From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #905 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 Friday, November 22 2002 Volume 01 : Number 905 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 12:24:40 -0500 From: Tony Markham Subject: Re: [AML] New DB Policy The new DB Policy could indeed bee seen as a legitimate business decision if the result is to reduce the sales of smaller Mormon Presses. Some of these have only a small margin of profitability and if certain of their titles were banned from the major retailer for Mormon presses, then these upstarts could be nudged out of business. Since DB recently went through some downsizing, it's not beyond the pale to imagine them engaging in other equally heartless business decisions. Just a thought... Tony Markham - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 10:36:02 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Porter Rockwell Actor James Coburn Dies FWIW, Avenging Angel was not written by an anti-Mormon. It was written by Gary = Dixon, who is married to my Mom's cousin, who is a theatre professor at = Indiana State University, and who is, last I heard, a member of the = Church, though an unorthodox and not tremendously active one. Gary is a = good guy, a very bright teacher, a capable writer, and someone who, at the = very least, wishes the Church well. Avenging Angel, which I do not regard = as his best work, is quite engaging and well researched. =20 Eric Samuelsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 11:01:19 -0800 (PST) From: Matthew Lee Subject: Re: [AML] New DB Policy=20 I=92ve never read anything by Richard Paul Evans and have no idea what his new or previous works are like. However, I think I may understand the concerns of those at Desert Book who=92ve made the change.=20 As I read the article I didn=92t get the impression that they would no longer be carrying books that depicted immorality, but those works which present it as a working or successful alternative. Those are the ones that will be removed. Again, I don't know if Evans book does this or not.=20 I would assume that Deseret Book=92s standards of moral content would be the same for all books they carry regardless of the publisher. As a business owned by a church, a church which not only bears the name of Jesus Christ but proclaims to be directly led by Him, the standards of all it's enterprises must reflect His will. I think it's pretty impressive that the Church even owns a chain of bookstores. I'm impressed that the Church has as large of a publishing arm as it does with such a wide selection of materials.=20 Knowing that an outlet is owned by the Church, patrons will surely except the materials carried there to reflect the mission of the Church. And they should. If the Church is true then why shouldn't it's bookstores be as well? Why shouldn't it have the same standards as those outline in the pamphlet "For the Strength of Youth" or in General Conference talks? Of course they will have a narrower selection but that's kind of the point isn't it?=20 I live in South Eastern United States far from any Desert Book stores. Our independently owned LDS bookstores are just that, LDS bookstores. They don't carry popular secular titles. Members of the Church in the South go to these outlets because they are the only places where we can get items related the Church without making special orders (Not including Anti-Mormon literature, which by the way is not as easy to find as it was a few years ago.). We happily purchase non-LDS books at other locations.=20 When I was in Salt Lake City last year I was surprised at all of the non-LDS material available in the Deseret Book store I visited. My perspective is so different. We flock to our bookstore down here eager to see and touch the books. If they don't have an LDS title we're looking for they will order it for us just like Barnes and Noble or Borders or anyone else would do. So I think you folks in the West and more so in Utah, have it pretty good. You can go to multiple retailers and find just about any LDS book you want on the spot. And you can conveniently pick up non-LDS books in an LDS book store (I certainly would be surprise to find popular non-religious or non-culture related works in our LDS or Jewish bookstores here.). Plus you've got Desert Industries where you have the chance of finding old LDS books at a really cheap price. I'm pretty excited here when I find copy of The Book of Mormon at Goodwill that was donated by an uninterested investigator.=20 I just don't think Deseret Book owes anyone an explanation for it's choices and it's certainly has no obligation to the public to carry the titles people want to buy. They are a very unique operation. It's not a business in operation solely for the sake of being a business.=20 As I said at the beginning, just be grateful that you have Deseret Book stores for now and that they carry as much as they do. If it does not fit in with the mission of the Church, with the needs of the people, or if other equal resources become available to the people, then Deseret Book will be dropped from the umbrella of Church just like other ventures have in the past. If and when those "needs" begin to shift is not our call.