The Thinker Ponderin' 'n' Wanderin':A Conversation with SelfBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaronAt seventy-one, I'm hungBy protruding nailsOn my ladder's last rung,Wonderin' what else I might've won ...Should I try for more before Life's done?Or should I commit to recreation,Cease ambition and aspiration;Cease trying to make more of myself.Simplify life, put strife on the shelf?Sure, I ponder, as…
Poem I wrote: In My Time
IN MY TIME (A Stephany Spencer Doggerel Rhyme) In my time, I won’t give in, I won’t give up. I’ll let today’s mirth Fill up my cup. In the darkest hours Of our imperfect world, I’ll look to the dawn As day’s unfurled. Then hold up my hope, Hold up my head, I won’t be…
Poem I wrote: Prose The New Poetry
Prose Is the New Poetry by Stephany Spencer-LeBaron Photo by Nu00f3ra Zahradnu00edk on Pexels.com "A poem is never finished."~~~~~~~~~~ PROSE IS THE NEW POETRYPart One Dearest Friend:Says Voltair, “To hold a pen is to be at war”And don't we know it If we are a modern poet.For today's fake poetsHave taken the lion's share: With pen in hand, And…
Poem I wrote: Tips From Tony: Emote the Emotion
TIPS FROM TONY:Emote the Emotionby Stephany Spencer-LeBaronEmote the emotionOver-and-overWe want to feelSays Tony Robbins,Motivational Speaker And guru like Doctors Dyer and Phil. Says Tony:To change our emotion Change our motion.We’re at the wheel.Changing physiologyChanges emotions.It's a done deal.Stand tall and proudWhen feeling afraid.Sing a happy tuneTo also aid.Sitting erect when feeling badOr turning frowns upside downWhen…
Pt 19-P: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir: Part 19-P -- Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- More Perils of Polygamy “As I sifted through my memories, my life came to me in bits and pieces, often disconnected, just like my dreams. Even normal memory has gaps, but traumatic memory is even more discontinuous. This is my story, which put…
Poem I wrote: The Sands of My Hourglass
THE SANDS OF MY HOURGLASSBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaron The Sands of My HourglassThe sands of my hourglass figureRunning through me,Telling me I haven't much time, Tick away what's left As quickly as hands On my inner circadian clock.I can't make the sands stop, Neither my heart pattering tick-tockLike raindrops drippingFrom the window panes of my life;Like…
Pt 19-O: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir, Part 19-O: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- And More Perils of Polygamy https://youtu.be/TqnyTqH55jw "Leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more than they can deliver." Mark A. Clement Taking up where I left off in my blog "My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald…
Part 19-N: Esther LeBaron Spencer, me and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir, Part 19-N: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- And More Perils of Polygamy From left to right: My Uncle Ervil M. LeBaron; My father, Floyd Otto Spencer; My mother, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer; and My husband William Preston Tucker/ Bill The Virginity Try as he will, no man breaks wholly loose From his first…
Part 19-L: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir Part 19-L: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- More Perils of Polygamy Two of Bill's Mormon French-missionary friends, LDS "Saints" "Dick 'n' Peter" "By their friends, ye shall know them." Biblical Adidge Taking up where we left off in "My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- And More Perils of Polygamy, Part 19-K": I said in an earlier…
Part 19-K: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir, Part 19-K: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- and More Perils of Polygamy "True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders." Warren G. Bennis Taking up where we left off in "My Memoir Backstory: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- And More Perils of Polygamy, Part…
Part 19-I: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir, Part 19-I: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- And More Perils of Polygamy Beulah Stephany Spencer-LeBaron in 1972, age 26, and soon to graduate from UCLA after escaping polygamy in 1967!! "Man, created in God's image and likeness, is not just flesh and blood. The sexual instinct is not all that he has: Man is also,…
Part 19-G: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me and More Perils of Polygamy
My Memoir, Part 19-G: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer -- And More Perils of Polygamy "Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people."…
Poem I wrote: Cougar Lives To Love Another Day
Cougar lives to love another day Cougar Lives to Love Another DayBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaron2008Hey King Kay, Your cougar lives To love another day,To further bond With wondrous King Kay.Cougaress never dreamed It could be this way: First he was her friend, Then her boyfriend; Now her husband – Her Kind King Kay.Cougaress lives for him each day.People call her a cougar.You've robbed the…
Pt 19-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and More Perils of Polygamy
