Before There Was Glee

Way before the TV show Glee was even a twinkle in it's creator's eye, Mormon children were breaking into song during school! Are Mormons trendsetters?

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Acting Mormon

A couple of years ago Kirby Heyborne , an LDS actor known for his work in LDS films such as The R.M, Singles Ward and The Best Two Years, did a beer commercial for Miller Lite. He received some backlash from the LDS community for appearing in the ad. Some called him a “sell out” others questioned his “personal ethics and faith.”


In response to the scrutiny, Heyborne said this in an interview with Deseret News’ Mormon Times: "I'm a temple-worthy member that loves his wife and kids, and fulfills his calling at church and does his home teaching. And yet I'm going to play characters that might have moral dilemmas, or do a commercial -- or whatever it is --because my job is the way that I provide for my family." Heyborne also released this parody:


Recently a group of 12 LDS women posed for the Hot Mormon Muffins: A Taste of Motherhood calendar. Though Chad Hardy, the calendars creator says that his calendar was “created as a vehicle to create dialog and deliberately debunk the subservient stereotypes of women's roles within the Mormon Church,” criticizers called it immodest, sleazy and even pornographic.

Calendar cover girl and mother of three daughters, Tami Roberts, in an Idaho Falls, Local News 8 interview said, "I don't see what the big deal is. I think it's kind of campy and fun.”

Hot topics such as these remind me of when I was younger, having lived in an area that was predominantly non-Mormon, I was often told by my parents that I needed to set a “good example.” What exactly did they mean by that? Well, I was told because I was the one of the few members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that many of my friends and family members knew, I should act in a way that showed others that I was a follower of Christ. As a Latter-day Saint I am always quite conscious of the eyes that may be upon me. I cringe at even the thought of the instances when I have behaved poorly, and a witness to my un-Christ-likeness finds out that I am Christian and LDS.

As a kid it’s hard to be a good example all the time, and as an adult it is even more complex. Children are following their parent’s rules, but as an adult there is no one that says to us, “Because I said so.” Religious leaders, politicians, actors, models, celebrities and all other public figures are scrutinized more so, because they are in the public eye. The whole world is often privy to their words and their actions. Is our scrutiny fair?

Are there exceptions? Would the LDS community have felt differently if Kirby Heyborne had portrayed a beer-drinking investigator of the LDS church or drunk King Laban of the Book of Mormon? Can "Hot Mormon Muffins” of today still be effective Young Women Leaders of tomorrow?

Mosiah 29:12: Now it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of God are always just, but the judgments of man are not always just. It is not my desire to be an unjust judge; you know what the Bible says, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” (Did you hear that…all the rocks just fell out of my hand?)

This is what I have come to realize, however unfair it may seem, my personal actions can and often do have an affect on how others view my faith.

Sidenote: I thought about auditioning for next years “Hot Mormon Muffins” calendar (not really), but then they would have to call it Warm Mormon Muffin-Tops (really)!

An imperfect follower of Christ,
Sista Laurel

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Woe is Me

Do you know Job?

Have you ever been so consumed with your problems and personal concerns that it seemed there was no immediate relief in sight? Well, these past few months I have been going through some growing pains, which I have spent more time laboring over and stressed about then I care to admit. I'm usually a pretty faithful and positive person. However when I'm going through those dark alleys of life, I can get a little paranoid and crazy. I was feeling judged and misunderstood by people I trusted. Family relationships that I thought were secure were being altered due to exaggerated stories and some out right lies. I had almost reached that point of insanity where I begin asking myself if God had turned on me, I wondered if He was out to get me. I was feeling a little like Job. I know it's a bit of an exaggeration (yes, it must run in the family).

No, I didn't have seven thousand sheep burned because fire fell from Heaven. The Chaldeans didn't fall upon my three thousand camels. I don't even know what a Sabean looks like, so they sure didn't touch my asses or my oxen. I can't even imagine nor do I want to think about losing my entire family in a tornado or anything else. Nevertheless I was feeling like I was experiencing one trial after another with no safe haven or form of protection. While I was traveling down this road of self pity, feeling sorry for myself, I did what most of us were taught to do, I searched the scriptures for answers.

