From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #80 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Saturday, June 24 2000 Volume 01 : Number 080 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:39:45 -0600 From: "Terry L Jeffress" Subject: Re: [AML] Where's our LDS Pulitzer prize winner? From: "D. Michael Martindale" > Terry L Jeffress wrote: > > > Other stigmas interfere with generating widely-accepted literature. You can > > still find many saints that frown on any reading expect for scripture and > > church sponsored materials. Even if you don't hold that view, you have to > > deal with those who do. And that presents another limit to producing good > > works. > > I don't understand what you mean. I see no reason to deal with such an > extreme opinion except to ignore it. How will these people affect LDS > literature, other than just not being part of the market? But these people do have an affect on the market. In my ward, the young women's president told the youth (both boys and girls) that reading fiction is a sin because they should be reading the scriptures, and that writing fiction attempts to take over God's role as a creator. I still have to deal with my kids telling me how sinful I am for reading fiction. - -- Terry Jeffress - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:52:06 -0700 From: "Christopher Bigelow" Subject: [AML] Adoption Stories May I make a networking overture on AML-List? I have accepted a freelance writing job from LDS Family Services to write some articles about adoption for placement in newspapers and Church publications. I am writing to see if anyone has adopted through LDSFS or knows someone who has who might have an interesting story that would allow readers to better understand and appreciate the adoption process. The first batch of stories is planned for release in Nat'l Adoption Month this fall. Yes, it's propaganda (I'm looking for stories with HAPPY endings that give good PR for LDSFS and adoption). And for this project, the adoption needs to have taken place through LDSFS. I've had good luck in the past asking for leads on AML-List. Several quotes from people I've found hereon have appeared and will yet appear in Ensign articles. Because adoption in of itself is not on topic for AML-List, why don't you contact me at my personal e-mail if you have any leads for me to consider. And if you know of any other appropriate e-mail lists (especially those related to adoption), I'd like info on those as well. Thanks in advance, Chris Bigelow chrisb@enrich.com * * * * * * Interested in novels, stories, poems, plays, and films by, for, or about Mormons? Check out IRREANTUM magazine at www.xmission.com/~aml/irreantum.htm. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 17:13:12 -0700 From: "Christopher Bigelow" Subject: [AML] Adoption Stories (addition) One thing I should add to my earlier post is that we could look at adoption from several standpoints: * A couple who adopted * A birth mother and/or father who made the choice to place * A child who has been adopted Or other possible viewpoints. Thanks, Chris Bigelow * * * * * * Interested in novels, stories, poems, plays, and films by, for, or about Mormons? Check out IRREANTUM magazine at www.xmission.com/~aml/irreantum.htm. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 07:54:21 -0400 From: "Kent S. Larsen II" Subject: Re: [AML] LDS Church Magazines Are Going Online My apologies, Larry. I shouldn't have assumed so much. Kent At 11:42 PM -0400 6/21/00, Larry Jackson wrote: >_______________ > >This one I didn't get from Mormon-News. I wrote my post >based on reading the letter, of which I have a copy. I also >sent the same post to another list with added information >concerning the specific curriculum support materials that >would be included in the magazines. (I didn't believe this >list would be interested, but I have it, if anyone is.) > >As Listers are aware, I have been asked to forward Mormon- >News posts that might be of interest to the AML list. Our >moderator makes the actual determination as to whether >they are posted. This is done giving full credit to MN and >Kent's excellent work. > Join my Mormon email lists! To join send a message to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com In the body of the message write: subscribe Mormon-news News and links to news about Mormons, Mormonism and the Church. Mormon-humor Jokes and amusing stories about Mormons and Mormonism. Mormon-index Make queries about and find out about Mormon resources. LDSClerks Discussion for LDS Church Ward/Stake Clerks/Exec. Secretaries LDSPrimary Discussion about the Primary Organization. The following list is available through egroups: http://www.egroups.com/ NYArea-LDS-News - News about the LDS Church and Members in the New York City area. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:41:47 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] Movie Ratings Todd Robert Petersen wrote: > > Eric Snider wrote: > > > I guess it depends on your definition of "violent," but "Titanic" certainly > > had violence and death, had two F-words, and remained PG-13. > > And nudity . . . > > The problem with using the rating system as part of our LDS standard is that > it is not a divine standard. The ratings board does not work by the Spirit. > > Certain ratings can be bought with power and infulence. The studio wanted > teens to have access to TITANIC, so it got it's lower rating. It's not quite the easy. No rating is ever "bought," though it can be changed. A producer can take his film back a second time to get a lower rating but he'll have to remove or snip the part the ratings board considered offensive. The ratings board really is autonomous and producers have to comply with their wishes if they want to get a certain rating. > The more I > learn, the more I realize that the rating system is only a standard in the > most vague and abstract way. The ratings board exists so that the government won't rate films. They had threatened to but Hollywood came up with a counter-offer of self rating. Congress bought this and the rest is history. (And we should all be glad the guv didn't involved in rating films. Can you imagine?) - -- Thom Duncan - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Read the further adventures of Moroni Smith, the LDS Indiana Jones! The long-awaited second episode in the Moroni Smith LDS adventure series, _Moroni Smith: In Search of the Gold Plates_ is now available as an e-book at the Zion's Fiction web page: http://www.zfiction.com - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 19:02:31 -0400 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: RE: [AML] Movie Ratings And how about busy. There are so many movies, and books, and cds, and, and.... I just don't have time to investigate everything myself. Even when I do, there is so much conflicting opinion. This one is "must see". This one isn't worth your time. One reviewer will slam a movie for the very things that another praises. One friend of mine came home from UT saying she would never see "God's Army" because the group of friends she was with bad mouthed it so much. I told her I was surprised because 99% of what I've heard about it has been positive. But the story of so-and-so walking out of the theatre offended will cause many not to see it. Tracie Laulusa - -----Original Message----- Is it possible that, as a group, we're too lazy to do the work of finding out if our material is "of good report" or worthy of our attention and want to be told what to do so we won't have to think for ourselves? Todd Robert Petersen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 16:25:54 -0700 From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) Vote And I, too, found it difficult to choose between Margaret's two outstanding books. In the end, I came down on "Salvador" as my top choice. "House Without Walls" was a tremendously moving book. As a Jew, I was astounded at how accurate the characterizations were. But "Salvador" presented a view of human conflict that opened my mind and made me think long and hard. Thus, "Salvador" is my vote for best Mormon novel of the 90's. At 08:17 PM 6/22/00 JST, you wrote: >My pick for Best Mormon Novel of the 90s is Margaret Blair Young's "House >Without Walls" (Deseret, 1991). It was a tough choice, with another four >books close on its tail. - --------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 19:25:16 -0600 From: Jacob Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Nudity (was: Movie Ratings) (compilation) Actually, now that I think about it, "The Fisher King" with Robin = Williams (excellent film) has a male frontal nudity shot and it wasn't NC 17. I guess that what Bruce Willis had trouble with was the double standard = with no true definition. It seems to me that the whole thing is rather = random... Jacob Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 18:59:21 PDT From: "Jason Steed" Subject: Re: [AML] Race and Culture in LDS Lit. >Michael