From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #401 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, July 20 2001 Volume 01 : Number 401 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 15:40:23 -0600 From: Russ Asplund Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Graphic Novels I have a friend at work, Joseph Gates, who is working on a superhero comic called Missionary Man. It should be out this fall, he is currently working with his collaborator on the story of the origins of Missionary Man, but I think the idea of a superhero who decides to go on a mission has a lot of promise, and the art and/or illustration is top-notch, as well. Russell Asplund (Three Posts?! Good heavens, I'll forfeit my lurker privileges.) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 15:45:42 -0600 From: Barbara Hume Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Graphic Novels At 12:01 PM 7/19/01 -0700, you wrote: >Any comments on graphic >novels as a form--possibilities and limitations? I tend to think of them as works for readers who don't want to actually read--as crutches for the semi-literate. Now, this is just an impression, and I'm just answering a question! barbara hume - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 15:40:53 -0700 From: "Christopher Bigelow" Subject: RE: [AML] Utah Mormon Culture OK, Rex, when do we get to see the novelization of that post? Chris Bigelow - -----Original Message----- I knew that sooner or later, the topic of "Utah Mormon Culture" was going = to=20 head its ugly rear. [snip] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 16:24:24 -0600 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: [AML] Anti-Mormon Literature (was: Mormon Graphic Novels) On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 12:01:49PM -0700, William Morris wrote: > When I was on my mission, I came across a little > comic-book pamphlet ominously titled Vizitatorii (the > Visitors). I think an investigator gave it to me. It > was part of a series of Christian (of the born-again > vareity, I believe) illustrated tracts put out by a > guy located in Chico, CA. The visitors are, of > course, LDS missionaries and the tract warns against > their evil ways--even debunking their doctrines and > exposing their methods. As a collector of anti-Mormon literature, I have a copy of the English version of "The Visitors." Chick Publications puts out these phamplets. They do not limit their attacks to Mormons; they also provide anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish pamphlets. Every pamphlet ends with the familiar "Pray to Christ and become saved" message including a multiple choice question: Did you accept Jesus as your own personal savior? Date: ____________ [ ] Yes [ ] No You can find Chick Publications online at . -- Read "The Visitors" in English at -- Read "The Visitors" in Spanish at -- Read "The Visitors" in French at -- Read . . . well, you get the point. (Sorry William, I couldn't find an Italian version online.) You can also do a search on "Mormonism" and read six articles including "Witnessing to Mormons" and "Mormon Teaching: There Is Nothing More Pagan." For a good anti-Catholic tract, read "Why Is Mary Crying" . And just for Jeff Needle: "Where's Rabbi Waxman" . Since the advent of the Internet ministry, you can't get as much good anti-Mormon literature anymore. You used to get at least two or three pieces every time you went to temple square or the Manti peagent. Maybe you have to have a twisted sense of humor, but I love the comparative literature aspects of Mormon vs. anti-Mormon literature. (Like, which document starts more out-of-context quotes directly after the word _not_?) - -- Terry L Jeffress | The man who does not read good books has | no advantage over the man who can't read | them. -- Mark Twain - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 16:37:44 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] Sex in Literature Chris Grant wrote: > > > Furthermore, I don't think we should equate KSL's business > decisions with the Church's imprimatur. Since KSL televises > Jay Leno's monologues, are dirty jokes now okay with the > Church? In the eyes of the Church, is watching "Fear Factor", > "Spy TV", and "Weakest Link" an appropriate Sabbath day > activity since KSL airs them on Sunday nights? > KSL has in the past exercised editorial control over its shows. For example, it stopped showing Saturday Night Live because of content the management found offensive. I think D. Mike is right. If it shows on KSL, the Church must at least tacitly approve. - -- Thom Duncan Playwrights Circle an organization of professionals - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 18:42:06 -0400 From: "Eric D. Dixon" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Graphic Novels William Morris wrote: >When I was on my mission, I came across a little >comic-book pamphlet ominously titled Vizitatorii (the >Visitors). I think an investigator gave it to me. It >was part of a series of Christian (of the born-again >vareity, I believe) illustrated tracts put out by a >guy located in Chico, CA. "The Visitors," by Jack T. Chick: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0061/0061_01.asp I came across this one on my mission too. It's pretty funny. It contains the usual obfuscations, misinterpretations and opinion-as-doctrine boilerplate. >My point is that I think the epic-journey kind of >structure of the LDS mission (plus the many strange >characters one often meets in the course of doing the >work) lends itself to the graphic novel form. Anyone >else had these thoughts? Any comments on graphic >novels as a form--possibilities and limitations? A great introduction to the form is "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud (which is itself in book-length comic form -- since it's nonfiction it can't rightly be called a graphic "novel"): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006097625X/ And this was followed by a sequel published last year, "Reinventing Comics": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060953500/ I can't recommend these highly enough -- and not just for those thinking about entering the field. If you've ever read a comic book, or you've ever thought about reading a comic book, or if you think you would enjoy an engaging and witty exegesis on an unfamiliar subject, these books are for you. William is right that graphic novels are expanding into challenging and difficult areas. Art Spiegelman's "Maus" is just the tip of the iceberg. I think many aspects of the Mormon experience would be well-suited to the comic format. Check out some of these for a better idea of what the form has become: "From Hell," by Alan Moore (about the Jack the Ripper slayings, soon to be a film starring Johnny Depp): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0958578346/ "Ghost World," by Daniel Clowes (disaffected teens just after high school, also soon to be a film, starring Thora Birch): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560974273/ "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth," by Chris Ware (a guy with a mid-life crisis reverts to adolescent power fantasies): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375404538/ The "Sandman" series, by Neil Gaiman (someone once swore to me he thought this series, taken as a whole, was the greatest literary work of the last 20 years, in any medium): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1563890119/ "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch: A Romance," also by Neil Gaiman (a shorter introduction to Gaiman's excellent work, this is a visually stunning story about a man recollecting his childhood): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1563892464/ "The Jew of New York," by Ben Katchor (a sprawling but intricate story loosely centered around an early 19th century effort to create a Jewish homeland in upstate New York): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375401040/ "A Contract With God: And Other Tenement Stories," by Will Eisner (a classic by the first master of the form): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1563896745/ "The New American Splendor Anthology," by Harvey Pekar (an anthology of slice-of-life stories and confessionals): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0941423646/ And Scott McCloud's books have lots of other great examples to check out. The graphic novel form is still in its infancy -- a thoughtful exploration of Mormon life would almost certainly be well-received. (Superhero stories still dominate, but there are some great examples of that genre as real literature as well...) Eric D. Dixon - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 16:13:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Ed Snow Subject: Re: [AML] Spring 01 (Humor) _Irreantum_ Linda, I'm grateful for your review of and response to the Humor issue. I was especially glad that you "enjoyed most of it." If every reader enjoys most of an issue, I count that as a successful effort on our part in trying to put it together. _Irreantum_ tries to appeal to the broadest possible range of Mormon readership, and by doing that, we know that some of our material may make some readers wince a little on occasion. I've also tried to understand your concerns with some of the humor in the magazine, and I've got some ideas for you to consider. I think your main concern is that some forms of humor appear to be "mean-spirited" or at someone else's expense, and you'd prefer humor to be more gentle. Humor, like most everthing, is a matter of taste I think. Some people like boiled meat and potatoes (think British), others like exotic culinary creations (think French), while others like it hot and spicy (think Mexican) (and no doubt I've offended someone with my stereotypical culinary analysis). As you indicated, comedy serves many functions. Satirists usually try to correct perceived societal misteps through ridicule, or at least, through exposing them for what they are by turning them into pratfalls that can be laughed at. And, as Twain said, nothing can withstand the assault of laughter. Satirists who aren't careful can turn in Don Rickles clones who forget their mission to correct preceived wrongs and merely take pleasure in ridiculing others. Twain himself lost his way in his later years and ridiculed the entire human race. His last writings are terribly dark. Other humorists are introspective and self-deprecating. This is a safe road to take since it is humor at your own expense. Church leaders and politicians prefer this method. Perhaps your mother might get angry at you for making fun of her child, but usually no one else will be upset. Other humorists like to share things they found funny as mere entertainment. This is my goal as a humorist. It is an observational style of humor that reflects sincere curiosity and stands in awe of the puzzles of our existence. I don't think any form of humor is per se better than any other. In fact, I think you can find most forms of it in the scriptures. Amos, the prophet, uses some sarcasm when he comes down from the hills and refers to the women of Israel as "kine" (cows!). Jesus engages in witty banter with a Samaritan women and seems pleased