s Thoughts from the Physics Chick: Is he or isn't he?

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Is he or isn't he?

Mormon, I mean.

M. is another library science student, who has my same job in a different department. Like parallel lines, we don’t really meet, but I’ve been vaguely aware of his existence since I started working last fall. (Oh, and we actually had a class together last semester, only I quit going after the first month.)

This is all well and good, only somehow it came up a few weeks ago that he’s from Utah, which thing I had never suspected. Even after learning that, I assumed he wasn’t Mormon (or at least not active) because he’s not in my ward, but then I found out that he’s married, so he wouldn’t be in the single student ward, anyway. (He wasn’t present for either conversation, I should note.)

So now I’m trying to figure out if he’s Mormon or not, all without being so direct as to ask him, of course. (I don’t know him well, and it seems like it might be a bit rude – especially if he is from Utah and he isn’t Mormon. Plus, I’m sort of enjoying trying to figure it out with the evidence at hand.)

So, I present to you the evidence for and against, with qualifying remarks:

Against:

He has a beard. (But lots of Mormon boys grow beards, especially ones who leave BYU for grad school.)

Ah, but he didn’t go to the Y, he went to the U. (This one could go either way. On the one hand the U is sort of a logical choice for Utah residents – of varying degrees of Mormon-ness – who don’t want to go to BYU. On the other hand, it’s still about 50% Mormon, so it’s silly to say that attending the U proves anything about someone’s Chuch membership, one way or the other.)

For:

He lived in Utah. (Yes, but he lived in Park City, which isn’t really part of Utah, in a lot of ways.)

His family moved to Utah. What no-Mo moves to Utah if they can avoid it? (Yes, but they moved to Park City, as previously discussed.)

* * *

I think it’s pretty much a draw, at least until I get more information. I even tried looking for him last week at stake conference, but there were too many people there. (Oh, and I got there after the parking lot was full, so the ushers directed me to park on the grass behind the stake center. I had never parked on grass before. It was novel, in a white trash kind of way.)

In other news, I recently noticed a car with Utah plates in my building’s parking lot. I wonder if the owner’s Mormon . . .

7 Comments:

At May 27, 2006 11:04 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I'm told that Park City has the highest ratio of non-members in the whole state. Not that it means anything either way. But it's fun to have a mystery to solve.

Oh, and also, the fact that he's married is a point for him being Mormon. They do tend to marry early.

 
At May 28, 2006 9:14 PM, Blogger Saule Cogneur said...

Make sure you don't talk to him. He might accidently tell you, and the fun of the mystery will be lost.

 
At May 30, 2006 7:02 PM, Blogger Th. said...

.

Have you tried accidentally stumbling and touching his head, about five inches up from the eyebrows?

 
At May 31, 2006 8:16 PM, Blogger B.G. Christensen said...

You could:

-Ask what brand of underwear he prefers.

-Offer him a cigarette.

-Whistle "I Am a Child of God" and see if he joins in.

-Ask him how he feels about seagulls.

OR

-Draw a circle around him, convince him to promise he won't cross the line, and see if he goes anywhere (but then, he did go to the U so this might not work).


PS Have you ever noticed that Hermione looks like you?

 
At May 31, 2006 8:37 PM, Blogger Katya said...

Master of English but not yet of Library Science - Hermione looks like me, myself or me, my avatar? (I haven't noticed, either way, but I'm bad with remembering faces -- even my own!)

 
At June 02, 2006 10:47 PM, Blogger B.G. Christensen said...

You, yourself.

 
At June 02, 2006 11:16 PM, Blogger Katya said...

Is that good or bad?

 

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