“Matt’s” death, 7 years ago today

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Thursday January 23, 2014 · 12:32 AM PST

2014/01/23 · 00:32

Five years ago I published a lengthy diary on the first anniversary of the death of my then-15-year-old nephew. In his honor and memory, I am publishing the same diary, with only a few edits, below the orange fleur-de-kos.

mofembot

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Wednesday July 24, 2013 · 7:02 AM PDT

2013/07/24 · 07:02

When I was growing up in Southern California, the child of active converts to Mormonism, I dressed up as a pioneer (usually a girl pioneer, much to my tomboy dismay) every July 24th and went with my family to a local park to participate in my congregation's "Pioneer Day" picnic and parade (featuring Radio Flyer wagons decorated to look like Conestoga wagons). It has been a very long time since I last celebrated Pioneer Day, and for good reason(s).

mofembot

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Saturday April 20, 2013 · 2:17 AM PDT

2013/04/20 · 02:17

I think of myself as a writer, and yet my diaries here are few and far between. My blog entries are even scarcer these days. Even today, visiting my principal blog sites, I ended up just clearing out the spam comments instead of writing anything. (Yet.— Written hopefully.)

In the recent past, I have been a steady if not prolific commenter here and elsewhere. I can justly blame the drop-off in comments this past quarter to my having enrolled in an intensive German language integration course which, counting travel to and fro, takes up at least 4 hours every weekday afternoon. That commitment to learning German will continue at least through the end of May, and that, coupled with a feast-or-famine paid work schedule (some days nothing, some days an overwhelming amount of work), gives me something of an excuse.

But it's hardly a satisfactory excuse at all.

mofembot

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Friday April 19, 2013 · 3:38 AM PDT

2013/04/19 · 03:38

All MBTA services (buses, trains) are suspended. Harvard, MIT, Boston U. and numerous other schools and businesses are closed in Boston and Cambridge while the second suspect, armed and considered extremely dangerous, remains on the loose. Please spread the word so that your family, friends, and neighbors stay home until further notice. Go to boston.com for latest updates.

More than German in German class

mofembot

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Sunday February 10, 2013 · 7:51 AM PST

2013/02/10 · 07:51

This past Friday evening marked the end of my third week in an Integrationskurs here in Berlin — a state-subsidized German-language course that is intended to help immigrants become more fully a part of German society. I'd had some German before, so I ended up joining in the middle of the second of six seven-week “modules.” We meet for three hours every afternoon, Monday through Friday… and I have been learning much, much more than just German language.

mofembot

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Wednesday November 28, 2012 · 10:15 AM PST

2012/11/28 · 10:15

Pittsburgh Kossacks, can you give this lady a hand? Please read her diary here. If you're in a position to help, please leave a comment in her diary and/or send her kosmail. Thanks in advance!

Beware of Mitt's Mormon ground game this weekend

mofembot

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Wednesday October 31, 2012 · 12:17 PM PDT

2012/10/31 · 12:17

A lot has been justly written about how well-organized the Obama campaign has been, and how lacking in field offices and such the Romney campaign is by comparison.

Well, guess what: this weekend the mormons will be out in force canvassing, at least in Nevada. A childhood friend of mine who lives near San Diego posted a request on Facebook for someone to room with in Las Vegas, and she indicated that 30,000 people had been direct-contacted last weekend.

It would not surprise me in the slightest to learn that similar under-the-radar efforts have been and will be made in Colorado and any other states that are close enough to mormon-dense (or dense mormon, as you please) areas. There are enough mormons in major metro areas of the U.S. — swing states in particular — who can certainly be counted on to boost the Mittster's ground game. Do not underestimate the energy of religiously political fanatics!

mofembot

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Tuesday July 17, 2012 · 2:57 AM PDT

2012/07/17 · 02:57

More than ten years ago I participated in a mormon version of The Vagina Monologues. I published that monologue yesterday. A few weeks ago I was asked to contribute a follow-up… and that's what's below the fleur-de-kos.

mofembot

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Monday July 16, 2012 · 8:15 AM PDT

2012/07/16 · 08:15

More than 10 years ago, prior to moving to Europe, I participated in an off-off-off-Broadway (try Salt Lake City) mormon takeoff on The Vagina Monologues. My monologue from that time is posted below the fleur-de-kos (slightly modified to preserve a semblance of privacy and slightly annotated for a non-mormon audience). I was recently asked to compose a sequel, which I will post in the next day or two.

Poll

113 votes Show Results

What do you think of nudism?

113 votes Vote Now!

What do you think of nudism?

I live the life myself as much as possible.

18 votes

I've tried it and liked it.

44 votes

I've tried it and didn't like it.

0 votes

I'd like to try it sometime.

27 votes

In this climate? You kidding me?

2 votes

No thanks, not interested.

12 votes

People who go around naked are gross.

1 vote

Winkies! Boobies! Yowza!

9 votes

I just voted here in France (updated x2)

mofembot

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Sunday May 06, 2012 · 1:42 AM PDT

2012/05/06 · 01:42

Aux urnes, citoyens! ("To the ballot boxes, citizens!")

I just got back from the village multi-purpose hall (named, rather grandiosely, La Salle Émancipatrice — literally, "the liberating room," but probably more usefully "The Hall of Liberation" — but I digress). I cast both my vote and Mr Mo's vote (by procuration), and now it remains to be seen what the rest of France decides about Sarkozy v. Hollande.

My predictions and some observations below the fleur-de-Kos.

UPDATE: Hollande has won with an estimated 52% of the vote. Turnout is estimated to have been around 82% — slightly higher than the first round.

UPDATE no. 2: Well, whaddaya know, according to the official election results, Hollande beat Sarkozy in my village 162 votes to 142!! Turnout was 86%; abstentions were down a bit from the first round, but the number of protest votes went from 3 in the first round to 20 in the second round.

mofembot

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Saturday February 25, 2012 · 2:02 AM PST

2012/02/25 · 02:02

Well, well, well… looks like all the negative PR and how it may adversely affect Mitt's chances has finally pushed the mormon church to belatedly take some steps to get its members to stop submitting Jewish names for baptism.

mofembot

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Thursday February 23, 2012 · 5:29 AM PST

2012/02/23 · 05:29

Yes, it's true: when I was a youthful teen true believer, I was baptized for dozens of dead people. Follow me below the orange loops-de-kos to find out more about this practice and other (yes, other!) mormon temple rituals performed "for and in behalf of" the dead.

Poll

144 votes Show Results

It's not something you can opt out of. How do you feel about being baptized by proxy into the mormon church?

144 votes Vote Now!

It's not something you can opt out of. How do you feel about being baptized by proxy into the mormon church?

Ecstatic

16 votes

8 votes

Meh

34 votes

Irked

17 votes

Livid

26 votes

How can I sue?

43 votes

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“Matt’s” death, 7 years ago today

It's Pioneer Day today in Mormondom

I think of myself as a writer, and yet…

MBTA, Harvard, MIT, etc. closed — stay home!

More than German in German class

Calling Pittsburgh-area Kossacks: please help a lady in distress

Beware of Mitt's Mormon ground game this weekend

Post-mormon nudity, part II (or, bare naked lady? who, me?)

Bare Naked Lady, or post-mormon nudity, part I

I just voted here in France (updated x2)

Update on mormon baptism for the dead

I've done baptisms for the dead (w/poll)