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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “Trump’s Name Is All Over This Catastrophe”
“It’s unusual, to say the least, that Donald Trump’s name is on the stimulus check being mailed to millions of Americans starting this month. No previous U.S. president has put his name on a Treasury check, as if the money in the Treasury were his own and he were a personal benefactor to American citizens. And yet, in a symbolic sense, it’s fitting that the president’s name should be on that check.” Click here to read MWEG member Stefanie Condie’s Salt Lake Tribune op-ed outlining why Trump’s name is all over the catastrophic loss of life and livelihood we’re seeing as a result of COVID-19. Trump’s Name Is All Over This Catastrophe…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Succor
As we continue to stay at home all over the country for COVID-19, many thoughts run through my mind. Many of us look at the isolation negatively at times. We miss the touch of loved ones — those handshakes at church or hugs from friends. We miss the freedom of travel and the ability to enjoy family and friends across the country. Many deal with becoming instant homeschoolers. Personally, we had looked forward to more travel, attending sealings, sporting events, and more. Those plans are on pause. For most, we are isolated in bubbles. We are safe at home, antsy for our norms. For far too many, jobs are gone,…
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “Congress Does Not ‘CARE’ About My American Family”
“Intentionally disqualifying millions of Americans from much-needed stimulus funds during this unprecedented health crisis is both unnecessary and cruel. It also further contributes to the demonization of immigration and labeling of immigrants—and their citizen family members—as unworthy.” MWEG member Dr. Jane Lilly López will not receive the stimulus funds due to her, despite the fact that she is a U.S. citizen who paid thousands in taxes in 2019. Read her op-ed to learn more about the American families who are being excluded from the “CARES” relief bill. “Congress Does Not ‘Care’ About My American Family” • April 24, 2020 • The Appeal
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The Way of Openness :: Conventions for Productive Dialogue
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye was the plenary speaker at the 2020 Mormon Women for Ethical Government spring conference. These are her remarks. To view the video of her presentation, click here. Thank you very much for the privilege of speaking to you today. I am very humbled to have this opportunity to share useful tools for difficult conversations. First, I will explain where I’m coming from, the experiences that shape my worldview. Then I’ll explain the Way of Openness, which is a set of conventions for productive dialogue, and give examples of how these conventions work in practice. Finally, I’ll leave you with some thoughts from where I am right now,…
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Are You Aware? Front Lines
This is part IV in our “battlefronts” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. My favorite toy as a 4-year-old was a little black doctor’s bag. It included an orange reflex hammer and a yellow-and-blue shot and stethoscope. I took a first-aid course my freshman year in high school and was chosen as one of six first responders for the junior high. Our advisor would call us out of class, then we’d triage the situation and get started on taking care of our patient. We’d fill our advisor in once he was able to get his class situated and come join us. We also served as the…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Navigating the Now — and Planning for the After
Has anyone figured this out yet? How to make Now work? We all knew what to do in the Before. Even if there were lots of days when I didn’t like Before, I understood it. I could walk its well-worn paths without needing to pay much attention to the obstacles, vistas, or valleys. But Before is gone, and given how solid and permanent it seemed at the time, it went away surprisingly quickly! So I am figuring out Now along with the rest of you, and while we need to understand Now and make it work, it is still both weird and temporary, because though it feels interminable it isn’t.…
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Are You Aware? On the Street — Greater Love Hath No Man
This is part III in our “battlefronts” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Are you an essential worker? I am. Every day I go out into the world to help you, my friends, to be able to remain safe. I am not a nurse like Kious Kelly, a 48-year-old assistant nurse manager at Mount Sinai West. This is the hospital in NYC where nurses wore trashbags because they did not have access to the recommended personal protective equipment (PPE). Kious Kelly died of COVID-19. I am not a doctor like Frank Gabrin who had texted a friend to report the lack of PPE in the emergency…
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Sabbath Devotional :: Lead, Kindly Light
My grandpa passed away a couple weeks ago. Of course, given the current circumstances, we couldn’t gather as a family to mourn his passing and celebrate his life (though we did “gather” via Zoom). But over these past few weeks I’ve felt comfort from the words of his favorite hymn, which have been playing on an almost perpetual loop in my mind: Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom;Lead thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far from home;Lead thou me on!Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to seeThe distant scene — one step enough for me. For reasons both global and personal, I have felt almost…
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Easter Sabbath Devotional :: All Glory, Laud, and Honor Anyway
During my time in college, I spent a semester on a study abroad in Jerusalem and the surrounding Holy Land. In Jerusalem, one of the most popular sayings on tourist tchotchkes is a verse of scripture: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. It’s written on wall hangings, keychains, and T-shirts in almost every shop in the Old City. The words come from Psalm 137, traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who relates in narrative verse the lament of the Israelites taken captive into Babylon. The psalm begins, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the…
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Are You Aware? Homefront — In Our Response Lies Our Growth and Our Freedom
This is part II in our “battlefronts” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. According to Maslow, our three most important needs are physical need, for things such as air, food, and water; need for safety, such as feeling safe from danger, pain, or an uncertain future; and love and/or belonging, which includes the need to bond, feel loved, and have strong attachments with others. All these important needs are challenged by our present circumstances, as we each fight our individual battles on the homefront to help contain this coronavirus. In this war, many of the most important contributions will be made on the homefront. Each of…
