Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Divine Intervention



Things started looking brighter as soon as I woke up on Sunday morning. It was a sunny day, and we all managed to get ready and get to church on time without fighting. I even listened to all of Sacrament Meeting without reading a book. Lynn read Charly through the whole meeting -- which I thought was pretty funny since it's a Mormon story that should be teaching her to be good -- but I didn't judge her for it.

On Sunday afternoon and for the whole week I made progress on my Book of Mormon painting. It helped inspire me to do a good job on my other goals like helping my mom and obeying her willingly and being kind to my sisters. I felt like I should apologize to Lynn for telling the other girls that she played with Barbies. After all, apologizing and making amends are steps in the repentance process. But things were going well between us, and I was worried that bringing it up at all -- even to apologize -- would just cause trouble.

more ->

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Nice, friendly naked people...

Okay, one more post about funny search queries that have led people to my blog (such as the title of this post).

My earlier post may have given you the idea that every morning I'm sitting at my computer -- coffee mug in hand -- reading the logs of my blog's statcounter and chuckling over all of the hilarious search queries.

That impression would be absolutely correct.

If you found this blog through a search engine, you may rest assured that I will read your query search terms. And if they're funny, I'll have a good laugh about it!!! (But remember, I'm laughing with you, not at you. No, really!!!)

This blog attracts the most hilarious queries!!! Unfortunately, I can't give you too many examples since I don't normally save them. I was just saving the sex/nudity related ones for anthropological research, but I've stopped doing even that since it's too time-consuming.

I've saved a few, though. One confusing one I got recently was this: "how to talk to my father about the birds and the bees."

I read that one and thought: "Wait a minute -- you don't talk to your parents about the birds and the bees, you talk to your kids about that." Then I thought maybe the search query was actually typed by a kid. That made it even more confusing since I was thinking "Why do you need to ask your parents about sex if you know how to use google?"

Oh, well. Hopefully my birds and bees and whales post was helpful to this person... ;-)

But I think my all-time favorite was when someone came in on a search for "nice, friendly naked people."

Because I cover a lot of topics on this blog (living in France, literature, feminism/sexuality/politics, parenting, cultural Mormon community, Mormonism in general, my family, my fond memories, etc.), but when it comes right down to it, that's what this blog is really all about: nice, friendly naked people. ;-)

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Feminist Sexuality

After seeing your pic, it is also evident why you talk about sex so much... and having sex so much. It kind of goes back to the old joke about why fat girls are so good at giving blow jobs - they have to be. Your ramblings on having sex on the first date are beginning to add up to the age old situation - women that screw alot do it becuase the claim they love sex.. in reality, it's the only way they can spend any time with a man.

-- troll comment, circa yesterday

In the bad old days, women had no sexual autonomy. They had neither the right to have sex with the partner of their choice nor the right to refuse sex when it was ordered by their male keepers.

Feminism and women's economic independence have changed all of that. Women today have the possibility to choose to be openly sexual and still expect to be respected as people. At the same time, they have the right to refuse any unwanted sexual contact and can expect not to be condemned for that either.

Real sexual autonomy cannot exist unless both of these choices exist in a meaningful way as real possibilities (as I've already discussed here).

In practice, however, I've found that most of the feminists I've met connect very strongly on an emotional level with one of these choices or the other. That's fine, and I think it's normal. The tragedy, however, is the following:

Women get so viciously attacked for their sexual choices -- whatever they may be -- that they can't help but sometimes respond defensively by justifying their own choices as the right choices. And unfortunately that can lead to projecting one's own right choices onto other people as the only possible right choices for women. This is sad because it is basically handing the enemies of women's autonomy the strategy of divide and conquer.

Openly sexual women have always been called whores and told that they're worthless trash for it. Today many feminists say that if a woman dresses sexy and seeks out sex for fun, then it can't possibly be that she likes her body and likes sex -- it's that she's "self-objectifying" -- brainwashed to think her only worth comes from attention from men and desperate to do anything at all to get it.

One of my purposes in keeping this blog is to be a living demonstration that that myth isn't always true. Frankly -- and sorry if this sounds like bragging -- I don't think anyone in their right mind could follow my blog for any length of time and conclude that I have no self-confidence and nothing going for me. Yet despite this mountain of evidence I'm sitting on, a troll has come here and leveled this same standard, insulting charge against me, namely that I talk about sex because I need male validation and I don't have what it takes to get a man's attention any other way.

It reminds me of a diagram posted recently on one of my favorite blogs. Now I ask, which reasoning strategy does it look like my troll friend is using? ;-)

Now I know that you're not supposed to "feed the trolls" by encouraging them with attention. But the thing is that my first troll here illustrates a point I'd been specifically planning to make: that feminists shouldn't think it's "feminist" of them to slam other women's sexual choices -- even when other women make choices that you wouldn't have made yourself. You see, the thing is that from the logs, the visitor who made the insulting comment at the top of this post came in through links from a (non-religious) feminist blog. From reading the two comments, I strongly suspect that this anonymous person is someone who (in real life) would identify as feminist. Sounds crazy I know, but this comment is very similar to tons of similar comments I've received from women who think it's "feminist" of them to explain to me that my sexual choices prove that I have no self-respect.

In the same way that the anti-sex feminists shouldn't be calling the pro-sex feminists trashy losers, the pro-sex feminists shouldn't be responding with the equal and opposite accusations that women who make comments such as the above are frigid, repressed, hate their own bodies, "just need to get laid," etc.

All of these ideas will be covered (in even more excruciatingly boring detail than this ;-) ) in the book I'm planning on writing: Feminist Sexuality: Choices for All.

(This part will be covered in chapter 2: Respect me! The Lady vs. the Tramp. By the way, since I'm very busy with my whole mortgage-and-family gig, my feminist sexuality book would go a lot quicker if some publisher were to express interest. *hint, hint* ;-) And don't anybody else steal my book idea before I get it done!!! ;-) )

I have a dream that one day the lady and the tramp -- the virgin and the whore -- can join hands and call each other sisters, and call each other feminists. It won't be easy, but if we work at it, we can get there!!!

Sisterhood is powerful!!!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

So, who wants to see some sexy topless nude beach sunbathing photos?

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I've really got to stop doing that. But I can't stop because it's just too funny!!! ;-)

But I have to be honest here -- I found it at once hilarious and fascinating that my topless on the beach post attracted so many search queries from so many places around the world. I'd posted stuff about sex before, so I expected to get a few blogsearch click-throughs for it. But it really took me by surprise to see how many more searches this one attracted than any others, including posts that contained potentially harder-core key words.

The funny thing is that I feel like on some level I've found some worldwide cross-cultural common ground. I know you're thinking "Chanson, that's horrible that the one time you find some common ground among all of the nations of the world it's the discovery that guys everywhere want to look at pictures of ladies' boobies!!!" But really it's more than just that. It's pretty clear that some of these people were looking for pictures of naked men. ;-)

Plus the sneaky thing is that I didn't even post any naked pictures!!! (Well, except those silly cartoons.)

Haha, I'm such a tease!!! I was directing all of these naughty people to some discussions of feminist topics such as the above post and my other posts about feminism & sexuality.

