Student Review Volume 2 Issue 3

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3

Issue No. 3

The HERITAGE Issue

THIS BARCODE DOES NOTHING.

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ISSUE THREE LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Reader, This has been an especially difficult issue to edit. This is partly due to my pesky hypothyroidism that has sat behind my eyes like weights heavier than usual this month. This, however, is a small thing compared to the difficulty of this month’s subject matter.

As a staff we dug and, in doing so, exhumed a few skeletons.

In weighing the pros and cons of these articles I have experienced nightmares of being called into apostles’ offices where they shake their heads and ask, “Why?” Well, to my dream version of Elder L. Tom Perry, here is my answer: Whether we were ready for it or not (and I would lean toward the latter)­—

the Internet has ushered us into a more transparent world. The narrative of our faith once so neat and controlled, is evaporating before our eyes one Google search at a time.

The result? A lot of confusion and a sense of “That’s not what I was told.”

So we have a difficult past—what faith doesn’t? Let’s be open. Let’s tackle the challenges placed before and behind us and, in doing so, come to terms with our history’s hiccups in settings that are safe and inspired.

Our faith is young. Our identity, within our own circles and without, is still under development. In defining that identity, I believe we need to learn the lessons of our past—­ the good and the bad. We need to learn what our ancestors did when placed with our struggles and learn from their mistakes and successes.

Well, that’s my theory, anyway. I could very well be very wrong. Either way, I invite you to read this month’s issue and decide for yourself, if for no other reason than our humor section is especially bounteous this month.

Tamarra Kemsley

Cover illustration by Nathan Hardyman to contact, email natemantheman@gmail.com

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‘SUP C l a s s m at es .

H AV E YO U D O N E A N Y G O O D I N T H E WO R L D T O DAY ?

XOXO, T h e S t ude n t R e vi e w S taf f

This issue of Student Review is dedicated to those true freshmen who have graced this campus with their presence. We honor you as a now-dying, bushy-tailed breed of youngsters who has spent the semester wandering around campus, completely confused and lost.

Just think, no more American Heritage.

—Student Review

Photo Credit: US National Archives

Tell your mission comp we say hi.

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campus life

byu and homosexuality: a history Written by allie rae treharne & shirley grover

Although the Brigham Young University community today hosts a diverse opinion on the matter of homosexuality, BYU’s history of dealing with its gay students has been a long, controversial journey.

While BYU has since changed its policies regarding homosexuals, its actions decades ago still resonate with people today.

In 1965, BYU President Ernest Wilkinson gave a devotional talk in response to the increasingly liberal atmosphere of the 1960s.

In reference to homosexuals Wilkinson said, “Nor do we intend to

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admit to our campus any homosexuals. If any of you has this tendency and have not completely abandoned it, may I suggest that you leave the University immediately after this assembly…we do not want others on this campus to be contaminated by your presence.”

This public statement spurred BYU administration into a phase from 1967 to 1969 where certain administrators conducted searches to find and expel BYU students suspected of homosexual behavior, in what some refer to as the “BYU Witch Hunts.”

Students were publicly encouraged, as they are today, to seek out other students suspected of disobeying the Honor Code and to turn each other in. Detailed files were kept on students suspected of homosexuality, according to Connell O’Donovan’s A Revised History of Homosexuality and Mormonism. In this same text, O’Donovan reports that some students who were caught faced the ultimatum of providing names of other gay students or expulsion from school.

Most controversial of all, however, was BYU’s employment of electric shock therapy in cases of its gay students.

In 1976, Professor Max Ford McBride led 22 experimental sessions involving 17 male homosexual BYU students with the purpose of converting students from gay to heterosexual reports Max Ford McBride in Effect of visual stimuli in electric shock aversion therapy.

According to McBride, students came in a few times a week for 50 minutes at a time as an alternative to expulsion from BYU for their homosexual behavior.

The therapy involved explicit pornographic slides of both men and women. If the slides depicting naked men aroused the gay student, the experiment supervisor delivered painful electric currents through the electrodes directly attached to the student’s body, including the genitals.

The supervisor then encouraged the male student to feel arousal when being shown the pornographic slides of naked women, reports McBride.

STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tamarra Kemsley ART DIRECTOR Craig Mangum GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sarah Kay Brimhall ASSISTANT DESIGNER Rachel Dabb ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Nathan Hardyman Joey Nelson Andy Simmonds Emma Vidmar WEB EDITOR Cole Spicker

BUSINESS TEAM Ben Harper Grant Harper Crystal Kemsley PR TEAM Cameron Hollingshead Lorie Hoffman Amber Nance Jon Uland COPY EDITORS Laura Haines Cole Spicker LITERARY/ A&E SECTION EDITOR Andy Andersen

CONTRIBUTORS Andrew D. Alston J. Andersen Victoria Birkbeck Adam Brooks Kufre Ekpenyong Sabrina Franks Conor Hilton Sofie Lefens Ian McArthur Hilary Norton Taylor Ottesen Stephen Smoot Allie Rae Treharne Jesse Quebbanman-Turley Jack Wesley Charlie Wildey Corey Landon Wozniak

The dangerous nature of this experiment was no secret; students signed a release form stating, “These procedures will likely produce a great deal of discomfort; and tissue or organ damage could result. I also witness the fact that the visual, auditory and other sensory modality stimuli could be construed to be socially or morally offensive” (McBride).

There is no evidence that the experiment achieved its desired goal.

Jonathan* is a Provo resident who had two close friends who both went through the aversion therapy at BYU. One of his friends eventually ended up taking his own life years later. Jonathan believes that the aversion therapy “was a large part of his suicide.”

“Aversion therapy messed with your sexuality forever,” he said. “The therapy only made them not look at men, and they still couldn’t look at women.”

BYU’s official statement on its history with these controversial experiments states the following: “In the late 1970s, one professor did study the effects of aversion therapy utilizing electric shock. At that time, such techniques were being studied at other universities and institutions.

Studies of this type have not taken place at the university since then.”

Sam Wolfe, a lawyer at Southern Poverty Law Center who works to alleviate the harm of conversion therapy in Utah, believes that there is still leftover damage that BYU has the responsibility to repair.

“This type of torture is horrendous even if it was in the ‘70s,” Wolfe said.

“There really should be a healing, some sort of acknowledgement that this hurt people. There has to be some sort of truth and reconciliation that ‘this was wrong; we’re sorry, and let’s all do better.’ ” Such events stand in a certain degree of contrast to BYU’s current climate towards its homosexual students.

In 2007, BYU administration responded to students’ questions for clarification regarding the policy in regards to BYU’s gay population.

What formerly read: “Advocacy of a homosexual lifestyle (whether implied or explicit) or any behaviors that indicate homosexual conduct, including those not sexual in nature, are inappropriate and violate the Honor Code.

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xperi- “Violations of the Honor Code may ignedresult in actions up to and including roce-separation from the University.” t deal Became: organ “Brigham Young University will itnessrespond to homosexual behavior y andrather than to feelings or orientacouldtion and welcomes as full members of orallythe university community all whose behavior meets university standards. xperi-Members of the university community can remain in good Honor Code whostanding if they conduct their lives in wenta manner consistent with gospel prinBYU.ciples and the Honor Code. ed up “One’s sexual orientation is not an athanHonor Code issue. However, the Honor y “wasCode requires all members of the university community to manifest a strict h yourcommitment to the law of chastity. erapyHomosexual behavior or advocacy of n, andhomosexual behavior are inappropriate and violate the Honor Code. istoryHomosexual behavior includes not only mentssexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical or didintimacy that give expression to hoerapymosexual feelings. Advocacy includes time,seeking to influence others to engage udiedin homosexual behavior or promoting tions.homosexual relations as being morally takenacceptable.” ” Understanding Same Gender uthernAttraction, also known as USGA, is a eviateclub founded in 2010 by BYU students Utah,who wanted to give gay students an amageopportunity to meet in the open and pair. discuss issues. ndous Within a year the group grew from said.five initial members to 40-60 attendsomeees each meeting. this In 2012, many of the group’s members e sortparticipated in “It Gets Better at ‘thisBrigham Young University,” a number t’s allof short features released on YouTube in which BYU students express their egreethoughts as gay students at BYU. imateWithin weeks each video had collected hundreds of thousands of views, and n re-the word of USGA spread further. Now s forthe club sees up to 100 attendees in a cy insingle session.

These videos further report that of BYU’s 1,800 known gay students, 74 estylepercent have contemplated suicide and r any24 percent have actually attempted. sexual Vice president of USGA and BYU ual instudent Adam White believes that iolatethere is an air of increased optimism about BYU regarding homosexuality

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with these recent developments.

“It has been a very positive experience,” White said. “People have been very positive and affirming. USGA has brought people to a place where they can talk. It’s becoming more of a normal thing to talk about the issue.”

The increase of notoriety and attendance has led BYU student Samuel Elmer to set out to start BYU Lighthouse.

Elmer disagrees with what he calls “the affirming nature of USGA” and envisions a group that strictly upholds a celibate lifestyle for gay students as the correct path.

“My focus is to give students another perspective on this and to raise awareness that the lifestyle is not the only path to take,” Elmer said. “The club will offer tools and principles to help [homosexual students] in their own life, and separate attraction from the sins.”

