Glass Box Podcast

We did it! We FINALLY did it! After years and years and years of requests from many listeners we have finally taken a look at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s very first Sherlock Holmes book —  A Study In Scarlet. We look at the time period Doyle was writing it and why he would take on Mormonism in his first book. We also take a look at the impact the story had on how Mormons were treated in film. And since that book is an outsider looking into Mormonism, we decided that for the Media of Great Price segment, we’d look at a film of an insider looking out of Mormonism. Yes, after many listener requests, we watched the shitshow that is the Mormon film 17 Miracles. Following that discussion we cleanse all palate’s with some good news out of the UK about leaving a treaty that allows fossil fuel companies to sue governments. Enjoy your listener request episode!    Show Notes:  https://www.jstor.org/stable/27089071?read-now=1&seq=39#page_scan_tab_contents https://www.jstor.org/stable/27089071?read-now=1&

It’s time to take a look at the early Utah economy as created by Brigham Young, a ruthless capitalist in his own right. We take a brief look at the beginnings of the California Gold Rush and how much the Mormons were involved, as well as the battle for control between Bloody Brigham and Samuel Brannan. Which also leads us into Part 1 of our deep dive into Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley. We discuss the first two essays and show the contortions Hugh Nibley has to make in order to present Bloody Brigham Young as a utopian. And to wash that image from your eyes, we will close out with some fantastic news about, of all things, the most recent Super Bowl and renewable energy. Enjoy!    Show Notes: https://utahstories.com/2016/07/the-legend-of-brighams-gold/ https://rsc.byu.edu/california-saints/apostles-amid-gold-seekers-1849 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-samuel-brannan/ https://www.historynet.com/latter-day-scoundrel-sam-brannan/ https://historytogo.utah.gov/mining/  

The Community of Christ, formerly the RLDS church, has named its new president! We bring on guest Evan Sharley to help us navigate the history of the RLDS/CoC, the climate into which Stassi Cramm is ascending to the office of prophet/president, and the current issues within the Community of Christ which converge to give a bleak impression of its future. Then we review the movie Whale Rider, a heartfelt legend-exploration story about progress overcoming conservatism. Then we wrap with some happy news about OpenAI and ChatGPT.   Show Notes:  Gileriodekel.com - Evan's personal website facebook.com/people/Heart-of-Discernment/100087683864565 - Heart of Discernment (progressive advocacy group) Gileriodekel.com/Maxims - Maxims of the Mother (Evan's book gathering her thoughts and beliefs) heartofdiscernment.com/polyamory-panel - Sunstone 2023 panel heartofdiscernment.com/polyamory-primer - About polyamorous families https://gileriodekel.com/books/   Media: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/

Today we take a look at the man who is inarguably THE best apologist of the mormon church. Yes, we are talking about Hugh Nibley.   Show Notes:   Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life by Boyd Peterson  Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith by Martha Beck  Hugh Nibley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Nibley  Hugh Nibley Biography: https://interpreterfoundation.org/bibliographies/hugh-w-nibley/biography/  Charles Nibley (Grandfather): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Nibley  Lives of the Saints: Mormonism’s Troubled Legacy:  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/01/21/lives-of-the-saints  Faith of An Observer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xw_0_zZDVE  Hugh Nibley, 94; Mormon Scholar, Professor and Author: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-02-me-nibley2-story.html  Hugh Nibley WIll Never Happen Again: http://archive.timesandseasons.org/2021/10/hugh-nibley-will-never-happen-again/  No Ma’am That’s Not History http://www.sain

Newest Apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Patrick Kearon, joins replaces M. Russel Ballard in the highest leadership body of the Mormon hierarchy. Who is he, from where does he come (professionally and otherwise), and what does his calling mean for the future of the wealthiest religion in the world? We do an apostolic profile with what publicly-available information can be found about Patrick Kearon, and his wife Jennifer Hulme-Kearon. After that we’re joined by Jen from ExMo Candle Co. to discuss the winner in the Glass Box War for the official Destroying Angel candle. Then we chat about Thank You For Smoking, a movie about propaganda and the power of argumentation through the lens of Big Tobacco (™) and finally we wrap with good news about an across-the-board cost of living increase for minimum wage workers.   Show Notes:  Jennifer and Patrick Kearon’s talks/speeches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCcX_BrGqRI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs1zqc9-HzE https://www.y

