From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #235 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, January 19 2001 Volume 01 : Number 235 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 08:11:19 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Lewis Playwriting Contest Judging Okay, I owe Linda a huge public apology for this one, and I will follow up = and try to find out why you didn't get your letter about this. The = department secretary who actually runs the contest left about the time we = finished up this year's contest, and that's the best explanation I can = think of. Linda's own history with the contest is a bizarre one anyway--I = can't think of anyone who's had worse luck with not getting informed and = stuff. Anyway, the Lewis contest is finished. A woman from Chicago won, in a = rather interesting play about an artist married to a mountain climber, who = has a hard time getting over it when he's killed on the top of Everest. I = don't recall the name of the playwright or the play, which is a sign of = incipient senility, because I read the part of the mountain climber at our = staged reading for it. Linda's play, which I liked better than the = mountain climber/artist play, was in the finals, but was edged out in = votes cast by the other two finalist judges. =20 For all of you out there who would like to be playwrights and who happen = to be female, I am rather proud of the Lewis Playwriting Contest for = Women, which I have been part of now for about four years. It was started = by Susan Lewis, quite a good Mormon writer, who graduated from BYU in the = early eighties (and who, FWIW, I also dated very briefly in the seventies.)= =20 It's not an LDS oriented contest; we haven't had an LDS winner for years. = But BYU administers it, and we would love to produce the winning play. In = fact, we did last spring, a wonderful play, Voices From Black Canyon, = about the building of Hoover Dam. (Best Dam play ever written). Our = local critics killed it--it got lousy reviews and consequently poor box = office--and I didn't see the production. Experimental plays are hard = enough to get audiences to see anyway, and one bad review is absolute = death . . . which is why critics have a professional obligation, I = believe, to give dark, difficult, odd plays reviews 50% better than they = want to give them, just so they have a tiny chance of succeeding. I was = in England at the time; maybe the production wasn't very strong. But it's = a terrific play. =20 Anyway, if any of you have a play in you, write it, send it in. And a = million jillion apologies to Linda. We'll do better by you next time, I = promise. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 08:36:33 -0700 From: "Bruce Grant" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Dialogue I lived 30 years in Korea, taught Korean to missionaries for years. The strange intonation pattern carries into Korean, even. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rose Green" > >One thing I've noticed in the 30 years I've been in the Church is a > >particular voice pattern when they read Scriptures. The voice starts low, > >then continues rising until it drops on the last syllable of the line. On > >the next line, the pattern starts again. It's a bit mind-numbing, but for > >all I know, it may be common to many people not accustomed to the concept > >of > >trying to read aloud with feeling. > > How funny--I wondered if I was the only one who noticed that. It happens > when missionaries learn other languages, too--they may speak more or less > normally in running conversation, but whenever they start to read scripture > or say something of Spiritual Significance, you know because of the strange > intonation pattern that happens. I've heard it on a mission in Chile and in > two different extended periods of living in Germany. > > Rose - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 08:50:39 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: [AML] SAMUELSEN, _What Really Happened_ (Performance) I should have posted this before now, but here it goes . . . I'd like to invite all members of the AML-list, friends and family and = anyone else who wants to come, to a performance of a new play of mine, = titled What Really Happened. It's in the Nelke Theatre, in the HFAC = (Harris Fine Arts Center) on the BYU campus. Performances are tonight = (Thursday, Jan. 17), tomorrow and Saturday (Jan. 18, 19) at 7:30 p.m. = Admission is free. What Really Happened is a play about the power of rationalization. A nice = young couple, Cath and Rich, begin by telling you that they are going to = tell you all about what really happened, that it really wasn't so bad, and = that it really wasn't their fault anyway, so you