Enga mellom fjella

The Ensign's inside color cover

The Ensign's inside color cover

7 ties: 5 red, 2 blue;
in Utah, there is no green come autumn.
In winter:
only dark suits cloak white shirts.
No bears with beards,
no long-haired hipsters.
With my thin grey strands
I could be one too,
if I fathered a litter.
My sister?
If she cut off her boobs.
12 apostles
looking out at us like cut-out paper penguins.
Is the one tied in passionate purple
the troublemaker?
On the cover of the Ensign
only men dressed in black and white are allowed,
no women of color.
Penguins, I think,
that baptize their chicks in cool water,
that patiently wait the return
in Antarctica
of their wives
from the Relief Society's session.

© 2009 Kåre Enga [165.451] 2009-02-23

Ensign is the official magazine of the Church of Latter Day Saints. This sketch is based on the November 2007 issue dedicated to the 177th General Conference held October of 2007. Only the cover is in color. Only men, The First Presidency, The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the seven members of The Presidency of the Seventy are captured by the photographer. There may have been a green tie, but Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's passion purple stood out.

Other notes: 1. 100% of men in ties, white shirts, short hair, no beards; 2. Except for numerous photos of young families w/children, only separate gender groups, all men or all women. 3. Of 36 speakers, 4 women; of 43 talks, 5 by women. I'm sure none of this is accidental, so the sketch above reflects on how the LDS portrays itself to membership and others.

blah blah blah:

Went to a reading by the Environmental Studies students of U.M. Awesome!

Marrilyne Lundahl had us all numbed by her recount of murder and attempted suicide, by the relationship of predator and prey, the faithful LDS and the oxy-mormon. She told a horrendous story with a voice that was distant enough from the murder, close enough to suicide, yet allowed us to not be overwhelmed emotionally. Very well done.

Marrilyne's work is non-fiction: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20040116/ai_n11434518
Cody Lynn Nielsen received a life-sentence: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20040129/ai_n11435244

Bryce Andrews spoke about cows; after-all, Marrilyne had coyotes and death well covered. He took us to the Madison River and a large cattle ranch and slowly brought us to meet Moses, a gentle bull. He made us care about something that normally we don't. Sentimentality and modern day cattle ranching have nothing in common; it's impersonal with a bottom line = dollars. By the end of Bryce's presentation, one may suggest that there are other valid approaches as well.

Both presentations were well delivered.

Today? A ride north to Ravalli, Ronan, St. Ignatius, Pablo. Maybe, if y'all behave, I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

MILLSTONES and MILESTONES:

This week is a tough one. Many an anniversary, both good and bad within the next 6 days. One good one: my first effort at a chapbook was finished on the 25th of February years ago. I gave out 200 signed and numbered copies. They were poems about people mostly. I'm sure that most of the recipients still have them.

I wanted to do something similar this year, but just don't have the oomph.

Montana: 39º at 18:00

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