I think there's hope for NOMs in the emergence of the new "New Mormon Humor" that was started by Calvin Grondahl in the 80s and continues today through Grondahl and other cartoonists, as well as several satirists and essayists, including Robert Kirby. As GK Chesterton said, one measure of a good religion is its ability to laugh at itself. It is a great way for me to relieve the stress of being a Mormon. Has anyone else experienced this?

_Irreantum_, a new Mormon literary magazine, has a special edition at press right now on Mormon humor that many NOMs would be interested in. You can subscribe to it or get it by simply becoming a member of The Assoc. for Mormon Letters (AML). It features an interview with Robert Kirby, along with essays by Elouise Bell and Ann Edwards Cannon, two other noted Mormon humorists. Of course, Sunstone carries a lot of humor as well. Signature books is, IMHO, the best publisher of Mormon humor, and a lot of it can even be used in church meetings.

I also find humor to be an effective tool to bind NOMs to their more orthodox community and vice versa so long as the humor isn't too barbed coming from the NOMs. It is in many ways a "gift of the spirit" that can be spread around and it becomes infectious. Even President Hinckley himself uses humor, and that endears him to me.


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Jesus said: let one who seeks not stop seeking until he finds; and upon finding, he will be disturbed; and being disturbed, will be astounded; and will reign over the entirety; and reigning he will have rest. (Saying 2 Gospel of Thomas/Oxyrynchus Fragment)

:PTRMXP@

I couldn't agree more with you (This would be good location for a parenthetical Marxist {a la Groucho, not Karl} remark. But at the moment I have none).

I find humor to be an important thread in every aspect of life. Meetings are much more enjoyable and often more meaningful when some wit, irony or other humor is included. Comments and questions that might be (mis)construed as biting or heretical can become palatable in the sauce of humor (One must be judicious about sauciness in meetings though).

I enjoy Grondahl's cartoons enormously. I find they can be effective conversation helps in discussing what otherwise might be too delicate to approach. I was a fan of Benson & Bagley's material in the Daily Universe in earlier years. We need to remember that light heartedness is not always the same as 'light mindedness' and even the latter has its place.

I've been a fan of Robert Kirby since I first read his stuff in the Utah County Journal. He's the main reason I go to the SL Trib on the web periodically.

How does one subscribe to the journal you mentioned. Does the AML have a website?


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It takes all sorts to make a church and I see no sense in pretending to be the mormon norm when one is not.
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"The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best -- and therefore never scrutinize or question." -Stephen Jay Gould
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"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King, Jr., Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963

Message edited by: Dathon on 07/06/2001 21:57:50

Reply to : Dathon

Here's the website for Irreantum:

http://www.xmission.com/~aml/irreantum.htm

Irreantum is a good publication IMO and fairly inexpensive. Every issue has an interview with a prominent Mormon author, as well as essays, fiction, poetry, Mormon publishing news and book reviews. For instance there was an excellent Levi Peterson (liberal Mormon novelist and short story write) interview, and then a Rachel Nunes (Mormon romance novelist) interview that was also interesting if you like romance novels or aspire to write. The attempt is to cover Mormon letters broadly and ignore Mormon theology and doctrine, and thereby retain a mainstream audience. Unlike Sunstone or Dialogue, it is a cultural magazine, which should appeal to NOMs.

There's even a new humor dept. with regular humor pieces.


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Jesus said: let one who seeks not stop seeking until he finds; and upon finding, he will be disturbed; and being disturbed, will be astounded; and will reign over the entirety; and reigning he will have rest. (Saying 2 Gospel of Thomas/Oxyrynchus Fragment)

Reply to Lorenzo:

Thank you very much I will check the link and I may subscribe. It sounds like a promising publication. It might have been a long time before I came across it without your friendly notice.

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It takes all sorts to make a church and I see no sense in pretending to be the mormon norm when one is not.
----
"The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best -- and therefore never scrutinize or question." -Stephen Jay Gould
----
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King, Jr., Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963

Humorous coping strategies:

Speak of yourself only in the third person and begin each response in a church class with 'And it came to pass . . .' or 'Yea, verily'.

Bring a fork to church. Periodically hold it up in front of your eye and pretend that everybody is in spirit prison, and it's up to you to teach them to lighten up.

Increase the speed at which you walk, move and speak on fast Sundays.

When called upon to read a passage in SS, RS or PM recite several verses from the Song of Solomon instead of the assigned passage.

When discussing a particular scripture in class insist on checking ALL of the cross references, both those noted from the verse and in the Topical Guide or Concordance.

Take a vow of silence one Sunday each month. Make a card that indicates you are not speaking that day to show people. The following week wear earplugs and have a card to indicate you are extending the vow of silence to others.

Wear a T-shirt to ward socials that says 'Body piercing saved my life'

Put a Darwin fish on the back of your car.




-------------------------
It takes all sorts to make a church and I see no sense in pretending to be the mormon norm when one is not.
----
"The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best -- and therefore never scrutinize or question." -Stephen Jay Gould
----
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King, Jr., Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963

Dathon,

LOL! Have you ever actually tried any of these? My favorite was the earplugs!

I like to sing alternative lyrics to the hymns, loud enough so only my husband can hear me. He does it too. Have you checked out that alternative hymnal I gave you?

Gracie

Reply to : gracie

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Dathon,LOL! Have you ever actually tried any of these? My favorite was the earplugs!I like to sing alternative lyrics to the hymns, loud enough so only my husband can hear me. He does it too. Have you checked out that alternative hymnal I gave you?Gracie

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Reply to : Lorenzo

Lorenzo,

I can play, and now I feel like volunteering to do the prelude JUST so I could try this. Remember The Big Chill when a character played the Stones' "You can't always get what you want" on the organ? I've always wanted to try that. What other tunes would be good? Hmmmm.

I can't get no satisfaction

Losing my religion

So many men; so little time

You're havin' my baby

Gracie

R to G:

Music and the Broken Word -- yep! I page through it periodically. It's an equal opportunity satire. Toscano and Grondahl are just all right with me. My older children laugh nervously at the book and are generally willing to laugh at absurdities in Mormon Culture. My older son pointed out at the name change flap that we can still refer to Mormon culture since so much of it has little or nothing to do with real doctrine or theology. I take that as a positive sign.

I love good parody, and I'm tolerant of mediocre parody most of the time. I used to write poetry spoofs and the odd set of alternate lyrics for popular songs or church hymns. I don't know if I gravitated to education because of that or if teaching middle school reinforced it.

There were a couple of Elders in my mission who were gifted musicians who loved to improvise. Each would play jazz or pop variations of hymns ala Hi Ho Mozart or Bibity bobity Bach. I thought it was great but some folks found it offensive. Go figure.

I'd love to hear Whiter shade of pale as prelude music. Stairway to Heaven would be another good one. I also find myself singing alternative lyrics now and then. I have a bad habit of taking satirical notes on High Council talks that I find overly ponderous and pontifical.

I think I've done most of those alternative stress reducing activities in meetings sometime; though most of them were back during my HS and early college years when I was less inhibited. It's amazing how many people don't know anything about the Song of Solomon outside of the novel. Since I've 'matured' I've done the fork exercise in diverse ways, sometimes as an object lesson.
Taking a vow of silence for a 3 hour block can be very therapeutic; just smile and nod or shake your head. (a card is useful to explain to the persistant types who try to insist you speak.) I got some ear plugs about a month ago and decided to wear them and just read scriptures on Sunday -- I didn't make the card up but I thought it might be fun. Maybe next week <G>.