So without further ado, I'll answer my question: "Who wants to see some sexy topless nude beach sunbathing photos?"

Idaho, Boise, United States: topless european beach
Texas, Houston, United States: photos of topless beach goers
Texas, Georgetown, United States: beach nudes
Massachusetts, Woburn, United States: "my blog" "on the beach" photo sun bathing
Bulgaria: Nude Beach mens
Virginia, Reston, United States: canadian female topless
North Carolina, Charlotte, United States: topless beach photos
South Wales, Sydney, Australia: naughty naked adventures site
England, Manchester, United Kingdom: topless british beaches
New Jersey, Willingboro, United States: first time at nude beach
India: topless french tourists
Louisiana, New Orleans, United States: GOING TOPLESS STORIES
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States: blog nude beach new jersey
England, London, United Kingdom: topless bathers
New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States: nude beach
District Of Columbia, Washington, United States: estonia topless
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, United States: topless bathers
New York, Clifton Park, United States: first time on beach topless
Colorado, Colorado Springs, United States: bikini beach topless vacation
Spain: WOMEN IN TOP LESS IN THE BEACH
California, Vacaville, United States: artful nudes
Connecticut, Bridgeport, United States: marseille nude beach
Noord-holland, Amsterdam, Netherlands: nude beaches stories
United Kingdom: nude beach
Ohio, Columbus, United States: naked female programmers
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada: topless parents vacation
England, London, United Kingdom: beaches were women can go topless with pictures of them
Emilia-romagna, Bologna, Italy: my first time topless beach
Namibia: PHOTOS OF FRENCH BEACHES
Virginia, Herndon, United States: topless women, beaches
Utah, Tooele, United States: mormon nudes
Italy: nude beach in italy
Illinois, Wood Dale, United States: NUDE PHOTO BLOGSPOT
Ile-de-france, Paris, France: topless french beach
Massachusetts, Newburyport, United States: french breasts on beach
Queensland, Brisbane, Australia: topless students
Western Australia, Perth, Australia: gorgeous female bodies nude on the beach
Ile-de-france, Paris, France: english girls sunbathing topless
Ile-de-france, Paris, France: gay beaches aquitaine pictures
Ohio, Cincinnati, United States: photo beaches topless
England, London, United Kingdom: beach topless women
Tamil Nadu, Chennai, India: complete nude beaches
Australia: topless beach goers
New York, New York, United States: mormon nudes
Italy: top bikini beach topless bare breasts
Georgia, Valdosta, United States: nude beach pics real deal
Missouri, St. Louis, United States: going topless beach story
United States: lets go to europe to nude beachs
Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium: first time topless
Al Qahirah, Cairo, Egypt: pictures for topless beaches
Texas, Dallas, United States: nude beach stories
Arizona, Phoenix, United States: nude bar
California, San Francisco, United States: estonia beaches topless
North Carolina, Hillsborough, United States: bikini nude beaches
California, Costa Mesa, United States: beach pictures france TOPLESS
Indiana, Indianapolis, United States: cute naked men
Arizona, Tempe, United States: gay nude sunbathing AZ
Florida, Tallahassee, United States: french nude beaches
England, Stockport, United Kingdom: gone topless
Massachusetts, Chestnut Hill, United States: new jersey nude beach story
Italy: european vacation red bikini topless
South Carolina, Anderson, United States: beach nudity
Queensland, Brisbane, Australia: shy to go topless stories
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: no swimsuit beach goers
Bayern, Munich, Germany: topless beach blogspot
California, Chatsworth, United States: topless beaches
Ontario, Burlington, Canada: nude beach women
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland: topless beach shy
New Jersey, Hawthorne, United States: "going to the nude beach" "first time"
Ohio, Cincinnati, United States: NUDE BEACH WEAR
Michigan, Rockford, United States: my nude vacation pictures
New York, Brooklyn, United States: topless latvian
Midi-pyrenees, Toulouse, France: first time topless beach
Pennsylvania, Coraopolis, United States: nude bar
Saudi Arabia: bikini top less
Wisconsin, Sun Prairie, United States: bikini vacation
England, London, United Kingdom: swiss beach topless
France: Beach Topless
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: clevage topless
Pennsylvania, Halifax, United States: topless beaches
Manitoba, Brandon, Canada: nude fun french beach
Virginia, Centreville, United States: nude beach topless
United States: topless france beach
England, Nottingham, United Kingdom: topless first time
New Hampshire, Jaffrey, United States: topless women on beach
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada: nude beaches france
Pennsylvania, York, United States: topless beach first time
New York, Bronx, United States: topless beaches pictures
United Kingdom: see me topless
United Kingdom: nude beach experiences
Arizona, Phoenix, United States: az nudes
California, Rancho Cucamonga, United States: Tasteful Nudes having sex
England, Portsmouth, United Kingdom: caught topless at the beach
Etela-suomen Laani, Loviisa, Finland: marseille nude beach
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: clevage topless
Alberta, Calgary, Canada: topless German beach
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States: first topless vacation
California, West Hollywood, United States: "point dume" nude
Illinois, Wood Dale, United States: topless beach pictures blogspot
England, London, United Kingdom: artful nudes beach
Karnataka, Bangalore, India: men and women nude on beach
Ohio, Troy, United States: naked people
Michigan, Troy, United States: topless swimming beach
Poland: nude beach women
Rheinland-pfalz, Bitburg, Germany: mormons having sex
England, London, United Kingdom: topless france sunbathing
Washington, Seattle, United States: going to a topless beach
Nordrhein-westfalen, Leverkusen, Germany: topless beach
District Of Columbia, Washington, United States: topless beaches of europe
England, London, United Kingdom: beach men blogspot
District Of Columbia, Washington, United States: i love nude beaches
Khania, Souda, Greece: nude beach stories
Washington, Seattle, United States: artful nudes
California, Irvine, United States: topless beach
Jiangsu, Jiangsu, China: nude beach
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: topless beach goers
Lombardia, Milano, Italy: south france topless love beach
India: naked beaches
Maryland, Silver Spring, United States: middle aged women topless at beach
South Africa: nude running on the beach with surfboard
Lazio, Rome, Italy: topless first time
Bahrain: Nude Beach
Florida, Orlando, United States: topless first time
Iowa, Clinton, United States: stories of girls going topless for the first time
Massachusetts, Fall River, United States: nude beaches
New York, New York, United States: no-clothes beach
United Kingdom: vacation shots topless
Germany: Latvia beach foto nude
Ontario, Burlington, Canada: Mediterranean nude beaches pictures
Illinois, Chicago, United States: topless women on the beach
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: nude beach guys
Ontario, Ottawa, Canada: beach-nude blogspot
Pennsylvania, West Chester, United States: topless first time beach
Bretagne, Rennes, France: beach topless
California, Woodland Hills, United States: nude beach
England, London, United Kingdom: just topless on the beach
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany: topless europe
Utah, Sandy, United States: do mormon women go topless
New Jersey, Randolph, United States: artful nudes
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: native woman in africa topless
New York, Bronx, United States: going topless first time