shouldn't blame them. = Over the course of the play, you learn what they did, and realize that it = was horrifying. I don't want to give too much away. =20 This is an example of what I call Under The Radar Theatre. The play is = very dark, and quite disturbing, and unquestionably the sort of thing that = we couldn't do at BYU on the season. But a student, Lesley Larson, read = it, and loved it, and she decided to get some friends (including some of = the finest actors in our department) and produce it herself. I like the = play a lot, but I recognize that it's not the kind of play we can do here, = and so am thrilled to have a production under the radar. I haven't = advertised it much, though, because I'm a little worried about it. It's a = very weird play, and the kids weren't memorized as of last Saturday. But = last night, the dress went very well indeed, and so . . . Anyway, you're all invited to come. There's very little bad language (the = b-word, as in female dog, gets used a little) but it's very disturbing, = even to me, and so I won't be bringing my two younger children to see it, = and suggest you don't either. If you can make it, let me know what y'all = think of it. Anyway, a free date. Can't beat that. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 09:03:17 -0700 From: Margaret Young Subject: Re: [AML] ROGERS, _A Call to Russia_; Abrahamic Tests A couple of points of clarification: The first staging of _Huebener_ was not really controversial; in fact, it was (as Carol Lyn Pearson described it) an "EVENT." The Arena theater sold out nightly. The problem came when we (I was in the cast) were invited to take the show to California. Then Pres. Monson saw it and said it was a good show, but he was concerned that "Huebener was not Joseph Smith." Implications: Might some people follow Huebener's example in taking bold action which action would be more dangerous than edifying? Might their bold action result in leading others astray rather than "building the Kingdom"? Of course, I don't know what Pres. Monson's thoughts actually were, only that he said "Huebener was not Joseph Smith" and repeated it several times. It is worth mentioning that _Huebener_ IS published in Rogers's book of plays, _God's Fools_, and that the play was done again at BYU--this time on the Pardoe stage--some ten years ago. [Margaret Young] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 09:40:27 -0700 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes Ivan Angus Wolfe wrote: > > > I'll let you and others give them more credit. But as for me, as each day > > passes, I feel to thank God that I never followed through on my once > > strongly held desire to return and teach at BYU. > > > > Thom > I rather enjoy BYU _ i know this isn't arelated topic to AML - but since you > feel it is okay to insult BYU - I would like to defend it. If you don't like it > - that's fine. But I enjoy BYU - it's not perfect - but after visitng other > colleges and being treated like a reactionary Aryan Nationalist, it's nice to be > somewhere where I can actually take the gospel seriously. I graduated from BYU. I attend its theatre programs. I think they turn out killer computer programmers, great businessmen, excellent atheletes I don't, however, worship the school. I do not give money to it even though they ask me every year. My biggest problem is not that BYU is different from other schools, but that it is not different enough. I was a recent convert when I attended back in the 70's, still naive enough to think that things politics, jealousy, and power-plays didn't exist in Church instititions. I actually believed (and partly joined the Church because of) teachings related to "we believe in truth wherever it is found." Sometime after my frist semester, I lost my innocence. I realized that, despite the fact the Church ran the university, underneath it all -- and despite the protestations to the contrary -- BYU was just like any other school, an institution hopelessly embroiled in the principles of the world, only not the liberal principles that had plagued my junior college (where, BTW, I was treated with great respect and my religious standards were not only supported but lauded by fellow students.) No, BYU is not perfect, but it shouldn't strive to be above the fold in certain respects? If the most distinguishing thing that separates BYU from other institutions is that BYU bans R-rated movies from adults, then, in my estimation, we've missed the mark. Bringing this back to writing, I'm still a little confused as to how an institution, a non-living being without feelings, can be insulted. Thom - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 09:49:34 -0700 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes Rob Lyon