Sunday, October 07, 2007

therefore, LDS women should be the best homemakers in the world

i watched conference. i like conference. mostly because it is a really close to an idea i am workshopping called "home church" which i am going to have with my kids. church is too long an boring and germ infested for children. i also like conference because i can listen to the tv while i clean and sew. which fortunately is right in line with what i should be doing as a woman. but if i could make conference even better this is what i would change:

1) no saturday session. (i did the math that is 8-10 (gender dependant) hours. church should be 1.5 hours a week. i am good until mid-november)

2) i would like if there were less prayers and singing. and i wish more/any women prayed. or in the alternative random volunteers from the congregation. (small children would be great).

3) i would give an arm and a leg oh what the hell two legs for a talk from a woman or about women were the word mother is never mentioned. men get all sorts of talks where the word father is never mentioned. but say the general relief society president does give a talk on women where she says things like no amount of education makes up for not being able to clean your house and then a picture of a women windexing her windows comes up on the screen it is safe to say i will shit a brick.

4) more talks on Jesus and king benjamin. they are my favorite.

5) more talks on diversity in mormon homes.

7) Chieko Okazaki should always speak. she gives the best quilting metaphors. For example:

"but all of these homes can be righteous homes where individuals love each other, love the Lord, and strengthen each other. Let me give you an example. Here are two quilts. Both are handmade, beautiful, and delightful to snuggle down in or wrap around a grandchild. Now look at this quilt. It’s a Hawaiian quilt with a strong, predictable pattern. We can look at half of the quilt and predict what the other half looks like. Sometimes our lives seem patterned, predictable in happy ways, in order. Now look at this second quilt. This style is called a crazy quilt. Some pieces are the same color, but no two pieces are the same size. They’re odd shapes. They come together at odd angles. This is an unpredictable quilt. Sometimes our lives are unpredictable, unpatterned, not neat or well-ordered. Well, there’s not one right way to be a quilt as long as the pieces are stitched together firmly. Both of these quilts will keep us warm and cozy. Both are beautiful and made with love. There’s not just one right way to be a Mormon woman, either, as long as we are firmly grounded in faith in the Savior, make and keep covenants, live the commandments, and work together in charity. All of us face different family circumstances and home situations. All of us need strength in dealing with them. This strength comes from faith in the Savior’s love and in the power of his atonement. If we trustingly put our hand in the Savior’s, we can claim the promise of the sacramental prayer to always have his Spirit with us. All problems are manageable with that strength, and all other problems are secondary in urgency to maintaining a strong spiritual life.” –Chieko Okazaki, General Conference 1993

8) more talks on preach my gospel because they are easy to nap to.

9) more talks on outer space.

30 comments:

natali said...

several people have asked about my shit a brick link. i linked it to the whole times and seasons blog. because there were too many posts for me to choose. the entire thread of sunday morning conference dicusses sister beck's talk in great detail.

Chelsea said...

i personally would like to see the general conference announcer, Lloyd Newell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_D._Newell) give a talk.

have you ever played the "my eyes are closed, but i'm still paying attention" game - only you really are still paying attention and then you try to guess whose voice belongs to which apostle? EVERYONE would know Brother Newell's voice.

natali said...

oh that sounds like a pretty good game. i would lose everytime. i probably know five general apostles names and the rest just sound familiar. i have little to no idea how it works with leadership and what positions are available but i knew it would be henry b eyring.

you said you would come to utah. why ck why.

Colleen said...

i agree with having a woman pray at general conference and perhaps a child.

Colleen said...

when i was 5 i sang "teach me to walk in the light" at stake conference and i don't think anyone fell asleep. but ck was playing the eyes closed game and she guessed me right away. she is really good.

Lee said...

I don't think this is true:

"men get all sorts of talks where the word father is never mentioned."

Chelsea said...

because i instead had to stay and yell at my crappy apartment manager. this took the whole weekend. i was so sad. don't worry nat - soon. soon.

colls - you're right. i DID know it was you. and major props to me because pre-puberty voices are really hard to tell apart.

natali said...

sugarcube to be fair that might be true. but look at the brightside you will never get a no amount of education will make up for not being able to clean talk. i dont know why i bothered with seven years of higher education when all i really need to do is learn how to launder and scrub. silly me.

becky said...

wait, were people offended by her talk? i'm confused. i don't really get that. she didn't say no amount of education makes up for being able to do laundry and clean your home. or was that a joke (that i totally missed)? that's not what i got at all. i really liked her talk. what she DID say was "all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth". i think that's a lot different than windexing and vacuuming.

