From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #182 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, October 31 2000 Volume 01 : Number 182 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 12:25:34 -0500 From: Jonathan Langford Subject: Re: [AML] MN Dallas Morning News Explores Boom in Mormon Science Fiction: Dallas TX Morning News In the interests of accuracy, I feel the need to correct a couple of points in this announcement, most or all of which also appeared in the original article. They don't make much difference to the basic thrust--but this being a home list of Mormon letters, so to speak, it's probably important that the details be reported correctly. * Marion Smith did not "come to" BYU to teach the creative writing class. He was already at BYU, teaching technical writing (and presumably other courses), and took over the creative writing class when Scott Card was unable to teach it as originally planned. * Dave Wolverton was not part of that first year's creative writing class, and I'm not sure he ever actually took Bro. Smith's class, although he did take creative writing classes from others at BYU. His involvement with the BYU sf&f community started around 1984, if I recall correctly. The source of this confusion probably lies with the fact that he did join Xenobia, the writing group originally formed by Shayne Bell, Barbara Hume, Dave Doering, and others from that first creative writing class. Many of the most productive Mormon writers have been a part of that group (and various other writing groups formed either as spin-offs or in reaction to it) from time to time, although some of the best-known nationally, such as Elizabeth Boyer and Tracy Hickman--and, of course, Scott Card--found their own way into writing independent of Xenobia and its various offshoots and projects. Of course, in the case of Card and Boyer--and possibly Hickman as well--their time at BYU predated the formation of Xenobia. Projects that can be considered offshoots of Xenobia include _The Leading Edge_ magazine and the annual science fiction and fantasy symposium, both of which continue today, though with no formal connection to Xenobia. * I believe it's not Scott but Marny Parkin who has compiled the bibliography of Mormon sf&f. Marny is also guest editing a special issue of _Irreantum_ focusing on science fiction and fantasy. Not that Scott is any slouch in this department. He's a talented creative writer, with several published stories--both sf&f and mainstream--and was also the author of an excellent series of columns on Mormon sf&f for AML-List a couple of years ago. A very talented couple. Jonathan Langford Speaking as an old-time BYU sf&f community member--not as List moderator jlangfor@pressenter.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 12:11:41 -0700 From: Ruth Starkman Subject: Re: [AML] AML List Wait a sec... Hitler was the Austrian, and Beethoven, the wandering tenant of Grinzing (not too far from the Vienna mission house) from Bonn... The way I hear usually hear this joke it's that the _Austrians_ would like to pretend H. was the German and B. the Austrian. Or did you mean this and I'm just being dense? - --Ruth Starkman Alan Mitchell wrote: > -From: D. Michael Martindale > >In my personal > >experience I can vouch for Germany and Austria. I served a mission in > >Germany and visited Austria before going home. I could tell little > >difference between Germany and Austria. No more difference than you can > >find among different regions of Germany. > > Barry Monroe says: As if! > The Germans think Hilter was Austrian and Beethoven was German, and it's > exactly the opposite! > > Alan Mitchell, Author, Angel of the Danube - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 14:04:40 -0600 From: Maxine Hanks Subject: [AML] SMITH, _Riptide_ (News Release) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Marion Smith, author, Ph. (801) 278-4123 nsmith20@uswest.net Maxine Hanks, editor, Ph. (801) 322-5640 maxinne@juno.com Signature Books, Ph. (801) 531-1483 x105 signature@thegulf.com RIPTIDE IS FINALIST IN UTAH BOOK AWARD, 2000. The Utah Center for the Book and the Utah Arts Council have announced the finalists for the Utah Book Award 2000. The award will be presented Friday, November 17 at the Salt Lake Public Library, beginning at 7 p.m. in the third floor auditorium, 209 East 500 South. The Utah Book Award recognizes the three best books of the year by Utah authors. The award is presented in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The nonfiction finalists are: Chip Ward for _Canaries on the Rim_, Terry Tempest Williams for _Leap_, and Harvey Frauenglass for _Cidermaster of Rio Oscuro_. The finalists in poetry are Kolette Montague for _Easing Into Light_ and Judy Jordan for _Carolina Ghost Woods_. This year, the award for fiction has two finalists: Marion Smith for _Riptide_, and Helen Papanikolas for _The Time of the Little