WAHOO! It’s that time of year again. Time for our last episode of the year because we’ve finished off everything for the year and we want to have some fun. And that fun is BOOKS, of course! Well, this time books, movies, TV shows, and video games. We each brought three for you. Shannon brought three books to movie adaptations and Bryce brought three games to movie/TV series adaptations. We had some fun and hope you do too! And Happy Holidays to all of you!    Show Notes:    First Blood: Book by David Morrell.  Doom Arcane A League of Legends Story  Coldest City graphic novel by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart/Atomic Blonde: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves:  How to Train Your Dragon: Book by Cressida Cowell    ‘Destroying Angel’ Candle Scent War!!! It’s down to the final countdown to go pitch in your vote for your favorite scent! Are you #TeamShannon or #TeamBryce? You have until December 31, 2023 at 11:59 PM (EST) to decide.  Make sure to leave a review once you’ve received the ca

That’s right! We’re done!! But we have to get through the final 3 chapters before rounding it out and providing our conclusions. The new authoritative history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is mostly what we expected; New Mormon History is dead and Saints: The Standard of Truth telegraphs an era of academic retrenchment. These chapters cover the assassination of Hyrum and Joseph Smith in Carthage and the immediate aftermath and succession crisis to get the church into the hands of Bloody Brigham Young. This has been a big project so if you’re a patron of the show who supported the project, check your feed for a special post for my entire 200+ pages of show notes generated for these episodes. Apologies in advance for all the typos. #TeamBryce, signing off.   ‘Destroying Angel’ Candle Scent War!!! Come pitch in your vote for your favorite scent! Are you #TeamShannon or #TeamBryce? Make sure to leave a review once you’ve received the candle and tried out the scent for yourself! https:

We’re in tunnel-vision mode until we finish this propagandistic pile of rubbish. Today is the penultimate episode of our long-form review of Saints. It begins in the spring of 1842 with John C. Bennett’s violent departure from Nauvoo and ends with the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. Lots of things happen in this 2-year period and the book ignores most of them so let’s dive in. We do finish the episode with a tiny bit of happy news to keep us all positive as well as an update about the ongoing ExMo Candle Co Destroying Angel battle for the best scent. Patreon listeners get a tease for our next book review so be sure to tune in to the exclusive feed!   ‘Destroying Angel’ Candle Scent War!!! Come pitch in your vote for your favorite scent! Are you #TeamShannon or #TeamBryce? Make sure to leave a review once you’ve received the candle and tried out the scent for yourself! https://exmocandles.com/glass-box-wars/   Show Notes:  https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-expositor-7-june

AT LONG LAST! We’re joined by Jen from ExMo Candle Co. to talk all about her experience and what led her to processing and healing from the Mormon cult through blasphemous candles! She tells of her story with the church, attending a Mormon university, depression and self-destruction caused by shame through bishop’s interviews and “repentance”, and how she navigated her way out of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of course, she also announces the debut of a new candle… well TWO candles to be more accurate. After that we talk Death to Smoochy, a Robin Williams and Edward Norton flick directed by Danny DeVito. We wrap with happy news about rebuilding underwater reefs and a bit of listener mail. ‘Destroying Angel’ Candle Scent War!!! Come pitch in your vote for your favorite scent! Are you #TeamShannon or #TeamBryce? Make sure to leave a review once you’ve received the candle and tried out the scent for yourself! https://exmocandles.com/glass-box-wars/ Don’t miss our next live hangout

