From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #807 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Tuesday, August 20 2002 Volume 01 : Number 807 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 13:09:16 -0500 From: Linda Adams Subject: [AML] Availability of _Prodigal Journey_ Hi everyone, I was just tootling around on the Web this morning and did an Internet search for my book--to see where it's listed. I found 20 copies available at the Salt Lake County Library system, with 2 of those checked out. There are 15 copies at our (Kansas City) Mid-Continent Public Library System also. I found it at our local branch on the shelves last week. That was fun. Of course, I'd rather it was checked out, but it was still fun. It's on sale at All-Mormon.com for $11.95. http://www.allmormon.com/store/product413.html This site says it's in association with The Iron Rod Bookstore, which is our local bookstore by me (Kansas City, Missouri), but although it's underlined, it's not a clickable link to that store. It's still offered at DB online, on sale for $10.48 "club price." http://deseretbook.com/store/product?product_id=100011074&sku=4066899 Out there it carries an "average 5-star review" out of 13 customer reviews, not too shabby. 12 of 13 readers loved it, apparently. Thank you, thank you. Thankfully (I think) it's currently out of stock at half.com, but since it shows up, does that mean someone has listed it there? Hm... it is also not listed on eBay. It's still at Latter-day Harvest, but says it's back-ordered 2-3 weeks, sale price $12.71. No reviews there. http://www.ldharvest.com/item.asp?itemid=8184 It's still at Amazon, on sale for DB's price of $10.47, also lists no reviews, and says it ships in 3-5 weeks. One private seller there has it new for $9.99 (in TX), and another copy is listed used for $7.99 (in WA). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1929281056/qid%3D1002646480/sr%3D1-9/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F2%5F9/102-4552886-7330553 I didn't find any reviews other than those listed on the AML-List website that came through the List, but they were among the top 10-15 entries, so that's good. My website also turned up too, in the top 5 of all the search engines I tried (Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo, Hot Bot). I discovered--not online, but through the mail--that Horizon is now advertising it through the mail in the DB Book Club green & white flyer, as theirs, for full price. I haven't confirmed whether they actually have possession yet, but I had heard the news they were going to acquire it. Well--I'm not feeling too hot today, so this gave me something to do. Not that anyone cares that much about this stuff... it was interesting to me, anyway. That's all I found that I wasn't aware of, or was double-checking. I'm trying to figure out what other PR I can do while I'm sitting at home! Does anyone have good author-marketing ideas, especially long-distance? Or have any of you had success marketing your LDS book(s) to a non-LDS audience? (Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc., outside the Wasatch Front) Thanks for listening to me babble, if you haven't deleted this already. Linda ================ Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com http://home.sprintmail.com/~adamszoo - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:26:08 -0600 From: margaret young Subject: Re: [AML] _The Other Side of Heaven_ (Review) Other sources to verify Elder Groberg's experiences: _In the Eye of the Storm_, now retitled _The Other Side of Heaven_ Elder Groberg's talks. He has spoken about his rat-bitten feet in a talk called, "How beautiful are the Feet." Letters he actually wrote. Yep, his wife has their courtship letters, and the movie quotes some of them directly. His parents kept all the letters he wrote from Tonga, including the one referring to the gift of jam from an old man (not the other preacher) who wanted to save the missionaries' lives. Mitch Davis consolidated a few things and a few characters to streamline the script, but the basic incidents of the movie are true. And there are even more of them. I'd love to see Elder Groberg's second book, _In the Fire of Faith_ become a movie. It movingly recounts the birth of his first son, John Enoch, and his miraculous preservation. From all appearances, that baby should not have survived. He is now a successful, handsome businessman, happily married, father of two. The story of the Tongans' uniting in fasting and prayer and then informing Elder Groberg (then mission president) that the Lord had let them know the child would live is simply beautiful. [Margaret Young] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:26:43 -0400 From: "Tracie Laulusa" Subject: Re: [AML] Institutional Repentance His recent words to the young women not only allow that a woman might have to work, but encouraged young women to gain and keep skills that would allow them to support themselves and a family if the need arose. The shining example of womanhood he held up to their notice was a nurse in the hospital. It was a major change from what I heard as from the church