Fillerup and I once chatted about doing a collection of >stories (various authors) from many cultures--but I suspect he's as busy as >I >am, so we haven't pursued that at all. Maybe someone else should catch >that >ball and run with it. If someone else is interested, I would like VERY MUCH to co-edit a volume like this... Anyone??? Jason ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 16:24:28 -0500 From: Hamilton Fred (by way of Jonathan Langford ) Subject: [AML] Writing About Religion [MOD: This is a message by Kristen Randle--former AML-List member and LDS author--to a private e-mail list, forwarded with Kristen's permission by Skip Hamilton. What she says here ties in interesting ways to our ongoing discussions on what Mormon literature ought to mean.] Ginna and Guy and I have read Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible. It was an interesting book, well written, well researched. I'm not sure Barbara K and I would be easy friends. On the MLA, people like to talk about "Mormon Literature," something, I guess, they aspire to. Something like Black Literature. I'm not sure there is such a thing as Jewish Literature, because I suspect the folks who are Jewish have been what they are for so long, and in so many different ways, they just write what they write, and leave it for other people to slap labels on the result. It's not that we don't have our own brand of angst and hard history. We have had our holocausts, our trails of tears. We have wept and suffered and died. In the process of our striving, we, individuals, have twisted the truth, lived the right principles the wrong way. Nothing has been simple. But as a people, we are piebald. I am not the descendant of the driven pioneers; I share in their trials only through imagination and symbol. They are forefathers of some, but more of us are newcomers and must feel some dislocation because of it, claiming heritage where there is only intent and faith, not blood. We are not a homogenous people. We don't all speak the same language. In a time when people who would sacrifice something for their belief in God are considered cultists, extremists, at the least, mystics and fanatics, how do we explain our mild, dogged normalcy to a cynical, myopic world? I think it is never easy to write about religion. And I'm not sure people should. I know they should not write about it at all if their motivation outstrips the spontaneity of their story, because the inevitable result of such an imbalance is didacticism, or worse, putting words into the mouth of God. Religion is such a delicate thing. I can only stand the word when it means that tenuous, ephemeral relationship between a person and God. I don't like it when it means organizations and sermons and condemnation. This is not to say that I don't believe in organized religion, because I do believe that organization is necessary, thanks to our Natural Man, our tendency to put ourselves first. And I believe very strongly in what my own religion teaches; I am LDS - even if dyed in the wool admits flaws in weave and inconsistency of color. My acceptance of the reality of God, of the structure and purpose of earth life, stains everything. I can't write without it. But I am better when I do not try to write to it. I suspect that the strongest writing we will ever get that can be said to be "about" religion will be either expository or, if fiction, bitter. It is easier to write about God with clarity when you are writing about disappointment and estrangement, because you can feel those things so strongly, so vividly, and put words to them with such passion. How do you explain faith? How do you explain the spun glass moment of a prayer answered, a heart comforted? And should you? Should you talk about those things when they happen to you? Or isn't the discussion tantamount to close examination of a snowflake - get close enough, and your breath melts it away. Plaster words over spun sugar, and they disappear under the weight. The Lord himself says that the attention a proud prayer gets for his piousness will be his reward - a temporal reward for a temporal act. But that real prayer takes place in closets, in private joy, in personal sorrow. So, how are you going to write about such things if they are true? And how dare you write about them if they are not? What good, pray tell, does it do to trump up a bunch of fictional miracles for the sake of a story, or a story for the sake of a bunch of fictional miracles? Is that supposed to do anybody