:Periodic Post: FAQ: (Some of) The People of S.R.M.
Periodic Post
last updated 12 Oct 2006
FAQ: (Some of) The People of S.R.M.
If anyone would like to be added to the list, or if there are any
changes to your information, send an email to John Colton:
colton.idisl...@uwlax.edu, without the simple spam blocker
of course. If you have not posted in many moons, your name may be
taken off of this list. If I've taken off your name erroneously,
let me know. Names are presented alphabetically.
Joseph Absalom, posts as "father of peace" - Age 40. Mormon Monk.
Grew up on the family farm in a small rural mormon village where
six generations of my family practiced mormonism. Spanish mission
to California. Moved back East and became a jet setting business
executive and programmer. Served in all the typical positions in
the ward including, elders quorum counselor, ward mission leader,
ward clerk, etc. As a result of feedback received from my first
post to *.r.m in 1995, I decided that the church today is seriously
out of whack with traditional mormon beliefs and wrote a web site
to explore the issues: http://absalom.com/mormon/ Converted to
mormon fundamentalism by the True and Living Church in Manti. As
a result of my conversion I left the business and political worlds
and was ordained a monk by Christian Disciples International.
David Bowie - Yes, that *is* my real name. Married to Jeanne with
three daughters (Sadra Marie, b. 1999, Hriana, b. 2001, and Raven,
b. 2005). Active Mormon, b. 1970, and a linguist (focusing on
American dialects) in the Department of English of the University
of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, USA. Served as a full-time
missionary in the Germany Munich Mission 1990 to 1992. Reading and
posting on Mormon-oriented newsgroups since the creation of
alt.religion.mormon in the summer of 1994. Personal web page at
http://pmpkn.net/d/ that includes some badly in need of updating
Mormon-oriented stuff and professional page at
http://pmpkn.net/lx/ for those of you interested in such things.
Guy R. Briggs, 52 - IT Director looking for stable, quality
organization. Married FT&FAE to Pam (met at BYU, 1974), 4 children.
6th-generation LdS, native of Utah, currently living in SoCal.
Served California East (Spanish) Mission, 1971-73. Active in
*.religion.mormon since 02/1995; battle-scarred veteran of Great
s.r.m Debate of 1996; authored FAQ on Temples & Temple Worship.
Taught early-morning seminary, 2000-01. Loves old movies,
barbershoppe quartettes, Simon & Garfunkel, Alison Krause,
walks on the beach, Westies and Ragdoll cats. Often gets misty
during Fast & Testimony meetings.
John Colton - born in 970. I'm a physicist, currently teaching and
doing research as a faculty member of University of Wisconsin, La
Crosse. I've taught classes in electronics, thermodynamics,
electrodynamics, and advanced electrodynamics: my wife says that
makes me a "dynamic" guy! :-) My main area of physics research is
studying the spin of electrons in semiconductors. I am married,
with 2 kids. I am LDS, and served a mission in Munich, Germany
from 1989-1991. I maintain an LDS web page of sorts here:
http://www.uwlax.edu/faculty/colton/personal/lds.html. I've been
posting on SRM since ~ Jan 2000, I think. In what little spare
time I have, I read, play computer games, sing in a community
choir, serve in our branch presidency, and play table tennis
(but not as much as I'd like). I serve as a moderator here on
soc.religion.mormon, as well as a Utah Jazz fan website,
www.jazzfanz.com.
Roger Covalt (posts with an "alias" but on occasions will post with
his real name) -- born in 1959, native San Diegan and is a member
of the Poway, CA stake (In San Diego County). Roger is a "recovering
politician" who is active in his community (not just with the Church).
Mother was Presbyterian; father was RLDS, and later a Presbyterian
convert. Roger was baptized into the LDS church at age 17, which made
for interesting conversations with his RLDS relatives. After his
conversion, he found out more about his RLDS/LDS family history.
He found to his surprise that his dad's mother's side (Bemis) were
early members of the original LDS church, having joined in 1830.
His great-great-grand father died in Winter Quarters. In 1854,
the Bemis and others traveled from SLC to San Bernardino, CA
(Head to http://www.geocities.com/rogercovalt/mormon.htm for
more information about this LDS colony). Got married (Wife Ericka)
in 1990 in the Los Angeles Temple and have two children (Daniel
and Morgan). Have been a Temple Worker with his wife. Has had
lots of Church callings-each one has been a favorite until the
next one (Currently Cub Master).
Lynn Gazis-Sax - married, no kids, lots of nephews and nieces,
living in California. I'm a software engineer. I was raised as
an Episcopalian, lost my faith in God in high school, made my
way to Quaker meeting in college, and have been attending for
a little over 20 years (becoming a member after attending for
four years). My husband was raised Catholic. You can find out
more about what my husband and I do aside from soc.religion.mormon
at http://www.notfrisco.com or http://www.alsirat.com, or see
our family pictures at our Family Album Ring site at
http://www.best.com/~gazissax/album/index.html.
John Johnson--I was born March 2, 1977 in Afton Wyoming. I spent
my early years in Pocatello, Idaho, and moved to Shelley, Idaho
when I was 11 years old, which is where I grew up. I served a
mission to Nashville, TN from 1996 to 1998. Since that time I've
worked at various occupations, but I've finally settled in at
a company that specializes in the telecommunications industry.
I work doing quality assurance, and I love what I do. I serve
as the Ward Mission Leader in my ward, and enjoy it very much.
I've been posting (and lurking) here at SRM since the fall of
1998.
