From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #348 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 Tuesday, June 5 2001 Volume 01 : Number 348 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 15:32:25 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: [AML] Last Three Days for SF X 5 [MOD: I'm jealous...wish I could make it.] Fellow Listers, I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you all that there are only three performances left of the UVSC/Playwrights Circle Production of _SF X 5_, an evening of file original science fiction one-act plays. In production at the Black Box Theatre on the UVSC campus, the evening starts with an hilarious new play, _Youtahneeks_ by James Arrington: It's the future. America is a lost civilization. A sudden break-through in the field of paleo-linguistics -- the finding of a video tape of Aunt Pearl Farley addressing her clan -- changes the face of future history. The next play is by AML member J. Scott Bronson. _Fata Morgana_ takes place somewhere in the known Universe on a world where only three people are left alive. The play investigates the nature of God, the Devil, reality vs. illusion in a lyrical, almost fluid manner. _On the Way Out_ by the Playwrights Circle's newest member, Shannyn Walters (and directed by her husband Issac Walters, who also directs the first two plays), takes place in the kitchen of a family where the family matriarch has just died, and, in fact, is still there, sprawled out on the table. Members of her family arrive to pay their respects and it looks for all the world like a fairly typical funeral -- until the phone rings and Mom answers it! The forth play of the evening (written and directed by me) is _Let the Memories Die_ explores the exquisite nature of borrowed memory as Star Command Lieutenant Sony O'Donnell pays a visit to her aging Aunt Hettie, the inventor of faster-than-light travel. A second play, written and directed by James Arrington, _The M.A.K.E.R._, takes up the entire second act. It's a religious allegory that explores what happens when the richest man in the world buys a machine that promises to give him whatsoever his evil little heart desires. As typical with an Arrington play, it's gut-wrenchingly funny. As an added bonus, in between each play the audience is treated to a projected display of _The Angry Red Planet_, a grade-B sci-fi film of the fifties, whose claim to fame is that it was filmed on 11 sets in a little under 10 days. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 P.M. Tickets are six dollars apiece and are available at the door (I'll be manning the ticket booth, which opens at 7 PM). There will be signs at the major entrances to UVSC directing you to the Black Box theatre in the Gunther Trades building on the east side of campus (close to 400 W.) I hope to see some of you there. If I don't already know you, please identify yourself to the close-cropped goateed individual at the ticket office. Really, I'm a lot nicer person in real life than I am on the list. Thom Duncan Playwrights Circle an organization of professionals - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 15:29:06 -0600 From: Eileen Stringer Subject: Re: [AML] Missionary Stories - ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Johnson >Actually I'd love to see a sister missionary pov in which the sister >suffers from a tremendous lack of self-esteem, trudges through the streets >and contemplates stepping in front of buses, tries to outdo the brother >missionaries just to prove her equal ability, while inside she has no desire >at all to really preach the gospel, only to occupy her forlorn life. May one ask why you would like to see this? Eileen Stringer eileens99@bigplanet.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 16:01:58 -0600 From: Eileen Stringer Subject: Re: [AML] Sharing Experience Convincingly I have a question that perhaps those with some experience in this matter would be able to render assistance. Our family, as any family, is filled with some rich material for stories that is begging to be put on paper. I have approached several family members about different events and experiences that we have defined "pivotal moments" in our overall family history as pertains to the gospel. However the most compelling for me right now is the story of my uncle who was called on a mission to Brazil, contracted an deathly illness, was sent home to recover - but never officially released from his mission - upon fully recovering was not sent back to Brazil but was given a choice to either be drafted or volunteer to go to Vietnam. He chose to volunteer as that would give him a shorter tour of duty. He went, suffered what most did, but did elude capture. However his experience did not bolster his faith but rather wounded it deeply. He came home, found himself at Ricks, shortly after found himself with a pregnant girlfriend and a hasty wedding. My aunt has noted on occassion that the story needs to be told, but we think it would be better