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I was very moved by Kwani Povi Winder's beautiful essay “My Mother, a  Living Legend.” I'd never heard of Living Legends, but I was vividly transported into the history and experience of this wonderful initiative. I was especially touched by this line: “Janie was so invested in the group, that she even lifted the feet of the performers to help them feel the beats of the music.” May all of us be so invested in one another's flourishing.

Ethan Wickman

San Antonio, Texas

In the February issue of The Season, I thought the profile on Ryan Hamilton by Ted Bushman was simply excellent. It was so well-written, I loved the pacing and tone, and there was a fantastic array of information and insight that felt perfectly condensed.

Outside of the content of the article, I would love to see some other things from The Season and its contributing writers, especially on the magazine's online platform: hyperlinks to Ryan's standup routines or performances, where I could buy tickets to his upcoming performances, social media accounts, and so on. Since running a google search is such a complicated matter, being able to click on a link from the article I just read that could take me directly to the page I wanted to go to would save an entire millisecond.

I would also not mind a description or writer's bio about Ted, since he is the author of the piece. Is he a one-time contributor to The Season or a regular writer? Where can I see a list of other articles he has written for The Season or other outside creative projects he has done? And, of course, his social media and website platforms as well.
I am new follower of The Season, but if the magazine's future pieces are just as nuanced, interesting, and curated as this piece, I'm sure to be a devoted one!

Kat Nelson-Sayers

Roanoke, VA

I send my thanks to Ted Bushman for the fine article about Ryan Hamilton in the January installment of The Season. Bushman wrote, "Hamilton understands, in ways that most Wasatch Front artists fail to grasp, the caustic, polarizing effect of active church membership in the coastal world." I would add only that the "caustic, polarizing effect" isn't limited to the coastal world; it's widespread in smoggy old "Zion" too. 

In a Church that doesn't even have roadshows anymore, it seems like we have conceded that Church "culture" is a product to be officially designed and tinkered with by the PR department. If we play into that idea, we artists risk making art that is more evangelical than true, persuasion without argument. 

Ryan Hamilton wins twice because, first, he's side-splittingly funny, which is to say he has mastered his art, and, second, because he's not a missionary at all, which is to say he keeps his Church membership where it belongs. He isn't carrying a banner for the PR department or wearing a name tag—both of which, like bad art, are signals to the world, coastal or otherwise, that people have transactional value as future converts rather than fundamental value as human beings. 

Great art, including great comedy, pulls back the curtain on the cosmos just a little—not to convince or persuade, but to let the cosmos do some talking. And the best bits of LDS culture do that too, inviting us into a fresh view of the cosmos and "without compulsory means," certainly without "caustic, polarizing" nonsense, give us ways of drawing toward the good and the true. I'll continue taking cues for my own creative work from folks like Ryan Hamilton and continue wishing I was even half as clever. My ongoing thanks to the Center for all of its worthy work in every Season.

Andrew Maxfield
Provo, UT

Brent Croxton

Brent Croxton received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brigham Young University and has worked as a designer, art director or creative director in Dallas, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City. His work has been featured in a number of design publications as well as regional, national and international design competitions.

Emily Larsen Doxford

Emily Larsen Doxford is the marketing and communications director for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts. A writer and communications professional, she received her MA in American and English Literature from NYU.

Megan Eckersley

Megan Eckersley is a graphic designer based out of New York City and has worked with clients like Squarespace. She is currently at Square as a Brand Designer.

Michael Hicks

Michael Hicks is a retired professor of Music from Brigham Young University. His most recent book is Wineskine: Freakin’ Jesus in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Neylan McBaine

Neylan McBaine is currently the CEO of Duet Partner, a software that provides studio management tools to independent music teachers. She’s the mother of three daughters – one in college and two in high school – and lives in Salt Lake City.

Glen Nelson

Glen Nelson, along with Neylan McBaine, established The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts in 2021. The 2023 Prize will go to a visual artwork that is inspired by music, receive a cash prize, and be exhibited in a group exhibition in a New York art gallery, Sargent’s Daughters.

Kristin Perkins

Kristin Perkins is a writer and researcher at the intersection of queer studies, theatre, and Mormonism, whose work has been published in Ecumenica, Theatre Topics, and SFRA. She currently works at a library and lives in a rectory in upstate New York. 

Luisa Perkins

Luisa Perkins’s 2017 novella, Prayers in Bath, was recently named to the 100 Significant Mormon Literary Works list by the Association for Mormon Letters. Her latest work is her second cookbook, Comfortably Yum.

Benjamin Dean Taylor

Benjamin Dean Taylor is a composer of contemporary concert music. He has received professional commissions from individuals and ensembles all over the world and is one of the few living composers today making his primary income from writing and self-publishing his music.

What albums or songs are currently playing?

Charlie Bird

Ted Bushman

Kathie Debenham

Gabriel González

Brian Kershisnik

Jeff Parkin

Arisael Rivera

Madeline Rupard

Joël Scoville

Benjamin Taylor

Kwani Winder 

Warren Winegar

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