From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #453 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 Monday, September 17 2001 Volume 01 : Number 453 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 09:35:17 -0600 From: "BJ Rowley" Subject: Re: [AML] Product Placement in Writing Another very good example of genericide is the Crescent Wrench, which is actually an Open-end Adjustable Wrench, originally made by Crescent. But who in the world ever refers to it as an Open-end Adjustable Wrench? Regardless of whether it was made by Crescent or Stanley or Jensen (the one in my toolbox is made by Fuller), everybody calls it a Crescent Wrench. - -BJ Rowley - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 09:51:08 -0600 From: "Marianne Hales Harding" Subject: Re: [AML] Fw: MN Restored BY Academy Building Dedicated as Provo Library: Salt Lake Tribune 9Sep01 US UT Prov D6 I completely agree with this article. As a student at BYU I used to mourn the sad state of the Academy and my friends and I would dream up different ways it could be saved. I'm so glad to see it salvaged. It would have been a crime to have lost this incredible historic building. Thanks Bro. Smoot, Provo City, and everyone who donated money, time, or expertise! Marianne Hales Harding - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 12:30:39 -0500 From: James Picht Subject: Re: [AML] Product Placement in Writing > I wouldn't find product placement in literature any more alarming than > in movies. But what you described isn't product placement,... This is active > advertising... > > -- > D. Michael Martindale In fact, the firm is Bulgari and the book is titled _The Bulgari Connection_. The book was commissioned by Bulgari, and the author wasn't just induced to place a product. This isn't something that bothers me. I look at it as something like an infomercial. If the book is good enough (by which I mean sufficiently entertaining, with or without literary merit), it will be a success and the genre may enjoy some popularity among producers of branded goods. All well and good. There's plenty of fluff in the bookstore. TBC may be fluff of a slightly different type, or it may be something more. In either case, why should I care that it was commissioned? Jim Picht - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 09:53:31 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Suspicion of Art Harlow asked a provocative question about a certain rhetorical 'mustiness' = resorted to by both Todd and I. =20 >>And here I must differ. Art is not just communication. Art is an >>attempt=20 >> to communicate the deepest and most essential parts of the human condition, >> to in some measure tell a truth that we may or may not find palateable. >> And therefore, it remains, for me and my house, a privileged communication, >> inherently and automatically virtuous and important and treasured, unless >> an enormous preponderance of evidence suggests that this one piece of art, >> unlike all others, is in fact damaging. I still maintain that actual bad=20 >> art, actually damaging art is something very rare. This use of 'must' is, of course, a rhetorical strategy, suggesting a = conviction so deep and all encompassing that no alternate point of view is = even possible. I'd liken it to those who say, in testimony meeting, that = they 'know' the Church is true, when in fact, they may actually only have = a very strong faith in the truthfulness of the Church. So chalk one up to = rhetorical overkill. I disagree with Todd, because my position seems to = me righter than his, but I'm not actually compelled by anyone to take this = particular position. =20 Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 10:05:43 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Eric SAMUELSEN, _Gadianton_ (Review) I'd like to thank D. Michael for an excellent review of my play. His = criticisms are apt. I do plead guilty; the piece is didactic, deliberately= and intentionally so. I don't think Mahonri Ward, the CEO is painted in = villainous terms; I think he's pretty sympathetic, but Fred is. I had a = lot of fun writing Fred. And business people who saw the play generally = thought that Fred was fairly convincing, but that I'd made him much too = good a guy. Downsizing consultants, in real life, I'm told, are a good = deal worse. And I don't think the play is anti-business--I'm certainly = not. I just think it's anti-layoffs. =20 Anyway, thanks. Good, thoughtful review. =20 Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 13:11:30 -0600 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Eric SAMUELSEN, _Gadianton_ (Review) - ---Original Message From: D. Michael Martindale > GADIANTON: A Play in Two Acts > by Eric Samuelsen > Published in the July 2001 issue of Sunstone Magazine > > There's also a half-developed subplot about the St. George > downwinders and the cancer they are developing. This subplot > doesn't go anywhere and has no significance to the main plot. > One wonders why it's even there. Perhaps it's a distraction > to keep you from noticing the big anti-business stick > Samuelsen is wielding. I thought this part tied into the theme of people hurting others in order to protect or enrich themselves. I thought the contrast of the actions of the corporation with those of the government was relatively powerful as it draws the connection that it is wrong to ignore the damage you are doing and that the people you are hurting are real people. What the CEO is doing is a small example of what was