and prophet as I embarked on adult life. [Tracie] - ----- Original Message ----- IOW, though still discouraged, it's more > acceptable for women to work outside the home than it has been in the past. > > Thom - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:39:16 -0700 From: "Susan Malmrose" Subject: Re: [AML] High School Literature Curriculum The Outsiders *is* dated and phony and unreal. I think it's selling points are that it was written by a teenage girl, and it's about troubled teens who are misunderstood and disadvantaged/given the short end of the stick. It's got cheese galore (we gotta do it for Johnny!) but it's also got tragedy and redemption. Some of my favorite ingredients in a story. I think any musical is going to be scoffed at by teens. Probably why they enjoyed Rebel Without a Cause but not WWS. And James Dean has always been cool to every generation. (I doubt that'd be true if he hadn't died so young.) My kids aren't quite teens yet, but the oldest one may as well be. He won't read any books I suggest to him. (He's not much of a reader to begin with.) I happen to think we're pretty cool for parents--my husband surfs/rides bmx/skateboards/snowboards, and I'm really into the underground stoner rock scene. But I don't get today's teens at all. When me and my friends were getting pierced and tattooed, it was something you'd get beat up for. Nowadays the kids who would've beat you up for it are the ones doing it. How do teens rebel? Susan M - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:52:42 -0600 From: "Todd Petersen" Subject: Re: [AML] Postmodernism Couple of things to Rob None other than Lowell Bennion pointed out that truth is the knowledge of things as they "were, as they are and as they are to come." Not THINGS as were, as they are and as they are to come. The knowledge of these things differs with different people, with the light they have been given, and their faith. Also what Rob has done, really demonstrates deconstrution at its finest. When one can look at the same passage of text and legitimately and carefull draw a multitude opposing interpretations, then one is in the territory of deconstruction. Let us remember that the scriptures DO tell us that there is an opposition IN all things, not necessarily between them. All things are a compound of opposiotions. This is what the postmodernist doesn't find troubling, modernists on the other hand hated this idea. Look to Eliot and the objective correlative. The postmodernist kind of likes the opposition and the play in language and perception and thinking. Derrida never said that there was no truth, only that humans are incapable of grasping it in its fullness and subtlety. God is the only one with perfect knowledge of anything, and he meters out parts of the truth through the Spirit -- only a few have gotten the lion's share: Moses, Christ, Enoch. I wouldn't want it, right now. I'd blow up or go crazy. - -- Todd - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 13:00:12 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Institutional Repentance Thom Duncan wrote: > You would never have known it at the time. Some high-level Church leaders > were teaching that the Civil Rights movement was a Communist plot. I *really* don't want to risk a political discussion here, but I think it would be a little naive of us to accept that all aspects of the Civil Rights movement were morally superior to what had gone before. As with any social movement, a fair number of people attached themselves who were far less interested in general equality than they were in personal glory and the opportunity to accrete power to themselves. Historically, we know that some social movements in this country were supported by those who hoped those issues would destabilize social order and lead to political revolution. The fact that some who support an idea or a movement do so not out of concern for the issue, but in an effort to gain power or prestige (or even personal validation) has never been a good reason to reject the underlying question without further thought. But it's also incomplete to say that just because an idea is good that all of its supporters and institutional adherents must also be good, and that all the goals of those institutions or individuals are as noble as the issue that brought them together. In other words, parts of the Civil Rights movement may very well *have* been Communist (or other political) plots that had more to do with social unrest than righting a wrong and repairing a society, despite the overwhelming (and in my opinion righteous) effort to right a social wrong and repair a broken community. So I worry a little bit about arguing a person's overall moral goodness on the basis of their opinions on a particular issue. I think President Benson (who I take to be the Church leader you refer to who believed that the Civil Rights movement was a Communist plot) expressed a real concern about a potential social destabilization that seemed to be sought by the more violent and aggressive elements of the Civil Rights movement. If he erred in lumping the political opportunists in with the social progressives, I believe