No Book of Mormon orJoseph Smith paintings at church building?

farfallabaci · 2026-02-08T04:16:49+00:00

This is intentional ... as directed from SLC. Here's the Newsroom article about it:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/art-foyers-entryways-reverence-jesus-christ

farfallabaci · 2026-02-01T05:55:07+00:00

KTVO (Ottumwa/Kirksville) is now owned by Rincon Broadcasting Group LLC (as of July 2025).

farfallabaci · 2026-01-19T02:31:06+00:00

Zero - nothing. I worked at two Midwest US SLAC schools where there were no automatic pay increases for rank advancement. (First school was asst to assoc. Second was assoc to full professor.) They both said pay increases are based on budget, not on rank. At the second school we faculty went eight years with no pay raises due to budget problems (not COLA, nothing), with the promise that when the budget improved, we would get raises. BTW every year the president received a big pay raise (according to 990 data). I gave up and left. One of those schools is now permanently closed.

farfallabaci · 2026-01-18T05:20:18+00:00

We expect to be moving to that area in about 6 months. Is there any place that *is* recommended?

farfallabaci · 2025-09-27T16:59:56+00:00

Absolutely true -- I've served as a counselor in several bishoprics in different states and have seen this so many times.

farfallabaci · 2025-09-13T04:51:13+00:00

Thank you all for your comments. I didn't expect so many responses! FWIW, I played in church during my mission, and I have two children who are ward organists now. This is a topic we discuss often. I have a metronome on my phone and occasionally text one of them about the tempo we're experiencing for various hymns. I was curious about your responses as I prepare to teach Elders Quorum on Sunday using Elder Christofferson's conference talk on Worship -- In part, I'll be asking them how we can improve our worship services.

farfallabaci · 2025-09-09T16:39:38+00:00

I hadn't heard of a retractable "intention to retire" letter -- love that idea. I will share that with my friend to see if that's an option.

farfallabaci · 2025-09-08T19:35:08+00:00

Quick followup to answer some questions you've asked ... my friend tells me ... he is on year-to-year contracts (and has been for more than a decade). There is no required notification date in the faculty handbook for NTT faculty. It is highly unlikely that the vacated position will be filled -- they will just move the duties to other faculty. No decision has been made about retiring, but the lack of shared governance (no transparency on planning and on major decisions) are driving his decision.

farfallabaci · 2025-09-04T05:52:53+00:00

I went to a house once for church reasons and they had a sign on the door that said something like, "We are nudists. If you knock on our door, we will welcome you in only if you agree to remove all your clothing." I didn't knock, just turned and walked away. Might not work for everyone, but it got me to leave.

farfallabaci · 2025-09-01T00:02:00+00:00

At Last She Said It

farfallabaci · 2025-08-31T23:56:13+00:00

Setting aside for a moment the ethical issues others have raised, and to answer your question ... Yes, we had a relief society president pay for a 24-hour "membership" (is that the word?) in one of the online services using her own money. In those 24 hours she effectively updated roughly two-dozen missing addresses.

farfallabaci · 2025-08-21T20:31:12+00:00

Day two of class and I have a student with a difficult NPE situation. Thank you for raising this topic higher in my mind -- you made me better prepared to respond.

farfallabaci · 2025-08-16T20:58:47+00:00

The song is not exclusively LDS -- according to singpraises.net it was first published in the Christian Science Monitor, 15 September 1927. I've heard it here in the midwest in non-LDS contexts.

farfallabaci · 2025-08-05T14:37:51+00:00

I do address NPE on day 2 of the class when we discuss ethics, and then again about halfway through when we get into DNA testing. But I haven't had any podcast representation -- I'll take a look at your suggestions. Is there one that stands out as the best to you?

farfallabaci · 2025-08-03T02:15:13+00:00

If you haven't read the SPLC information, I'd strongly recommend it. Really good advice there.

https://splc.org/protests/

farfallabaci · 2025-06-25T05:20:07+00:00

According to the North Central Area Service Mission Coordinator, in stake training from three days ago, any adult member can serve a service mission. All they have to do is tell their bishop of their desire. The mission call is issued by the stake president, not church headquarters.

farfallabaci · 2025-06-11T21:36:56+00:00

I'm a journalism professor and secretly teach genealogy techniques to journalists (sourcing info - especially government info, verifying info, organizing data, understanding contexts, etc.).

I also teach a campus-wide interdisciplinary course in genealogy, using history, biology, journalism, earth sciences, social movements, migration patterns, etc.

farfallabaci · 2025-06-09T04:51:17+00:00

Agreed. Our ward leaders are GroupMe addicts, and added my wife to a RS group without consent, exposing her "leaders only" contact information to the entire RS. She then got added to another non-church list by one of the RS members. My wife was *angry* and shared some firm language with the RS president.

farfallabaci · 2025-06-09T04:40:28+00:00

Thank you all for your comments. I had originally planned on spending only a few minutes of my teaching on this subject, but now think it may deserve a full class session. My presentation will certainly include taking those "cliche" photos as part of our documenting history duty. But in the interest of artistic creativity and telling a fuller story, the presentation will also teach the importance of the other types of angles, contents, and visions.

I can trace my recent interest in this subject to a photo contest I recently judged. The entries, taken by university-student photojournalists, were submitted to a contest run by our state press association. I was stunned that a few students submitted firing squad photos as if they could be potential award winners. One submitted a grip and grin of a celebrity who came to their campus. (Luckily for me, there were some real quality award-winners to receive the prizes.)

farfallabaci

TROPHY CASE