Breaking Misconceptions through Visibility

Hyrum Timpson (known as Hyrum Burton on TV!) belongs to the Centennial Park Group—a fundamentalist Mormon community of around 1500 people based in Arizona. They broke off from the mainstream LDS church in the 1910s and broke off from the group now known as the FLDS (Colorado City) in 1986. They are a community steeped in tradition but also proudly open and modern.

You may also know him from National Geographic’s docuseries Polygamy USA, a rare look at how the community lives their faith including things like political advocacy and placement marriage.

By agreeing to be on TV, the community made an exceptionally courageous choice to “let their light shine” and challenge misconceptions—especially given their history of having been misunderstood and mistreated, including shared roots with the FLDS and echoes of the Waco siege. 

Thank you so much Hyrum!

Time Stamps:

00:50 Ice Breakers: Cryptids and D&D

3:15, 15:03 & 54:26 Centennial Park Action Committee (CPAC), rallies and pride groups

12:12 Learn about the faith

17:31 Reality Manipulated for TV

37:46 Living in a Small Intentional Community & Connection to Colorado City 

30:13 & 50:52 Plural Marriage and Placement Marriage

45:11 The leadership

52:37 United Order (a communal economic system)

Mentioned:

Waco Siege (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege)

Journal of Discourse (https://journalofdiscourses.com/)

Truth Magazine (https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/fundamentalist-documents/)

Lectures on Faith (https://lecturesonfaith.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Where to find Polygamy USA: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2960314/episodes/

Stream: https://www.amazon.com/Polygamy-USA-Season-1/dp/B00D3WWN52

More from The Centennial Park group:

ABC Primetime: "The Outsiders"

The Oprah Winfrey Network's Our America with Lisa Ling (multiple)

Dawn Porter: Extreme Wife

I can't thank Drew Briney enough for taking the time to talk! This episode is for those who are interested in the interpretation of ancient religious texts, creating change through political organizing, reality TV, and everything in between. 

Drew Briney is a former attorney and current science fiction writer. He is also a fundamentalist Mormon and polygamist who had three wives. He was featured on the TLC reality show, Seeking Sister Wife. 

Check out his writing here: https://anewbreedofdragon.com/

Time Stamps:

00:01:31 "When you became a polygamist, you lost some of your constitutional rights": The decision to go public, the fight for the legalization of polygamy, representing Kody Brown of Sister Wives and defending polygamists as an attorney.

27:36 Comparative Religious Beliefs, Science Fiction and Graham Hancock

37:17 Discoveries in Ancient Christian Texts and The Apocalypse of Moses

43:39 Fundamentalism, Polygamy and Criminal Profiler John E. Douglas

53:27 The reality of Reality TV 

59:19 The other families on Seeking Sister Wife

01:05:00 Being a Dad to 15 Children

01:07:00 What polygamists are really like and showing heartbreak on TV

CC Grains Part 5:

Nancy currently lives in Southern California in a tiny home and remains passionate about local organic food. From Seattle to Hawaii to California, her CC Grains story is a truly remarkable coming-of-age story. A brave story that weaves together spiritual and sexual identity, health, friendship, and womanhood.

*****

Seattle was a huge part of the creation of the modern food movement, but so much of that has been lost to history.

Nancy was a pioneering member of Cooperative Community Grains or CC Grains in the 1970s. It was one part of the larger Seattle Workers’ Brigade.

CC Grains was an all-womyn’s food distributor warehouse distributing organic and natural foods to co-ops, buying clubs and natural foods stores ranging from Alaska to Montana, centered in Seattle, WA.

It was part of the Alternative Economic System, and was a crucial link in developing the organic food industry.

The Seattle Worker’s Brigade, “A worker collective, that was worker self-managed and women-owned" was "explicitly anti-corporate, alternative, their motto was “Food for People, Not for Profit.”

CC Grains Part 4:

Uli lives in Olympia, and she is one of the original founders of The Wildrose, Seattle's iconic lesbian bar. According to Wikipedia, in the 1980s when the Wildrose was founded, there were around 200 lesbian bars in the United States, and today there are only around 25. The Wildrose is one of the oldest lesbian bars on the West Coast.

Uli worked at CC Grains as a single mother of 5 young kids, during the chapter of her life that began after looking up "gay" in the Yellow Pages. Her story is amazing!

Seattle was a huge part of the creation of the modern food movement, but so much of that has been lost to history.

Uli was a pioneering member of Cooperative Community Grains or CC Grains in the 1970s. It was one part of the larger Seattle Workers’ Brigade.

CC Grains was an all-womyn’s food distributor warehouse distributing organic and natural foods to co-ops, buying clubs and natural foods stores ranging from Alaska to Montana, centered in Seattle, WA.

It was part of the Alternative Economic System, and was a crucial link in developing the organic food industry.

The Seattle Worker’s Brigade, “A worker collective, that was worker self-managed and women-owned" was "explicitly anti-corporate, alternative, their motto was “Food for People, Not for Profit.”

Photo from https://www.thewildrosebar.com/about-us

Renée Perry was a pioneering member of Cooperative Community Grains or CC Grains in the 1970s. It was one part of the larger Seattle Workers’ Brigade. 

