From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #317 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 Wednesday, May 9 2001 Volume 01 : Number 317 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 01:26:29 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Genealogy in Literature Andrew Hall wrote: > "Genealogical thrillers" That sounds to me like as big an oxymoron as "military intelligence." - -- 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: Sat, 05 May 2001 01:50:31 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] MN Book of Mormon Epic to Be Produced for Giant (IMAX) ScreenRelease: InteliQuest Media Corporation Press Release 2May01 A2 "InteliQuest Media Corporation (by way of Ronn Blankenship )" wrote: > Also in development from the producers are other LDS-themed epic > films for the large screen including the story of the restoration and > the epic pioneer journey. Must be why Richard Dutcher felt such a pressing need to make his next film about Joseph Smith, to beat these guys to the punch. - -- 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: Sat, 5 May 2001 11:39:43 -0600 From: "Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] LA Book Festival I watched Oprah when Betty Eadie was on there, and Oprah talked freely about Betty's being a Mormon. I think all of us should write one hot shot paragraph to Harpo. Anybody want to try? William, please give us an example of what you might write. Educate us how to ask. I think it might work! Marilyn - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 May 2001 12:26:01 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] You Must See J. Golden... At 10:17 AM 5/4/01 -0600, Thom Duncan wrote: >... opening tonight at the UVSC Black Box theatre. > Rated "R" for strong language. ;-) - -- Ronn! :) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 22:04:18 -0600 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Writing about Mormon Characters LauraMaery (Gold) Post wrote: >The question (and yes, I know it's only theoretical to many of us): When >you write to "the world," do you still feel compelled to disguise your >characters' Mormon faith? I rant a little about this in another post, but let me comment again here... It depends on what kind of story I'm telling. I've populated my short fiction with Mormon concepts for years, but have only written a few with overtly Mormon details. In my mind, though, many of my characters have been Mormon even when I have made no effort to expose that fact to readers. Using religion in fiction is always hard. Our inclination is to make religion a/the central theme around which the story revolves. I'm not sure this need be true. I think you can write stories where rich characters have motivations, and one of the several motivations that work on characters is their religion. Unfortunately, readers have been taught to see that expression of religion as a signpost that the story's resolution will somehow hinge on that religious perspective. If it doesn't, I think many readers end up feeling that you've given them a red herring, and that you've somehow misled them. Which is odd to me. We include other attributes about characters all the time that have no direct bearing on resolving a story's primary conflict. We give them hair and eye color, height, gender, national origin, and more, without expecting all of those details to bear on the resolution. So... I would love to see (though I have never done it myself) more stories where small, meaningless details are clearly shown as having origins in Mormon culture and/or mindset. Not stories about The Church, but stories containing members of a church. As for the rest, I'm not sure. I've tended to try to write stories that appeal to a broad audience and have written little or nothing intended for a Mormon audience only (with the exception of pretty much everything I say on this list). >You have a character who for some reason needs to pass by a temple. Or even >enter one. Let's say it's a central plot point. You handle this plot point by: > >1. Carefully explaining what a temple is, and what it means to the >character's faith. > >2. Assuming your reader knows what a temple is, and how it functions, and >simply proceeding as though it's familiar. > >3. Setting your story in history. Nineteenth-century Mormons are more >interesting, or easier to write about, than are contemporary Mormons. > >4. Rewriting the whole story so that your character is, say, Jewish. Or >Muslim. Or an Alien. Or an elf. > >5. Targeting your story at an LDS audience. Split the difference between 1 and 2. If POV is Mormon, there should have been many opportunities earlier in the story to set up the meaning of a temple to him so by the time you actually show it, the reader understands what a temple is for and how POV feels about it. I think we tend to wait until the last instant, then pile it on, and I think that ends up feeling wrong to most readers. If POV is not