While BYU Lighthouse is not an official sponsor of conversion therapy, Elmer hopes that the club will “help students diminish their same gender attraction.”

In these past few years especially, BYU has developed into a university that hosts diverse opinions on the matter of homosexuality. Whether one idea is more persuasive than the other, people of each opinion can be found all around campus. Current resources for homosexual students that can be found at Brigham Young University prove that BYU has moved on from its methods of long ago. ◼ *The interviewee requested that his real name not be used.

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literary section girl number four Written by Jack Wesley

Two Brown Eyes gates to her soul Opened. Inviting.

What do you see?

She stares idly back into the lens unwillingly To blink, to look away is death Death to her dream

notes of an american driver Written by j. andersen

The only job I could get was that of the American driver.

I returned from a study abroad in Europe in August of 2012 intending to take the next semester off to work and write. Did neither as much as I had planned, but I did finally get a job as a delivery driver for a floral wholesale company. I deliver to the flortal shops of Utah and the florists who seem to suffer from the same damn thing that ails every warm-blooded American in every happy valley across the nation.

They started me on local runs, delivering to shops that dot Utah Valley from Lehi to Santaquin. On the road I see it all with the sound of the classical station on the radio and the freeway cutting through the view of the whole mad grey lonely scene. Complacent civilization fenced in by mountains, a valley of rural loneliness with tiny pockets of urban nihilism that go unnoticed. Houses and farms and shops full of loneliness bottled up inside the marrow of every bone of every rotting moving body. Then I stop off at the shops and floral departments of

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Counterfeit confidence Every sign of fear hidden. insecure.

She’s scared. Terrified.

Girl number four She moved to New York With a prayer and a suitcase Innocent. alone.

Every ounce of courage wasted Any signs of fear hidden behind two brown eyes Her past they’ll never know

Does she possess it?

Star potential she’s special she doubts it

They offered her twenty bucks and a hope so she stares and does not look away

‘That’ll do, darlin.

‘Call the next girl in.

‘Shut the door on the way out.

‘Won’t you, darlin’?’

She must not look away Three minutes. They know.

She just keeps staring back into the lens

This could be her break Her door opened turn the knob. walk in. shut the door. take a seat.

Now just stare

Door closed. Eyes closed.

Dreams closed.

Two brown eyes closed shut. ◼

Two brown eyes from some beat down, redneck town in the Midwest. Nowhere.

grocery stores, briefly interact with the other folks and their delivery jobs and floral jobs and we’re all doing the same stupid thing…making stops and going from one destination to the other, carried by the worst form of isolation… the isolation that puts one man in one car next to another man in another car on the same dividing strand of cement… the isolation keeping the human race lonely in each other’s arms forever…the isolation of the American way After a few weeks of driving locals I was reassigned to the Vernal run, delivering to the shops of Utah to the east, beyond the valley, through the parapets of the Provo canyon and almost to the Colorado border where there’s an entirely different American ride.

I load my boxes of flowers and supplies into a van at 5:00 in the morning and set off into the canyon.

It kills me how every time I enter that canyon and the first remnants of the sun make themselves known to the mountains, I feel as though I’m entering the very heart of darkness that Joseph Conrad described so eloquently— heading upstream on a blood-red river of road. Then I reach Heber, and turn on to Highway 40, and as the sun rises the scene is dotted with trees and hills and tranquil reservoirs all fleshing out a place of dull serenity. Then I come up on Duschene and the green fades and the hills turn tan and the dirt turns to rock.

Dreams of fame and money The next Marilyn Two brown eyes. alive.

She just stares and does not dare look away

I make a delivery in Duschene, press on to Roosevelt, and make the deliveries there. When I make the stops the anxious boredom in the faces of the people gets to me, but their faces fade and become a welcome part of the earth when I hit that sweet spot on the highway between Roosevelt and Vernal…a stretch of straight highway that awards the driver a royal view over the dry land and plateau’s in the distance.

Ah yes, this is the place—Utah’s own divine desolation row—the place that tells me it’s secret, and the secret is this: In a 21st century world where words lose all meaning the moment they are uttered and are bastardized on glowing screens of enchanting devices, and too many moments end before they start— and even the threat of apocalypse is the topic of commonplace chatter—the American road is the great deconstructor, the celestial catalyst in what little moments of clarity exist amongst the waste of cosmos around us.

When the road goes straight and keeps going that way, it can cut a landscape of practically nothing in half, like a machete cuts a body from top to bottom in a scene from a violent cartoon. But the blood of the cut landscape fills the mind when the mind comes up over a hill and sees the rocky red sea. The view of the driver is omniscient and that’s when he hears the music that’s been playing in the desert

since it was but a vision in the sun god’s ancient mind…

Keep your eyes on the road Your hands upon the wheel I recently attended a conference in St. George honoring an ancestor of mine, a pioneering settler of Southern Utah. On the drive home I chose a Dizzy Gillespie CD as the soundtrack, and the jazz came through the speakers and the stone faces of desert cliffs were grey and beautiful, and the nimbus clouds cast the right shadows on the stone faces and I realized that the pioneer spirit whose lover is the desert is in my blood, and it manifests itself on the road.

As long as it goes and goes ‘till it’s out of sight, the desert highway is the American door of perception. But the drive is only as glorious as the driver who drives it, and the driver is glorious when he’s high from the stink of the road. It is this circular eternal connection between the driver and the road that continues to split open the heavens to the American West, no matter how close to hell it sinks.

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If you have a creative writing submission (essay, poetry or Short Story) Please send it to THESTUDENTREVIEW2@ GMAIL.com

time ghost Written by charlie wildey

In the night a silent shout, a buzz.

Dead fall whispers about dead sun, power lines vanish as they escape the god’sstreet lamp I’m waiting for a buzz, a fix needing to smell but I ain’t got no nose.

There’s a time ghost stopping my clock I’m frozen in an amber dream/nightnce inmare/don’t care or ofJanuary, cold dark full of you full of me thernseems like a story some junky’s ose a rambling. track, theWear no coat in the firey trees desertWhere you are it’s all snow/shit/disease nd the get out here, get away, get alive be here adowsthe universe jives and twists, can’t d that know what can’t be known is thescratch patterns in the walls, take a nifestsbow, take the fall.

ill it’s Half empty glass of brown and ladies is the voices ut the the sound of rain, too, listen to elecdrivertricity. oriousA circle of dancing priests tell the truth. of the Months and a plane. A few thousands con-miles but d the then arms, and you, in the cold warm. n the Here be my fix. t, no

PHOTO BY EMMA VIDMAR

untitled Written by Jesse quebbanman-turley

A gun is a gun, no matter what you do with it.

6:20 am

A gun is a gun: pound nails into wood with it, dip its barrel into ink and write with it, prop open doors with it, empty its chamber of bullets and put pills in it, masturbate with it, scoop warm vegetables into your mouth with it, roll dough with it, take a life with it.

When the horror of the dream is still wrapped around you— a fat, dead snake—

A gun is a gun, and so are you.

You think, “I birthed this thing?”

You ask, “From which hole?”

(a man in a bed) Written by Jesse quebbanman-turley

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arts and entertainment for your consideration: the doors Written by andy andersen

Among the pioneering blues and psychedelic rock bands of the 1960s, The Doors — lead singer Jim Morrison in particular ­­— have somehow garnered a pop-culture status tainted by connotations of overrated-ness and all-around douche-baggery. Much of this can be attributed to the serialized image of Jim Morrison — the obnoxious, arrogant and cruel artist (as seen in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors). This is the image that has clouded out, at least partially, The Doors’ vast contribution to modern music, art and poetry. It is this contribution, however, that should be reexamined and reconsidered by all music lovers of the 21st century.

Jim Morrison got the name for his band from a line attributed to one of his major poetic influences, William Blake: “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”

This sentiment drove The Doors’ sound and mythos. Through the simplistic, moody, bluesy and sometimes psychedelic sound created by keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger and

provo’s next big thing: the strike Written by allie rae treharne

Fans gathered at Muse Music Cafe last Saturday to wave glow sticks and dance around to Provo’s only nine-member pop band that wears grey suits, dress shirts and suspenders to each of their shows: The Strike.

This funk-pop band with its jazzy undertones and random moments of rock ‘n’ roll is a breath of fresh air when compared to the singer/songwriter bands of Provo that embrace everything indie.

What one or two other members lack in stage presence, frontman Chris Crabb and saxophonist Myles Lawrence do their best to compensate for.

the voice and words of rock ‘n’ roll poet Jim Morrison, the band created doors of perception between darkness and enlightenment — gateways through which artists continue to follow and flourish in.

Appreciating Morrison as both a singer and a true poet is a lot easier once the tired, leather-pants-clad rock-star image is set aside. It was an image that Morrison himself discarded in the midst of The Doors’ popularity (as can be seen by the beefy, bearded Morrison featured on the cover of his last album with The Doors, L.A. Woman), a media monster that has become far bigger than the man himself, as well as his work. But it is the work that speaks for itself. Morrison had a wide variety of artistic influences. He looked to a wide range of poets from William Blake to Allen Ginsberg for lyrical inspiration, and drew from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and the grotesque imagery of the work of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch for the dark landscapes he conceptualized in songs like “The End” and “Riders on the Storm.”