wrote: > I've heard about how restrictive BYU is for years, and I'm sick of it. Some of us are saddened that BYU, like many secular universities, seems to be caught in Politically Correct Hell. At BYU, politically correct skews to the conservative agenda. At other schools, it may skew to the liberal side. Why can't BYU be above all that, and throw political correctness to the wind? Political correctness, a trapping of the world, show have no place at BYU. Thom Duncan - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 10:08:24 -0700 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes harlowclark@juno.com wrote: > > On Wed, 17 Jan 2001 17:42:46 -0700 Annette Lyon writes: > > I keep hearing about the lack of "academic freedom" at BYU. The > reality, > > in my opinion, couldn't be further from the truth. At most universities > > students are expected to accept or embrace highly liberal ideas. > > Conservative ideas, religion, etc. cannot even be discussed, or the > > student/professor/whoever is lashed out at. > > I have heard this sentiment several times on AML-List, and I keep wanting > to ask, "What liberal university did you go to?" I went to a very liberal > (votever dot meinz) university in the least-churched city in the country > (i.e., Seattle has the fewest churches per capita of any major American > city), and noone challenged me on my religious attitudes or tried to > force me to accept highly liberal ideas. I attended El Camino Junior College in 1967, (and met my wife of 30 years there, but that's another story). Liberal Southern California. The Hippie movement was still strong, and wouldn't completely die until 1969. On my campus there existed a Free Sex Club, a Marxist Club. as well as a Campus Crusade for Christ. I was in a play where I played a drunkard. My drama director was an alcoholic and gay. During one of the rehearsals, he gathered the class together to address an important issue, my being LDS (I don't know how he knew that, but he did.) He wanted to make sure that no one in the cast would do what he'd seen done a couple of years earlier to another Mormon actor, slip the "stage" booze with real booze, which resulted in ruining the entire performance. On any occasion thereafter when anyone commented on my religious values, it was always with respect, admiration, and -- sometimes -- amazement ("How can you NOT take drugs and still be so creative?). My working career has followed a similar track. In the days before sensitivity training, I had a supervisor who apologized for his occasional use of profanity. The only time my worth as a human being has ever been questioned was by fellow members of the Church (a now-retired BYU professor who questioned my testimony because I had written a rock musical on Joseph Smith, to name one.) Atheistic, alcoholic, drug-taking, hippie homosexual rock musicians have always accepted me with open arms. Church-going, family-supporting, Conservative Mormons have been the ones who've made me feel like an outsider. Thom Duncan - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 10:14:49 -0700 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes Jim Cobabe wrote: > Here's the rub, though--it is the escalation of hyperbole from the liberals. This may be the pot calling the kettle black, or the classic chicken and egg argument, but I'll say it anyway. Extreme voices cry out because they have not been heard while using kinder words. There's no reason to scream if you're being listened to. Thom Duncan - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 11:29:19 -0600 From: "Darvell" Subject: [AML] Re: Mormon Dialogue I've been trying for years to understand the source of the uniquely Utah/Mormon "dialect." I don't know as if it's so much Mormon any more, as it is Utah. As I see it, the common "Utah Dialect" is an unconscious attempt by the speaker to act humble (whether he or she is doing this to act humble or just mimicking others, I don't know). The tone usually has low, hushed quality, and somewhat monotone. And it always drops off at the end. Women have it more often than men. (My mother-in-law is a great example.) Interestingly tho, the "dialect" is often only used when expression certain feelings, like bearing a testimony or telling a compelling religious story. One of the best examples of this "dialect" is one of Coventant's latest radio commercials for one of it's books (_Pillar of Fire_ maybe?) that can be (at least last month) heard on KSL radio. It's a PERFECT example of the Utah/Mormon dialect, as they practically "bear testimony" of this book. Maybe in 100 years the "Mormon Dialect" will be as pronounced as, say, the Texan dialect. And let me also add that this dialect BUGS THE HECK OUT OF ME! Darvell Hunt Pleasant Grove, UT _____________________________________________ Free email with personality! Over 200 domains! http://www.MyOwnEmail.