Table of Contents

Mormon Firsts
Mitt Romney is positioned to become the first Mormon to appear at the top of a major party ticket in a presidential election, but he’s not actually the first Mormon to run for president. With such a historic event likely on the horizon, LDS Living decided to look back at some other great Mormon firsts.
—LDS Living Staff

Our Story: Living with Same-Sex Attraction
Same-sex attraction plays a big part in our lives because of Ty’s openness about his personal struggles. And while there is no shortage of tragic endings to mixed-orientation marriages, we decided from the beginning that we would work together to build a celestial marriage and create our own success story.
—Ty & Danielle Mansfield

The Father Factor: How Dads Influence Their Daughters
A father’s relationship with his daughter can significantly impact her self-esteem, academic success, and her choice of romantic partners. Read on to learn what she needs from Dad and how he can better connect with her at every stage of life.
—Jamie Lawson

Can You Bully-Proof Your Child?
Bullying’s bad news, and it’s not going away. The good news is that you can build your child’s resiliency to it.
—Sunny Morton

Inside Jokes
Here’s how LDS comedians are keeping it cool while keeping it clean. —Briana Stewart

The Church in Papua New Guinea
In a country known as “the last frontier,” the gospel is wending its way through the jungle and from island to island to become a great place of growth for the Church
—Kaela Worthen

The Doctor Is In: Diabetes—An Epidemic
Diabetes is a devastating disease. Here’s how to prevent it or how to control its symptoms if you already have it.
—Dr. Thomas Boud

Advice for Life: Blending Families
Finding ways to bring the worlds of multiple families together is a trial few will appreciate if they have not lived it. However, the outcome can be very positive and rewarding if navigated well.
—Dr. Jonathan Swinton

Best of the Blogs: {LDS How-to} Help Your Kids Be Reverent

Family Home Evening: A Lesson on Attitude

Home Entertainment: Books, DVDs, and Music

Home Cooking: Slow-Cooker Recipes

Just Asking: Liz Lemon Swindle
The extraordinary artist talks about the inspiration behind her paintings, the message she most wants to share, and her humanitarian efforts.

Time Out for Women: Be Moved with Compassion
There’s a difference between having compassion and being moved with compassion, and Christ is the ultimate example of achieving the latter.
—Emily Freeman

By LDS Living Staff

Mitt Romney is positioned to become the first Mormon to appear at the top of a major party ticket in a presidential election, but he’s not actually the first Mormon to run for president. With such a historic event likely on the horizon, LDS Living decided to look back at some other great Mormon firsts.

First Electronic Television: Philo T. Farnsworth (1927)

The concept of television had been inspiring scientists for years before Philo T. Farnsworth, at the age of 21, introduced his electronic television while working in San Francisco. As a teen,
Farnsworth had shown interest in producing images electronically, even producing a sketch of his future work for a chemistry teacher in 1922. Farnsworth applied for a patent on the device in 1927, and years of improvements to his “image dissector” have given us the television of today.

Farnsworth was born in 1906 in Beaver, Utah, to a family that had settled in Utah after following Brigham Young and the Church. Farnsworth spent much of his youth engrossed in science magazines and novels. Following a stint at BYU, Farnsworth began to focus entirely on
invention, and his career took off with relative rapidity. By the time of his death in 1971, he was credited with more than 300 U.S. and foreign patents.

Despite being the man responsible for the invention, Farnsworth later told his son concerning television: “There’s nothing on it worthwhile, and we’re not going to watch it in this household, and I don’t want it in your intellectual diet.”