Why, why, why did I do that? Have you ever read Job? OMG'ness, Job had it all! He was referred to as a just and perfect man. He was blessed with great riches, and was respected by everyone in the community.

God loved Job, He trusted Job, He knew Job. Now this is where the story takes on a unique shape. All this was taking place during a time when the sons of God would go and present themselves to God our Heavenly Father, you know I was a little shocked to read that Satan was among them. Yep, when the sons of God presented themselves Satan (our brother) was among them. Side note: Satan had a personal relationship with God even after he got the boot!! The thought of this was so deep, I have a whole blog dedicated to the topic. To make a long story short, Satan was given the green light to tempt and to try Job. He could touch all that Job had, yet he wasn't to touch Job.

Job was a man who faced some terrible and depressing situations. His children were killed. His servants were killed. His livestock destroyed. All of this happened in one day. A messenger went to Job to tell him that the Sabeans took away the oxen and asses and killed all of his servants except the one delivering the message. While the servant was delivering the message, another servant came, to tell Job, that all of his sheep were burned. While he was still speaking another servant came with a message that the Chaldeans took all of Jobs camel and had killed his servants. As if that weren't enough, Job received another message that must have been devastating. Job was informed that there had been a tornado and everyone was killed -- the servants, all of his children (7 sons and 3 daughters), there was one surviver - a servant the one delivering the message. Job's response to the events that had happened that day was:

Job 1: 21: Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." With everything that Job endured, he blessed the name of the Lord.

As for my situation ... Yes! I did feel "salty" and ungrateful among other things. Just when I was ready to stop feeling sorry for myself, I allowed Satan access. But that was then. I'm going through my own trauma, not as severe; nonetheless, no less traumatic. I'm entitled to my feelings! Right? If you said Amen to that, you need to run to the nearest priesthood leader, pastor, reverend, somebody, anybody (more righteous then you) and get a good long blessing.

Some of us would think that would have been it. God won (of course) Satan lost, the end. However, Satan wasn't done with our brotha Job. Not wanting to admit he had lost, Satan again went with the sons of God to present himself (still I'm shocked). The Lord's response was:

Job 2:3-6
3: "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and bescheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause."
4: "And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life."
5: "But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face."
6: "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life."

What? Did the Lord really just give Satan permission to do whatever to Job, except kill him? I'm so happy this wasn't a movie! I would have been that annoying person talking back to the movie screen. Unbelievable! Why Lord, I really hope the Lord don't have that kind of faith in me.

Job was then struck with painful boils on his entire body. He said his brothas and friends were estranged from him. Family and friends had forgotten him. His servants wouldn't answer his calls. Children even despised him and talked about him. His breath was strange to his wife (I know what you are thinking, and I'm gonna pray for y'all ). Talk about a fall from grace. Job had lost everything and I’m sure he was tempted to completely give up and turn his back on God. His wife even told him to just curse God and die because he was in such a pitiful state. But Job didn’t do that. While he did go through a time of complaining and questioning, he never gave up on God. Wow, what to say? My life ain't so bad, actually my life is good and I am blessed. Even in his moments of self pity, he didn't really complain. I wish I could pretend that I wouldn't have been in a full on windmilling (you remember those fights you and your little sistas and brothas used to have back in the day) kind of fight -- with the Lord. I'm not even going to tempt the Lord and ask for the type of faith that Job had ... because that Brothas and Sistas would mean that I would have to go through something similar to what Job went through.

I know that we all go through life's storms. I know that we are having the experiences that we are supposed to have. Who didn't want to be Job prior to him going through his version of the garden of Gethsemane? Who would have traded places with him when he was going through the refiners fire? Who stood with him during his moment of hell? We all want to have what Job had, yet we wouldn't have wanted to go through what Job went through.