0:25 Renée’s Career & Life, Working backwards to CC Grains

California Humanities

California Documentaries Project:

Real Boy 

Crip Camp 

14:45 Origin of CC Grains & Seattle History

Separatist Lesbianism

The Wobblies

Great Strike

The Gorgons

Mondragon

The Seattle Workers Brigade

23:15 “The activity is a rebuke against prioritizing financial investment over personal action/Counter-culturally Specific/The world could be made new”:

How political ideas developed/Are different from current framings

26:32 “Safe place to be imperfect”:

What Work at the Collective was Like—Alaska Orders, Women of Color, Lesbians, and Points of Tension at CC Grains

46:01 “Not a part of the Zeitgeist/Jettisoning our Values/Distrust in Our Own Expertise”:

Could CC Grains exist now? 

52:02: Favorite Memories at CC Grains

Seattle was a huge part of the creation of the modern food movement, but so much of that has been lost to history.

Renée Perry was a pioneering member of Cooperative Community Grains or CC Grains in the 1970s. It was one part of the larger Seattle Workers’ Brigade. 

CC Grains was an all-womyn’s food distributor warehouse distributing organic and natural foods to co-ops, buying clubs and natural foods stores ranging from Alaska to Montana, centered in Seattle, WA.

It was part of the Alternative Economic System, and was a crucial link in developing the organic food industry.

The Seattle Worker’s Brigade, “A worker collective, that was worker self-managed and women-owned" was "explicitly anti-corporate, alternative, their motto was “Food for People, Not for Profit.”

If you remember CC Grains and want to contribute, please reach out: ⁠[email protected]⁠.

📷 Cover Photo: CC Grains group photo. Renée is in the front row, far left.

Maia shares a remarkable story about a young woman, a poet and mother, whose life was impacted profoundly by Cooperative Community Grains — herself. I was honored that she let me in, and will be thinking of her story often.

Maia was a pioneering member of Cooperative Community Grains or CC Grains in the 1970s, which was one part of the larger Seattle Workers’ Brigade, an all-womyn’s food distributor warehouse distributing organic and natural foods to co-ops, buying clubs and natural foods stores ranging from Alaska to Montana, centered in Seattle, WA.

It was part of the Alternative Economic System, and was a crucial link in developing the organic food industry.

Seattle was a huge part of the creation of the modern food movement, but so much of that has been lost to history.

The Seattle Worker’s Brigade, “A worker collective, that was worker self-managed and women-owned" was "explicitly anti-corporate, alternative, our motto was 'Food for People, Not for Profit.' 

📷 Cover Photo: CC Grains group photo. Maia is on the far right, in a red sweater.

We first serendipitously crossed paths by way of the red tent at the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religion, the year of the first women's assembly. When all these years later, I found her handout in a book and reached out, the exemplary Bridget Burch-Cook very generously agreed to share her stories and wisdom with me. Check out her work at https://www.yourinspiredstory.com/.

"Bridget Cook-Burch is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, best known for her riveting tales of transformation. Most important to her are the stories of individuals rising from trauma, out of limitation and into possibilities--even great leadership. Bridget’s powerful work has been showcased on Oprah, CNN, Good Morning America, and in People magazine, among many others."

Among other things, she is also the Executive Director of the non-profit SHEROES United, supporting people in overcoming trauma in the areas of human trafficking and domestic violence. With Your Inspired Story, she is a speaker and writing mentor, along with hosting Inspired Writer's Retreats.

Bridget, I can't thank you enough for encouraging me to forgive, confront my shadows, and share my story!

Please buckle up for a fizzy, technicolor, existential soulful adventure... Unicole (ze/zir) and I first crossed paths at Alienstock in 2019. We talk about the things that truly matter: the meaning of suffering, venture capital, and the struggles of starting a commune. Thank you Unicole for your deep wisdom and guidance. You have my puffy rainbow-striped alien heart and I'm so happy we're existing and sparkling on the same planet at the same time.

For treasures untold, please visit Unicole's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unicole

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unicoleunicron/?hl=en

Website: https://unicoleunicron.com/

Hiya, what can you say when words fail: today's guest is uncommonly spectacular. Jenn Mason is living her best life and changing lives in Bellingham, WA and online. She worked for 10 years at a domestic violence and rape crisis center before starting Wink Wink and being elected to her local school board. Her "non-creepy" woman-owned, identity-inclusive sex shop makes the world a place I'm a little prouder to live in. 

She focuses on pleasure after trauma and how to do better for survivors, including holding "hope for survivors that sex can be amazing and wonderful after they've experienced a violation," and recognizing that having a relationship with our own bodies and positive eroticism can be healing. What a hopeful message. 

Please check them out, you definitely won't regret it:

About: https://winkwinkboutique.com/pages/about

Classes/Events: https://winkwinkboutique.com/pages/classes-events

Coaching Services: https://winkwinkboutique.com/pages/sex-coaching

Mentioned, Vibrator Nation the book

Other inclusive sex shops mentioned (but I still think Wink Wink wins for best name!):

Feelmore in Oakland

She Bop in Portland

Babeland in Seattle

Smitten Kitten in Minneapolis 

Come As You Are in Toronto

Good Vibrations, locations in the Bay Area and MA

Guest Ian Wright is the author of the website Dark Marxism: Adventures in Marxist Theory https://ianwrightsite.wordpress.com/author/ianwrightsite/

This conversation is an intellectual, cerebral adventure that blends ideas around Marxism and Capitalism with spiritual concepts.

Listen to the first 50 minutes to hear a detailed explanation of Marx's real god, how we're sometimes like "enchanted rag dolls" with a few surprising questions at the end.

Introducing our guest co-host Chris Marshall! We can't thank our amazing, incredible guest Ian Wright enough for sharing his ideas. We are looking forward to seeing your book someday, hopefully sooner rather than later!