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 17:46:26 GMT From: cgileadi@emerytelcom.net Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes As others have already said (more eloquently), the R rating is fairly meaningless. I've seen PG and PG-13 movies that sent me reeling because of their absolute immorality, and R movies that uplift and make joyous :). Our cultural view is skewed by language and our pre-set reactions to things. For example, I was stunned by the recent announcement from BYU that students and faculty could have ONE ear piercing but not TWO or more, according to the new dress code. That's absolutely silly, if you look at it clearly. What makes one piercing lovely and of good report and two piercings morally corrupt :) ? Cathy Gileadi Wilson [MOD: A preemptive request here. Let's not get into the pros and cons of the body piercing discussion. List volume is quite high right now, and this isn't a central topic for us.] - --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 11:57:59 -0700 (MST) From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: Re: [AML] Dealing with Mormon History (was: Year in Review) > I'm > also extremely interested in how you individually have dealt with the > Church's historical problems and held onto your testimonies, and how > you've helped others through their own problems. If it gets too > personal (or if Jonathan feels it's off-topic), please e-mail me > individually. I need to hear from you SOON. > > [Margaret Young] For me it's realy cognitive dissonance ;) Actually - I feel liek Bruce R. McKonkie did (in a quote Leonard Arrington cited frequently) that the best defens of the church is a true and honest accounting of our history. That woul dinclude all the warts - The gospel may make people better (and perhaps even perfect in teh very long run) - but it has yet to produce perfection "on the spot" and we are all human. Merely by the law of averages the Church has to have had some scoundrels, losers and "bad dudes" in its past. The main thing is focus - when writing or relating history is the purpose to show our often faulty history in order to prevent against the same happening again, to open the eyes of the modern saints, to show us all that Mormons are just humans trying to get by, or to tear down the church and show that because no one has yet to be perfect it must be false? I'm not a big fan of the current trend of "Cultural studies" in English departments - but there are a few concepts that I feel are valuable and useful. One of them is "subversion and containment." In this concept - a text "subverts" whatever values it is trying to teach by questioning them, showing them in unfavorable lights, etc. But then, at some point, the text will "contain" the subversion by ultimatly supporting the issue at hand and either discounting the criticisms or showing them to be misguided (yes - it's a simplification of the concept - but it works for now). One problem we have as authors and artists is that sometimes the "subversion" can go too far, so that no amount of contaiment will ever bring the reader/audience back. So - as an author of whatever (history or whatnot) it is possible to show so many of the warts and sins of past Saints that the readers (no matter how much the author tries to contain the criticism) are totally subverted and will never be reclaimed. It is a danger. Not one I fell either Marylin Brown or Margaret Young and Darius Grey have crossed (both did very well, IMHO) - but something to look out for. - ---Ivan Wolfe - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:02:12 -0600 From: James Picht Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes Annette Lyon wrote: > At most universities students are expected to accept or embrace highly liberal > ideas. Conservative ideas, religion, etc. cannot even be discussed, or the > student/professor/whoever is lashed out at... It may sound ironic at first, > but BYU has MORE academic freedom than most other places. Never having taught at or attended BYU, I can't comment on that. I've attended and taught at several other universities (well, five), and agree that they aren't hotbeds of intellectual tolerance. Faculty members are very rarely intolerant of conservative students; rather, they assume that their views of the world are right and shared by all but Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and their minions - - they're one-sided. Students, on the other hand, often think that free speech should be reserved for people who say the right things. My students are a restive and intolerant bunch, and I eye them as a French aristocrat would have eyed his