From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #185 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, November 4 2000 Volume 01 : Number 185 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 14:24:42 -0600 From: Todd Robert Petersen Subject: Re: [AML] Re: MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" Marsha wrote: "Sometimes I feel guilty for liking what I like, for seeing beauty where I should be disgusted." I know this feeling,and it is a difficult place to be. I am in Oklahoma (Baptist/Church of Christ country to be sure) and have heard from other non-LDS church-going friends that they, too, feel the same inability to like Francis Bacon's paintings, for example, or LOLITA, or to at least be able to talk about these things in public with others and be understood. These divisions really can drive people apart, and there's not much opportunity for healing. - -- Todd Robert Petersen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 13:13:05 MST From: "Marianne Hales Harding" Subject: [AML] Attention All Freelance Writers Ok, folks, I need to pick your collective brains. Being married to an actor, I have a hard time keeping a job because we move around considerably. There are all sorts of jobs I qualify for but nobody wants to hire me because I'm not going to be around for very long. My bright idea was to do some freelance writing for magazines etc. I have been dutifully researching and querying and submitting and brainstorming but have not been successful. Not even one little greeting card submission was accepted. I know there are writers on this list who make their living through such freelance work so my question for you is: how did you do it? Marianne Hales Harding _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 14:17:39 -0700 From: "Thom Duncan" Subject: RE: [AML] Bearing Cultural Witness My wife used an interesting technique in the last talk she gave in Sacrament Mtg. On a subject about unconditional Christian Love, she talked about the incredibly moving final scene in _Schindler's List_, where Schindler is weeping, "I could have done more -- I could have sold my car! I could have sold my ring." Thus, one can laud the virtues of certain R-rated movies without intentionally hurting the feelings of other members who don't see any R-rated films. Eric says below we can only change attitudes one person at a time and he is corect. It is my experience that this is true. Years ago, during a particularly tense media-bashing session in Sunday School, I calmly bore my witness to, first the arbitrary nature of the rating system, and then second, to the many films I had seen that had profoundly changed my life for the good. Afterwards, a sister who had never participated, took me aside and whispered to me, "Thank you for saying what I didn't have the courage to say." Thom Duncan - ------------------------------------ My new email: ThomDuncan@prodigy.net - ------------------------------------ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 21:51:42 GMT From: cgileadi@emerytelcom.net Subject: Re: [AML] Attention All Freelance Writers I've never made it work, writing articles to submit for publication. OK, only once, for an herbal magazine, where I wrote an article on using herbs to make your own tomato sauces instead of buying expensive jarred ones. But I've made my living as a freelance editor/writer by styling myself as a ghostwriter and doing work for people who want to write a book but don't know how. I've had lots of work during the last couple of years. I've specialized in alternative medicine (it's my "niche" in the market) and because of research and experience get to work on projects involving nutrition,healing, and so on. To do freelance editing/writing I rely heavily on word of mouth and the Internet. I hope you can make it work, too. Like many things, ghostwriting is an answer to the ego's need; you just make yourself indispensable to your client's ego, and off you go :). Cathy - --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 17:51:50 -0600 From: reid9 Subject: Re: [AML] Attention All Freelance Writers Dear Marianne, I work as a freelance writer - I have written for local papers (pays very little), for magazines (hit or miss) and for corporations (more money, steady assignments and a good relationships.) However, I happen to live in a small town (30,000) with two Fortune 50 companies in it - so, I have developed a relationship with Honeywell and their communications department, so when they are overwhelmed (like very week) they call me and hand me assignments. For you, however, traveling the way you do - it's going to be harder to develop those relationships. I would suggest going to a couple of really good websites - like Guru.com and http://freelancewrite.about.com - both of these sites and quite a few others have jobs/gigs for freelance writers that you can get from anywhere in the nation and usually work