| Labyrinths of Good Ideas
The Conference Center is so large, it may hold several time zones.
By Marvin Payne
Exciting Life
I once read that the secret of flying is to throw yourself at the ground and somehow miss. Here’s the real secret.
By Marvin Payne
Report of the Country Mouse
Actor, Marvin Payne, visits New York City for the first time, and comes away dazzled by small miracles and kindnesses.
By Marvin Payne
Don't Say “Desk Arts”
The arches in the national park will have tumbled down before you and I are much further along. We have been since long before the suns and the stars.
By Marvin Payne
Sabbath
I don't much mind Mondays, really. It's always kind of a new start, symbolically, another chance at getting at least the mundane things right. Because that's what it's mainly for. "Monday." "Mundane." Hmmm....
By Marvin Payne
Joyful War
We're at war. We're on the battlefield, whether or not we choose to be, and our best weapon is joy because the Adversary has no defense against it.
By Marvin Payne
What's Worthiness Got to do with It?
When my friend came home from Africa, everybody asked her if she had a new appreciation for all the things we have here. She answered “No. I have a new appreciation for those who can be so happy without them.”
By Marvin Payne
The Only Funny Column on the Economy
“Some guy called from India this morning, representing someone in the Midwest that we owe money to, and in the course of the conversation he asked the scripted question, ‘Is there a reason for the delay in this payment?' He didn't have a checkbox for ‘None of your beeswax.'”
By Marvin Payne
Passwords
When you live in a technical world with so many passwords, they sure ought to mean something to you.
By Marvin Payne
Christmas in a Shoe
Would life be different for us if the Wise Men had just brought the Christ child Christmas cards?
By Marvin Payne
Presidential Pick
Marvin's pick for President wasn't on the ballot, but should have been.
By Marvin Payne
Current Events
Marvin Payne's take on heavy subjects like terrorism, politics and the economy will make you laugh and make your day.
By Marvin Payne
A Little Rock Music
When everybody else put in grass in their strips by the new sidewalks in town, Marvin put in rocks, chosen carefully one by one. The only problem is, now he has to water them.
By Marvin Payne
Pioneers
All the facts and figures you ever wanted to know about the Mormon pioneers, plus a glimpse of the pioneering spirit.
By Marvin Payne
Listening in Elders Quorum
If you don't hear what the elders quorum instructor is saying, there's probably a good reason for it.
By Marvin Payne
Exact Change
Some things, whether they be things of faith or opinions about the timing of explosive devices, are open to continuing revelation.
By Marvin Payne
Surprised
by Truth
Assumptions are challenged and shattered,
prophets wiggle their ears, and all is well with the Tabernacle
Choir.
By Marvin Payne
Journey
of Life
Destinations are just fine, but here’s
the rub: Very little of our time is spent there. If we’re
living in the present (our only real option) we have to notice sooner
or later that in any given “present” we are probably
on our way somewhere, on a journey.
By Marvin Payne
Do
You Believe in Ghostwriters?
Momentous times call for momentous
journal entries. And if you don't have time to do it, don't worry.
A ghostwriter may just do it for you.
By Marvin Payne
House
Concerts
Here's the bottom line. Read Meridian
Magazine and learn stuff!
By Marvin Payne
Humans
in Conference
Elder Boyd K. Packer said it. Something
about how the Brethren are just folks. I’m not sure I captured
it accurately, because I was balancing on the roof of our cabin
and it was raining, occasionally snowing. The radio in the open
Volkswagen below was up as high as it could go, and there was some
distortion. I think a sister spoke in that session, or a very tender
Seventy.
By Marvin Payne
Journals
to Novels
Oh no! The stuff in your journal could
become somebody elses' novel.
By Marvin Payne
Where
Would the Chevy Be Now?
Just when you thought it was safe
to click on Meridian Magazine, Backstage Graffiti returns. Probing
and dissembling our fundamental values.
By Marvin Payne
Procrastination
If you're going to procrastinate wanting
a guitar, the best way to repent of that procrastination is to buy
the guitar as soon as you decide you want it.
By Marvin Payne
Showing
Up
What rhymes with "showing up"? Let's
not even go there.
By Marvin Payne
The
Twelve Days of Christmas CD
A musical testimony is born and the bearer
writes about it. Witness the birth of a Christmas CD.
By Marvin Payne
Journals:
Write ‘Em, Read ‘Em
It's one thing to write in a journal, and quite
another thing to go back and read what you have written. Find out
what you've been up to. Dust off a journal and read it today.
By Marvin Payne
Fill
In The Blanks
Sometimes people don't write down the words
that are spoken. And when you don't have the real words, awkward
things can happen.
By Marvin Payne
Butterflies
in the Archives
The writing of this
column was suspended for the birth of a butterfly. Take a ringside
seat and watch a miracle in progress.
By Marvin Payne
Fishers
Putting a hook
in the water can change your life. Even when you don't catch anything.
By Marvin Payne
Wave the
Flag
'Tis the season for flag-waving - whatever
flag you call your own.
By Marvin Payne
Sing
Your Journal
If you think it's too much trouble to write
a journal, why not sing it? Ten thousand roadshow writers can't
be wrong.