with her comebacks (remember the "even the dogs get the crumbs off the table" discussion?). And some of his parables are humorous (remember the one about the guy who comes over at 2 in the morning knocking on the door asking for bread--that's like prayer, Jesus says). Joseph Smith's sense of humor later in his life appears to be frequently aggressive and often full of bravado. Some people see this as evidence of arrogance on the part of the Prophet. I view it as an extension of his sense of humor.I hope to finish my essay on Joseph's sense of humor someday--I think it ran the entire gamut of humor types. I remember hearing Grant von Harrison rail against sarcasm once at BYU as a tool of satan one week, only the next week to hear Elder Hartmun G. Rector stand in Stake Conf. and make a joke about his wife's pot roast one night that he likened unto a "burnt offering." Everyone laughed, even his wife. Aslan might have even made a joke like this. And then someone gave the closing prayer, giving thanks for Elder Rector's remarks, and then proceeded to mispronounce his last name in a very funny way. Out of charity, no one laughed, but after the prayer even Elder Rector himself was smiling so wide I thougth his face would crack open at the seams. Surely God must laugh at these incidents, and I hope the angels are silent notes taking. Ed Snow ===== Read free excerpts from _Of Curious Workmanship: Musings on Things Mormon_, a Signature Books Bestseller at http://www.signaturebooks.com/bestsell.htm __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 18:52:30 -0500 From: "thomasb5" Subject: [AML] Re: Anti-Mormon Literature (was: Mormon Graphic Novels) http://www.chick.com/default.asp This is the web-site address for the company that produces those tracts. I especially enjoy the one on Dungeons and Dragons. Rick - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 21:44:38 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] re: Artists vs. Illustrators Tracie Laulusa: Thom and Steve, very interesting observations. I heard once somewhere that a painting should 'say' something. Otherwise, you might as well snap a photo. [I] think a photographer who is an artist might take exception to this statement. Because, as in any other medium, there are photos and then there are photos. One of the most moving exhibits I have ever seen was ... _______________ Exception taken. Very nice recovery noted. Larry (hoping some day to be the maker of one of *those* photographs) Jackson ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 22:22:19 -0700 (PDT) From: David Boyce Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Graphic Novels Scott Card's "Magic Mirror" is a step in that direction. True, while it may not be strictly Mormon-oriented and more of a fairy tale book for adults, I think that it may show us a glimpse of what is possible for a Mormon graphic novel. On a lighter note, as for that pamphlet you read, "The Visitors" as I think it was titled in english (or Jerseyese :) I did hear about it while on my mission. While I never read that one, I did read others by the same group and there were missionaries in my mission that did. According to them, at the end, one of the missionaries addresses the other by his first name. I find that funny because during my mission, I don't recall ever calling any of my companions anything other than "Elder, "Elder [their last name]," or maybe even just their last name. In fact, when one of my companions wrote me after my mission (and before the end of his), he could not remember my first name. David Boyce __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 01:10:19 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Graphic Novels At 02:01 PM 7/19/01, William Morris wrote: >One of my Mormon literary interests is considering >forms of writing that may be particularly suited to >capturing Mormon philosophy and culture. I've floated >two of those ideas to the list already---parables and >collaborative writing. Here's the next one: graphic >novels. > >In particular, I think that it would be a fascinating >way of capturing the experience of LDS >missionaries---a way that could enlarge the genre of >the missionary story. > >When I was on my mission, I came across a little >comic-book pamphlet ominously titled Vizitatorii (the >Visitors). I think an investigator gave it to me. It >was part of a series of Christian (of the born-again >vareity, I believe) illustrated tracts put out by a >guy located in Chico, CA. The visitors are, of >course, LDS missionaries and the tract warns against >their evil ways--even debunking their doctrines and >exposing their methods. > >The basic plot: an older women is falling under the >influence of the elders. Her young, attractive, >college student niece appears one day and takes the >elders apart using 'logic' and bible verses. The >illustrations are actually quite good. I recall one >panel where one of the elders faces is completely >tensed and the sweat is streaming down his forehead. > >The ending is hilarious. As the two defeated elders >walk away, one of them begins to express doubt---the >other threatens to tell the mission president (I >forget what term was used) who would send the doubter >off to 're-education camp' (the MTC). Sounds like fun. Wish I could see it. >So I began by thinking of how one would do a parody of >Vizitatorii, but then that seemed hard because it was >already kind of a parody, I frequently come up with parodies of the reactions "born-agains" have to LDS. On rare occasions, I even share them, like the time some born-agains complained about LDS seeming to put more emphasis on