if it were more fictionalized that biography. However the dilemna for us is that he is reluctant to talk too much about it, but he has ventured to put some thoughts and feelings down on paper. Having never been anywhere near a battley, except for mealtimes during haying season, I really need some help in research in this area, how to write it realistically, and most of all how to approach my uncle and get his memories, his mission struggles and then being thrust into Vietnam fresh from an unfinished mission and how all that has made him the man he is today, a loving father, husband, faithful, active member. I have seen part of it from the sidelines but I don't think that is enough to tell a realistic, believable story. I appreciate all the advice any and all are willing to offer. Eileen Stringer eileens99@bigplanet.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 16:42:24 -0600 From: Mike South Subject: RE: [AML] Symbolism and Emotional Honesty Terry L Jeffress wrote: > > And frankly, what the author meant doesn't matter. Only what the > reader has experienced while reading the text matters. When I write > about literature, I don't tell you what the author meant. Instead, I > discuss the experience and meaning that I got from the text, and I use > examples from the text to demonstrate how I arrived at a position. I > enjoy looking at how the symbols in the text create a deeper meaning > than you can find with just the base meaning of an author's words. I recently read an old interview with Charles Schulz, author of _Peanuts_. The interviewer brought up the subject of Robert L. Short's book _The Gospel According to Peanuts_, and mentioned Mr. Short's statement that he was writing about what he sees in _Peanuts_, not what Charles Schulz put there. This was Schulz's reply: "Invariably, the first question people ask is: 'Don't you think he has read too much into the strip?' That's not the point. His point is that this can be done with all works of art, and he would like to do this with all literature. Of course, the comic strip has appeal that other works of art do not have....He tells people all about the deep, hidden meaning in the strip. I couldn't ask for anything better. I don't appear at college lectures with him any more, though. Because it's not very good to have him tell about a Christian point, and then have someone ask me if that's what I actually meant and have me say, 'Gee, I don't think so.'" - --Mike South - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 21:02:28 -0400 From: "Tom Johnson" Subject: Re: [AML] Missionary Stories > >Although the romance story with Magdalena at the end packed the novel into a > >trashy Mormon romance genre > > Again, I must protest the automatic coupling of the words "trashy" and > "romance." Sturgeon's Law applies, of course, across all genres. But why > books about people who love each other are denigrated while books about > people who kill each other are praised is beyond me. I didn't define trashy romance as a love story. neither did i praise killing narratives. I think you would agree that some love stories are better than others. The kind that you can predict on the first page, the kind that seems cut out of a mold of the romance genre, is what i've disparaged. i shouldn't have used "trashy," though, since that sounds like pages and pages of steamy sex. i should have said "poor" or something. > > BTW, I've read quite a few novels that are marketed under the category of > "Mormon romance," and I haven't considered any of them trashy. (If you > want trashy romance, read something like "Sweet Savage Love," which started > the whole bodice-ripper thing.) Rachel Nunes, Anita Stansfield, and Jennie > Hansen, among others, write books with strong characterization, compelling > plots, and dialogue appropriate to the characters. They know how to use > the techniques of fiction writing as well as do many people who write li-fi. > well, i must confess that i don't like hardly any romance books; the whole idea just doesn't appeal to me. not love in itself, but the guy who meets girl and they both hate each other or blah blah blah. you know they'll end up together, but you just don't know how, b/c there's this problem, etc., which is somehow resolved b/c of entering figure X, and then they can ride off into the sunset, or ride each other in the sunset, if it's a trashy novel. it's probably just my tastes in literature. i love adventure novels, which can be much worse than a romance novel, so i bow my head in false generalizations. but if you have a really, really good romance novel, i might read it. btw, what is "sturgeon's law"? [Tom Johnson] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 20:18:13 -0500 From: Diann T Read Subject: [AML] Re: Symbolism (was: WEYLAND, _Ashley and Jen) I've been reading this thread with quite a bit of interest and figured it was about time I threw in my own two cents' worth. On Fri, 01 Jun 2001 13:05:00 -0600 Melissa Proffitt writes: > On Wed, 30 May 2001 23:14:20 -0500, REWIGHT