Black Bird_. Riptide was published this past spring by Signature Books. Last year, the award went to Rob Van Wagoner for his novel, _Dancing Naked_, published by Signature Books. _Dancing Naked_ received critical and national acclaim for its quality of writing and originality as the first "great Mormon novel." The book probes controversial themes and feelings, in exquisite style and poetic language. _Riptide_ too, explores controversial themes, delving into the darker side of Utah culture. Smith probes the moral dilemmas created by child sexual abuse and its real effects on lives, while also discussing larger issues in Mormon culture --like religious belief, traditional values, and loss of faith. In a meditative, stream-of-consciousness narrative evoking memoir, she reveals the complex dilemmas faced by a Utah family whose children are sexually abused by a family member. _Riptide_ is a fictionalized version of a true story about a Mormon family in Salt Lake. >From the moment you begin reading _Riptide_, you enter the mind of Laurel Greer and don't want to leave. Laurel's inner world is a familiar place, yet a strange escape into a troubled existence. The narrative takes a journey through the mind's landscape as Laurel herself drives through Utah hoping to leave it and its traumas behind. The writing is sensitive, colorful and vivid, the insights provocative and original, the style contemporary without being trendy or self-conscious. Laurel probes disillusionment and devastation while searching and struggling for some kind of psychological resolution. _Riptide_ explores the wrenching urges lurking inside of a woman's pain, honestly excavating the complex layers of belief, suffering and faith. This odyssey within a mother's mind is written in an authentic female voice that confesses the negative side of Mormon culture as well as woman's own nature. Above all, _Riptide_ is a redemptive work. Laurel confronts and confesses the evil in life-- as well as in her own anger, hatred and desire to destroy that which has destroyed her. In this way, she finds redemption as only one can--by knowing and integrating her own dark side. Laurel does the very thing that an abuser cannot do for himself, that is, confess the darkness within. Marion Smith is a grandmother born and raised in Salt Lake City, whose book takes us on a tour of the unexplored, shadow side of the female Mormon psyche. An expert on child abuse, Marion Smith has a master's degree in psychology, is a former therapist, and co-founder of the Intermountain Specialized Abuse Treatment Center in Salt Lake. _Riptide_ is available in paperback for $14.95 in any bookstore. ISBN #: 1-56085-131-7. Smith and the other authors will read from their books on Friday evening, November 17 at the awards ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. The winner will be announced and will be honored with the Utah Book Award in fiction for 2000. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established by an Act of Congress in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books, reading, libraries and literacy, and to encourage the study of books and print culture as well as a state's unique literary culture. ---------------------end----------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 18:30:11 -0200 From: "renatorigo" Subject: Re:[AML] Is Writing Genetic? (Part 2) > Of course writing isn=B4t genetic but , of course, you could have a father, mother or somebody that makes you love to read and then you certainly will love to write.. In your case..."coincidence".. I think... Renato - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 18:43:00 -0200 From: "renatorigo" Subject: [AML] Clothes at Church (was: Institutional Art) > Barbara Hume and Darlene Young talked about using pants , or jeans or other thing more confortable at Church... I agree with them.... I have the Melquisedeque Priesthood and sometimes I go to church without a tie...and sometimes I=B4m the only one without ties....Me and Christ :-))) Did He use ties? My wife is Catholic (The most of brazilian are catholic). She liked the LDS doctrine but she really did=B4t get to be confortable among a lot of women with strange clothes.... This is one of the causes she didn=B4t want to receive baptism... What about the garments? The real protection is the feelings into your heart and not white clothes from last century.... WE HAVE TO CHANGE TO CONQUEST THE WHOLE WORLD CULTURALLY... RENATO - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 09:10:19 -0600 From: Steve Subject: Re: [AML] Published Books by AML Event Authors on 10/25/00 11:42 AM, Ivan Angus Wolfe at iaw2@email.byu.edu wrote: > Johnathan langford wrote: >> Steven Kapp Perry (... Is he the same >> Steve Perry that might have written a Star Wars novel?) > > > I hope not.... But maybe it's a conspiracy - Steven Kapp would lose his > Mormon > audience if they knew he'd written books with sex