it was an error of emphasis and context, not of core goodness and hopeful intent. Outside his political duties he taught that we should love one another and do good for its own sake--good and noble desires in any context. One thing I fear is that well-spoken people will carefully lead the hearts of men away from Christ and his infinite atonement. As a result it would be easy for me to advocate restrictions on what can be said or written so as to reduce those peoples' power or influence. But in the end I believe that truth is learned by examining more viewpoints rather than fewer, so there would be no point in attempting to restrict discourse--an opinion of mine that's radically different today than it was fifteen years ago. In this case I *do* repent of the things I may have said or written before. So have others. I don't think it's particularly useful to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need to reject that which is worthy of rejection, but be very careful about rejecting all those who speak that which we find objectionable. Because we all continue to learn and to change, day by day, and what we know as fact today may well be proven as folly tomorrow. Which is not to say that we shouldn't hold firm to our beliefs and best desires, but rather that we should also be willing to accept change--both in ourselves, and in others. FWIW. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:56:11 -0600 From: "Todd Petersen" Subject: Re: [AML] KALPAKIAN, _These Latter Days_ (Review) Tony wrote: That feeling dissipated as the protagonist's journey became slightly more epic than being graphically raped by her new Mormon husband in her parent's Salt Lake City home. This is the first big clue that Kalpakian doesn't like us very much. Why is this a matter of "like?" Mormon men rape people. They're probably not really faithful, but it happens. We'd be fools to think otherwise. Why isn't the rape just a truthful representation of a single event? - -- Todd - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 13:20:11 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] High School Literature Curriculum Kathy Fowkes wrote: > There were not enough stories of the People written. NESFA Press put out a compilation of the People stories in an anthology called _Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson_ here a few years ago (ISBN: 0915368587; currently available at Amazon.com). They're artificially ordered into a mostly coherent narrative, but the individual stories are all there. > As a small child (I > have no idea how old but the movie came out in 1972 when I was seven) I saw > a little of a made-for-tv-movie of "The People" (That was its title, I > believe) before I was shooed off to bed and it haunted me all my life. If you never saw the whole film you're quite lucky. I have it on video and it was a dreadful piece that missed most of the hope and magical joy inherent in Henderson's stories and replaced it with a sort of generic horror/melodrama couched in a socially relevant package. It starred William Shatner; 'nuff said. If you want to watch it, I'd be happy to let you borrow it. Let me know. But you're right--her stories were wonderful, and spoke far more of Mormon experience and the sense of being a separated people than I think Zenna ever realized. Her remoteness of time and place actually make the stories reasonably timeless, and thus accessible to any reader. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 15:57:46 EDT From: Turk325@aol.com Subject: Re: [AML] Church History Recommendations? Kathy Grant wrote: >Hi all, > >Yesterday a friend at work asked me to recommend to her some books (fiction >or nonfiction) on the restoration and growth of the early LDS church. She's >a wonderful, intelligent lady who converted from Christianity to Judaism some >years ago. (I was a little surprised at her specific request, but I'd also >been praying for opportunities to share the gospel, so this is interesting :) >> My suggestion is Donna Hill's *Joseph Smith: The First Mormon* from Signature Books. It reads like a novel, but better. Lots of detail. Kurt Weiland. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:04:32 -0600 From: "Thom Duncan" Subject: Re: [AML] Postmodernism > I don't > and won't buy the idea that the Holy Ghost's point of view is relative and > can be deconstructed. Given that position, how do you explain the very real situation where two people can differ as to what the Holy Ghost tells them? If the Holy Ghost isn't relative, we are forced to believe that the "other guy" is wrong, while we are right. In some things, such as morality, say, we can of course believe that the guy who says that the Holy Ghost told him that promiscuity is okay is up in the night, but can we take the same position if Brother A feels he should vote Democratic while Brother A feels inspired to vote the GOP. Thom Duncan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 13:11:33 -0700 From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] KALPAKIAN, _These Latter Days_ (Review) Thanks for your review. I read this book some years ago. Which leads me to Gerald Lund. I still