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: sexy beach topless europe
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: first topless beach vacation
Zuid-holland, The Hague, Netherlands: beach sunbathing topless naked
New York, Brooklyn, United States: nude beach
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: topless beaches Switzerland
Pennsylvania, Downingtown, United States: new jersey nude beach picture
Maine, Bar Harbor, United States: going on a topless beach for the first time
Noord-holland, Alkmaar, Netherlands: topless on the beach
Minnesota, Rochester, United States: nude photo of myself
Czech Republic: nude beaches france
California, San Francisco, United States: topless beach
Manitoba, Winkler, Canada: WILLING WOMEN GO TOPLESS
Singapore, Queenstown, Singapore: nude beach pictures
Madrid, Madrid, Spain: nude
Timis, Timisoara, Romania: nude beach pictures
Noord-holland, Amsterdam, Netherlands: beach topless
Maryland, Silver Spring, United States: nude beach
Saudi Arabia: nude beaches
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: nude beach
Texas, Pt. Neches, United States: NUDE BEACH
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: nude beach
Scotland, Glasgow, United Kingdom: CLEVAGE
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States: nude photo blogs
Lombardia, Cremona, Italy: TOPLESS BEACH
New Jersey, Thorofare, United States: nude beach
Germany: nude beach
California, Cupertino, United States: nude beach
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: nude beach picture
Texas, Pt. Neches, United States: french nude beaches
Massachusetts, North Chelmsford, United States: nude beach
Italy: topless beach
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States: nude beach
Italy: topless at the beach
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: nude blog
Argentina: nude beach
North Carolina, Fuquay Varina, United States: sunbathing topless
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: nude beaches
Florida, Lake City, United States: clevage
Ontario, Ottawa, Canada: nude beach
Illinois, Springfield, United States: beach sexy france
New York, New York, United States: topless men
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: topless beach stories
Maale, Male, Maldives: naked beaches
Massachusetts, Plymouth, United States: topless beach stories&
New Jersey, Bayville, United States: nude beaches nj
New York, New York, United States: nude sunbathing mom son
North Carolina, Raleigh, United States: topless european beach pictures
Victoria, Ballarat, Australia: mens bathers france
Victoria, Melbourne, Australia: topless bathers
United Kingdom: topless beach stories
England, London, United Kingdom: french nude beach
Bashkortostan, Ufa, Russian Federation: sand beach naked
Baden-wurttemberg, Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany: MET nude beach
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: nude beach topless
Washington, Spokane, United States: french nude beaches
England, London, United Kingdom: french beach topless women photo
New South Wales, Tamworth, Australia: topless river seine
Victoria, Melbourne, Australia: topless bathers
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: topless beach germany
Cote D'ivoire: nude beach
Baden-wurttemberg, Stuttgart, Germany: topless beach
England, Nottingham, United Kingdom: topless native women
Cork, Cork, Ireland: my first time topless on a beach
California, Berkeley, United States: blogspot and nude
Mauritius: artful erotic nude photos
New Jersey, Livingston, United States: "my bikini" "in africa" me
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States: topless beaches
New York, Clifton Park, United States: FIRST TIME TOPLESS
Pennsylvania, York, United States: topless beach first time
Oost-vlaanderen, Gent, Belgium: nude beach family
Washington, Gig Harbor, United States: topless beach germany
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland: stories of topless beaches
United Arab Emirates: nude blog
Slovakia: nudity blogspot
United Kingdom: my husband took these photos of me sunbathing naked
New York, Bronx, United States: nude beach nj
Pennsylvania, Allentown, United States: women who like to go topless
Canada: topless beach
United States: naked on beach in front of husband
India: topless tourists in american beaches
Philippines: nude site:blogspot.com
England, London, United Kingdom: topless france
Florida, Tampa, United States: stories "nude beach"
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: topless sunbathe
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: nudie pics of men and women
Maryland, Baltimore, United States: france sunbathing topless women photos
Oregon, Portland, United States: sunbathe topless
Michigan, Grand Rapids, United States: nude beach
Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium: topless beach france
Ontario, Ottawa, Canada: nude beach photo
Washington, Bellingham, United States: bikini topless beach
Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa: nude beach
Central, Colombo, Sri Lanka: nude beach
Canada: NUdity in front of
ParanĂ¡, Curitiba, Brazil: nude
Minnesota, St. Paul, United States: nude beach
Tamil Nadu, Chennai, India: nude on beach
Piemonte, Torino, Italy: topless beach
Ohio, Cincinnati, United States: clevage
Indonesia: nude beach
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: woman sunbathing
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: topless sunbathing
Karnataka, Bangalore, India: topless beach photos
Alberta, Calgary, Canada: topless beaches
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: topless sunbathing
Michigan, Detroit, United States: nude beach
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary: nude beach
Greece: sunbathe topless
Texas, Midland, United States: nude beach
Singapore, Singapore, Singapore: nude beach naked
New York, Brooklyn, United States: nude beaches
Leningradskaya Oblast', Vyborg, Russian Federation: beach nude
South Africa: nude beach
California, Chico, United States: nude beaches
New York, Rosedale, United States: nude beach
Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States: nude beach
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland: german sunbathing
Idaho, Boise, United States: beach topless
United States: nude beach
Texas, Dallas, United States: nude beach
New Jersey, Princeton, United States: skinny dipping holes in arizona
Noord-holland, Amsterdam, Netherlands: topless
Virginia, Herndon, United States: nude beaches
United States: nude beach
England, London, United Kingdom: topless sunbathing experiences
Tennessee, Jackson, United States: nude
Singapore, Singapore, Singapore: nude
Michigan, Grosse Ile, United States: topless
Delhi, New Delhi, India: nude
Ohio, Cleveland, United States: nude
California, Elk Grove, United States: nude
Thailand: nude
Karnataka, Bangalore, India: nude
Turkey: nude
Indonesia: nude
Tamil Nadu, Chennai, India: nude
Virginia, Herndon, United States: nude
Ohio, Akron, United States: nude
Philippines: nude
Singapore: nude
Western Australia, Perth, Australia: bikini photo
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: nude
New Zealand: nude
India: nude
United Arab Emirates: nude
Australia: nude
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: nude
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: nude
Alabama, Birmingham, United States: nude
Tamil Nadu, Chennai, India: nude
Pennsylvania, Erie, United States: nude
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: nude
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong: nude
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States: topless on the beach
United States: nude erotica
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: nude beach
England, London, United Kingdom: nude
New York, Wellsville, United States: nude
Shandong, Shandong, China: nude
United Arab Emirates: sexy photo blogs
Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden: topless sunbathing
Ad Dawhah, Doha, Qatar: nude
Karnataka, Bangalore, India: nude
North Carolina, Chapel Hill: nude
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: nude
Missouri, Springfield, United States: nude
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: nude
Wisconsin, Madison, United States: nude
Krung Thep Mahanakhon, Bangkok, Thailand: nude
Georgia, Columbus, United States: nude
Georgia, Athens, United States: nude
India: beach nude pic
New Jersey, Jersey City, United States: nude
India: nude
Lombardia, Como, Italy: topless
Massachusetts, Natick: erotic writings
Italy: topless vacation
England, London, United Kingdom: topless beach site
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: nude beaches
Connecticut, Manchester, United States: nude
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: nude beach
New York, Brooklyn, United States: NUDE PICTURE
Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: naked in bar
British Columbia, Nanaimo, Canada: CLEVAGE
New Jersey, New Egypt, United States: nude beaches
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: nude
Jawa Timur (djawa Timur), Surabaya, Indonesia: nude
England, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom: sexy marseilles beaches
Illinois, Elmhurst, United States: nude beaches
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel: erotic nude art pic
New York, Astoria, United States: nude beach
Louisiana, New Orleans, United States: nude beaches
Scotland, Glasgow, United Kingdom: letters erotica
Wisconsin, Madison, United States: nude beaches
California, San Jose, United States: nude beach
Provence-alpes-cote D'azur, Marseille, France: men's nude
Washington, Gig Harbor, United States: dressing provocatively
New Jersey, Livingston, United States: topless expat me
New Jersey, Livingston, United States: nude site
California, Pine Grove, United States: Beach topless
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: nude beaches
Lazio, Rome, Italy: topless
Nebraska, Lincoln, United States: nude beach
England, London, United Kingdom: nude beach
Oklahoma, Tulsa, United States: topless bikini bottom
Nordrhein-westfalen, Dortmund, Germany: NUDE BEACHES
Virginia, Martinsville, United States: beach nude
Michigan, Troy, United States: nude beach photos
Nord-pas-de-calais, Lille, France: men nude beach
New Jersey, Edison, United States: sexy beaches
California, Azusa, United States: nude beach
United Kingdom: topless first beach
Ile-de-france, Paris, France: nude beach
Colorado, Denver, United States: topless beaches
'amman, Amman, Jordan: nude beach pictures
Indonesia: beach nude photo
Ohio, Cleveland, United States: nude beach
Czech Republic: topless beach
Ohio, Cleveland, United States: nude beach
Washington, Seattle, United States: nude photo
Idaho, Boise, United States: female clevage
Massachusetts, Boston, United States: nude beach gay blogspot
Italy: topless
Quebec, Montreal, Canada: men topless
Maine, Yarmouth, United States: topless beaches
New Jersey, Bayonne, United States: topless
Ohio, Cleveland, United States: nude beach photos
California, Tehachapi, United States: nude beach photos
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: nude beach
Hessen, Ruesselsheim, Germany: topless
Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium: beach topless
Italy: my nude
Italy: photo sexy beach
Nebraska, Omaha, United States: nude beaches
California, Tujunga, United States: point dume nude beach
California, Riverside, United States: nude beach
United States: nude beaches
Oregon, Portland, United States: nude beach
Oklahoma, Tulsa, United States: topless bikini
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: beach topless
British Columbia, Victoria, Canada: nude beach photo
California, Los Angeles, United States: topless point dume
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: nude beach
Gujarat, Surat, India: nude photo
District Of Columbia, Washington, United States: nude beaches
England, London, United Kingdom: beach nude picture
Delhi, New Delhi, India: topless beaches
England, London, United Kingdom: naturist beaches in france
Egypt: nude photo
Sardegna, Sassari, Italy: beach topless
District Of Columbia, Washington, United States: nude beach pictures
Gujarat, Ahmedabad, India: Nude beach pictures
Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: Topless bathers pictures
California, Rancho Cucamonga, United States: nude beach
Alabama, Mobile, United States: men gay beach
Illinois, Aledo, United States: nude beach
New Jersey, Teterboro, United States: sexy beach
Serbia And Montenegro: nude beach
Italy: nude beach
New York, New York, United States: nude beach expat
Minnesota, Rochester, United States: nude beach
British Columbia, Victoria, Canada: nude beach
Akershus, Jessheim, Norway: nude walks
Indiana, Lafayette, United States: nude beach
Mississippi, Starkville, United States: nude beach
Morocco: nude
Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, India: women in nude beach
Oslo, Oslo, Norway: nude beach
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: nude beach
Leningradskaya Oblast', Vyborg, Russian Federation: topless beach
Wisconsin, Madison, United States: nude photo blog
Utah, Salt Lake City, United States: sexy photo
England, London, United Kingdom: woods nude
Lombardia, Cremona, Italy: TOPLESS BEACH
Greece: nude beach
United States: nude beach
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey: beach topless pictures site
Ontario, Oakville, Canada: naked in cozumel
New York, Newburgh, United States: nude beaches
Idaho, Paul, United States: vacation topless "great time"
England, London, United Kingdom: brittany nude beaches
New Jersey, Bridgewater, United States: go topless
Spain: nude beach fun
New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: native topless
United Kingdom: erotic pictures
Maharashtra, Pune, India: topless bather
England, Stockport, United Kingdom: italy topless beach
United Arab Emirates: naked people
Maharashtra, Thane, India: nude sunbathing
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan: aquitaine beach topless
Denmark: italy beach swimsuit topless
Ohio, Cincinnati, United States: SWISS NUDIST RESORTS
Ontario, Kitchener, Canada: sexy mormon women
Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium: TOPLESS BEACH GOERS
Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Australia: guys bathers
Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa: shy at topless beach stories
Kansas, Wichita, United States: first time nude beach
Oregon, Portland, United States: secluded topless beaches
Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa: topless bathers pics
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary: topless on the beach
England, Manchester, United Kingdom: friends bikini naked undressed beach people
Pennsylvania, West Chester, United States: going topless beach first time
United Kingdom: women sunbathing topless on the beach pics
Ohio, Chillicothe, United States: topless beaches switzerland
New York, New York, United States: we went to a topless beach
Northern Ireland, Belfast, United Kingdom: topless women on beach
Texas, Plano, United States: topless beach shy "first time"
Florida, Tarpon Springs, United States: foreign beaches nude vacation
Hawaii, Honolulu, United States: nude byu students pictures
New York, Great Neck, United States: nude leftist
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: girls with nude attitude in beaches
Michigan, Detroit, United States: european topless beaches
Nebraska, Norfolk, United States: naked beach goers
Gibraltar: first time beach topless
Australia: europe nude beach
Kyonggi-do, Seoul, Korea, Republic Of: U.S.Nude Beaches
Massachusetts, Boston, United States: where can women go topless
Colorado, Aurora, United States: topless beaches vacations
England, Manchester, United Kingdom: topless beach