Yes, I'm clear! I'm not going through anything remotely close to what Job went through. I know that I was having a moment, now, it's over. My Sistas and friends stood with me during my trials (I probably shouldn't even call what I've experienced a trial or test). I know that I am loved! I know that God is real! I know that my relationship with Him is real! And, I know that He knows me. He knows me!! I know me. He knows me because I'm having the type of experiences that I can live with, and not those of Job. I know that He loves me because in my moment of insanity I was reminded that He had provided for me an umbrella, a shelter from the storm, Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Part of Jesus' atoning love and sacrifice was that during moments of loneliness and hopelessness we would remember to turn to him. There aren't any quick fixes, but through him all things can be restored beyond what even we can imagine.

Your Sista in the Gospel,

Sista Beehive

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Mahana You Ugly!

"Mahana You Ugly!" The first time someone said that to me, I was not laughing. In fact, I was preparing to open up a can of whoop-fast. Luckily just before his face hit the pavement, someone mentioned something about a movie (assault charge averted). The first time someone called me an 8-cow woman, they had 8 seconds to explain to me why they had just called me a heifer. Something was said about "Johnny Lingo" and I think they took off running. About 5 years ago I finally saw the movie Johnny Lingo, and that person had it twisted, I am a million-cow woman! For all of you who learned the hard way that not everyone has seen this movie, I feel for you. For those of you out there who have never seen this movie, please know that if you ever find yourself trying to figure out if a Mormon has just referred to you as an ugly cow, they may have actually been trying to give you a compliment.

Johnny Lingo is a 1969 LDS film. In Johnny Lingo, Mahana is a young woman who is constantly told she is ugly, she believes she is ugly and she appears to be ugly. Once her suitor is willing to pay an unprecedented 8 cows for her to become his bride, she becomes beautiful in appearance.

The argument has been made that the story of Johnny Lingo focuses on physical beauty and the idea that a woman can only see herself as a beautiful woman once a man finds her attractive. I often think of self-worth as something that you define for yourself, people shouldn’t need to tell you that you’re amazing, you should already know and believe that you are. However, as I contemplate the story of Johnny Lingo, I actually find a message of power. The power we have to change attitudes, responses, how others feel about us, and yes, how others may feel about themselves.

One school year my Mother had the ludicrous idea to send us to our non-uniform wearing public school in uniforms. She sewed us 4 hideous uniforms. One for each day of the week and then we could repeat one on Fridays. Most of the Uniforms were skirts, which we wore knickers under so we could go to P.E. and not have to the change. (If you don’t know what knickers are don’t feel bad, I think only my family and pioneers do.) The collection wasn’t even cohesive (I've been watching too much Project Runway). There was a pink and black polka-dotted skirt, which was just a poodle shy of needing saddle shoes to go with it. I don’t know what "General Store" my Mother found the fabric for the other uniforms in, but if you ever catch a rerun of Little House on the Prairie, you’ll see Laura Ingalls Wilder wearing the jumper-dress she sewed us. Oh, and yes, of course mine and my sister’s uniforms were matching, what’s that you ask, are we twins? Nope! My sister and I were seriously traumatized!

The first week of school our classmates just thought that we were shopping at the ugly store, but by the third week of school they began to see a pattern. I didn’t attend one of those schools where the other kids whispered and made fun of you behind your back. I attended the kind of school where kids just shouted at you from across a crowded lunchroom, “Girl, why you wearing the same ooglay (worse than ugly, so ugly it’s ooglay) outfit every day.” Although I felt like someone should report my Mother to Child Protective Services, I had made up my mind that I was going to own those ooglay uniforms. “Why you wearing that same ooglay face every day,”
I replied. I wasn’t being mean, that’s just how you nip it in the bud where I come from.

I told my friends that I was wearing uniforms this year because I didn’t want to take the time to pick out something new every day. Plus, I got way more sleep since I didn’t need to wake up and pick something to wear. “It was my idea but, you know the lil’ Sis has to copy everything I do. Told my Mom not to make us the same uniforms, but the lil’ Sis was buggin, so I was like, it’s cool.” Of course my BFF knew what was up and she had my back. She’d say, “Girl that skirt is bomb, where’d you buy that, I need to get me one.” I would say, “Thanks girl, my Mama made it, it’s an original, you can’t just get this off the rack.” She bought a plaid skirt and she would wear hers to school. Of course hers was name brand, short and cute, but I really appreciated it.

