Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye & Marion Bishop
THUR, JUL 13, 2023 | 7:30-9:00 pm MDT
Explore the scriptural injunction to “prepare every needful thing” in the context of current challenges and while navigating a patriarchal church.
IN-PERSON GATHERING:
Home of Jana and Rob Spangler
2013 E Lincoln Cir,
Holladay, UT 84124
Or your home via Zoom.
Thanks to Jana and Rob for hosting this gathering in their home. And for continuing to host us via Zoom. Below is some helpful info for being part of a Zoom convo. I will also note below the Zoom address so that you can connect. If you are not on my email list then either join at the bottom of this site’s home page or text or call me at 801-695-5036.
I’m delighted that those who can’t attend in person can join us via zoom. I’m sorry I can’t give you the same care and attention given to those in person. But if you ever can join us physically in the same space, then I hope you will. Research shows that being with people who are seen, felt, and heard in person reaps many benefits. We would be blessed by your presence.
THE CONVERSATION:
What is every needful thing? How can the pursuit of every needful thing help us, those we love, and the rest of the world flourish and become a more Zion like people? We will explore how a group of remarkable Latter-Day Saints from all over the world wrestle with this question in their professional, personal, cultural, and religious lives. Scholars Kate Holbrook and Melissa Inouye sought, collected, and edited accounts of exceptional women pursuing this scriptural injunction found in D&C 88:118.
An introduction to their book, Every Needful Thing: Essays on the Life of the Mind and the Heart, states: “Instead of pushing us to choose between faith and reason, love and law, truth within the restored gospel and truth in the wider world of God’s children, (the) writers urge us to seek “anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report” and learn to live in a world of complexity and abundance.”
If there has ever been a need to learn to live well in a world of complexity and abundance, it is now. How do we discern with our minds and hearts what is worth our attention and energy and what isn’t? Come and dive deep into this subject and share your thoughts with Melissa and Marian and our group of seekers.
ABOUT MELISSA:
Melissa received AB and PhD degrees from Harvard University. She is a senior lecturer in Asian studies at the University of Auckland and a historian at the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An accomplished and appreciated writer in her own right, Melissa has written two other important books: Crossings: A Bald Asian American Latter-day Saint Woman Scholar’s Ventures Through Life, Death, Cancer, and Motherhood and China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church.
ABOUT MARION:
Marion Bishop is an ER doctor and writer who practices in the Intermountain West. Before going to medical school, she earned a PhD in English and taught college English for eleven years. She writes and speaks regularly about intersection of medicine and the Humanities and has been interviewed frequently about the pandemic. She has published op-eds, written academic articles, and had essays included in medical journals and book collections. She is a frequent guest on television and radio programs, as well as a speaker to student and other groups.
Melissa Inouye Photo by Ellie Alder/BYU
EXPLORE BEFORE WE MEET:
From Jay:
- D&C 88:118
- Every Needful Thing: Essays on the Life of the Mind and the Heart
- Faith Matters interview about Every Needful Thing
- The Call To Be in the World — A Conversation with Astrid Tuminez (one of the essayists in Every Needful Thing.)
- Exponent II podcast: Coping with Contradiction with Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
- About Kate Holbrook
- Click on the Zoom link above for either last month’s recorded conversation (if the event date has passed) or the live conversation now. If you are participating in the live conversation keep reading.
- When you are connected you will either be waiting in a lobby and will let be in shortly or you will immediately be able to see other participants. Please make sure that you muted and that your video is on if you choose to have it on. (Love to see and hear you live, but we’ll take curious lurkers also.)
- If you can’t hear the host, me, or others, find your settings and make sure you have a working microphone and speaker selected. Also, make sure you have your volume up. OR tell me or others to speak up!
ZOOM ETIQUETTE:
- Please mute your microphone before entering and when you are not speaking so noises are not heard by everyone else.
- Rather than have the whole group watch you try to get your camera or screen positioned, or play with funky green screen backgrounds, feel free to get that figured out prior to when we meet.
- Resist the urge to multitask—be with us fully if at all possible. But we’ll be grateful for whatever presence you are able to offer. Just knowing you are there is nice.
- If you are going to multitask, or wander around a lot, please turn off your video and make sure you are muted. No one wants to be distracted by you eating or using the loo.
- If you are having difficulty with the technology, don’t hold up the meeting by distracting other participants for solutions. Try Googling your problem. I do that with most of life’s problems.
- Speaking of distractions—just as when we used to meet in person in the good old days, let’s be cautious about using the chat for side conversations that may distract others. You can always ask for people’s contact info and continue your conversation—I’d love that to happen. Or, let me know, and I’ll do my darndest to give you a chance to share to the group.
- Please share air time and follow the guidelines under “Intentions” on this website.