A Thousand Rotting Baby Seals

Instead of blogging here, I blogged here about writing and depression:

http://eatingmoney.wordpress.com/

Yes, there are a thousand rotting baby seals.

I will write a blog here soon. I have thoughts. SUCH THOUGHTS DO I HAVE.

In Which Many Mormon Problems Fit Into One Blog Post

I read a book years ago called "It's You And Me, Lord!" written by a black Mormon in the 60s. The guy who wrote it was named Al, and I have since met and liked Al a great deal. It was about living as a believing, black Mormon in the days when black Mormons were not allowed to hold the Priesthood.

Al found that Mormonism resonated so much with his inner sense of truth that he did not need to hold the priesthood. In that way, he follows the generations of women who have not held the priesthood either. However, Al thus consigned himself to a life (well, the ban would be lifted ten years down the line, but he didn't know that) of attending a church surrounded by other men who could perform all the duties of their religion, which he could not, simply because of the color of his skin.

So each time Al went to church and heard about someone's Temple trip (he couldn't go) and each time he watched the men administer the Sacrament (he could not), he had to remember that his reasons for being there were so important that he could stand to be a second-class citizen, at lest in appearances.

Do you think he always felt that way in church, or he was tempted to stop going? He remained faithful up to the lifting of the priesthood ban and into the present day. But I'm sure there were a few doubts that crept in, and he remarkably resisted them.

I, and just about everyone else I know, wouldn't be able to do it.

Now we have this long viral blog post by Josh Weed about his very good life in a mixed-orientation marriage based on the principles of Mormonism.

Josh and Lolly have gone out of their way to point out that this is their way, and their way alone, and that others' journeys will be different. They haven't preached or projected. Josh is sharing the story because of his work as a therapist. And so I can't quite fault them for anything other than unintentional damage.

The many, many gay Mormons out there who read this--or similar stories--and say 

"oh, so it can work. I just need to try harder."

Because for all that Josh and Lolly talk about the way they've made their sex life work, they don't (and presumably won't) explain the big problem everyone else sees. Yes, sex is a loving, binding act between two adults. But it is just as naughty as it is sacred, and that's why we like it. 

I love the spiritual bonding that comes through sex. I love the deep connection my wife and I have and the way it reflects in our physical intimacy with each other.

But I am hard-wired to have a vigorous session with a tall, leggy redhead. And I love the fact that we can just plain old lust after each other.

Now, can have a spiritual bonding experience and build a life with the same tall leggy redhead with whom I want to get freaky, y'all. (She was blonde when we got married, but we evolved.) The two are not at cross-purposes.

Granted, it's more complicated than that. That same wiring is involved when people cheat on their spouses or become obsessed with pornography. The same wiring is involved with any multiple-partner situation. 

But the point is, in the realm of "what do you want sexually?" my wife fulfills my primary proramming. She is a woman, a beautiful, vivacious woman.

But for Josh's wiring...

Imagine one of those days when you are really craving a gooey chocolate brownie. You would probably (if you're like me) make up a batch, let the kids lick the beaters, have a couple of slices and maybe even some ice cream on top, then suffer a crisis of conscience and hit the exercise bike for twenty minutes before bed.

But imagine you're not like me. You're on a diet, and you're really watching everything. So you don't make brownies. In fact, you've purged the house of anything that could be used to make brownies. You eat your carrot sticks and your nuts and when you really want something sweet, you nibble on a dried fig.

The brownie love persists. You cannot stop. You keep thinking of that damn brownie. Evolution has hardwired you to eat this delicious, carb-and-fat-and-chocolate treat so you can burn it off running from angry mammoths and evolution does not give one teensy crap that there are no mammoths to run from!

So finally you and your significant other go out, and you go to the place that serves a really great brownie sundae, and you share one, and it is delicious. It is worth every mammoth-running bite.

And you go back to your diet having done only minimal damage.

Or…

Or you go the rest of your life with no brownie.

Never.

No gooey, soft cloud of rich chocolate.

It can be done, right? Sure. Given the choice, what would you say is the healthiest choice physically and spiritually?

Probably not to make the batch, eat half of it and vainly strive on the exercise bike. But not to deny yourself your desire for the rest of your life, either.

Remember, evolution wants you to eat the fatty, gooey, artery-clogging things. Evolution does not care about the lack of mammoth.

Evolution also made you with a brain that is susceptible to various in-utero chemical factors that hardwire you to either want men or women. Evolution has programmed you to engage in reproductive action, but for some reason, evolution occasionally makes the oddball who wants to engage in such action with someone who will not reproduce.

Josh admits here that his primary programming, his basic lust, is for men.

Josh may just be, possibly, maybe maybe maybe, the person who can resist forever.

But almost everyone in his situation who reads the blog will not be. Many people will read his blog post and not realize that Josh and Lolly are the exception to a rule. And many of them will even read his blog post and note that the guy is happy. He has a loving wife and kids. Even if they divorce a few years down the road, that level of love and affection will be higher than it would be if he followed the only other apparent Mormon option, which is permanent singlehood and celibacy.

A lot of LDS gay kids might read this and think, quite rightly, that their lives will be more full and have a greater share of happiness if they do get married, even if the marriage is doomed.

Or we could just drop the whole "gay is evil" thing, in the same way that we dropped years of racist policy and doctrine and would now be quite embarrassed to speak about what Al went through in his early days in the church.

Point is... you've read enough long blog posts. Me out.

One-Sentence Stories

Oh man. I have written a lot of blogs in my head since the last one. Suffice it to say that I've been working reeeeeeally hard on a novel, reeeeeally hard at my Day Job, and reeeeeally hard on being a parent.

