TJ’S Photography & Imaging documents University of Michigan Event

Do you have a personal or community event coming up that you would like photo documented?  TJ’S Photography & Imaging can provide photography for any event.  Here is an event that we covered at University of Michigan Campus recently.

Three resident advisors for the Honors Program at the University of Michigan, Brianna, Sydney  and Rebecca, planned an event called Religious Minorities and “The Book of Mormon” aimed to bring together students across campus from a variety of backgrounds to discuss themes of religious identities, parody, visibility and representation.  It was a 3 part series that included an introductory dialogue, the Book of Mormon Musical and a post dialogue.  The event was supported by the Honors Program, Hillel, LDS Institute of Religion, Arts @ Michigan, South Quad Hall Council and the Ambatana Multicultural Council.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) Institute of Religion hosted the introductory dialogue wherein attendees of different religious backgrounds discussed the various themes mentioned above in small groups and then Brother Elms, Institute director, gave a 15 minute presentation introducing the Mormon church and some of their general beliefs and then a question and answer session since many of the attendees knew very little of the church.  Each attendee was also given a copy of the Book of Mormon so they could read the book after attending the musical if they chose to do so.

The post dialogue was hosted at U of M Hillel, The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, where a short presentation was given surrounding entertainment and the Jewish community and the question was raised what is good comedic fun and at what point does comedy cross the line to become offensive? Then groups at each table engaged in discussions surrounding social justice and applied them to the musical and their own experiences.  Each table was again filled with people of different religious backgrounds along with missionaries or members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) Church.

It was a wonderful event where everyone benefited from the discussions, where new understanding and friendships were forged, where everyone felt “respected and important”, where attendees “learned more about Mormonism, visited new places on campus, met new people and enjoyed the opportunity to participate in such a unique event.”