Virtual Oases

A round-up of interesting news and links for your weekend!

• Exponent blogger, April Young Bennett, made local and national headlines with her latest post. The high traffic to our site crashed the server and the post was put up by our friends at fMh until we got the site running again! Peggy Stack covered it from the SL Tribune, Robert Kirby joked about it, and Lynette from ZD ruminated on it. Nationally, the Daily Beast jumped on board, and the New York times even chimed in! Some satire from Wheat and Tares, a blurb on Utah Public Radio and a thoughtful piece by Jana Reiss.  Archived links to April’s removed posts on Exponent II are given in the comments of her announcement.  Also read April’s Op-Ed piece in the SL Tribune! (The article from The Daily Beast also covered the pending disciplinary council of Mormon Stories podcaster, John Dehlin, whose news broke the same day as April’s. )
• A poignant poem about acceptance and casting out by Emily Butler. And a Cartoon for a companion.
• The Mormon Women Project has 3 recently published, must-read interviews regarding women who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse, a young woman who went through an unexpected divorce, and another woman, a mother of 5 children, whose husband was murdered for infidelity.  These are important stories of strength by our sisters!
• Be sure to check out Kristine’s Moderate MoFem Wishlist for 2015. And bookmark her blog for other reading! Her moderate voice encourages positive changes for women in the church and adds dimension to the overall discourse on women’s issues in the church.
• Are you keeping up with Emma Watson and her HeForShe campaign? Here’s the latest: Emma Watson at Davos World Economic Forum.
• And for the video that brings together the mommy wars stereotypes into one hilariously heart-warming gesture of sisterhood, don’t miss the laughs this will give you.  We’re all in this together!