Posted by:
Sloane Ortel
(
)
Date: February 11, 2019 01:38PM
It's probably a bit late to add a comment, but my mom would have wanted me to thank you all for thinking of her. She was indeed wonderful, and I've been continuously surprised at how many others loved her as I did.
Since her relationship to the faith and family has come up, she would want me add clarification.
My mother was not doctrinaire in any respect. But that said, her funeral was held at the Manhattan temple and she had been re-baptized about a year before her death. She was Mormon in her own way, which meant going to church for music and meditation more than scripture, and in effect practicing a sui generis spirituality. For instance, my sister and I were not raised in the church, and her final Christmas gift to us was a matching tattoo for all three of us. The line "believe in Orion" from the poem I've linked below is a linchpin of it. I hope it can be meaningful to you in the same way it has long been to us.
She also lived with my Grandparents for more than a decade, and loved them very much. I do too. They are tremendous supporters of mine, and gave me a proper blessing (you know the kind) immediately after I shared my gender news with them. I am lucky to have them both in my life, and wish we lived in a world where the love they greeted me with could be assumed. Their wisdom has been particularly helpful as I navigate the political eroticization of trans bodies, which has some very interesting intersection with early mormon history. I link to a fabulous book about it below.
Mom's papers are headed to the BYU Archives before too long, and include her voluminous, candid diaries. I hope they'll allow any future interest in her complicated life to be met with her own words. In the meantime, the last link below is what I said at her memorial.
Wishing you all well.
Sloane Ortel
Poem ==>
https://motherbird.com/dec18.htmBook ==>
https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo24836940.htmlComments at her memorial ==>
http://srvo.org/clarissa-bushman-10-slash-3-slash-1956-12-slash-15-slash-2018