User:WBardwin/claypit

This is for inprocess work way- way- below the sandbox.

Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ

For all the benefits Thou hast given me,

For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.

O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,

May I know Thee more clearly, Love Thee more dearly,

Follow Thee more nearly, Day by day.

Richard of Chichester (1197 - 1253) is a saint best remembered today for this popular prayer ascribed to him. This prayer was adapted for the song "Day by Day" in the musical "Godspell."

Wikipedia practices

In practice, however, editing here is fairly simple. In my time here, I've come up with a few practices I try and follow. Read the article before doing anything and then reread any relevant material at hand. Edit/tweek/reformat current information and only then add new material. Discuss new sections and potential controversies on the talk page. Work in relatively small blocks on articles where there are other active editors. Encourage new editors by retaining as much of their material as possible. Accomodate other opinions, however diverse from your own. Keep the amount of detail manageable -- length of individual articles is sometimes a computer system concern. Major assertions, opinions or rewrites should be accompanied by sources, usually more than one for each major assertion. List the references in a reference section. Formal footnotes are preferred by some editors -- there are varied note styles in use here, so look around and take your pick. Then, we all have to try not to get defensive when others start editing, tweeking, and deleting "our" material. Sometimes giving up "ownership" of the written word is the hardest part. Hope these are helpful. WBardwin 08:37, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Admin notes

During my time here, I have been in contact with a number of administrators and editors, with varied levels of experience. I have observed the elevation of a number of editors to administrator status. When asked to consider becoming an administrator, I began to evaluate, from the outside, the steps which I would have to take to be an effective administrator. I have come up with two proposals I would like to implement in my own admin transition.

1. The use of an Admin User ID: i.e. User:WBardwin, Admin: It appears to me that the position, and other Wiki administrative functions, has some inherent difficulties. The activities and functions of editor and administrator become mixed, jumbled, and ultimately confused in encyclopedia related actions and interaction with other editors. The Wiki record keeping system promotes this confusion. From my observations, this appears to lead to some problems for administrators. As they are simply human, at times they act as the editors they once were, exhibiting strong interests and opinions on articles and talk pages. And I do not think this is inappropriate. But at other times, they must act as arbitators, enforce rules, and intervene in problem areas. I have also seen administrators accused of inappropriate actions. In several instances, administrators have been accused of misusing adminstrative powers when their actions were, to my eye, simply the same kind of activities they would have engaged in as a regular editor. At other times, I have seen administrators inappropriately use their admins powers and functions to make a point, defend an opinion, or even harrass other editors.

I would like to keep my life as an administrator separate from my life as an editor. By having two IDs, clearly related, I would be able to have admin functions limited to one ID and one contribution record. People would be able to see what actions I initiated as an editor and what actions I initiated as an administrator. I would ask that my admin ID have the "admin buttons" while my editor ID would continue at the basic level.

With two IDs, I would also be more able, as an admin, to recuse myself from articles, categories and projects to which I have significantly contributed. My editor ID would enable me to continue to work in these areas, which have become important to me, without a significant change of status. I would act as an admin in these areas in only the most basic ways, such as dealing with persistant vandals or moving articles upon request. I would not act as an admin in resolving conflicts, arbitrating, nor would I attempt to use administrative powers to promote my personal opinions or preferences.

seeking a concious balance of anonymity, authority and character is essential for a successful administrator.

2.Probationary period: I have also seen, and been impacted by, some errors, misconceptions, and difficulties caused by new, relatively uninformed administrators. Sometimes these events were amusing, sometimes annoying, and sometimes maddening. I would like to avoid making too many beginner mistakes. So, I would like to impose a probationary period upon myself. I will take a period of six weeks to 3 months to cruise sites reserved for adminstrators, any information boards, and the large volume or articles dealing with instructions, policies and procedures. I will also use the time to ask questions and to observe the actions and interactions of administrators. Understanding administrative politics and interaction appears to be an important step in becoming effective as an administrator. I may also seek out a mentor or three in various areas of expertise. By the end of this period, I hope to be more informed, more accurate, and more flexible than the average beginning administrator.

History and the LDS Church

"Some (church) authorities apparently preferred that we have no history except that kept by public-relations writers," Leonard Arrington

Adventures of a Church Historian, by Leonard J. Arrington (University of Illinois Press, 1998)

The Angel and the Beehive: The Mormon Struggle with Assimilation, by Armand L. Mauss (University of Illinois Press, 1994)

Army of Israel: Mormon Battalion Narratives, edited by David L. Bigler and Will Bagley (Utah State University Press, 2000)

By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion, by Terryl L. Givens (Oxford University Press, 2002)

Chiasmus Bibliography, edited by John W. Welch and Daniel B. McKinlay (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1999)

Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives, edited by Marie Cornwall, Tim B. Heaton, and Lawrence A. Young (University of Illinois Press, 1994)

Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois, by John E. Hallwas and Roger D. Launius (Utah State University Press, 1999)

Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, edited by Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan (Deseret Book Company, 2000)