As both a poet and performer, Morrison took rock ‘n’ roll seriously as an art form, which manifested itself through the adult nature of his lyrics. While John Lennon and Paul McCartney were writing about love and adolescence, Jim Morrison was writing about sex and death, creating a dangerous stage persona (now infamously known as the Lizard King) to match his words. Julian Beck’s New York-based experimental theater group, The Living

The smooth tenor of Crabb with his runs and blend are nothing short of impressive, making his voice and style the perfect face of The Strike. Nor does it hurt that he’s helplessly entertaining to watch on stage, either. And Lawrence’s sax not only defines their genre but his performance style gives their band a carefree feel, while he simultaneously masters measures of impressive jazz improvisation.

Regardless of performance ability, which one can only assume they will improve on with experience, everyone’s technical know-how puts them in the top tiers of Provo musicianship.

The Strike has mastered the rare combination of a young band that has incorporated true musical skill into pure entertainment. Next time you get to watch them, pay close attention to the amazing Jake Justice on keys and you will know what I mean.

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Theatre, directly inspired Morrison’s confrontational approach to his audience, revealing from yet another artistic angle that Morrison’s work is part of a long and integral tradition of art, performance and poetry.

And though Jim Morrison eventually became a victim to the excess of his own stardom, he was always aware that he was nothing on his own as a musical entity. He knew better than anyone what Jerry Hopkins poignantly described in the seminal Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, that “to get the best view of Jim Morrison you must go through The Doors, and the most important thing to remember about The Doors is that they were a band and each individual formed a side of the diamond that was the whole.”

If Jim Morrison was the word and the image, the other three sides of the diamond were the music, each deserving far more appreciation for their contribution to rock music than they have received.

Ray Maznarek was arguably the architect of The Doors. He was the one who really had the drive and know-how to form the band after encouraging Morrison to step up to the mike after hearing him sing one of his songs unaccompanied on the beach while both of them were students at UCLA film school. Manzarek’s keyboards are every bit as signature to The Doors’ sound as Morrison’s vocals and lyrics. The Doors never had an actual bass player in their line-up, opting instead for Manzarek to pull double-duty, playing the keyboard with his right hand, and a keyboard

In short, the only thing The Strike is missing is a weekly show in Vegas or an L.A. night club, which would better suit them than the indie music scene of Provo.

But in the meantime, The Strike seems to have no problem in accruing local fans, and it is no question to me why. ◼

bass with his left. It is the bizarre, often circus-like sound of Manzarek’s playing that pushes The Doors sound into a beautiful realm of the weird.

At their best, The Doors leave plenty of space open, and execute the balance between space and sound through a signature precision and simplicity.

At the heart of this precision are the Latin jazz beats of John Densmore’s drumming, keeping The Doors’ sound tight while allowing it to go down smoothly. Densmore was greatly aided by the Elvis and L.A. Surf rock-Fast c influenced guitar of Robby Krieger.cation Morrison often lamented the fact thatmartin Krieger was not appreciated as one of The the great guitarists of his generation,Bond and Krieger’s name is seldom droppedcredit in the same sentence as Jimi Hendrix,since Pete Townshend, Keith Richards orto Age Eric Clapton. As a songwriter, his im-Royale portance in The Doors is undeniable,sary o having written (or co-written withwith i Morrison) many of The Doors’ biggestperfec radio hits including “Light My Fire,”under “Touch Me” and “Love Her Madly”. to the Just as 1960s arthouse acts like Thechise, Velvet Underground and the original Sky psychedelic incarnation of Pink FloydBond have garnered retrospective atten-missio tion for their influential contributionsinto h to modern music as we know it, Theonly t Doors should be considered one of therorist purest and most timeless acts in Rockthe en history. If the cereal image of the bandstirrin and their shaman front-man is thrownM (pla away, the work will speak for itself, andtime b the music and words of The Doors willtigatio cleanse, and perhaps create new doorscomes of perception to the willing listener. ◼ dable now a loyalt execu Dire Beaut attach with the jo an ine morni offer, Bond Barba them. job af direct have franch isn’t t been Photo Credit: The Strike drama (From left to right, top row) Rachel doubt Munoa, Rob Qualls, Chris Crabb, Jake Justice, Austie Robinson, Katie Hall.

Wh (Bottom row) Stuart Adams, Myles an im Lawrence, Tommy Hall. brillian past a dark, Danie

mo sk

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movie review: skyfall Written by andy andersen grade: a-

Fast cars, beautiful women, exotic locations, plenty of kills and a few vodka martinis along the way.

These are the elements of the James Bond franchise that are often given credit for its unprecedented success since Ian Fleming introduced the world to Agent 007 in the 1952 novel Casino Royale. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series, and with it the release of Skyfall, a nearperfect Bond film that reveals a keen understanding of what really attests to the endurance of not only the franchise, but the character at its core.

Skyfall opens with another classic Bond opening action sequence, but the mission at hand goes awry, sending 007 into hiding after being presumed dead, only to return to MI6 after a cyber-terrorist attack threatens the security of the entire British secret service while stirring up a buried past for MI6 boss M (played for the seventh consecutive time by Judi Dench). As Bond’s investigations send him to Shanghai, he comes up against a strange and formidable enemy in former MI6 agent Silva, now a cyber-terrorist who tests Bond’s loyalty to M, as well as his ability to execute the mission at all costs.

Diretor Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) first became attached to Skyfall over a few drinks with Daniel Craig, who offered him the job to direct the next Bond film in an inebriated state, woke up the next morning, realized the job wasn’t his to offer, and immediately went to longtime Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to chalk it up with them. Mendes ended up getting the job after all, marking perhaps the best director pick that Wilson and Broccoli have made since they took over the franchise with 1995’s Goldeneye. This isn’t the first time that a Bond film has been helmed by a director with mostly drama work under his belt, but it’s undoubtedly the most inspired.

What Mendes achieves with Skyfall is an immaculate balance between paying brilliant homage to Bond’s 50-year past and maintaining the success of his dark, gritty present as ushered in by Daniel Craig’s first two Bond outings.

Together with Director of Photography Roger Deakins (recent collaborator with Mendes and frequent collaborator with the Coen Brothers), the look, tone, and ambience Mendes creates in the film is brilliantly moody, often aided by a welcome dark humor that hearkens back to the Sean Connery era, as well as the campiness found in the pages of Fleming.

And when it comes to Bond villains, Javier Bardem is about as campy and mesmerizing as they come. Just as Heath Ledger’s Joker elevated the character beyond the confines of comic book villainy, Bardem gives a truly memorable performance that may very well win him another Oscar nomination (or should at the very least). In combining the fantastic elements of the character with the striking believability of his acting chops, Bardem often carries the film’s most prominent underlying theme—the tension between the old fashioned and the ever-increasing

image courtesy of flickeringmyth.com

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modernity of the world it struggles to maintain relevance within.

Representing the old-fashioned is Daniel Craig in his strongest performance as 007 yet. Bond is aging rapidly this time around, increasingly dependent on alcohol and pharmaceuticals to keep drudging through the soulerosion of killing for a living, no matter how glamorous it has looked to his audience for the past 50 years.

As entertaining and action-packed

as Skyfall is, the success of the film lies in what Craig’s Bond embodies, which in turn is the true reason for Bond’s endurance in the collective movie-going consciousness. At his core, Bond is an anti-hero, a deeply troubled and conflicted human being who dulls the pain of his existence with the glamorous trappings of his job that have brought fans back to see him for decades and, as Skyfall triumphantly suggests, years still to come. ◼

10

Religion

this they believe: Judaism Written by Taylor Ottesen

Stepping through the doors of a local synagogue I feel like I’m stepping into a different century, or perhaps a different world. Hushed voices resonate in the corners in fast and scurrying Yiddish. A box of white kippahs (more commonly known as yarmulkas) lies in the middle of the floor waiting to adorn the heads of worshippers. In the back, the melodic voice of a Jewish prayer resonates through the halls.

“Shalom! Shalom Aleikhem,” an older gentleman happily asserts as he brushes past us into the main worship hall.

Such was my experience the first time I attended a Jewish function and “deer in the headlights syndrome” was in full force.

We have all had the experience of going to a party, church or other function and being the complete outsider. Trying to keep up with the

This I believe Written by Sophie Lefens

When I first started writing this I was far from the spirit. My frustrations with Utah Valley were brimming over and I thought perhaps if I could put my feelings into words and call others to join me in my indignation I might find some inkling of peace. Then I paused.

Was I about to send yet another Provo counter-culture smirk and eye-roll into the atmosphere? I paused again.

I’ve always felt that being Mormon requires incredible attention to the condition of one’s soul. I knew that mine needed a serious reconversion. So I took time to reassess my testimony,

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page turning, singing, standing, sitting and knowing when to be reverent, are the challenges of any first-time experience within a new faith.

As I took my seat that day a quote

by Ezra Taft Benson ran through my mind, in which he states the need for Mormons and Jews to learn more about each other. Why would the prophet counsel the members of the Church to seek out this knowledge? I feel the answer is simple: because everything in the law and all of our ancestors stems from this early faith.

Like many other faiths, Judaism is segmented into subdivisions based on style of worship. These subdivisions range from Ultra-Orthodox Jews who follow “the letter of the law,” ascribing to such traditions as uncut hair, tallits (prayer shawls), tefillin (leather phylacteries), separation of men and women during synagogue and strict Sabbath worship.

