ONLY TWO SPACES LEFT FOR JULY 30 -- AUGUST 1 RETREAT IN UTAH HILLS:  Check it out here!  Three days with twelve women devoted to fun and enlightenment--featuring me and my irresistible daughter Emily!  Don’t miss out.  I personally am getting more and more excited as I communicate with the fabulous women who have signed up.  We are going to have a wonderfully healing and inspiring experience!
 

A FEMINIST HONORS MEN ON FATHER’S DAY:

I was born a feminist.  Way before Betty Freidan sparked the “women’s movement” some decades ago, I was looking around and wondering--“Why does everything important seem to be done by males, from God on down?”

One day I was visiting with my friend Hugh Nibley, Mormon scholar.  “Ah, yes,” he said, regarding some historical references I asked about, “the matriarchy.  We all know about the matriarchy.  It preceded the matriarchy.”
            “Excuse me, Brother Nibley,” I said, “but we do not all know about the matriarchy.  We are taught that patriarchy is like the air--it has always existed.”
            “No, no, no,” he said.  “We’ve had both.  But they’re both perversions.”
            I’m sure my mouth dropped open.  Perversions!

I later learned he wrote a paper on “Patriarchy and Matriarchy,” and with the help of Mr. Google, I just found it. http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=151.

Wondering if he could possibly have used the “P” word there, I enlisted Ms. Word Search and quickly found:  “Central to the drama was a never-ending tension and conflict between the matriarchal the patriarchal orders, both of which were perversions.  Each has its peculiar brand of corruption.”

I have never become friends with the word “patriarchy.”  And so you will understand why I said what I did to my friend Chuck Young as I sat beside him in a sacrament meeting in my ward a few years ago.  At the pulpit was Dean Criddle (then high councilman, now stake president--yes, the very one who led our stake last year in the splendid effort better to understand and love our gay brothers and sisters. http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_14336708.)

I leaned over and whispered in Chuck’s ear, “Chuck, do you know what really pisses me off about the Mormon patriarchy?”
            “What?” he asked.
            “That it continues to produce such fabulous men like you and Dean Criddle.”

And so I, as a feminist who believes there is somewhere a better word and a better world than patriarchy, want to honor, as we approach Father’s Day, the many, many extraordinarily wonderful men that inhabit my life.  I have personally received huge gifts of validation and appreciation and all kinds of love and assistance from my male family members, my male friends, my male church leaders.  The list of men that I adore is very long.

My children grew up essentially in a fatherless house.  I realize constantly that what they missed was monumental.  So on this Father’s Day I am sending thanks to and blessings on every man--father or not--within reach of this little missive.  Here’s to the indispensable and generally terrific (slightly more than) fifty percent of the children of our Father and Mother in Heaven who are male.

FREE COPY OF NO MORE GOODBYES: CIRCLING THE WAGONS AROUND OUR GAY LOVED ONES ($14.95 value) with each order for anything on the CLP book list through the 12th.  Don’t forget Father’s Day is almost here!  Real men enjoy reading Carol Lynn Pearson poetry.  Real men enjoy thinking about meaningful coincidence.  Real men want to understand and love their gay children, or someone else’s.  Real men would enjoy sitting with their wives or girlfriends to see the DVD of “Mother Wove the Morning,” a search of the female face of God.  Go now to http://www.clpearson.com/personal_gifts.htm

EVENT FOR FAMILIES OF GAY PEOPLE IN UTAH:  Family Fellowship is an organization run by Mormon parents of gay children.  See www.ldsfamilyfellowship.org.  I have great affection and respect for these parents.  This sent by-- Marge and Bill Bradshaw (groverclan@msn.com) Family Fellowship Forum Sunday, June 27, 2010, 5 pm, in the auditorium of the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, 1230 N. 500 W. Provo, Utah.  There will be two reviews of books pertinent to LDS gay people, and a video, “Through My Eyes,” (young gay and lesbian Christians share their feelings).  I receive so many emails from distressed LDS gay people and their families.  Check out Family Fellowship.  You are not alone.
 

FACING EAST THIS MONTH IN ROCHESTER:  Just in from the director--(note the line in bold!)
A bi-racial multi-media production of Carol Lynn Pearson's "Facing East" is being performed at the Rochester Institute of Technology, June 24-27th under the direction of Jerry Argetsinger (The Hill Cumorah Pageant).  The Mormon couple trying to make sense of the suicide of their gay son is being portrayed by African American actors Mark Davis (original cast "The Lion King") and Furaha Moye (Law and Order).  The son's partner is portrayed by Mark DiCaterina (Equity).  This is the inaugural production in the new Multi Media Arena at RIT with scenic design and projections by Marla Schweppe (formerly with The Public Theatre) and with costume design by Gail Argetsinger (Dora Award - Canadian Tony-nominee).  A unique aspect of this production is that the Rochester NY Stake is sponsoring a special performance followed by a discussion led by the stake president as a Fireside.  RIT does not charge admission for its smaller theatres.  For reservations email Jerry at gsanla@rit.edu and make a donation at the door.  Free parking is in lots E and F; follow the signs to the Gannett Building 07B.  Evening performances 7:30 PM and weekend matinees are at 2:00 PM.
 

RELEASE OF “8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION”:  The new documentary by Reed Cowan is opening in June in many major cities.  The film will also be available June 18^th on Movies on Demand, PPV, Digital Distribution (iTunes, etc).  See http://www.mormonproposition.com/.  I, along with dozens of others, was interviewed for this film.  I have not seen it, but understand it to be a pretty devastating look at an experience and at issues that were heart-breaking to many, many people.  I hope that the film and all the discussion around it will generate not only heat, but light.  (Please don’t write to ask me to engage in debating this film with you.)

QUOTES FOR FATHERS:

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”  ~Mark Twain

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”  ~Henry Ward Beecher

 “Don’t eat me.  I have a wife and kids.  Eat them.”  ~Homer Simpson

Love to all from your friend,

        Carol Lynn