From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #143 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, August 30 2000 Volume 01 : Number 143 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 19:23:57 -0700 From: Jeff Needle Subject: [AML] FreeQuad Software Broad announcement: As many of you know, I've distributed a freeware program called FreeQuad for many years, but only in a DOS flavor. Finally, FreeQuad for Windows is ready. It's for Win95 and above, and uses the Microsoft Word Viewer as its primary engine. You can read the scriptures, scrolling at any speed you desire. You can search for words and phrases. And, of course, you can copy and paste or print as you desire. It isn't fancy, but it works. If you're looking for a program that doesn't take much disk space, and lets you read, search and copy the Quad, this should work just fine for you. And it's absolutely free. I also have a version that contains just a flat ASCII file with the scripture text, for those who desire just the text. You can find it at http://freequad.webjump.com. - --------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 13:33:50 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] History and Fiction "Eric R. Samuelsen" wrote: > But we have a real problem in our country. A recent poll showed that for American high school kids, by far their least favorite subject in school is history. Amazing. The most fascinating reading possible, the most exciting subject possible for anyone, and yet, for high school kids, it's dull. Well, no wonder. High school history textbooks are unbelievably dull, and not very accurate, precisely because they try so hard to be uplifting and positive, pushing the myth of American exceptionalism and logical positivism at every opportunity, and distorting events as they go. Read your kid's high school textbook sometime. You'll be appalled. (And you'll end up doing what I did, which is to take a black magic marker to it, to your kid's dismay.) Whose responsibility is to teach history, teachers or screenwriters? I'll tell you what the real problem is in America. It's actually a problem that the whole modern western world has. It's almost a fanatical insistence that something that isn't absolutely true event by event can't possibly be inspiring to people. We seem to have lost the love of myth that earlier generations had. So what if JFK is bad history? The scene where Garrison sits some people up in the courtroom and maps the trajectory of the one bullet is pretty darn riveting. If JFK had been about a fictional president, I believe it would have been more popular than it was, but because so many people thought they knew what really happened, more attention was paid to the supposed history than to the actual story which, personally, I found riveting from opening to closing frame. Disney's Pochantos should not be viewed as a cartoon adaptation of the original story, even if they marketers make it out to look like that. Instead, it should be viewed for what it really is: a succession of animated scenes of film with some songs thrown in. The questions a viewer should be asking him or herself is not "How accurate is this?" but rather, "Does the transition into the song work or is it forced?" "Is that joke funny or not?" "Is that animation inspired or rather pedestrian?" We bring too much of our own agenda to the art we consume in this country. We should work more at setting aside our own agendas, in this case, our own understanding of history, and try to see what the director or writer is trying to do to our emotions. If it's a cartoon movie about a real character and we and our children walk away humming some tunes, then the film has done it's job. If we walk away from JFK wondering where the three and half hours went, then Stone did his job. If we want history, we should go to the library. Thom Duncan - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 11:08:59 -0600 From: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: [none] >From glennsj@inet-1.com Tue Aug 29 15:00:46 2000 Received: from [216.83.130.82] (helo=mail.inet-1.com) by lists.xmission.com with esmtp (Exim 2.12 #2) id 13TsUw-0002Ba-00 for aml-list@lists.xmission.com; Tue, 29 Aug 2000 15:00:46 -0600 Received: from oemcomputer (unverified [209.90.103.129]) by mail.inet-1.com (Rockliffe SMTPRA 4.2.4) with SMTP id for ; Tue, 29 Aug 2000 15:01:59 -0600 Message-ID: <001301c011ee$64436180$81675ad1@oemcomputer> From: "Sharlee Glenn" To: References: <200008261951.OAA14722581@smtppop2.gte.net> <004301c0112c$aab81d80$82ff0b3f@oemcomputer> Subject: [AML] BRADY, _Say You Are My Sister_ Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 13:21:13 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Sender: owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: aml-list Laurel Brady wrote: > I just received an e-mail from my publicist at HarperCollins informing me my > novel, "Say You Are My Sister" (which is being released this week) is the > featured book for two weeks on their website beginning today! There is an > excerpt and interview, if anyone is curious. The url is > www.harperchildrens.com/hch/fiction. Congratulations, Laurel! I read the excerpt, and all I can say is, Wow! Magnificent writing. Strong voice. Wonderful characters. Can't wait to read this one aloud to my kids. Carry on! Sharlee Glenn glennsj@inet-1.