As the centuries progressed, more and more radical changes were made, forming such sects as Reform and Hasidic. The Reform sect made quite radical changes in the 1700s to ceremonial traditions to harmonize the faith with the Western world. Changes such as female rabbis and nonsegregated services may seem trivial to outsiders, but are quite repugnant to orthodox members. Imagine walking into an LDS church service and having young women administering the sacrament ordinance, or the Bishop sitting in the congregation instead of on the stand. On the other hand, the Hassidic sect represents the mystical and

ritualistic side of Judaism. Metaphysical control is represented in the practice of the faith. This communion with God helps to drive the lives of Hasidic Jews.

More recently, Conservatism arose as the Jewish faith immigrated to the United States where the cross pollination of Western society and Jewish tradition necessitated, in the eyes of some, changes in the practice of the faith. Certain traditions were dropped or altered to keep the growth of the American-Jewish population from faltering. These changes are seen as less extreme than those of the Reform Jews and appeal to the modern Jew. Additionally, the idea of assimilation has been embraced by a growing number of modern Jews. Although many of the practices of the faith have changed or evolved in response to social pressures, most doctrines hold constant across these divisions of Judaism.

Many people cite Jews as believing in the Old Testament. While this is partially true, there is much more to the faith’s scriptural canon.

The first five books of Moses are referred to as the Torah and contain the most authoritative of all Jewish writings. Secondary to the Torah are the Neviim and the K’tuvim which combine with the Torah to create a compilation of writings known as the Tanak. These additional writings include more sections of the Old Testament, commentary, political and social backgrounds, and the law.

Finally, “the encyclopedia of Judaism” as some have nick-named it,

is the Talmud, which goes into depth on nearly every subject: rule, law, interpretation and exception within the faith. Spanning over 32 volumes, it is a lifetime endeavor to simply read it, let alone study and understand it.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Judaism resides in its festival seasons, celebrations and rituals.

Based on a lunar calendar and driven by the harvest seasons, Judaism has major spring, summer and fall festivals, Writt each of which includes its own customs and celebratory events. Ironically, the most well-known festival, Hanukkah, happens to be a fairly minor holiday in the Jewish tradition. This year Hanukah begins with the candle lighting on Dec. 7 and culminates on Dec. 14.

While I am certainly not a Jew expert, and probably missed nearly every worship que in the book, the experience of the Jewish faith leads to a greater understanding of my own faith which in the end leads me to feel those common origins — to accept that we are more similar than we are different. ◼

my belief in God and my role in this church. And I’m happy to say that today, I write with a changed heart.

I love this gospel. It is core to who I am and I know it is the surest way to the truest peace and joy. Still, I worry that somewhere along the way in our cultural history we developed an unhealthy fear of all things non-Mormon.

The world should not be confused with worldliness. True, this world is host to countless atrocities and tragedies, but within the same world exists such exquisite beauty, hope and human achievement. We should seek after all things virtuous, lovely and praiseworthy whether or not it has the Deseret beehive stamp on it. Rather than reduce ourselves to an insular existence within our immediate families and wards we can immerse ourselves

in our communities, in cultures, art, literature and friendships that enhance our human existence and demonstrate to our God that we appreciate all that has been given to us on earth.

I don’t personally count down the days until the millennium, but I do recognize that the world is polarizing: dark becomes deeper as light shines brighter. As followers of Christ’s restored gospel, now more than ever is the time for us to bring hope and grace and love into the world. In order to do that, we have to openly embrace life outside the stake center.

Over the last little while I’ve realized the importance of anchoring myself within the safe harbor of the Church. I have to be constantly vigilant in making sure that I am watering and sunning that little mustard seed of faith. But

we don’t put on the armor of God so that we can stay at home watching Tangled. I believe it is possible to keep our hearts pure and get our hands dirty as we delve into our neighborhoods, schools, businesses and governments and form true relationships that foster mutual understanding and honest brotherly love.

This is not a time for vacuous and insipid living. In order to truly be instruments in God’s hands we need to lower our guard without lowering our standards. We need to be strong in our convictions while showing compassion and tolerance to all whom we associate with.

This, I believe, is Christ’s sacred message. ◼

AP HIs Mo Ma

For more information, to attend services contact, or to participate in Hanukah services visit: Congregation Kol Ami 2425 Heritage Way (2760 South) Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 (801) 4841501 http://www.conkolami.org/index.shtml

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A People’s HIstory of Mormon Marginalia Written by Kufre Ekpenyong

Although historical consensus says that Brigham Young’s personality firmly departed from its clay tabernacle on Aug. 1, 1877, Young himself spent his lifetime telling anyone who would listen that the world of spirits is tightly intermingled with the world of bodies.

A representative transcript reads, “Here the inquiry will naturally arise, when our spirits leave our bodies where do they go to? I will tell you...

They do not pass out of the organization of this earth on which we live...

But where is the spirit world? It is incorporated within this celestial system.

Can you see it with your natural eyes?

No. Can you see spirits in this room?

No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies ... If the Lord would permit it, and it was His will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes” (Journal of Discourses, volume 3, page 368).

In a belief system where genealogical angels can saunter down the streets of Logan to deliver critical family history documents to the unsuspecting daughter of a bishop — see the story on page 99 of Our Heritage recounting a nine-year-old’s sidewalk encounter with two male visitors thought to originate from the other side of the veil ­— it’s not too extraordinary to wonder whether the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could not also walk the halls of our university library, delivering marked-up copies of the Journal of Discourses to the diligent sons of Provo.

Such spiritual intervention would probably be a welcome relief to the several anonymous library patrons who have fallen into the habit of regularly scribbling sweet nothings in, next to and around the margins of the pages in the library’s copies of religious texts.

In fact, Harold B. Lee Library employees report that an entire subtext of communal conversation takes place— illicitly but continuously—through the notes and commentary written

STUDENT REVIEW • ISSUE 3

by university students in the pages of controversial books See, for example, the first volume of the Journal of Discourses, page 50, where Brigham Young makes his well-circulated statement that Adam “is our Father and God, and the only God with whom we have to do.” One library patron chooses to use yellow highlighter to accentuate a black-ink comment that “ADAM-GOD IS A TRUE DOCTRINE.” Below this comment, a curvy arrow directs the reader to a brief rebuttal: “Actually, that’s NOT what B.Y. says.” Even lower on the page, a slender paragraph of red ink features the words of a third comment: “Then please interpret what he says so we can all understand like you. To me this is plane [sic] Adam-God.” And, finally, directly on the text of Young’s words, one patron chooses to use white-out tape to blank out the capital letters in “Father” and “God,” replacing ‘F’ and ‘G’ with their lower-case equivalents.

Academics use the term “marginalia” to describe the reader’s act of annotating, marking or otherwise modifying the received printed text of a document in any way. In some cases, marginalia may linger for decades or centuries in the historical consciousness as an artifact of material culture, a revealing indicator of individuals’ personal understandings about the limitations, flaws and shortcomings in certain narratives or systems of thought.

The Church History Museum on Temple Square, for example, has created an exhibit displaying the oversized version of the King James Bible that Joseph Smith used as the canvas for the production of his Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. In an act that was offensive to Victorian Protestant sensibilities, the founding prophet of the Restoration dared to take pen to paper and add strikethroughs, X’s and lines of additional prose to a text that in his opinion contained many errors, vagaries and gaps.

“But that was his own copy of the Bible,” said Sharolyn Swenson, a managing supervisor in the division of the library that prepares and delivers billing statements for those students who are caught writing in the university’s books. “I personally write in my own books at home, but in the case of a library book, you’re dealing with something that’s not your own property.”

The library policy regarding student marginalia is to treat occurrences as transgressive acts of “mutilation” to the book and as acts of unethical “disrespect” toward the tacit social contract that runs through the halls of the building. However, other regions of literary geography are starting to lean

away from traditional attitudes about marginalia.

Red-rimmed glasses match redcolored slacks for Salt Lake City’s rare book collector Tony Weller, just as charcoal-grey military boots match a charcoal-gray oxford and a tall head of curly, charcoal-gray hair. Weller and his wife Catherine co-own a usedbook store that, for the past century or more, has stood as a major repository of literary culture in Salt Lake City.

Weller comments that while marginalia can in some instances devalue a book, there are other situations where the presence of marginalia can actually add value to a literary production.

Weller reminisces, for example, about a collection of books where the previous owner has meticulously gone down the margins and inscribed digits by hand to mark the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth lines, and so on, in the manner that is commonly seen in the margins of drama scripts.

Weller comments that marginalia has taken on a new, positive meaning for the print publishing industry in the days since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s. The conversion of literature into digital media has led traditional book publishers to critically re-evaluate their aesthetic role, just as the advent of the camera in the 1860s led traditional painters to begin to see themselves as ‘artistes’ who portrayed social, emotional and psychological realities rather than as ‘artists’ who focused on capturing empirical reality.