Hispanics in the Mormon Zion, 1912-1999, by Jorge Iber (Texas A&M University Press, 2000)

Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith: Psychobiography and the Book of Mormon, by Robert D. Anderson (Signature Books, 1999)

Junius and Joseph: Presidential Politics and the Assassination of the First Mormon Prophet" by Robert S. Wicks and Fred R. Foister, (Utah State University Press, May 2005) ISBN: 0874216087

LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997)

Mormon History, by Ronald W. Walker, David J. Whittaker, and James B. Allen (University of Illinois Press, 2001)

The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America, by Sarah Barringer Gordon (University of North Carolina Press, 2002)

Mormons and Mormonism: An Introduction to an American World Religion, edited by Eric A. Eliason (University of Illinois Press, 2001)

New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology, edited by Brent Lee Metcalfe (Signature Books, 1993)

The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement, edited by Francis J. Beckwith, Carl Mosser and Paul Owen (Zondervan, 2002)

The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past, edited by D. Michael Quinn (Signature Books, 1992)

The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, by John L. Brooke (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

Same-Sex Dynamics Among 19th Century Americans: A Mormon Example, by D. Michael Quinn (University of Illinois Press, 2001)

Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years Among the Mormons, by Jan Shipps (University of Illinois Press, 2000)

The Sword of Laban: Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Dissociated Mind, by William D. Morain (American Psychiatric Press, 1998)

The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy, by Terryl L. Givens (Oxford University Press, 1997)

Voyages of Faith: Explorations in Mormon Pacific History, edited by Grant Underwood (Brigham Young University Press, 2000)

Wayward Saints: The Godbeites and Brigham Young, by Ronald W. Walker (University of Illinois Press, 1998)

Marsh Article - Reply to Hamer

When writing history, it is unreasonable for an author to assume the participants lacked a POV and emotions about the events in their lives. Wiki's efforts to remain NPOV is to ensure that articles do not have a bias from the modern perspective. When we talk about the dissentions of the late JS,Jr. administration and the succession issues after his dealth, we are dealing with primal emotions of the participants. Even if we give them all the benefit of the doubt, all of their decisions and actions were colored by their emotions and spiritual perspectives. 05/23/05,

While I concede the Marsh cream story is from a Brighamite point of view, it does play to motivation and to the tenor of the time. Folklore is perhaps a little exagerated as a description. We have a shortage of primary documents relating to the motivation of all parties, as only a few made point-in-time notations of events and feelings. We should not ignore the statement of George A. Smith as to this particular sequence of events (an address on 4-6-1856, Salt Lake City - see if he was an eye-witness?), even though preachers of all stripes expand a little at the pulpit. Even Marsh acknowledged his anger toward Joseph. In his "repentance" speech before rejoining the Utah church, he is quoted as using the beam/mote in the eye analogy and then stating that he was so angry at Joseph that he sought out the other apostles to see if they were angry as well.

However, from the journals and later recollections of my pioneer ancestors, it becomes clear why the followers of Brigham became fond of these types of stories, perhaps excluding other types of stories and other sources of information. While living in fear of being personally attacked and harmed, at least two of my ancestors expressed sorrow for those who left the Church under the pressure of these horrors. But they were disproportionately angry at the Church leaders who acted fraudulently or maliciously, who challenged the Prophet, dissented from the Church, and brought the law and militia down upon them. Although none of them were involved with the Avard/Danite incident, the feelings were there. Another ancestor (a Caldwell - after whose family Caldwell County had been named) was a non-member who served in one unit of the Missouri militia that was ordered to attack the Saints. He was so angry at the illegality of the militia's actions and the betrayal of the former Mormon leaders, that he refused to follow his orders, his life was threatened by his Captain, and he was later court martialed. He left the state with the Saints and later joined the Church.

From these accounts, it is clear why they chose to follow Brigham rather than one of the other claimants. Whatever doctrine/church heirarchy they might have understood, it was Brigham's actions in the face of opposition that they admired. They believed that he had always been loyal to the prophet and they would not follow anyone who had not. And one of my ancestors believed that Brigham would always be loyal to them, that he would look after the well being of the church as a whole. (ref. visual transformation of Brigham to the image of Bro. Joseph) I don't remember that any of them thought he was ambitious for seeking the leadership of the Church, but they did note that he was a pragmatic man who did not shirk from doing what needed to be done, particularly if he felt it was his duty. Given that, at least one of them was not fond of him personally, saying that his gruff manner and lack of courtesy alienated many, particularly the cultured ladies. However, they saw the other claimants to succession as ambitious and divisive - particular those that had challenged the Church during the Prophet's lifetime. One woman particularly disliked William Smith, stating that she had seen him strike his brother Joseph without provocation, which may or may not be related to a story by Lucy Mack Smith about the men coming to blows. Even today, Mormons like stories that explain the emotional/spiritual why of people's actions - the spiritual flaw that broke the camel's back. These are the lessons, inspirational stories rather than historic ones (which most people find very dry). Sad from a historian's point of view, but very relevant to the emotional source of religion. And this was a highly emotional time in church history, for the insiders, dissenters and the outsiders. People ranted and raved, came to blows, looted and damaged property, filed lawsuits and killed one another. And this continued even after the westward movement of the Church - see the death of Parley P. Pratt. Our NPOV cannot ignore that the fact that emotions - love, devotion, loyalty, fear, disgust, anger, grief, hatred, vengeance - were a principle motivator for our people at the time. If we only present the verifiable actions of Church and government entities and the populance at large, we fail to present the complete picture of the time and place.

