#deseret book

[not-so-superheroine]

deseret book is more persistent than duolingo.

i ordered 2 books for a church research project on Black saints in the early Church and also in the Reorganization, on which the one book had a small section us and all had info from the our shared early church history, and it was an ebook too!

and i get physical mail from them once a month. i have no idea how to cancel.

herald house, the community of christ publishing house, contacts me much less, and i buy books from them all the time.

and oh their church book app reminds me to read my scriptures and the words of their prophets regularly if it's not in sleep mode.

i have to admire the effort behind it, ngl.

#tumblrstake #the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints #Community of Christ #latter day saint #deseret book #i highly recommend both books #black saints in a white church #and “My Lord He Calls Me” edited by Alice Faulkner Burch #she's really awesome so pls support her #i hang out with the genesis group bc i am playing with a similar group for community of christ #because the Black saints expressed interest #actually Black Saints in a White Church may have been elsewhere by Signature Books #you can read it for free on archive.org #and if you're at BYU you can access it too and papers on it #i'll promo them in another post eventually #white saints in my church don't get my vision bc their like “we never had a priesthood ban” #but i literally had to do the project bc they were speaking over us regarding anti-Black racism in our D&C #and people individually reached out. like Black church leaders. bc they be doing this. #we made so much noise and the first presidency reached out to ME bc i wrote a paper that spread through the church about it #wild moment. but yeah we need something like the Genesis Group and they were willing to help me out a bit #its too much for me to handle on my own tho. esp with the revitalizing our intepretation and use of the Book of Mormon projects #i always put too much in the tags. i should write a post about that and share my article #it was on our D&C 116 which is like our L-dS OD 2 on Race in the priesthood and specifically ordination of Black men #which they (some of the white saints) wanted removed 🙄 bc of the “ministers to their own race” part which led to segregation being allowed #but also explicitly affirms God calls people of all races to priesthood and also that Black congregations didn’t need white pastor oversight #so just leave it. and ig you feel guilty...cope #i personally believe it to be inspired but flawed #it was literally a mostly white church in 1865. not excusing tho bc some sects were always fully integrated like the Bickertonites #they had a Black apostle in 1915. representation at high levels of leadership #oh and women in the priesthood from the jump. if limited

[nerdygaymormon]

Last year Deseret Book started offering online courses that people can purchase. These courses are about a variety of topics, including for people who returned early from their mission, those dealing with infertility, interacting with people with disabilities, several on scripture study, preparing for the endowment ceremony, and if your spouse or child uses porn. It’s an interesting mix and they range in price from $15 to $30

One of the courses is by Ben Schilaty on LGBTQ Allyship for Covenant-Keeping People. The lessons are on living the two great commandments to love, sharing & hearing people’s stories, and sharing what you’ve learned. 

The lessons seem like a good step forward, and many church members who would ordinarily be suspicious of anything LGBTQ will give it a chance since it’s offered by Deseret Book.

————————————————————-

I paid the $15 to get access.

I thought it contained practical ways that LDS church members could act to show they loved and welcomed any queer people who want to participate in church, and to be respectful of queer people who choose not to be in church and live in a way that doesn’t fit with the church’s rules. 

Ben teaches that we can invite people into our home and feed them and get to know them. We can express sincere interest in wanting to know how we can do better. We should honor that others get to make choices we disagree with, but we can choose to still have them in our life and we can seek to understand their motivations that underlie their choices.

Ben also goes through some things we shouldn’t say to queer people and why. And he lists some things people can do that show we welcome and love our queer friends, such as wear a rainbow pin, share a story of a queer person on social media, basically show you recognize and honor the queer people around you. 

————————————————————-

When this course was released in January, some of the extreme conservatives in the church made a huge fuss about it. Out of an hour of content, they had two complaints.

One is that Ben invited a friend on for a conversation. This friend is an active gay LDS man who dates men as he searches for a life partner. The point was to demonstrate how to have a conversation with someone making choices different from what the church teaches and show you’re still interested in their story and learning from it.

