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Send your missionary a margarita!
In a message exchange a few months ago, a friend and former colleague from my missionary days reminded me of a funny story from 1988 involving the elder who was then my companion. I didn't immediately recall the incident, but...
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Our memories remind us, maybe mine is not so bad
I've always believed that I have a pretty good memory—in particular, that I can recall formative events and conversations from years or even decades ago in reasonably good detail. When I started work on my memoir The Accidental Terrorist, I...
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My first R-rated movie
Reading this edition of "The Big Question" at Hitfix.com got me thinking about the first R-rated movie I ever saw. The film itself—a Michael Douglas thriller called The Star Chamber—was not so memorable, but the circumstances around my viewing of...
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Supercalifornication; or, how a hooker came between me and Oingo Boingo
The following story is an outtake from my memoir The Accidental Terrorist. The names of most of the other participants, including relatives, have been changed to offer some small measure of concealment. When I was eighteen, my father and I...
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On "The Labyrinth" podcast with Cesar Torres
My good friend Cesar Torres recently had me on Episode 29 of "The Labyrinth," his fine podcast about the strange and unusual. We talked about my Mormon upbringing, how I tried to avoid writing a novel, what not to do...
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Le mot juiced
I read the following essay, which appears in somewhat different form in the epilogue to The Accidental Terrorist, in the Essay Fiesta series at The Book Cellar in Chicago, on December 21, 2009. There is no worse feeling than, five...
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What scares me most about Mitt Romney
Does the candidate believe that running for president is God's plan for him?
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The fourth largest church in America?
As the Republican National Convention gets into full swing today, one of the topics that probably won't be talked about very much is Mitt Romney's religion. It's odd that this has become such a non-issue during the campaign, given that...
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The Book of Mormon: The Musical: The Review
It used to be that when people would find out I'm a former Mormon, they'd ask me whether or not I watch Big Love and how closely it matches my experience of growing up in Utah. (Answers: "Yes" and "Not...
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On the other side of the doorbell
They finally caught up with me. It was bound to happen eventually. It was Sunday evening. My wife and I had only been back home for a couple of hours after a long weekend in New York City. The doorbell...
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