done to the down-winders just as our actions can be a small example of what the CEO is doing to his employees. Which means indifference to the damage we do to those around us is a sin we can all participate in and we should view it with the same horror we view the actions of the government towards the down-winders. > Could I merely be misinterpreting Samuelsen's purpose for > writing the play? Maybe I in my conservative zeal read more > into it than was there. But there's a companion article in > this issue of _Sunstone_ written by Samuelsen about his > writing of the play that leaves no room for doubt. "I do > believe layoffs are, in most cases, morally suspect," he > writes. "That's why I wrote the play--to make that case." While that may have been his purpose, I think his honesty prevented him from being as dogmatic as you saw. I think that Samuelsen did a good job of moderating his message enough to make it real. The CEO isn't a caricature, but rather a character I can believe exists as the head of a company. I disagree that layoffs are morally suspect in most cases, but then, by staying true to his characters, Samuelsen shows us how layoffs in this case are morally wrong (in their execution if not in their necessity). I think the message is true that layoffs done in this manner are immoral. You can generalize that message however you want to. I choose to take it as written as opposed to how Samuelsen apparently intended it. > Indeed, he makes that case. And it comes through as a big > stick to browbeat us with. _Gadianton_ is a fine play from an > artistic point of view. But it would be much more effective > if it weren't so message-oriented. If the "bad guys" were > made real people with motives that the audience can empathize > with, instead of standard-issue nasty business people, > _Gadianton_ would be the thought-provoking, dilemma-inducing > play Samuelsen probably wanted it to be in the first place. It's true that some of the people in the play (particularly Whitmore) are pretty stock evil people, I think the true drama is very real indeed, though, and not particularly beaten into the ground. The CEO is a real guy with understandable motives who commits evil through greed. A little bit of him exists in all of us who work so hard to improve the exterior, the visible, and sacrifice the interior, the spiritual. And a lot of good is done by people whose sacrifices remain largely unnoticed. In other words, I think you did let your conservatism get the better of you in reading Eric's play. I found it very powerful and a valid warning to all whether CEOs or janitors. Sure, Eric chose to tell a story where it is the CEO who is the bad guy and the mail room manager is the good guy (that is the position of the bishop, right? It's been a while since I read the play). I'm a pretty conservative guy myself and I read the play knowing Eric's general attitudes, but I found that, to me, Gadianton was a great message about appearances, greed, and harming your fellow human beings. His opinions led him to the story he wished to tell, but I think he did a great job of making the message a valid one despite his probable temptation to make it worse. Jacob Proffitt (who owns a business and may have to lay people off or risk his business going under entirely--and laying everybody off) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 13:39:04 -0600 From: "Annette Lyon" Subject: RE: [AML] An Iconography of Our Own I suppose I am in the minority here, but I think we *should* dress differently at church than our every day wear--and that's coming from someone who hates nylons. One of the points of the sabbath and worship is that the day is unlike others. It is set aside, and we do things differently then, and wearing something nicer than jeans to services is part of an outward expression of that inner commitment. Besides, I firmly believe that people behave, feel, and even think differently when wearing different clothing (there is a reason we all wear white in the temple, for example). I know that I even *sit* differerently depending on what I am wearing---sweats, a swimsuit, a formal evening gown. This in no way means that I am offended at colored shirts and such, or someone who comes into the meeting in every day clothes to find out about us. But I do think that we as members shouldn't whine about setting the sabbath and worship services apart by our dress. I recall President Boyd K. Packer talking about the reasons for Sunday dress, and he was quite emphatic about it (I think it was a BYU devotional several years back--saw it on TV). On the other hand, my dress goes back to the closet the minute I get home from church. : ) Annette Lyon - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 12:35:50 -0700 From: "Jeff Needle" Subject: Re: [AML] Product Placement in Writing Thank you for this! I think I'll go have some jello... Always glad to learn a new word. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 14:02:44 -0600 From: "Rob Lyon" Subject: Re: [AML] Trademarks Jacob said: " I can't come up with specific examples where this has happened" Already happened to chapstick, aspirin, yo-yo and lots of others. Xerox, Rollerblade, and Kleenex aren't far behind. And then Jonathan said: "But I understand the Xerox corporation fought against that (I'm not sure how--threats of lawsuits?)" My understanding is that companies spend a lot of time creating a paper trail to cover themselves--they have people on the look-out for trademark infringement, and when they see it they send threatening letters to authors. (Mostly for the sake of the trail than for an actual law suit against the author.) They also pay for ads pleading their case in places where authors and others would see them ("please refer to it as Harley-Davidson brand motorcycle, not just a Harly"). That way, the company can prove they have done their homework to protect their trademark, so if Pepsi (in Jacob's example) were to try to us "coke" as a generic term for soda drink, Coca-cola company would have enough leverage to sue. Annette Lyon (I've been in semi-lurkdom for a while, and suddenly I'm posting all over the place today--I think I'll return to the shadows now.) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 14:19:21 -0600 From: "Todd Petersen" Subject: Re: [AML] Suspicion of Art Harlow asked. >(Before getting down to a comment, let me get up on my soapbox and ask >why both Eric and Todd used the word _must_?=20 > >Who requires Eric to disagree with Jacob? > >Who requires Todd to side with Jacob?=20 I think too much is being made of the word "must," perhaps I ought to have = said, "I'd feel better if I sided with Jacob because I don't agree with = Eric on this point," but since "must" offered a 16:1 ratio, I figured I'd = go for it. If I had meant "compelled," I'd have said "compelled" and kept = a similar ratio. We are, of course, free agents "capable of making your own choices" and = it's really just a semantic argument to suggest that the word "must" = indicates something else here.=20 It's also not really to the point to split the discussion between the = issue of suspicion of art and hairsplitting. The main thrust of my comment is that there is nothing inherently virtuous = about art because it involves the interpretive acts of other people. So = for the inherent virtue argument to hold sway, the virtue would have to = reside in both parties, which doesn't necessarily happen, and in fact, = often doesn't happen. Even the Book of Mormon, which Harlow brought up, requires both a reader = and the Spirit in order for its virtuousness to be evident. Similarly, art = isn't, in my opinion, a privileged type of communication as Eric suggested,= not at least without taking into account the other people, besides the = artist, who are involved in the process of communication. To the Book of Mormon issue, the poet, David Lee, thinks that it is a = yawner as well as an unpublishable Milton rip-off written by a long-forgott= en 19th century Canadian scholar. From Lee's perspective, there is no = virtue in the work. The issue is not if the work has virtue or not, it = lies in the fact that virtue does not always transfer across the gap. I am well aware that if "someone doesn't recognize a quality inherent in = something hardly means it doesn't inhere." I think that the quality, = however, is only revealed through an exchange between artist and audience. - -- Todd Robert Petersen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 13:44:54 -0600 From: "Annette Lyon" Subject: Re: [AML] Polygamy "Inactivating" previous doctrines is easy in Mormon theology." No, it isn't. Inactivating previous policy, procedure and practice IS easy. The underlying truths and doctrines never change. Also, something I thought of several days ago when Margaret (I think) mentioned the correlation between "celestial" marriage and polygamy. This is slightly off-topic, I know, but I think it bears clarification. Since temple marriage and plural marriage were introduced at about the same time, and most if not all plural marriages were sealed, many church members began to assume that celestial marriage and plural marriage were one and the same, and often used the terms interchangeably. The first presidency actually had to make a statement clarifying that there is a difference and always has been (this was in the early 1900s, I think). Due to the confusion, you'll find many journals and such referring to plural marriage as celestial marriage. Annette Lyon [MOD: In the interests of saving myself work later on... I recognize that we could get into an entire discussion here on the differences between changing doctrines, practices, procedures, etc.; but that's not really on-topic for AML-List. So I'd like to cut off that part of the discussion at this point.] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 09:36:52 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Material for Eric S. Thanks for Frank Maxwell for his suggestions: >Keep the basic >elements of the case (i.e., fraud, Mormons, major fast-food >corporation),= >but change the names & identifying characteristics of the people = >involved.=20 >That would give you the freedom to examine the motives, emotions and >mindset of people who might do such a thing, without the requirement to >accurately represent the defendants' side of the story.