But I couldn't help getting excited about Alex's one-sentence story challenge. And every once in a while, by some freak of nature, Jake Kerr writes something worth reading. Jake's challenge was to write an epic fantasy story in one sentence. So I'd like to do the same for YA fantasy. Only I'm skeptical about the stuff.


Tommy Hopper And The Future

Given that he got the girl, killed the evil wizard, was first in all his classes, and won the Wizarding Football cup before he was eighteen, those who knew Tommy Hopper were shocked to find him a middle-aged accountant, reciting tax code in rich, sonorous tones as if it were the most potent of spells.

Scattered Positivity

Long time, Internet!

I had a fun NorWesCon with lots and lots of people I don't see often, but THAT SAID... about halfway through my first night there, the wife calls to say that there was an altercation involving police, guns, and kids with guns in front of our house. While the kids were in the yard. No shots fired, but she was a bit freaked out and I was a little weirded out at the thought of leaving everyone in the house alone after that. So's I drove home and spent the night, then drove back to Seattle the next night with Cory, and had some fun, completely forgot about a writers' workshop session (sorry, everyone involved!) then drove back late at night.

If it hadn't been for Cory's all-around mad genius, I would have fallen asleep, then dead, at the wheel. We had a great story therapy session and now I know what to do with a story if I ever sit down to write it.

There are a couple of scattered reviews for my new story, "Blade and Branch and Stone," around the Internet:

By far the most ambitious story in the issue and the most original, Ellsworth's created a strange and intriguing world.

Also:

While the concepts of a race that is part tree and trees that store generational memories aren't new, and aren't my favorite tropes if I'm being honest, Ellsworth uses multiple viewpoints to present a moving picture of how two races at enmity with each other can bridge a gap. This was a multi-layered tale worth the reading.

For those who haven't read it, the story is here. Enjoy! You might even leave me a comment if you think it's a particular shining light. Or if you think it's terrible.

NorWesCon Schedule

I know I never post anything! I have an update in the works. I did make it in me and Seamus's competition last month, so no dancing... well, maybe. See upcoming announcement. But for now my Norwescon schedule:

Friday 5 pm Cascade 11
DC Comics: The New 52
Matt Youngmark, avid comic critic and creator of the Chooseomatic book series, will give a slide show presentation of all the changes taking place in the world of Batman, Superman, and all the rest.
Matt Youngmark (M), Spencer Ellsworth, Kate Merriwether Lynch, Nathan Crowder

Friday 9 pm Cascade 3&4
Writer Beware
How to tell if you’re being scammed or not when trying to get published? Sites such as SFWA’s, can help you with determining valid publishers, agents, etc. The idea of this business is money comes to the author, not the other way around. Learn when to RUN, not walk away, when people ask you for money to get you published.
Mary Rosenblum (M), Lizzy Shannon, Spencer Ellsworth, Keffy R. M. Kehrli

Friday 10 pm Cascade 1
Spencer Ellsworth reads TBD
TBD Rated PG
Spencer Ellsworth

This reading will be off the hook, people. There will be more than just reading--there will be SINGING.

Saturday 10 pm Cascade 6
From Magneto to Lex Luthor
What makes a great villain? Whom do you love to hate? What are some obvious weaknesses of famous villains that heroes never seem to take advantage of? Who are the worst villains in comics history?
Ashley “nerdtastic” Cook (M), Clinton J. Boomer, Morgue Anne, Spencer Ellsworth, Matt Youngmark

Of Gauntlets In Roadways

Seamus Bayne is my good friend from Viable Paradise, and occasionally my therapist. Now we shall become more: brothers either in victory or humiliation.

Seamus and I have a large corpus of work sitting around that needs to get revised and Out. The. Damn. Door. Already. I have three short stories that I have been tweaking since time out of mind, and I still have not gotten them right. I have a Very Cool Novel that was supposed to be revised and out the door about the same time Sam was born. It is still not to third draft, even after some amazing critiques with many good point by Tina Connolly and Nikki Trionfo, both spectacular writers in their own right.

Seamus and I made a pact yesterday that the short stories would be out the door and the novels would be to beta readers within one month. March 15th is the day of destiny. If I do not, I must film myself dancing to Hot Chocolate's "I Believe In Miracles."


My wife describes my dancing thus: "it's like you hate your own body."

World, I have a sacred charge not to show you such a thing. Wish me the best of luck in avoiding it.

Time-Wasting

I stole this from my friend Chas, and I love it. Take a famous poem and run it through an Internet translator three or four times, rendering it back into English, and then display the result. This is "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" through German and Spanish. The parantheses are amazing. They add this weird level of after-the-fact whispering.

Go carefully to this good night not,
The age should burn and be furious(storm) towards the end of the day;
The anger (the feeling), you are furious(storm) in the death in the light.

Though wise men (husbands) know (know) to his(her,your) (his(her,your)) end(final) mysteriously (they know (they know)), it(he) is correct,
Since his(her,your) (his(her,your)) words had not bifurcated on they no go (it)
Do not go carefully to this good night.

Good men (husbands), the last wave (wave) for, as intensely shouts
His(Her,Your) (His(Her,Your)) fragile acts might have danced in a green bay,
The anger (the feeling), you are furious(storm) in the death in the light.

The wild men (the husbands) who reached and sang the Sun in the flight,
And learn very late, they it saddened on his(her,your) (his(her,your))(she(it)) the way,
Do not go carefully to this good night.

Serious men (husbands), closing the death that it(he,she) sees with the screens of the sight
Blind eyes might burn on since(as,like) meteorites (and to be homosexuals) happy,
The anger