Mormon, then you have a perfect opportunity to do some work in inner monologue where POV talks about what he thinks of Mormons. Make it short, and let him ask himself exactly the questions that most non-Mormons would ask about temples. If this really is a key point, you have time to deepen the thought later in the story; do just enough now to set up the questions and promise that answers (of some sort) will come later. >I'm supposing most LDS writers still pick method four...and that that >explains why so many LDS writers do S.F....Of the five choices, it's >actually easier (I'll be charitable: "more satisfying") to write about >Mormons disguised as aliens than it is to create contemporary fictional >Mormon characters and sell the story to a mainstream audience. I'm not sure this is true, then again there are an awful lot of writers who have chosen speculative fiction as an outlet for their very Mormon thoughts (see my editorial in the current issue of Irreantum for more of my thoughts on this). While I hope that parenthetical wasn't intended as condescension, I think you make a good point. I think it is *is* easier to write about many Mormon things when you go with a completely irrelevant setting. I think it *is* easier for Mormon authors to explore the concepts of Mormon thought because genre readers expect there to be a certain amount of alien world-building, which includes exploring alien philosophies. In sf, philosophical lumps are not only okay, they're actually anticipated by many readers. And yes, I think that makes telling some stories more satisfying. When you can address questions and ideas about your own culture directly, it often is more satisfying to the author. They're freed of some heavy constraints. Easier? Absolutely! (Though I'm not sure it's fair to criticize the genre simply because it makes talking about some things easier. Every choice an author makes, from genre to setting to the characters' race enable both easier and harder choices; it's not the difficulty of the choice that I find interesting so much as how effectively that choice is used in the remainder of the story. But that's a completely different discussion.) More satisfying? For many, yes. It's nice to tell your own stories with less obfuscation. Sometimes. And there's that whole salability thing. Many on this list have bemoaned the closed doors in New York for overtly Mormon stories--or at least overt stories where The Church isn't the bad guy. Certainly the genre has allowed a great deal more freedom to address such issues without impacting overall salability. Personally, I think the answer lies in quietly educating more readers to what it means to be Mormon. Make more characters passively Mormon, and include more details about our culture, so that over the years readers become more familiar with us and our practices. That takes the mystery out, and makes us less alien and thus less fearsome. Over time, this will facilitate more stories containing more overt Mormonisms without requiring an either/or judgement about the truth of the institution. It could take twenty years. But I think it's quite possible, and quite desirable. >Can Mormons write about Mormons as well as Jews can write about Jews? Maybe. We haven't yet. But remember, it took many Jews writing many stories containing overt elements of Judaism for many years to become mainstream. I think we need to give ourselves some more time to penetrate the national consciousness as normal humans before the overt (non-negative) Mormon story will have a chance at massive national success. But the signs are already out there. The Time (or was it Newsweek?) pseudo-expose about that corporation of the church and its economic power. The general success of President Hinckley's book. The marvellous work being done by Margaret Young and Darius Gray. The fact that Richard Dutcher was able to make a second movie with a much better distribution says something about Hollywood's willingness to accept a Mormon artist. The signs are there that we may be gaining mainstream acceptance. Now the question is what are we gonna do about it. Don't be afraid to tell our own stories our own ways. Trying to hard to satisfy other people may be a big part of the reason that most Mormon stories are viewed as being either too angry or too fluffy for the national market. The doors are opening, though slowly. One way to open them further is to tell the wide variety of Mormon stories there are to tell, and not to be afraid to use the fact that we're seen by many as somewhat exotic (strange, but true!) as a point of leverage for both story and sale. Scott Parkin - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 12:31:56 -0700 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: Re: [AML] Genealogy in Literature On Thursday 3 May 2001 Renato Rigo writes (love that alliteration): > >Do you have literature books where genealogy is the > >central theme? On Fri, 04 May 2001 Andrew Hall replied: > As far