Yeechang Lee - was born in Korea, raised in New York City,
served a mission in Nevada, received an AB in history and S
panish from Columbia University, and now works for a bulge-bracket
investment bank in Silicon Valley. The founder of EEMABNES and
the coiner of Lee's Two Laws of Usenet, Yeechang is (along with
Prof. David Bowie) among the only posters to remain more or less
continuously active from the first giddy days of alt.religion.mormon
back in 1994. He is a firm believer in the Restored Gospel of
Jesus Christ and of Linux.
James C. Miller, a financial professional and free-lance writer
in Arizona, is a fiftyish Utah-born former Mormon who served an
LDS Mission to Denmark 1967-69 and was married in the Temple, but
is currently an affable, if excitable, atheist. In the 1980s,
he reluctantly abandoned all organized religion because of
severe, irreconcilable philosophical differences and a total l
ack of persuasive evidence of any supernatural beings. However,
he still has active Mormon family members and friends and is
immensely entertained and intellectually stimulated by the
discussions on this NG and on ARM.
Jeffrey Needle - I am a Jewish convert to Christianity (but
not Mormonism), born in New York, currently living in southern
California, just south of San Diego. I became interested in
Mormonism about 15 years ago and have since become involved
in Sunstone and other quasi-Mormon organizations. I am currently
disabled/retired, and spend a great deal of time as Review Editor
for the Association for Mormon Letters (www.aml-online.org).
I am single, 56 years old, and very glad for my current position
in life.
Cassandra Jesseca Nichols - Born 1982/04/06 in Montréal. Moved
to and throughout the United States a lot until I was 12, when
I moved to Mesa, Arizona, where I reside now. I am a student at
Mesa Community College and Arizona State University studying right
now for a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering; after which
I may go for a Master's or Doctorate. I occasionally work as a
system's administrator. I was raised Catholic but never really
cared for it, causing me to stop regularly attending mass around
the age of 11. For the past five or so years I've been rather
atheistic/agnostic (basically indifferent). I've been reading
soc.religion.mormon to help me better understand my friends and
certain Mormon vs. Non-Mormon inter-personal conflicts I recently
witnessed and participated in. In my free time I swim, ride my
bike, do some computer game programming, play computer/video
games, listen to orchestral/symphonic music, and play some
tabletop fantasy games.
Robb Leslie Robertson (sometimes posts as "Floydian Engineer")
- 34, born 1968 in Idaho Falls, ID, second child of 7 to Dr.
Boyd L. and Benita Jo Robertson. California resident since 1970.
Currently living in Antelope, a suburb of Sacramento, with my
wife Sandra (Ruvalcaba), and sons Mason Leslie, 7, and Hayden
Elias, 3, and cats Floyd and Barrett (named after favorite rock
band and founder). Married Sandra, the 7th and last child of
Mexican immigrants after baptizing her in 1990, in Oakland LDS
Temple in 1991. I served a mission to Guatemala City (North
Mission) from 1988-90. I spent most of my time in the
north-central "Polochic" region among the Kek'chi, a Mayan
people. Enjoyed much success, including participation in the
conversion of an entire village, and subsequent construction
of a small chapel. Graduated from University of California,
Davis in 1997 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Currently
employed by Marr Shaffer & Miyamoto, Inc. Structural
Engineers as a project engineer. Involved in structural
design of low and mid-rise commercial buildings and various
non-building structures. Member of Structural Engineer's
Accociation of Central California (SEAOCC) and American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Pursuing M.S. in
Structural Engineering at California State University, S
acramento. Registered Professional Engineer (Civil) in
the State of California. Enjoy snow-skiing, fishing, tennis,
choral singing, guitar and piano. Early participant in
alt.religion.mormon circa 1994, and later s.r.m.
Jeff Shirton - (b.1963). I'm Canadian, single, living in
the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Considering myself a Reform
Christian, I teach science for the local Catholic Board of
Education. My faith began when I started searching for
hope of seeing my deceased mother again. While looking for
hope of her, I found Christ. My studies of faith and God
have led me to the same road taken by Calvin, Augustine,
and others of the historical church. I find LDS beliefs
to be fascinating, but contrary to the word of God. The
differences only emphasize to me the depth of God's being,
His supremacy, His love, His grace, and our need for His
gospel, and I long to share these truths with the LDS.
Discussions here also help me to further study God's word
and to be enriched from it. Other interests include
duplicate bridge, chess, classical music, and classic movies.
Peggy Tatyana - I'm a Boomer, so I'm old enough to be
your mother (or maybe your grandmother!) My current occupation
is homeschooling my two children, which I enjoy enormously.
I play the Celtic harp, because my husband makes the things
(though not for a living.) I've been hanging around *.r.m.
newsgroups since the mid-90's, and one of the proud
accomplishments of my life was nudging soc.religion.mormon
safely through the approval process on news.groups. I don't
post a lot these days, but for me s.r.m. is kind of like a
child that I gave birth to, so I need to keep tabs on what
it's up to. I call myself a "Fringe Mormon" or an "LDS
Universalist" -- meaning a person who is basically fond
of the church and loyal to it, without being convinced that
it is the only or the best way for people to find their
way to God.
Joseph Daniel Zukiger is the latest incarnation of a
poster who has posted on and off in (s/a).r.m since
before y2k. "Joudanzuki" is a Japanese idiom for "tease"
(noun). It was intended to be a reminder to keep things
light, but doesn't seem to work, as the poster in question
seems to like to swim in deep water. It turns out that a
near-homonym, joudandzuki, is a name for a class of blows
in karate. Apologies in advance when the latter becomes
too appropriate. The person behind joudanzuki claims to
be a computer professional living in his wife's mother
country, Japan. His identity is probably not hard to
determine, but is left as an exercise for the rare
interested reader.