By Marvin Payne
Birth
Report
This
month I'm reporting on the birth. Every poignant detail, every quiver
and stab of emotion and pain, every rustle of the thinning veil,
every soft rush of insight from the unseen world.
By Marvin Payne
Giving
Birth
It's
big and voluptuous and gorgeous and curvaceous and arch-topped and
glistening and has a Florentine cutaway and a single gold humbucker
and vintage sunburst finish. And the name by which it shall be known
on the records of Meridian is “Epiphone Zephyr Regent.”
By Marvin Payne
ScriptureScouts.com
A "Mormon" Sesame Street can light
up children's eyes and hearts in places the Little Rascals wouldn't
dare to go, even with slingshots and extra peanut butter sandwiches.
By Marvin Payne
Write
a Journal to Music
This is the deal. I want you to write in your journals,
to leave behind honest, inspiring, heartbreaking, transcendent,
even legible records of your sojourn in mortality. I’ve tried
brainstorming with you, providing creative templates, appealing
to your consciences, your sense of history, your sense of internal
beauty and fire, your, well, vanity. Has it worked? I believe that,
to a degree, it has.
By Marvin Payne
Thoughts
from My Teriyaki Period
Picasso had his "blue period." Bob
Dylan had his "trying to sing nice" period. Marvin Payne
has trampled "paper roses," and is now singing for the
love.
By
Marvin Payne
The Gift
Book
When I was a kid, books by Mormons about Mormon
things were not meant to be read. They were meant to be given. They
betokened the righteousness of the giver, and they assumed the righteousness
of the receiver.
By Marvin Payne
“A
Prequel, Just Like Star Wars!”
I don’t remember the impact,
the slam of stone on flesh, the utter, instant, quailing melding
of mineral and bone. But it must have occurred, because —
Hooo-ey!! does my leg hurt! A veritable tsciatic tsunami!
By
Marvin Payne
An
Exceedingly High Mountain
Many of the saints think of Mt. Timpanogos
as a temple, which is a kinder, gentler, merely three stories way
of thinking of it. But, having climbed it a couple days ago, I can
testify that it remains an exceedingly high mountain as well.
By Marvin Payne
Dreams,
Faith, and Arithmetic
Maybe they had the strange idea that their
fourteen hundred dollars wasn't really theirs, but the Lord's to
move his work along, and that as soon as it got to me, it wouldn't
be mine, either.
By Marvin Payne
A
Treatise on Learning
I kind of missed the point of school
altogether, because I never “got” that learning was
something one might enjoy.
By Marvin Payne
Handel
on the Kettle
We can be standing at the window listening
for the Hallelujah Chorus, when in fact the Lord wants us to be
listening for our bishop’s assignment or our Primary kids’
questions.
By
Marvin Payne
Mere
Artists
I have, on a number of occasions,
written Backstage Graffiti to you in various accents. But you didn’t
know because I didn’t tell you, and I think it’s time
I apologized.
By
Marvin Payne
“Selecting
From Life”
It's the old "Is the glass of
water half full or half empty?" question. I think you can see
life either way and be telling the truth.
By
Marvin Payne
“Donkey
Who?”
“I hope to add some measure
of grace to the world.” I really love that. But how do you
do that?
By Marvin
Payne
Special
Offer >>> Be a “Viewer Like You”!
What do Africa and South America have
in common? They’re dripping! And what’s at the bottom
of the whole world? Not water ? Antarctica!
By
Marvin Payne
“Who Am I?”
Nothing lost or left behind should
keep us from now becoming what we can become, from learning what
we now can learn.
By Marvin Payne
“All
the World’s a Backstage”
Any time a guy shares with his sweetheart
any form of Austenbrontiana, she will irresistibly think he is more
sensitive than he really is. Emotional slam dunk.
By
Marvin Payne
No
Room at the Inn
Some hours later he awakens with a
start. Is it the silence that has surprised him into wakefulness?
But it's not entirely silent. Is it the strange light?
By
Marvin Payne
The
Phantom of Lambert Flat
Every town has its ghost story--and here's
one from Alpine, Utah, a folk tale that rattles around year after
year.
By Marvin Payne
Are You Scared By This?
Almost every time you hear a scary
story, the storyteller starts off by telling you his story is absolutely
true. This story isn't like all those other stories. This story
is absolutely true.
By
Marvin Payne
Writing
About Your Town, Part 1
Still in a quandary over how to begin
writing your journal/personal history? We’ve discussed here
doing it by the year, doing it by the appliances you’ve owned,
doing it by the primary callings you’ve held and the hospitalizations
you’ve survived. Well, if none of those have worked, try this.
By
Marvin Payne
Listening
to Meridian
Coming Soon to an MP3 Player Near
You
You probably thought the only way you could
get Meridian was on the Internet. Marvin shares a secret.
By
Marvin Payne
“My
Life According to... Final Chapter!”
I own two “redeemed” guitars.
I think this is kind of special. One was redeemed many years ago,
but the second is every bit as redeemed as the first. I’m
looking for a sermon in this, but I can’t find one.