as fiction is concerned, G. G. Vandegraff wrote two novels for > Deseret Book which were advertised as "Genealogical thrillers". > Cankered Roots (1994), and Of Deadly Descent (1996). I immediately thought of Brigham's Bees by Robert Kirby. Interesting that Andrew and I both thought of thrillers. It also occurred to me that family history is very much a theme in Levi Peterson's _The Backslider_, not so much writing records as how the family narrative, particularly the narrative of madness, gets passed down in Frank's family. Just finished Louis Owens' _Bone Game_, about many forms of genealogy, intellectual as well as familial. It's very much about turning hearts of old and young towards each other, and very much about the earth being smitten with a curse. It raises an interesting question--given the cultural taboos the book describes about saying the names of the dead, how would Native Americans do temple work? BTW, if April showers bring may flowers what do may flowers bring? Allergies. Hence the song, "General allergies, I'm a-chooing them, my general allergies, and the reasons why I'm a-chooing them are very plain to see, Ragweed's in the air, pollen's everywhere, my general allergies." Harlow S. Clark ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! 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: Sat, 5 May 2001 17:50:35 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] Church Problems in Lit This weekend, I took five of my sons to our stake father and son campout. During the hour-long drive to camp, we passed by two freight trains. As we went by each train, three of my younger sons began to count the number of cars on the track. After counting, they each declared how may cars were in the train. On both occasions I remarked to everyone's amusement, "Once again, three eye witnesses to the same event have returned with different versions of the details." Though their totals were close in number, the difference in their counting could not be resolved by simple things, such as whether or not they included the engines. Each was certain he had counted correctly. This led to a wonderful discussion about reporting events, both historical and current, and how we each see things differently. We discussed how, in some matters, it is important to return and check the facts. We talked about how, in most cases, we only get one chance to gather information and cannot go back for what we miss. We talked about how the counting of the train cars was really no big deal for those of us going camping, but that it might have been a significant problem for someone more interested in the actual count, such as the shipper, the switchyard, the engineer in the locomotive, or the railroad billing department. Even small differences in their numbers, for example, might have resulted in recounts, verifications, heated discussions, and all of the other things associated with defending what we believe is right when it is important to us. Except for the torrential rain, lightning, thunder, and ensuing dampness (we would have been drier at the bottom of a swimming pool), it was a great weekend. Of course, I wouldn't suppose any recent posts on this list had anything to do with it, did they? (Thanks.) Larry Jackson ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! 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: Sat, 5 May 2001 18:00:57 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN New Products: The Kindness Handbook, Evolution and Mormonism: Kent Larsen From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 23:00:00 -0400 Subject: MN New Products: The Kindness Handbook, Evolution and Mormonism: Kent Larsen 4May01 A4 [From Mormon-News] New Products: The Kindness Handbook, Evolution and Mormonism NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- A group of Mormon scholars took on the sometimes controversial subject of Evolution in a recent book from Signature Books, while a new Deseret Book title gives practical advice on helping others through adversity. The scholars who wrote "Evolution and Mormonism" include BYU professor Duane Jeffrey, and they approach evolution from a belief in the gospel, managing to reconcile the findings of science with that belief. Also new is "The Kindness Handbook," a guide for how to help those in need, or not help as the situation may require. The book covers a multitude of situations, including major surgery, death, divorce, and unemployment. Meanwhile, the University of Illinois Press is releasing "Mormon History," a scholarly look at how Mormons have told their history since the founding of the Church. New and recent products: Listen to Your Mother by Maureen Crimin Einfeldt Evans Books Book; LDS Publisher; Non-Fiction; Mormon Subject $6.95 A poetic collection of a few of the loving lines that mothers pass to their children, whether they want to or not. The Kindness Handbook: When You Want to Help but Don't Know What to Do by Jeri-Lynn Johnson Deseret