peasants in 1780 if he'd had any foresight. I barely dare raise a word against affirmative action lest they hang me as a racist. I did hear recently from our college director that a certain senior faculty member was horrified by a picture on my door - a picture of me in Alaska holding a shotgun (bear repellent) and looking unhappy (the haze over my head was mosquitos). It was the gun, of course; he feared that it sent a violent message to our students and wanted a letter of reprimand to be entered into my file. Cooler heads prevailed and I was informally told that I might want to be careful of what I put on my door. Pictures of pit bulls and Edward Gorey limericks now hang there - let him interpret them as he likes. In some ways academia is indeed a secular religion, and complaints I've heard leveled at the church and at BYU wrt taste, orthodoxy, and artistic (intellectual) homogeneity could just as easily be leveled at the Harvard law school or the UT English department. My colleagues have been initiated into the mysteries, our students are our acolytes, and they accept our word (so long as it's orthodox) as having the weight of authority. Academia should be a hotbed of skepticism, but instead it's full of people who take a quasi-religious approach to knowledge based on prior belief (faith). Should R-rated film be banned from BYU, along with other adult-oriented art and literature? If we think of it as just another university, I don't see any reason why not (substitute racially insensitive for adult-oriented and it could be de facto university policy anywhere). I've never been under the impression that BYU was superior to other universities, so I look at such a policy sadly as just another example of what's wrong with American academia. Jim Picht - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 08:40:42 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes Annette Lyon wrote: >At most universities >students are expected to accept or embrace highly liberal ideas. >Conservative ideas, religion, etc. cannot even be discussed, or >the >student/professor/whoever is lashed out at.=20 This notion is fairly popular and quite broadly circulated, however my = experience is that it's not particularly true. In certain humanities = disciplines, at a few schools, there does exist a kind of post-structuralis= t orthodoxy, where a fairly knee-jerk acceptance of the ideas of Foucault = and Derrida is required. But to suggest that 'conservative' political = ideas are banned on universities across the country is inconsistent with = my experience, certain pieces of anecdotal evidence notwithstanding. I = taught at two other schools before coming to BYU, and I belong to four = major scholarly organizations whose meetings I attend regularly, and this = notion that 'conservatives' can't express themselves on campus isn't at = all the case. Most of my colleagues at other institutions lament that = campuses across the US are getting more conservative all the time. Not = more liberal. And I think they're right. Besides, the unspoken implication of your statement is that BYU is a = 'conservative' institution of higher learning, most others being 'liberal.'= But heck, I teach here, and I'm practically a socialist, I'm so far = left. =20 >I can't remember the guy's name >or university, but a tenured professor was recently bashed and >threatened= by >expressing a viewpoint contrary to popular feminism. He ended >up = resigning. Who, where, when, what point of view, in what discipline? These kinds of = things do happen occasionally, of course, because some feminists can get = pretty obnoxious sometimes, a trait they share with, oh, dairy farmers, = CPA's, software engineers, conservative talk show hosts, time share condo = salespeople, pest control technicians, ad copywriters, truck drivers, = bartenders. . . .=20 Okay, so I've gotten that off my chest. Fact is, Annette's pretty much = right about BYU. >I've heard about how restrictive BYU is for years, and I'm sick of >it. = The >reality is that, barring anything blatantly anti-GA or anti-LDS, you >can >pretty much discuss anything under the sun, conservative and >liberal.=20 I know some pretty reasonable people who got kicked out for saying pretty = reasonable things. I'd like to think that that era is behind us, but it = probably isn't. I mean, there are still people who walk around the = bookstore checking to see what books certain infamously liberal professors = have ordered for their classes, and then complaining, not to the administra= tion, but to certain General Authorities. That does happen. But it's = isolated; BYU's own version of conservative political correctness is just = as obnoxious as the liberal political correctness that sometimes holds = sway at other institutions. But in neither case does political correctness= get very many people fired all that often. Neither brand should ever get = anyone fired. But the millennium has yet to arrive. >BYU has MORE academic freedom than most other places.