Of course this made some people unhappy to have a gay man indicating the Spirit confirms his choice to date. They fear it’s inviting people to justify sin, and for other people to be okay with sin.

The other issue they had was with the rainbow flag. There’s a piece of artwork on the wall behind Ben Schilaty by J. Kirk Richards titled We Have a Rainbow House and one way Ben suggested to show support is to fly the rainbow Pride flag. The critics claim the rainbow flag stands for horrible things that are against the church and how dare Deseret Book have a video suggesting it’s fine. 

Let’s look at what the rainbow Pride flag officially stands for. Red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for serenity, and violet for spirit. The horror of it all.

The rainbow Pride flag represents the queer community in all our diversity and is a way we can identify each other and show our support. Which means wherever queer people are, this flag is there. The flag is there when arguing for civil rights like marriage. It is displayed at businesses that cater to the queer community. In places which are hostile to queer people, the rainbow flag is a symbol of Hope, Freedom and Love. It is omnipresent at events for the queer community. It is found in all sorts of places because queer people can be found in all sorts of places. 

So yes, some of the things that conservative church members oppose have been fought for and won by queer people, and the rainbow flag was there, and so they associate the flag with everything they hate and think is wrong. The idea that Ben is suggesting covenant-keeping members can display the rainbow flag is anathema to them and they organized a campaign to try to get Deseret Book to remove this online course. To their credit, Deseret Book held firm and didn’t back down.

#ben schilaty #deseret book #queerstake

[tinybookgirl]

Was looking at necklaces on Deseret book because I lost my personal progress medallion in an Animal Kingdom cast bathroom (again, rip) and found these instead.

Nephi is the king in the chess set. It does not say who the queen is but man I hope it’s Sariah or Abish

Also an rpg? style board game in which you defeat the Gadianton robbers

#lds #mormon #the church of jesus christ of latter day saints #deseret book #book of mormon

[shiftythrifting]

Some conspiracy theory type books that treat things like Atlantis as fact. A questionable looking fish cover, and a tie I laughed at for a sold minute. I dubbed him potato Jesus.

#submission #shiftythrifting #thrifting #deseret industries #tie #Jesus #religion #potato jesus #books #cookbooks #food #bees #insects #conspiracy theories #ties

[yetanotherthriftblog]

Seems fitting.

#wild sex for new lovers #religion #books #this was Value Village not Deseret #where there are “holy fuck” books #thriftstore

[growingupmormon]

Down the rabbit hole I went and here’s my list from books I liked as a kid.

Orson Scott card

Brandon Sanderson

Obert skye

Shannon Hale

Brandon Mull

I’m gonna ask where my mom bought my Christmas presents next time I see her!

#former mormon #lds #exmo #exmormon #mormon #apostake #ex mormon #apostate #mormons #church #ex lds #fomo #religion #cult #ex cult #former lds #ex mo #formermormon #exlds #deseret books

[anthonyspage]

🌥🏜🛣🚌

#Day #Deseret #Cactus #Cactuses #Nature #Road #Van #Road Trip #Boat #Row Boat #Art #App #Adult Colouring Book #Adult Coloring Book #Paint By Number #My Post #My Upload

[romanceyourdemons]

guys. i just found the book of all time. “what da vinci didn’t know: an lds perspective” by richard neitzel holzapfel, andrew c. skinner, and thomas a. wayment (three highly respected scholars of mormon studies), written to directly address the crisis of faith induced in members of the church by dan brown’s “the da vinci code”

#deseret book will really publish anything won’t it #mormonism tw #ryddles

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Francis Spufford’s “Cahokia Jazz”

Tomorrow (December 5), I'm at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, with my new solarpunk novel The Lost Cause, which 350.org's Bill McKibben called "The first great YIMBY novel: perceptive, scientifically sound, and extraordinarily hopeful."

Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz is a fucking banger: it's a taut, unguessable whuddunit, painted in ultrablack noir, set in an alternate Jazz Age in a world where indigenous people never ceded most the west to the USA. It's got gorgeously described jazz music, a richly realized modern indigenous society, and a spectacular romance. It's amazing:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cahokia-Jazz/Francis-Spufford/9781668025451

Cahokia is the capital city of Deseret, a majority Catholic, majority indigenous state at the western frontier of the USA. It swirls with industry, wealth, and racial politics, serving as both a refuge from Jim Crow and a hive of Klan activity. Joe Barrow is new in town, a veteran who survived the trenches of WWI and moved to Cahokia with his army buddy, Phineas Drummond, where they both quickly rose through the police ranks to become detectives.

We meet Joe and Phin on a frigid government building rooftop in the predawn night, attending a grisly murder. Someone has laid out a man across a skylight, cut his throat, split his chest open, and excised his heart. This Aztec-inspired killing points at Cahokian indigenous independence gangs, some of whom embrace an apocryphal tale of being descended from Mesoamerican conquerors in the distant past. That makes this more than a mere ugly killing – it's a political flashpoint.

The Klan insists that Cahokia's system of communal land ownership is a form of communism (Russia never ceded Alaska in this world, so the USSR is now extending tendrils across the Bering Strait). They also insist that Cahokians' reverence for the Sun and the Moon – indigenous royals who have formally ceded power to elected leaders – makes them a threat to democracy. Finally, the Cahokians' fusion of Catholocism with traditional faith makes the spritually suspect. A rooftop blood-sacrifice could cause simmering political tension to boil over, and for ever white oligarch drooling at the thought of enclosing the shared land of Deseret, there are a thousand useful idiots in white hoods.

Joe and Phin now have to solve the murder – before the city explodes. But Phin seems more interested in pinning the case on an Indian – any Indian – than he is on solving the murder. And Joe – an indigenous orphan who has neither the language nor the culture that the Cahokians expect him to have – is reappraising his long habit of deferring to Phin.

This is the setup for a delicious whodunnit with a large helping of what if…? but Spufford doesn't stop there. Joe, you see, is a jazz pianist, and his old bandmates are back in town, and one thing leads to another and before you know it he's sitting in with them at a speakeasy. This gives Spufford a chance to roll out some of the most evocative, delicious descriptions of jazz since Doctorow's Ragtime (no relation):

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/41529/ragtime-by-e-l-doctorow/9780812978186

It's not just the jazz. This is a book that fires on every cylinder: there's brilliant melee (and a major battle set-piece that's stunning), a love storyline, gunplay, and a murder mystery that kept me guessing right to the end. There's fakeouts and comeuppances, bravery and treachery, and above all, a sense of possibility.

Most of what I know about Cahokia – and the giant mounds it left behind near St Louis – I learned from David Graeber and David Wengrow's brilliant work of heterodox history, The Dawn of Everything:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/08/three-freedoms/#anti-fatalism

Graeber and Wengrow's project is to make us reassess the blank spaces in our historical record, the ways of living that we have merely guessed at, based on fragments and suppositions. They point out that these inferences are vastly overdetermined, and that there are many other guesses that fit the facts equally well, or even better. This is a powerful message, one that insists that history – and thus the future – is contingent and up for grabs. We don't have to live the way we do, and we haven't always lived this way. We might live differently in the future.

In evoking a teeming, indigenous metropolis, conjured out of minor historical divergences, Spufford follows Graeber and Wengrow in cracking apart inevitability and letting all the captive possibility flow out. The fact that he does this in a first rate novel makes the accomplishment doubly impressive – and enjoyable.

It's EFF's Power Up Your Donation Week: this week, donations to the Electronic Frontier Foundation are matched 1:1, meaning your money goes twice as far. I've worked with EFF for 22 years now and I have always been - and remain - a major donor, because I've seen firsthand how effective, responsible and brilliant this organization is. Please join me in helping EFF continue its work!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/04/cahokia/#the-sun-and-the-moon

#pluralistic #alternate history #science fiction #indigeneity #cahokia #frances spufford #books #reviews #gift guide #jazz #music

[funeralpotatoesorbust]

No I'm not ready, Deseret Book, the hell.

