From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #669 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 Monday, April 8 2002 Volume 01 : Number 669 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 11:50:08 -0700 From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] Images of LDS in British Lit This may not be exactly what you're looking for but Anne Bradshaw (an Englishwoman living in Mapelton) recently published a pair of books, Terracotta Summer and Chammomile Something, about an LDS family living in Britan. Terracotta Summer repeatedly and credibly illustrates the idea of good coming from evil. Paris Anderson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 11:58:43 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] Listserv Rights Here's something unsettling I read in the July 2001 Writer magazine: "Exchanging manuscripts via an e-mail list service can also affect your ability to sell your work. As a condition of use, most free listservs claim the royalty-free right to publish, distribute, sublicense, archive and reformat (for example, into book form) anything that is transmitted via their service, including original manuscripts." What the **** [mod edit] is up with that? Chris Bigelow - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 13:23:57 -0600 From: "kumiko" Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] Images of LDS in British Lit Well... The first-ever Sherlock Holmes story, _Study in Scarlet_, is about Mormons. Doyle, Arthur Conan (1988) Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days has a whole chapter about Mormonism. Do translated French writers count as British literature? The following comes from the Religion in Literature database, Latter-day Saint references in science fiction set in England. Probably not useful for the student, but here they are for whatever they're worth. Included below: T. H. White _The Once and Future King_ Anthony Burgess _A Clockwork Orange_ Arthur C. Clarke _The Fountains of Paradise_ Peter Dickinson Ray Bradbury Brian Stableford Here's a Bradbury story set in England: Bradbury, Ray. "Virgin Resusitas" in Driving Blind. New York: Avon Books (1997) Page 218: "'Hold on to your hat. I've joined the Church.'

'You--what church?' I stammered.

'Good grief! There's only one!'

'You have a lot of Mormon friends, and a few Lutherans on the side . . .'

'My God,' she cried. 'Catholic, of course.'

'Since when have you liked Catholics? I thought you were raised in an Orange family, family from Cork, laughed at the Pope!'

'Silly. That was then, this is now. I am certified.'" Stableford, Brian. "Tenebrio" in Vanishing Acts (Ellen Datlow, ed.) New York: Tor (2000) Page 146: "...he'd elected to destroy the village rather than the smaller hamlets, isolating the church. The church commissioners had refused to sell their own parcel of land but they hadn't been able to maintain the living. They'd closed the church and the cemetery and sold the vicarage with the proviso that its exterior aspect was preserved. When he'd bought it, Hazard had become the official keyholder of the church, although he had no more than a couple of inquiries a year from tourists wanting to look inside--mostly American Mormons hunting down scraps of evidence relating to the lives of their more remote ancestors." Anthony Burgess writes about "zoobies" in _A Clockwork Orange_, but he wasn't talking about BYU students. _ The Once and Future King_ mentions both Sherlock Holmes and Mormon pioneers, although, yes, this is a bit of stretch... White, T. H. The Once and Future King. New York: Ace Books (1996; c. 1939, 1940, 1958) Page 158: "'The pigeon,' said Archimedes, '...A dutiful child... a wise parent, she knows, like all philosophers, that the hand of every man is against her. She has learned throughout the centuries to specialize in escape. No pigeon has ever committed an act of aggression nor turned upon her persecutors: but no bird, likewise, is so skillful in eluding them... No other bird can estimate a range so well... the pigeons coo to one another with true love, nourish their cunningly hidden children with true solicitude, and flee from the aggressor with true philosophy--a race of peace lovers continually caravaning away from the destructive Indian in covered wagons. They are loving individualists surviving against the forces of massacre only by wisdom in escape.'

...Merlyn put his fingers together like Sherlock Holmes and replied immediately..." Here's a "King Follett sermon meets Arthurian classic, page 196, _The Once and Future King_: "' 'Well done,' exclaimed the Creator in delighted tones. 'Here, all you embryos, come here with your beaks and whatnots to look upon Our first Man. He is the only one who has guessed Our riddle, out of all of you, and We have great pleasure in conferring upon him the Order of Dominion over the Fowls of the Air, and the Beasts of the Earth, and the Fishes of the Sea. Now let the rest of you get along, and love and multiply, for it is time to knock off for the week-end. As for you, Man, you will be a naked tool all your life, though a user of tools. You will look like an embryo till they bury you... Eternally undeveloped, you will always remain potential in Our image, able to see some of Our sorrows and to feel some of Our joys. We are partly sorry for you, Man, but partly hopeful...'" Dickinson, Peter. The Green Gene. New York: Random House (1973) , set in England: Page 27: "'I have no religion, but I do not drink.'

