Read it! It’s highly enjoyable, very creepy, and the epic symbolism at the end is my favorite! #booksky

Linda Hamilton@lhamiltonwriter.bsky.social · 1h ago

RUN to Kindle and Audible! The Fourth Wife is on sale this week! The Fourth Wife is a creepy Gothic horror about a Mormon polygamist family living in a haunted house in 1882 Utah. It’s spooky, historically researched, and a feminist tale of overcoming patriarchy.

My review for Damned If She Does is up. I tore through this book this morning and am feeling very seen and a bit raw. Exmormon women and anyone else who has left their faith, if you want to feel less gaslit and alone, read this book. It’s what we’ve been waiting for. @sarahstankorb.bsky.social

Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion by Sarah Stankorb

Through powerful narrative nonfiction, award-winning journalist and author Sarah Stankorb (Disobe...

app.thestorygraph.com

The thing that makes me crazy about these AI bros is that they have voluntarily relinquished their capacities to think and yet they believe they are some how more evolved than those of us who have been using our brains and our own abilities our entire lives.

Um… was I clear enough?

I shall participate. Like away. #booksky

Mo 🌸📚@moplayspoke.bsky.social · 2d ago

1 like = 1 book question 📚💙

I said what I said. I seem to remember something about “feed my sheep.”(John 21:15-17) #exmo

We went to our local Taco Bell last week. We were the only car there at lunch time and they were so happy to see us and they made me the most pristine bean burrito I’ve ever had. A thing of beauty that brought me to tears. Don’t punish a company for being responsible. Punish the supplier that lies.

Sarah Taber@sarahtaber.bsky.social · yesterday

I would like to propose the Taco Bell Principle When a person/institution Did A Problem, & IMMEDIATELY fesses up & takes proactive steps to solve it That's exactly what we want them to do? So how bout we let them live ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not me trying to eat all my protein, hydrate, clean the house, calm my teen about every possible college move in scenario, finish ordering all the stuff he needs, contact the city about cleaning the toxic house fire ash from our lawn, and figure out who to call about the dead deer in our ditch.

Um… I had a visceral reaction to this heading this morning. Maybe this was true once, but I am really not finding a large number of Mormons to be kind or respectful any longer. Their devotion to right wing politics and everything that entails cancels out their manners. Kind is not the same as good.

And thus we begin my teen’s last full month living at home before he leaves for college. He’s going to have an amazing time. I am not even remotely ok.

After two days our internet is back and I can once again blast music on our home speaker system to torture my family. First choice was Meatloaf’s I Would Do Anything For Love. Banger. They’re so lucky to have me as their personal DJ. 😂

My giant fuzzy protector. I just feel so safe. 😂 #faucifriday

We’re getting about three inches of rain today which will hopefully wash away the toxic house fire ash that’s currently all over our grass. Also our internet is still down, so we’re probably going to embrace our hard media collection and have a movie day. Now you’re caught up. What a week. 👀

Our internet has been out all day and I have a question. Did the people who decided that everything in a house needs to be connected to the internet just never consider a scenario where the internet isn’t available? I mean, is it really necessary for all of my garage door openers to be connected?!

“She once wrote that she was married to the Mormon people, a community she cherished, and tolerated their onerous father, the institution. The Mormon people were truly blessed to have her as a companion, and the institution would have done well to listen to her.” @benjaminepark.bsky.social 🔥 🔥

Legendary LDS writer and advocate Carol Lynn Pearson dies, leaves a final poem to her fans

Legendary Latter-day Saint poet, playwright and activist Carol Lynn Pearson has died at age 86. "The Mormon people were truly blessed to have her as a companion," a historian says, "and the institutio...

sltrib.com

Nothing like looking out your living room windows just in time to see a news person filming your backyard and your son and your dog without permission. Voyeuristic ghouls. All of them. #kaaltv Consider yourselves called out. Do better.