#queerstake #I dont even have anything remotely clever. just.

[vintage-tech]

further thoughts on old sewing machines

I've read the replies and comments on the thing I reblogged about sewing machines and planned obsolescence / "they don't make 'em like they used to." You know me, I have more words to offer, and the basis here is the people saying "damn, I want one", "wow, how can I get one for reasonable?" and "you can get parts?" Read on...

First, let me show you what my friend sent me yesterday in a text. She was so jazzed that she wanted me to see it, and she doesn't even know I run a blog like this.

So here you see a White trundle sewing machine from the late 1910s to early 1920s. You can also see that it was either taken very good care of or completely restored, or both, and you have little doubt in looking at the first picture that it'll put together a prom dress or hem your cuffs at a moment's notice, and this isn't just a museum piece. In the below, I'm not just talking about the big ol' centagenarians, I mean pre-1990 Singers and everything inbetween.

You ask: Where can I find a hardy old sewing machine? The obvious answer of antique stores aside, you can find them in thrifts. Not necessarily Goodwill because they're capitalists who have tried to get away from furniture and heavy stuff, but most of the others have them and I warn you that you may have to cut a bitch (or be cut) if one shows up at Deseret Industries. I wish I still had the photo of the time a now-departed St. Vincent de Paul near me had TWO different White models on the floor, each for less than what some people pay for Starbucks in a week, and my memory says that if they didn't spin like a top right that second a couple hours with household products and maybe a Google search plus shipping time would have these things in a functional state your great-grandmother would approve of. It's a regular thing that I go into thrifts and there's a sewing machine case on a low shelf near the electronics that is older than your mother and twice as reliable.

You ask: How much will this set me back? Depends upon where you're shopping. Obviously antique stores will have them for more than thrifts, and sometimes you find them at estate sales (again, expect to cut a bitch) for either an antique price or a "take it away" solid price. Consider it a great day if you spend $10-$25 to get this off someone's shelf and out of someone's life.

You ask: Repairs and maintenance, what about that? I don't know a lot about the mechanics but the older they are, the simpler they get. Resources are out there on how to fix problems (books and YouTube videos) and obtain parts, and professionals exist who live to do both. You probably know someone who has machine sewed for decades; you could ask them for insight on how to get things back into shape. People in comments on that post named some sources for replacement parts after others said they were stymied by trying to find the doodad they needed.

You didn't ask: You seem to have some passion about this despite not being a sewing machine owner or user. What machines did you grow up with? My sainted grandmother had a 1960s Singer 401A. (Photos are NOT of her machine, I nabbed them from teh interweb.)

My mother still has and uses periodically her 1970s Singer 758. (Again, not my photo and I haven't seen hers out when I've visited lately.)

#vintage #antique #sewing machine #technology

[nerdygaymormon]

The LDS Church is selling this journal for 2024 through Deseret Book. The cover has a painting of the Tree of Life from Sabrina Squires.

On a website selling this artist's works, it includes this description:

"All are alike unto God."--I chose to address this concept on a cultural level, attempting to address the pain that racism causes many individuals. The tree and its fruit represents the love of God, and people from different races collect the glowing orbs. The snowy branches of the tree provide a framework for a myriad of colors. To me, these rainbow shards represent God's excitement and awareness in creating diversity, and that all the colors must work together for optimal beauty. Only when all of the colors of the rainbow are combined does white appear--the hue representing purity and peace. The tree is large and all-encompassing, providing and making room for any who desire to approach and gather. God's love extends to all of His children, and He gives us the opportunity not only to partake of His love, but to share its abundance. "

I love that the cover of this journal has artwork displaying that All Are Alike Unto God.

The story of the Tree of Life says that there is a white tree full of fruit which is also white, and the fruit was sweeter than all other fruits, and partaking of it fills one with great joy. The fruit represents the love of God.

In order to have a white tree and white fruit, it requires all the colors coming together. The painter specifically mentioned race, but there's other ways humans are diverse, and God's love is there for ALL of us.

