The Juvenile Instructor has come into a bit of luck recently in attracting solid and talented guest bloggers. That luck has not run out. We’re pleased to announce our latest guest, Heidi, known also as Pinto. Heidi received a BA in Humanities and History at BYU in 2006, and will graduate with a Masters in American Studies at Boston University this spring. I got to know Heidi this summer as part of the Joseph Smith Seminar with Richard Bushman and Terryl Givens (although we quickly discovered that she was that “Special Collections girl” [meaning she worked there] and I was “that guy with a shaved head always looking up Joseph Smith stuff” when we were undergrads at BYU). She tells me that she has had the opportunity to research in the Church History Department on the Susquehanna years and that she will be returning there for a summer stint as well.

In terms of her Mormon interests, she is fascinated with women’s cultural history (especially in the 1880-1930 era), media studies, and LDS theology of romance and sexuality. She is currently in talks on a book proposal on how to situate oneself in the church as a young single adult, where our theology (NOT our culture) places us as regarding dating and sexuality, and all the anxiety these thoughts seem to create. She compares her book idea to a Mormon version of Joshua Harris’ “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” or Lauren Winner’s “Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity.”

She also asked me to mention that she has red hair that she’s proud of and she’s “in talks” with a “certain amazing young man” about a possible merger sometime in late 2008. It makes her “happy and nervous but mostly very, very happy.”

Let’s welcome Heidi!