It’s that time of year! SpooOOOoooOOOookey stories! First we talk about a hotbed of paranormal interdimensional activity in the heart of Mormon country; Skinwalker Ranch! After that we deep dive into the sci-fi classic Frankenstein. We wrap with a quick reminder to get out and vote along with catching up on listener mail!   Show Notes:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Burns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_S._Taylor https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecbard https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/Soil%20Electrical%20Conductivity.pdf https://www.reddit.com/r/sdr/comments/v4577h/16ghz_signals_a_simple_question_skinwalker/ https://www.utah.com/articles/post/what-is-skinwalker-ranch-and-whats-really-going-on-there https://www.iflscience.com/skinwalker-ranch-bastion-for-the-paranormal-or-hoax-69969 https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/claims-about-pentagon-ufo-program-how-much-is-true/ https://www.hullingermortuary.com/obituaries/junior-hicks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinwalk

Our review of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for October 2023 Sunday sessions.   Yes, our review of GenCon was longer than the actual GenCon. Thank you to all the wonderful folks who made this project happen! The last nearly 2 hours is patreon extras for you all you fantastic financial supporters of the show.   Show Notes:   Links: Brad: https://twitter.com/ComfytheGhost V (Friend from Serbia): @NoChillAuntie Aurora: aurorarosea.com  Alexis: https://www.youtube.com/@UtahSustainGardening  Julie’s Twitter - @juliebr83 Tanner’s blog - https://diligenceovertime.blogspot.com/   Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf  Check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@AronRa   Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page:

Our review of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for October 2023 Saturday sessions.   Yes, our review of GenCon was longer than the actual GenCon.   Show Notes:   Links: Brad: https://twitter.com/ComfytheGhost V (Friend from Serbia): @NoChillAuntie Aurora: aurorarosea.com  Alexis: https://www.youtube.com/@UtahSustainGardening  Julie’s Twitter - @juliebr83 Tanner’s blog - https://diligenceovertime.blogspot.com/   Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf  Check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@AronRa   Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch store: https:

It’s the listener show! Today we bring on a group of cohosts to attempt the impossible task of filling Shannon’s shoes while she continues to recover. Tanner presents a segment on the Kinderhook plates, drawing larger implications for how it disproves other Mormon scripture “translation” claims. Then Will takes us on a journey through reconciling his relationship with his mom through LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) and making his own “translation” of the Kinderhook plates. Then Julie gives us a rundown on the new Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. After that we’re joined by Friend from Serbia (V) to discuss the ongoing situation involving Connexions and its leaders, Jodi Hildebrant and Ruby Franke. We round out the show with some happy climate news based in the U.S.   Show Notes: Will’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheSeerStoners / Tail end of Heavenly Mother LARP - https://twitter.com/TheSeerStoners/status/1576569834384809984 Ryan Gosling Talent Show at a Mormon church 1991

Runnin solo today! While Shannon continues to recover we’re going to take the opportunity to do a segment that sent Shan to hospital in the first place! That’s right, we’re back in Saints: The Standard of Truth, the new, authorized history of Joseph Smith and his early religious movement. That’s it. That’s all we’re doing this episode! We talk missionaries in Europe, political machinations, President Martin Van Buren, polygamy, the endowment ceremony, Freemasonry, The Book of Abraham, so many other gems! This period of April 1839-April 1842 is one of the most complicated and adaptive periods of Joseph’s ministry and we hold on with the edge of our finger tips as the book rips us through it, hoping we aren’t stopping to smell the shitpiles the book conspicuously ignores along the journey.   If you want to cohost the next episode, shoot me an email! glassboxpodcast@gmail.com Or get in touch on the Patreon feed or through social media!   Show Notes:  Warsaw Signal Archive (ThomASS Sharp) http://www.si

We have a bit of an unconventional episode this time around. We invite Aron Ra onto the show to discuss a recent debate between Bryce and Kyle Adams, an apologist for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We play a few clips, have a few laughs, and chat about the sport of debate in general. This episode is a rare exception because we know it isn’t everybody’s favorite thing; we’ll be getting back to regular programming soon! :-)   Show Notes:    Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf  Check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@AronRa See Aron Ra debate live in Houston, TX Sept 16th 2023 https://www.eventcreate.com/e/mddliveandinperson   Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gla