By
Marvin Payne
My
Life According to…
Can't think how to start writing your
life's story? How about choosing some constantly recurring aspect
of your life and write a history around it?
By
Marvin Payne
Towering
Intellectuality
"This year I avoided planting
even one bean on the driveway. I avoided planting even a single
kernal of corn on a rock." writes Marvin. "What was the
sower in the parable thinking?"
By
Marvin Payne
History
by the Year
At a certain age (Marvin's to be precise),
one feels the urgency to precede one’s mummification with
one’s “memoirification.”
by
Marvin Payne
Dear
Jaqui, A Letter to An Actress
Marvin gets serious and gives advice to a budding,
young LDS actress struggling with some of the moral dilemmas inherent
in the business of acting.
by
Marvin Payne
Confession
of a Canine Scripture Scout
Marvin
plays the dog Boo and we're supposed to be unoffended?
by Marvin
Payne
The
Birds and the Bees
Marvin
gives birth to some new (yet very old) ideas on the meaning of family.
“A
Few Very Timely Thoughts”
The concept of 'time' itself can be
paradoxical in nature. Marvin contemplates organizing his past as
opposed to his present or his future.
"When
Clichés Go Wrong"
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Whatever that means. This week Marvin hammers out a column on clichés.
Crying
in the Caribbean
Marvin's goes cruising. Wanna come
along?
A Political Manifesto
In his ambling, funny
way, Marvin Payne tries to connect politics to journal writing—and
almost succeeds.
I’m
Writing The Mormon “Fiddler On The Roof”
Everybody
keeps asking Marvin for a Mormon version of "Fiddler on the
Roof", and this month he gives us a peek at just what it might
be like. Hold onto your kippahs!
What
Does it All Mean?
Okay,
so what does it all mean? Two and a half hours after a couple of
thousand dollars’ worth of tickets have been gleefully ripped
in half, and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of lights
are cooling above a dark stage adorned with three thousand dollars’
worth of painted magic from a Siamese palace floor, and dozens of
actors and dancers are back in their dressing rooms peeling off
several hundred dollars’ worth of make-up, and the leading
man is reveling in the novel luxury of knowing there is finally
five dollars on his debit card so he can stop at the gas station
on his way home, what does it all mean?
Grab
Your Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Quick!
In
this era of instant Teen Idols (not Teen Idles, even I was one of
those), Barbie-esque screen personalities (I use the word “personalities”
cautiously) who merely portray themselves over and over in the movies,
and the wanton proliferation of street-corner plastic surgeons,
Andy Warhol is said to have said that we are approaching the time
when every person in the world will enjoy fifteen minutes of fame.
Here’s how to grab your fifteen minutes of fame.
The
Actor’s Nightmare
The
“actor’s nightmare” is when you find yourself onstage and, for any
of myriad reasons ((or for none at all)), you don’t know your lines.
All actors have this nightmare.
A
Brief History of Letting My Talents Be Born
A
personal history might be easier to write if it has a very particular
focus. "On my first Christmas morning, in 1948, I was discovered
to have sprouted my two front teeth, which was, presumably, all
I'd wanted for Christmas. This event connected me with the world
of music generally, but was, unfortunately, the closest I've ever
come to being involved with a hit song."
Acting
Naturally?
Now
Meridian Magazine can call itself “The place where Latter-day
Saints gather--and sing!”
How
Do You Write Down Heavenly Choreography?
Who
is the heavenly choreographer (or “Choreographer”)?
And is He worthy of respect? Can He bring grace to even the clunkiest
of movements? Would a couple dozen angels round about us, going
before us, and at our rearward tend to make us look like pretty
good dancers?
Journal
Snapshots
When
you sit down with your journal, remember that you can’t write
your life. You can only paste in snapshots of it.
Remembering
the Things I Forget
Marvin
shares his feelings about the play Hancock County.
What
Role are You Currently Playing?
Marvin
Payne shares his thoughts about playing the part of a child of God.
Singing
the Proclamation
Marvin
shares some thoughts about his latest project, "Family, A Joyful
Proclamation!"
For
the Poets, Who Don't Know It
Marvin Payne gets poetical.
Gifts
Without Thunderous Applause
Gifts.
What are they for, anyway? For that matter, what are they?
Your
Global Positioner
How
to use your journal in place of a GPS (global positioning system):
You can buy one of these fancy global positioners to find out where
you are on earth at any given moment.
A
Place to Admit Things to Yourself
A journal can be a place where you admit
things to yourself—things like, "I picked up the phone this
morning and nearly sang because there were no messages from creditors."
Forgetting
Your Lines
Do
you ever forget your lines? Try looking on the fleshy tables of
your heart.
Forgetting
to Eat?
Did you ever sit up straight from whatever
you were doing on a particular Tuesday with the thought, "Oops,
I forgot to eat. Since, when was it now? Saturday! Hmmm, better
do something about that, I guess. Well, maybe later."
Journal
Writing as Film Action
When else are we allowed to imagine ourselves not merely as someone
different, but as someone greater than we are? And is't there just
the breathless possibility that when we get the character right,
we won't be so much pretending to be bigger as discovering that
we really are? |