MY MEMOIRPart 19-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me,And More Perils of Polygamy "The successful leader Is the one who makes The right move at the right moment With the right motive."John Maxwell Continued from:MY MEMOIR Esther LeBaron-McDonald-Spencer, Me,And More Perils of Polygamy, Part 19-C NOTE:I'm a poet but my medium is prose In parts of the following memories I disclose: I'm barely sixteen, parked…
Poems/songs I wrote: Bio Ballads in Verse for Better or Worse
Circa 1958: 11 of my parents' ultimately 14 children(I'm age 12, middle row, 2nd to left) Bio Ballad in Verse for Better or Worseby Stephany Spencer-LeBaronI was born some time agoAway out in the sticksIn Mexico’s Rocky Mountain RangeIn 1946.Was raised in Mormon Fundy cultsWhere self-righteous hicksThought it sinfulWith…
Part 19-C: Esther LeBaron- McDonald-Spencer, Me, and More Perils of Polygamy
MY MEMOIR Esther LeBaron-McDonald-Spencer, Me and More Perils of PolygamyPart 19-C Nearly all men can stand adversity,But if you want to test a man's character, Give him power. Abraham Lincoln MY MEMOIR Esther LeBaron-McDonald-Spencer Me and More Perils of PolygamyPart 19-C COUSIN HOMER'S KISS In Cousin Homer's kissThere'd be no connubial bliss.Though my first kiss and date,It was barely a kiss and hardly a date.But"Profit"of Evil Ervil…
Pt 19-B: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and More Perils of Polygamy
MY MEMOIRPart 19-B Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer, Me, and More Perils of Polygamy The middle photo is the way I remember myUncle Ervil M. LeBaron in the 1960s A wise leader inspires and motivates, rather than intimidating and manipulating.Henry Ford Continuing where we left off in the previous blog,wherein my life was being hijacked in the name of…
Part 19-A: Ma, Pa, Me, and Perils of Polygamy
MY MEMOIRPart 19-A Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me,And the Perils of Polygamy No influence is so powerfulas the that of the mother. Sarah Josepha Hale Picking up from: MY MEMOIREsther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer:Ma 'n' PaPART 18 As I've bemoaned before, Mummsy couldn't live polygamy herself – at least not during her twenty-two years of marriage…
Pt 33: The Mexico-LeBarons and Familial Incest
Pt 33: The Mexico-LeBarons and Familial Incest * My maternal great-grandparents Lucinda Mariah Emmerson and William Wesley McDonald "The heart of the mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness."Honore De Balzac Incest on my maternal grandfather Alma Dayer LeBaron's side definitely contributed to the mental illness prevalent in…
Poem/song I wrote: Thanksgiving Day Medley
Our First Thanksgiving Day: A Thanksgiving Medley By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron Photo courtesy of Google Plus Our First Thanksgiving Day: A Thanksgiving Day Medley (* Sung to Traditional tune of "Thanksgiving Day" Across the Atlantic Ocean, A long time ago, Came Pilgrims on the Mayflower, The New World to know. Freedom of religion Was what they sought;…
Pt 38-C: Farewell to Floren McDonald LeBaron: The Last of The Mexico-LeBarons
Farewell to Floren McDonald LeBaron: The Last of The LeBarons FLOREN MCDONALD LEBARON The Last FarewellIN MEMORIAM "THE BEST IS YET TO COME!"(My Uncle Floren's favorite saying)~~~On February 17, 2019, Two months before his 92nd birthday, Floren McDonald LeBaron Left this earthly helm To join his family In a heavenly realm. Fourth youngest of thirteen kids,…
Doggerel I wrote and a Homage to Detective Sam Brower, Author of “Prophet’s Prey:” A Chronology of Warren Jeffs, the FLDS, and Short Creek/Colorado City
The Book "Prophet's Prey," was authored by outstanding LDS Mormon Leader, Activist, Detective, and Private Investigator Sam Brower. It is among the best books written on life within Mormon fundamentalist clans and enclaves. A film by the same title, "Prophet's Prey," opened in theaters on September 18th, 2017, based on Brower's chronicle of Warren Jeffs and…
Don Leon Jonathan, "The Mormon Giant"
https://youtu.be/8y6iiN1Awd4 "The Mormon Giant" Don Leon Jonathan was the grandson of my grandpa Alma Dayer LeBaron's brother Leo LeBaron The Mormon Giant *By Kris WrayWhile Dayer LeBaron [Sr]'s eldest son Ben may have been able to do 100 push-ups in a traffic jam to demonstrate he was mighty and strong, and bellow out roars that…
Poem/song I wrote: A New Day’s Dawning
A New Day’s Dawning: By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron 1- I feel bad, I feel blue, Sad because this day is through; Still so much left to do; But tomorrow I'll start anew. For God gives, and God takes. Every day is a gift God makes. Too soon my life will be through, But Blues, be off…
Poem/Song I Wrote: “In Mexico, Down Past the Rio Grande”
Picnicking in the Canyons above Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico In Mexico, Down Past the Rio Grande by Stephany Spencer-LeBaronSong Version:1— In Mexico, down past the Rio Grande,I buried my diaries in the desert sand;Now they lie lost in a foreign land --Lost in LeBaron when I fled the clan.Buried my poems in the desert’s…
Review of “It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass!