from home. Once you've hit on a couple of good jobs - they like you, you like them, you can develop a cyber-relationship. If you really want to try magazines - first try with the smaller magazines and then write something you like and know (don't you hate people who tell you that!:)) But, it's true. You will have a much easier job selling a magazine on an article that you know a lot about. I also read an article recently about a magazine writer who started off by writing the article and then sending it to the magazine. However, you should make sure that the magazine you send the article to accepts unsolicited articles. One of the best tools is Writers Markets - when I was looking for freelance jobs, I bought the new one every year - it is incredibly helpful. Also, many freelancers I know have started a newsletter service for small business, like insurance companies. They approach the business, tell them why it would be cheaper and higher quality to have them write a newsletter for the company and then get material from the source. It can be very lucrative. Good luck!!!!! I love this job! Terri Reid - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 16:36:51 -0500 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: [AML] Value of Literature (was: November Editorial) I have been debating with myself over this importance of literature question for the past several weeks-months even. It wasn't that long ago that I connected with my desire to write again, and it has been a massively frustrating experience. For one, I just have no confidence that, even if I gave it my best for the rest of my life, anything I write will ever be of any lasting worth to anyone. One part of me knows that is only of minor importance. If it was only of worth to me doesn't that make it of worth? Yet, it takes time away from so many other important things. That is when I manage to find even an hour to put a pen to paper-which doesn't happen very often. What if, in the end, it wasn't ever meant to be one of my talents and I let something more 'worldly' distract me from more important things in the eternal perspective. But isn't developing creatively important? (And around and around she goes and where she stops.....) Then there is the 'value of literature' question in general-not related to my writing in particular. I have always maintained that reading is very important and a window to the world and so forth. I'm the motivating force behind far too many bookshelves filled two rows deep all through my house. Then I trip over those general authority comments about seeking for good, filling our lives with things uplifting, every good book, not focusing on the negative (is reading about the Cambodian people and their troubled country, for instance, focusing on the negative?). And I start questioning. What could I be doing that might be a better use of my time, and so forth. (I never expected having a temple so close to home would complicate all these issues so much for me.) Has anyone else been struggling with this and have some words of wisdom to offer? Or am I a lone flake in the Mormon Arts world? Tracie Laulusa - -----Original Message----- Jonathan the moderator said: Everyone on this List, I think, is here in part because we believe that literature is an important thing. Most if not all of us believe as well in the value of a community of Mormon letters and wish to contribute to the development of that community. That purpose is best served, I think, by an atmosphere in which we speak our mind--and perhaps more important, our heart--but where we listen and hear as well. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 00:04:57 JST From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) Favorite Mormon Essays For this month's poll, I would liike to hear about your favorite non-fiction= =20 LDS essays, which I roughly divide into two categories, "personal essays"= =20 and "devotional literature." Since there are not that many, I am going to= =20 do away with the "Best of the 1990s" format I used before, and invite you to= =20 include any past LDS literature. If anyone with more literary training out there can give better definitions= =20 of the categories personal essays and devotional literature, I would be glad= =20 to hear it. Since they have been used in recent AML awards, I figure they= =20 would work here. Maybe I should start with what I am not including. I am= =20 not looking for history, biography, sociological studies, or any other=20 academic non-fiction. I am talking about essays which talk about personal= =20 experiences, personal beliefs, or comment on religious or topical issues. = =20 By devotional literature, I basically mean sermons. I think just about all= =20 the books written by General Authorities, most of which are collections of= =20 sermons, fit in this category. But I think there are some non-GA sermon=20 writers of note out there, like Truman Madsen, Lowell