Joseph Smith's birthday than Christmas, so I posted a description of how I had my home and yard decorated that year for Smithmas, including a 50-foot statue of the prophet decked out with thousands of blinking lights and a sound system continually blasting out excerpts from his sermons . . . >but then I turned to >thoughts of Art Speigelmann's _Maus: A Survivor's >Tale_ which I haven't read all the way through yet but >have read a lot about... > >My point is that I think the epic-journey kind of >structure of the LDS mission (plus the many strange >characters one often meets in the course of doing the >work) lends itself to the graphic novel form. Anyone >else had these thoughts? Any comments on graphic >novels as a form--possibilities and limitations? Of course, one problem is that you might get the same reaction that some had when _The Leading Edge_ published a graphic story for the first time: some members of the staff (I will name no names, though many here would recognize them), upon seeing "GRAPHIC STORY" in the list of stories scheduled to appear in the next issue, expressed their discomfort that we were about to publish a story with explicit sex, violence, and cussin' . . . - --Ronn! :) - --------------------------------------------------------- I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle - --------------------------------------------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 01:12:34 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: RE: [AML] Utah Mormon Culture At 02:18 PM 7/19/01, Russell Asplund confessed: >Okay, I have lived in Utah for all of my life that I can remember. My family >history with the church stretches back for generations. And yet, I am a >middling liberal democrat, like to dye my hair odd colors--or shave it off >entirely at present. I voted Republican in the last election, and I paint my face green for St. Patrick's day. Your point? ;-) - --Ronn! :) - --------------------------------------------------------- I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle - --------------------------------------------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 01:20:33 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] Mission of Mormon Letters? I think the mission of my writing must be to redeem the dead, as they are apparently the only ones reading any of it . . . - --Ronn! :) - --------------------------------------------------------- I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle - --------------------------------------------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 08:43:01 -0400 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: Re: [AML] Utah Mormon Culture Thanks for your observations, Rex. I'm from the Columbus OH area--in the Columbus OH Stake. Westerville has a bit of a reputation all over the region as being a tough ward to live in--Westerville 1st that is. I've heard that Westerville 2nd is quite different. A further not on the differing cultures here within this tri-stake area....A friend of mine who moved into the area last summer has an opportunity to work with all three stakes. He said they all have very different 'personalities'. One stake, according to his observations, has a very white-shirt-and-tie mentality. Walk the walk, talk the talk, dress the dress (quite literally white shirt and tie, no facial hair), a little on the uptight side, very much the 'we hold the priesthood' in solemn tones from the priesthood leadership type of speech. One of the other stakes has a more laid back feel to it. The stake presidency even wears non-white shirts. (My friend feel that there is a correlation between the dress and the attitude.) There is a more open, caring, intellectual progressive feeling to the stake--and more facial hair. He contributes some of this to the presence of OSU in the stake boundaries. The other stake he feels, if I remember right because this is the stake I'm least familiar with, had a more rural feel even though it about the same proportion of city wards to rural wards as the other stakes do. I remember when we moved here about 11 years ago feeling a bit of Mormon culture shock. We had moved here after spending several years in New Jersey and neither my husband or I are from UT (though we attended BYU). But we felt that Mormon culture in our particular ward was very different from other areas we had lived in. We talked about it a lot at the time. Some things that made a difference were that there were far fewer college educated people than other wards we had lived in. There were a lot of converts. Some of them had been members for a long time--back to the days when there was one ward in Columbus, but they had never lived any where but here. In our ward there are not any UT transplants. There were not very many people our same age and situation. There are a lot of people just older and just younger but in NJ there had been a whole segment of the ward 'just like us'--BYU grads, married with kids, doing the high tech thing. There are other wards in Columbus that are more similar to the wards we had lived in before, but ours isn't. We've grown to like it, but I remember a couple very lonely years of adjustment. Yet, isn't that one of the reasons we read? Or at least, it's one of the reasons I read. I want to find out about people who are different, and yet the same. About their experiences, about the things that happen to them. But it seems to me, that at least some of us--meaning Mormons--think there is just one 'right' way to be and we don't want to read or write--well, maybe it's the readers more than the writers--about a Mormon culture that doesn't represent that 'right' way to be. Somehow, coming from that mentality, if it's not this mythical 'right' way than it diminishes the truth and fulness of the gospel that we wonderful Mormons are suppose to bless the world with. (Rex, did you happen to know the Riquinos?) Tracie Laulusa - ----- Original Message ----- > > Since becoming an adult, I settled mainly in the Portland, Oregon area, > where I live now. What began to change my mind was a four-year relocation to > Columbus, Ohio. I started to see that what I thought was a Utah Mormon > culture was merely a stereotype that some of us outside of Utah believe in > but is not necessarily true. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 21:30:13 -0500 From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN 2001 Awards of Excellence: Mormon History Association Press Release From: Mormon History Association Press Release To: Mormon News Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 22:00:00 -0400 Subject: MN 2001 Awards of Excellence: Mormon History Association Press Release 16Jul01 A2 [From Mormon News] The Mormon History Association 2001 Awards of Excellence CEDAR CITY, UTAH -- The following awards were presented at the Mormon History Association's annual conference in Cedar City on May 18th: The Leonard J. Arrington Award for a Distinctive Contribution to the Cause of Mormon History LaMar C. Berrett * * * * The Mormon History Association Best Book Award Jan Shipps "Sojourner in the Promised Land, Forty Years among the Mormons" University of Illinois Press * * * * The Mormon History Association Best First Book Award Jorge Iber "Hispanics in the Mormon Zion, 1912-1999" Texas A & M Press * * * * Steven E. Christensen Award for Best Documentary David Bigler & Will Bagley "Army of Israel, Mormon Battalion Narratives" Arthur H. Clark Press * * * * Ella Larsen Turner Award for Best Biography Martha Sonntag Bradley Mary Brown Firmage Woodward "Four Zinas, a Story of Mothers and Daughters on the Mormon Frontier" Signature Books * * * * The T. Edgar Lyon Award for Best Article of the Year Eugene England "The Place of David 0. McKay in Mormon Culture" Sunstone, No. 117 (May 2000): 19-27 * * * * The T. Edgar Lyon Award of Excellence Barbara J. Bernauer "Gathering the Remnants: Establishing the RLDS Church in Southwestern Iowa" John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 20 (2000): 5-33 * * * * The T. Edgar Lyon Award of Excellence Scott H. Faulring "The Return of Oliver Cowdery," in The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, ed. Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges Provo, UT. FARMS, 2000), 117-73 * * * * The Juanita Brooks Award for Best Graduate Paper W. Paul Reeve "To Hold in Check Outside Influences:' Making Space for Mormons, Miners, and Piutes on the Southwest Mormon Frontier." W. Paul Reeve is a graduate student at the University of Utah. * * * * The Juanita Brooks Award for Best Undergraduate Paper Matthew Grow "Parley P. Pratt and the San Francisco Press, 1851-1855" Matthew Grow is a student at Brigham Young University * * * * The Thomas L. Kane Award Anatoly M. Kolodny Kiev, Ukraine * * * * Special Citation Ronald Walker, David Whittaker, James Allen "Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997, an Indexed Bibliography" University of Illinois Press >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: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 09:31:26 -0600 (MDT) From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: [AML] Re: Anti-Mormon Literature (was: Mormon Graphic Novels) > The ending is hilarious. As the two defeated elders > walk away, one of them begins to express doubt---the > other threatens to tell the mission president (I > forget what term was used) who would send the doubter > off to 're-education camp' (the MTC). > ~~William Morris and the "faithful" missionary decides to give the ladies names to the temple workers so they can put a curse on her. quite a funny comic that showed very little understanding of how Mormonsim was. It was part of the "Chic" comics - all made by one guy (whose name is Chic) and are very evangelical in flavor (one comic features a sheriff chaisng a convicted murderer on the lam - they both die in the course of events, but the Murderer accepts Jesus moments before he dies, and the Sheriff was a good man, but had never accepted Jesus into his soul. So, or course, the Sheriff goes to Hell and the murderer goes to heaven). There are some fun ones - "How to get rich and stay that way" is particularly clever. Others are far too predictable - the pope is, of course, the anti-christ, the beast who will rule the world in the last days, etc. Interesting stuff. - --Ivan - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 09:57:03 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Writing About "Good" Mormons Interesting discussion here. One quick response, from a real smart old = Greek guy: "It is also clear that the poet's job is not to report what has happened, = but what is likely to happen: that is, what is capable of happening = according to the laws of probability and necessity . . . the historian = talks of what has happened, the poet of the kind of thing that can = happen." Aristotle, The Poetics, Book IX, translation Gerald Else. =20 Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 15:10:11 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] Spectrum of LDS authors I'm working on an Irreantum promotional flyer, and I have nine author photos reflecting the interviews we've done so far. They are appearing together in a straight horizontal line of 9 photos. I thought