New Jersey, Livingston, United States: i went to a nude beach
Wien, Vienna, Austria: france south topless beach
California, Oceanside, United States: went to a nude beach
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, United States: topless beach bathers
Kansas, Olathe, United States: vacation nude beach first time story
Georgia, Norcross, United States: woman sunbathing nude
Poland: french nude beach
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: gay nude beaches italy
California, San Francisco, United States: topless france
Toscana, Florence, Italy: bare breasts beach top bikini topless
California, Los Angeles, United States: NUDE FRENCH BEACHES
Texas, Plano, United States: topless at the beach
England, Nottingham, United Kingdom: men watching woman on topless beach
Virginia, Wise, United States: mormon topless
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States: nude beaches
British Columbia, Surrey, Canada: topless beach pictures
Texas, San Antonio, United States: topless beach first time
South Carolina, Greenville, United States: german topless beaches
New Jersey, Clementon, United States: "topless beaches" italy
Canada: topless beach
Nebraska, Omaha, United States: orange beach naked
Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa: topless beach pics
Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Australia: she went topless at the beach
Ha Noi, Hanoi, Viet Nam: a nude photo of myself
Colorado, Ft. Collins, United States: lets go topless
United States: skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing along the American River
New Zealand: rebecca loose beach nude photos
South Carolina, Sumter, United States: topless women on the beach
Georgia, Savannah, United States: topless beaches
California, La Quinta, United States: French topless bathers
British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada: Women on French Beaches
Michigan, Grand Rapids, United States: european nude beaches
Texas, Ft. Worth, United States: topless beaches
California, Long Beach, United States: photos of topless beaches europe
Ohio, Cincinnati, United States: naked people france
Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal: brits topless
Arizona, Tucson, United States: topless seine
New York, Clifton Park, United States: topless beaches france
Ontario, Hamilton, Canada: topless beaches
Massachusetts, Boston, United States: first time topless beach
California, San Diego, United States: pretty nude beaches
Germany: topless beach
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: topless beach culture
Delhi, Delhi, India: Germany topless beach
Tasmania, Devonport, Australia: topless bathers
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States: going topless at the beach
New York, Rego Park, United States: love nude beaches
New Jersey, Jersey City, United States: topless broad
British Columbia, Richmond, Canada: go naked beach photos
British Columbia, Surrey, Canada: partially nude photos taken on vacations with my wife
England, London, United Kingdom: camping france beach nude
Toscana, Florence, Italy: topless shy beach&hl
Florida, Englewood, United States: topless beach
New York, New Hyde Park, United States: going topless for husband
England, London, United Kingdom: first time topless
England, London, United Kingdom: nudist beaches s.w. france
New York, New York, United States: Go topless at the beach
Florida, Merritt Island, United States: topless beach stories
Manitoba, Brandon, Canada: nude beaches
Texas, Houston, United States: Orange Beach Topless
Switzerland: great topless bikini beach
Colorado, Colorado Springs, United States: see me topless
Texas, Texarkana, United States: nude ex-mormon
England, London, United Kingdom: topless english beach
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand: topless on the beach
Ireland: nude beach france brittany
Idaho, Boise, United States: mormon nudes
Spain: blogspot beach nude
England, Manchester, United Kingdom: Mediterranean beach naked
Massachusetts, Boston, United States: first time on topless beach
New York, Rochester, United States: naked mormons
New York, Rochester, United States: europe sunbathe topless
New York, Bronx, United States: nude beaches
Florida, Inverness, United States: europe sunbathe topless
Iowa, Knoxville, United States: topless beach AND first time
Washington, Seattle, United States: french topless bathers
Nordrhein-westfalen, Dortmund, Germany: beach france nude
New Jersey, Denville, United States: european women sunbathe nude at beach
Ontario, Hamilton, Canada: nude beach fun
Portugal: topless at the beach
Bahamas: topless boats
New York, Bronx, United States: GAY NUDE HIKING BLOG
Germany: beach topless
Ile-de-france, Paris, France: beach women topless
Ontario, Toronto, Canada: naked beach bikini blogspot
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: topless stories beach
Washington, Snohomish, United States: europe beach topless
Nairobi Area, Nairobi, Kenya: Women topless dressing
California, Desert Hot Springs, United States: woman topless parade goers
New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, United States: Female topless cultures
Alberta, Edmonton, Canada: swiss naked people beach
Delhi, Delhi, India: topless females on beach
Ohio, Canton, United States: topless females on beaches
New York, Rochester, United States: first time topless beach
New Zealand: freckle face nudes
Maryland, Germantown, United States: topless surfing
Florida, Ft. Myers, United States: nudes, back view
India: Nude beaches
Hong Kong (sar), Hong Kong, Hong Kong: aquitaine beach nude
Ontario, Windsor, Canada: nude beaches thongs
Oklahoma, Tulsa, United States: italy topless beach pictures
Malta, Luqa, Malta: topless blogspot
Alabama, Birmingham, United States: nude people letters
England, London, United Kingdom: my first topless swim
Virginia, Richmond, United States: marseille beach topless
Qslo, Oslo, Norway: sunbathing nudes
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada: Nude Beaches
Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada: real nude beach
New Jersey, Cherry Hill, United States: topless beach blog
Pennsylvania, Scranton, United States: first time topless beach
Nordrhein-westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany: nude beach france aquitaine
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: female beach valley ball
Brazil: TOPLES IM THE BEACH
Norway: topless woman on beach
Massachusetts, Hull, United States: topless beaches of france photos
Toscana, Florence, Italy: beach vacation topless husband bare breasts top bikini
England, London, United Kingdom: female first beach topless
Maharashtra, Mumbai, India: topless females on the beach
United States: topless mormon
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland: topless beach fun
Grad Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia: erotica picture
New York, Brooklyn, United States: nude beach goers
Ile-de-france, Paris, France: why the French women are topless with the beach
Texas, Houston, United States: pictures of German women culture for them going topless
South Africa: almost nude beaches
Georgia, Atlanta, United States: straight guys on nude beach
Saudi Arabia: nude beach blogspot
New York, Syracuse, United States: family nude beaches
Utah, Orem, United States: naked mormon men
New Jersey, Livingston, United States: europe beach topless
Georgia, Norcross, United States: nude beach story
New York, New Hyde Park, United States: going topless on the beach
Ontario, Brampton, Canada: topless beach vacation
New York, West Point, United States: topless beach culture europe
Zuid-holland, The Hague, Netherlands: vacation topless
Missouri, Kansas City, United States: nudist resort OR beach "being naked"
District Of Columbia, Washington, United States: Do women go topless on French beaches
Australia: European women commonly go topless on beaches
Wisconsin, La Crosse, United States: naked people letters