=20 No, about the same; less freedom in most areas, a lot more freedom in = other areas, so it probably balances out. I personally love teaching at = BYU. I love the kids. And I absolutely love to be able to bear my = testimony in class. I absolutely love being able to apply my understanding= of the gospel to the theories and practices of my discipline. I = absolutely love being able to write about my religion and my culture. And = I'll say it again, I love the kids. BYU students are some of the finest = human beings collectively on this planet, most of the time. They care, = and they think, and they give of themselves, and their idealism and energy = keeps me young. Every once in a long while the administration does = something dumb and irritates me. That's one percent of a job that's 99% = wonderful. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 13:11:18 -0700 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Re: [AML] Lewis Playwriting Contest Judging I said: > >(Over the rears I have run into three or four readable plays. Linda responds: > (I'm sorry, I just _can't_ help this one--) > So, over whose "rears" were you reading at the time? ;-> Well, all the rears in Flush! of course. Don't you just love a great typo? Sometimes they speak volumes, don't they? Too bad Freud's head was full of cigars or we might be able to make something of my little slip of the keyboard. scott - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 15:36:48 -0500 From: Richard Johnson Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes At 10:02 PM 1/17/2001 -0800, you wrote: > >That is, students (much more than professors) at both universities would >try to disenfranchise people who disagreed with them, but I had good >experiences both places, though I suspect my very LDS fiction got a >better hearing at the secular university than it would have at the >sacred. > > >Harlow S. Clark I think that you are right about students. Professors, on the other hand, get less latitude in many schools. In my nearly forty years in academe, I have seen the hard hand of censorship, lack of tenure, and a variety of other problems hit those who are conservative (and vocal about it). It is, sort of, the reverse of the BYU situation. I was the "outside man" on a search committee in Political Science one time and saw a really competetent, even exciting candidate turned down because, in the words of one committee member "I can't believe that anyone who has really studied political science could still 'knee jerk' to that conservative b*** s***." I had a biology professor attack me in a general faculty meeting because I had (at that time) five children (We had one more later just to give him a thrill). I don't remember the exact wording (in the sixties, there are a lot of things I don't remember about the sixties) but he stated that no Polluter of the Earth like me really belonged on a Liberal Arts Faculty. I never applied to BYU in spite of a couple of mild recruitment mentions because I didn't want to adjust my concept of theatre to the standards that existed at the time (Once, in the late fifties I attended a performance of _The Importance of Being Ernest_ at BYU wherin instead of serving tea, they served cocoa.) and I didn't want to shave my beard, but I really think that the academic "atmosphere" at the "Y" is probably not really much different that anywhere else. The criteria for examination are just different. Richard B. Johnson Husband, Father, Grandfather, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Director, Actor, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important http://www2.gasou.edu/commarts/puppet/ Georgia Southern University Puppet Theatre - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 11:50:41 -0500 (EST) From: Yeechang Lee Subject: Re: [AML] BYU May Ban 'R' From Classes I don't have any meaningful personal experience with BYU's alleged restrictions on academic freedom, though I (will) have three Y alum siblings and of course have heard all takes on the issue over the years from friends and acquaintances. (Personal background: Grew up in NYC, graduated from Bronx Science and Columbia, served my mission in Nevada, now with an investment bank in the Bay area. LDS arts exposure mostly limited to the _Great Brain_ series, the Philip Barlow-edited _A Thoughtful Faith_, the two James Talmage classics, and the laughable LDS music heard on my mission. LDS arts claim to fame: Possibly only person alive to have had seminary, Institute, and college classes