Book Book; LDS Publisher; Non-fiction; Mormon Subject and Author $7.95 A practical guide for those of us who simply don't know how to help or show concern for others that are suffering. Includes guidance on what to do and what not to do in every situation, including major surgery, unemployment, homelessness, disability, death of a spouse, death of a child, divorce, etc. The Book of Mormon and the Message of the Four Gospels Edited by Ray L. Huntington and Terry B. Ball Deseret Book Book; LDS Publisher; Nonfiction; Mormon Subject and Author $22.95 A collection of essays by 14 Latter-day Saint scholars on the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. The essays talk about questions like, Is the New Testament doctrinally complete? Does God condone anger as the book of Matthew seems to suggest? What is the meaning of the word gospel? Mormon History by Ronald W. Walker, David J. Whittaker and James B. Allen University of Illinois Press Book; University Publisher; Non-fiction; Mormon Subject and Authors $32.50 A companion volume to their massive bibliography "Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997," this descriptive history by a team of top Mormon scholars provides a comprehensive view of how the writing of Mormon history has evolved since the establishment of the church. Evolution and Mormonism: A Quest for Understanding by Trent D. Stephens, D. Jeffrey Meldrum, Forrest B. Peterson, Duane E. Jeffery Signature Book Book; Utah Publisher; Non-fiction; Mormon Subject and Authors $19.95 Latter-day Saint scientists, aided by a non-scientist, look at the discoveries of science about evolution, approaching the subject from a position of faith. Using information from the scriptures, they try to show how scripture is consistent with modern science. Where Can I Turn for Peace Covenant Communications CD; LDS Publisher; Non-fiction; Mormon Subject and Author $11.95 Recording of Gubler's talk about how if we turn to the Savior we can find peace and happiness. A World Away by Anna Jones Covenant Communications Book; LDS Publisher; Fiction; Mormon Subject and Author $14.95 Romance about a woman's bed and breakfast in Wales and the people who visit there. A novel about a place where dreams are renewed, peace is found, and lives are changed. >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/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 21:10:09 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Writing about Mormon Character - --- "LauraMaery (Gold) Post" wrote: > 4. Rewriting the whole story so that your character > is, say, Jewish. Or > Muslim. Or an Alien. Or an elf. [And she wrote]: > I'm supposing most LDS writers still pick method > four...and that that > explains why so many LDS writers do S.F....Of the > five choices, it's > actually easier (I'll be charitable: "more > satisfying") to write about > Mormons disguised as aliens than it is to create > contemporary fictional > Mormon characters and sell the story to a mainstream > audience. > > Can Mormons write about Mormons as well as Jews can > write about Jews? I will admit to having this same prejudice--viewing sci-fi as a bit of a cop out because it covers the 'cultural' or 'theological' signs of Mormonism with a sci-fi wrap. However, after reading Orson Scott Card's and Dave Wolverton's similar thoughts on the subject, along with Scott Parkin's excellent introduction to the latest issue of _Irreantum_, I've changed my mind. The move by Mormon writers into speculative fiction was one of the great cultural achievements of Mormon history. It (as Scott explains so well) gave Card and others access to a national audience, allowed them to explore Mormon-inspired themes, provided some of them enough capital so they had time to write, and provided, to a certain extent, the proof that Mormon authors can find an audience beyond the Mormon one. However, I also realize that the choice to write speculative fiction creates its own set of constraints, and I admit to a strong desire to see Mormon 'literary fiction' that is of a high quality---I guess unlike Card and Wolverton, I haven't given up on it yet. I don't exactly mean 'literary realism' because some of my favorite writing has a speculative quality to it (latest example: Bulgakov's _The Master and Margarita_). What I mean is literary fiction that explicitly uses the symbols, history, vernacular, mores, themes and character 'types' of Mormonism. Can Mormons write about Mormons as well as Jews write about Jews? I think they already are, especially in the various genre fictions. In fact, I don't think that the barrier to great Mormon literary fiction is a lack of talent (maybe of genius, but not much literary fiction is truly genius), I suspect that the talent is out there. No, the barrier is one of time and opportunity (not really my idea---it's something that's been complained about and discussed for the past four decades or more---for Mormon authors the question to write brings with