'Dad's a humanist. Very wet.'

'His humanism permits him to drink to excess?'

'What? Oh, wet. No, I meant creepy, boring, yuck. That's what humanism is, religionwise. I'm a latter-day Satanist, though I still have to attend school prayers. I sing the hymns backwards... Well let me tell you we latter-day Satanists worship the great Minus One...'" [The group identified as 'latter-day Satanists' has nothing to do with Latter-day Saints, but the similar-sounding name may be an quasi-humorous attempt on the part of the author to intentionally pick a name that sounds similar to 'Latter-day Saints.'] Arthur C. Clarke is British. Clarke, Arthur C. The Fountains of Paradise. New York: Ballantine (1980; 1st ed. 1978) Page 70: [Comments given at a fictional address at BYU, the LDS-owned university where 98% of the students are LDS.] "'Of course man made God in his own image; but what was the alternative? Just as a real understanding of geology was impossible until we were able to study other worlds besides earth, so a valid theology must await contact with extraterrestrial intelligences. There can be no such subject as comparative religion as long as we study only the religions of man.'

El Hadj Mohammed ben Selim
Professor of Comparative Religion
Inaugural Address, Brigham Young University, 1998" - ---------- [Preston Hunter] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 12:13:25 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Re: Not in Sunday School - ---Original Message From: Alan Rex Mitchell > Things you can't say in Gospel Doctrine Class (March 31, 2002) > > 1. Unlike Charlton Heston, Moses was a stuttering wimp. He wouldn't > circumcize his son. [snip] > > Our substitute Gospel Doctrine teacher said all these things > yesterday in > class. Woohoo! Wish I had been there. You could probably have sold tickets... Some of those wouldn't have been a problem in our Ward, but a few would have prompted class-long discussion. Not necessarily a bad thing, IMO. Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 14:31:11 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Not in Sunday School What I want to know now is after class did anyone give the teacher a hug or shake her hand? BHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I crack me up. I want to be in your SS class. Or at least get a weekly report. This had to offend almost everyone in some way in that class. There is a great short story in there somewhere. (Obligatory AML mention) Was this an easter class? I would love to know what yeast infections and head lice have to do with Easter. I am still laughing. Debbie Brown btw, does anyone on the list live in Oregon? - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 15:29:30 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN News Briefs: Kent Larsen 4Apr02 US NY NYC X1 SoCal Mormon Choir Nearly Shut Out of Annual Easter Service LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- The Southern California Mormon Choir's 50 year tradition of singing in the Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service nearly came to an end this year as the Trinity Broadcasting Network, one of the nation's largest Christian television ministries, gained control of the event in a coin toss. But the nonprofit Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service Inc., which has run the service for the last 60 of its 80 years, threatened to sue and Trinity backed out. LDS Church member and Southern California Mormon Choir member George Skyles told the Los Angeles Times that the Choir probably would not have been asked to perform if Trinity had hosted the event. Skyles says he's glad that the event is back with the nonprofit organization, "I believe in tradition," he said. "It's just what people have come to expect." Unfortunately, the dispute left Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service without a television partner, so the event was not televised this year. Source: 'Magnificent' Easter Service at the Bowl Los Angeles Times 1Apr02 US CA LA A1 http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000023323apr01.story By Charles Ornstein: Times Staff Writer Religion: After Trinity network dispute, the annual sunrise event delivers hope, despite a shortage of lilies and no live TV coverage. Returned Missionary Filming Afghan War SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Grayden Ridd, 24, a combat photographer for Combat Films and Research, recently returned from a month-long visit to Afghanistan where he was part of a two-man crew shooting video of the military efforts against the Taliban. A graduate of BYU, Ridd speaks Portuguese after serving an LDS mission in Portugal and Spanish from five years of experience. He has many years of International experience working in Mozambique, with BYU's International Volunteers group, in the Middle East and in Chechnya. Ridd told the Deseret News about his experiences in Afghanistan. Source: Utahn shoots Afghan war Deseret News 3Apr02 US UT SLC A2 http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,380010184,00.html By Joe Bauman: Deseret News staff writer He captures film footage of U.S. troops in action >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 13:47:05 -0600 From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] First 100 Temples San Diego At 07:32 PM 4/3/02, you wrote: >Dead on right -- I was reading several books at once, and by the time I >got to the end of this book, I simply didn't remember it. Very sloppy of >me; my apologies. Thanks for pointing to it! I'm glad someone had the book. I was positive San Diego was built before St. Louis (nearest me), and I remember St. Louis being #50. But I read Jeff's post and doubted myself, plus couldn't prove it! Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com http://home.sprintmail.com/~adamszoo - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 12:47:34 -0800 From: Jeff Needle Subject: RE: [AML] JOSPE et al., _Covenant and Chosenness in Judaism and Mormonism_ (Review) At 04:50 PM 4/3/02 -0700, you wrote: > >My memory of this is a little vague, but while researching something >about the early LDS church, I came across a few references that >indicated that there was something of a Zionist movement among Jews that >centered on the United States. [snip] > >Jacob Proffitt This is a new one for me. I've never run across it in my studies of Jewish history. But assuming this is true, given that Judaism is less homogenous than other religious groups, it would not be surprising that other ideas spring up from time to time. What is undeniable, however, is the consistency of the Hebrew prayer, Le'Shana Haba'a B'Yerushalaim, Next Year in Jerusalem. Thanks for the information! - ---------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 17:49:38 -0700 From: "Eileen Stringer" Subject: [AML] Drugs in Utah (was: Sharing Experiences) > I should have been clearer. They're writing about the high level of > perscription anti-depressant use and abuse in Utah. > -- > Todd I have often wondered about the "high level of prescription anti-depressant use and abuse in Utah." How is that measured and what is it compared to? Is this measured in pills or people? I am wondering as well that if our "Mormon" or "Utah" culture is a contributing factor to the high level use how is it a contributing factor? Also, do we take these drugs instead of drinking? If there were no prohibition and a "relaxing after work cocktail" that many of my colleagues have, would we see as much anti-depressant use? We were discussing this issue the other day at my Relief Society book group and really did not come up with any really good answers as to why we seem to take more Prozac in Utah than other states. One of the ladies said that her doctor felt that it was because depression in Utah was genetic. He noted to her that we have a somewhat "closed" society when it comes to marriage and that perhaps in Utah we need to have more intermarrying outside the main Mormon families that settled here originally. He told her, "I know you Mormons have an aversion to marrying outside the faith, but genetically it may be a wise move." It was quite a lively discussion for us at book group. The majority of the women at the group are members of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and have been able to trace their ancestry back that we discovered that they all were related, albeit a few generations back. We also discussed the doctor's notion that we are a "closed society" and to some extent agreed with him. We are selective about who we marry and polygamy narrowed the gene pool as well to a certain degree. The question one sister brought up was "could that be a reason the Lord said no more polygamy?" Oh the wonderful speculation one can have in a book group. :) We even tossed around the idea of eternal families and what genetics had to do with that. I found the whole idea of the doctor's very intriguing and thought at the very least there could be some great stories in there somewhere. Genetic missionary work. You have to have a gene test before marrying in the temple to be certain you are not passing on genetically bad habits. As I said, we have a very lively discussion about it and although we did not come up with any answers, there were those who could really see the doctor's point. Another valid reason for missionary work - expand the gene pool? Eileen Stringer - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 23:45:03 -0700 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] SSA in Mormon Lit Kellene Adams wrote: > However, given our LDS beliefs, if I as an LDS writer write the story and > have a person choose marriage and family (or celibacy at the very least), > isn't that the LDS happy ever after? Now, I understand that it sounds overly > simplistic and that actually choosing that and standing by that choice day > after day, week after week, month after month, throughout an entire lifetime > entails so much more. But isn't that the "right" decision and the story we > would want to tell **if** we were writing the faith-promoting, inspiring, > and groundbreaking LDS story? Is it? Is it *the* faith-promoting, inspiring, and groundbreaking LDS story? Is there only one true perspective of *the* faithful SSA experience? Is there only one true perspective of *a* faithful experience--with or without SSA? Is the core of Mormonism that we just put our heads down and do what someone else tells us is the right thing without having any personal testimony of the thing, without coming to any