#sabrina squires #queerstake #tumblrstake

[queerstake]

I'm seeing some interest in the BoM readers edition, so I thought I'd show folks who don't know! This is how it reads:

It really does change the reading experience. This is how I first finished the BoM beginning to end myself around high school, when i was really struggling with the switch to online seminary. It doesn't look like deseret book carries it anymore from what I can tell?? But it's available on even Barnes and noble I saw. And I know it's crazy popular--you can probably find someone in your ward to borrow it from if need be.

#ignore the annotations this is my grandpas copy i got when he passed away

[lesser-vissir]

Reading a book about US empire and learning there were failed states is so funny. Heres to Lincoln, West Dakota, Deseret, Cimarron, and Montezuma. You deserved better

[heathersdesk]

Guys. You guys. He had a PSYCHIC.

And not just any psychic.

A psychic who was receiving messages from

*and I kid you not*

the prophet Nephi. Like, from The Book of Mormon. THAT Nephi.

That's how Tim Ballard was trying to find trafficked kids. Taking directions from a woman who thinks she can talk to a dead prophet. All in hopes that it would convince people to join the Church.

And his delusions have gotten so bad, the Church made a statement that as good as calls Tim Ballard a liar for using Elder Ballard's name to advance himself and give the crazy things he was saying some kind of credibility.

I tell you all that to say this:

Just because something is published or sold at Deseret Book doesn't make it true.

Just because someone says they are close to church leadership doesn't mean they're trustworthy.

Just because they tell you they're helping children doesn't mean that's what they're actually achieving. Wanting to help is not the same thing as knowing how, and doing it in such a way that doesn't put even more people in danger.

Just because someone is a member of the Church doesn't mean they're automatically a good person. It doesn't mean you can trust them with your money, your name, or anything else you care about.

If something sounds too good to be true, like some schmoe who is a literal nobody rescuing kids from human trafficking, it probably is!

Tim Ballard is a grifter. The fact that there are large swaths of the Church who won't recognize him as a grifter, even now that the Church has rejected the narrative he's spinning, is astounding.

So yeah. The Sound of Freedom is fictional. Tim Ballard is a con artist. Everything he says and does is to advance his own ambitions and to make him money. And if he does end up running for office in Utah and y'all vote for him, you can't say you weren't warned.

#mormon #lds #mormonism #the church of jesus christ of latter day saints #religion #faith #tim ballard #sound of freedom

[mormon-character-tournament]

Group Four Round Three

Character info from submissions under the cut

Mumen Rider (Headcanon) Mumen Rider is a superhero, but objectively not a very good one: he’s stuck in Class C, the lowest ranking of heroes, probably because he doesn’t actually have any powers or combat training. But he’s got a stronger sense of justice and bravery then most Class S heroes, and no amount of getting himself hurt by going up against huge monsters or hardened criminals is going to change that. He knows he can’t do much, but he’s determined to give it his all no matter what. His super powers are a) biking and b) being nice. You CANNOT tell me he’s not an RM. Bet, he served in the Philippines.

Adam Campbell aka Deputy Deseret (Canon) Deputy Deseret, a cowboy sharpshooter, wields the firearms of the old west gunslinger Porter Rockwell, which fire ghostly rounds and destroy any malicious creatures in their path. The deputy struggles to quiet an intensifying voice that is encouraging more and more violent solutions to his problems. Deputy Deseret is a member of the Salt City Strangers and seems to be a relatively devout member.

Sebastian Brother (Canon) Sebastian is a BYU freshman who in his senior year of high school participated in a special creative writing seminar and has sold the book he wrote, and is now mentoring the following year's senior seminar. He lives in Provo and is part of a True Blue Mormon Family™️ with his dad as a bishop and is preparing to go on a mission...except he's gay and in the closet, and falling in love with bisexual Californian nonmember Tanner who he's mentoring in the senior seminar which is WOW throwing a lot on his plate!!

#mormon tournament #poll #headcanon #canon #Mumen Rider #Deputy Deseret #Sebastian Brother