from Richard Bushman.) Columbia fits the "liberal eastern school" label as well as any other. I can't say I can recall a single time I felt personally uncomfortable as a Mormon there. There was one instructor who make some pretty disparaging remarks about religion, and I wish in retrospect that I'd said something about it. But individually, my teachers and fellow students were uniformly accepting of my church membership. An estimate I've seen that says Columbia is about 15% Jewish sounds about right to me. I would not be surprised if Jews were the single largest religious denomination on campus. The _Columbia Daily Spectator_ ran some article on its cover about a Jewish organization or activity at least once a week, if not more often. This is not to say anti-Semitism didn't exist, but certain Judaism was seen as a "norm" in a way that doesn't exist outside NYC, Hollywood, and the top universities. Evangelical Christian groups weren't always treated by the paper quite so nicely--a fair amount of dark talk about the imminent threat to American democracy from the "religious right," and so forth--but considering that journalists and columnists who write for a living raise this specter all the time too, I didn't find it a big deal. Of course, the primary objection the paper had with the "religious right" was with their conservative politics. This merely reflected the prevailing leftist-tinged sentiments of the campus and the city. In practice, I also found acceptance of my political beliefs from others *on an individual basis*. Collectively, things were quite different. In particular, a pretty awful thing happened in November 1998; Nat Hentoff of the _Village Voice_ wrote a column (http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/cont/cases/hecklers1.html) which accurately describes the incident. I'm not sure what this incident says about people other than that there are cowards everywhere in a crowd and that the idea of a "mob mentality" is very real. At the same time, I'm fairly sure that nothing like this would have happened at BYU. I can't see a riot nearly breaking out over the mere presence of, say, Jesse Jackson and Patricia Ireland somewhere on the BYU campus. "Yes," you may reply, "but that just means Mormons are more polite." Well, doesn't that count for something? [Yeechang Lee] - -- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 05:38:07 +0900 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] Year in Review, pt. 2 The Largely Ignorant Reviewer returns for pt. 2 in his Mormon Literature Year in Review. Warning, your millage my vary. Short Stories: It was a pretty thin year for short stories. In fact, if it weren't for the recent rise of Irreantum as an outlet for short fiction there would hardly be any at all. This was largely because of the halt in publication in the first part of the year of our two most reliable journals featuring Mormon short fiction, Sunstone and Dialogue. Dialogue made a comeback, under its new editors the Chandlers, and published three issues in fairly rapid succession in the second half of the year (all of which are officially dated 1999). The first didn't have any stories, but the second (32:3) was a special AML-sponsored issue, containing four pieces of fiction. The fact that Neal Chandler himself is a published short story author (and professor of literature, I think, in Ohio) certainly bodes well for more good stories in the future. Sunstone finally came out with an issue in the Fall, with one short story. Hopefully these two journals will be back to normal next year. There were two collections of short stories published that I know of, both by non-Mormon, literary presses. Darrel Spencer taught at BYU for quite a while where he helped train a number of AML-listers out there, I think. Now he is at Ohio University. His collection, Caution: Men in Trees, won the Flannery O'Conner award. This collection of stories is less experimental and more accessible than his two earlier ones, but it still is going to appeal to a very small audience, I think. As I read them, I could see that this was a skilled author, but I kept thinking of excuses of other things to do rather than finish the collection. It was just kind of dull. I felt the same way about the recent Paul Rawlins collection (but not the recent Irreantum story) and Brady Udall collection, and the Wayne Jorgensen story in Dialogue. Just not very interesting. It isn’t that I don’t like "literary" authors, I loved Mary Clyde’s 1999 collection "Survival Rates". These stories just seemed to lack enough juice to encourage me to read more. Anyway, the other collection of stories is Brian Evenson’s Contagion and Other Stories. I haven't seen it, and haven't heard word one about it yet except for a newspaper