wrote: > > Harlow has already gone into this in his usual effervescent fashion. > :) I would only add that when a person reads a book, they do not usually > have the benefit of calling the author on the phone and saying, "This is what > I got from what you wrote. Is that what you meant?" They base their > reading not only on what the author wrote, but on their own experiences and > knowledge. Sometimes those readings will be negative. Sometimes they're > positive. And sometimes a reader or critic will see something brilliant in your > book that you never even intended to put there--and instead of feeling > offended, you're going to feel even better about your book because of it. And > other people will read that review or essay, and it's going to make them > want to run out and read your book too. During my high school and college years, I also tended to be amused--and sometimes bemused--by teachers' interpretations of literature. I remember once telling a friend that I'd love to be a fly on the wall if anything I wrote ever got to the point of being used in lit. classes, just to see what kind of weird stuff the prof would read into it. Since then I've come to the conclusion that literature interpretation, like beauty, is largely in the eye of the beholder. Each reader is going to bring his/her own worldview to what they read, and each will see the same story in a slightly different way. It's been really interesting to see the differing responses to my books, either in fan mail or when people come up and talk to me at SF conventions. No two responses are ever quite the same. > >However, I would be offended by someone who would state what the my > work means, would suggest that they know better than I do what I meant, > or put symbolisms and meanings in it that were never expressed. I suppose the manner in which someone did this would determine whether or not it was offensive. I remember one guy who was adamant that one of my non-human races was bear-like simply because I had used the word "ursine" to describe their eyes--despite the fact that the rest of their physical description, and even their "culture," was definitely more lupine. Yes, *that* was annoying. On the other hand, soon after my first book came out, one of my good friends told me what she had seen in it as she read it. She had discovered that each of the three major characters represented something, almost an archetype. I had just thought I was writing a little adventure tale and hadn't really given much thought to symbolism, so I hadn't done this intentionally, but as I contemplated what she had found in it, I realized she was right. I still appreciate her sharing that with me. (Thanks, Barbara Hume!) Diann Read - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 19:58:40 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Literature as Distinct? - --- Tom Johnson wrote: > --re this list in general, do you think mormon > literature is so different > from the literature of non-mormons that an entire > separate genre must be > created and a berlin wall set up to divide the two > camps? Seems like a > novel, in order to be "mormon," must contain > explicit references to m. > doctrine or organizations or families. Yet here I > am, a mormon, and my > favorite literature, for some reason, isn't found in > the mormon section of > my barnes and noble (btw, at 65th and columbus in > nyc there is a "latter-day > saints" section, sparse and miscatalogued as it is). > I rather like a quote > I read from an evenson-marcus interview done years > back, though I have to > modify the heart of it to comply with the rules on > this moderated list: > "Zimbabwean author Dambudzo Marachera says, 'Either > you are a writer or you > are not. If you are a writer for a specific nation > or a specific race, then > f--- you.'" The quote has stayed with me although > perhaps some clever > participant on this list can convert me over. As a comparatist (that's what us comparative literature folk call ourselves), I can't help but respond to this idea, so, although this thread has been somewhat dormant, I'm going to give it a go. On the one hand, us comparatists, once we got over that trying-to-find-the-universal-narrative thing (which was essentially an exercise in Eurocentrism in reaction to WWII---not a bad thing, but very limiting), have been deconstructing notions of race and nation and literature. We often deal with all that stuff that has now become so very trendy in cultural studies---writing on the margins, hybridity, multi-lingualism, 'minor' literatures (except we no longer use the word 'minor'---I forget what the new term is), etc. We show how the works of various writers challenge fixed notions of nation and race and gender. On the other hand, such a quote seems to me to be an exercise in wishful thinking. Writers come from communities, and no matter what their ties with those communities are or become, their work gets filtered through all those categories (both in production and consumption) of