One of the funniest things is how many people want to see naked people in other countries. Also, it's interesting how many people are interested in stories of people's first time at the nude beach, especially if they're shy about it. That's kind of a cute erotic fantasy. I should write a story about that -- I'm sure I could come up with something good...

Also, I love the way the one from Boise, Idaho specifies female clevage. Don't you just hate it when you do a blog search on clevage and it turns up pictures of some guy's butt clevage? lol!!! Precision, people!!! ;-)

This isn't nearly all of them either. My stats program doesn't send me the complete logs, so I had to copy/paste all of these by hand, and I missed a lot of them. As devoted as I am to anthropology, I actually got bored of copying these after a while...

Now I'm certain that every single one of these people clicked on my blog in hopes of finding a sexy picture of me. (Yes, I'm just that sexy!!! No, really!!! ;-) )

Unfortunately I don't have all that many, but I didn't want to disappoint you all, so I dug through my files and found this picture of me at the pool:



See that bikini clad blonde with the fabulous tan up on the platform?

That's not me. I'm the pasty-white lady in the foreground holding a toddler...

Monday, February 19, 2007

Truth or Dare, part 2



"Okay, okay, I guess we'll accept that answer," said Melissa, winking at Lynn. "So now you get to pick someone."

"I'm the only one left," said Sarah, "so you have to pick me."

"Hmm," said Lynn, regaining her smile as she made a show of trying to decide. "I'll pick... Sarah!"

"I know!" said Melissa. "If she picks 'truth' let's ask her if that boyfriend of hers really is her cousin!" and she burst out laughing as did the rest of us. I was impressed -- in the space of just our card game and dress-up, Melissa had already picked up on our inside joke about Sarah's cousin.

Sarah looked slightly miffed and huffily said "I choose double-dare!"

more ->

Sunday, February 18, 2007

America Rockin' in France!!!

actual conversation:

me: Are you French?
Nicolas: Yes.
me: Are you American?
Nicolas: What's American?
me: [thinking] Hmmm, I guess we need to work on that...

Like every nostalgia-maniac generation-X parent, I've got my kids watching Schoolhouse Rock!!!

It's funny to watch these cartoons again thirty years later and in a different country. I don't know about the rest of you, but strangely I've found that the "America Rock" set from this series has more meaning for me than any other patriotic songs about America. I'm not sure why -- maybe because I learned them and liked them as a kid? Whatever it is, sitting my kids down on my lap and putting in this DVD seems like the most natural way to teach them about their American Heritage.

Even though war history is my least favorite part of history, I think my favorite in the "America Rock" series is The Shot Heard Round the World which recounts the sequence of battles of the Revolutionary War. I'm not entirely sure why I like this one -- there's just something about it.

Maybe I'm just responding to the fact that it shows the French role in the American Revolution, which I always point out to my kids as it flashes across the screen for a few seconds:


Well, they showed such determination
that they won the admiration
of countries 'cross the sea like France and Spain...



At Yorktown the British could not retreat
bottled up by Washington and the French fleet...


My second favorite is probably No More Kings. When they show the people on the Mayflower meeting the Native Americans, I like to mention to my kids that they had ancestors on that very boat -- as well as among the Native Americans -- so they can make a personal connection with all of this:



Actually, the more I look at this, the more questionable it looks to portray the the Native Americans' ominous meeting with the European invaders in this cheerful manner. Overall I'm a little torn on how to teach my kids to value the positive traditions of their heritage without glossing over the the negative parts and what we can learn from them. Oh well, at least Schoolhouse Rock didn't do some cheery song-and-dance number about slavery...

One of Nicolas' favorites (which I don't really care for) is Mother Necessity, which lists all of the great American inventors. I don't really like the fact that they promote the myth that technological innovations are the works of spontaneous genius (rather than acknowledging all of the earlier research they're based on), and worse: it promotes the myth that inventions always come from America.

To their credit, Schoolhouse Rock mentions that Marconi invented wireless radio communication. But weirdly the song almost seems to imply that he was American. Or at least you could easily get that impression from the song. Yet this comic book I read about Italian history (La Storia d'Italia a Fumetti dall'Impero Romano all'Anno 2000) seems to indicate that Marconi was Italian and that he did his research on radio in Italy and Great Britain. Oh well, I guess all of this would be less confusing if I tried learning history from some source other than cartoons...

Another one that's funny to watch here in France is The Great American Melting Pot. It seems a little ironic to show it to my kids considering our family's situation:


America was the new world, and Europe was the old...

I'd actually rather be showing them a song that gives a global perspective on worldwide migrations, but I guess that might be too complicated.

Leaving aside "America Rock" for a moment, there are a couple of items in "Science Rock" that are kind of poignant viewed with thirty year's perspective:


And Pluto little Pluto is the farthest planet from our Sun...

Poor little Pluto is no longer "the farthest planet from our Sun" since astronomers have demoted it to just another piece of space debris. Sigh.

And this is the saddest one of all:

If everyone tries a bit harder,
our fuel will go farther and farther.
Energy, we're gonna be stretching you out.


Considering America's current energy problems -- and the national security disaster that is America's oil dependence -- I can barely watch this one without feeling some pain and regret about the opportunities that were thrown away thirty years ago.

This is why I often think of my generation -- generation X -- as "the generation that dropped the ball." Older generations can rightly claim they didn't know any better. But my generation was raised with the idea that energy conservation is important and still had to get that McMansion out in the sprawling suburbs and the giant S.U.V. to drive there.

The only positive thing I'll say is that at least we have this song that has become timely again, and maybe this next generation will actually learn from it...

And if you're still up for more of this crazy nostalgia trip (I know I can't get enough of it!!!) I wrote even more musings about Schoolhouse Rock over on The Hathor Legacy here: The Tale of Mr. Morton

Friday, February 16, 2007

It takes a lot of faith to believe that!!! redux!!!

By popular demand, I'm posing yesterday's question to you, the readers of this blog:

It takes a lot of faith to believe that!!!

It seems like I’ve been hearing this statement a lot lately, especially from religious people talking about atheism and/or evolution. Here are a few recent examples: here, here, here (you have to look around a bit for the relevant quote in a couple of them...)

The interesting thing isn’t what this says about the speaker’s opinion of atheism or evolution. The thing that’s striking is what it says about the speaker’s opinion of faith.

Have you heard people of faith say things like this? “Wow, you must have more faith than I do!” (thinking: because your belief is so much crazier than mine…) And if so, how do you feel about it?

To me, when someone thinks it’s absurd not to believe in God, and then says “It takes as much (or more) faith to believe God isn’t there than to believe He is,” it seems like the speaker is saying the following:

1. Your belief is no better than my belief because (like mine) yours is just faith.

2. Faith is believing in things you want to believe but are absurd and don’t follow from logic or observation. The more ridiculous the belief, the more it must be faith-based.

3. Faith is not at all trustworthy. It leads people to all sorts of wrong conclusions.

I would normally think that people of faith would see faith and/or spiritual witness as a completely different strategy for reaching a conclusion than tackling a question through analyzing objective evidence. I would guess that people who use both of these strategies (either together or to handle different types of questions) would still see them as distinct strategies, and perhaps see faith as the superior one.

On the other hand, maybe I just don’t understand how people of faith think…

Do you think faith is different from belief? Do you think that basing a conclusion on objective evidence or reasoning is different from basing a conclusion on spiritual witness? Am I right to think that that's the difference between faith and belief, or is it something else?

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

It takes a lot of faith to believe that!!!

How much faith does it take to believe in evolution? Or that there is no god?

Let's ask the feminist Mormon housewives!!!

Please keep in mind that it is very cool of them to be willing to host a civil discussion on this subject, so let's keep it that way. I assume it goes without saying that if anyone clicks from my blog to fMh and then makes trouble over there, I won't be happy about it...

Monday, February 12, 2007

Truth or Dare!!!



Friday evening rolled around, and with it came Alexandra and Amy's big slumber party. After dinner Mom dropped Lynn and me off at their house. It turned out that the only guests other than me and Lynn were Sarah Grant and a girl named Melissa that Alexandra introduced as being her best friend from school.

Normally I wouldn't mix school friends and church friends like that myself despite what we're told about how every member should be a missionary and make sure that all of our non-member friends hear about the gospel. I wasn't sure if Alexandra had invited Melissa in order to show her how much fun Mormons are in hopes of converting her or if it was just a way of filling out the guest list a little since it was hard to have a big party with just the girls from the ward.