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 14:49:17 PDT From: "Jason Steed" Subject: RE: [AML] History and Fiction >Jason argued: > > > >These days, history is perceived by many as, in fact, a fiction. > > >IOW, history is narrative--name ANY account of history that is not > >presented > >in the form of narrative--and as such, it is constructed. This >means, in > >many cases, that a sense of causality and order is superimposed >on a >series > >of events. When we write a work of "fiction", we present scene >after >scene, > >and the implication is that one scene leads (causes) the next, or >that >the > >second somehow follows from or builds on the first--thus order is > >constructed, leading to a climax, resolultion, etc. > >And so on. But this is overstated, I think. Certainly contemporary >historiography interrogates historical narratives, and insists that what we >call history is a construct. But the radical position Jason stakes out is >not, in fact, much in vogue anymore. Most historians I know agree that >history is a narrative, and agree that that narrative is shaped by the >cultural biases of the historian. But all historical narratives derive >from sources, including textual sources,but also archeological sources and >so on. And it is possible to maintain a kind of fidelity to those sources, >while still acknowledging the cultural discourse the historical narrative >inevitably reflects. We can't know 'what really happened.' But we can >reconstruct certain events, and we can make some statement about the >meaning of those events. > >To go back to my new play-in-progress. It is an historical fact that >George Washington owned slaves. He freed some of them when he died, but he >didn't free them all, and in practical terms, freeing them had little >positive effect on their lives. He knew this, and his tortured musings on >the subject of slavery appear in a few of his letters to close >contemporaries. Of course, as a playwright, I'm going to create a >narrative around those texts. But the texts exist; no responsible >historian would deny that. It is possible I've overstated things, true. But I don't think you successfully refute my argument just by insisting that there are in fact texts and sources upon which historical narratives are based. It is IMPOSSIBLE to interpret ANY text or source OUTSIDE the present perspective--or outside the present context. Thus, while the historicity of the text itself (the actual words, paper they're written on, etc.) may be indisputable, the historicity of ANY interpretation of them IS disputable. Pragmatically, this disputability is ignored (i.e. I'm overstating, perhaps, its significance); but it remains, nevertheless: "history" is in many ways created in, and a reflection of, the present... Jason _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: (No, or invalid, date.) From: "Marilyn & William Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Re: History and Fiction Michael, thank you for making your statement about priorities: "Accuracy = is high up there, but higher still is dramatic effect because it's fictio= n I'm writing." Those are profound words. And I write by those words. If someone learns = about the emotional atmosphere, learns about what it would be like to liv= e through a certain time, I feel we have done our job as historical ficti= on writers. The usual reader who sees the word "novel" understands what = the agreement between author/reader is. When you pick up the book, you = enter a bond that precludes "accuracy" (whatever ACCURACY may be). Apprec= iate your comments! Marilyn Brown - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 19:36:05 EDT From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN God's Army Prompts Mixed Reviews in East: New York Times From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Subject: MN God's Army Prompts Mixed Reviews in East: New York Times 25Aug00 A2 Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:20:00 -0400 [From Mormon-News] God's Army Prompts Mixed Reviews in East NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- As the LDS-oriented movie God's Army opened in New York City and elsewhere in the Eastern U.S., reviews have been mixed, with New York newspapers panning the show, while elsewhere reviews were much more favorable. Predictably, the nearly-impossible-to-please New York Times disliked the movie, but, surprisingly the more-plebeian New York Post and the Christian Science Monitor were also disappointed. But the Dallas Morning News and the Kansas City Star liked the movie, and, even more surprisingly, the intellectually-oriented public radio talk-show host Leonard Lopate practically bubbled over the movie in an interview with its director Richard Dutcher. The New York Times' criticizes the film for its "preaching that is likely to tax the credibility of the unconverted," but says it is possible to like the film for its "unusual subject and unpretentious performances." It suggests that Dutcher's performance in the role of Elder Marcus Dalton is particularly good, calling it "convincing." Dutcher might wish that the Times and the New York Post had compared notes before writing their reviews, since the Post seems to have the opposite criticisms of the movie. The Post calls God's Army an "intelligent movie" that "admirably doesn't quite end up preaching to the converted," but criticizes it for "too many bland performances, clumsily staged scenes and laggard pacing that drags out the proceedings for nearly two hours." The Christian Science Monitor's brief review (all of two sentences) has the same problem with the movie that the New York Times does. It says "At heart, this is more a Mormon recruiting film than a three-dimensional drama, but it provides fascinating glimpses of a subject that Hollywood hardly ever touches." Phillip Wuntch, writing in the Dallas Morning News, is much more positive about the film, admiring its unexpected subtlety and the unexpected detours the plot takes to get to a reassuring and predictable end. It particularly liked Matthew Brown's performance as Elder Brandon Allen, saying that his performance brought "poignant shades to Elder Allen's 'greenness.' " Wuntch complemented all the actors on "graceful" performances and noted that the musical score was "effective in its beguiling simplicity -- much like the film itself." In the Kansas City Star, Robert Butler says that God's Army goes beyond religious propaganda, making "observations about the nature of faith [that] are insightful enough to arouse the interest of just about anyone with a spiritual bent." Although he admits the plot sounds "heavy-handed and didactic," Butler says "it doesn't play that way." While he says Dutcher relies on melodrama in the plot, he also credits him with "the skill and conviction to finesse his way around the objections of non-Mormon viewers." However, Butler also notes that "a scene in which missionaries convert Hispanic Roman Catholics clearly wasn't designed to increase ecumenical harmony." Possibly the most positive of