race, ethnicity, language, religion, nation and geography that are tied in to the writers' community(ies). And it's a perfectly viable exercise to discuss how a writer's work relates to these categories. Thus, Kafka is a Jew, a Czehk, a German speaker, a citizen of Prague, a bachelor, etc. Now, of course, what Marachera could be referring to is to writers who write in direct support of the state, merely reflecting the ideological narratives of those in power. And certainly we've discussed on this list several times the perils of didacticism and art strictly in the service of ideology. But at the same time, I have a hard time with writers who want to mystify the process, want to push an art for art's sake, divorced-from-political-considerations kind of writing. That in itself is a political stance as the problems of modernism (particularly in relation to fascism) prove, in my opinion. Not to mention (except that I am) the fact that the history of the novel (which, as I understand it, has been the dominant form of writing of the past two centuries) corresponds with, indeed helps create the history of the nation and nationalism. The novel is inextricably bound up with the nation and, especially in the case of western literature, with race. What all this is in-elegantly leading up to is a defence of the idea of a 'Mormon' literature. Now this is not to dismiss Tom's idea. More a redefinition on my part. I also believe that Mormon literature intersects with non-Mormon literature at large and that it's hard (and should be hard) to create hard boundaries, to create a Berlin wall. Part of the reason for that is that American Mormon culture blends in to American culture. But that's not going to stop me from trying to theorize trends, histories, possibities, triumphs and failures in Mormon lit. In fact, the very thing that makes Mormon literature so fascinating to me as an idea is that it has to relate in some way to a strong institutional culture (the LDS Church), to a national culture (American, and soon probably more), and to a larger religious context (Christianity and beyond). Of course, there is a Berlin wall when it comes to marketing Mormon lit. But there are barriers in every segment of book publishing and selling. And let's not forget that the Berlin wall was not impermeable when it came to intellectual work [So are Orthodox Mormons the East or West Germans?]. There was a certain flow back and forth. All these ideas of mine are only half-formed, but I wanted to riff off of this post of Tom's because I found it thought provoking. So how am I doing so far, Tom? If you, or any list member, wanted to revisit this quote that Evenson quotes and explained its appeal, I'd be able to respond in less of a scattered manner. Plus, I'd just like to hear some convincing explication of why a writer is either a writer, or not. Does this mean that the Soviet realists who wrote in the service of the state were not writers? What about Orson F. Whitney or any of the home literature writers? ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 22:33:40 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] re: Hale Theater Scott Tarbet: ... we had to worry about casting the stake president's son as Joe Cable in a high school production of South Pacific because Joe doffs his shirt. The SP went ballistic and the show was almost closed. _______________ Should have used the bishop's son. :-> 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: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 01:06:50 -0400 From: "Tom Johnson" Subject: [AML] Secular Prophets (was: Temple in Fiction) > REWIGHT wrote: > > > > Artists tend to start believing that they are above rules. > > I personally believe the should. I'll explain why down below. > > > Artists on the other hand, have the chief purpose of entertaining. > > No, that's the chief purpose of entertainers. Artists are more like > secular prophets. It is their duty to look at the world around them and > to point out its beauties and, sometimes, its ugliness. Does a prophet > necessarily worry about whether a particular teaching is politically > correct. Does he refuse to teach morality because it may offend immoral > people? No, he tells the truth as he sees it to be. Artists should act > under the same paradigm, with only this difference; they should not > claim superior knowledge from God. When they do that, they usurp > authority they don't have. > Thom, just thought I'd throw in a quote from B. Udall: "There are more important things in this life than writing. Your parents, for instance. Your loved ones. Your dog is probably more important than your writing. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Be nice. Relax. Now go and write." (he's giving advice to young writers here.) This quote bothers me; I don't really believe he puts his dog above writing, but maybe he does. Do you think it is possible to believe that one is a secular prophet while at the same time elevating his dog above his s. prophetic role? This quote has made me think more and more about the role of the writer. I was weaned on Shelley's "unacknowledged legislators of the world" ideology for a long time, and believed it, but lately I've had mixed feelings about "the writer." I think it might be more accurate to say that "language is the unacknowledged legislator of the world," and that language manipulates writers in powerful ways. Tom J. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 23:41:59 -0600 From: Jacob Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Hitler renatorigo@bol.com.br wrote: > LET=B4S FORGET HIM !!!!! I can think of no more dangerous way to handle our past. Forget? Don't=20 you dare. He was a dangerous, obsessive, charismatic man and we had=20 better remember that following emotional impulses in public discourse=20 can lead to deep human tragedy. We had better remember that there are=20 actively evil people who can do many good things for many people and=20 then order millions of others systematically killed. To forget that is=20 to lose the vigilance required of honorable men who wish to remain free. Jacob Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 23:48:02 -0600 From: Melissa Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Critique of Writing On Fri, 01 Jun 2001 15:52:39 -0600, Barbara Hume wrote: >At 01:05 PM 6/1/01 -0600, you wrote: >>This question is interesting to me on a personal level. My = mother-in-law >>reads and writes romance novels. I read one of her books--it was good,= but >>needed a little polishing on a technical level. She wasn't interested = in my >>comments. She told me she'd already decided not to pursue it because = she'd >>submitted it to a publisher and they'd rejected it. But when I pressed= her >>on this, it turned out that the "rejection" letter ACTUALLY ASKED HER = TO >>SUBMIT FUTURE BOOKS FOR REVIEW. I couldn't believe she'd taken this as= a >>personal affront! To her, it meant she'd failed. So I'm very = interested in >>people's reactions to criticism of their writing. > >I can't think of any professional writer I know who wasn't turned down = for=20 >publication at first. To start, a writer looks for positive = encouragement,=20 >as your MIL got! And even if the publisher had rejected it, another = might=20 >like it. There are mailing lists, critique groups, contests, all kinds= of=20 >support mechanisms in place for the romance writer! Tell her to join = the=20 >RWA and get onto those lists! I did *try* to tell her these things, but she wasn't interested. I got = the feeling that she wanted it to all fall into place without any extra = effort on her part. Sad, but true. I don't know if she'd convinced herself = that she didn't care all that much, or if it really didn't matter to her, but = it was almost depressing that she was so close to publication and had let it go. I wanted to shake her--but it wasn't my book, and it wasn't my decision...still, it's hard to see potential flushed down the drain like that. Melissa Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 01:21:46 -0500 From: "REWIGHT" Subject: Re: [AML] Emotional Honesty Sometimes I've been manipulated > into feeling them. Sometimes emotion blinds us to the truth, which is why we > shouldn't often make important decisions in the heat of strong emotion. Isn't that what writers do? We manipulate emotion. We put sad scenes in stories to make people cry, we put funny scenes in to make them laugh. We put exciting scenes in to make them feel adventurous, or romantic scenes in so that they fall in love. If you cry over a novel, that's because the writer wanted you to. If the writer didn't manipulate emotion, then the writing would most likely be dry and dull. Anna Wight - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 01:39:57 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Temple in Fiction REWIGHT wrote: > But lets face it, artists, in the great scheme of things, are not as > important personages as they like to think. Doctors, nurses, teachers, > parents and policeman, contribute more substantially to society. They > teach, heal and protect. Artists do, too. > Artists on the other hand, have the chief purpose of entertaining. > Sometimes they might uplift and inspire but essentially they are there to > entertain and beautify. > But no matter how noble we may think our work is, it is still there for the > entertainment of others. I resent this characterization of art. I consider entertainment to be a subset of art, and a subservient purpose for art. The purpose of art is to communicate the human experience to others in ways that open their eyes to new ways of thinking. Art has done an enormous amount of teaching over the centuries. Art has often healed people, as they read literature or view films or videos that touch a vulnerable part of their lives that needed healing. And art even protects. Art has often challenged paradigms in society that were going astray, or defended valuable paradigms that were under attack. Art protects our cultural identity, our