Bennion, and Bruce=20 Hafen (he is a GA now, I think, but he was not when he started writing his= =20 books). You could nominate any favorite general conference or Ensign=20 sermon as well. But I am not talking about articles by religion professors= =20 which do close readings of the scriptures, like the Studies in the=20 Scriptures series. I am looking more for sermons which talk about how=20 principals of the gospel apply in daily life. The personal essay category refers, I think, to more introspective works. I= =20 suppose Eugene England and Terry Tempest Williams are among the best known= =20 in this category. That being said, these are very arbitrary and fuzzy categories. I am sure= =20 many of England's essays could be seen as "sermons", and some of them=20 probably were originally. Chieko Okazaki's books are collections of=20 sermons, but obviously many of them are very "personal". Also, it is hard= =20 to define what is or is not an essay. Tom Rogers' recent book is, on the=20 surface, a history of his time as a mission president in Russia, but a lot= =20 of it is made up of diary-like personal reflections (as opposed to Dr.=20 Browning's book on his time in Russia, which really is a strait=20 narrative/history.) How about humorous essays, should they be in a=20 different category? If so, where would I put Elouise Bell? I dunno. =20 Anyway, here is a list of some essays that I am aware of. I am sure I am=20 leaving out a lot (especially in the sermon section, where I list hardly any= =20 at all), so feel free to add to my list. Feel free to mention both=20 collections of essays or individual ones of note which have appeared in=20 periodicals, like Dialogue, Sunstone, BYU Studies, The Ensign, etc. So, tell me what you have liked. Personal Essays Beck, Martha Nibley. Expecting Adam. Times Books, 1999. AML 1999 essay=20 prize. Bell, Elouise. Only When I Laugh. Signature, 1990. 1990 AML Essay award. Bradford, Mary Lythgoe. Leaving Home. Signature, 1987. 1988 AML Essay=20 award. Cannon, Ann Edwards. What's A Mother to Do. Signautre, 1997. Humorous=20 essays. Cannon, D. James. Mormon Essays. Deseret, 1970. Card, Orson Scott. A Storyteller in Zion. Bookcraft, 1993. Clark, Marden J. Liberating Form: Mormon Essays on Religion and Literature.= =20 Aspen, 1992. England, Eugene. Dialogues with Myself. Orion, 1984. 1984 AML award. Why= =20 the Church is as True as the Gospel. Bookcraft, 1986. The Quality of Mercy. Bookcraft, 1992. Making Peace. Signature, 1996. Fogg, B. J. Symbiosis, 1992 BYU thesis. Geary, Edward. Goodbye to Poplarhaven: Reflections of a Utah Boyhood. U of= =20 Utah Press, 1985. 1985 AML Essay prize. The Proper Edge of the Sky. 1996. Hawkinson, Sharon. Only Strangers Travel. Bookcraft, 1984. Holladay, Valerie. Has appeared in Dialogue. Johnston, Jerry. Spirits in the Leaves. Signature, 1996. Jolley, Clifton Holt. "Selling the Chevrolet: A Moral Exercise." Dialogue=20 16.3 (1983). Sequel to England's essay. He wrote a humor column in the=20 Deseret News in the 1980s. King, Arthur Henry. The Abundance of the Heart. Bookcraft, 1986. Enlarged= =20 version called: Arm the Children: Faith=92s Response to a Violent World,=20 Deseret, 1998. Kirby, Robert . Humor column in Tribune collected in: Sunday of the Living= =20 Dead, Wake Me for the Resurrection, Pat and Kirby go to Heck. Bucharoo/Slick= =20 Rock Books, 1995,96, 97. With Pat Bagley. Packard, Dennis. "From Peter Rabbit to Rabbi Goldman," BYU Today, April=20 1983. Plummer, Louise. Thoughts of a Grasshopper. Deseret, 1992. Plummer, Tom. Eating chocolates and dancing in the kitchen : sketches of=20 marriage and family. Deseret, 1998. 1998 AML essay prize. Don't Bite Me, I'm Santa Claus. Shadow Mountain, 1999. Second Wind : Variations on a Theme of Growing Older. Shadow Mountain,=20 October 2000. Poll, Richard D. History and Faith: Reflections of a Mormon Historian.=20 Signature, 1989. "A Liahona Latter-day Saint." Sunstone 17:2 (September, 1994). 1994 AML=20 Essay award. Rasmaussen, Dennis. The Lord's Question. Keter, 1985. Philosophy. Rogers, Thomas F. "On the Importance of Doing Certain Mundane Things".=20 Sunstone. Dec. 1998. Call To Russia =96 Glimpses of Missionary Work, BYU Studies, 1999. Sekaquaptewa, Helen and Louise Udall. Me and Mine An autobiography of a=20 Hopi Mormon convert. Snider, Eric. Snide Remarks. Snide Remarks II: Electric Boogaloo. 1999 or= =20 so. Collections of his BYU Universe (now Provo Herald) columns. Snow, Edgar C., Jr. Of Curious Workmanship: Musings on Things Mormon.=20 Signature, 1999. Humorous essays. Thayne, Emma Lou. As for Me and My House. Bookcraft, 1989. 1989 AML Essay=20 award. Sixteen meditations on housekeeping and homemaking Toscano, Paul James. The Sanctity of Dissent. Signature, 1994. Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher and Emma Lou Thayne. All God's Critters Got A Place= =20 in the Choir. Aspen Books, 1995. Williams, Terry-Tempast. Refuge. Pantheon, 1991. 