=20 Thank you, Matthew R. Lee =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus =96 Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:04:28 -0500 From: "Walters, Isaac" Subject: RE: [AML] New Age Mormons? Scott Parkin wrote: "I don't know if "we" have suffered enough to produce much of anything, but I know a fair number of individuals (who happen to be Mormon) who have suffered more than enough in their personal lives to tell deeply powerful--perhaps even great--stories of what it means to have those unique and personal experiences." It seems to me that both this response and the statement it was responding to both fall prey to the same fallacy: that an artist has to suffer in order create great art. Those of you who know your literary history better than can correct me on this, but I believe that the idea of the suffering artist is a relatively new idea in the artistic community only dating back to Byron and the Romantic period. If that is true, then what can be said for all of the poor unsuffering artists before that time? Is the work of Racine, Moliere, Shakespeare, or Euripides of less value because they didn't live starving in a garret with the entire world against them? As I look at the writers outside of the church that I find the most moving in a spiritual sense (i.e. Lewis, Jacpone da Todi, Rumi) I find a yearning for the divine that moves through all of their work. A desire for a personal encounter with God, and in some way their work is part of that reaching and yearning. Now, I will admit that that yearning can be strengthened by suffering. One has only to look at the writings of Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail or Nephi in 2 Ne. 4 to see powerful examples of this from our own culture. But it seems to me that the suffering is not the thing which causes the experience. Alma 62:41 says, "But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility." What is the difference? I think it has to be something happening inside the individual, since the suffering around them as a group was very similar. I know that relating our suffering to our spiritual progress is a popular Mormon literary form, coming straight out of Fast and Testimony meetings, but I think that if this the form we limit ourselves to, we are denying ourselves many more opportunities to create truly spiritual art. I guess in this sense I am a true Mormon mystic. I want to create art where my audience and I share in the experience of an encounter with God. [Isaac Walters] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 17:33:29 -0700 From: Deborah Wager Subject: Re: [AML] New DB Policy Random thoughts from the back row: When I read in the paper about the Deseret Book policy the first thought I had was a memory of a talk I heard several years back, when we lived in California, on the 13th article of faith. Now I always settle down with a smile for talks on the 13th article of faith. Just love 'em--If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, we seek after these things! You just can't get past that without feeling stimulated to go out and seek. Then this sister, a mother of young children, got up and talked for fifteen minutes about how we should only read books published by DB and Bookcraft; anything with those logos on it was great and anything else was suspect. I was totally floored. Anyway, that memory came back to me as I read the news articles, wondering if the sister would like the policy. But since she lives in California she won't see any difference, because outside of Utah (and Idaho? don't know how far the area is) DB only carries LDS books, anyway. One of the big surprises on moving to Utah was that I could go to Deseret Book for general fiction and nonfiction. But, as my husband reminds me, their selection isn't that great anyway, at least at the stores near us. But so anyway, this may be a way of streamlining their stock, whether it was a motivating factor or not. All in all I guess it's a company's decision to decide what they will and won't carry, and the articles did say they would still order copies of books they don't stock, upon request. I also noticed Rolly and Wells reported that BYU Bookstore still carries many of these titles. I read the books my kids are assigned at school, mostly so I can be supportive and make appropriate comments/questions, but also so I can read some of the things I skipped growing up. Right now I'm re-reading The Scarlet Letter and am about to take a first-time plunge into Candide. I have heard from my kids' teachers that they sometimes/often get complaints from parents about the selections their children are asked to read, and I wonder if this will lend perceived strength (perceived by either the parents or the schools/districts) to those complaints? Debbie Wager - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 17:51:54 -0800 (PST) From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: [AML] Warren Zevon Ill The great singer/songwriter Warren Zevon has terminal cancer. Here is a poignant appreciation: http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20021107sam1107p1.asp Zevon's mother was LDS; his father was Jewish. The story of their marriage is told in his song "Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded", which is found on his classic 1976 album "Warren Zevon." Everyone should own a copy. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus =96 Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 07:56:12 -0800 From: "dorothy" Subject: [AML] re: New DB Policy [MOD: I think Dorothy raises an extremely important issue here. What impact will this sales policy have on Mormon publishing? What percentage of the LDS bookstore market is through DB outlets?] Obviously Deseret Book has the right to decide what they will sell or not sell. I don't think that's at issue. The problem is that if they won't sell Mormon Literature of a certain "type," whatever that "type" might be, other LDS publishers won't publish that "type." That gives DB extraordinary power in the Mormon publishing marketplace, and it effectively limits the freedom of expression for Mormon writers. Dorothy W. Peterson http://www.lds-index.org dorothy@lds-index.org - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 20:52:50 -0700 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] Levi PETERSON, _The Backslider_ On Wed, 20 Nov 2002 22:24:21 -0700 "Nan McCulloch" writes: > Levi, since you brought up The Backslider I must tell you that my > husband and I just finished reading this wonderful book and we > loved it. Then I highly recommend that you find a copy of his other novel, _Aspen Marooney_, and his two short story collections, _Canyons of Grace_ and _Night Soil_. scott - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:14:34 -0700 From: Cathy Wilson Subject: Re: [AML] New Age Mormons? Paris Anderson wrote: Some people will get stake callings, and they'll go around and do total or partial healings (some healings take a long time and a lot of effort). I'm pretty sure about all of this, because it's already happening--except for the official recognition part. And alas, the power and joy that come from this sort of work feels far, far more bouyant and deep than visiting teaching. Cathy Wilson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 20:58:23 -0700 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] Adultery and Consequences On Wed, 20 Nov 2002 22:31:26 -0700 katie@aros.net writes: [with some snips here and there] > In _First Love and Forever_, Emily was originally in love with > Michael, who was wonderful but he wasn't LDS. So she > married Ryan, who was LDS. Fast forward several years-- > Ryan is emotionally distant and not very wonderful, and Emily > happens to run into Michael again. Michael begs her to > leave Ryan and run off with him. Emily carefully considers it, > prays about it, and decides she'd better stay with Ryan. Ryan > starts shaping up, though, but just as things look like they > could work out with him, he's killed in a car wreck. This is a universe that I can get into; one where God will kill people for you so that you won't have to be a martyr for too long. scott - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:51:13 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Porter Rockwell Actor James Coburn Dies - ---Original Message From: Eric R. Samuelsen > > FWIW, > > Avenging Angel was not written by an anti-Mormon. It was > written by Gary Dixon, who is married to my Mom's cousin, who > is a theatre professor at Indiana State University, and who > is, last I heard, a member of the Church, though an > unorthodox and not tremendously active one. Gary is a good > guy, a very bright teacher, a capable writer, and someone > who, at the very least, wishes the Church well. Avenging > Angel, which I do not regard as his best work, is quite > engaging and well researched. Did someone say he was anti-Mormon? Did I miss that? Doh! I'd have spoken up for him if I had noticed. I enjoyed Avenging Angel a lot. It wasn't a "great" movie by any means, but it was entertaining, pretty accurate to the period (no glaring errors or license taken), and Brigham Young was COOL. In all, it was a so-so story interestingly told. I didn't think it was anti at ALL. And it was both informed and unbiased. Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:59:41 -0700 From: "Ben Christensen" Subject: Re: [AML] BYU Professor Problems My computer just deleted Margaret Young's comment from last week, so I can't directly quote it. However, it got me thinking about the experiences I have had in the last few years as an English major at BYU. Perhaps by sheer coincidence, I've never had a class where the sort of problem that Margaret was describing occurred. But, I have noticed a subgroup of English students that honestly bothers me. Let me explain: Last year I took a class on Young Adult literature. The majority of students in the class were English Teaching majors (i.e. they are certifying to teach English in high school). The class itself, and my professor, were both very good and intellectually stimulating. However, I detected among my fellow students some who seemed to have the distinct attitude that they were not just training to teach literature and writing, but to teach certain moral values as well. I know that teachers do have a responsibility to