any good? My sister's friend, Greg Beck, when he was a little boy - I don't know how old, five maybe? - was diagnosed as having a serious and progressive hearing problem. It was serious enough that his parents were deeply alarmed, and they asked our whole ward to fast and pray about the matter. We were fairly new to the church in those days, unused to people actually asking physical favors from God, as fatherly as we were taught that he was supposed to be. So we fasted for a day, not at all easy for any of us, and we prayed about it, and so did the other people in that ward. The next time Greg went to the doctor, the problem had disappeared. It was very simple. I suppose it could have been a mis-diagnosis in the first place. The doctor didn't think so. If not, there were no bells and whistles, no shouting, no passion, no fervor - just a couple of hundred simple people (I say that - I mean simple of spirit; the people were doctors and lawyers and janitors and teachers and mothers and all kinds of folk) asking and a favor evidently granted. I've seen this a couple of times. No angels. No trumpets. No crowds. No drama. Just things falling into place, or things stopping, or a small, sudden epiphany. I would not choose to write about these things. They were too specific, too subtle, too personal. They could not be generalized, because the answers to prayer cannot be anticipated. A story that demands the number of coincidences and sudden breaks that allowed our studio to become a reality for us, for example, would make a story that would seem too facile. Kingsolver writes many things about God without knowing that she has; it is in the backwash of her contempt for evangelist-types, her disgust with western religion which seems to have more polyester to it than ancient, and therefore more credible, mysticism. She is more likely to respect the romanticized (she would resent the word the way I am using it) cultures of the third world - innocent, tolerant, wise - than the raw edges of Christianity, with its imposed restrictions on human behavior. She finds her religion in nature, in the way things should be; it is there - she just does not credit God with it. She is eloquent when she sets up a straw man in her white, middle class, dominating male American Protestant missionary, and she makes a fool of him at every turn. He may be a metaphor for American diplomatic policies, but his male flaws are too specific and too painfully accurate (too many like him) to be mistaken as simply symbolic. She lets him flail the air with Christian values and shows them hollow, overbearing, unnatural and ultimately embarrassing at the least, destructive at worst. It is clear that she has no use for God, for anything he might have to say, for his promises, for his flipping mysterious ways, for his abandonment of the suffering. In her book, God is as much of a straw man as the man who presumes to represent him. I don't recognize her concept of God as anything close to mine. As I read her, I wondered if I could write my own God as passionately, as concretely as she writes her own bitterness and disappointment. I don't think I can. I'm not sure I should. People who hate the LDS church write and speak about it, making their accusations plainly. The church does not answer. Or answers quietly, without engaging in debate. It does not defend itself by revealing the slightest detail about the accuser. I suppose that the church actually believes that, as Christ said, "By their works, ye shall know them." And so I wonder if the business of writing has less to do with writing about religion, about God, about miracles or salvation or any such thing, than it does with writing out of those understandings, with storytelling from the standpoint of belief? Then again, there's always Elizabeth Gouge - who managed to do both with grace, art and power. I wish I could sit down and have a conversation with Kingsolver. I don't know how it would go - her disappointment disarms me. Doubtless, it would be interesting. [Kristen Randle] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 06:44:13 -0600 From: "mcnandon" Subject: [AML] Revealing Ourselves in Writing This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------=_NextPart_000_0003_01BFCEB9.76703540 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In the June 12, 2000 issue of Saturday Review, Martin Levin writes that he inadvertently discovered that years ago he had edited Theodore J. Kaczynski's satirical piece "The Wave of the