Whatever Alexandra's reason, I figured she had done the right thing by inviting Melissa. From the minute I saw her, I knew she was going to be a lot of fun. She had long, wavy red hair going in every direction and a perpetual smile. She was a little taller than me -- which wasn't hard since I'd always been small -- and she was a little more stocky and athletic than the rest of us. Instead of wearing a preppy sweater like the girls at my school usually did in January, she was wearing some sort of rugby jersey over her faded jeans.

more ->

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Plugging the Mormon arts...

What I really liked, though, was the way that this story (and the novel generally) brought together some of the many conundrums of growing up Mormon, the interplay between righteousness, repentance, and public image (avoid the very appearance of evil), and, of course, the complicating factor of sex, which is one of the biggest, but most underplayed, factors in growing up Mormon (at least as represented in Mormon art).

Another review of my novel Exmormon has appeared here. I like this review and would encourage you all to read it. ;-)

The one thing that made me hesitate to post a link to this review is the fact that it was written by someone whose work I've discussed on this site. I really enjoy writing book reviews, and I kind of secretly aspire to write book reviews for a real publication one day. I want people to take my reviews seriously, so I don't want to give people the mistaken impression that I just write nice reviews on my blog in hopes that people will say nice things about my book...

My goal when I write a book review is to capture what is interesting and unique about the work. One problem with fiction is that you often don't know if you want to invest your time and money in reading a book until you've already done it. And it's hard to just go by what's popular because different people have different tastes. So rather than saying generic things like "This is the best book ever!!! Everyone should read it!!!" -- which apply to many books and none -- I hope to describe a work in such a way that people can make a good guess as to whether they'd like it or not.

I generally cover what I feel are the weaknesses of a book as well as the strengths, but I rarely write reviews that are wholly negative. If I feel like I can't recommend the book to anyone, then I usually don't review it. Because what's the point? Just to warn people to stay away from it? Most works of Mormon literature have small enough distribution anyway that it's more constructive just to try to steer people towards works they might like.

And naturally on a blog, you're more likely to talk about works that you heard about in blogspace.

On that note, I'd like to mention (not review, just mention) a few other examples of the Mormon arts that have appeared in blog space recently:

Agnostic Mom has just had some of her articles published in the book Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion, which is a new book "for loving and thoughtful parents who wish to raise their children without religion" including essays by Richard Dawkins, Julia Sweeney, Penn Jillette, Mark Twain, Dr. Jean Mercer, Dr. Donald B. Ardell, Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons, and over twenty-five other doctors, educators, psychologists, and secular parents.

Also Sideon and A New Eric have posted some great new fiction here and here.

Then there's a new album I've been listening to lately:

Unlike the other items mentioned here, this isn't a post-Mormon work -- it's a faith-promoting album for Mormons and other Christians.

Why am I listening to it then? you ask...

I received the disc as a gift because the lead artist is my uncle. (Coincidentally, he's also Aerin's uncle and John's.) And what can I say? He's a talented guy!!!

I hope I don't get in trouble with my LDS relatives for mentioning this album on an exmo blog, but it's just that it got a positive review over on the popular LDS music blog Mo' Boy blog, and I wanted to make one little comment about it:

Mo' Boy explains that he likes this album even though it's traditional bluegrass, which is a style that he normally doesn't care for. To me it seems natural though that my uncle would make a spiritual connection through this type of music since our family heritage traces back to the bluegrass region (through my great-grandfather, who joined the LDS church back in the 1920's), more than to the wild west heritage that is typical of multi-generational LDS families.

There are a number of beautifully arranged LDS and other Christian songs on this album. The track I like the best is the first track "You Can Make the Pathway Bright." I'm a little leery of the "Who's on the Lord's Side?" track, not for aesthetic reasons but just because it seems like he's saying "Okay, we're at war, and you're the enemy..." although he probably didn't mean it that way. I hope...

Anyway, if you think you'd be interested in some Mormon inspirational music done in a bluegrass style, please go have a look!!!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Do boys like stories about girls?

I've just done a guest post for the Hathor Legacy here:

Do boys like stories about girls?

The Hathor Legacy is a group blog that discusses how women are portrayed in the media. And if you've been following my blog, you know I love analyzing the movies and videos my kids watch!!! So when I found the Hathor Legacy, it looked like a great excuse to analyze their viewing habits some more!!! ;-)

Please go have a look!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

A Goal to Gain a Testimony, part 2



The meeting got back underway as Sister Shumway got up to give a talk on missionary work. I discretely took out my copy of The Hobbit and started reading.

After reading a whole chapter, I looked up to see that Sister Shumway's talk was still going strong. She was now reading excerpts from letters from her son who was on a mission to Mexico. Annette and Lynn were playing the dots and squares game on their program. Mom and Dad seemed to be paying attention although I got the distinct impression that Mom was kind of half-participating in Lynn and Annette's game. Up on the stand, one of the Bishop's counselors seemed to be dozing off. It appeared that it was going to be a long meeting, so I went back to my book.

I had gotten to the part where Bilbo Baggins meets up with the dragon when the first few notes of the closing hymn brought me back to reality. I reluctantly put down my book and grabbed a hymn book and sang along. Once the closing prayer was over, we got up to go to our Sunday School classes. more ->

Sunday, February 04, 2007

The things you see in Bordeaux!!!



Today, let's have a look at some of the amusing things you see in downtown Bordeaux.

First, a shop I've been trying to fathom ever since it appeared here:



This is a beauty shop for black people called "So White!"

Is it just me, or is that weird?

I think if I were black I'd be embarrassed to go into a place like that. (Actually, even as a white person I'd be embarrassed to go into a place like that...). I think I'd be more inclined to go to one of the shops facing that one on the other side of the street: "l'esprit Black" or "Black Cosmetique":



Those seem to have a more positive attitude. Actually, though, I probably wouldn't go to any of them. I don't generally go to beauty shops, and I don't see why it would be any different if I were black...

On the other hand, sometimes I think maybe "So White!" is meant to be taken ironically, like the ironically named "French Coffee Shop":



I know the joke isn't funny if you have to explain it, but I'll explain it anyway since it might not be clear from the picture. "The French Coffee Shop" is a new chain of American-style coffee shops (Ă  la Starbucks) that has started appearing in France. So they named it "the French Coffee Shop." In English. But it's in France. Get it? Haha!!!

Okay, it's a little strained, or at least subtle...

While I'm on the subject of ethnic oddities, the next on the list is "Southern Fried Chicken":



If you can't tell, this is a knock-off of "Kentucky Fried Chicken." (There's a real KFC a few blocks away from this place.)

The thing I think is funny about this place is random mix of cultural elements they have going on. The main theme is American-style fast food fried chicken, but note the very French sidewalk crèpe-and-waffle bar on the left. Plus, if we zoom in on the sign, you can see that among "Nos Spécialités" they offer a hallal chicken burger. ("Halal" is the Muslim version of "kosher.")