=20 Right. McDougals instead of McDonalds, for example. Should probably be = McDougalds, so you still end LDS. >Are you thinking of depicting McDonalds as an innocent victim? =20 Absolutely not. >If you'd >like to get a good look at the company behind the scenes, I recommend = >the >new book "Fast Food Nation" by journalist Eric Schlosser (Houghton = >Mifflin, >2001). =20 I own Schlosser's book, admire it extravagantly, and have wanted to use it = dramatically for some time. =20 >Schlosser tries to be fair, but accurate. One of the incidents it >recounts is how McDonalds was sued successfully by Sid & Marty Krofft, >creators of the old TV show "H.R. Pufnstuf", because the McDonalds->land >characters and story was a rip-off of the Pufnstuf show. What fascinates me about Schlosser's book is the way it shows the utter = brutality of the meat processing industry which serves McDonald's, and = particularly, the callous disregard for the most rudimentary considerations= of worker safety. This is particularly true in regards to Hispanic = workers, who are often too intimidated to make even the most obvious = Workman's Comp claims. For that reason, I want the play to include some = contemporary Hispanic rap, which I hope to use chorally. Anyone familiar = with any artists whose work I should be listening to? I'm also fascinated = by McDonald's involvement in the motivational speaker movement, which is = also central to what I'm interested in with this play. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 23:56:08 -0400 From: "Amelia Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Homogeneity in Art (was: Polygamy) Jacob Proffit wrote: "So our artists pay a price for the effrontery of expressing themselves. It's up to each artist to decide what sort of price they're willing to pay. Frankly, we shouldn't be terribly surprised if many of them decide that the price is too high and tone down or even halt their rhetoric in response. You can mouth all the platitudes you want to of how artists should be bold and resist kowtowing to the prevailing orthodoxy, but I'm not willing to tell someone that they should sacrifice their personal relationships with people they love for the sake of their artistic "integrity". We all make decisions about what hills are worth dying on and what battles we are willing to lose in order to preserve ourselves for the coming day. Perhaps our homogeneity can be seen as a form of preserving our strength for matters we consider more important." I agree with Jacob that perhaps artistic integrity is not enough of a cause for someone to risk jeopardizing reliationships with loved ones and even their standing with the church. However, I would continue and ask what about just our "integrity"? what's more important? maintaining our relationships and church standing? or our integrity? I know lots of people who would dismiss the question as immaterial because clearly integrity is a good thing and would strengthen our church standing, not threaten it. But I don't agree. Do we tone ourselves down, understate our personal beliefs and convictions for fear of offending someone, potentially someone acting as the Lord's/church's representative (a bishop, for instance)? What do we leave unsaid, unasked, unexpressed because we may alienate someone we love or because it may jeopardize our standing? And isn't art simply a form of expressing truth? so doesn't a artist who tones down what they really think about a doctrine or a policy or whatever it is sacrifice more than artistic integrity? I think of artistic integrity as having more to do with unity and technicalities of teh art whereas the content of the work is much more deeply invested in someone's personal integrity, with what and who they are. amelia parkin _________________________________________________________________ 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, 14 Sep 2001 14:30:52 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: [AML] The List and the WTC I was at work when my wife called me with the news. I didn't see the = morning broadcasts, and didn't see the images on TV until I got home, but = I did keep up with it all day, mostly via the internet. Nothing I did was = in any way consistent. I cancelled one class, then got mad at myself for = doing so, and did not cancel the rest of my classes. Class discussions = since the event focus on the plays and screenplays my students were = writing, and then someone will say something and we're back to it. Out of = nowhere, I chewed one of my favorite students out because her play seemed, = at that moment, to demonize an entire people because of the actions of a = few. AML list is an important part of my life, but no one has talked = about it, and so I've been treating it as an escape, as some kind of = return to normalcy. And I want to be disciplined, keep this post within = the list guidelines. I can't. So here are a few thoughts, scattered and = semi-coherent. Connections to Mormon letters: Pornography: Every once in awhile, various discussions we've had have touched on the = subject of pornography. Pornography is often treated as an aberration, = something sort of outside the realm of Mormon letters. Or it's at the = bottom of some kind of slippery slope. It's an addiction, say some, and = it's pretty subjective, say others, and perhaps there's a kind of = spiritual pornography. But now I think I understand pornography in ways I = never have before. Pornography, and the addiction to pornography, is = wanting to see the plane hit the tower, over and over, from as many angles = as possible. I've seen it probably fifty times. I want to go home and = see it again, right now. People were in that plane, and people were in = that tower, but I don't want to think about that; in fact, there's only = one angle that fills me with the kind of compassion I wish I had and know = I need. That's the low angle shot, where right after seeing the plane = hit, we see debris coming down, and then the cameraman starts running, and = there's the subjective angle shot; I'm running from the falling debris. = Otherwise, I have to consciously shut my eyes and pray to keep myself from = wanting to watch the plane hit the tower. There's been lots of