The philosopher Marshal McLuhan said that we have moved into an era of communication where “the medium is the message.” There is a new model of book publishing that incorporates the insights of illicit marginalia, using the margin as a space to experiment with innovations in texture, typography and imagery. By becoming aware of their character as physical objects instead of continuing to view themselves as bodiless conveyors of information, books have been able to remain valid and relevant as forms of literary technology, even in the age of the iPad, the Nook and the Kindle. For Weller, a descendant of 20th-century Latter-day Saint converts from Germany, there is a spiritual element in the way that modern culture is forging new connections between the message and the media of literature.

“After I rebelled from my Mormon upbringing,” Weller said, “I became a Zen Buddhist—I was exposed to it through the books in my father’s store.

The Zen Buddhists don’t believe that the body and the soul exist separately.

The body and the soul are one. Part of the goal of living Zen is to get your soul

and body together again. The body and the soul of the book are starting to come together in a very conscious way.”

Mormonism as well has its own history of attempting to lean away from an attitude of Western soulbody dualism. Joseph Smith expressed yearnings toward a monist cosmology when he wrote in the Doctrine & Covenants that “[t]he elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fullness of joy. And when separated, man cannot receive a fullness of joy. The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple” (Section 93, verses 33-35).

God has not destroyed this temple yet, although conflicts between ethical and aesthetic viewpoints do threaten

PHOTO BY KUFRE EKPENYONG

to tear it apart. In the face of an ambiguous future, perhaps the only certainty is that even in an age when increasing numbers of Mormons stand in a state of critical, fraught relationship to some of their own historical practices and beliefs, the act of annotating and commenting upon discourse will continue to resonate with the material culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

“Mormons are used to speaking from the margins,” said Mary Ellen Robertson, executive director of Sunstone Magazine, a periodical of Mormon experience, scholarship, issues and art that is quickly approaching its 39th year of production.

“We know what it’s like to be on the outside of things, not accepted as other groups are.” ◼

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special section: heritage

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A HISTORY

In the dedicatory prayer given in 1954, LDS President David McKay recognized the building’s namesakes as role models for future residents: “[W]e dedicate Heritage Halls, in honor of the noble women to whom tribute has been paid this day... May the lives of those women who have set worthy examples of purity and service impress the girls and others who abide in these halls, and may the examples of these noble women ever be an incentive to future generations of young women so to live in maidenhood as to become worthy of the highest tributes of motherhood.”

At its peak, Heritage included 24 residence halls, and behind each building name is a woman with a story. The following are some of the stories of the lesser-known women for whom buildings stand in their honor.

EMMA LUCY GATES BOWEN Born in 1880, Emma Lucy Gates Bowen was the daughter of Susa Young Gates (after whom another building is named) and granddaughter of Brigham Young.

From the age of four, Emma Lucy, or Lulu, exhibited musical talent, though not until she was 12 did she begin studying piano, violin and later voice.

After studying music in Germany, Paris and New York, Emma Lucy grew to be a well-known opera singer. In 1909, she began her career at Berlin’s Royal Opera House, and in 1911 she became prima donna at the Royal Opera House, Cassel. After seven years in Germany, she returned to the United States where WWI kept her.

With the help of her brother, Emma Lucy created a self-titled traveling opera company, and a year later signed a contract with today’s Columbia Records. That same year, 1916, Emma Lucy, 35, married widower Albert E. Bowen. They never had any children together.

SARAH LOUISE “LOUIE” FELT Married at 16, Louie Felt (then Bouton) met her husband, Joseph H. Felt, on the exodus west from the eastern United States to Salt Lake City, Utah, where she and Joseph married.

Shortly after their marriage, Louie and Joseph Felt were called to settle the “Muddy” in Nevada. In “A Response to D. Micahel Quinn’s Homosexual Distortion of Latter-day Saint History,” FARMS historians George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James described the circumstances Louie and John worked under during this venture as “severe.”

Though never able to bear children herself, she cared for the children of her husband’s two other wives. During the government campaign against polygamy, Louie twice fled East to avoid testifying against her husband in court.

Louie was called in 1880 by Eliza R. Snow as the first general president of the newly-instituted Primary, a role she filled until 1925.

Louie had an especially close relationship with her successor May

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STUDENT REVIEW • ISSUE 3

13

After over 50 years of lending its walls to the school’s newest students, BYU’s oldest on-campus housing facilities now comes down.

Originally, Heritage Halls was housing for females only, while Helaman Halls housed BYU’s male students (hence only the former has kitchens). Today the complex houses freshman of both genders while the names of the buildings honor respected women of the LDS church.

WRITTEN BY HILARY NORTON & TAMARRA KEMSLEY

TWO COEDS HANG FROM THE SECOND FLOOR OF FUGAL HALL IN THE EARLY ‘60S.

e FeltAnderson, as described in a 1919 biot hergraphical sketch of the latter that xodusappeared in the Children’s Friend. It Statesstated, “Those who watched their e anddevotion to each other declare that there never were more ardent lovers Louiethan these two.” settle According to the same publication, ponsethe two shared a room. May never sexualmarried. Whether or not the two constory,”stituted a lesbian relationship is hotly on andcontested by historians such as D. rcum-Michael Quinn, George L. Mitton and underRhett S. James.

ildren ANNA MIETH of her MAESER ng the ygamy,Anna Mieth married Karl Maeser in 1854 tifyingin Dresden, Germany. They met when Karl became a teacher at Anna’s father’s iza R.school. Soon thereafter, Karl joined ent ofthe LDS Church, which was banned in a roleGermany at the time. Together, Anna and Karl began the trip to Utah. They e re-were interrupted, however, when Karl Maywas called while they were in England

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BRIMHALL FAMILY

to serve a mission for the Church.

Around this same time Anna’s second child was born, though he died soon thereafter.

After they made it to the United States, Karl was again called to serve a mission, this time in the Pennsylvania/ Virgnia area. Again, the voyage was delayed.

Finally, the family arrived in Utah in 1860. Anna served as the “first lady” of BYU from 1879 to 1892.

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special section: heritage

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upper heritage shortly

COURTESY, L.TOM PERRY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, PROVO, UT 84602.

after it was built in 1957.

Alice Merrill Home

Born in 1868 in Fillmore, Utah, Alice Merrill Home worked as a school teacher before being elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 1898.

There she worked vigilantly to enact a bill to create a state art institute and state art collection.

Alice served on the Relief Society General Board from 1901 to 1915 and in 1904 served as a delegate to the International Congress of Women held in 1904.

Ruth may fox

Born in Witshire, England, Ruth May Fox was five months old when her parents joined the LDS faith. A year later, her mother died, leaving her on her own when her father was called on a mission.

When she emiragted to the United States, she started work in a textile mill to earn the money to move to Utah Territory. She arrived in Salt Lake City in 1867, having made the trip by covered wagon.

Ruth was a prominent activist for woman’s suffrage within the Republican party and ultimately helped draft the suffrage memorial that was later accepted by the Utah Constitutional Convention.

Fox served as the third president of the LDS General Young Women’s organization, a position she occupied from 1929 to 1937.

ellis reynolds shipp

At five, Ellis Reynolds Shipp traveled — as so many did — in covered wagon to Pleasant Grove, Utah. Soon after, her mother passed away.

Later, as a mother herself, Ellis lost five of her own children in childhood.

In Oct. 1973, President Brigham Young declared that “the time has come for women to come forth as as doctors in these valleys of the mountains.” Two years later, with the encouragement of her husband and two children at home, Ellis left for the East to study medicine.

The experience was a difficult one, fraught with financial and health difficulties. At one point, Ellis realized she was pregnant. Praying all night that she would have the strength to perservere in her studies, Ellis gave birth to her first daughter, Olea, upon finishing her final exams.

In 1978, she opened the School of Obstetrics and Nursing in Utah and from there traveled throughout the West — going as far north as Canada and as far as south as Mexico — to train others.

romania Pratt Penrose

Though her family were early members of the LDS Church, Romania’s family struggled to make it to Salt Lake City after her father died of typhoid fever in the California Gold Rush; her father had just made enough money to finance his family’s trip to Salt Lake when he died.

When Romania made it to SLC in 1855, she started by teaching school to Brigham Young’s children. Shortly thereafter she married Parley P. Pratt, Jr. Brigham Young called Romania to study medicine, which led her to leave her five children in the care of her mother as she headed east, studying both in New York City and Pennsylvania.

Romania was the first Mormon woman to become a medical doctor.

Four years after returning from her education, she divorced Parley and went on to marry Charles Penrose.

Later, while he served as the Europe Mission president, Penrose served as a Utah delegate to the International Woman Suffrage Alliance Conference in Amsterdam.

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AURELIA SPENCER ROGERS

Born in 1834 in Middlesex County, Conn., Aurelia Spencer Rogers led her family from Sugar Creek, Iowa, to Utah after her mother passed away and her father was called to serve as Europe’s first mission president.

Later in life, she founded the Primary organization after praying for guidance regarding the community’s youth, which she felt went unsupervised too often, according to Church History in a Fulness of Times. During the first Primary lesson, which took place in Farmington, UT, she instructed the boys not to steal fruit from the orchards and the girls not to hang on wagons.

In addition to her work for the Church, Aurelia had 10 children and worked as a prominent activist in obtaining woman’s suffrage, serving in 1895 as a delegate to the Woman’s Suffrage Convention in George and the Susan B. Anthony’s National Council of Women in Washington, D.C.

estella spilsbury harris

Born in Washington County, Utah in 1884, Estella Spilsbury Harris was one of 12 children — six girls and six boys.