personal peace or understanding or acceptance? Obviously I don't think so, and I don't think a story that treats the issue only at a simple behavioral level will resonate with a diverse audience. There will certainly be some who think that the story finally tells the truth about that horrible homo***ual behavior (darn them to a fiery heck for making me even *think* the s-word), but I don't think it would fly for even a large minority of Mormons, no less a simple majority. Of course you already know that. I could retell that fundamental story with a different situation and I think it could be offered as a true and faithful--and possibly even inspiring--story. I could tell about my own alcoholism as a teen and recent RM. I could talk about my personal (probably heretical) belief that alcohol is not actually evil in and of itself, but it's a temptation that's so easily abused that it's just good policy to avoid it altogether; abstaining from alcohol is just an issue of physical discipline, after all. Sort of like sexual abstinence. The problem is that in my story the impulse to drink is very strong and I haven't actually accepted that my desire for it is really a sin. Though I've been sober for a little over twelve years now, I still have active physical and psychological cravings for the stuff nearly every day. This past week I have wanted to get drunk more than at any time in the last fifteen years--a lot of things are not going the way I want them to, and I would really like a few minutes' escape from my own fear and doubt and frustration. In many ways I feel cheated. My religion tells me that drinking alcohol is a sin and that I'm therefore denied an otherwise perfectly legal (albeit temporary) reprieve from myself. Losing yourself in a good novel is fine, as is immersing yourself in good music. Losing your cares while in service to others is better. Wasting your day with a computer game is irresponsible, but not actually a sin. But try to ease a sorrowing spirit with a little chemical euphoria naturally produced and easily available, and you're morally corrupt. The Jews are God's people too, and they don't have to abstain from drink. It's just not fair. Still, I accept that drinking is at least a bad idea (for me, anyway--I already know that I can't drink in moderation). And by the standards set out in the modern Church it's sin. So I choose not to drink. Not because I don't have a very powerful urge to drink. Not because I think alcohol is evil. Not because it's easy for me not to drink. But because specific counsel has been given on the issue and I trust that the counsel is to my eternal benefit. I don't think the desire to drink will ever leave me. No matter how much I develop my higher senses and my more spiritual desires, my body craves alcohol. No matter how much I accept and trust the counsel not to drink, I can't escape my belief that it's an at least somewhat arbitrary rule that's as much about physical discipline as about innate spiritual worth. Which is not to say that I don't have a testimony--or at least a hope--of the value and rewards that come of abstaining from alcohol. Every day that I don't drink I feel good (a small victory to counter the fact that I still feel guilt about my craving for it). Every day that I don't drink I feel a certain defiant joy that I still qualify for inclusion in the community of the saints (on that issue, at least). Every day I learn something new that alters how I think about the nearly constant impulse to drink. And while I haven't resolved the ultimate sinfulness of alcohol in my own heart and mind, my hope that suppressing that very real desire will lead to spiritual reward is enough. For now I am content, if not fully at peace with the issue. That is one of *many* true stories that could be told about struggling with alcoholism. In this one, there is a certain contentment in choosing sobriety despite a moral conviction that there is no true eternal sin in drinking. But if I left that moral dissonance out, the story would no longer be true--or at least not completely so from my perspective. I'm not trying to equate alcoholism with SSA. I don't know enough about SSA to comment on it at that level. But I do know that one can choose abstinence in the hope of faith when abstinence in the presence of faith is not possible, and that such a choice is not always a betrayal of a personal belief in the non-sinfulness of either the impulse or the practice. I do know that it's incomplete to dismiss the whole thing as a merely physical impulse. I think the desire to love others is not only natural, but is good and right and godly. But there are lines that we draw, and if those lines should prove to be arbitrary and ultimately meaningless in an eternal sense, there is still much to be gained from observing them even when it's difficult. Recently I attended the funeral of a gay man who died of AIDS. His surviving partner is a good friend of mine, and is one of the best people I know. I went to support my friend in his time of sorrow, not because I knew the decedent well or wanted to support his cause. I knew that my friend was gay, and I knew that his partner was dying of AIDS, but had somehow managed to simply put the issue of their homosexuality out of my mind so that I