the New York publications was, paradoxically, the interview Dutcher did on public radio station WNYC-AM with host Leonard Lopate of New York & Co. Lopate, known as one of the more thorough interviewers, was very positive about the film, praising Dutcher for making a film about a little-known subject. Sources; God's Army New York Times 25Aug00 A2 http://www.nytoday.com/scripts/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&eeid=2967976&render=y&ck=&adrVer=920771229&mwhere=Manhattan&rwhere=Manhattan&rwhat=233&ver=3.20 By Lawrence Van Gelder Good works don't necessarily make good films. Movie Reviews: God's Army NY Post 25Aug00 A2 http://www.nypost.com/movies/36012.htm Movie Guide (God's Army) Christain Science Monitor 25Aug00 A2 http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/08/25/p14s1.htm God's Army Dallas Morning News 25Aug00 A2 http://dfw.citysearch.com/E/M/DALTX/0000/18/70/cs1.html By Phillip Wuntch 'God's Army' preaches to converted Kansas City KS Star 24Aug00 A2 http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/3774b328.822,.html By Robert W. Butler: Kansas City Star Richard Deutcher on New York and Company Radio Talk Show WNYC New York NY 22Aug00 A2 http://www.wnyc.org/new/talk/nyandco/nyconew.html >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: (No, or invalid, date.) From: "Marilyn & William Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] (Curiouser & Curiouser) Read by the Author I think all of us are obligated to get audio on our e-mails so we can hea= r Edgar read this HILARIOUS treatment! THEN and only THEN would it mean = all that it was truly meant to mean! Marilyn Brown - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: (No, or invalid, date.) From: "Marilyn & William Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Shameless Plug I went there, Laurel! I saw your book plugged all over the screen! WONDER= FUL! I am SO PROUD of you! I read your bio, and I admire you for taking = in all of those foster kids! Wow! I also read the Chapter One Excerpt and= loved it! It was very good. Nice folksy backwoods style--very excellent!= So congratulations congratulations! Sincerely, Marilyn Brown - ---------- > Hello everyone: > > I just received an e-mail from my publicist at HarperCollins informing = me my > novel, "Say You Are My Sister" (which is being released this week) is = the > featured book for two weeks on their website beginning today! There is = an > excerpt and interview, if anyone is curious. The url is > www.harperchildrens.com/hch/fiction. > > Laurel - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 13:49:00 EDT From: ViKimball@aol.com Subject: Re: [AML] History and Fiction In a message dated 8/30/00 12:09:40 PM Central Daylight Time, tduncan@zfiction.com writes: << > But we have a real problem in our country. A recent poll showed that for American high school kids, by far their least favorite subject in school is history. Amazing. The most fascinating reading possible, the most exciting subject possible for anyone, and yet, for high school kids, it's dull. Well, no wonder. High school history textbooks are unbelievably dull, and not very accurate, precisely because they try so hard to be uplifting and positive, pushing the myth of American exceptionalism and logical positivism at every opportunity, and distorting events as they go. Read your kid's high school textbook sometime. You'll be appalled. (And you'll end up doing what I did, which is to take a black magic marker to it, to your kid's dismay.) >> I tried to make overland migration history interesting in my book on young pioneers, and I apparently succeeded. (BTW, did anyone see Will Bagley's column Sun in the Trib. about my book?) The publisher sent it out to young readers for comments and they said something similar to this one: "I never like historical books before I read this book. . . ." Another one said: [this book] "is way better than any history text book." Too many teachers concentrate on dates, names and places. That is boring. I think it's the fault of the teachers and those who write the history books. Violet - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 15:05:32 PDT From: "Jason Steed" Subject: Re: [AML] History and Fiction >History as Moral Uplift is dull. Whereas what really happened is >terrifically interesting. But how do you know which version is "what really happened"? Sounds like one constructed narrative aims for the morally uplifting and bores you; the other doesn't aim for this and excites you (perhaps because it aims for something else). I'm just not sure it's really possible to say X (not Y) is "what really happened." Lest anyone misunderstand me, I must say I'm not bothered by this. I don't mind not knowing "what really happened"--because the myths and mythos of history are what's important. As we struggle to shape our past, we simultaneously shape our present. And vice versa. For over a century, literary history had "written out" the contributions of women writers (i.e. they were nonexistent, according to the histories). By shaping the past this way, the present took on a shape that was incredibly sexist--very few women writers were read, researched, or even heard of. But as present sensibilities changed (influenced in part by changing versions of history), so did the shaping of the past, so that now literary histories include (for most periods) almost, if not just, as many women as men. And this in turn shapes the present (again), undermining and deconstructing the sexist sensibility. This is all good. I don't mean to devalue history by anything I say. I only mean to call into question the notion that there is a "what really happened" that is out there, somewhere, locatable and knowable. If someone perceives something as happening, than that's "what really happened", even though it may contradict someone else's "what really happened." Think of it this way: if "what really happened" WAS locatable and knowable, the work of historians would come to an end. Once "what really happened" was discovered and/or recorded, there would be nothing more to do. Clearly this isn't reality. Jason _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #143 ******************************