convey some sort of ethics/morals, but there are some future teachers at BYU that seem to feel that that is the sole purpose for which literature was created. The overall favorite book in the class was The Giver, by Lois Lowry, which is an allegorical novel with a clear message. It is an excellent book, but I felt that quite a few people liked it primarily because it had a clear message and any evil in it was obviously a bad thing. Also, quite a few students were upset because we had to read a book by a particular author who often writes about gay/lesbian issues; one girl expressed disbelief because the author "seemed to be saying that being a lesbian is a good thing". (Actually, yes, that probably is the attitude of the author. Some people in the world really do feel that way, and I can accept it even though I really, really, disagree with it.) Like I said, I enjoyed the class, but it really made me question how we, as Mormons, view literature in our culture. The overall feeling seems to be that literature, especially for young people, is an extremely powerful force. From the time we start nursery, we hear stories at home and at church that are supposed to help us learn something. Our religion itself has at its core a book--we are a very "story-centered" people. Unfortunately, I think many people come to have the attitude that all literature teaches a clear message, and if it contains something "evil", the message must be advocating evil. I'm not denying that literature has power, but how can we get people to look at the less didatic aspects of literature? Do we have to "liken EVERYTHING to ourselves"? (I guess what I mean, is, do we always have to ask "what can I get out of this?") Reading a book can be a wonderful experience, even if you don't come away feeling like you've learned an important lesson. It makes me sad that there are people who miss out on aesthetic pleasures because they are concentrating so hard on what they are supposed to be "learning". Jessie Christensen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 22:07:00 -0700 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: [AML] Re: Pain and Art (was: New Age Mormons?) Isaac Walters wrote: >>>It seems to me that both this response and the statement it was responding to both fall prey to the same fallacy: that an artist has to suffer in order create great art. <<< Excellent point. I didn't mean to suggest that all art had to be the result of suffering by the author; rather, I was arguing that the suffering that leads to certain kinds of literature need not be on an epic scale or require the death of millions to be just as valid and powerful. Mormons are inherently no more or less capable of the kind of pain that has led many to write timeless stories. But I will go ahead and bite on the argument--is pain neccesary to good literature? You use the examples of those who write of a yearning for the divine. Isn't that very yearning a real form of personal pain? Yearning happens only after long denial, after extended unfulfilled desire. Not a shocking pain or sudden injury, but rather an extended unfulfilled hope, a nearly constant ache for something wonderful--with the implication of a sense of loss at not realizing it. So while I'll grant that an author need not suffer any particularly great catastrophe to write great literature, the nature of story is to explore the fact of pain--be it emotional, physical, or spiritual, be it the the pain of sudden loss or the search for something unseen but hoped for. To tell the story well, the author must know that pain at a more than surface level. There's no requirement that the author suffer the pain themselves, but there is an essential need that the author have considered that kind of pain from very close and that the author be deeply (perhaps even intimately) familiar with it to portray it well. There are greater and lesser pains (I strive to be as great a pain as I can), but it seems to me that the essential requirement of conflict in fiction is dissonance--aka, pain. Maybe small pain. Maybe simple yearning. But without some darkness against which to depict the light the story stops short of great, I think. One of the real frustrations I have about modern literature is the absence of joy within the pages of the story to counterbalance all that wonderfully morbid pain. It's popular (and fun) to explore failure and despair, but just as happiness has limited meaning without pain to act as balance, the reverse is equally true. Yet we seem anxious to leave the joy, reward, and well-being parts out of the story. In our efforts not to be simplistic and sentimental, it seems that many authors fail to recognize the real hope that is the preferred outcome of pain. Maybe the hardest thing of all is to do both convincingly within the same story. I'm not sure it's been done all that often. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:18:19 -0800 From: Kathy and Jerry Tyner Subject: Re: [AML] Y'All Need to Get Out More I think Richard should use a scene like this in "Brigham City II". It would be priceless, in my opinion. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kim Madsen" > > Richard, as a cop for 12 years, my husband told me many, many > stories of people he stopped for violations from speeding to > suspected drunken driving who managed to pull their temple > recommends from their wallets instead of their drivers licenses. > "Oops, my mistake officer." Yeah, right. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 21:21:20 -0800 From: Kathy and Jerry Tyner Subject: Re: [AML] New DB Policy I assure you the crack Sugarbeet staff is already on the case. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Travis K. Manning" > Well now, Seagull is also taking the moral high ground, or "always" has? > Hmm. I think Seagull is in a safe holding pattern mentality. We'll all > have to wait and see what DB really pulls from their shelves. If someone > can get a list of DB's "banned books," let's publish it. Keep your eyes > peeled. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 00:24:38 EST From: Derek1966@aol.com Subject: Re: [AML] New DB Policy=20 In a message dated 11/21/02 08:31:06 PM, mathurle@yahoo.com writes: << If the Church is true then why shouldn't it's bookstores be as well? >> Just out of curiosity....what exactly makes a bookstore "true"? John Perry - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 22:28:10 -0800 From: "gtaggart" Subject: RE: [AML] Missionary Farewells/Homecomings Eric's story of the shy Elder's farewell, reminded me of my son's farewell. He, too, was very shy. But he finally decided he wanted to serve a mission and next thing we knew, it was the day before his farewell. "How's your talk coming son?" "It's coming," he replied. A few hours later, and after seeing him sleep and eat and do about everything but work on his talk, "How's that talk coming?" "I'll be ready," he responded. This went on and on, Saturday, Sunday morning, and finally we're sitting on the stand. I'm sitting immediately to the left of the podium, and he's sitting to my left. The Bishop and his counselors are sitting to the right of the podium. After a talk and a song, it's time for my son to speak. His grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and mother had all traveled 500+ miles to hear him speak, but all he could manage was about a one and a half minute talk. Words failed him. Whatever preparation he'd done failed him. All he could do was sputter to a close and mumble, "In the name of Jesus Christ, amen," then turn from the podium towards his seat while punctuating his sermon with a quite, but audible, "S**t." Fortunately, it was only audible to me--I think. I smiled, squeezed his knee, and waited two years when, having finally learned the Gospel, he delivered a fine, but not as colorful, sermon. Greg Taggart - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 00:43:44 -0500 From: Richard Johnson Subject: [AML] Mormon (and Other) Culture I have been resisting the urge to contribute to the discussion of DB's new policy and the resurgence of the discussion of the narrowness of Mormon, or, more accurately Utah Mormon society. As a personal and political conservative (you never would have guessed that, would you?) who is gradually slip-sliding toward a libertarian line of thought, my conclusion about Deseret Book is, "So What". Wal Mart, not only has the right, but it has the ongoing policy of ceasing to carry merchandise that fails to meet certain criteria. It also, as a matter of policy moves the merchandise around to different areas of the store or department in order to force the customer to examine new groups of merchandise while looking for the old familiar stuff. I have cursed those policies many times, but I seem to still go to Wal Mart. No one forces me to go into a store that irritates me, but I find that the advantages frequently trump the disadvantages. Deseret Book, as a company, has, as far as I'm concerned the absolute right to sell, or not to sell anything that is legal. They may establish policy ,and I, as a customer have the right to weigh the disadvantages and advantages of patronizing their store(s) or not. Actually for me, the major disadvantage is that the nearest DB is about two thousand miles away, so that decision is postponed till I travel west. As an old (in _many_ ways) member of the list, I am a bit reluctant to jump into the culture fray because it recurs every few years, and I am afraid I'm going to say what I said last time. (On the other hand, I reread a lot of the posts and they said what they had said before, so I guess the onus is off- at least a little.) I live in Georgia. When I moved here, I moved into a small town near the university (then "college"). My family and I experienced almost every type of negative feedback mentioned in the notes about Utah. When we moved in, I became the Cub Master for the local Cub Scout organization. It met in the First Baptist Church but was for the entire community (Our church didn't have Cubs at the time, in fact, mine was the only family in the branch that had boys of Cub age) We blissfully tried to get into the community but one day, about two months into our residency, my second grader came home with the question "Daddy, are you a Communist?" I assured him that, as a long time officer in the Rhode Island Republican Club, and as a campaigner and