understanding of other human beings, our sense of right and wrong, our connection with past generations. Perhaps all you produce is entertainment, and as you say, that's just fine. But we think art is noble because it is. Even the scriptures are a form of art, studied as literary entities, full of stories whose purpose extend far beyond entertainment. Something that communicates the human experience to others in insightful ways is sufficiently noble to make the question meaningful, how much of the temple experience can we communicate? A great deal of the experience is already communicated in rather mundane ways: we allow extensive tours of every temple before dedication; the world is informed about the purposes of the temple and the ordinances that go on in there rather matter-of-factly; photographs of the temple interiors are displayed in visitor centers. We already share a significant part of the temple experience with the world. My question is merely: where do we draw the line? - -- 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: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 03:12:38 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Card on "Basketball Doctrines" "R.W. Rasband" wrote: > This piece left me > flabbergasted and all I can say is "right on, bro!" > It can be found online at > > http://www.nauvoo.com/vigor/16.html I concur with every word of this article, and think it's an excellent example of Mormon culture vs. doctrine, of why "the church is true but the members are imperfect." - -- 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: Tue, 05 Jun 2001 08:08:46 -0500 From: Vickie Speek (by way of Ronn Blankenship ) Subject: [AML] MN Judge Throws Out U of U Anti-Mormon Discrimination Claims: Salt Lake Tribune 31May01 D4 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 Judge Throws Out U of U Anti-Mormon Discrimination Claims SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled last week that claims of anti-Mormon discrimination from other students have no bearing on a federal lawsuit filed against the University of Utah by Christina Axson-Flynn. Flynn is the LDS student who claims the U. faculty forced her to quit acting school because she refused to swear during an audition. The lawsuit accuses several theater department staff members of religious discrimination. Campbell said the student claims were irrelevant to Axson-Flynn's case and filed too late. Whether the suit has merit though, has yet to be decided. Alain Balmanno, the assistant Utah attorney general representing five faculty members at the University of Utah, argued the school has the undisputed right to decide what may be taught in the classroom and to whom. Accommodating Axson-Flynn's religious view points would have required a change in the curriculum, he said. Attorney Steffen Johnson, an expert on First Amendment issues brought in to help represent Axson-Flynn, said the case isn't about academic freedom. He argued his client should not lose her constitutional rights to freedom of speech and religion when she enters the classroom. The case could go to trial in one to two years. Sources: Judge Rules Out Other Anti-Mormon Claims in Suit Against U. Salt Lake Tribune 31May01 D4 http://www.sltrib.com/05312001/utah/101801.htm By Kirsten Stewart: Salt Lake Tribune Judge hears religious discrimination lawsuit against U. Utah U-WIRE (Daily Utah Chronicle) 30May01 D4 http://www.uwire.com/content//topnews053001002.html By Jared Whitley: Daily Utah Chronicle (U. Utah) >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, 05 Jun 2001 09:10:35 -0700 From: "Jason Steed" Subject: Re:[AML] Hitler >LET=B4S FORGET HIM !!!!! Never forget. Never again. _________________________________________________________________ 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, 5 Jun 2001 18:18:27 -0300 From: "renatorigo" Subject: Re: [AML] Influencing Mormon Culture > . Do men really think that when a woman says Hi, it's always a come on? Depends on the way you say "HI" If I touch a member of the opposite sex, will he think of it as a come on? Depends on the way you touch him and the friendship between you. Will his wife beat me up? When a man is married usually a female friend must be her wife=B4s friend too. Will I live out my days in the church in shame and infamy? Of course not.. Let=B4s use our good sense... Don=B4t be radical... Renato Rigo - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 18:44:06 -0300 From: "renatorigo" Subject: Re:[AML] Temple in Fiction Chis wrote: > The temple is one of those kneejerk areas in Mormon culture where people can get pretty irrational. I once had a missionary companion get extremely upset with me for discussing the carpet color and carpet sculpture patterns of various celestial rooms. I really love temple architecture. As Civil Engineer, here in Brazil, I had the opportunity in participating of the construction of the temple of Campinas - S=E3o Paulo - Brazil. I had a lot of experience in building sofisticated buildings with marbles