becky said...

i think it applies to fathers too

natali said...

well its a mighty confusing message. get all the education you can so that you can teach your children and no amount of education you get will make up for you not being a good mother....

i know i am confused.

becky said...

i just think she's telling us to not neglect the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our children. that's all

n said...

that may have been the gist of her talk but the message had so many underlying sexist themes it was hard for me to hear that. i dont mind nurturing talks. i just dont think nurturing has anything to do with homemaking. and i do take offense to "all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth" which is a play on the quote "no other success in life with compensate for failure in the home" only this time it ties a womens education to failing in the home. what kind of skills is she talking about? why cant you get these skills with an education? is it because you are getting an education you cant create a home with a spiritual climate? i just dont think its a far stretch to assume she means if you put off your domestic duties of learning to clean and cook to pursue an education you are failing in the home. that might not be what she meant but i think its what she said.

becky said...

i never thought she implied that you can't get those skills with an education. she never said you can be successful in only one area or another. i have an education too and i plan to go further with it, and i wasn't offended by her talk. i know everyone feels different about these things, but for me it seems like a stretch or misinterpretation to say that a talk about women being good mothers and providers for their children in addition to whatever else they've got going on in their lives is sexist. i think the general authorities feel the same way--and have spoken in conferences--about fathers being good fathers and not neglecting their roles as fathers/husbands for their careers.

becky said...

i also think she might have meant that if you buy stoffer's frozen lasagnas instead of making lasagna from scratch that you are a bad mother.

natali said...

i dont like the links to education/homemaking and being a good mother. i think its great that other people are not offended by them. but that doesnt change how i feel or make me think i am reading into something that isnt there.

lisa said...

i was offended by the talk. but my reason was mainly that it was all aimed at ONLY women. I love the whole "create a spiritual environment in the home" idea, and i think there's nothing more important. I think family, raising kids, and creating a good home life are the most important things to focus on in life. BUT, i think they are a complete team effort. I felt like sis. beck's talk was only aimed at females, and saying that it's their job to create that environment, and nobody else's. I think men and women both tend to focus too much on other things (and i'm sure men get the same kinds of talks)---but when you say "all education WOMEN attain will avail them nothing..."etc. I think it should be "all education LDS people attain will avail them nothing...etc.". right?

natali said...

yeah i just wish it wasnt so gender specific i guess. why does there have to be two seperate talks for men and women to say the same thing? or have a picture of men cleaning? my dad does more cleaning than my mom. they could show a picture of him.

becky said...

i agree lisa. but in fairness, her talk was specifically about mothers. which is why she directed it towards women. and i think the reason she was speaking about women was because she is the relief society president. but i agree that it is definitely a team effort.

but i DO think homemaking has to do with nurturing. i don't care WHO or which sex is doing the homemaking, but someone's got to do it because i think an environment of chaos, disorder and uncleanliness would have a direct affect on your children.

lisa said...

true, true. and i grew up in home where my dad did pretty much all of the work (inside and outside of the home). so hearing her talk made me feel that whether it's the father or the mother, as long as the kids are being nurtured, and as long as the home is a nice place to be, it doesn't matter which parent does it (which i think is exactly what you just said). it seemed like she was saying homemaking is only for women though, which bugged me--because i think my dad did a great job. even though she's the rs pres, i think she could have included both parents in her talk (maybe she did, and i didn't notice).

natali said...

so can you nuture your children by getting a housekeeper? i wouldnt be against that kind of nurturing....

lisa said...

totally. as long as you bake them pies. i'm being totally serious.

natali said...

hmmm. i am sort of against the sugar. they can have yummy aspartame treats. yum.

lisa said...

don't be against sugar! fat kids are happy kids. it's been proven.

natali said...

haha its too late i am against it. my poor skinny unhappy kids.

Breena said...

This post at Exponent II is helping me work through exactly why I was so disturbed by President Beck's talk...

http://exponentblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/guest-post-parenthood-and-godhood.html

natali said...

i liked that link breena (& tim). i think that post and the comments do a good job of discussing the various issues or problems for many people that listened to that talk.

Tin said...

The link Breena left didn't work for me. Can you give me the whole link?
Rose.
PS--I have heard lots of people were offended by this talk.

n said...

i couldnt get it to work either so i put it at the bottom of the blog.

n said...

click on outer space, i made that the link, its being weird for some reason.