An update of my January 9, 2017 Review of "It's Not About the Sex" My Ass: Confessions of an Ex-Mormon Ex-Polygamist Ex-Wife: I don't usually do Book Reviews, for lack of time. But this book was so super, I listened to it straight through, on Audible; then listened to it again two times more -- then…
Poems I wrote: My Backyard Bird-Haven Wildlife Menagerie
Backyard Bird-Haven Wildlife MenagerieBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaron Photo by Frank Cone on Pexels.com Backyard Bird-Haven Wildlife MenagerieBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaronFor many years, I worked hardTo attract beautiful birds to my back yard.Feeding and watching them was healthy fun.By 2004, a Birder I’d become,Expanding my bird-feeders To sixty-one.My Birding Hobby couldn't be sweeter…Till I saw a squirrel fly overhead From…
Poem I Wrote: Less and Less the U.S.
Less and Less the U.S. More and moreWe're less and lessThe U.S. we used to be.Inflation, stagnation,Illegal immigrationThe global economy,Globalists, and more Diminish our Democracy.Now "Covid 1984"Is controlling me! Who's pulling the stringsOf our Bureaucracy?I'm all for improvementAnd equality.But that's not what I seePresently:My U.S. is a mess;No longer free. Bring back the AmericaWe used to be!Bring…
Poem I wrote: Ultimately In Eternity
Ultimately in EternityI know God loves us all the same,And we all partake of joy and pain,Free will and choice, loss and gain;Plus a chance to Journey to the water's main,Drink and make a memorable name;And understanding of all things attain.God gives so much for free;And carries us when we're weakly.Though the journey's never easy,Lessons…
Poems/doggerel I wrote: Notes, Quotes, Jokes; Pokes, ‘n’ Anecdotes
Bimbo Weeps: I'm sittin' alone in the moonlight, At the Heartbreak Hotel Café, Abandoned by women and men; And here's all I have to say: “I’ll never eat garlic nor onions again -- Not till my dying day --They've driven my possible friends away; Kept romance and intimacy at bay!"By Stephany Spencer BIG LOVE Bimbo…
Pt 39: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade
Pt 39: Ma, Pa, Me, And Polygamy on Parade My Mother: beautiful brainiac, talented, Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer "What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way to the coffin."Henry Ward Beecher Our habits of perfectionism are deeply harmful: Perfectionism distracts us and keeps us from moving forward, out of a fear of messing up…
Poem/Song I Wrote: Life’s Dash
LIFE'S DASH My cousin, the famous Eddie LeBaron “There'll be two dates on your tombstone And all your friends will read ‘em; But all that's going to matter- Is that little dash between ‘em.” Kevin Welch LIFE'S DASH by Stephany Spencer-LeBaron 1- Between the dates of birth and death, There's always a little dash -- To…
Pt 35a–38c: More LeBaron- Spencer Family History
Pt 35a--38c: More LeBaron-Spencer Family History “The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it.” ― Francis Bacon Pt 35-A: Alma Dayer LeBaron Lou Gehrig's Diseaseand "Who Got the Button?" Maud Lucinda McDonald LeBaron, Joel Franklin LeBaron, and Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr "A mother is she who can take the place of all others but…
Pt 38-A: Esther LeBaron & Floyd Spencer: Fights, Plights, and Physical Punishment
Pt 38-A: Esther LeBaron & Floyd Spencer: Fights, Plights, and Physical Punishment My older sister, twin sisters, and I: Mama had her hands full! When you lead your sons and daughters in the good way, let your words be tender and caressing, in terms of discipline that wins the heart's assent."Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman Whatever…
Pt 37: Memoir of a Plyg: EDIFICATION at Utah’s Hurricane High School
Pt 37: Memoir of a Plyg: EDIFICATION at Utah’s Hurricane High School 1959: Members of my Hurricane, Utah Jr. High School Class (I'm on right, 2nd row from front) He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. He who fights with monsters…
Pt 36: Mom, Dad, and Dayer LeBaron’s Death
Pt 36: My Mom, Dad, and Dayer LeBaron's Death My mother Esther LeBaron Spencer with the 7 youngest of her 14 children "Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." Author Unknown In one or two places, my Grandmother Maud LeBaron is recorded as having said: "Joel "must be…
Pt 35-A: Alma Dayer LeBaron, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and “Who Got the Button?”
