FUN-DA-MENTAL.

My good friend, Adam Marcus, just had this piece published by Museo Magazine online about the Mormons in El Dorado, Texas. It is super, I am turbo proud of him, and he is going to expand upon the article to write a book so if y'all know a publisher you best let me know pronto. And if you think I'm joking, I'm not. This is, like, the one time I am actually being serious on my blog...except for the time I wrote about how Beyonce's armpits scare the beejesus out of me. Because they really, really do.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! MY EYES!!!!!

If any of my readers are Mormons/FLDSers, don't take offense. We love you. This just goes to show we are 2x's as in 2 U as U R in 2 us.

ZION ON THE PRAIRIE

essay by Adam Marcus

If you drive northeast of the tiny town of Eldorado, Texas (pop. 2,000) on Schleicher County Road 300, there isn’t much to see, save the occasional oil well and the limitless, low-lying brush of the dry landscape. But four miles or so out of town, as the calm monotony of west Texas ranch country begins to set in, you’ll come upon an unmarked, padlocked gate, initially indistinguishable from those found at countless other dusty turnoffs along the road. This one is different, though: in the distance, far beyond the wire mesh fence, a collection of buildings, anchored by a prominent white structure, conspicuously rises like a mirage from the otherwise vacant prairie. An agricultural complex, you might think, or perhaps some kind of industrial park. But no: inside the gate lies the site of the most recent chapter of America’s history of confrontation between fundamentalist religion and organized democracy. The gate itself represents nothing less than the front line in the enduring battle over the power of the state to interfere in private religious affairs, an unresolved conflict that, in many ways, is written into this country’s DNA. It’s a complex story of migration, polygamy, alleged pedophilia, vast sums of money, and of course, great controversy. But perhaps more than anything, it’s a story of one of the most radical and compelling utopian experiments in recent American history.

http://www.museomagazine.com for the rest....