Pieces

This is a poem that I recently submitted to a local writing contest. It garnered second place which means it (along with the rough draft of my book (I'm still going to send that to you mom)) will be published and available at our local library. Anyway, I thought I'd share :)
Pieces

I am pieces of people I've known.
Stitched experience carefully sewn
And a bit of me is with them too,
not taken, but grafted into who
I have touched like they touched me;
Making of each soul a tapestry.

Though millions of years shall pass away
each patch is still with me e'en today.
Though faded and coarse, still part of me
in a quilted landscape of mem'ry.
Proud of my patches, excepting few
I have yellows, reds, even some blues.

I'm pieces of people I've known
stitched experience carefully sewn
the stuffing's my own
and God gave me bones
From you I choose what part I will use
I'm pieces of people I've known.

Art

Art is meant to reflect our attempt to capture the divine. Often I have found that art, good art, that is, springs from confusion, questioning, and the artist's attempt to answer the basic Gospel questions of who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. 'Search for truth' infuses the artist's work with passion and feeling. Of course, the obvious problem for a man of faith is this: I know the answers to these questions, my 'search for truth' is minute within the light of the Gospel and the source of answers is developed through my relationship with my Heavenly Father, not my work. SO, back the the thesis statement - the way for a man of faith who is at peace with his surroundings to still find that passion and feeling in his work is a burning desire to not only appreciate the works of God but to reach out in earnest effort to imitate them. To recreate the heavens and the mysteries of the earth. We may know the answers to the 3 big questions but we don't know what they look like, sound like, FEEL like! I want my art to explore those worlds that are just beyond our reach knowing that I can never truly recreate their beauties, but, if for only a moment, I can touch them then I have accomplished what art is truly supposed to do - elevate us beyond the mortal.

Priestcraft and Deseret Book

Many of you know that I have long struggled trying to reconcile the conflict of interest presented by Deseret Book. Is it a for profit business or a holy library - easy answer, right? It's both. But how can an entity serve God and Mammon? Deseret Book seems to walk this line very closely. Are the books on sale being written, advertised, and sold to uplift and inspire or to make money? //P.S. I really wonder about this one when their books is advertised RIGHT after conference (usually several times) - I work in a marketing department, don't try to tell me that isn't prime advertising space.//

Furthermore, this question became especially distressing to me when The Church purchased Deseret Book a little while back. I have mulled it over and over and over again. I've asked people I respect what their opinions are and usually the answers were the same (which means they were probably right). I always got a "you're reading way too much into it, kid" kinda response. But the question continued to bug me. I might think more about this than most because I've thought about writing my own LDS fiction and deeply contemplated how, why, or if I should publish it. My discomfort reached an all time high when I decided to buy a copy of The History of the Church. You know, the large volume set referenced in the introduction to almost every section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Surely something referenced so often in canonized scripture would be sold at wholesale prices similar to the Missionary Library. Nope. The only available set in print is $200 and leatherbound. Ack! So I called them up and asked for an alternative. They recommended Gospel Link. I thought "Oh yeah, that program with like 5,000 books. I suppose I could buy a CD to get them." But I couldn't find Gospel Link anywhere on their website - at least not the software. The only available Gospel Link library is a pay-per-month Gospel Link service and website. Really, $5 a month is not much for so much knowledge...but I just couldn't bring myself to add yet another monthly expense to our bills. Especially since I know the financial reasons companies use monthly payments - it MAKES THEM MORE MONEY.

In the end, I came to an answer that I felt very good about. I will purchase a monthly service for Gospel literature when and ONLY WHEN I have exhausted all of my free resources. This includes all of the literature (scriptures, magazines, conference talks, etc) available through lds.org, all of the talks on ksl.com, the videos provided through kbyu and byutv and all of the books available through project guttenberg (awesome btw) and literature.org, etc. Since I know I have NOT exhausted those resources - not even close - I am content that I will not need to make a purchase at Deseret Book any time soon. Problem solved...for me. But what about the Deseret Book/Priestcraft conflict?

Well, last night while I was thinking about this relationship I finally came to an answer that makes sense to me: The Church purchased Deseret Book in order to ensure that it DID NOT become a wolf's den of priestcraft. Now, I'm sure Deseret Book started out with only the best intentions in mind but as soon as it became a viable revenue stream it could only be a matter of time before someone would start focusing more on the money than the message. I'm thinking The Church stepped in to stop that. Still, I'm sure there are LDS and 'Jack-LDS' authors who target Deseret Book because it's easier to get published in the smaller market and sell lots of books to faith seeking suckers...er...I mean members. To me the combo leaves a bad taste in my mouth - as it probably did with The Church. So rather than allow it to run out of control (LDS film making - ahem) they decided to wrangle it in so that they could protect members from an inevitable outlet for priestcraft. Does preistcraft still happen there - sure, though everyone involved will surely deny it. It's a business, but at least the church can keep it from getting crazy out of hand.

So here's my rules when shopping for LDS branded media:
1. Is it published by The Church itself? If not, always take it with a grain of salt because IT IS NOT 100% DOCTRINE, no matter the author.
2. Along with #1 - always try to have the Holy Ghost in order to discern what is written for commercial success and what is written for spiritual success.
3. Never, EVER allow the study of any book to replace study of the scriptures
4. Remember that quality requires time and that the artist, author, or musician had to spend a lot of their personal time to create it (so suck it up and pay for it) but remember it's not 100% doctrine.
5. I always have to remember that my testimony was bolstered during my formative years by some excellent LDS media. Heimerdinger's work most notably combined with LDS Pop music greats like Michael McClean (sp?), Kurt Bestor, and Kenneth Cope. I can't deny or despise that.
6. Is the purchase a popular / required item for the current Mormon Pop-culture trends? If so, don't buy it until it's out of fashion so as to buy it for a real purpose.
7. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."