Pt 35-A: Alma Dayer LeBaron Lou Gehrig's Diseaseand "Who Got the Button?" Maud Lucinda McDonald LeBaron, Joel Franklin LeBaron, and Alma Dayer LeBaron "A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take." Cardinal Mermillod Joel Franklin LeBaron -- namesake of his Great-uncle Joel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin Johnson's…
Pt 34-P: Benjamin F. Johnson’s Bro, Joel Johnson: Creativity and Bipolar Disorder
Famous Poet, Pioneer, and Mormon Hymn Writer, my G.G.-Uncle Joel H. Johnson, Brother of BFJ While growing up, Mother talked about her amazing Great-grandfather B.F. Johnson -- amazing not only because he was one of the American West's and Mormondom's early pioneer heroes (he helped forge the last frontier, Utah); but also because he figured…
Pt 34-J: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who’s Got the Button?
My Grandpa Alma Dayer LeBaron's five youngest sons, "The Mexico-LeBaron Boys:" Left to right: Floren, Alma, Verlan, Joel, and Ervil "Now, I don't go along with either Joel's movement or Verlan's movement or Ervil's; and now there's a Floren, another brothren, and he's trying to start a movement."Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr.(Alma Dayer LeBaron's second-oldest son)…
Pt 34-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The Mexico-LeBarons, and Hearing Voices
Pt 34-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The Mexico LeBarons, and Hearing Voices The young and the old of my Grandpa Dayer LeBaron "There is only one way to bring a child upin the way he should goand that is to travel that way yourself."Abraham Lincoln IF it's true Grandpa Dayer's grandfather B.F. Johnson said he held a…
Review of My Aunt Rena Chynoweth’s “The Blood Covenant”
This Memoir, written over thirty-five years ago, struck me as the work of an immature apologist and revisionist. Its bias toward my Uncle Ervil's cold-hearted cult hangs like a cobweb over this tale co-authored by my Ex-Aunt, infamous Rena Chynoweth. The last I checked, this book was still in the public libraries. But sadly in…
Pt 32: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness
Pt 32: Esther LeBaron Spencer, the Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness "The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surrounded them;their notions of good and evil are the result ofthe moral atmosphere they breathe."Jean Paul Richter We left off last week with this assertion: People should take responsibility for their actions; not project blame…
Pt 31-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The-Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness
Pt 31-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The-Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness ~Picking up where we left off on "Pt 31-C: My Mama Esther LeBaron Spencer, The- Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness": X-- Another factor leading to mental problems in the Dayer and Maud LeBaron family is: They held much in because they were supposed to be perfect Mormon…
Me, my twin sisters Judith and Sharon on Mom's lap, and my sister Doris “Home is wherever I'm with you.”“HOME” by Edward Sharpand the Magnetic Zeros “Home,” by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros https://youtu.be/LzPPAw5tnqs "Home is whenever I'm with you."Edward Sharpe* Beginning where we left off in "Pt 27: More Memories of My Mama Esther…
Pt 27: More Memories of My Parents Esther LeBaron and Floyd Spencer
My father and mother standing on their land "the Galeana Springs" Pt 27: More Memories of My Mom Esther LeBaron and Dad Floyd Spencer "One I love with all my heart,Mother, dear, it's you;And I want to make you glad;Yes, indeed, I do!I will help you every day,Smiling as I go,And I'll never make you…
Pt 26: More Memories of My Mom Esther LeBaron Spencer
Pt 26: More Memories of My Mom Esther LeBaron Spencer My mother Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer at age 21 "You can never go home." Sinclair Lewis Another variable in the equivocation, as to Mom's virginity on her wedding night, is the following (Perhaps I'm throwing a hand grenade into the equation?): When I was about fourteen, Momma told…
Pt 25: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Pa, Me, ‘n’ Polygamy