commentary = about how we've all lost our innocence. That's how I've lost mine. I = want to see the plane hit the tower. =20 Enemies: How do we write villains? How would we write a character like Osama Bin = Laden? There does exist absolute evil in the world; we accept that. And = it's rather a cliche to say that we all have the potential to participate = in that evil. We're all budding sociopaths, I think, unless we really = work to not be. But is Bin Laden evil? Okay, he is; I accept that. Then = what about the cheering Palestinian kids? They're just kids, kids who = believe that if they die in God's service, they'll go straight to heaven. = (That's what we tell our missionaries, isn't it?) What about those for = whom the United States of America is the Great Satan? What do they hate = about us? Could it be that what they fear is the spiritual consequences = of American pop culture on their eternal salvation? (And when, oh when, = will baseball season start again?) Could it be that they hate and fear = the encroaching power of a global economy, a service-ridden economy, a = franchised economy, an economy in which energy is squandered and spiritual = values are vulgarized and trivialized? And, yes, the Taliban treats women = abominably. And yes, terrorism is horrific. And then I watch commentators= talk about carpet bombing Afghanistan. We're at war, after all. And = part of me agrees with those commentators. In fact, a good war would be = pretty cool to watch on TV. CNN is good at showing cruise missiles hit = targets perfectly. Not quite as good as seeing the plane hit the tower, = but not bad either. I know about evil in ways I didn't before, and I = think I can write it more convincingly than ever. And I think I'd better. The value of art. I don't know what can save me. I don't think movies can; we've seen too = many planes hit towers in movies. I've attended two memorial services, = and they did not affect me. But I have some friends whose first impluse = was to send along poetry, and that helped, Wilfred Owen and Eliot and = Dover Beach and Philllip Larkin. Picasso's Guernica; I keep downloading = that image too. The Smashing Pumpkins help. The Faure Requiem. I know = that prayer can save me, and I know how desperately I need to repent. But = how do I get there? How do I get there from here? How do I get from = where I am to where I can pray, to where prayer is more than platitudes? = For me, art is the only escape that's not an escape, but that actually = moves me the right direction a little bit.=20 But I also want to regress. I'm diabetic,and I'm not supposed to eat = certain things, and I've had a big bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce = every night this week, sneaking downstairs after my wife's asleep to eat = something really bad for me. On purpose. I want to write something grand = and healing and powerful. I haven't written a word since Tuesday. 9-11. = 911. I also sort of want to get drunk, although I don't drink and = wouldn't know where or how to start. We've fallen back on cliches. "This is an act of war." "America has lost = its innnocence." And these cliches, like all cliches, are ways to avoid = thought, ways to pretend we're talking about something without actually = examining phenomena closely. And, like all cliches, they're also sort of = true. There's a nice Mormon cliche I"ve heard at least ten times here in = Utah. "It's a sign of the last days." =20 I think we need to talk about it. I think this event needs to be part of = what we write about. I think I need to grow up some.=20 =20 One of my students said she wants to write a play about all the people in = the Spirit World dealing with the incoming, a post-mortal traffic jam. = She thinks it could really help people develop the right perspective, and = be entertaining too. =20 I keep dreaming, and in my dreams, I have telekinetic powers and can stop = the plane from hitting the tower through a sheer act of will.=20 I wish I could cry. What would be more helpful, I think, would be to sing = something great. I can't do that either, but I have listened to Marvin = Payne sing Praise to the Lord, from his Spiritual album, many many times, = and I've sung along with him. =20 I want to repent. I want to cry. I want to write. I want to hit = someone. I want to go home, right now, and watch the plane hit the tower. = I want to hold my family. =20 Please forgive me for this. How are the rest of you doing? Eric Samuelsen=20 =20 - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 00:18:22 -0400 From: "Amelia Parkin" Subject: RE: [AML] Polygamy I agree with Helena that Stephen Carter's article about Bennion's book on polygyny provides some interesting new insights about polygamy/polygyny and why it may be an attractive lifestyle. However, i would say that the flip-side of that point (the thing about the article that upset me) is that if polygynous marriages are attractive to women for financial and social reasons (independence and autonomy) then there is something very wrong with our own society and how it works. Women shouldn't be dissatisfied with their roles. However many are (speaking from experience). Maybe it's time to make material as well as spiritual changes that allow all of God's children to be the independent but still needing others, valued, happy individuals we should be. afer all, we are all alike to Him. amelia parkin - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 16:34:08 -0600 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: [AML] AML Review