and bad language in them > (mostly the Aliens and Predators novels - he kept the SW novel fairly clean - > and bungled the one attempt at a mild alien eroticism). I have never even once attempted alien eroticism, mild or otherwise. > Steven Kapp Perry (anything besides CDs and sheet music? Since the topic of our panel is Songwriting, would CD's be appropriate? I could recommend one or two. >Is he the same > Steve Perry that might have written a Star Wars novel?) I can only wish. There are lots of us Steve Perries running around, which is why I use my middle name professionally, and why I get periodic calls for Steve Perry Construction asking me where I'd like a backhoe delivered. I've thought of some interesting places, but haven't yet had the guts to actually suggest them... :-) Steve - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 18:45:22 -0200 From: "renatorigo" Subject: Re:[AML] MN Dallas Morning News Explores Boom in Mormon Science Fiction: Dallas TX Morning News > This is a strange situation encoutered in the US, and I don=B4t believe in everything the newspapers write...I don=B4t think mormons write more fiction books than other religion...Here in Brazil the catholics write more fiction books than mormons...because there are a lot of catholics and few mormons...statisctics problem... I read the article in the Dallas Morning (on the web version , of course) and I felt the main objective of the author of the text wasn=B4t to say mormon are excelent fiction writers...the writer was trying to say mormons write more fictions because of his scriptures book (mainly The Book of Mormon)...He tries to say mormons develop creativity reading The Book of Mormon....a book full of epic stories, about wars and vanished civilizations.... One of writer=B4s phrases: "Mormons are theologically not so far removed from science fiction," Conclusion: the writer should discover God and not write bad works...bad texts...bad opinion ...without a deep knowledge about the subject... Renato Brazil renatorigo@ig.com.br - - 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] Lee NELSON, _Cassidy_ (Review) Yea on the review of CASSIDY! Lee is on another TENT trip this weekend, = but I'll save this for him! Thanks so much, Jeff! Marilyn - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 09:05:50 -0600 From: "Cathy Wilson" Subject: Re: [AML] Is Writing Genetic? (Part 2) It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting here with tears running down my face (doesn't happen very often) reading this story. Thank you so so much for writing it and sharing it. Cathy Cathy (Gileadi) Wilson Editing Etc. 15 East 600 North Price UT 84501 - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 10:37:55 -0600 From: Steve Subject: Re: [AML] Is Writing Genetic? (Part 2) Rex, With this last addendum, your life story just went from fascinating to must-read. If I were your mother I would say something like, " Well, Rex, just carry around 3X5 cards (or 4X6) and start putting down events on cards when they occur to you and chuck 'em in a file box. Then when it's mostly full, you can put them in order and get to work writing the book." But, of course, not being your mother, I would never presume so much. :-) Steve _ _ _ _ _ skperry@mac.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 11:44:55 -0600 From: "Richard R. Hopkins" Subject: Re: [AML] Cornerstone Publishing Music Tom is our new VP of Music, and the plan is to produce some "Sunday afternoon listening" at first, because that's what sells in our primary market. I'm not at liberty to go into details on the first album, but according to Thomas (that's how we refer to him in the family), it's gonna be excellent. I'm not familiar with your voice, Scott. Are you a tenor, baritone? If so, I'm really hot to do an album of sacred duets with my sister-in-law who is a fabulous coloratura. She really brings the house down with her rendition of "O Divine Redeemer," but it's even better as a duet (with Tenor). I also love (though not strictly a sacred piece) the duet from Samson & Delilah. (Might have to raise the key, as it's written for a mesosoprano.) Richard - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 10:07:25 -0600 From: "Kirk Strickland" Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] Great News! Big Congrats, Kenny!--Kirk - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 08:28:28 -0800 From: eedh Subject: [AML] Breath of Fresh Air I haven't been active on this list for several months. I've been immersing myself in another group of lists. I think AML-List has ruined other lists for me, though! I expected the same open-mindedness and tolerance and sharing of opinions that I've known here. Instead I found something very different. It's like a breath of fresh air to be here again. - -Beth Hatch [MOD: I hope it may ever be so.] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 22:50:38 EDT From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN LDS Artists Turns Family History Into Queens Museum of Art Exhibit: Kent Larsen From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Subject: MN LDS Artists Turns Family History Into Queens Museum of Art Exhibit: Kent Larsen 26Oct00 A2 Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 10:00:00 -0400 [From Mormon-News] LDS Artists Turns Family History Into Queens Museum of Art Exhibit QUEENS, NEW YORK -- LDS Artist Valerie Atkisson has taken her family history to a new level, integrating it with her artwork in a way that is garnering praise and attracting attention to her work. Atkisson's latest work, entitled "Family in Norway" opened Tuesday evening at the Queens Museum of Art in New York City. Her wall painting also inaugurates the museum's new Ramp and Wedge series, which takes advantage of wall space on a ramp connecting the museum's first and second floors. The exhibit space covers 80 square feet of wall space, stretching at its tallest the full height of the museum's two-story entrance. Atkisson, a resident of New York City, has an MFA from New York's prestigious School of Visual Arts. Her work has appeared in exhibits at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Artists Space of New York, and d.u.m.b.o. Arts Center in Brooklyn, New York. Her art has been heavily influenced by her interest in family history, creating unique images that have attracted the attention of critics. But Atkisson goes farther with her family history research than most LDS Church members. She says, "What began as an interest in my ancestors has turned into an insatiable desire to know as much about them as possible and fill in the gaps of knowledge with my own impressions of their lives." Much of Atkisson's recent work has had a similar emphasis on her family history. Atkisson has therefore combined her genealogical research with background information information on the history and places where he ancestors lived, and then added her own impressions of their lives. Instead of a simple genealogical chart, she has created a unique "family biography," a mural that tries to convey the people and places in her family history. To create this particular work, which explores her Norweigan ancestry (Atkisson is 1/8th Norweigan), Atkisson traveled to Norway with the help of a grant from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, which supports emerging artists. There she collected background information on the places where her ancestors lived and the history of those places while they lived there. The exhibit of Atkisson's "Family in Norway" runs through January 28th at the museum. The Queens Museum of Art is housed in the New York City building, one of the exhibition buildings left over from the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. The museum is best known for its permanent exhibit, Panorama of the City of New York, the world's largest architectural scale model. >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: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 13:16:32 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Culture in Mormon Lit Best one ever: Margaret Young's story, God on Donahue. Love it. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 18:57:19 -0200 From: "renatorigo" Subject: [AML] Mormonism and Internet My first contact with the LDS Church was by the net...I entered in the LDS official site and asked for a Book of Mormon and the visit of the missionaries...Two days after I had missinaries at home...(God=B4s delivery) :-))) After receiveing the messages I decided to become a member of the Church. What do you think about the power of internet in contributing with the growth of the Church? Renato renatorigo@ig.com.br __________________________________________________________________________ Todo brasileiro tem direito a um e-mail gr=E1tis http://www.bol.com.br - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 09:09:24 GMT From: Jeffrey Needle Subject: [AML] Rodney TURNER, _This Eternal Earth_ (Review) Review =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Rodney Turner, "This Eternal Earth"=20 Second edition, revised July 2000 (First edition published in 1983 under the title "The Footstool of God"= Granite Pubishing Hardback, 324 pages + index, $21.95 Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle Let it be said at the outset that this is not your normal work of Mormon= =20 cosmology. It isn't what you'd hear in Sunday School; neither would it = be the topic of conversation at the after-church dinner table. This is = a=20 work of massive research and deep, limitless consideration of the subjec= t=20 matter. "This Eternal Earth" is a self-described "Scriptural and Prophetic=20 Biography." Drawing from esoteric early sources as well as the Standard= =20 Works, Turner pieces together a fascinating, if eclectic, view of the=20= place of Earth in the grand scheme of God. Turner