate is jumping at the chance to say something profound and earth shattering in defense of all that is good and decent. For Ted Cruz, the word that will change everything is simply “Islam.” We will name our enemy — radical Islamic terrorism. And we will defeat it. https://t.co/Z7YTgUg3AA — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 22, 2016 In his mind, the Obama administration hasn’t described terrorism as... Read more

Should We Be Worried About Donald Drumpf’s Mind Control Powers?

March 11, 2016 By Cody Ray Shafer

I’m starting to come up with new, helpful ways of framing the 2016 Executive Champion Deathmatch (formerly known as the presidential election) and with each new development, the details just get weirder and weirder. At this point, no theory is too wild to explain what could possibly be happening. For instance, Ben Carson, everyone’s favorite, lovable, ambien-personified candidate has now dropped out of the race and endorsed Donald Drumpf. As a pair, the two are about as far on the personality spectrum... Read more

Ammon, before Trump

March 5, 2016 By mhaycock

On social media I passed along a quip that, while Donald Trump is applying to be president with no political experience, listing for even menial entry-level positions include years of experience as prerequisites. Several minutes later, someone I know–a young, high school-educated, lower-class, white male–privately messaged me the following: Give it a rest, loser. Trump’s going to be President and you can’t stop him. ^^ He will send my RACIST co-workers [context note: they are non-white] back to where they came from. Sorry... Read more

Release the Romney

March 4, 2016 By J. Paul Valley

Colbert’s making jokes about Romney again. It’s like 2012 never really left us. #MormonMoment2point0 It’s enough to make me yearn for the good ‘ol days, when Mittens was a regular on The Colbert Report: Like Peculiar People on Facebook: BlogName Read more