Pt 25: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Pa, Me, 'n' Polygamy My parents and nine of their then 10 children in 1956 or 1957. I'm around 10 or 11 years old in this picture--just got back from cherry-picking in a friend's orchard so my hair is all mussed up. "Never complain about what your parents couldn't give…
Pt 24: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade
Pt 24: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade Life's HighwayTo everyone their openethA way, ways, and a way;And the high soul takes the high way,The low soul takes the low;While in between on the misty flatsThe rest drift to and fro.But to everyone their openethA high way and low.And everyone decidethThe way his soul…
Pt 23: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade
My Memoir: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade -- Part 23 "People see what they want to see till they want to see." Dena McLean (My cousin) I left off in blog, "Pt 22: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade," saying: Mama preached polygamy and told people they would go to hell if they did…
Pt 21: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade
~ Pt 21: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade “Civilization is social ordersupporting cultural creativity.”Will Durant Taking up from "Pt 20-A-J: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade," it bears restating that one of my Mormon fundamentalist sisters who married so many Misters never ever caught on ... never bothered to catch on how to check out, before she…
Pt 20-I: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade
Pt 20-I: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade My family in 1964 -- one sister absent) Abuse: “When fear rules, Obedience is the only survival choice." Toni Morrison "God Help the Child" My parents, though trying prodigiously to do what was right, foolishly spawned a bunch of foot-washing fundamentalist children bound by fear and…
Pt 20-G, Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy Parasites
My Memoir: Pt 20-G, Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy Parasites “Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: The last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor Frankel "Man’s Search for Meaning” Continuing where we left off in "Pt 20-F, Ma,…
Pt 43: Esther LeBaron Spencer and Lesbian Love
Pt 43: Esther LeBaron Spencer and Lesbian Love Circa 1935: Esther LeBaron Spencer (right) & companion "All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her." George Washington Pt 43-A: My Mama Esther LeBaron Spencer and Lesbian Love In…
Rebecca Kimbel: Producer, Artist, Ex-Mormon Fundie, Human Rights Advocate, and Community Activist
NOTE: The following is a re-post of a past blog. Since that previous posting, some things have changed: E.g, Rebecca Kimbel recently published her amazing Memoir: Born in Polygamy. I bought the manuscript last week on Amazon.com. I'm now in the process of reading this masterpiece that promises to be the Bible of all books…
William P. Tucker’s Baby and Wife Left to Die by Cult, Sister, & Bill’s Buddy Stephen Silver
28-year-old Bill Tucker and 18-year-old Beulah Stephany Spencer-LeBaron de Tucker with our Six-month-old baby Asenath Marie "Where there's a will, there's a way." William James In July 1967, three months after my/our husband, William Preston Tucker/AKA: Bill Tucker (I say "our" husband because I was one of Bill's three wives), announced to the "church" he…
Books & Media That Changed My Life
Books & Media That Changed My Life for the Better oN MY JOURNEY from Fundism to freedom Born In Polygamy: A True Crime Autobiographyby Rebecca Kimbel | May 14, 2020 Escape Prisons of the Mindby Kaziah May Hancock | Apr 12, 2022 The mind-blowing truth about Roswell! “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read…
Part 42-A–E: Megalomania and Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind
Pt 42-A:Megalomania and theMaking of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Handsome Mexico-LeBarons Ervil, Joel, Verlan, Alma, and Floren Somehow we learn who we really areand then live with that decision."Eleanor Roosevelt I've long been on a quest to understand the making of the Mexico-LeBaron mind---its need to be number one, the best, in control of everyone---and always…
Memoir: Should Polygamy Be Legal?