Archive Upgrade I have just completed a major upgrade to the AML Review Archive website . This release contains the following major improvements: -- Reviews now display images of the reviewed product. At this time, 182 of the 474 reviews (38.4%) of the reviews now display images. Images display to the right of the description, and reviews of multiple books display all available images. As soon as deseretbook.com comes back online (they have gone down for a major site upgrade) I can reference quite a few more images. -- The entire site now matches the style of the parent AML website. (OK, so I did most of this a few days ago, but I still had a few pages, like the review guidelines, which displayed the old style.) -- I now use rsync to update the archive, so I can make archive updates in a matter of a few seconds rather than 15 to 30 minutes. The rsync utility compares the directory list on the web server with my local copy and only changes the sections of the files that have changed. So correcting a typo now only uploads a small block of information instead of the entire file. In addition, rsync compresses data transfers to make uploading even faster. -- In adding the images to the files, I have added a lot of bibliographic information to the database. You now see many more ISBNs, prices, formats, and page counts. As usual, I welcome your comments and corrections. - -- Terry Jeffress | Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate | a piece of exceptionally fine writing, AML Webmaster and | obey it . . . and delete it before sending AML-List Review Archivist | your manuscript to the press. | -- Arthur Quiller-Couch - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 08:40:32 -0600 From: Chris Grant Subject: Re: [AML] Suspicion of Art Harlow Clark writes: [...] >(Before getting down to a comment, let me get up on my soapbox and ask >why both Eric and Todd used the word _must_? > >Who requires Eric to disagree with Jacob? > >Who requires Todd to side with Jacob? > >Aren't you both moral agents capable of making your own choices? > >Why, then do you use the rhetorical construction that suggests you >have no choice in the matter but to say what you're about to say? Perhaps Eric and Todd think there's nothing wrong with the use of the word "must" that the _OED_ identifies as II.3.c. Chris Grant grant@math.byu.edu - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 11:36:43 -0600 From: "J. Scott Bronson" Subject: Fw: Re: [AML] WOLVERTON, _The Runelords_ (Review) [Forwarded from David Wolverton] Good review. Mike is absolutely right about the novel as a whole not quite adding up. That's because the themes I'm dealing with--the nature of good and evil, how to live a decent life in an immoral economy, the relationship between brutality and intellectual barbarism, what true heroism is, and so on are too big to handle in one novel. Hopefully, when the series concludes, he'll see how everything fit from the beginning, but it takes time to get there. Meanwhile, I hope he enjoys the roller-coaster ride! Best, Dave - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 20:53:11 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] Where Were You? My generation grew up asking each other the question, "Where were you when Kennedy was assasinated?" And all of us could answer it. I was in fourth grade, just coming in from lunch, when our teacher walked in and told us about it briefly. From her description, I imagined that Kennedy and his wife were just driving along in the family sedan, and the gunman, perched on the roof of the car, leaned over the windshield and plugged him. (Remember, I was in fourth grade.) Our teacher immediately started us into the next academic subject. I remember thinking, "How can you do this? You should let us go home. This is no time to carry on with school as usual." I also remember she must have been a substitute, because it sure wasn't my regular fourth grade teacher whose image is in my mind. I'm sure my father's generation played this same game with Pearl Harbor. Then as I was attending Salt Lake Community College, a new event started a whole new version of the game. "Where were you when the Challenger exploded?" And everyone always had an answer. I was walking through the student center at SLCC when I saw a huge crowd huddled around the projection TV set there. I wondered what the heck was going on. Just a moment of staring at the screen gave me the answer, as I saw a replay of the Challenger exhaust plume shooting up into the blue sky, then watched as it blasted apart into two smaller plumes. I couldn't believe it--it had exploded. This must be the measure of how serious a tragic event is: does it start a new version of the game, "Where were you?" If an event is powerful enough that everyone remembers vividly the moment they hear about it, it qualifies for the game. It's too early to play the game meaningfully yet, but does anyone doubt the next round will be: "Where were you when the World Trade Towers collapsed?" As I pieced together the time table in hindsight, I realized I was just parking at a hiking trailhead as the first jet hit the first tower. I was enjoying a pleasant hike as hundreds died. It was a short hike that morning, because I had to get back and bring my kids to school. On the way home from bringing my junior high schooler is when I first heard the news. The golden oldies station I like to listen to announced that a plane had crashed into one of the towers, and a fire was raging. "How bizarre!" I thought, imagining