So although I still can’t believe my Mother did that to me, the school year didn’t turn out to be a complete disaster because I realized that I GOT THE POWER! So the next time you’re in a situation where you can effect positive change in your attitude, the attitude of others, how someone else perceives themself or how others perceive you, do it, cause YOU GOT THE POWER!

For those of you who have never seen Johnny Lingo, here you go!

God is Love,
Sista Laurel

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Let Us Remember and Not Forget

Let us remember and not forget that there are many who walked an uncomfortable path so that we could walk a more comfortable one. We are grateful for all of the people who made sacrifices so that we could have the freedoms that we have. It is our hope that you will enjoy our post today. Remember to honor those that made great sacrifice, especially those that sacrificed with their lives. Remember the Church Leaders are doing all that they know to do serve the needs of all our the Brothas and Sistas, around world. As Service is an important part of all faiths and religions especially in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Let us not forget that today is "Not a day off but a day on". A wonderful site is Acts of love 365.



President Gordon B. Hinckley on Racial Intolerance

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Alex Boye Wants Jesus to Walk With Him - Part 2

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I’m thinking, there's only two reasons an Apostle calls someone....

to make them an Apostle or to kick them out of the Church. Which one do you think I thought? Elder Ballard says, I want you to come on assignment with me. I want you to be the singer and I want you to sing three songs. Do you have a pen and a paper? Yes Sir, I say as I’m scrambling to get a pen and paper. Elder Ballard says, first song, There is a Green Hill Far Away, do you know it? Yes Sir. Second song, I Know That My Redeemer Lives, do you know it? Yes Sir. Third song, I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked, do you know it? Yes Sir. I lied. I had never heard the third song before. As soon as I hung up with him I start searching everywhere, I’m all over Google, I finally found it on Youtube.

So I went on assignment with Elder Ballard and I had to get up to sing three times. I get up to sing the first song, and the Spirit just thrashes. Second song, I’m just thrashed. Third song, I get up and the Spirit just thrashes me again and finally it hit me, there was my answer. Those were the three songs I needed to finish the hymns album. So I went in and recorded the three songs, finish the album, and I get a call from Deseret Book. We want you to do a hymns album. I’m just like SHUT UP! I just recorded one I say. Be Still, My Soul: Classic Hymns and Folk Songs went to Deseret Book’s top 10 on the first day it was released. Months later it’s still there. It was such a testimony to me. I have had such a great response because of that album. Someone just wrote me on Facebook and said that her friend was going to commit suicide and heard one of the songs on the album and decided not to.

Sista Beehive asks, how is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir received by other religions and other Christian denominations? When the choir was going out to Oklahoma I was asked to go out some days before to do radio and TV spots. I went with Scott Barrick the choir’s General Manager. So we’re out there doing these promotions and the entire time I was thinking why did they ask me to do this? The questions were about the history of the choir and so on and you know there are so many people that could answer these questions better than me, I was just winging it.

So for one spot we had to split up, I had to go on my own and Scott Barrick was going elsewhere. I get dropped off at this radio station and I immediately realize it’s a black radio station. I start to get nervous. I’m thinking of course this where they leave me to go by myself, they just drove off and left me here. I’m just nervous and my head is spinning trying to think of all the controversial questions that they might ask me, Man I just knew they were gonna eat me up and spit me out. I was looking around like where are those Sistas in Zion when you need them.

So I walk in and sit in the reception area and I’m hearing Lil Wayne and Beyonce playing. Are you kidding me! This is where I’m gonna go and talk about the choir. It wasn’t even a Gospel station, straight up Hip Hop. I’m supposed to go in there and tell people to come to the choir. I start sweating, I didn’t know what to do, and I just start praying. I literally got on my knees in the reception area and I’m praying. The receptionist is just doing her nails or whatever and glaring at me. So, I can hear the radio personalities segment and they’re talking about things that get on their nerves and they are just all riled up. So one of the DJs comes out and he says, you the one that’s here with the choir? Yes Sir. You been in a radio station before? Yes Sir. Ok here’s the mic, come on and have a seat.

