DOGWOOD
A memoir by Kurt Mueller (a companion to The Seedpod)
Trade paperback: $15.00
D E S C R I P T I O N
Growing up in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, a young boy is exposed to a new variety of religious—and not so religious—experiences as a one-hundred-and-thirty-year-old family tradition of Lutheran ministry gives way to his father’s conversion to a free wheeling, Charismatic church. This religious paradigm shift doesn’t save the family from incestuous dysfunction and inevitable disintegration...but the fervent belief that it will, sets the stage for adventures sordid, sublime, silly and tragic. This uniquely American family saga—told through the eyes of a teenage boy yearning to connect with his father and find his place in the world— enlists a lively cast of characters including a passionate and desperate patriarch, an unresponsive mother, bewildered siblings, lascivious Evangelists from two centuries, an army of suburban revivalists, and a motley band of other misguided saints...just the sort of people Jesus would have loved to befriend.
E X C E R P T
“Gather ‘round, Saints. Find a seat and get comfortable. We got a lot of really intense material to cover tonight.”
Pastor Bob called a group of about five or six hundred of his flock to order. This Saturday night had been set aside for a special teaching seminar restricted to adults and older teenagers. Anyone under the age of eighteen was required to have the express permission of their parents to attend, and parents were encouraged to accompany their children. There was no question about my attendance. My dad exhorted me to consider this special seminar with soul-searching prayer. I had no need of prayer, however. We all knew that the topic was going to be sex and that adequately piqued my curiosity.
Just before Sex Ed class in sixth grade, I remember being anxious that I might face some sort of initiation rite for which I could not pass muster. I remember everyone being exceptionally curious about the possibility of seeing pictures—or films—that showed naked bodies. I remember our horrible disappointment afterwards when all we had seen were filmstrips with cows and flowers. Well, more than just cows and flowers. We actually saw a bewildering diagram of a cow uterus that resembled a deep-sea creature. There was talk of eggs in the context of the diagram, but I couldn’t quite get the connection with sex. We also saw close-ups of stamens and pistils covered with dusty yellow pollen. The filmstrip presentation was very scientific and left everyone cold, bewildered, and vaguely insulted. It was still a lot more information than we got at home.