She later attended BYU as it was at the time, where she studied to become a teacher. While there, she met her husband — Franklin S. Harris, who later went on to become the president of BYU. In all, Estella worked as the school’s “first lady” for 24 years, from 1921 to 1945.

After their time at BYU, Estella and Franklin both traveled extensively, including a year spent in Iran.

tt

m her y and nrose. urope ved as ational erence

lapriel burnett and richard brimhall on the roof patio of fugal hall.

“

May the examples of these noble women ever be an incentive to future generations of young women so to live in maidenhood as to become worthy of the highest tributes of motherhood.

”

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BRIMHALL FAMILY

were e LDS family e City ever in er had ce his died.

LC in ool to there. nia to leave of her udying vania. woman

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special section: heritage

Thestudentreview.org

COURTESY, L.TOM PERRY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, PROVO, UT 84602.

ZINA DIANTHA HUNTINGTON YOUNG When Zina was 14 years old, two Mormon missionaries — Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer — knocked on her family’s door in Watertown, NY. Together the family joined the LDS Church and moved to Ohio in 1836, and later Missouri.

In 1841, Zina married Henry Bailey Jacobs, and later went on to marry Joseph Smith Jr. and Brigham Young.

Zina studied obstetrics and went on to help deliver many babies, including those of Brigham Young’s other polygamist wives. According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Zina was also called upon to anoint and blessed many fellow Mormon women before they were about to give birth.

Zina went on to establish Deseret Hospital and latter was directed by the First Presidency to head east where she was to support women’s suffrage movements while dispelling myths regarding the faith.

emily sophia tanner richards

EMMELINE BLANCHE WOODWARD HARRIS WHITNEY WELLS Born in Mass., in 1828, Emmeline graduated from the New Salem Academy at 14. That same year she joined the LDS Church. Emmeline began teaching school at 15 before she married fellow Mormon James Harris. Both were just 16 years old.

Two years later, the couple moved to Nauvoo, Ill. After the death of their first child, James left in search of work and never returned. Emmeline returned to teaching, marrying the father of a number of her students as a polygamous wife — Newel K. Whitney.

After Newel’s death in 1850, Louise — now the mother of two daughters — became the seventh wife of Daniel Wells. Meanwhile, Louise went on to develop her professional life, becoming a published poet and editor of a women’s magazine. Louise was the fifth general president of the Relief Society and an activist for women’s suffrage.

Born of Nathan Tanner and Rachel Winter Smith — the former having served as a member of Zion’s Camp — Emily married the Church’s leading attorney, Franklin S. Richards. Together they had five children.

In 1888, having received permission from the leaders of the LDS Church, Emily formed the Utah Chapter of the National Women’s Suffrage Association.

In 1920, Emily organized the Utah Chapter of the League of Women Voters. ◼ image credits: bowen: historicoperasingers.blog.com felt: wikipedia.org horne: Homefinart.com fox: LDSLiving.com shipp: ldswomenofgod.com penrose: Photos.pratt-family.org rogers: ldsces.org harris: historyharrisfamily.blogspot.com young: history.lds.org wells: Signaturebookslibrary.org richards: ilovehistory.utah.gov

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father abraham and the smoot dynasty

UT 84602.

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ission hurch, of the ation.

Utah omen

STUDENT REVIEW • ISSUE 3

Written by Stephen Owen Smoot

additional articles:

byu students explore their heritage

As the third-great-grandson of Abraham O. Smoot, the author of this article submits he is living proof BYU does not engage in nepotism as he is yet to receive a single dime in scholarship money on account of his roots.

ABRAHAM O. SMOOT A popular story among us Smoots is one about an encounter between Abraham Smoot and Brigham Young.

It began when Young called Smoot into his office one day with a new assignment to be fulfilled immediately.

Smoot, a wealthy businessman and former mayor of Salt Lake City, had established himself as a major local figure.

His family, property and business were all located in the Valley; thus, it came as a shock when Young instructed him to move to Provo to become president of the Utah Stake and head of the board of trustees of the fledgling Brigham Young Academy.

With trepidation, Smoot explained that his life was anchored in Salt Lake and that it would be impossible to move to Provo.

As the story goes, Young responded with a stern growl only he could muster and, pounding his fists on his desk, bellowed, “Brother Smoot! You can go to Provo, or you can go to hell!” (Today any Smoots attending the University of Utah sometimes wear T-shirts at family reunions sporting a portrait of A. O., as he is affectionately called in the family, with the caption: “I’d rather go to hell.”)

Abraham Owen Smoot was born Feb. 17, 1805 in Owenton, KY. His mother converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1833 and he in 1835. A year after conversion, he was ordained an Elder and served as a missionary in the Southern states with Wilford Woodruff, David Patten and other prominent early LDS figures.

Later he would take up arms in the Missouri Mormon War in an effort to fight for his church and family.

Before migrating to Utah with the Mormons, Smoot entered a practice that, to this day, remains controversial.

In 1845-46, he became a polygamist by marrying, in addition to his current wife Margaret Thompson McMeans, Sarah Gibbens and Emily Hill. Some

years later he would also marry Diana Caroline Eldredge, Anne Kirstine Mauritzen and Hannah Rogers.

When he did leave for Utah, he — being a Southerner — brought his two slaves.

During his lifetime, Smoot would sire 27 children and adopt three more, creating a lasting family dynasty.

His descendants have appropriately given him the loving moniker “Father Abraham,” and today the name Smoot is nearly as ubiquitous along the Wasatch front as Romney, Young, Hinckley, Kimball or McConkie.

While living and working in Provo in compliance with Young’s directive, Smoot was elected mayor of the city.

He also made significant personal financial contributions to ensure the survival of Brigham Young Academy.

Upon his assumption of control of the board of trustees, the institution was teetering on total financial oblivion.

Thanks largely to Smoot’s sacrifice, which took a significant and lasting drain on his personal wealth, the academy survived and eventually grew into Brigham Young University. In gratitude for his sacrifice, BYU named its administration building after him where a small display honors his legacy.

Smoot lived the rest of his life in Provo, where he died and was buried in 1895.

REED SMOOT But the story of the Smoot Dynasty does not end with Father Abraham.

One of his many sons, Reed Smoot, was the center of a fiery controversy that launched the Church into national headlines.

Known today as the “Smoot Hearings,” this controversy sparked over Smoot’s position as an apostle at the time he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1902. As a result, Smoot faced a serious threat to losing his seat.

Five years earlier, Brigham Henry Roberts of the First Quorum of the Seventy was elected to the House of Representatives. Roberts, however, was stripped of his seat because he was a polygamist. Although Smoot was not a polygamist, fears of Smoot taking marching orders from Salt Lake, or of Smoot wishing to institute a Mormon theocracy, led to a bitter three-year set of Congressional hearings to determine whether Smoot was fit for office. Church leaders including President Joseph F. Smith and Apostles James Talmage and Francis Lyman, among others, were summoned before Congress to give testimony, and portions of the LDS endowment ceremony were re-enacted during the hearings to see if any anti-American subterfuge lurked in the secret rite.

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Photos courtesy of LDS.org

During this time the press tore into the Church and Smoot in what was arguably the first “Mormon Moment.”

Smoot eventually succeeded in securing his Senate seat against a tide of anti-Mormon sentiment. He served in the Senate from 1908–33. After losing his seat in 1933, Smoot continued his work for the Church as an apostle until his death in 1941.

Some of Smoot’s legislation is looked upon favorably, such as the 1916 bill he sponsored creating the Nation Park Service. Other legislation, such as the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, is credited by some economic historians for not only severely exacerbating the Great Depression, but also for crippling the already tattered economy of Germany and arguably only helping to aid in Adolph Hitler’s rise to chancellor just three years later.

TODAY Looking at the life of my third-greatgrandfather Abraham Smoot, whose middle name I share, and at his son, Reed Smoot, their loyalty and perseverance stand out to me most. Although neither of these men were perfect, what they accomplished inspires me and makes me proud to be a descendant of Father Abraham and a part of the Smoot Dynasty. ◼

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special section: heritage

student review: a history Written by rachel dabb

At the intersection of University Ave. and 5th North stands a conspicuous sand-colored building. Passersby will notice embossed in the facade, “BYU Women’s Gynmasium.” Long after it served as an exercise safehold away from the male eyes and just before it came to house the latest of Utah Valley’s fashion, however, in the late 1980s and through much of the 1990s, the main floor of the building housed the CTR thrift shop. Just above, the drafty upper room of the building served as home base for the Student Review staff.

This space was home to many staff writers’ memories of the Student Review.

Russell Fox, a former staff writer, wrote in an email about his favorite memories, “The wonderful, ratty, old

hilton heritage: fact or perception?

Written by conor hilton

My surname is Hilton. Yes, Hilton. The same name gracing the top of many large hotels across the globe and, in turn, one of pop culture’s favorite figures, Paris Hilton. This bond, this heritage, brings something great, beyond the blood relation. What you may ask? Questions. Questions that concern my connection to Paris and the wealthy hotel chain.

You are probably curious about this connection, as many are. Interestingly enough, there is none. As far back as 1600, my Hilton ancestors remain of good English stock. The hotel Hiltons are relegated, however, to just Norway.

