Today is the six-month anniversary of The Millennial Star’s online debut. Yes, and it’s also director Kevin Smith’s birthday, so what? Okay, so it’s not the biggest event in the world, but I thought it bore mentioning.

Anyway, in honor of this milestone, and in recognition of our continuing commitment to dialogue with our readers, we at M* thought it might be nice to hear from you about what you think of our site. No, this is not a stunt to get you to say things that we can put on the back of the M* book when it gets published. We’re interested in hearing anything you want to say about what we like to refer to as “The M* Experience.” That’s right, tell us if you think Davis Bell is just too darn snarky, if the star in our banner hurts your eyes, or if you have a theory on why M* bloggers are so much more fertile than other groups around the nacle. Got an idea for a feature or a nifty addition to our interface? Input on our tone or volume or content or roster? Criticism, obeisance and indifference are all welcome. For now. So let us hear it, we’re all ears.

Save the date. Because of the convergence of a few M* bloggers in Utah on August 12, some of us have discussed getting together in Utah County that night to get better acquainted. Then we realized how boring it would be to only get acquainted with the boring people who post here. Much better to get to know those who comment here, and those who post and comment elsewhere too.

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Everyone’s been complaining the last few years about how all of America’s manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas. I’m here with good news: there’s one sector of manufacturing that’s alive and well in Utah. It’s Manufacturing the Spirit. Let me explain.

A few months ago I toured the St. George Visitors’ Center with my family.

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Polygamy should be legalized in the U.S. I don’t say this because I hope that the Church will return to it’s polygamy days. I’d rather it didn’t, but I don’t think I would be too bothered if they did (multiple sexual relationships, even if more often sequential rather than concurrent, are so common in popular culture, that I’ve been indoctrinated enough to just find it normal). No, I think it should be legalized because of what it seems to have become: instead of a lifestyle choice between adults, it has become a child abuse issue.

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I’ve been intrigued by the recent spat of creativity on the bloggernacle (see here and here), so I thought I’d try out the fad at M* too. Ten points to the person who can correctly identify what work of contemporary short fiction I’ve ripped off. And ten more points to anyone who wants to say anything about it.

THROW away those embarrassing old clothes; wake up at 7 a.m., you don’t want to get used to being lazy, do you?; don’t eat your roommate’s food; don’t spend money on stupid things and while you’re at it, don’t do stupid things that end up costing you money; work harder; be nicer;

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