Continuing our media episodes, this time we’re taking aim at Mormon movies! Specific Mormon movies though! Movies made by Mormons for the purpose of gaining converts. These are just a small handful of the movies that missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show in the homes of investigators in order to teach certain aspects of doctrine or articles of Mormon faith. After that we wrap with some good news that's HUGE in the realm of climate and green energy!   Show Notes:    Hard to FInd Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@HardtoFindMormonVideos/videos    Vincenzo Di Francesca: https://archive.org/details/improvementera7105unse/page/n8/mode/1up    Happy News:  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-a-first-wind-and-solar-generated-more-power-than-coal-in-u-s/    Other Appearances:    Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKf

Just as the title states! After two motherlode history episodes, we’re doing an all media episode! Shannon walks us through the history of feminist literature from the earliest surviving scraps of parchment to a recent 2022 best-seller about women turning into dragons! Join us to learn about everything in between! After that we discuss a dam removal project that’s showing great promise as an environmental remediation project. Show notes:    https://phys.org/news/2023-06-shattering-myth-men-hunters-women.html    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protofeminism  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movement    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_literature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feminist_literature    Sappho:  https://www.charlottemuseum.co.nz/post/who-was-sappho  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho    Giovanni Boccaccio:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Mulieribus_Claris     Christine de Pisan:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_de_Pizan  https://en.wikipedia.org/w

The conclusion of the Missouri-Mormon war of 1838! Two events which are incredibly infamous in Mormon history, the Haun’s Mill Massacre, and the Liberty Jail stint, feature throughout this episode. But we discuss the context that led to the circumstances and the criminal proceedings that resulted from the war once Joseph Smith and the Mormons had surrendered. While certain figures are vilified for turning against the prophet, we spend a bit more time with those individuals to see what they had to say for themselves. The section ends with the Mormon resettlement in Quincy, Illinois and Joseph escaping prison to live the rest of his days a fugitive of murder, arson, robbery, larceny, and treason. Then we wrap with some good news about consumption, or TB!   Show notes:  https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-from-thomas-b-marsh-15-february-1838/2 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/doctrine-and-covenants-1835/95 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-12-

This episode is basically a standalone Saints episode! Why? You may ask. Because the book covers a massive and controversial time of early Mormonism, when Joseph Smith incited a civil war and lost. We compare the Saints book to the documents of the time and see how it shakes out with the following issues: excommunications of Oliver Cowdery, David and John Whitmer, and William W. Phelps, land disputes, The Salt Sermon, the Danites, the Army of Israel, the July 4th Oration, the Gallatin election day brawl, the siege of De Witt, the Mormon depredations and raiding of militia supply depots and stealing a cannon, the Battle of Crooked River, David W. Patten (Captian Fearnought) and his glorious blaze, Thomas B. Marsh and milk strippings, and the Mormon Extermination Order, along with some of the militia movements along the way. There’s more to the story but that’s a little teaser for this reading of Saints: The Standard of Truth, the official history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then we wr

Happy PRIDE month, y’all! The main segment for today breaks down the history of the Children’s Primary Program and its first president, Louie “Ma” Felt and her lifelong partner, May Anderson. Then we discuss a sex scandal in the form of a gay witch hunt in the 1890s spearheaded by Rudger Clawson. The case is far more complicated than first blush would indicate and it serves as a case study for how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always had fucked up priorities when it comes to sex, gender, and relationships. After that we talk about To Won Foo, Thanks for Everything, a drag queen movie featuring Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes. Then we wrap with a story from Uruguay about proper use for N*zi memorabilia.   Show notes:    https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8f0d3d6-8a5d-405a-b8b1-049808d50452/0/40 http://www.connellodonovan.com/abom.html#BM34 http://www.connellodonovan.com/hunsaker.html https://lattergaystories.org/   MOGP:  To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Juli