and high technology ; but when I participated in Campinas Temple construction I really felt something different...a professional realization... It=B4s really special Renato Rigo - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 18:53:14 -0300 From: "renatorigo" Subject: Re: [AML] Female Writer Wanted > I don=B4t know if you have some edition in English (I kwon it exists) of the most famous female Brazilian writer - Clarice Lispector... You will see the female talent in writing... Her books are Pearls... One of her famous books: "Family Laces" (Trying to translate the Portuguese title into English - La=E7os de Fam=EDlia) or perhaps "Family Lacks" Renato Rigo - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 12:22:41 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Emotional Honesty - --- James Picht wrote: > One of our hymns tells us not to smother our > emotions, but to let wisdom's voice > control. Intellect without emotion is a terrible > thing to contemplate - the > cold, passionless intellects of _The War of the > Worlds_ - but emotion without > intellect is terribly pathetic. Honesty is a quality > associated with truth, and > truth doesn't exist without reason. I'm not going to > argue for the primacy of > intellect over emotion (I imagine my feelings on > this are clear), but I think > that in a church whose doctrine puts so much > emphasis on reason as a path to > enlightenment, we spend way too much time extolling > the virtues of feeling. Well said, Jim. When I was in the MTC, we watched a video on the role of Jesus Christ in the plan of salvation. It was something that I had never seen before. I don't remember much about the content, but it involved many images of Christ (in a kind of super slow slide show format), a narrator, and sweeping, romantic, weepy music. Many of the missionaries around me were deeply affected by it, and afterwards there was an outpouring of sentiment. I was not touched by the presentation. The weird thing is that I'm not immune to schmaltzy modern church music (there's that song about the Lord's hands that I intellectually object to, but it gets me every time), and I enjoy looking at artistic representations of Christ, but there was something about the whole package (and esp. the music) that turned me off. I felt like the creators of the piece weren't trying to convey a message about Christ, but rather were going straight for an emotional appeal. That was my experience---others had a different one. So here is my question (and this hearkens back to a post I made on representing the workings of the spirit in literature): I'm open to the idea that people can have completely different reactions, both of which are honest, to an artistic work, or a sermon, or a performance. But why does that happen? Is it all in our 'formal' training, what each of us individually believes to be an 'appropriate' way of representing truth, or is there something else going on? And, finally, what are the implications for writers who want to reach as wide of an audience as possible? How do we represent spiritual feeling in a way that is honest---both emotionally and intellectually? Where does emotion and intellect intersect? ~~William Morris __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 18:53:03 EDT From: ViKimball@aol.com Subject: Re: [AML] MCCOURT, _Angela's Ashes_ In a message dated 6/4/01 8:44:27 PM Central Daylight Time, jeffress@xmission.com writes: << Was there a huge exodus of saints to escape combined poverty and Mormon oppression? In either case, do we have any literature that shows the poverty of the early saints with the same power McCourt uses to describe Ireland? >> You have to read the original accounts of members who suffered thru those years to see this poverty for what it really was. I am speaking in Sac. this Sun on "Faith of the Pioneers" and I have chosen Louisa Barnes Pratt as the hero of my presentation. She was spunky, bright, independent, believed in equal rights, and very cheerful under extremely trying circumstances. She had to get herself to Zion without her husband who had been sent to the Pacific Islands on a mission in 1843. I haven't read of too many deserters in WQ, but there was a small exodus of saints not only in Nauvoo after the discovery of polygamy, but especially during the trail years when handcarters began to experience the harsh reality of pulling their possessions, 100 pounds of flour, other food rations, children, and sometimes a sick relative in a small box of about 4 feet square by 8 inches tall. Those who left to wait for better transportation or offers of good jobs in Iowa, were cursed and criticized by those "with more faith." Some of their lives were saved when they "fell by the wayside." What we know little about are the hundreds of Mormons who got to Zion, but then left to go back to the Midwest, or to California. Many trail accounts mention meeting "go backs." Violet Kimball - - 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 #348 ******************************