As for Mormon's being emotional -- guilty as charged. I think faith and religious allegiance often have an emotional component. And emotions are certainly a motivator for religious actions. But the historian, in addressing emotions, must tie them to actions in a clear and understandable way. This is an issue I'm struggling with in writing about the dissentions that fractured Mormonism during the last years of J.Smith's life and after his death. People took actions (like joining the church, moving west step by step, and choosing church leaders to follow) based primarily on emotions rather than doctrine and logic, and these actions had emotional ramifications for others as well. The psychology of the "mob" is primarily based on emotion and manipulation. So -- even if I don't think Quinn's attributing emotions to Brigham or other individual church leaders is at all justified -- I do find myself doing the same type of thing. I'm afraid we just have to be careful about it and try to tie into actual primary sources which deal with or indicate an emotional or "spiritual" state, such as journals, public speeches, or published writings. 19 May 2005

Reply to your reply :) Did I accuse Mormons in particular of being emotional? If so, I ought not to have. There were and are strong emotions on all sides. The Wikipedia NPOV style can tend to limit our ability to write history that conveys the emotions of the time. Often I'd like to try to convey the emotions. But if I say "Marsh may have become angry" or "Marsh may have felt disillusioned" — however I want to couch it — I am, in effect, speculating about his emotions. (I'm certainly not perfect and I'm sure I slip up and do that kind of thing). I might do that if I were writing a biography or even writing history — and my speculations may be very valid there — but I can see the logic in shying clear of that sort of thing in an encyclopedia. As I've become more familiar with writing on Wikipedia, I've tried to find quotes in the primary sources to supplement that — that way I can try to convey some of the emotions of the time using the words of the participants (instead of my own words).

My own ancestors were in Caldwell County too. After the Battle of Crooked River, David W. Patten died in my great great great great grandparents' house. My grandfather there, Stephen Winchester, was a Danite (he signed the Danite Manifesto), but we can't know if he took part in any actions against the dissenters or in Daviess County. He's one of the possible participants in the Battle of Crooked River. What we do know is that he was later arrested and harrassed by the Missouri militia and that later, he and the whole family were forcibly (and illegally) expelled from the state and they lost all of their property as a result.

With these heavily emotional events, I'm trying hard to describe what happened in as neutral a way as possible. Like you say, the sources from the time are extremely partisan on all sides and so the language is charged --- it's a real trick to try to keep the charge in the quotes and outside my own writing. If I don't succeed, I hope people will help me stay non-partisan. One asset I have is that I really don't have a personal axe to grind one way or the other. I have sympathy for the Mormons and I also have sympathy for the Missourians --- (different characters on both sides were more and less reputable than others). I feel like there were some obvious misunderstandings that could have been prevented if the firebrands on both sides had been kept in check. I'll write my personal take on it back on my page.--John Hamer 18:27, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

References for Writing/Images

In Sanskrit, "Nakula" means mongoose.

Myths and legends surrounding the Papacy

Nyarlathotep = Cain

"...accepted (Hebrew/linquistic) origins of Matthew and Thaddaeus are Matithyahu and Thaddai." See Yeshu.

Seven Deadly Sins

pride (vanity) — a desire to be important or attractive to others or excessive love of self (holding self out of proper position toward God or fellows; Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, pride is referred to as superbia.

envy (jealousy); resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "Love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, envy is referred to as invidia.

wrath (anger) — inappropriate (unrighteous) feelings of hatred, revenge or even denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, wrath is referred to as ira.

sloth (also accidie, acedia) — laziness; idleness and wastefulness of time allotted

laziness is condemned because:

others have to work harder
it is disadvantageous for oneself, because useful work does not get done
an equilibrium: one does not produce much, but one does not need much either (in Dante's theology, sloth is the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind, and all one's soul" - specific examples including laziness, cowardice, lack of imagination, complacency, and irresponsibility). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, sloth is referred to as acedia.

In Latvian mythology, Gausu mate "mother of laziness"

avarice (covetousness, greed) — a desire to possess more than one has need or use for (or, according to Dante, "excessive love of money and power"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, avarice is referred to as avaritia.

gluttony — wasting of food, either through overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, misplaced desire for food for its sensuality, or withholding food from the needy ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony is referred to as gula.

lust — unlawful sexual desire, such as desiring sex with a person one is not married to (fornication). (Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," thereby detracting from the love due God). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, lust is referred to as luxuria.