voter for Barry Goldwater, I didn't qualify as a Communist. His reply was that he heard the Principal tell his teacher that I was a Communist. The fact was, that I had almost shoulder length hair, a beard, wore a beret (that part is a little embarrassing), taught theatre at the college, and moved to Georgia from New York State, and in 1970, to a Red Neck cretin of a principal, that spelled Communist. A short time later, my oldest son had a birthday. He had invited several of his friends to a party, and I had talked to their parents who were sure that their children would come. No one did. At his tenth birthday no one was present but our family. In December, my wife ( a den mother) and I arrived at the first Baptist church for Pack meeting. My old Ford Econoline was packed with crafts that boys had made for Christmas gifts for their parents. We went to the room where Pack meeting was to be held, to find a choir practice was in process. I wandered around the building till I found the Youth Minister who said "Didn't anyone tell you? We've cancelled Cub Scouts". I went from house to house delivering the boys crafts and found it difficult to get people to take things that their own children had made. >From that point, things in the community spiraled downward. One grocery store (there were only two) refused us service. When spring came and our boys wanted to join little league, they did, but we discovered later that their coach had to fight with two of the fathers (to the bloodshed level) to establish their right to be part of the team. Suffice it to say that we moved as soon as we could get out of our lease (about a year). We moved to another small town, about the same size. We were a bit nervous, but it turned out to be a glorious experience. I was back in the Cub Scouts (almost five years - my current pharmacist was one of my scouts). Our children were accepted, as were we. I had a problem with school prayer. One of my children was being thoroughly indoctrinated into the Baptist faith by one of his teachers, but, Statewide, they eliminated school prayer (and I, for one was and am pleased by that) and I was saved from having to confront that teacher. On the other hand, our children's friends were Baptists and Methodists, and finally our boys joined the Young Ambassadors (not a BYU singing group out here, but the approximate equivalent of primary)and the girls, the equivalent group, the name of which I cannot remember but I think it was one of the Biblical women's names. The teachers were very careful not to indoctrinate our kids. One of the tasks the boys had was to write letters to missionaries. Our kids wrote to Mormon Missionaries, which got a chuckle or two out of some of our friends. What I am getting at, is that it is not a particularly Mormon characteristic to close ranks against what is perceived as the "other" nor is it a particularly Mormon characteristic to open arms and embrace the "other" . These are both human characteristics that exist in almost all societies, religions, etc. The openness or closed ness is community, tradition and peer established, and you will find it everywhere. I was a missionary in Finland. Some cities had a tradition of openness and welcome and those were great places to work. Others are closed and narrow for a variety of reasons, and those were more difficult. My small towns in Georgia were called "Portal" and "Brooklet". I still find ways to avoid even driving _through_ Portal, and will go several miles out of my way to do so. When I was Branch President here, one of my most unpleasant tasks was serving those members who lived in Portal. Brooklet, on the other hand is a joy to visit, even though I don't live there anymore. The membership of the church has grown so much in Brooklet that I see a time, not too far down the road when they will have their own "unit". They already have their own seminary program etc. Richard B. Johnson, (djdick@PuppenRich.com) Husband, Father, Grandfather, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Director, Actor, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool. I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important http://www.PuppenRich.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 22:48:38 -0700 From: "Thom Duncan" Subject: RE: [AML] New DB Policy > As a business owned by a >church, a church which not only bears the name of >Jesus Christ but proclaims to be directly led by Him, >the standards of all it's enterprises must reflect His >will. I think it's pretty impressive that the Church >even owns a chain of bookstores. I'm impressed that >the Church has as large of a publishing arm as it does >with such a wide selection of materials.