We get on air and the DJ says, what’s up I’m here with Alex Boye, tell me about the choir. So I nervously start to talk about the history of the choir and all of a sudden the DJ goes silent. There’s this long pause and then he says; I’ve been listening to that choir since I was seven years old. I remember the LPs, my Grandma use to listen to them. Then he starts praising the choir…on a Hip Hop station. The DJ says, let’s open up the lines. I said no, please don’t do that, come on guys. The first caller is on and he says, yeah, I wanna ask you something…I’m thinking here it goes…how can I get tickets for the concert? People are calling and asking great questions about the choir and the DJs are having a great time and they turn to me and they say, sing something. So I sing, I want Jesus to Walk With Me…in a Hip Hop station…brothas in the background saying Amen…in a Hip Hop station. I thought WOW!

I walked out of there, and you know what Sistas, I had to repent. I was called to be there. The Lord wanted me to be there. I had doubts, but those doubts were because of my limitations, what I thought I was going to get asked, and if I could do it because I was on my own. The Lord had my back, he sent me there for a reason. I was thinking of me, me, me.

Prior to us going to do the spots there was something like 75% of the tickets that still needed to be sold for that concert. I was there doing the promoting three days before the concert, the concert was sold out. One of the top ten experiences of my lifetime thus far. Oklahoma was incredible.

So tell us about this Sunday, says Sista Laurel. This Sunday, January 17, 2010, I will be a performing Negro Spirituals as a featured soloist with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for Music and the Spoken. I had the blessing of doing it last year, and they asked me to perform again this year. We thank Alex for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us. He hangs up… Girl, please remind me not to stand next to that man in a lightning storm? Why? If Santa Claus knows when you’re asleep or awake, you know Elder Ballard knows Alex fibbed about knowing that song!

Music and the Spoken Word, Sunday, January 17, 2010. To find out more about how you can attend, watch, or listen to this broadcast visit: http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/info/matsw.

To Learn more about Alex Boye visit: http://www.alexboye.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/alexboye.music


Your Sistas in the Gospel,
Sista Beehive and Sista Laurel

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Alex Boye Wants Jesus to Walk With Him - Part 1

Are you there? Yes, I’m here. The phone begins to ring. Hi Alex, It’s Sista Beehive and Sista Laurel. What’s up, how are you, he says. Wait a minute Sistas, he says in that smooth British accent, just let me turn down the M.J. I got blastin. He’s in the car; no doubt on his way to a meeting or a rehearsal, Alex Boye is a busy man! The three of us casually chat for a few minutes and do some catching up.

So Alex how long have you been with Motab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir), Sista Beehive asks. Three years now, I did the auditions and they asked me to report on January 6th. They said there are only two reasons you shouldn’t be there: either you're dead or on your honeymoon. I was neither so I showed up. That’s where I did the orientation of the choir school. You can’t miss it, if you do, you’re done, it’s over. So I did that, then it’s the exam, I was admitted into the choir and off to choir school. Choir school is about three months long. Man, it was hard-core, intense, but a good experience for me. It’s three nights a week, something like 12 hours a week. Choir school is where you are prepared to be in the choir. There’s one starting now, with about seventy-five new members.

What did you do before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sista Laurel asks. Hustle around trying to get girls, just being an idiot, you don't want to know! Oh really, we say, he has us intrigued. So can you share a pick up line you used to use back in the day? He does…it’s bad. We’re not gonna do a Brotha like that and tell you what it was…furthermore we suggest he stop telling people he ever said it. Fortunately, someone was nice enough not to hold it against him. We know his wife; she’s great. Sista Beehive for some reason suggests that he start a dating school. Sista Laurel knows that he would have to issue everyone refunds.

I was watching the video of you singing Rocka My Soul, says Sista Beehive. I could have sworn I saw you poppin and trying to break it down. Alex is laughing hysterically. Some one once bet me that I couldn’t moon walk across the Tabernacle stage he says. We think he was trying to reverently take on that bet. But we’ll let you be the judge.