it some of the same anxieties that the question to write brought to women authors of the last century). The market for literary fiction is already incredibly small, yet it is also cluttered (because of all the creative writing programs, which in turn sprang up to support the literary authors because they couldn't live off their writing alone), and it is, for the most part, not interested in Mormon writing, let alone Mormon writing from a 'faithful' perspective (the perspective I'm most interested in). So what I'm hoping to see (and maybe help with) is growth in the market for Mormon literary fiction (and quality genre fiction) so that when the next Wolverton comes along, instead of turning to sci-fi, he or she views literary fiction as a viable path. ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 23:39:41 -0500 From: Mark Wright (by way of Ronn Blankenship ) Subject: [AML] MN At BYU-Hawaii, Card Tells Students How to Write: BYU Hawaii Ke Alaka'i 2May01 A2 From Mormon-News: See footer for instructions on joining and leaving this list. Do you have an opinion on this news item? Send your comment to letters.to.editor@MormonsToday.com At BYU-Hawaii, Card Tells Students How to Write LAIE, HAWAII -- Orson Scott Card, well known-novelist and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has found his own way to meld his religious beliefs and his creative writing. Earlier in his career, he briefly attempted to separate his personal moral compass from his writings. He was, by his own admission, mostly unsuccessful in the attempt. Now, realizing that his religious perspective is part of "who he is," Card is comfortable with the results that come from his harmonization of the sacred and the secular. "What I do as a Mormon writer is no different than what you do as a Mormon insurance salesman, a Mormon student, a Mormon clerk at the grocery store, a Mormon doctor, that is, I try to make everything I do a part of life as a Latter-day Saint," he said. Card was speaking to a small audience about the concerns, problems and benefits of being a successful Latter Day Saint writer while visiting the Aloha Center on the campus of BYU-Hawaii. While answering questions, Card provided his insights about what it takes to be a successful writer. "Write your brains out," he said. "If you're writing, you're a writer. If you're not writing, you're not a writer...If you're serious about writing, just do it." He also offered advice about the "right" way to write, saying, "Pay no attention to what you have been told what good writing is." Finally, Card noted that many writers have to spend time trying to unlearn incorrect writing principles that they were taught in school. Best known for his Hugo and Nebula award-winning stories, Card is pursuing the possibility of moving his work to the big screen. Current discussions with Nickelodeon Films may eventually bring Card's wildly popular sci-fi novel, Ender's Game, to a theater near you. Hopefully, Card will continue to find a way to mesh his imaginative writing with his core LDS beliefs and produce many more entertaining stories for all to enjoy. Source: Writing as a Mormon BYU Hawaii Ke Alaka'i 2May01 A2 http://www.byuh.edu/kealakai/current/pages/orson.html By Nate Sadowski: Staff writer Successful LDS writer Orson Scott Card >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/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 May 2001 12:48:59 -0400 From: Tony Markham Subject: [AML] Martha Beck on Oprah Anybody happen to catch Martha Beck on Oprah yesterday? (Monday, May 7) I didn't, but my wife told me she was featured in a pre-filmed segment, called something like "Remembering Your Spirituality." The irony of the title does not escape me. Tony Markham - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 May 2001 16:36:58 -0600 From: "Travis Manning" Subject: Re: [AML] DUTCHER, _Brigham City_ I went on a roadtrip with my wife last weekend and we discussed Richard Dutcher. I told my wife I thought Dutcher was courageous for producing screenplays by a Mormon about Mormons. My wife said she has trouble with that. We talked further. My wife said she has problems with movie makers producing films containing spiritual content like blessings and prayers. My comment was, "Well, why has the church televised an LDS sacrament meeting on t.v. here in recent years? Those things are sacred." I also said there is spiritual content in _Legacy_ and _Testament_, and these are church-sponsored productions. Her comment was she didn't particularly like church movies and productions, that they just weren't well produced. She hasn't been impressed by _Legacy_ or _Testaments_. I said that church artists weren't going to get better, that LDS filmmakers weren't going to get better unless there were more films to watch and critique, if there wasn't a more substantive discourse and dialogue on what makes films "good". Back to what Wayne Booth has said about critical communities, that unless