a small private plane with another incompetent pilot destroying the life and property of others, then switched to a station that was playing music. As I returned home from bringing my grade schooler, I heard my second piece of news on the event--TWO planes had crashed into both towers, and one of the towers had collapsed. What the hell! This escalated in my mind what was happening a hundredfold. This was no tragic, but isolated and limited example of a fool behind the wheel of a small aircraft. This was something big! Once home, I instantly turned to the FOX news channel and, instead of sleeping most of the day like I had planned, watched hours and hours of the events unfold. I saw replays of the collisions and the one tower falling, then watched live as the second tower fell. I watched all the video footage as it came in: people hanging out of the windows as the towers burned, some of them jumping, ground-level shots of the towers falling and the smoke and debris engulfing the camera operator, and the powerful view of the Manhattan skyline, World-Trade-Towerless and billowing with smoke and dust, with the Statue of Liberty facing the carnage, alone and fragile, as if she had turned in horror to witness it all. And many, many reaction shots and interviews of those who had lived through it. I was elated to hear that some of those people had been on tower floors as high as the eighties, and hoped that meant that most of the people inside had managed to escape. And with the estimate of deaths in the 4000's, albeit a huge number, compared to the 50,000 that worked there, it appears that my hopes came true. I watched with disgust as some politicians and even news commentators criticized Bush for not coming to the White House and making an appearance immediately, and noticed how such criticism dried up before long, no doubt in the wake of strong reactions from others. I watched with growing irritation as the usual euphemisms were paraded out describing the events, until I jumped up and shouted for joy when Newt Gingrich finally spoke the words I longed to hear: "ACT OF WAR!" I didn't need any commentators drawing the connection for me between this and Pearl Harbor. It was obvious at once. This was no terrorist act. This was an act of war, and had better be treated as such! As the day wore on, I was happy to see that that's exactly how everyone started treating it--finally!--including President Bush. When the Gulf War was brewing, some people remarked that Congress should declare war on Iraq. How many wars have we fought since World War 2 without doing that constitutionally required thing? I agreed. We should declare war legally and do it right. I was thinking the same thing all day Tuesday. Certainly, we need to be sure of our facts, but once we are, we need to legally declare war on the terrorists and the countries that harbor them (another phrase of words I was happy to hear from Bush's lips). If we want to attack terrorism everywhere it incubates, that is the proper thing to do. Legally declare war, then go about our business doing it. I work overnight and sleep during the day, but I didn't get much sleep that day. It disrupted my schedule, and I haven't slept well all week. Small potatoes, compared to what others are going through. I questioned why the CIA and FBI couldn't catch the warning signals, but looked upon members of Congress with disgust as they made the same criticism, since they are the ones who have hog-tied the intelligence community so they can't properly execute their duties. But overall, I'm pleased with the response of my government. No incendiary outcries, but a strong, quiet resolve to do what is necessary to find and punish, and to prevent anew. My heart broke for the families who wandered around with pictures of missing loved ones. I knew their hopes would be dashed. I whispered to them, "Give it up. They're dead. Accept that, grieve, and move on with your lives." Of course, they couldn't hear me. I don't know if it's a mercy or not that they couldn't hear me. I despise those who are releasing their understandable rage by attacking innocent fellow citizens of Moslem faith and Arabic ancestry--haven't we been down this despicable road before with World War 2 and Japanese-Americans?--but equally despise those who are using these isolated examples of bigotry as a reason to paint all Americans as bigots--surely it would be really obvious really fast if it was more than a tiny minority reacting like this. An attempted arsonist act on one Pakistani restaurant in all of Salt Lake City is the only act of bigotry large enough to have merited individual mention in the news. This is not an entire society losing control from rage; this is the usual ugly fraction of society who reacts poorly in all facets of their lives. All in all, Americans have responded wonderfully to this tragedy, from the President right on down to the average Joe who shows up at a blood bank because he wants to do something and can't think of anything else. I, like many of you, wish it didn't take such big events to remind us to be the decent people we are down inside, but which gets hidden as we deal with the cares of everyday life. Wouldn't this be a much better world if we could remember on a regular basis just how petty most of our cares are, compared to what others have gone through elsewhere in the world and in history? - -- 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 ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #453 ******************************