didn't have to deal with my (once) very Mormon friend and his very un-Mormon lifestyle. So I attended the funeral and saw my friend in the role of the grieving spouse. It was an aggressively Mormon funeral, and my gay friend gave the closing prayer in a decidedly Mormon standard way. Both families were very evidently Mormon in both belief and culture (one from Salt Lake and the other from Idaho). And both families dearly loved and supported their sons, and sorrowed deeply over that death. But what struck me most profoundly about the event was the obvious quality of the relationship between my friend and his partner. They had lived in a monogamous, committed relationship for six years. They were obviously deeply in love with each other, and the quality of their relationship seemed much higher than that of many of my straight friends. In fact, the quality of their love seemed no less than the powerful love I have for my wife. This was a thought that had never really occurred to me. I had tended to dismiss gay relationships as simple physical intimacy gone awry, as a real and natural desire for physical intimacy detoured into unproductive paths. But after witnessing the quality of my friend's gay relationship with his partner, I find it hard to dismiss it as merely misdirected libido. His was a real and poignant love that I can only admire. So now I find myself with one less certainty in my life. Homosexuality may not just be about physical lust--at least not in all cases. Maybe no more so than the number of straight relationships that are more about body than mind or soul (The Bachelor, anyone?). Both the beautiful and the tawdry exist, be the relationship gay or straight. Now I have to evaluate relationships on the basis of quality, not gender (or race or ethnicity or physical beauty). Darn... I see a real danger in underestimating the Mormon readership and the broader culture. I keep hearing about all these mean-spirited, judgmental, prissy Mormons who are completely unable to deal with anything that challenges their worldview or assumptions, but almost forty years later I still don't know any of those people--or at least they haven't revealed themselves to me such that I recognized the behavior. And I live in Utah County! Southern Utah County, even. Of course that may be that I don't like those kind of people and they don't like me, so we naturally stay away from each other. But that doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of the Mormon people I know and hang out with are a great deal more progressive than these narrow, condemning folk I hear so much about. It's fashionable to say "Welcome to Utah--set your clocks back 50 years!" But I wonder if we as writers don't sometimes fall prey to that mentality. Are we really dealing with Mormon culture as it is right now, or are we dealing with the Mormon culture of a few years ago--the one that informed our childhoods (or worse, our parents' childhoods)--that did cause many people to behave in ways that we now think of as silly. Of course we generally look at the young lives our parents led as informed by a lot of silly thoughts and beliefs (making fun of the 50s and 60s and 70s--and even 80s--has become something of a national sport in the U.S.). If we're old enough, we look at our own young lives and wonder how we could possibly have believed the way we did back then. But we change, and so do others. Maybe there are a lot of Mormons who choose to continue in the assumptions of their younger lives, but that's true of people everywhere. There are also an awful lot of Mormons who have changed (and maybe progressed) over the years such that ideas that might have been scandalous twenty years ago just don't raise that much fuss now. Or maybe I live in the only socially and politically progressive ward in the Church down here in Santaquin, Utah (population 3011--Sa-lute!). Nahhh. I'm just not convinced that Mormons are more backward than anyone else, or that it's particularly accurate to emphasize only the backward parts of our culture in our stories. Yes, it's our culture and we can only criticize what we know, but when the criticism is assumed to be true *only* of our own culture and not of people in general, I think we severely limit the kind and scope of stories we tell. They become institutional critiques, not stories of real people. Part of me wants to say that any fiction whose primary intent is to teach the morally bereft, stupidly provincial, heartlessly unthinking masses of Mormonism starts from a place that I'm not sure is capable of producing quality literature--polemic on behalf of a good cause is still polemic, though we seem less likely to point it out on some issues than others. It may well be that we need to be roused from our torpor and browbeat into awareness of the need to have compassion and love for all of our brothers and sisters, regardless of their sins (or our own). Of course, another part of me wants to say that if we don't tell the stories in some way and by some method and using some metaphor, we won't start telling them at all, to our collective detriment. Early works in any literary movement are often somewhat overstated and the best works usually come later. If social/political activism is what it takes to start the ball