review quoted in Irreantum. There were also several novel excerpts published in magazines, including two by Young/Gray, and ones by Bennion, Brown, and McColm. My favorite stories I have read so far are all the stories from the most recent Irreantum (especially Rawlins, Hunter, and Peterson) and Chris Bigelow's one in the 2:2 Irreantum. I also liked the Reed McColm story--even though the ending (brave little sick boy convinces his mother to get baptized through the force of his pluck) seems a little manipulative, I still fell for it all the way, and the overall writing was great. It is supposed to be from a forthcoming novel, I hope it gets published. And how about that Thayer fable/story in Dialogue? It seemed like quite a switch from his usual stories. I haven't read the Ottesen story in Sunstone yet, maybe I should subscribe. Our speculative fiction regulars continue to plug away, especially the ever-busy Bell. Actually, there were no SF novels by any of our mainstays in 2000. But really that was an anomaly, Card had novels about Bean and Ender published late in 1999 and early in 2001, and Wolverton/Farland was about the same with Runelords novels in 1999 and 2001. Of course there were also quite a few stories published in BYU's literary journal Inscape and the science fiction magazine Leading Edge, but they flew below my radar. (Is there a database for literary magazines? I bet people like Clyde and Rawlins are publishing stories out there, I just don’t know where they are.) Short Stories Allred, Lee. "The Greatest Danger." In Drakas! ed. S. M. Stirling, Baen Books, 2000. Bell, M. Shayne. "At Bud Light Old Faithful." Interzone Feb 2000. "Homeless, With Aliens," Science Fiction Age 8, March 2000. "Balance Due." Asimov's, Dec. 2000. Bigelow, Christopher K. "Daughters of Hysteria." Irreantum, 2:2, 2000. Bronson, Scott. "And the Moon Became as Blood." Irreantum, 2:1, 2000. Brown, Marilyn. "The Black Canary." Irreantum, 2:1, 2000. "Aftermath" Irreantum, 2:3 2000. Excerpt from Wine-Dark Sea. Dalton-Woodbury, Kathleen. "The Janitor’s Closet." Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine. Spring 2000. Evenson, Brian. Contagion and Other Stories. Wordcraft, 2000. Hunter, Rodello H. "The Day of the Dog" Irreantum 2:3, 2000. Jorgensen, Wayne. "Measures of Music." Dialogue, 32:3, Fall 1999 (2000). McColm, Reed. "There is Always Someplace Else." Dialogue, Fall 1999 (2000). Novel excerpt. Ottesen, Carol Clark. "The Embroidered Jacket". 1997 Sunstone prize winner. Sunstone, May 2000. Peterson, Dorothy. "The House." Irreantum, 2:3 2000. Petersen, Todd Robert. "Long After Dark." Irreantum, 2:2, 2000. Rawlins, Paul. "Faith of the Fathers." Irreantum, 2:3, 2000. Spencer, Darrell. Caution, Men in Trees. University of Georgia Press, 2000. Thatcher, [Bruce] Franklin. "Luther and the Dragon." Realms of Fantasy 7, 2000. "The Lion Sleeps." Irreantum, Autumn 2000. Thayer, Douglas. "Brother Melrose.” Dialogue 32:3, Fall 1999. Juvenile Of last year’s juvenile novels, I have read exactly none, so I can’t say anything about them. But from the descriptions, several of them look like they take on pretty tough themes. The genre also seems to be dominated by women. I've enjoyed Louise Plummer's books in the past, and I see her new one is in my library, so I'll probably read that sometime. Covenant appears to be the only publisher within the Mormon publishing community challenging Deseret in this genre. Andersen, C.B. The Book of Mormon Sleuth. Bookcraft. Fun, inventive story, one AML reviewer said. Bartholomew, Lois Thompson. The White Dove. Houghton Mifflin. Fantasy/adventure, about a monarchy and democracy. For ages 9-12. Blum, Vicki. The Shadow Unicorn. Scholastic Canada. Brady, Laurel Stowe. Say You Are My Sister. Harper Collins. For children age 9-12, deals with African- American issues in 1944 Georgia. Crane, Cheri. Sabrina and Kate. Covenant. Hulme, Joy N. Through the Open Door. HarperCollins. Children’s book about frontier-era Mormon. She has written several children’s books. Plummer, Louise. A Dance for Three. Doubleday. About teenage pregnancy. Her earlier books were usually romantic comedies, but this is a more serious book. Set in SLC, with Mormon characters. Torres, Laura. November Ever After. Holiday House. For 12 and up, deals with religion and homosexuality. Author has also published several popular craft books. Weyland, Jack. Ashley and Jen. Deseret. Also I assume there were YA short stories in each issue of the New Era, but I couldn't tell you anything about them. In my final post I'll discuss plays, essays, and web magazines. Andrew Hall Pittsburgh, PA _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.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 #235 ******************************