As far as I can determine, there is

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attic at the Women’s Gym on University Avenue...that’s where we did our layout on Monday nights, before taking the magazine to the printer on Tuesday.”

Fox wasn’t the only one who remembered nights in the attic.

“Layout nights used to be in the SR office in the attic of the CTR thrift store (the former women’s gym) at 5th and 5th. We’d be there all night, with the cold air streaming in the big semicircle windows,” said Joanna Brooks, former editor of the Student Review.

Student Review staff battled more than late nights and cold air in getting papers to students. Stacks of papers disappeared from racks and were found in nearby trash cans. In one incident the papers travelled a greater distance.

“One night, our distribution coordinator Jesse Curtis noticed that stacks of new papers we’d just placed had been removed. He drove over to the Grounds Crew plant and literally pulled stacks of papers out of the incinerator bin,” Brooks said.

Other incidents included entire racks disappearing, which led to ziptying the racks to fences.

Conflict didn’t end at the edge of campus. The Student Review sought

official club status in 1990, but administrators denied club status after meetings and letters. Soon after this denial, campus organizations and departments were told not to advertise in the Student Review.

A few years later in 1993, the staff was asked to stop meeting in the Maeser building where the staff met weekly from the early days in the ‘80s.

While the staff had to fight for their publication, they still knew how to have fun.

“My very favorite memories were when the Campus Life — humor — section convened every Friday afternoon in an office in the Testing Center we ‘borrowed’ from an Honors Program publication,” Brooks said. “Friday afternoons through evenings we’d all gather, debrief about the week, eat cookies one of our staff members — who worked for a bakery as a delivery man — brought us and laugh, laugh, laugh.”

Humor represented a large part of the weekly Student Review issues and had its own tradition.

“The Daily Unifarce, a Daily Universe parody issue which we published once a year, was a great — though usually highly offensive — tradition,” Fox said.

no shared ancestry. Why then do I consider a shared heritage with them?

Because heritage is more than a thin line connecting names on paper; it extends into the world of perception.

That’s right, Paris. Blood or not, you and I are tied.

For example, does it matter that I’m related to Charlemagne (like most of the Western world is)? The connection remains far from my daily thoughts, ne’er appearing on a homework assignment or test. And yet, though completely unrelated, thoughts of Hilton Hotels are conjured every time I introduce myself into someone.

I developed several responses over my life to the question, “So, are you related to Paris?”

There was the phase of vehemently denying any connection in such a way as to ensure they understood the insinuation was indeed offensive. Later, after I realized maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be associated with such wealth, I developed the habit of saying yes. This is, after all, the answer most people wanted to hear.

These extreme positions, in turn, colored my view of who I was. When I desperately wanted to represent myself as an individual, I denied connections to anyone else. When the pride and vindication stepped in, I changed my tune. I wanted the prestige of being connected to a famous individual and the joy of seeing the surprise on the questioner’s face when I flipped their snide, mocking question back on them.

This perceived heritage shaped my path in life, from becoming comfortable with myself, to eventually getting over the flaws and mocking of others. Now I have struck somewhat of a balance of humoring them and being myself, answering that oft-repeated question with “not close enough to benefit.”

After all, maybe Paris is my long lost fifth cousin seven times removed on my aunt’s uncle’s grandfather’s side. ◼

Photos courtesy of zayzay.com and connor hilton

“We also did a parody tabloid issue as well, ‘The Student Enquirer.’ Classic pieces, like this one about a closeted student coming out as a Communist to his parents, or the murderous feud at one student housing complex between the residents and these criminal ducks that had invaded the territory, appeared there.”

Beyond humor and reminiscing Writt on time spent working to create a andr successful publication, the Student Review made a difference in staff members’ lives. It offered them a chance to do something new and for some, it was something they would become known for.

“SR is the first place I had an opportunity to write about Mormon life in a thoughtful, analytical way,” Brooks said.

Friendships and lasting relationships were formed and have lasted over the decades. “At least a half-dozen people from those years remain some of my best friends to this very day, so that must mean something.” Fox said. ◼

My Th Tu

Past Student Review issues can be found in HBLL Special Collections, call number AP 2 .S89x.

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My Heritage: The Alvina Turner Story Written by andrew alston

In 1927, the Yankees, anchored by legendary “Murderer’s Row,” swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.

Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic Ocean and the famous actor Sidney Poitier was born.

Such is the stage for a story that, like many stories that belong to the good people of Utah Valley, began with two unknown missionaries and a book.

As George and Dana Beck chatted over supper in their Toledo, Ohio home, perhaps discussing the miraculous transatlantic flight or the baseball dominance of the Bronx Bombers, a knock came at their front door.

Standing in their doorway were two young men armed with nothing but suits and pamphlets.

They were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.

The young men delivered their speech about a restored gospel and a new book of scripture to a rather inattentive audience and finished by offering a book to Mr. and Mrs. Beck.

The young couple, uninterested in religious literature, thought that perhaps, as the Becks recalled, “Mama would like to read it.”

They accepted the book from the two young missionaries and returned to their previous activities, unfazed by the impromptu encounter. The two missionaries trudged off to the next batch of houses, never to return to the Beck residence.

Mrs. Beck’s “mama,” Alvina Covert, was born in Norfolk, Va. Blessed with

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an open, questioning mind, Alvina often disagreed with her Baptist preachers over doctrines like priesthood authority, baptism and tithing. As she recalled, the answer she regularly received to her inquiries was, “It is not needed now!”

After meeting Roscoe Turner, they married and started a large family in Elizabeth City, N.C. They enjoyed a comfortable life for many years until a tragic blow left the family heartbroken: their oldest son died at just 12.

Looking for answers, the Turners could not find comfort in any church to which they belonged. Like many proud men in the South, Roscoe Turner believed that religion “commenced and ended with the church of his fathers, the Methodist.” Now, suddenly, he doubted.

On top of the family’s suffering, crisis crept into their lives as a once trusted colleague betrayed Roscoe, leaving the family in desolate financial circumstances. Left wanting, the Turners moved to Alvina’s native Norfolk searching for comfort and truth.

After a year of traveling around with a strange book given to her by a couple of young Mormon missionaries, Dana Beck decided that it was time to visit her mother. From Toledo, the Becks and the small, dusty book traveled to Norfolk to visit the family in an attempt to boost morale.

While no one was looking and without comment, Dana dusted off the book, placed it on a table and left it for her mother to find. It was not long before Alvina found her gift and examined its contents.

The opening page read “The Book of Mormon.” She studied it a bit more, wondering how it had appeared on her table, only to put it back down to resume whatever activities had previously held her attention.

Not long after, Alvina fell ill and was consigned to bed rest. She now possessed ample time to read the mysterious book that conveniently

appeared on her table.

She read uninterrupted for hours in search of answers to her questions.

She read of ancient people and their dealings with God, speculating whether they really were true. She involuntarily asked in her soft, southern tone, “Lord, are these things true? Are these people of Israel as is claimed?”

Alvina immediately heard a voice say, “These are my other sheep.” Confused, she dismissed the words as her imagination, wondering from where they had come, as she had not recently heard any mention or sermon about the Lord’s other sheep.

She read for days until she reached the fifteenth chapter of Third Nephi.

In her own words, Alvina said, “On getting to Third Nephi where Jesus makes known that the Nephites were his ‘other sheep,’ I had another experience of amazement and bewilderment.” The very words that had come to her mind were right in front of her on the page. She knew the book was true. Her questions on baptism, authority, tithing and the immortality of the soul were answered.

Alvina was familiar with all of the churches in the Norfolk area, none of which was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She became “consumed with the desire” to know where the church was and what their claims were.

In search for a better life, the Turners moved to New York City.

Possessed by the overwhelming desire to become acquainted with the LDS church, Alvina searched the city’s “Red Book” and found where the Latter-day Saints held meetings on Sundays. After searching Virginia for two years in vain for the Latter-day Saints, on a beautiful Sunday morning in Oct. 1930, Alvina walked to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street, near Midtown, and worshipped with the Saints for the first time.

Alvina was baptized a few months later.

Roscoe, a skeptical former North Carolina Supreme Court judge, would

follow after a few years of investigation. In total, her husband, five sons, two daughters, two sons-in-law, two daughters-in-law and four grandchildren were baptized, including George and Dana Beck, who cautiously accepted the small, strange book in hope that “Mama would like to read it.”

Since my great-great grandmother’s conversion, six generations have gone on to join the faith, many serving missions themselves.

And so it is that on this Thanksgiving holiday, my thoughts are turned to the two unknown missionaries who started this long chain of events on an evening back in 1927. I am sure that at

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“And so it is that on this Thanksgiving Holiday, my thoughts are turned to the two unknown missionaries who started this long chain of events on an evening back in 1927.” times they were discouraged and emotionally drained from daily rejections.

Perhaps they felt that they had failed.

I doubt that during their lifetimes they knew anything of the impact they helped make in the lives of so many people.

To my family, they remain unknown by name, but we know who they were.

They were angels, selflessly serving their God, sent to an ordinary door on an ordinary day to do a simple, yet treasured work that has blessed the lives of many. ◼

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special section: heritage My mixed heritage Written by corey landon wozniak

Photo courtesy of Corey Landon Wozniak

My dad is a walking mosaic of tattoos.