haven't read any of his books and don't >know that I ever will. But by all reports, he does present a necessary >balance >to the equation of a good writer who portrays Mormons as bad--that is, a bad >writer who portrays Mormons as good. > >Reviewed by Tony Markham > I did enjoy this last paragraph! Wonderful observation. Thanks for it. - ---------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:12:23 -0700 From: "gtaggart" Subject: [AML] _Possession_ (Movie) I guess we=92ll have to wait for wide release=97August 30th=97but for = some reason, I=92m not too optimistic that Possession, directed and = co-written by a BYU grad and starring another BYU grad, will show up in a Utah County theater. =20 Greg Taggart - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:48:53 -0600 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Orem Center Street Theatre Production Schedule - ---Original Message From: J. Scott Bronson > > Indeed we do. All kinds of fun stuff. Following is > information about our season as it will appear in our brochure: How much are season tickets? - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 15:05:36 -0600 From: "Thom Duncan" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Plays (Andrew's Poll) > What Mormon play (by, for, or about Mormons) would you like to see produced? > "The Best Two Years of My Life," a musical comedy about missionary life. "Father, Mother, Mother, Mom," a musical about polygamy by Orson Scott Card and Robert Stoddard. "The Dance," a musical by Carol Lynne Pearson and J.A.C. Redford. "Fire in the Bones" by Tom Rogers "Digger" by Rob Laur "Survival of the Fittest," by me "Polyphony," by J. Scott Bronson (though I prefer its first title, "Heartlight") "Bash," by Neal LaBute "The Trial of Reed Smoot (?)" by Eric Samuelsen. - --- Thom Duncan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:59:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Steven Perry Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Plays (Andrew's Poll) On Sunday, Aug 18, 2002, at 05:34PM, Andrew Hall wrote: >What Mormon play (by, for, or about Mormons) would you like to see produced? Or, what event, small or large, in LDS history do you _wish_ you could see a play/movie about? :-) Steve - -- skperry@mac.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 22:32:47 GMT From: daryoung@juno.com Subject: Re:[AML] Mormon Plays (Andrew's Poll) What Mormon play to I want to see produced? I loved Josh Brady's "Great Gardens!" and I hope to see it again someday. [Darlene Young] ________________________________________________________________ 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/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 17:00:26 -0600 From: "Annette Lyon" Subject: Re: [AML] Postmodernism I like Todd's definition--but I think it doesn't explain why so many people are against postmodernism. Todd say that the gospel is very much like postmodernism, but the theory I learned claimed that it wasn't *human* processes or modes of understanding that were useless, but *any* process, including God's. Hence there is really no right or wrong, no ultimate truth, and so on. Ick. That hardly resembles the gospel or the idea that there is someone (God) who has the ultimate truth. Like I said, I prefer Todd's definition, if it's an accurate one. Frankly, I've been out of the academic scene too long to know. But I admit to being a bit on my guard when I hear the term, "postmodernism," because I wonder just how far the speaker is willing to go with the theory. Annette Lyon - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 16:54:19 -0600 From: "Annette Lyon" Subject: Re: [AML] High School Literature Curriculum I disagree with Eric about youth not responding strongly to language and violence and so forth. At least in conservative areas like Utah, that is not the case. I know a lot of youth who would not get past page ten of Catcher because of the language. (Speaking of Cathcer, I think that book is a better read for an adult anyway; I don't think youth can really appreciate what it's about. Just me, I guess.) Anyway, my vote for a book to read aside from many of the other great ones already mentioned is _The Giver_ by Lois Lowry. Annette Lyon - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 23:06:40 +0000 From: "Carrie Pruett" Subject: [AML] interest >Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 22:17:18 -0600 >From: "Jacob Proffitt" >Subject: RE: [AML] Programs for Poverty > >- ---Original Message From: Harlow Clark > > > >Or as Spencer W. Kimball put it "Those who >understand interest earn it, those who don't pay it." > >Jacob Proffitt Not sure what the original context was, but that strikes me as a little simplistic. If somebody's figured out a way for the average middle class person in this country to attend college and grad school and/or buy a home without going into debt, than I'm all ears. As for understanding and collecting interest, the middle step would be having something to lend/invest, which is hard to do without having anything to start out with - That said, I've been impressed by my Muslim friends who go to a good deal of trouble to