=20 Then, to be totally consistent, they will have to stop publishing and selling the Bible. The book starts off with two naked people cavorting in a garden, moving soon to two sons and the murder of one by the other. Not long after that, we have a guy having sex with his two daughters, and so on... And, despite what one might thingk if one's only acquaintence with the Old Testament is Sunday School lessons, not every such story in the OT has a moral judgement attached to it. Read Judges 19 and tell me where the act this man performs -- that of cutting up his wife in twelve pieces and sending one package of mutiltated body parts to each of tribe of the House of Israel -- is condemned by the Lord. Are we then to assume, by His silence, that it is His will to commit murder and mutilation? What is his will? The Lord includes in his books, which we believe he inspired, stories of adultery, masturbation, murder, mutilation, prostitution, divorce, drunkenness, lust. If such topics are all right for the Scriptures, they ought to be all right for Mormon writers. Thom Duncan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 08:40:30 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] CHEYENNE, _The Keystone_ (Review) Title: The Keystone: The Day Alma Died Author: b. v. cheyenne (pseudonym), with Glen E. Sudbury and Michael E. Coones. Publisher: Keystone Project. Salt Lake City. 2002. 749 pages. www.keystoneproject.com I have read a variety of bad Mormon novels in the last couple of years, and my patience with them is getting thinner and thinner. At first glance The Day Alma Died looked like it might be the worst of all. All the immediate signs were very bad. First of all it is a huge, 750-page self-published book, almost always a sign of an author who let himself blather on for pages without the restraining hand of an editor or publisher. Then there was the ugly cover design, the Book of Mormon setting (scriptural stories are favorite playgrounds for bad authors), and the wordy and condescending introduction. In it the creators claim they are writing a new kind of Mormon literature, unlike most Mormon authors who have tried to imitate the literature of the world. They say that they hope it will be the first in a 30- volume series. Wow, I'm thinking, this could be monumentally bad, bad on a whole new scale. In a way, however, the novel seemed to exude such a strong desire to do something good, that it actually got me rooting for it. So, I read it. I didn't read the whole thing, mind you, that was beyond me. I read the first half, and skimmed the second pretty quickly, my life is too short. Yes, it was bad, but I found some positives that helped me go further into it than I thought I might. I found myself admiring the creators for their vision and effort. A lot of imagination, research, and a few good stories lay beneath the corpulent verbiage of the book. Perhaps if they invest in a good editor or two for any future volume the good parts will be allowed to come up and breathe. Let me back up. The author's name is a pseudonym. According to the introduction there are three creators of the series, with Glen E. Sudbury apparently the leader. The story follows the lives of 20 or so characters over one day, based on Alma chapter 45. Alma 45 would not pop out at me as an obvious choice as a place to start a series, in it Alma blesses his son Helaman, prophesies, and= =20 then disappears. Helaman and the other Church leaders then go about trying to strengthen the Church. That is it. But actually many of the more interesting characters of the Book of Mormon would have been alive at that time. Besides Alma and Helaman, there is Ammon, Captain Moroni, Teancum, and Amalickiah, who first appears in Alma 46. The central plot in this novel is Helaman and the other Church leaders becoming aware of the popular judge Amalickiah's (spelled AmAalakYah here) plotting to destroy the Church and take power, and their initial steps to stop him. Well, I'll start with the good. The creators did an excellent job of world-creation, and not just because they had 750 pages in which to do it. Obviously they went to a lot of trouble researching Mesoamerican cultures and imagining how the Book of Mormon narrative could have fit into them. They list Joseph Allen, a well-known Book-of-Mormon-lands author, as their main source. They follow Allen who, like John Sorenson, has hypothesized that the events of the Book of Mormon took place in the Mayan areas of present-day southern Mexico and Eastern Guatemala. Some of the works most interesting passages are the descriptions of the tensions in Zarahemla society, with its mixture of Nephites, Mulekites, some converted Lamanites, and aboriginal peoples. They create (to my uninformed eyes) very believable and detailed portrayals of hunting, marketplace behavior, entertainment, and worship customs. Using Mayan language scholarship, they figured out possible Mayan etymologies of many Book of Mormon names, and adjusted the spelling and pronunciation of them accordingly. This attention to detail is also found in the 46 fairly well-done illustrations by Michael E. Coones. It has a high-quality hardback binding. A lot of work went into making this book. Some of the many subplots are also quite interesting. The best is Ammon and his divided family. His two oldest daughters are unwilling to accept his young second wife, one of the Anti- Nephi-Lehites he converted, and he is apparently unaware of how general Nephite society shuns her. Also, he rediscovers two illegitimate sons he fathered and abandoned during his young rebellious years, and tries to gain their forgiveness and help them reform their evil ways. Several of the characters are well drawn, especially Ammon, his daughters, and Moroni. In general, however, there is just too much going on, and not enough. The main story is not very engaging, and the narrative jumps around to various sub-plots. Great authors can sometimes pull off novels on such a large, multi-character scale. I give the creators credit for their ambition, but the scale was beyond their reach. Okay, then there is the writing. Oh, long and terrible is the prose of this book. Verily, it often caused my teeth to gnash and my head to rock with pain. Cursed be the day-the very day!