I saw a couple of choir members getting into it and bobbing a little says Sista Laurel. You know they like to move, he says. Any time we sing a spiritual or anything a little more ruckus, the other members always say to me, it makes us want to move. I think the choir is trying to appeal to a larger audience, a younger and bigger market. One of the managers said to me that they want to sell millions of records, they don’t want to just sell thousands. Speaking of the choir’s appeal, how does Motab fare with the Grammys, asks Sista Laurel. I know they have a Grammy, she says, how many?

Just the one he says, in 1959 for Battle Hymn of the Republic. We are shocked. Does the choir submit all their albums for nomination we ask? Yes they do he says. They actually submitted I Want Jesus to Walk with Me, which was one of the songs I did with the choir. That was heart warming to me. It was evident that they do want to appeal to a larger audience, of all the songs they could submit they sent a Negro Spiritual. We didn’t win anything for it, but it really meant something to me even though nothing happened.

Tell us some of your experiences traveling with the choir, Sista Beehive asks. You know there are people who come twenty to thirty miles with their families, some half-broke just to see the choir. There was a family who did that and then they drove to the next place we were performing. Many people do it. The choir’s response outside the State of Utah is very different, people turn up, and the closest they can get to the choir they will drive or fly to get there.

When I was a little older than sixteen I saw them in England. I only went because someone hooked me up with a ticket. I just didn’t think that me a kid who listened to Hip Hop and Motown would even connect with this music. Prior to seeing the choir my Bishop and everybody at church had been asking, Alex, are you going to go on a mission? I just couldn’t say yes to them, I had one foot in that world and one foot in the secular world. Well anyways, I went to the concert. And it changed me, I felt the spirit so strong, and I knew I was going on a mission. That’s why I tell people, don’t sweat, you’ll feel the spirit. It truly is the Lord’s choir. I’ve had the Spirit testify of that on many, many occasions. That’s why I’m still here. I have ADHD, I don’t stick to things for too long. Even my Mother says, Alex it has been three years and you are still in the choir. That’s a great testimony, says Sista Beehive, especially for those who say Mormons don’t musically sound like us, it lets them know that the spirit can still speak to you even through the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Who is in charge of teaching Motab rhythm and how to clap, asks Sista Laurel. No one he says laughing, it’s a free for all. Some get it and some don’t. So tell us, what is happening with your solo career, Sista Laurel says. Well, I like the way Sister Gladys Knight said it, “I want to bring a little more chocolate to the vanilla.” As members of the Church we deserve to have every style. If you go to an ice cream store you would be mad if you go in and they only serve one flavor. You would say I’m going to Baskin Robins where they have pistachio and rocky road, bubble gum, all that. We do deserve variety, that’s what I look forward to. I want to be a part of that store. I just want there to be some of my flavor. I’m not saying that I’m the answer. You know when I realized that, that I wasn’t the answer and started trying to be a part of the team, I felt the spirit more in my music and people felt the spirit more through my music.

Anyways, I love that Motown flavor Smokey Robinson and the Temptations, Motown that’s where I developed a love for music. So I did a Motown album, my original songs, just with that style and feel to it. Cause I get sick of the stuff that’s out there today. I wanted to do some good solid music, but the strangest thing happened to me when I was working on this album. I had a really strong impression to do a hymns album, I wasn't interested and I kept fighting the feeling. I thought I don’t want to do that, nobody has asked me to. I was doing the Motown album and I kept getting a feeling of guilt, so I finally went to the studio and chose some hymns. I had eight songs and I needed three more and I couldn’t think of what songs to do. I was just stuck there. I get a phone call from Elder Ballard. His secretary says, he wants to speak to you. I’m thinking, there's only two reasons an Apostle calls someone.... (to be continued)

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir will be singing Negro Spirituals during Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday, January 17, 2010. To find out more about how you can attend or listen to this broadcast visit: http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/info/matsw.

To Learn more about Alex Boye visit: http://www.alexboye.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/alexboye.music

Your Sistas in the Gospel, Sista Beehive and Sista Laurel

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