avoid paying interest - often living in homes and driving cars that are well below what they could "afford" if they borrowed. I do have Muslim friends who received "gifts" from religious organizations to fund their education, with no official "interest" arrangement but with the understanding that they would pay back more than they took when their circumstances allowed them to afford it, a system that seems to work well within a fairly small and closeknit religious community. [Carrie Pruett] - - Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked - Jane Austen _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 18:40:25 -0600 From: "Clark Goble" Subject: RE: [AML] Postmodernism ___ Todd ___ | In short, postmodernism is the realization that any claims that | human intellect or human processes or human modes of | understanding fail to grasp the fullness of things, and than | any person who claims to offer some all-inclusive theory or | approach or method is probably deluded. | ___ Robert ___ | What Todd Peterson has offered above is the classical | Christian "understanding" of things--which comes from the | traditonal orthdox interpretation of certain Biblical | passages. | | The LDS faith--being a rdaical departure from orthodoxy-- | states, in fact, just the opposite and therefore contradicts | Postmodernism as presented by Todd. | | "A man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge" taught | Joseph Smith, showing that knowledge of an existent was | indeed achievable. | | "Truth is a knowledge of things as they were, as they are | and as they are to come," states the Doctrine and Covenants. ___ Two critiques. The first of Todd, the second of Robert. First off traditional Christian views of knowledge always recognized that there wasn't some human way of knowing that could encompass truth. The very notion of "mystery" as it relates to knowledge in the mainstream Christian tradition shows this. I think most Christian theologians would recognize that some truths are transcendent. Now what postmodernism critiques is the view that knowledge is akin to something like words that can be known absolutely. In other words we recognize that there are statements made of words. However we also recognize that *any* sentence is ambiguous. There are numerous ways to read them and that formally there is no way to decide which is correct. Philosophers tried to escape this limit of language by an appeal to intents and the like. What postmodernism does is show that this attempt to fix the word is impossible. Having said that though what postmodernism does *not* do is deny truth or knowledge. Rather it suggests that the traditional view in western civilization of what truth and knowledge are more complex than it first appears. Often this is because to get a sentence with a single meaning it entails that it have a *fixed* *static* meaning. In other words truth is of static *things*. Contrast this with D&C 93. First off we don't have knowledge of truth where truth is a static thing. Rather truth is a knowing of things. Note how this reverses the traditional view of western literature. What then is knowledge in this verse? There are two choices. If, as in traditional literature, knowledge is a true belief, this means that it is a belief that is grounded by knowledge in something else. Yet that knowledge too is grounded in something else. We end up with a chain of things known that never ends. In the language of postmodernism this is typically called unlimited semiosis. There is no end to the *thing* that we know. Rather knowing is always in terms of other know*ing* and not a fixed, static thing known. The other way of reading D&C 93 is to say that knowledge here is knowing as a kind of familiar knowing between people. A knowing more in keeping with how Adam knew Eve. In other words truth is a kind of intimate relationship between the knower and the things known. Note how this also reverses the traditional way of looking at truth. For traditional literature truth is what is known and truth defines a relationship between a proposition and an external reality that is *fixed*. Here truth is the relationship between the knower and reality. In other words it isn't tied to propositions and traditional notions of truth. You'll find this way of viewing truth in postmodernism as well. For instance if I say I know an other person, I recognize that while I will always know that person what the person is I know always escapes my knowledge. Put a little simpler, while I may know things about the person, I never know the person fully. I never can have a set of statements that fully and utterly say everything that could be said about the person. Further I recognize that the person I know is a dynamic entity. What they are tomorrow isn't what they are now. My knowledge is not a static knowledge, but a dynamic one that is never fixed. (Something that D&C 93 emphasizes as well by emphasizing a temporal aspect to truth -- something very different than what we find in traditional accounts of knowledge) Now I don't deny that there aren't other ways to read D&C 93. However most of them just assume that this reversal between