Maggie Mae looked out over the pond and grasped Eric’s arm like a rope in gym class. It was April, and the canopy of blossoms above smelled mostly like heaven but partially like rotten fish, depending on the tree. Maggie Mae would have a spring wedding when she wedded. She had explained this to Eric—described…
When sexism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is brought up, it is often dismissed. Rightfully so, we naturally reject anything negative or uncomfortable that we are presented with—especially when it contradicts a deep, personal conviction. But the sexism in the Church is blatant. Sister missionaries only serve 18 months instead of…
Noticing something like the fact that you’re the only Black person in the room isn’t entirely innate. At least not to me. It took me a while before I really started to raise an eyebrow. Perhaps these white guys that are supposedly my “uncles” on my dad’s side aren’t actually blood related to me after…
Tucked away in the sacred mountains of Utah County, in a city founded by the hands of their ancestral pioneers, college Mormons are having weird sex. Or so I was told? In 2022, someone leaked BYU students’ sexy secret across Twitter: they have found ways to have sex without having sex. One of the…
If you don’t fit the stereotypical BYU mold—straight, white, middle to upper-middle class, active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—you are subject to persecution for your enrollment. Students of color and queer students have reported time and time again that their institution makes them feel unwelcome and unsafe in their learning…
I used to believe that consent was power. That was the message sold to me by teen feminist magazines, Young Women’s chastity lessons, and BYU Title IX campaigns: “consent means everything,” “consent will protect you.” But that’s not true. My first physical relationship was with a partner who had significantly more sexual experience than I…
Brigham Young University is no stranger to independent student publications. Indeed, students at BYU have been distributing unsanctioned papers and pamphlets for over one hundred years. The largest and most well-known was the Student Review, a massive student paper publishing nearly 15,000 copies a week during its peak in the late 80s. These publications have…
What is occurring right now in Palestine is genocide, a textbook case of it, a direct result of seventy-five years of occupation and apartheid. Following Hamas's attack on Israel, killing over 1,400 Israelis, the IDF has launched an indiscriminately violent and destructive campaign against the citizens of Gaza. It has deployed illegal weapons like white…
I am Mormon in the same way I am American. I can never not be born into the covenant in the same way I will forever have been born in this country. Renouncing my citizenship or removing my records can do little to change that. It is intrinsically tied to who I am. You can…
Humans need everything to make sense. That’s why we humans turn to stories. A story makes sense of the mess of life and gives purpose to the pain we feel. We hope that the random pieces of our lives will come together and tell a greater story instead of being pointless. This fills our stories…