When your time permits, visit Mormon.org and read the growing number of profiles of individual members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posted thereon. You'll find we're a diverse bunch -- butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, homemakers, managers, etc. etc. etc. But while we come from diverse backgrounds, we strive to be one in Christ. As the Savior Himself said, "...if ye are not one, ye are not Mine". That's REAL diversity -- the type that promotes a greater, more flexible unity, not the dogmatic Orwellian counterfeit imposed upon us from the top down by the political and economic elite daily that divides and polarizes society.
Here's someone who ought to set up her own Mormon.org profile. Meet the "Packwrecker". Who's the "Packwrecker"? To get the whole story, you have to read this Columbus Dispatch article. The gist of it is that the "Packwrecker" is 32-year-old Amy Anne Duclos, a member of the LDS Church who's a mild-mannered homemaker by day, but morphs into a roller derby star on occasion. She's a member of the Tri-City Roller Dolls, the Golden Triangle's new roller derby team. And she's training to be a jammer, who is responsible for scoring points for the team. By the way, we have a short video of one of their practices; at the 0:47 point, you'll see Amy in the center of the video (blonde with white shirt and black pants).
Despite stigmas attached to roller derby, Duclos says it's just a stereotype. She characterizes her teammates as good girls, even if they don't always dress modestly. But she doesn't beg on them because she's not their mother. Duclos herself dresses modestly and holds fast to her conservative religious upbringing in the LDS Church. While the story doesn't reveal which ward she attends, this isn't exactly Utah, so it's not that hard to figure out. There are only two wards within reasonable driving distance; the West Point Ward is closest to Starkville, and the Columbus Ward is a bit further east. Both wards are assigned to the Tupelo Mississippi Stake; their nearest temple is in Birmingham, Alabama.
Her husband, Martin, works at Mississippi State University and her three children, Christopher, 9, Audrey, 7, and Benjamin, 4, all attend Starkville public schools. She says her husband is quite supportive, to the point that he wanted to buy her special skates with blue flames on them. He cheerfully minds the kids while she's pursuing the fantasy she first nurtured as a child. You can read more about the history and rules of roller derby HERE.
By the way, her husband is a French-Canadian Catholic from Quebec who converted to Mormonism after meeting Amy. Martin spoke French exclusively until he moved to Starkville to attend (Mississippi) State, then learned English.
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