1991 AML Essay prize. Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape. Pantheon, 1995. AML essay prize. Leap. Pantheon, 2000. Essay Collections Asplund-Campbell, Marni ed. With Child: Mormon Women on Mothering.=20 Signature, 1998. Bradford, Mary Lythgoe, ed. Mormon Women Speak: A Collection of Essays.=20 Olympus, 1982. - ---- ed. Personal Voices. Signature, 1987. Best essays from Dialogue over= =20 the years. Corcoran, Brent. Multiply and Replenish : Mormon Essays on Sex and Family.= =20 Signature, 1994. Kimball, Linda Hoffman, ed. Saints Well Seasoned: Musings on How Food=20 Nourishes Us: Body, Heart, and Soul. Deseret, 1998. Essays on food by Card,= =20 Dean Hughes, Elouise Bell, Claudia Bushman, Ann Edwards Cannon, Richard H.= =20 Cracroft, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Eugene England, Kathryn H. Kidd, Louise=20 Plummer, and Emma Lou Thayne. Lyon, Thomas and Terry Tempest Williams Great and Peculiar Beauty: A Utah=20 Reader. Ed.. Gibbs Smith, 1995. Hundreds of selections of diaries, essays,= =20 short stories and poems about Utah, for the Centennial. Sillito, John, ed. The Wilderness of Faith: Essays on Contemporary Mormon=20 Thought. Signature, 199?. Essays on Mormonism Series No. 3. Williams, Terry Tempest, William B. Smart, and Gibbs Smith, eds. New=20 Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community. Gibbs-Smith, 1998. Essays= =20 by 40 LDS writers and thinkers on creation. Devotional Literature Bennion, Lowell. The Teachings of the New Testament, The Things the Matter Most. Bookcraft, 1978. Doing Justly and Loving Mercy. The Legacies of Jesus. For a sampling see The Best of Lowell L. Bennion, a collection Eugene=20 England edited in 1988. Dunn, Paul H. Hafen, Bruce C. Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life's Experiences.= =20 The Belonging Heart. Hinckley, Gordon B. Standing for Something : 10 Neglected Virtues That Will= =20 Heal Our Hearts and Homes. Times Books, 2000. Madsen, Truman G. Christ and the Inner Life. Bookcraft, 1978. The Radiant Life. Bookcraft, 1994. Maxwell, Neal A. Of One Heart: The Glory of the City of Enoch. Deseret,= =20 1975. One More Strain of Praise. Bookcraft, 1999. AML 1999 prize for devotional= =20 literature. Okazaki, Chieko. Lighten Up! Cat's Cradle. Sanctuary. Disciples, Deseret, 1998. Robinson, Stephen E. Believing Christ. Deseret, 1992. Andrew Hall Pittsburgh, PA _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at=20 http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 15:21:12 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" Todd Robert Petersen wrote: > I understand that lots of people are mad about all this "Godspell" business, > but isn't their right to be conservative just as secure a liberty as our > right to be liberal? Or do we want a sort of fascism (which is not, at its > root, a conservative position)? Interesting that you assume it's liberals who are upset about the Godspell news story. I'm a pretty conservative person (just ask Thom Duncan), but I am as appalled at the reaction of the parents as any flaming liberal here. I have no problem with someone thinking Godspell is not appropriate. I have a big problem with them trying to push that opinion on everyone else. I consider this reaction from the parents to be as disturbing as those who want to ban Huckleberry Finn because the word "nigger" is in it. > Still, I get a little concerned when liberal church members don't seem to > even try and understand the position (and yes, the limitations) of people > who don't respond well to things like this Godspell issue. Understand it? I _was_ one of these people growing up. I understand their position quite well. I have since wised up and renounced such intrusions into other people's free agency. (Unless it's a critic telling me what subject I can write about, of course.) > I personally think Godspell ought not to be performed in ANY public school > ANYWHERE. It causes red flags about religion and education to go up that > obsure the more important debate of prayer in the schools and our country's > relationship to deity. By this I mean to say that the fight to keep some > moral core in operation doesn't need split fronts. This doesn't mean that > Godspell should never be done, maybe just not right now. Performing Godspell is going to do a lot more good for bringing the church vs state dichotomy back into the realm of common sense than the dubious debate about prayer in school. Religious works of art _should_ be performable in schools--as long as a specific religious outlook isn't regularly favored--because religion is as much a part of our culture and heritage as anything else. To pretend in the classroom that religion doesn't exist is an educational lie. - -- 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: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 19:42:58 -0700 From: "Alan Mitchell" Subject: Re: [AML] Introductions: Ruth Starkman FIY, Barry Monroe is the unorthodox bedrockmormon protagonist in the book Angel of the Danube, which won the AML MB award as the book Barry Monroe's Missionary Journal. I just assumed he was a household name;) Wow Ruth, what a story! I'm amazed at our Austrian connections although I'm a little older than your time frame. I have an interesting Jewish/Mormon story from my mission about entertaining a SoCal Jewish girl in Vienna. My daughter took German at the U last year. You are at UCLA! In chapter 11, Barry Monroe visits UCLA to confer with Herr Professor Smart Dude. The connections keep going. I'm planning on going to a wedding in Santa Monica in early December. But Woody Allen as a Mormon? I loved Woody growing up. I think he is absolutely the best at making fun of the new sexual mores--but after his marriage to whatshername, I wondered if he wasn't caught in his own joke. I've got an idea for a movie--why not have Woody Allen play himself and try to teach Donnie Osmond how to be funny in the home culture. Wouldn't Donnie's blush just be great? What if Donnie were able to pull it off at the end? Wouldn't that change everything? ( copyright ARMitchell, 2000). And Angel is now at Deseret Bookstores everywhere (yes it made the grade) and the Seagull catalog, and where ever great Mormon books are sold. Alan Mitchell - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 21:56:07 -0500 From: Richard Johnson Subject: Re: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" At 01:29 PM 11/2/2000 -0600, you wrote: > >Richard's response: > >>Excuse me. I acknowledge your right to think this, but I think it is >>nonsense. > >What doesn't make sense? I clearly didn't argue that it or plays like it >could never be done, just that there are other more important things going >on in the debate. But how many Jewish, Native American, or Hindu kids would >feel comfortable performing in a play about Jesus? We need to take that >into consideration. That's what I'm saying and I'm sticking to it. As a matter of fact, my production included two Jews and a native American, and, though the show was built largely through improvisation, I am pretty sure that one of the named 'authors' is Jewish. >Tolerance means tolerance extended to all people. As I said, I'm not for >banning things, just for people taking other people into account. I think >that we also need to recognize that we can become so indignant concerning >the bourgeois philistines that we end up with egg on our collective ties. I can agree with most of this though I don't get indignant about bourgeois philistines - I probably fit into the category on occasion. I get indignant about those who feel that everyone should march to "their" drummer. >It seems to me that the argument did go to liberal/conservative without my >help. ;-> >I think that this is a false dichotomy, but it one that folks fall into a >lot (e.g. us liberal good types who want liberty to think and feel as we see >fit without having people get at us and those ghoulish conservative-types >keep on trying to push their conservative agenda on us.). Interesting but it holds up as well if we reverse the placement of the words liberal and conservative. > I do think that it is an interesting discussion; however, I think that we ought just be nicer. Gee, I was trying to be as nice as I could be under the circumstances. :-) Richard B. Johnson Husband, Father, Grandfather, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Director, Actor, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important http://www2.gasou.edu/commarts/puppet/ Georgia Southern University Puppet Theatre - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 20:39:16 -0600 From: "Dallas Robbins" Subject: Re: [AML] Value of Literature Tracie, I think everyone who is involved with reading and writing has these doubts time to time. But doubts help you refocus and get a clearer perspective on what is important to you. And what you love to do tends to become the most important. If you love to write, then that is all the justification you need. It doesn't matter what anyone else will think about what you have wrote; but if you love doing it, it will show in the writing. I see good writing as a selfless act. If an author is always wondering whether they will have an effect on society; or make the bestseller list; get the six-figure contract; or be the next Shakespeare, it will simply cripple their ability to write well and write with love. We should learn to detach ourselves from the outcome of what may come from our writing. Remember the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants 18:15? Here is my own version: "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in writing literature unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the library of my Father, the greatest Author of all." Without language and literature there would be no sociey or civilization; and without great language and great literature, there would be no hope for the great society and great civilization to come. We are all part of that: from Herod to Shakespeare to Dickens to you and me! Never let your hope be at mercy of the good opinion of other people. Dallas Robbins editor@harvestmagazine.com http://www.harvestmagazine.