After our neighbor’s house fire was extinguished last night, I made the mistake of looking on social media and the news to see what was being said. The amount of false information, people injecting “facts” that were completely wrong, and attention seeking people trauma lurking disgusted me.

We’re currently watching our next door neighbors’ house burn. My teen saw the flames and called 911 and the neighbors got out very quickly. We were down wind and got a little nervous, but we’re very grateful for the quick response and expertise of our fire department. #rochestermn

“The church spent nearly $60 million over five years – a $32 million settlement plus more than $27 million in legal defense costs – on the lawsuit brought by West Virginia families who said church leaders failed to warn and protect their children from Jensen.” #mormonsbehavingbadly

BREAKING: Appeals court revives LDS church’s bid to make insurers pay for sexual abuse settlements

DENVER – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on July 28 reversed a Utah federal judge’s decision that had let National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh and ACE Property and…

floodlit.org

“To those building large language models, books are nothing more than fodder to be devoured en masse before being spit out like fishbone.” No one wants this. These tech companies are the literal supervillains that Saturday morning cartoons warned us about when we were kids. #booksky

AI Companies Are Buying Antique Books, Ingesting Their Contents to Train Models, and Then Destroying Them at Incredible Scale, Even If Almost No Copies Remain

AI companies are quietly obtaining rare books, ingesting their contents, and then destroying them -- even if they're exceedingly rare.

futurism.com

I lost my mother, all of my remaining grandparents, a cousin, a very close friend and neighbor, and my husband’s aunt. All to Covid, because of liars like him. And yet? Our dog’s name is Fauci. Huh. I wish I still believed in hell, even though it’s still too good of a place for people like RFK Jr.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

RFK Jr: "Because of Dr Fauci's leadership and other reasons, we had the highest mortality rate from covid of any country in the world" #OtherReasons 🙃

Hubs guffaws from his office. Me- What is happening? Hubs, reading his email- Fellowship director meeting. We will be ordering salads for lunch. Me- Like hell you will! Hubs- Yeah, I’m going to bring my own lunch and, uh, maybe attend virtually. 👀 The tone deaf oblivion is astounding. #medsky

Hubs just informed me that I was a bad exmo. I still can’t show my shoulders, I could take or leave alcohol, I can’t stand hot coffee. I do really like tea and short shorts, and my swearing has taken off, so baby steps. 😆 #exmo

This. Truly funny people are incredibly intelligent and empathetic and must have the ability to read the room, assess mood and timing and appropriateness. He has never been able to do any of these things and as a result, he’s deeply unfunny as well as deeply unhappy. It’s sad.

Heat index is 110 here today with 77% humidity (yes, it’s humid in Minnesota), so yeah. I’m over this too.

wyotitania@wyotitania.bsky.social · last wk.

Officially over hot girl summer and ready for some cool girl fall weather. (Or really, just normal summer weather for here. 🥵)

Just realized as I lie here lazily scrolling my feed, that if I was still a member of the church, I’d have already been there for almost two hours, grouchy and stressed and fighting off a panic attack as I sat on the stand being scrutinized by the congregation as I directed the music. Don’t miss it.

We’ve always had a rule in this home that we “throw crabs in water.” It worked like a charm with a toddler- baths heal everything. Well, I’ve been in a funk all day, so hubs just declared we’re going night swimming. I guess that’s the nice way of saying I’m being a 🦀.

R.E.M. - Nightswimming (Official Music Video) [British Version]

YouTube video by remhq

youtu.be

Amazing. Credit: Sidekick Ink.

My Pioneer Day book stack. Non-revisionist style. The full (too long for Bluesky) caption can be found on my book review page, @aprilcottree, on Instagram. #exmo #pieandbeerday #booksky #pioneerday

Um… I’ve only stepped foot in Texas once on a road trip from Florida to Utah, and yet I’m getting voter texts for the governor?!? Seriously? I mean, if I could help get Abbot the ghoul out of office I would, but this is a whole new level of annoying. My own state’s election texts are bad enough.