we have a critical community, art, in whatever form, will not improve (this is a loose reiteration, but still on the point). My wife questioned Dutcher's financial motives: was he attempting to JUST make money off of movie producing? I didn't believe so. Besides, shouldn't we be anxiously engaged in good causes and do many good things of our own free will to bring to pass good things? My wife asked me why an LDS moviemaker would attempt to even make _Brigham City_, a *fictional* piece. Why fiction? My response: Christ used fiction. The Parables. Christ's Parables are stories carefully crafted to elicit valuable lessons to those who are paying careful attention to its content. Her response was, "Well, that's Christ. We shouldn't try to replicate what he does?" I asked if she was sure about that, and she realized where we were in our conversation. Christ, of course, commands us to be like Him, even as He is like the Father. We both agreed. Again, I said, I see Richard Dutcher as a courageous LDS filmmaker who is just developing his art and encouraging other LDS filmmakers to do the same. There are almost zero films by Mormons about Mormons, for a national audience. And as Margaret Young mentioned in her post a couple weeks ago about her and Darius' experience in an L.A. book convention, there are still many stereotypes about Mormons that are flat-out "back woods" and hokey. Is Dutcher proselytizing in his movies? We discussed the effectiveness of proselyting through this medium, and I believed, yes he is. But is Dutcher also creating quality art? (You can see why we spent two hours talking about this.) Yes, Dutcher is creating quality art. Can movies by Mormons about Mormons help break down anti-Mormon stereotypes? We felt yes, depending on how the movies were made. Not all movies were/are going to "reach" every member of an audience. Many films do not "reach" my wife, for instance. Movies touch some more than others, as in any art form, we decided. That's why LDS artists need to be producing more art, in all artistic mediums, because some art effects others in more significant and important ways, ways that help build faith for each of us who are on varying spiritual levels. To sum it up, I believe Richard Dutcher is well-intentioned, perhaps inspired (at minimum, inspired to want to create "quality" LDS art), contributing dialogue to our LDS critical, artistic community, and yes, I believe he is courageous for being anxiously engaged in a good cause. Travis K. Manning "Men and women die; philosophers falter in wisdom, and Christians in goodness: if any one you know has suffered and erred, let him look higher than his equals for strength to amend, and solace to heal." (Jane Eyre) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 May 2001 17:13:20 -0600 From: "ROY SCHMIDT" Subject: [AML] Jeff Needle Has anyone heard from Jeff. How is he doing? Roy Schmidt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 19:50:32 -0600 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Divinity on Stage Margaret Young wrote: >Gee, Michael, I wanted to hear what you were really thinking. Another quick >observation: My mother reported to me that some of her Mission President type >friends really RESENT "God's Army." Why? Because (according to them--though >this seems a bit unlikely to me) missionaries are portrayed as not >being solidly grounded in their faith. I got a similar reaction to _Brigham City_ when I brought it up in the Stake public affairs council meeting last week. One woman was absolutely incensed that he had shown a sacrament meeting *complete with prayers* in a mere film. I reminded her that those prayers were a matter of public record, but she still felt that Dutcher had somehow violated our sacred things--and from the inside, no less. I'm pretty much of the opposite opinion. I want to see more of this sort of thing. But I've already said this, so I'll stop now. The complaint above does raise an interesting question, though. I haven't seen _God's Army_ yet, so I have to ask--were *any* of the missionaries portrayed as having an unshaken, fully developed faith? Or were they all in the process of becoming? I ask, because I think this happens a lot in our better wrought works. In an effort to show real people with real issues, Mormon artists often fail to show anyone with a solid faith, focusing instead on only those with problems or eccentricities, and that bothers some people as much as the overly saccharine versions do. It's not that the challenging depictions are inaccurate, as much as the exclusion of "faithful" depictions that bothers. >As the report goes, potential investigators feel that Dutcher has >shown them REAL missionaries, who have the same struggles with faith >common to us all, and so must not truly have anything of value to >offer. When my >students discussed "God's Army" last semester, one said that she >hated it because it was so "anti-Mormon." This is a pretty common attitude. The