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2000 22:40:56 EST From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] re: (Curiouser & Curiouser) Mormon.Outlet.Shopping.Com Oh, Ed! Can we hand these out with the ward and stake calendars this year? Please ... What a side-splitting hoot 'n' holler! Thanks. Larry Jackson _____ Urim and Thummim with Detachable Breastplate Day Planner. Set beautifully in a silver-plated bow attached to an oversized copper breastplate-shaped Day Planner ... >From Ed Snow, CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER: MORMON MUSINGS Mormon.Outlet.Shopping.Com by Edgar C. Snow, Jr. ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 01:58:10 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" Todd Robert Petersen wrote: > But how many Jewish, Native American, or Hindu kids would > feel comfortable performing in a play about Jesus? We need to take that > into consideration. That's what I'm saying and I'm sticking to it. I, a Christian, would feel very comfortable performing in a play about Jewish, Hindu, or Native American religious concepts, as long as the play wasn't promoting those concepts as the true religion. I don't believe the play Godspell says anything about the divinity of Christ, only his moral teachings. It's historical and cultural, and that sort of thing is a valid part of--yes--even public education in America. - -- 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, 03 Nov 2000 02:17:53 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Value of Literature Tracie Laulusa wrote: > Has anyone else been struggling with this and have some words of wisdom to > offer? Or am I a lone flake in the Mormon Arts world? Unfortunately, you are not a lone flake. This guilt about writing seems to keep cropping up every so often. For the life of me, I can't understand why. Isn't it good enough that Presidents of the Church have extolled the virtues of the arts, including literature? The likes of Spencer Kimball, for heaven's sakes, has longed for LDS authors to write about fascinating events and characters in church history. There must be something valuable about writing. > For one, I just have no confidence that, even if I gave it my best for the > rest of my life, anything I write will ever be of any lasting worth to > anyone. Nonsense. It will be of lasting worth to a great many people--your posterity, if nothing else. But if you give it your best for the rest of your life, you would literally have to be a dunce not to learn how to produce something of value sooner or later. > What could I be doing that might be a better use of my time, and so forth. I know this isn't what you meant, but what you could be doing that would be a better use of your time is to stop beating yourself up over your desire to write. What a waste of energy! Use that energy to read and write. It's okay, honest. - -- 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, 03 Nov 2000 11:57:56 JST From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] HELLMAN, _The Children's Hour_ (Salt Lake Tribune) At BYU, Lying And Lesbianism Take the Stage in 'Children's Hour' Thursday, November 2, 2000 BY SCOTT C. MORGAN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Ever since it premiered on Broadway in 1934, Lillian Hellman's drama "The Children's Hour" has stirred up controversy. Although its 1936 film adaptation, "These Three," erased all traces of its controversial subject matter, the 1962 film version of "The Children's Hour" starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine helped break down barriers in Hollywood's Hays Production code, allowing a large American audience to catch a glimpse of the once-taboo issue of homosexuality. This week, "The Children's Hour" opens at Brigham Young University in Provo, where it will be anyone's guess how the play will be received. The plot for "The Children's Hour" comes directly from real-life events of 1810. In Edinburgh, Scotland, a vindictive girl accused two of her school headmistresses of lesbianism. The girl's grandmother spread the slanderous rumors, which eventually ruined the once-respected girls' boarding school and drove one of the women to suicide. For her first play, Hellman transferred the plot to a small Massachusetts town in the 1930s to powerfully show how malicious lies can destroy people's lives. She also exposed the harsh cruelty laid down on those who might fall outside societal norms. In the process, Hellman also brought to the stage Martha Dobie, who was "perhaps the first gay character who wasn't an out-and-out stereotype, but