rolling, so be it. So while I love the idea of telling more stories about Mormon struggles with SSA--all the many different stories and approaches and true experiences of faithful, rejecting, or ambivalent reactions for both the straight and the those with SSA--I also suggest the same caution with regards to those stories that I do for any other story: keep it personal and intimate and true about one person's experience, and no one can argue with you; try to claim your story as *the* one and only true explication of the institutional belief (be that institution the LDS Church, Homosexuality, The Green Party, or alcoholics), and I think you create much to reject. Which begs a question--are the stories that will most effectively kick off this little revolution in Mormon letters most likely to be fiction, or essay? I'm inclined to believe that the true stories have to come first before people are primed to accept fictional ones, but I may be wrong on that. Scott Parkin (Believe it or not, this is the short post that I chose out of the several much longer ones that I've written on this broad subject over the last three days but kept in my outbox. Just think of what I might have inflicted on you...) - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 08:09:16 -0600 From: "Angela Hallstrom" Subject: [AML] Good Young Adult Lit I've been asked to do a class in Enrichment meeting on "good" young adult and children's lit. (Originally, the Enrichment leader mean "good" as synonymous with "clean," but I talked her into "good" being synonymous with "well done.") Although picture books are no big problem--most parents don't need any help thumbing through them--novel-length stuff is another story. I taught high school English from '93 to '98, so I'm aware of quite a few examples published before and during this time, but I need a little help with more recent books. Actually, I have two requests. First, I would love some recommendations on YA books that have been published in the last five years or so (not just LDS books, by the way), and second, I need some help with the whole appropriateness issue. There are some YA books I've read and loved that I just can't stand up in front of the Relief Society and recommend--even though I'm going to give a disclaimer at the beginning of the class that each parent needs to decide for herself what's best for her kids, and none of my choices are "church endorsed" in any way. For me, this whole thing is particularly sensitive because these are books I'm recommending for people's *kids*. However, I don't want to fall back on some of the more preachy, sentimental Mormon fare that is often offered up (an often not very well written). So, what YA books would you recommend if you were in my shoes? Books that are well written and meaningful, but could stand up to the scrutiny of a wide range of Relief Society women? Thanks for your help, Angela Hallstrom - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 19:51:39 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Editing Films First off, this is not to start a thread on censorship............... Has anyone here on the list received a phone call from a company called = ***star (not feeling well so didn't retain to much) asking if you wanted = more family rated G movies and how they have produced 9 so far and = bought the rights to others that they have or will edit for content, = language, or violence? I know they are based in Utah because I asked, = and the girl then denied any religious affliations though I told her I = was LDS myself. I'm sure I didn't give her the answer/opinion she wanted = when I stated that if people wanted G rated movies then that should be = what they rent or buy in their original state, not after they have been = edited for content, that, Titantic, for example, is either ok to watch = in its original state or its not ok to watch at all. She thanked me for = my time, said they would call me again when they had more exciting news, = and probably cursed the gods that put me on the phone and not my husband = who they asked for.=20 The reason I am asking this is because I would actually be = interested in the original movies they have done so far, and I want to = find out how they got our phone number. As far as I know, there isn't = supposed to be a LDS mailing list, but I could be either an idiot or = naive. And excuse me for not sounding intelligent, I am feeling like = garbage and don't know why. As always, rplies can be sent to me off list. Debbie Brown debbro@voyager.net - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2002 00:09:24 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] SSA in Mormon Lit Eileen Stringer wrote: > This film was an entry in the Sundance Film Festival this year. Four step program to a guaranteed airing of your film on the Sundance Channel: 1. Present your exposition through a narrator. 2. Film sequences in both color and black & white. 3. The less sense it makes, the better. 4. Have the topic be about homosexuality, portrayed in a sympathetic way. Bonus hint: 5. Throw in some environmental stuff, and you've got it made in the shade. - -- 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 ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #669 ******************************