MY EXPOSE ON POLYGAMY "Was It really a Divine Revelation from God to Joseph Smith that people had to live this so-called "principle" in order to attain the highest degree of glory in heaven?"* The above question was on the Discussion Board of a mainstream LDS Mormon blog site I happened to run into on…
Pt 1-9: Floyd O. Spencer, Mormon LeBaron Cult Member
PART 1 My Memoir: My Daddy, Floyd Otto Spencer My Daddy, Floyd Otto Spencer, age 19 MY DADDY My Memoir Backstory “My Daddy” takes up where I left off writing “My Memoir Introduction: I Was Born a “Saint.” After I wrote this blog, I realized I'd put the cart before the horse -- started my Memoir bass-ackwards: I got myself…
Pt 1–18: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and Mormon Polygamist Cults Unmasked
A Memoir: FLEEING POLYGAMY: Out of LeBaronism into the Lightby Stephany Spencer-LeBaron PART 1:Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer:My Mother: Image “Mother! For love of thee it was begun;In thy most honored name today ’tis done.And though all earthly cares must ceaseIn that fair land of everlasting peace,Love aye is one, and they who love…
Review of Scott Anderson’s “The 4 O’Clock Murders”
Investigative Journalist Scott Anderson, Author of The 4 O'clock Murders Scott Anderson's "The 4 O'clock Murders," published in 1993, is a must-read for those interested in a documentary of America's most bizarre but now apparently defunct crime family. The Doc chronicles the history of this extremist cult initiated in the late 1960s by the sociopathic serial…
Review of Ruth Wariner’s Memoir, “The Sound Of Gravel”
NOTE: The following essay is a Review of The Sound of Gravel, a Memoir by Ruth Wariner, a first cousin of mine. ("Wariner" is Ruth's mother's maiden name. My Uncle Joel LeBaron was Ruth's father.) By Stephany Spencer:I've read once, listened thrice to Ruth Wariner's book/audiobook, The Sound of Gravel. It got higher ratings with each…
Memoir Poem I Wrote: A Letter to My Art Teacher — and Some 6th-8th Grade Artwork
Civilization is social order supporting cultural creativity.Will Durant The picture below elicited the following poem: "A Lyrical-Letter to My Art Teacher." NOTE: As a youngster, I always got an "A" on my Art work. But was worried I would end up with a "B" on the picture you see above, because I had to erase a…
Memoir: Chapter 1: My House of Cards
The Cards of Life Life dealt me cards — I played my hand With confidence — I had it planned … When, later, life revealed the score It shook me to my very core! I wondered then — still wonder now: Could I have changed my life somehow? And — if life dealt this hand…
Memoir Introduction: I Was Born a “Saint”– a Slave!
INTRODUCTION I was born some time ago,Way out in the sticks,In a valley of old Mexico,In 1946.(So begins my saga.) “I am conscious that my narrativesavers of incredibility:The fault is in the subject,not in the narrator.”~The City of the Saints,By Richard F. Burton,1861*(Quote borrowed from Irving Wallace'soutstanding biography,"The Twenty-Seventh Wife")1961 The Cards of LifeLife dealt…
Review of Luna Lindsey’s “Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control”
Luna Lindsey, Author, Speaker, and Musician (*NOTE: My Review doesn't look as nice as it looks on Amazon.com, from whence I copied and pasted it after I wrote it there. But at least I was able to post it here, for better or for worse. ~Also, below this Book Review is an essay I used by permission of…
Poem I wrote: From My Diary As An Adolescent Mormon Girl
I'm in middle row, 2nd to left Oh, To Be Just Me! I was born some time ago Way out in the sticks In a Mormon colony in Mexico In nineteen-forty-six My family moved to the U.S. When I was only one -- Right after The Great Depression And World War II were done. We're…
Memoir poem I wrote: My Hypnotic-Regression “Rebirthing” Session: Nascency in Mexico Down Past the Rio Grande
My Hypnotic-Regression "Rebirthing" Session In 1986, I learned it was possible to be hypnotized and taken back to the moment I was born. Being a curious person undergoing personal growth, self-discovery, and healing, I hired an excellent psychotherapist who specialized in doing psychological “Rebirthings.” Through my hypnotic-regression session, this therapist guided me back to the…
Famous ‘n’ Infamous Relatives
Famous 'n' InfamousRelatives "We all come from the past,and children ought to know what it wasthat went into their making."Russell Baker The following book by Diana Spencer's brother, Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl of England, chronicles the story of his Royal family. It may be of interest to Spencer families and anyone related to…
Memoir: I won and I Lost … Or How More Is Less
My family in 1958 (I'm 2nd to left, middle row) (NOTE: Not Hurricane High School: But this photo is the best depiction I could find of how I recall Hurricane High back when I attended 6th-8th grades there, between 1957--1960.) A Memoir Story by Beulah Stephany Spencer-LeBaron It was the 1959–1960 school year in small-town…
Poem/song I wrote: “Painted Spring:” Take-off from Spanish Traditional Song “De Colores”