begins with the thesis that the Earth itself is a living organism= =20 that, along with the human race, has "fallen" and needs "redemption." =20= Using the motif of the flood as the Earth's baptism, etc., he traces=20= mankind's history on this planet and presents the view that nature itsel= f=20 is in rebellion against God, thus explaining natural disasters and other= =20 "acts of God." Part One is titled "God and His Creations." While the Church has never,= =20 to my knowledge, issued an authoritative statement on the subject of=20= organic evolution, Turner dives head in and shows the utter=20 incompatibility of the current understanding of evolution with the=20 statements of Scripture and of the General Authorities of the Church. There is an extensive discussion of faith as a "power," an idea Joseph=20= Smith taught. And there is an extensive discussion of Kolob and the=20= Earth's spiritual beginnings in its realm. With Part Two, "The Earth," Turner enlarges on the idea of the planet as= =20 a living organism in need of redemption. This theme pervades the book=20= throughout; he returns to this point many times. Here is an example:= Earth is the mother of mothers; every living organism is comprised of=20= [sic] elements taken from her body. Whether man, the denizens of land, = sea, and sky or a microscopic organism =96 all are extensions of a livin= g=20 earth, a living soul, a life-producing planet. Orson Pratt asked the=20= rhetorical question, "What! Is the earth alive too?" He responded, "If= =20 it were not, how could the words of our text [Isaiah 51:6] be fulfilled,= =20 where it speaks of the earth's dying? How can that die that has no life= ?=20 (JD 1:281) (p. 58) And indeed, the earth must die, and be reborn as a celestial planet, hom= e=20 of those who are exalted into the Celestial Kingdom, from whence those=20= who achieve Godhood begin their own celestial families. I must confess that there were several points I'd never heard discussed = before. For example, in a discussion of the present location of the 10 = Tribes of Israel (both prominent theories =96 that they are located at t= he=20 Arctic Circle, and that they were translated, as was Enoch's city,=20 awaiting their return to earth), Turner reports an entry on the diary of= =20 one Charles L. Walker, a friend of Eliza R. Snow. (Turner cites Snow=20= extensively, not as evidence of the trueness of an idea, but rather=20 evidence that an idea had been sufficiently familiar to have prompted he= r=20 to write a poem.) At night paid Sister Eliza R. Snow a Short Visit and had some=20 conversation with her on the Dividing of the Earth. She told me that sh= e=20 heard the Prophet Joseph say that when the 10 tribes were taken away the= =20 Lord cut the Earth in two, Joseph striking his left hand in the center=20= with the edge of his right to illustrate the idea, and that they (the 1= 0=20 tribes) were on an orb or planet by themselves, and when they returned=20= with the portion of this Earth that was taken away with them, the coming= =20 together of these 2 bodies or orbs would cause a shock and make the=20 "Earth reel to and fro, like a drunken Man." She also stated that he=20= said the Earth was not [now] ninety times smaller now than when first=20= created or organized. (pg. 214-15) In a footnote, Turner elaborates: The statement that the earth is now ninety times smaller than its=20 original size may have been a misunderstanding on Walker's part since=20= another account indicates Eliza R. Snow said it was nine times smaller. = =20 Parley P. Pratt declared it to be several times smaller. (p 222) Fully 52 pages of this book consist of notes to the text. The work that= =20 went into writing this book is breathtaking. Underlying much of the book is Turner's urging of Latter-day Saints to=20= accept the teachings of inspiration over modern understandings of=20 science. This will not set well with some; indeed, many of the ideas=20= Turner advances don't seem possible, given our current scientific=20 knowledge. He does reject certain ideas when empirical evidence points = in the other direction. He rejects, for example, the idea that the 10=20= tribes are located at the North Pole. He reasons that our satellites=20= would have picked up some evidence of this by now. But he does place right before us the reality that early Mormonism was a= =20 virtual cornucopia of ideas and insights. And he spared no effort to=20= bring together literally hundreds of sources, some of them easily=20 available (like the Journal of Discourses), many not so easily (for=20 example, private diaries, etc.). =20 Anyone interested in such studies, as I am, will find this book to be a = wealth of information and reference. One need not accept Turner's=20 findings to enjoy his meticulous research and broad insights into the=20= place our planet, Earth, plays in the larger plan of God. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 00:07:36 EST From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" At Ogden, Utah High School: Minneapolis MN Star-Tribune (Milwaukee Journal) From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Subject: Mormons Oppose "Godspell" At Ogden, Utah High School: Minneapolis MN Star-Tribune (Milwaukee Journal) 30Oct00 S2 Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 14:00:00 -0400 [From Mormon-News] Mormons Oppose "Godspell" At Ogden, Utah High School OGDEN, UTAH -- News that a group of Mormon parents in Ogden, Utah have forced Ogden High School to scale back and postpone a planned production of the musical "Godspell" has made newspapers outside of Utah. The high school changed the production from a school-sponsored play, paid for with state money, to a student drama club production, paid for with donations. The Mormon parents, including Valerie Bentley-Ballif, whose 17-year-old son Chris wanted to be in the musical until he read the script, objected to the play, saying that it is offensive and "inappropriate" for a public school. "He wanted to be in the musical, until he read the script," says Bentley-Ballif. "And he said, 'Mom, I can't do this. This is offensive." The musical, which debuted on Broadway in 1971, tells the story of the life of Christ, loosely following the book of Matthew in the New Testament. However, the historical characters are represented by clowns in the musical. But the clowns also represent warring factions of society, and the play promotes tolerance and forgiveness. Bentley-Ballif said she found the portrayal of Christ's crucifixion as an electrocution on an electric fence, particularly offensive. "I'm not a zealot. But that was offensive." But she blames her frustration on school officials, who she says didn't give proper weight to the concerns of parents. "We just don't believe they care about how we feel. I'm not at all happy about it, nor were any of the other parents." Because of the concerns, the school distanced itself from the production, and principal Debbi Gomberg says most parents are satisfied with the solution. Students have 'hired' the school's drama director for the production, which will probably debut in January, instead of next week as originally planned. The play could also be further delayed because of ongoing negotiations. Unlike Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ, Superstar," LDS Church officials have never issued an official comment on "Godspell." "Jesus Christ, Superstar," a rock opera that is also about the life of Christ, drew a condemnation from the LDS Church's First Presidency when it was performed in Salt Lake City in October 1971. Source: High School 'Godspell' play draws protests St Louis MO Post (Salt Lake Tribune) 29Oct00 D4 http://www.postnet.com/postnet/News/wires.nsf/National/OC121895D99D9F9F8625698700657267?OpenDocument"> By Ashley Estes: Salt Lake Tribune >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, 31 Oct 2000 05:09:24 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] Guest Bios for AML Writer's Conference If you are on the following list, you have agreed to be a participant in one of the sessions of the AML writers conference on November 4th. Would you be so kind as to e-mail me privately with a paragraph-long description of yourself as you would like it to read in the program for the conference? Otherwise I may have to make up nasty things about you instead! I will need these as soon as possible, within day or two. Thank you very much. Kristen Randle Marilyn Brown Emily Watts Shauna Nelson Dave Wolverton Scott Parkin Ron Carter Sally Taylor Thom Duncan Eric Samuelsen Scott Bronson Natalie Prado John Bennion Rachel Nunes Anita Stansfield Tom Plummer Eric Snider Lance Larsen Steven Kapp Perry Richard Hopkins Kenny Kemp Elbert Peck Bob Ahlander Carol Lynch Williams - -- 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, 31 Oct 2000 08:48:10 -0600 From: reid9 Subject: Re: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" At Ogden, Utah High School: Minneapolis MN Star-Tribune (Milwaukee Journal) > Terri - coming out of hiding to say: > "Bentley-Ballif said she found the portrayal of Christ's > crucifixion as an electrocution on an electric fence, > particularly offensive." Oh yes, being hung on a rough-hewn wooden cross with stakes nailed through your hands and feet and your heart literally breaking because of the pressure is much less offensive. I saw Godspell when it first opened in Chicago at the Goodman Theater (in the mid seventies)- it was wonderful - uplifting and spiritual. It made me cry and made me appreciate my Elder brother so much more for the sacrifice He made on my behalf. I just can't understand this blind condemnation. Of course, my kids have read Goosebumps and Harry Potter books too - so perhaps I'm just too liberal. ;) Terri Reid - - 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 #182 ******************************