a dramatic, sympathetic person," according to Fran Pruyn, who directed "The Children's Hour" in 1979 for the New Shakespeare Players (later to become TheatreWorks West). Pruyn, who says she has been openly gay in Utah for about 20 years, points out that there have been hundreds of more positive and honest depictions of gay and lesbian characters in literature and theater since the self-loathing Martha, but the fact that Martha existed was still important. "She was perhaps the only lesbian in American theater that was fairly visible up until the late 1960s," Pruyn said. At BYU, the take on the character of Martha is completely different. "That isn't what the play is about," said part-time BYU theater instructor Laurie Harrop-Purser, who was assigned to direct "Children's Hour." "It's about someone who gets caught up in a lie." She said that she thinks, within the play, if a homosexual relationship between the teachers hadn't been rumored by the students, Martha would not have considered it. "Even if she did have any of those feelings, I don't think that's who she is." Harrop-Purser's views were echoed by actress Christina Davis, the BYU senior who plays Martha. "I don't feel that she is actually a lesbian. What really drives her is her search for love," Davis said, referring to her character's enigmatic behavior as a form of co-dependency with the soon-to-be married teacher Karen Wright. "I think she never really experienced real love. Once the lie comes out, she thinks, 'Well, maybe this is the truth,' and actually says it. It's a last, desperate attempt to cling on." Whatever the interpretations behind Martha's motivations, the issues brought up in "The Children's Hour" have a contemporary relevance for many in Utah. In recent years, Spanish Fork High School teacher Wendy Weaver went to court when the Nebo School District tried to restrict her speech because she is a lesbian. The Salt Lake school board tried to squelch a gay-straight student alliance that was forming at East High School in the 1995-96 school year. But to many gays and lesbians working in Utah's theater community, "The Children's Hour" brings to mind the recent suicide of Stuart Matis, a 1994 BYU graduate who could not reconcile his homosexual feelings with his LDS upbringing. About two weeks before Californians voted this year on Proposition 22, the ballot initiative barring same-sex marriages in the state, Matis shot himself on the steps of a Mormon chapel in Los Altos, Calif. Many people close to Matis who were quoted in the national media said that the LDS Church's support of the initiative and the divisive anti-gay comments that flowed across the state all hit Matis particularly hard. Pruyn likens Matis' situation to what Martha encounters in the play. "She was crumbling under society's pressures," Pruyn said. "There comes a time for many people when they realize that they are different and they have difficulty with the realization that they have to find a way to fit in with the rest of the world. Many people can't face that." According to Harrop-Purser, "The Children's Hour" was scheduled for production long before Matis' suicide. "It's sad in both instances, in the play and what happened [in California]," she said, pointing out that the many strong women's roles in "The Children's Hour" was the reason behind its selection. Pruyn sees having "The Children's Hour" produced at BYU as an opportunity for discussion. "Even if it isn't positive, it is still discussion," she said. Controversial Playtime "The Children's Hour" plays at the Harris Fine Arts Center Margetts Theatre on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo tonight through Saturday, and Nov. 7-11 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, $8 for students and faculty. Call (801) 378-4322. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 10:47:43 -0700 From: "Robert Starling" Subject: [AML] _Children of Fortune_ (Movie) I'm not sure if this is "Mormon" literature (since the characters = specifically identify themselves as _ex_ mormons), but did anyone watch = the CBS network made-for-TV movie on Wednesday called "Children of = Fortune"? The plot revolved around a detective intestigating a murder in San Diego. = He goes to the victim's hometown - a small polygamous community near St. = George, Ut. I thought the writing (and the treatment of the "ex-Mormons") was pretty = good. Any comments? Robert Starling - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 19:12:06 GMT From: "Dallas Robbins" Subject: Re: [AML] Value of Literature I wrote: "We are all part of that: from Herod to Shakespeare to Dickens to you and me!" Oops!, I meant Homer not Herod. I think I was having a brain freeze. Dallas Robbins editor@harvestmagazine.com http://www.harvestmagazine.com _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - 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 #185 ******************************