A Lesson Too Late In The Learning: Write It or Regret It Recently, at the California Writers Club, a fellow poet and guest speaker, Deborah Edler Brown, advised: "At the moment of inspiration, record it. Don't wait! For it's like babies lost you can never retrieve if you don't record your inspiration when it comes."…
Review of Cousin Anna LeBaron’s “The Polygamist’s Daughter”
By Stephany Spencer: Review of my cousin Anna LeBaron’s Memoir: The Polygamist’s Daughter *Note:This is a re-post Review I wrote three years ago when Anna Le Baron's first Memoir came out. I'm happy to tell you she is now in the process of writing her second book. Follow her on social media sites such as…
Part 42-D: Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind
Part 42-D:Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Circa 1964: My mother Esther LeBaron Spencer Leaving a cult is a lot likedriving at night with your headlights on:You may only see a few feet in front of you,but you can make the whole journey that way.Stephany Spencer-LeBaron(Takeoff from E. L. Doctorow): "Writing a novel…
Pt 42-C: Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind
Pt 42-C: Megalomania, and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Circa 1942: My mother Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer "Whatever we call the form–autobiography, memoir, personal history, family history–writing about one's life is a powerful human need.Writers are the custodians of memory, and memories have a way of dying with their owner.If it's a family…
Part 42-A: Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind
Pt 42-A: Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Handsome Mexico-LeBarons Ervil, Joel, Verlan, Alma, and Floren Somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision."Eleanor Roosevelt I've long been on a quest to understand the making of the Mexico-LeBaron mind---its need to be number one, the best; in control…
Pt 41-M: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness
Pt 41-M: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and "More on" LeBaron Madness Circa 2003: Stephany Spencer-LeBaron, age 57;36 years after fleeing polygamy and the cult "There are no heros. Only heroic decisions. You are never further than one decision away from making a difference. It doesn't matter whether it is a big difference or if it…
Pt 41-L: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness
Pt 41-L: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and "More on" LeBaron Madness My gifted, crazy, creative Uncle Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."Winston Spencer Churchhill Continued from "Pt 41-L: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and "More on" LeBaron Madness":The following exhibits come from gifted Uncle…
Pt 41-k: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness
Pt 41-k: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and "More on" LeBaron Madness gifted, crazy, creative Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr “Polygamy attracts the type of men who do not wish to be accountable to anyone; least of all their wives. Marriage was not a partnership.”Karen MILLER: "My Life as a Sister Wife" *Continued from "Pt 41-J: Ross…
Pt 41-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer and ‘More on’ LeBaron Madness”
Pt 41-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer and 'More on' LeBaron Madness" My Bipolar-compromised uncle, Benjamin T. LeBaron I learned again and again in my life, until you get your own act together, you’re not ready for Big Love.What you’re ready for is one of those codependent relationships where you desperately need a partner.” Bruce H. Lipton, The Honeymoon…
Pt 41-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer and “More on” LeBaron Madness
Pt 41-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer and "More on" LeBaron Madness My mother Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."Ralph Waldo Emerson In "Parts 39--40-B: Esther LeBaron Spencer;Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy," I discussed issues of perfectionism in my grandparents Maud and…
Pt 40-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy
Pt 40-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy Circa 1956: My parents and 9 of their ultimately 14 kids; shortly after leaving Short Creek, Arizona to live in nearby Hurricane, Utah Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. Anaïs…
Review of Gabriella Owens’ “BBQ Pizza: A Flaming Expose of Macho Cooking”
[ BBQ Pizza: A Flaming Expose on Macho Cooking Owens, Gabriella ( Author ) ] { Paperback } 2013Paperback by Gabriella Owens (Author) On Review: Gabriella Owens’ Book, BBQ Pizza: A Flaming Expose’ of Macho Cooking Dear Readers: I couldn't believe a cookbook could keep me so engrossed that I wouldn't put it down! Because I…
Poem/doggerel I wrote: Fred Morrow Plumbing: Super Savings on Sewer Sub-Meters!
Poets for Fred Morrow Plumbing* Savings on Sewer Sub-Meters They've installed hundreds of meter readers! It's a first class, first choice Contractor’s corporation-- In my humble opinion Best plumbers in the nation I hired Fred Morrow So won't be sorry tomorrow Did my homework Now I'll not repent in sorrow Morrow’s super plumber Stal In-stal-led…
Poem I wrote: Do You Dig?
