Month: February 2015

Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona make up the area known as the Crick.  Both towns are exclusively polygamous. 

B lived in the home pictured above during the first years she lived at the Crick.  Located on the Hildale side of town, B went to a Utah school until the prophet placed her mother with a new family on the Colorado City side. 

The Hildale home was like two homes stacked on top of each other.  That way each of B’s grandmothers would have their own kitchens and living areas.  In total, B’s grandfather had four wives.  Only two lived at the home pictured above.

B grew up thinking the end of the world would be any day.  Here’s an example of some notes she took on march 5, 2000. Uncle Rulon, the prophet, spoke so slow, she could practically write every word.

The Crickers were prepared, however, should any attacks go down.  Huge warehouses of food, supplies and weapons were stored for the coming apocalypse in which only the people of the Crick would survive.  Women even took to sewing hundreds of cloth sanitary napkins, which of course would not be available should the outside world perish.

When China and Russia didn’t attack, the prophet blamed it on the people of the Crick not being faithful.

This may not look like much, but the story behind it is kinda funny.  Known as a hard worker, B started working with her uncle in a restaurant in Hurricane, Arizona when she was only twelve years old.   That gave her the experience to eventually help open a Chester Fried Chicken at the Crick when she was fifteen.  Although Chester Fried is now long gone, the building it used to occupy still stands.  Her mark is permanently etched in the dented metal column on the right where she accidentally backed into it with the family van.

Note:  Many boys at the Crick during that time were pulled out of school when they were just twelve or thirteen years old to work on governmental contracts.  That way the company could out-bid other companies.  The resulting profit would then go back to the church and be dispersed.  Neither the company nor the children would be compensated directly.

This is where B. went to school.  Still barred by fences at the time of our trip, students hadn’t walked the halls since it was closed over a decade before. 

It was a public school, but somehow the leaders were able to change much of the curriculum to reflect and support the beliefs of the FLDS religion.

B. recalled a conversation she had with her dad after moving from the crick regarding science books.  She said anything that had pictures of anatomy or creation were unacceptable.  Whole chapters discussing reproduction were absolutely forbidden and cut out completely. 

A husband was to teach such things to their wives.

As a former teacher for the Arizona public school system, I found this story so hard to believe, even though it was true.  How could a public school get away with such disregard for curriculum for so long?  After getting to know more of the story and the many, many nuances which  go along with this culture, I do see how it happened. 

…and you will too when you read this book.

I promised more tidbits…so here’s the deal:

We’ve been eating too much…and chocolate, well, I guess that’s out too.  Fresh air is good, though.

and we are more likely to catch a cold during this time.  How come no one ever told me this?

Hmm. 

I no longer have my uterus, so I can’t actually test some of these ideas.  It does make me wonder if following some of this old fashioned wisdom may have made a difference in my life.

But still, I think eating chocolate would be alright…as long as I ate it outside while wrapped in a coat. 

 

I love, love, love that I have been able to read through this !  It’s pretty cool.

Passed down to B.from her mother when she was “ready to know”, this little booklet is a sweet treasure. 

It was given to B.’s mother when she was “ready to know” in 1961 by B’s Grandmother.  How sweet!

Such things were typically not discussed at the Crick.  B’s mother was too shy to talk about it, but she cared enough to pass the booklet down.   It was a brave gesture, considering the booklet itself would be considered contraband.

Once B. had the booklet, she was to keep it private and not let anyone else see.  Bare shoulders and an exposed neck were absolutely not accepted by polygamist culture.  So, although the woman on the front cover was indecent, the information inside was valuable enough to outweigh the risks associated with it.

Below is an example of  its priceless advice.  I can’t help but wonder how much healthier I would be if I could actually care for myself  in this manner, which is almost laughable when compared with the reality of what I and most women face every day. 

I’ll share more tidbits along the way!

It’s a great day…we launched our Kick Starter for the book!  Wahoo! Check it out here.  If you care about our message, please like us and share us on social media.

…Or you can click below:

Unfinished, OSB-sided houses( a cheap, pressed board), litter the land of Colorado City.  This was a common sight as we drove around.  At some point in time families started to build these huge homes and for some reason never finished them.

This is an example of an inhabited, finished home.  Notice the two doors that seem to float on the outside of the house.  Many homes we saw had this type of structure.  B. said it was so they could easily add another portion of the home if the family were to grow. The mirrored windows are to keep unwelcome eyes from seeing inside.  Even though this is a finished, populated home, it is still just covered in OSB. 

Homes belonging to the families who are still faithful to Warren Jeffs boast 8-10 foot tall fences.    These families try to keep their privacy from the others who have been declared “apostates” and any press that may come through their town.

We stayed in our car and just took these pics with our cell phones. Our goal wasn’t to intrude; I wanted to see the environment to write the book with accuracy.

On our trip to Colorado City we stopped to take pictures of the unusual landscape.  This mushroom rock is over three times my height.  I felt like I was on a whole different planet.

Just to my left, almost outside of the picture, was  a quaint roadside market.  A beautiful Native American lady was selling dream catchers out of the back of her car.  We stopped to admire her work and B. bought one for her little girl who was fascinated with the feathers.

A dream catcher.

How

very,

very,

Appropriate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 80’s were fun.  The music. The color. The hair…

B. didn’t get to enjoy any of it the first time around, so she had an 80’s-themed party for her 30th birthday. This picture was taken right around the time we really got serious about writing The Crick Code.

That was a year and a half ago.

And many,

many,

hours of research ago.

We are so happy to share our journey with you.