Future." He said that it would have been helpful to have found a clue to criminality in the Unabomber's writings, because sometimes a writers bad vibrations are packaged with the product. Then he stated that criminal tendencies don't always surface in an author's work and that you can't tell from the historical novels of Anne Perry (a Mormon) that she was an accomplice to a murder. MY QUESTION FOR THE LIST IS THIS: In what ways do we as LDS writers reveal ourselves in our writing? And when does our desire to *convert* and our level of sophistication come into play? [MOD: Nan's question is a good one, but I want to jump in and say for the record that I think Levin's comparison of Kaczynski to Anne Perry (at least as described here) is thoroughly unfair. The incident in Anne Perry's life to which he refers was something that happened as, I believe, a fairly young teenager. I know of no evidence to suggest that her life since then--I believe including her conversion to the Church and life as an adult and an author--features "criminal tendencies." Not the same type of case as the Unabomber at all.] Nan Parkinson McCulloch - ------=_NextPart_000_0003_01BFCEB9.76703540 Content-Type: application/ms-tnef; name="winmail.dat" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="winmail.dat" eJ8+Ig0MAQaQCAAEAAAAAAABAAEAAQeQBgAIAAAA5AQAAAAAAADoAAEIgAcAGAAAAElQTS5NaWNy b3NvZnQgTWFpbC5Ob3RlADEIAQ2ABAACAAAAAgACAAEGgAMADgAAANAHBgAFAAYALAAAAAEAFQEB A5AGAIwHAAAnAAAACwACAAEAAAALACMAAAAAAAMAJgAAAAAACwApAAAAAAADADYAAAAAAB4AcAAB AAAAGAAAAEhlIGVkaXRlZCB0aGUgVW5hYm9tYmVyAAIBcQABAAAAFgAAAAG/zuptpdn1ZmI6mhHU sZpERVNUAAAAAAIBHQwBAAAAHAAAAFNNVFA6TUNOQU5ET05ARU1BSUwuTVNOLkNPTQALAAEOAAAA AEAABg4AKKO4686/AQIBCg4BAAAAGAAAAAAAAAAL4PNvYMS9EbTO0uS0AYUiwoAAAAsAHw4BAAAA AwAGEGnsep8DAAcQfgIAAB4ACBABAAAAZQAAAElOVEhFSlVORTEyLDIwMDBJU1NVRU9GU0FUVVJE QVlSRVZJRVcsTUFSVElOTEVWSU5XUklURVNUSEFUSEVJTkFEVkVSVEVOVExZRElTQ09WRVJFRFRI QVRZRUFSU0FHT0hFSEEAAAAAAgEJEAEAAAAIAwAABAMAAJoDAABMWkZ1QWdNRgMACgByY3BnMTI1 FjIA+Atgbg4QMDMznQH3IAKkA+MCAGNoCsBgc2V0MCAHEwKAfRkKgXVjAFALA3VsbiUCIGULpiBJ A6B0aFBlIEp1EwAgDiAsdiAB0BTAIAQBClADMGkoIG9mBgF0CHBkYdJ5B/BldgiQdxSQDECVEWBN CsB0C4AgTBZhdQOgdwUQdAeRE+AV0CDjE/ELgGFkdgSQGBACMPpsFjBkBAAFoBkRCYAYRIR5ZRER IGFnbxiS3xEAGkAJgBgBGkBUE/AEcCMFsBQBLiBLANB6eVEAgGtpJwQgcxXQaaUFEGMHQCBwCJBj FADiIhwxIFdhGRAVghPiBEZ1FeFlLiIgIPZIFAAdsGkaRRgAF9AIYG5sGkARAB8hYgnhGJFs/HBm EsAT0BsxHxICEBQwcRpAYSBjCkEi0gUBbb0Y0WwYABYwF1ET4lUY4D8G4AbQBJAdgRfiC4Bnc/cU kCIQHhB1ETAdoANwEUBvB3MjwBfjGuFiG5EWcGI+ch3BAiAa8RyRCrBja18bEBoxA/AT4BPTcANg ZP0SMHQc0BwiIkIdoAGQG/KfGFMkZhPQCfABAG5jCJCzBCAccG4nBUAHQHcWIPsdkQhwZgDQGLIb AC+BH9DuaAWwJiIFsGsvkRpGCGDvI9AAcC5RGBBsAyADUhPTvmgEACLgHfQS4BkQbAQgqRWRQW4U QVAEkHIWMJooI8BNBbAEYG4pGERecxPxLqAa8S+BYwWgbe8LUA3gJBMjwG0V8QSQK3EATVkgUVVF U1RISU9OH7BPUhwgSPpFF3BJOGAToAXwOQA5UPY6IEATsXcYYi6jHHAX0PMUADYRTEQF8Cg2CXAZ EPceIQhhETBsGRAEIBdRCGH9JkY/IEA0ECpRK7IccAeRXz2SAQAAkByRIuEqBaBu7RkSKjCjPZJs PGE8oRWg/SdwcDLCHgEpQiPQJ4EYwXMi4QtReT8KogqECoBOPQORUArAHWAAgEKhTWO+QxLACQAQ 8EPEEfEARpADABAQAAAAAAMAERAAAAAACwABgAggBgAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAEYAAAAAA4UAAAAAAAAD AAOACCAGAAAAAADAAAAAAAAARgAAAAAQhQAAAAAAAAMAB4AIIAYAAAAAAMAAAAAAAABGAAAAAFKF AADwEwAAHgAIgAggBgAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAEYAAAAAVIUAAAEAAAAEAAAAOC41AAsADIAIIAYAAAAA AMAAAAAAAABGAAAAAAaFAAAAAAAAAwANgAggBgAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAEYAAAAAAYUAAAAAAAALABaA CCAGAAAAAADAAAAAAAAARgAAAAAOhQAAAAAAAAMAF4AIIAYAAAAAAMAAAAAAAABGAAAAABGFAAAA AAAAAwAZgAggBgAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAEYAAAAAGIUAAAAAAAAeACiACCAGAAAAAADAAAAAAAAARgAA AAA2hQAAAQAAAAEAAAAAAAAAHgApgAggBgAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAEYAAAAAN4UAAAEAAAABAAAAAAAA AB4AKoAIIAYAAAAAAMAAAAAAAABGAAAAADiFAAABAAAAAQAAAAAAAAALADKACCAGAAAAAADAAAAA AAAARgAAAACChQAAAQAAAAsANIALIAYAAAAAAMAAAAAAAABGAAAAAACIAAAAAAAACwA2gAsgBgAA AAAAwAAAAAAAAEYAAAAABYgAAAAAAAACAfgPAQAAABAAAAAL4PNvYMS9EbTO0uS0AYUiAgH6DwEA AAAQAAAAC+Dzb2DEvRG0ztLktAGFIgIB+w8BAAAAcQAAAAAAAAA4obsQBeUQGqG7CAArKlbCAABQ U1RQUlguRExMAAAAAAAAAABOSVRB+b+4AQCqADfZbgAAAEQ6XFdJTjk4XEFwcGxpY2F0aW9uIERh dGFcTWljcm9zb2Z0XE91dGxvb2tcb3V0bG9vay5wc3QAAAAAAwD+DwUAAAADAA00/TcAAAIBfwAB AAAAMQAAADAwMDAwMDAwMEJFMEYzNkY2MEM0QkQxMUI0Q0VEMkU0QjQwMTg1MjI2NEU1MjYwMAAA AADbpg== - ------=_NextPart_000_0003_01BFCEB9.76703540-- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 01:03:41 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) Best LDS Novel of the 1990s Todd Petersen wrote: >I'm sorry to sound disparaging