Do You Dig? To find enlightenment and succeed in life’s journey toward individuation and edification, we might participate in an inner archaeological dig. Assisting Workshops are found under "Soul-Searching Archaeology," offered free at The College of Life, and Hard Knox University. Do you “dig”? These workshops include a certain kind of digging into our inner…
Review of “Zelph on the Shelf: Mormons, Ex-Mormons, and Censorship Culture”
I just discovered a most valuable and wonderful Website, "Zelph on the Shelf: Mormons, Ex-Mormons, and Censorship Culture." I read part of it. So very much look forward to reading more when I have time. Although I presently believe we are spiritual beings having a physical experience -- in other words, I am no longer a Social-Scientific-Thinker…
Poem I wrote and a Review of the California Writers Club Anniversary Anthology, “Cascade of Pearls”
Ode to The California Writers Club: The California Writers Club is our oyster, And writers the pearls polished within her. Stephany Spencer 2016 2016 marked the 30th anniversary -- The Pearl Anniversary of The California Writers Club: San Fernando Valley Branch. For thirty years, This club's been our "oyster" ranch, And we members Pearls growing within her dance, Polishing…
Review of Ester Shifren’s “Hiding in a Cave of Trunks”
'* Note: The following is a book review I did of an acquaintance's book,"Hiding in a Cave of Trunks." Unfortunately, when I copied and pasted my review, as usual, it didn't turn out looking nearly as nice as it looks on Goodreads.com, but it will do. Read My book review of Esther Shifren’s “Hiding in…
Some of My Pieces Published 2007–2008 in the California Writers Club “The Scribe”
* NOTE: I have taken some of my pieces that were published in…
Poems I wrote, and Original Quotes, Notes, ‘n’ Anecdotes on Writing ‘n’ Creativity
Stephany Spencer, age 20 Hi! Welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web. I'm Stephany, retired teacher on her endless summer ... poet, artist, musician ... Jackalyn of many trades. As we speak, it's 2016. I'm developing skills as a webmaster and blogger–work so fun I doubt it will ever be done.I'm loving the…
Poem/song I wrote: Mariachi Musician Juan José
Mariachi Musician Juan José 1- He was born some time ago, Way out in the sticks, In a valley of Old Mexico, The year nineteen-forty-six. By the time he turned thirteen, There were siblings of twelve; For everything he ever got He had to dig and delve. CHORUS: Dig and delve, yes, dig and…
Poem I wrote: Ode to Chava Chavarin and the Tres Camarones Team
Tres Camarones/Three Shrimp Dr. Luis Alberto Urrea’s audiobook Into the Beautiful North inspired the following lyrics: Ode to Chava Chavarin*and the Tres Camarones Teamby Stephany Spencer-LeBaron Hey!What's in a name?I can't say;but the moniker“Chava Chavarin”rings in my brain today,though I completedthe novel yesterday.Like music in rain,This sonorous name motivated my muse to pen poems for play!So…
Poem I wrote: “Advice for Creatives”
"Part of the reason that people don’t become enlightened is because it’s punctuated by intermittent catastrophes."WordToTheWise Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.An axiom DARE, DEAR CREATIVES, DARE!by Stephany Spencer-LeBaron"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."Creatives can onlypresent works to the world... see their originations unfurled,if they dare---dare to fail, in order to dare to…
Poem/Doggerel I wrote: Lovely Lively Lizards
Lovely Lively Lizards I detest supporting lazy "lizards" -- Leeches, losers, and welfare abusers: Socialism can be Welfare for users. So, lazy-daisy loafing "lizards," Penniless-paupers, down-and-out dizzards, Get off your rump, use your gizzard, And from the welfare rolls be scissored! My new slogan is herein delivered: "Be part of the solution, Not the pollution…
Essay and Doggerel Poem I wrote: “John Cage and Composing”
Avant-garde composer John Cage said: "The material of music is sound and silence. Integrating these is composing." We could likewise say:The material of poetryis sound and silence-- syllables and silence. Integrating these is composing, albeit poetry. We could compose music and poems that go together; I.e., compose songs: Songs are poems--lyrics set to music. Now I morph into…
Memoir: An Apology As To Name Changes, etc.
Dear readers, please note: I have changed names in my Memoirs, in various cases, to protect the innocent -- mainly myself! I also acknowledge that in writing my memoir blogs, I know I can't avoid hurting my family, relatives and past friends I grew up with. Anything I say at all against their…
First Blog
My First Blog Beulah Stephany Spencer-LeBaron, 2015, age 69 7/2016 Hi! I'm Stephany Spencer/AKA: Beulah/ Stephany Spencer-LeBaron. Welcome to my little corner of the world-wide web -- my "virtual" piece of internet real estate! Feel free to click about and find out what's useful. If I may be of help, please contact me. I'm…
STEPHANY SPENCER: 