- that Brother chyenenne chose to go without an editor. I mean, jeez, where do I start. Okay, how about this, on p. 35-36. Here the evil Lord AmAalakYah has an interior dialogue, which supposedly lasts only a few seconds before he begins to address the people during a festival, but covers four long pages. I'll spare you most of it. "There is no hurry, I think. Today I will proceed with regal deliberation=97 Instead of my usual eagerness and ambition. I am Lord AmAalakYah. Lord AmAalakYah of the Silver Coat! Unpredictability is my stock in trade. Slowly I drop my arms. Deliberately I fold them across my chest as if in submission before the crowd. I raise my eyes and look out across the plaza toward the so-called Holy Mountain of the Lord. My agents or spies have informed me that even at this moment Alma and HeLaman are meeting privately within the confines of the prayer chamber, rather than joining us here. I have also been informed that Prince Ammon is near at hand, ever the lackey of the chief high priest. But my agents have not been able to determine the purpose of the meeting in the prayer room and this annoys me. I pride myself in knowing all that is taking place in the city and beyond, but in this regard I am left empty and this is a significant point. The possible importance of such a meeting, at this time, during festival, under these circumstances, is worthy of my keenest interest and speculation. As an accomplished student of history, I am well aware of the traditional stories and superstitions surrounding the Festival of the New Year. In particular, I am familiar with the story of King Benjamin the Humble-the people's king, so called. How he passed the scepter of kingship and power of his throne to his son MosiHah the Good on the last day of just such a festival fifty years ago to this very day. Now that was a time, I think. And this could be another!" Oh, by the way, the whole four pages are all in italics, a favorite punctuation trick of the authors. Over and over again the author spends pages and pages describing one little thought or action. That can work if the author is an artist with words, but b. v. chyenne is no artist, let me tell you. Then there is the dialogue. Sometimes, it reminds me of those bad historical pageants, where they use dialogue to tell the back-story. You know, "Menius, this spot reminds me of the time when the Prince killed the King!" "Yes Scabius, that terrible day lives in my heart as a canker still. How the Prince took the sword, even the royal sword, and ran it through his innocent breast! The people sorrowed over the loss of the good King, but we could do nothing to stop him from taking power." (sorry, I made that up) You know what I mean, reviewing the story in an obvious, unnatural way. Conversations like that are rife in this book. There are lots of typos. The is a constant use-annoying and frequent it is!-of rhetorical asides. Cartoonish villains. Maybe worst of all is the strange combination of scriptural- sounding language with modern idioms. My favorite is, "He certainly is getting to big for his breechclot (sic), isn't he?," a nice combination of rewording a modern idiom and a typo. Okay, enough of that. I can certainly see throughout how sincere and earnest the creators were. They apparently hoped to do the same thing as the Book of Mormon does, and in some of the same ways. The main point of the work is to teach gospel principles, about which thy are not subtle. The book is thoroughly didactic, including an omniscient narrator who constantly comments on the good or evil of the characters' thoughts and actions. Additionally, the seen and unseen presence of angels and demons is frequently commented upon. While I applaud the author's intentions, prose which is both didactic and appealing to a reader is some of the most difficult to pull off, and I am afraid the author fell short of the mark. So far the best pieces of literature based on the Book of Mormon are those that have gone at it somewhat slant. The main two I can think of are Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series, which resets the story in a science fiction future, and Eric Samuelson's play Gadianton, which depicts modern LDS characters struggling with Book of Mormon themes. I think a straight-ahead historical fiction approach could also work on some levels. Unfortunately, I have yet to read any which makes my list of good literature. Andrew Hall Fukuoka, Japan _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*=20 http://join.msn.com/?page=3Dfeatures/junkmail - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #905 ******************************