depiction of anything less than the purely positive is viewed by many as somehow negative. I hope we as a culture learn to be confident enough in our own faith that we're not afraid of depictions that dare to show opposites in action. I've never met a single person with a perfect faith--missionary or otherwise. It's not whether our faith is fully formed that matters to me, but rather that good people honestly seek the truth through effort and struggle and sometimes pain. All we can do is tell honest stories as often as possible, and be true to our own vision. And that we learn some sense of humor as cultural Mormons. Scott Parkin - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 May 2001 00:23:35 -0700 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: Re: [AML] Church Problems in Lit On Fri, 04 May 2001 13:27:58 Jacob Proffitt writes: > But the gospel isn't just a political party or different college. > Politics and college don't affect our eternal progress. I agree. Indeed, I think about this whenever I hear or read people using the words _Democrat_ or _liberal_ as synonyms for 666. (The same people who revised James 1:5 to read, "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth with compassionate conservatism and upbraideth a lot, for if He giveth a man a fish the man eatheth for a day, but if He teacheth a man to fish He addeth to the economy, taketh that cheater off the welfare rolls, and increaseth the size of the tax rebate to the wealthy.") Of course, our choice of politics, or college, can reflect our eternal values, and affect our eternal progress by giving us ideas to choose between, ideas that may harmonize with the gospel fully, partly or not at all. > People outside the church *are* forever other. People > outside the church don't accept truths that we hold absolute. That seems too sweeping. I think it was Marion G. Romney who said in a conference talk that we ought to be careful in saying that people outside of the Church or in other cultures don't share our values. What would it mean, he said, to live in a culture where murder was the norm, where rape and stealing and having no honor for your parents were the expected behavior? If you're really thinking about a culture based on radically different premises just imagine a culture where each of the 10 commandments is reversed. (Draka, I know--but a very mild version of Draka, from what Lee Allred says in his article, "Nietszche Was Right" and Other Pitfalls in Depicting Evil (Chickens) in Fiction, in the Winter 2000-2001 Cluckyantum. > Being a Democrat or attending Harvard isn't going to keep you > from the Celestial Kingdom. Thank you for saying this. Of course, it seems to be the opinion of a book we've discussed recently that attending Harvard may disconnect you from your spirituality. > Being excommunicated or leaving the church will. OK, story time. In 1986 I was working days at DI in Skedaddle and wandering the city at nights (not in white satin) cleaning buildings. There was a couple who brought their son to work with them. Like all DIs we got a lot more clothes than we could sell--once shipped a semi-load down to Portland. We would take the best, and throw the rest into a baler, and ship the bales to poor countries overseas or to Central and South America. We also had a contract with the Bow-Wing company to produce wipers, which we got from cutting apart cotton clothes, t-shirts mostly, with a mechanical skizzers. The person making the wipes would sit at the machine and feed clothes through the blade like feeding fabric through a sewing machine. When the blade got dull there was a foot pedal to push to sharpen it. So this couple had their teenage son with them at work one day and he was cutting up wipers and he'd press the foot pedal every so often because he liked the sound of the blade sharpening on the whetstone. "Allen, don't be greedy," his father said. So then he started chanting, "Greeeeeedy, Greeeeeedy." A few months later I visited the father in the county jail. (He was later moved to a prison on an island near Aromatown. (That was around the time Springsteen got sick in the Aroma Dome--maybe a few years before. I always found Everett's sawmills more objectionable that Tacoma's aroma, but there's no olfactory term that rhymes with Everett. Maybe in Snohomish.) Then out onto the Olympic Peninsula. We took the mother out there one time for a trailer visit. The father was having trouble with jaundice, and I was singing variations on the rodent song to myself , things like P-r-i-k-l-y G-r-o-u-s. When I got to S-i-c-k-l-y S-p-o-u-s, the wife murmurred from the back seat where she was half dozing, "No, well spouse." Anyway, the state had split up the family and Allen was only living with his mother because he was too difficult for anyone else to handle. (When the apartment next to ours came empty we moved them in there from a tenament just kitty-corner across the freeway from the King County Jail skyscraper. Being so