MormonDaddyBlogs — 2012 May

May 20, 2012 by Dennis

Photo by Thomas Gibbard. Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.

I never took a class in playwriting or theatre history at BYU from Eric Samuelson, but I was still sad to hear that he recently had to take early medical retirement because of an illness, an incurable muscular degenerative disease called polymyositis. While I don’t know him well, I know he has inspired a generation of writers to do their best work.

If there is a plus side to this bad news, it’s that Eric has found time for blogging, and his posts are as insightful as they are entertaining. You’d think his posts would be weighty matters, and some of them are. But pop culture frequently makes an appearance. He even recently blogged about this season of American Idol, a show he loves, which surprises me, but in a good way. (Sample: “My wife and I think Steven Tyler, in that rock star regalia, looks like the scariest old woman in the nursing home.”)

He tackles theological matters with equal alacrity. Here’s his recent take on baptisms for the dead, a concept peculiar to our faith and one that has attracted a lot of negative attention lately. Eric thinks we should do a better job at defending the practice. (He calls it “the most remarkable theological innovation of any Christian church of the 19th century,” and makes a compelling case.)

He is a frequent participant in SLAM, a 24-hour festival. Here’s how he describes it:

What happens is, we show up at the theater at 8 on a Friday night, are given headshots and resumes for three actors (sometimes up to five, but this year, three), are shown a set, and, most of the time, are also given a title. We then have to write a ten minute play using those actors, that set, and that title, a hard copy for which we deliver the next morning at 9. The actors rehearse all day, and perform, off-book, that night, at 8.

He recounts the full experience in a recent post, Playwriting Without a Safety Net.

It is with pleasure that we welcome Eric, a father of four who makes his home in the Utah County area, to MDB, and look forward to following his blog, Mormon Iconoclast.

One in a Million

May 5, 2012 by Dennis

Some guys just seem like they were made to be dads. Not that all of us guys can’t get there eventually, but some, like maybe one in a million, seem like they come ready made to be great dads.

Josh Tenney is one of those.

I’ve had the opportunity to know Josh through some key milestones in his life, from finally finding The One (took awhile, but she was worth the wait), to his marriage to her, to giddily expecting his first child, to her birth.

Anna Liberty Tenney. A little sweet-pea, if ever there was one.

I also saw Josh go through the pain of seeing his treasured Anna stricken with sunburns so severe, even with limited exposure to the sun and the protection of copious amounts of sunscreen, her eyes would blister shut.

Several trips to the doctor’s office later, as well as traveling cross country to the specialists at the National Institutes of Health in D.C., the diagnosis was confirmed. Anna has XP, an extremely rare condition that has changed how the whole family’s lives.

Some characterize XP as being allergic to the sun, but Josh points out it is much more than that.

“Each day, Anna’s skin is covered with sunblock and lotions,” writes Josh on his blog. “She must remain indoors to be completely safe. Before going outdoors on occasion, Anna must wear shoes, long pants, long sleeved shirts, gloves, sunglasses, and a custom made hat with a specialty UV-blocking plastic face shield.”

Josh has created a blog about his daughter’s life with XP. It’s called Anna Liberty: A Girl Who’s One in a Million, including this post here, which explains how the family is approaching the coming summer, with its longer days, but with the treasured warm, post-sunset hours, when Anna becomes a night owl.

Math for me seldom makes sense. But sometimes, when the one-in-a-million kid scores the one-in-a-million dad, it clicks.