SUBMIT YOUR WRITING & ARTWORK FOR THE SPRING 2023 ISSUE Exponent II is always accepting submissions on any subject. The best essays start as everyday stories. Something happens to us that we did not expect, or we react to something in an unexpected way. We had a script in our mind as to how a scene would play out; then the story changed and we found ourselves in a completely different narrative. Notice these moments as you move through life; think about moments like these in your past life. These moments are the stories that spark interesting essays. With one of these ideas in mind, ask y ..read more

COVER ART — “Spontaneous Choreographies” by Ashley Thalman “Spontaneous Choreographies” was created in the Summer of 2020 as a collaboration between me, my partner Matthew Peterson, and A Duet — a project started by our friend-client dancers Haleigh L armer and Megs O’Brien. My statement is my work and what you see, or don’t see in it, is it. I experience my work for creativity’s sake; its highs and lows, its shape-giving energy, and its expressions found in the mundane and extraordinary of everyday life. I love, parent, friend, write, co-create images, and paint large format backdro ..read more

The first time I met Stephanie, I was exercising. I was dripping sweat, my face flushed and red, when I heard a knock at the door. I paused my dance video to see a family standing on my porch. “We just moved in and heard you were in our ward!” the husband said. “Sorry, I’m […] To access this post, you must purchase Subscription – Digital, or Subscription – Print + Digital, United States ..read more

II. Remnants Leaves alight with flame from dying rays split by rocky silhouettes. Another world nestled amongst clouds, guided by a one-way road. Wind whips through our hair as unfamiliar music shouts and you laugh without reservation. I’m holding on to beautiful moments, Cupping them gently like water liable to leak away, Anticipating the physical […] To access this post, you must purchase Subscription – Digital, or Subscription – Print + Digital, United States ..read more

The following is adapted from a Relief Society lesson. One of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten is, “I keep forgetting you have a husband.”  I’ve trained my speech over years to use the first-person plural “we” only when strictly necessary, in part because I find it alarming how quickly individual identities become completely subsumed […] To access this post, you must purchase Subscription – Digital, or Subscription – Print + Digital, United States ..read more

1. After We Spoke After we spoke, on the road to Canada, I remembered when we saw god in a cloud behind the east wall of Provo. That mountain god, visible but far. That god who will be best found in a grove of trees. The eager messenger forever Lifting a trumpet to Provo, on […] To access this post, you must purchase Subscription – Digital, or Subscription – Print + Digital, United States ..read more

We are honored to nominate the following pieces from our quarterly print magazine for the 2022 Pushcart Prize: Winter 2022: “No Success Can Compensate for Failure in the Home” by Jessica Sagers Spring 2022: “Utah Valley Gothic” by Catherine Crenshaw Summer 2022: “Humanity Does Not Ask Us to Be Happy…” by Emma Tueller Stone Summer 2022: “Reading the Plague in the Pandemic” by Amanda Pullan Frost Summer 2022: “Reading to Be Good” by Emily Updegraff Fall 2022: “Mary, of Magdala” by Elizabeth Pinborough Congratulations to these writers ..read more

There’s an old story about how the relationship between people and dogs came to be, a human and canine meet — cute. It goes like this: the Creator, having made people, realizes they are soft and relatively hairless in a harsh world, and will need some help if they are to survive. So the call […] To access this post, you must purchase Subscription – Digital, or Subscription – Print + Digital, United States ..read more

Book Review of I Spoke to You with Silence: Essays from Queer Mormons of Marginalized Genders (edited by Kerry Spencer Pray, Jenn Lee Smith) As a tradition that both “elevates the hetero-nuclear family to the level of a saving ordinance” (3) and routinely denies female sexual desire, there is little space for the open existence of queer women and gender minorities in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the broader Mormon community. Many queer individuals even lack the language to talk about their own experiences. This is the problem that writing professor Dr. Kerry Spencer Pray ..read more

Get ready—the Exponent blog is moving to exponentii.org. We’ve been working hard on our beautiful new website and now it’s time to migrate the blog so all of your favorite Exponent II content will be under one digital roof. Please pardon our dust over the next few weeks. We have lots of exciting things planned for 2023 and we hope you will join us there! In the meantime, check out the Fall 2022 Exponent II magazine ..read more