close to downtown the tenament was gentrified a short time later.) While the father was having his problems with jaundice the mother was busy ignoring two little lumps under her armpit. Several months later, within about a month she turned orange and died. I don't know if her parental rights (except to Allen) had been terminated by then, but the state was working on it, and I've always felt that ignoring those lumps was her way out of a very very bad situation. A few months later we took Allen into our apartment. He was close to turning 18, and the group family he was staying with was moving to a smaller house (to get rid of him?) so we got a blessing from a member of the Steak Pres'y who had been in grad school when my brother was, as had the Bp and his wife, and others. (Dean Hughes once told me that the student ward at the UW in the early 70's was the most left-wing in the Church. "We used to sing 'Choose the Left.'" Which may explain why Gary London was such a terrific bishop. Because Capitol Hill is a place where people hide out from the Church the Skedaddle 5th ward, with about 800 people, was the largest in the Church. Gary took his responsibility as bishop of everyone within the ward boundaries very seriously, and because Capitol Hill is a center of gay life he had a liaison between the ward and the gay community (my home teaching companion, until we moved to Utah and Bill was called into the bishopric). And because there's a sizeable Afro-American population on Capitol Hill he formed a sister church relationship with the Bright and Morning Star Baptist Church, and invited their choir, the Total Experience Gospel Choir, to perform in our Stake Center when they were raising funds (I think) for an African tour. (He had first heard them perform at Bumbershoot, big festival at the Skedaddle Center, years before, and told his wife, Kaisa, that he wouldn't be satisfied until he heard them perform in our chapel. And when they sing you know the Spirit of God like a fire is burning.) So, Allen's older brother, the oldest child ,was out of foster care by then and living over in Issaquah (great name) with a room mate and he called me one day around the time his father was going to get out of prison wondering how he could get a restraining order. I told him it was difficult and talked to his aunt in Idaho. (No social services in her town for Allen--not retarded, despite the impression he gave. No social services there for brilliant, semi-autistic people. Better to stay in Seeeatle, Seeeattle, Seeeeeeatle.) She suggested just not giving the father his phone number or address. Within a few months, though, his need to have some relationship with his father led him to get in touch. So I drove over to Issaquah to talk with the brother. He was concerned about his youngest sister (father's namesake) being raised in a Catholic home as a Catholic. (The night before the mother's funeral there had been a family meeting in her apt, all the children and their foster parents, more or less. Anyway, her Catholic mother said, "Now you'll have your own Saint to pray to.") He felt that having left the Church his sister would go to Hell. ("I hope you like green horns and a tail." --Love that picture of Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band wearing ear rings on the front of their album.) I don't know if I told him or not that JS once said his greatest accomplishment was abolishing Hell. It's hard to imagine a loving, forgiving God when your experience in life is mostly brutal. He had surrounded himself with LDS artifacts he could hold onto, gain strength from, like a Saturday's-Warrior-the-video poster. He would play hymn tapes over and over. He would sing with the intensity of someone trying to preserve, create, find meaning in a very difficult, sick world. We stood there and sang about 10 hymns in a row. I guess that was what he needed, or the only thing I could offer that he could accept. I don't think there would have been a way to tell him that sometimes peoples' experience with a church is so deeply tied to pain and degradation--because the people who degrade them pretend to be righteous, pretend to be good church memers--that they can't find a spiritual home within that church. But that doesn't mean they don't love the Spirit, or seek a home, or that they wouldn't recognize the mansion prepared for them if the right realtor in the right sorghum stenches showed it to them. OK, I'm nearing the end of the 3rd CD (Envoy's Stand Up and Julie DeAzevedo's Dive Deep and now Sue Krupa, The Glory of A New Day, is singing a lullaby/lament in Mary's voice), and it's time for bed (However, we haven't been talking until three, and I'm not going to sleep in the bath.). The mass is ended. Go in peace. Harlow Soderborg Clark ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! 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 ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #317 ******************************