He continues to wear his hat backwards as he approaches his 50s . To be honest, he has always reminded me of Randle McMurphy from Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Like McMurphy, he has an admirable flippancy about life that makes him seem indomitable.

He is also completely irreligious. The only thing religious that I can even indirectly associate with him in living memory is a tattoo on his back with the lyrics to a hit rock song by a band everyone’s forgotten: “Tell me all your thoughts of God (‘cus I’d really like to meet her).”

I never asked him why he chose to have these words inked in eternal permanence on his skin, but I am certain they had no real religious significance whatsoever.

I only visited my dad alternate weekends growing up. On weekdays and every other weekend, I was with my mom, an orthodox Mormon. At her house, we lived a very traditional Mormon lifestyle, going to church every week and reading scriptures at home. Probably because I spent most of my time in her home, I self-identified with my mother’s Mormonism rather than my father’s atheism at an early age.

As a child, the polarization of my parents’ paradigms afforded me a unique opportunity to experience two different family cultures simultaneously. This ultimately influenced who I have become.

My relationship with my dad was a mutual exercise of compromise and coexistence. In one awkwardly endearing gesture, he gave me a WWJD bracelet, naive that the acronym was trendy in an Evangelical brand of Christianity different from my Mormonism. Had he been moderately informed, he would have known that CTR would have been more

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culturally appropriate for a Mormon gained from his two prior marriages youth. But I recognized it for what it and his current long-term relationship: was — an attempt to reach out. WWJD “Keep her happy, and the rest will fall meant nothing to him, but he guessed into place.” Contemplating his future it would mean something to me. I un- marriage to his current girlfriend, he derstood this, and wore the bracelet as told me, “If I ever get married again, I a dual symbol of my Christianity and foresee Vegas, a donkey, lots of tequila my father’s love for me. and an Elvis impersonator preacher!”

When I was twelve, I decided to be Because of a complex situation, sealed to my step-father, not fully com- my dad did not attend my wedding. prehending the eternal ramifications His parents, however, did attend, and for my relationship with my biologi- waited patiently alone outside of the cal one. I still can’t fully wrap my mind around it. Because my AS A CHILD, THE POLARIZATION dad didn’t have legal OF MY PARENTS’ PARADIGMS custody of me at the AFFORDED ME A UNIQUE time, he didn’t have to OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE consent to my being TWO DIFFERENT FAMILY CULTURES sealed to my step SIMULTANEOUSLY. THIS ULTIMATELY father. Until this day, INFLUENCED WHO I HAVE BECOME. I don’t think that he knows I took this step.

Without understanding the religious context behind why I temple until I came out a married man. made this decision, I imagine that this Imagining my grandparents waiting would confuse and hurt him. outside the temple for me touches me He wrote me regularly on my deeply. mission. He didn’t really understand In the end, while my mother’s the spiritual aspects of what I was Mormonism informs the most essendoing, but he was happy that I was out tial aspects of who I am, many of the experiencing the world. He regularly decorative accents to my personality sent me packages bulging with pictures are from my father. One thing that I of him and my two half-siblings. learned from my father is to not look But sometimes our communication condescendingly towards those not of broke down. At times it felt like our my own religious belief. He taught me paths had diverged so dramatically that this by not looking condescendingly we couldn’t relate. Once, he told me, on me because of mine. In instances “Corey, you’re your step-dad’s son, now. too private and personal to describe, Your life is too ‘Norman Rockwell’ for he taught me the power of forgiveness your old man.” By “Norman Rockwell,” as we’ve mutually forgiven each other he meant, of course, “traditional, reli- for reciprocal damages we’ve inflicted gious, clean and pristine,” et cetera. It on the other. In these ways, my atheist felt like there was a gulf between us. father taught me a lot about what it But somehow we were able to recon- means to be a Christian. ◼ cile on this point, too.

When I told him that I was getting married, he was elated. He passed to me the aggregated wisdom he’d

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riages nship: ill fall uture nd, he gain, I equila er!” ation, dding. d, and of the

man. aiting es me

ther’s ssenof the nality that I t look not of ht me dingly ances cribe, eness other flicted theist hat it

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presenting: November humor section make your own moustache for the lady folk (and boys) who might not be able to grow their own, please enjoy a complimentary makeyour-own-moustache and join the ranks of edgy individuals who have been a-growin’ for the past 30 days. how to: clip the beard along the dotted lines, and then trim according to your pleasure. attach to face and wear with pride.

hand lettering by andy simmonds to contact, email a.jon.simmonds@gmail.com

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humor

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BYU Student Changes Mind after reading thing on facebook Written by Talmage Spackman

A BYU student recently reported changing his opinion after reading a friend’s post on Facebook.

“I was just checking out status updates and liking books I haven’t read when I saw a passionate, somewhat vitriolic post on my friend’s wall,” John McCowan, a junior studying

accounting, said. “After reading it, I realized that not only was his logic completely sound, but also that he had clearly sided with the only morally defensible position on the topic at hand.”

McCowan said that his friend’s words “really made him sit down and think” about said subject.

Indeed, many students are finding that, rather than turning to experts in political science, biology or various other fields where years of education and research lead to a complex and multifaceted worldview, YouTube videos and Huffington Post articles linked on Facebook are preferable for finding a quick blurb with a few context-less facts to propel you into an unrestrained shouting match on your Facebook wall.

“I just don’t have time to form an opinion based on facts, so I consider how I think the world should be, and

then pretend that that’s how it is,” reported Clayton Fowles, a freshman.

“Then, when people disagree with me, I take it as a personal attack, dig my heels in and crank up the volume.”

Here are some important tips to remember when talking about politics, religion or other serious and personal issues on the Internet: 1) Remember that information makes people biased. Rather than thoughtfully considering why you believe what you do, assume that people who disagree with you are morally degenerate and spend most of their time plotting against you and others who share your worldview. Because, let’s face it, they probably are! Their worldview revolves exclusively around you, just like yours does.

2) In general, avoid discussion in real life, whether in groups or one-on-one.

Real time interactions can be intimidating and flustering, and often force

you into the uncomfortable position make of being accountable for what you say. sider If you are going to risk being wrong, Inst make sure to stick to the Internet. On like a the web, you’re protected by anonym- This w ity and the handy delete button should stick t you realize a comment is as ridiculous bial g as it sounded in your head. metal 3) Discussion threads at the bottom verbia of news articles and YouTube videos are treasure troves of facts and balanced *No opinions. You can often find engaging the ch and thoughtful discussions that will dence keep you scrolling for hours! coinci Bonus: These little goldmines are rich with creative insults to remember at parties when you want to pull out a real zinger.

4) Though it sounds harsh, remember that civility is weakness. Allowing for the validity of someone else’s viewpoint is a slippery slope. If you find yourself thinking that your opponent’s logic

overheard around provo I’m Jewish and a lesbian, so I don’t know why I’m actually here.

-Heard at CoffeePod

I used to live in California, then in august, I moved here from arizona. just following my mother’s marriages.

-Heard at ihop

I can’t wait till i’m 18 and can finally move here. payson is too small for me, i need to live in a city.

-Heard on center street

I don’t have to go back to Ward Prayer now that I’ve met my boyfriend there.

-Heard at SushiYa

comi and J

to co crus mimei

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makes sense, it’s tempting to reconsider or let go of your opinion. Don’t!

Instead, cling to misinformation like a lifeboat during a pacific squall.

This way, your peers will see that you stick to your guns, even if your proverbial guns are made of proverbial scrap metal and are incapable of firing a proverbial bullet. ◼ *Note: This article is satirical and the characters fictional. Any correspondence to the names of real individuals is coincidental.

Church lowers mission age to 12 Years old Written by Adam Brooks

In an unplanned press conference yesterday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that all worthy 12-year-old males are now eligible to serve a two-year, full-time mission for the Church.

The new policy, which goes into effect immediately, has already caused a stir amongst LDS youth.

Tanner Smith, a newly-ordained deacon from Pleasant Grove, Utah expressed his excitement over the announcement.

“I’ve already started to prepare,” he said. “I plan on sending in my papers right after 6th grade graduation. I just hope I hit my growth spurt before the MTC!” Others, like Breck Andersen of Alta, Utah, are a bit more wary.

“I wasn’t really prepared for this,” he said. “I mean, my dad and me had planned on me getting my Eagle next year, plus I’m going to have to leave my Little League team which is going to make my coach really mad. I just don’t know.”

PHOTO BY JOEY NELSON

comics by Andrew Livingston and Jon Uland to contact, visit crustaceansingles.com mimeintheforest.com

Susan Wright, of the Church Travel Department in Salt Lake, is bracing herself for new challenges ahead.

“Getting visas and residency permits for 19-year-olds was hard enough,” she said. “I have absolutely no idea what kind of responses I’m going to get from these consulates when they see that little Charlie Henderson from Rexburg wants to live and work in Bosnia for two years.”

Hunter Jensen also mentioned that the Church Missionary Department has started work on a simpler, pre-teen styled chapter book version of the classic missionary companion Preach My Gospel, which, according to LDS Church Spokesman Hunter Jensen, “has a real Goosebumps feel to it.” ◼ *Note: This article is satirical and the characters fictional. Any correspondence to real people is coincidental.