it would be fun to subtly rank them in order from left to right, under the headline, "Our interviews cover the full cultural spectrum." I've made some notes about my rationale. Your comments on anything related to this ordering would be welcome. >From left to right: Robert Van Wagoner (explicit, unflattering Mormon elements, public statements of inactivity) Robert Kirby (explicit Mormon elements, publicly active but humor mainly iconoclastic) Mary Clyde (literary work, not explicitly Mormon) Dave Wolverton (mass market work, not explicitly Mormon) Richard Dutcher (independent work, explicitly Mormon) Margaret Young (current Deseret Book author, earlier edgier stuff) Anne Perry (mass market work not explicitly Mormon, but Tathea) Rachel Nunes (Covenant romance novelist) Dean Hughes (Deseret Book historical novelist) Chris Bigelow - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 10:09:35 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Utah Mormon Culture Anna Wight wrote: >Utah Saints are in a different culture than Saints in >the rest of the world. Absolutely true. And equally untrue. I'm from Indiana. I now live in Utah, and my kids are in school in Utah. = I've lived lots of places; I now live here. There are some differences. = The big ones are these: the percentage of kids who are sexually active is = a little higher in Utah than elsewhere, the percentage of kids who do = drugs is about the same, the percentage of kids who LOOK LIKE they're = sexually active or doing drugs is quite a bit higher elsewhere. Kids in = Utah are a little better at hiding it, in other words. That's the main = difference. I have no data to confirm this; I'm talking purely subjective = impressions. But polling data that suggests that Utah teens are much less = sexually active than kids elsewhere merely suggests to me that Utah teens = are a bit more prone to lie to pollsters. My son is a good kid, preparing = for his mission, BYU student, a solid kid. I look at his twenty closest = friends, and their lives are every bit as much the hormonally driven soap = opera high school is for my friends' kids living in Indiana, California, = New York, Pennsylvania. =20 >Sure those in Utah have mass media. But they also have an LDS church >on >every corner, temples within half an hour of each other, news that = >>centers >around the church, schools where most of the other students are LDS, = >and >school teachers who are their church leaders. LDS isn't the subculture, = it >is the culture. All true. And the good, sane, moral advice of church leaders goes in one = teenage ear and out the other at about the same rate in Catholic schools, = or Methodist Sunday Schools, as in Mormondom. >The rest of the world has their LDS students in a tiny minority in = schools. >Which means that they're friends come from very different values and >backgrounds. LDS kids are strange. The active ones don't drink, smoke = or >are sexually active. . . . . . . out where everyone can see them. My Southern Baptist friends in = Indiana had parents as strict as mine, and standards as high. =20 >This makes them different. They are surrounded on all >sides by things that are foreign to the things they are taught at church = >and >home. A Mormon outside Utah is different. No question. You do sense a = difference. But I find Provo HS as scary as my parents found Bloomington = South. =20 Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 10:16:49 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Mission of Mormon Letters? >So, do we, as Mormon writers have any obligation to try and fulfill any = of=20 >those mission statements? (regarding the three-fold mission of the = Church). Terrific question. My response is this: of course we do. It's just that = the central paradox of art is that the more blatantly we try to do those = three things, the less likely we'll be to succeed. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 13:32:41 -0600 From: "Marianne Hales Harding" Subject: [AML] Freelance Writers--Help! Ok, guys, another question from the newbie: I'm responding to a call for resumes/proposals for a new book called "A Parent's Guide to Seattle." In their proposal guidelines they ask that you specify a target completion date. Having never written one of these lovelies I have no idea what would be a decent date and what would be completely laughable. Any ideas???? Marianne Hales Harding _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 21:20:54 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] re: Huebener Another play based on the Huebener story is Neal Chandler's _Appeal to a Lower Court_, which appeared in Sunstone, December 1990. It tells a fictionalized form of the story from the Branch President's point of view. Andrew Hall _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 02:49:02 -0500 From: Kent Larsen (by way of Ronn Blankenship ) Subject: [AML] MN Internet: EFY, YW and More Personal Pages: Kent Larsen 18Jul01 US NY NYC I4 From Mormon-News: See footer for instructions on joining and leaving this list. Do you have an opinion on this news item? Send your comment to letters.to.editor@MormonsToday.com Newly Listed Mormon Websites: Clean Romance.com http://www.cleanromance.com/ Electronic publisher specializing in the romance genre, but without graphic sex, language and violence sometimes found in mainstream novels. Website, which currently has some html errors, has page for LDS-specific novels. Currently includes two LDS novels by C. Leeann Hansen. >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 ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #401 ******************************