or disheartening, but they're still saying, >for the most part, that they "don't publish novels because Mormons don't >read fiction." Neal Kramer wrote: > Of course, _The Work and the Glory_ and _The Children of the Promise_ > belie such statements. Those books have made Deseret and Bookcraft a nice > chunk of change. > Maybe all the gentiles are buying the Mormon fiction :) It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the attitude Todd quoted is a smokescreen. Maybe Deseret Book editors just dread the minefield LDS fiction can be--trying to make it true and honest, but also trying to avoid offending members, thanks to the image Deseret Book needs to uphold. Of course, I have no idea if this is true--it's just a nice rumor I'm starting up. So ignore what I just said. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 04:42:33 -0600 (MDT) From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: Re: [AML] _The Real World_ Public relations runs deep in our > veins. We are concerned that MTV might reinforce the stereotype that > mormon youth are naive and inexperienced. But for the most part, they > are relatively naive and inexperienced. In a sense, that's the effect > the church is designed to have on them. > > -- Rob Pannoni > I take a bit of exception of that - I think many of the "young adults" in our church are less naieve then we (or MTV) would liketo believe. i.e., many of us have spent one and a half to two years abroad in foreign locales, or in the ghetto, or in big cities, or worked with non-english speakers in the USA - it's that thing called a mission. I've spent more time in Chicago's south side than many of MTV's "real world" players, so I feel I could say I've seen more of the "real world" than many of the people on MTV's show (though not all - some have seen more than I have, but way too many pretend they know more than they really do). I think a returned missionary who had served in a foreign country (male or female) would have made an interesting addition and wouldn't have seemed so naieve and sheltered - but since the national sterotype is that all Mormons live in sheltered communities, MTV seems to be reinforcing it rather than exploring how Mormons can be unique individuals. That said, I'm sure the LDS lady on the Real world does a fine enough job. I just have no real desire to watch MTV anymore (where have all the videos gone?) I used to watch the "real world" but lost interest about 3 years ago. - --Ivan Wolfe - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 10:19:26 -0600 From: Neal Kramer Subject: Re: [AML] Race and Culture in LDS Lit. Some of you may have read "Ghost" by Virginia Sorensen, a short story written in the late fifties or early sixties. It is a subtle exploration of race relations in lily-white Sanpete County in the first part of the twentieth century, but it is clearly intended as a warning to its current readers. It has an ethical edge. Sorensen was among the most capable of the Mormon writers of the middle part of the century at stepping outside the culture, as a critic, as opposed to an enemy. She is a beautiful stylist and has a kind of authority as a writer that can make you feel uncomfortable about many prejudices. Neal Kramer - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 10:34:07 -0700 From: "Brandi Rainey" Subject: [AML] SORENSON, "The Ghost" (was: Race and Culture in LDS Lit.) It's been a year or so since I read Sorenson's story, but I don't remember = any suggestions that the ghost at the party was a member of the clan. The = idea disturbs me. Can you point out a few textual references to ease my = troubled mind? >>> Kristi Bell 06/22 9:25 AM >>> The Virginia Sorenson story is called "The Ghost" and actually the man is dressed as a member of the Klan. It is an interesting story that explores the themes of prejudice and marginalization through the eyes of a young girl. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 13:13:57 -0400 From: debbro@voyager.net Subject: Re: [AML] Marion SMITH, _Riptide_ (review) Was this book, telling this story, seriously only 191 pages?? I can read 191 pages in an hour! Having been abused myself, I think I may pass on this particular story, thanks for the review. If you haven't read it already, Yorganson's _Secrets_ is an excellent fiction account (though I know some of the stories were true) of sexual abuse. _Riptide_ sounds too contrived. Debbie Brown - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #80 *****************************