And I'll close with a random item you don't see every day:



It snowed here recently, and it was the first time an actual coat of snow stuck on the ground for a day in all of the six years I've lived here. And classic VW beetles are also incredibly rare (but the kids are big "Herbie" fans, so they love 'em!!!), so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to photograph them together.

Snow on a Herbie! Right here in Bordeaux!!!

The things you see... :D

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Challenges and Pleasures of Mormon lit: In Our Lovely Deseret, edited by Robert Raleigh


I've read faithful Mormon literature, ex-Mormon literature, even anti-Mormon literature, but I think this anthology is the first work I'd be tempted to classify as jack-Mormon literature. ;^)

In Our Lovely Deseret: Mormon Fictions (edited by Robert Raleigh) is a collection of thought-provoking short-stories about life in the American West and/or in Mormon culture. Here there's Mormonism in the air, but it's not always at center-stage.

Many of the stories in this collection explore troubled or changing relationships, with the characters' cultural background as the framing structure for other human experiences. This is true of Levi Peterson's contribution "Durfey Renews an Interest in Rodeo" as well as others such as "My Father Waltzing Home" by Jan Stucki, "Throwing the Bread" by Ron Carlson, "Not Quite Peru" by Lee Ann Mortensen, and "Badlands" by Joanna Brooks.

One that stands out in this category is the lyrical "Fidelity" by Kristen Rogers about a small-town woman gaining the trust of a stray dog: "My dad had a shoe repair shop, T.L. said. He used to say, See this sole? This sole has walked maybe two thousand miles but I bet you it's never been more than five, ten miles from right here."

Other stories in the collection deal specifically with Mormonism and the Mormon issues. Several explore the tension between one's daily experiences and one's Mormon expectations, especially regarding sexuality. This internal conflict is clearly spelled out in the story "Almond Milk" by Johnny Townsend, about a gay Mormon missionary who meets an openly gay couple in Rome.

Two of my favorites in the collection were studies in Mormon sexuality: "Love, Mormon Style" by Bob Bringhurst, and "Twinkie" by Gary Burgess. "Love, Mormon Style" is a tragicomic caricature of the Mormon fixation on chastity and marriage and of the painfully confused result on healthy, horny young singles. "Twinkie" is a more poignant portrait of the same confusion and turmoil, as a Mormon man living in Hong Kong tries to make sense of his feeling for a local prostitute as he also tries to deal with his familiar culture's alien-ness in his current surroundings.

One more story in this collection's Mormon sexuality category is one I'd read before, and is in fact the very story that sparked my interest in Mormon literature and gave me the idea to write fiction myself. This is probably the most back-handed compliment ever, but I have to mention it, given the role this story played for me:

I read Walter Kirn's "Mormon Eden" while reading through some old back-issues of The New Yorker a few years ago. My reaction was "Interesting, but... a little off." It rang false. And the logical response to the feeling "that's not what it's like to be a Mormon teenager..." is to write your own damn story about what it's really like to be a Mormon teenager. The result was the four-chapter novella "Youth Conference" which was the seed that eventually grew into the novel Exmormon.

A few other stories in the collection explore women's place and treatment in Mormon culture including "Pure" by Dawn Houghton (a story of post-humously baptizing Marilyn Monroe), "Something in the Shape of Something" by Pauline Mortensen (a comedy about a woman's resentment of the fact that her academic achievements are overshadowed by another woman's skill at handicrafts), and "Spirit Babies" by Phyllis Barber (about a mom who sees visions of the spirits that would like to come down and join her family).

This collection has a remarkable variety of styles, themes, and tones, from poetic to straight-forward, from comic to tragic, from spiritual to earthy. As the editor, Robert Raleigh, states in the introduction: "Mormonism may be a jumping off point (for an ever growing number of people around the world), but ultimately these are stories about living, with its infinite variety of experiences and attendant emotions."

In a similar vein, Raleigh states the following goal:

"There is a tendency within Mormon culture to see the world in terms of good and evil. You are either for or against the ever advancing Kingdom of God. Within Mormon culture, art can entertain, but it should also instruct and enlighten. There is a growing body of work, however, that doesn't fit these categories or purposes. It is not for or against, but it is about. It doesn't exactly instruct, though it often provokes feeling and thought. This the type of work I have attempted to gather together in this collection."

Did he succeed in this goal? I think to some degree he did. Some of the works explore problems in LDS culture, and for the most part they address these issues in an introspective way without presenting simplistic or dismissive judgments. And inasmuch as parts of this collection missed the mark, the problem is that this goal -- writing Mormon stories "not for or against, but about" is very, very hard.

Both the author and the audience face obstacles. For the author, either you believe in Mormonism or you don't, and that will affect what you write. In my opinion -- regardless of the author's belief -- the better the writer, the less heavy-handed the work will be. That doesn't mean that the ideal work should be devoid of values, however, and these values can hardly help but lean at least a little in the "for" or "against" direction. On the other hand, human values and experiences aren't always quite as binary as that.

But then there's the other side of the equation: the audience, and -- let's be blunt -- the market.

The Mormon lit community faces special challenges. A lot of Mormons want to read stories that will uplift and inspire them. Yet many don't want to read a story that comes off as a preachy fable. Naturally, some of the most effective works are some of the most "challenging" ones. But not everyone has the same idea of what is uplifting, and a lot of readers are wary of "challenging" works because they present the bad as well as the good, and risk to glorify the bad or bring a bad spirit in the process.

Compounding the problem is the recent merger of Deseret Book with its largest competitor, creating a monopoly with the potential to shut out a great work from getting publicity and distribution to its target audience.

On the not-necessarily-faith-promoting side of LDS lit, the publishing options look at least as bleak. There are rumors that Signature doesn't like having a reputation as "the anti-Mormon publishing house" and is becoming less accepting of borderline works (such as In Our Lovely Deseret) in hopes of winning back the faithful part of the audience who are put off by them. Will this get Signature better shelf space at Deseret-Seagull Book? I wouldn't bet the farm on it. Maybe they should just embrace the whole "anti-Mormon publishing house" thing -- at least that way they'd have a niche... ;-) But seriously, Signature's example shows the perils of even attempting to straddle the divide.

Another elephant in the room of Mormon lit -- perhaps an even bigger one than belief vs. unbelief -- is sexuality. One of the oft-cited draws of (mainstream) Mormon lit is that it's "clean". A huge portion of the LDS audience doesn't want to be reading along and encounter a sex scene, and many (most?) LDS authors agree with the audience about it and are more than happy to oblige. But this taboo -- its causes, its effects, its relation to the Mormon emphasis on family -- turns sexuality into one of the most fascinating aspects of Mormon culture to explore. Almost all of the LDS-interest works I've read lately (faithful and otherwise) have strong sexual themes (see here, here, here, and here). It's apparent in In Our Lovely Deseret, it's in my book, it's over on Popcorn Popping. And frankly I wouldn't accuse a single one of these works of including sex just for the sake of making the work "edgy". Yet it renders all of these works inaccessible to much of the LDS audience.

So what do we do about it?

Well, I can list the problems, but I can't promise that I have a whole lot of solutions. I'm curious to watch though, and maybe come along for the ride. :D