truth and knowledge was an accidental figure of speech on Joseph's part. That what the meaning is ought to be something like "truth is propositions about things past, present, and future, which can be known." Yet, I can't help but wonder that if Joseph meant that, why he didn't write it. As for the relationship between salvation and knowledge. If knowledge just is of things or worse yet static propositions, how on earth could that relate to salvation? Yet if truth is in terms of knowing things, the way we know people, then the answer becomes clear. We can only be saved with knowledge because salvation is becoming like God but God is in and through all things. In other words God relates to the entirety of creation. His knowing is a familiar knowledge, the way a father knows their children. We too must come to know all creation. One last word on a post that has run on too long. I think that if you look at this two views of truth that you'll see why Brigham said that God is eternally progressing in knowledge while Elder McConkie said God couldn't increase in knowledge. Brigham was speaking in terms of a postmodern meaning of knowledge while Elder McConkie was speaking in terms of the traditional sense of knowing and truth. As such Elder McConkie was completely correct. The point, however, is D&C 93 and this odd use of both knowing and truth that seems tied to the scriptural use. - -- Clark Goble --- clark@lextek.com ----------------------------- - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 10:14:08 -0500 From: "Preston" Subject: [AML] T3 Team Options OSC's _Lost Boys_ Science Fiction News, 20 August 2002: T3 Team Options Boys Terminator 3 director Jonathan Mostow and producer Hal Lieberman have optioned the film rights to Orson Scott Card's supernatural thriller novel Lost Boys, Variety reported. Mostow/Lieberman has tapped Brian Carr to adapt the book for the screen and plans to produce the film through its deal with Universal, the trade paper reported. Lost Boys tells the story of a family relocating to a town plagued by a series of children's disappearances who discover the supernatural character of their new house, the trade paper reported. Mostow is currently directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which is headed to theaters in 2003. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 18:03:01 -0700 From: "Kim Madsen" Subject: [AML] SORENSEN, _Where Nothing is Long Ago: Memories of a Mormon Childhood_ (Review) AML Book Review: _Where Nothing is Long Ago: Memories of a Mormon Childhood_ (a collection of short stories) by Virginia Sorensen, foreword by Susan Elizabeth Howe Original printing date 1963 Harcourt Brace and World Reprinted 1998 by Signature Mormon Classics Paperback. 220 Pages. ISBN 1-56085-102-3 $12.95 Reviewed by Kim Madsen In third grade I discovered and was captivated by Sorensen's _Miracles on Maple Hill_. Years later I shared it with my own children. Imagine my delight and surprise to finally discover Virginia Sorensen's LDS roots and affinity for her culture of origin. She was raised in a partially active LDS home, in intensely active Utah rural areas: Provo, Manti and American Fork. Sorensen's lovingly remembered fictions of her childhood were like echoes of memories for me as well; I've heard my parents and grandparents reminisce about similar things over the years. She captures the entire range of LDS life, from extremely conservative Mormons to third generation converts who pick and choose which doctrines they will live. And each strata is painted with a gentle and loving hand--no castigations, no judgments. The people in her stories come to life in full dimensions more loveable for their foibles. The foreword, by Susan E. Howe gave me greater insight into Sorensen's life, writing, and her place among LDS literati. Howe reports that Eugene England called Virginia Sorensen the mother of the LDS personal essay. That seems to have irritated her some; she energetically maintained these short stories were fictional however freely laced with autobiographical details. Whatever. Whether the stories are essays or fictions, they weave a colorful fabric of life in early Utah, post-pioneer, but near enough to touch those roots. For someone like me, fifth generation from those stern loins, it was a glimpse into life for grandma and grandpa, great-grandma and grandpa too. For others it can't help but stir longings for slower-paced times in our America, much like Willa Cather's _My Antonia_ and Mildred Walker's _Winter Wheat_, but with a uniquely Mormon twist. Work may have been constant and non-stop for the adults in the early 1900's and the westward migration, but the children had long days of wading in ditches, eating peaches, preparing for community picnics and 4th of July celebrations. Sorensen paints an idyllic haze of protection and innocence around the children. When Sorensen writes in the story "First Love" of playing outside on summer nights--Hide and Seek, Run Sheep Run--I realized it was a tradition handed down to my own suburban Utah childhood in the 1960's. I did those things. I played those games. We had a gang that roamed the streets until 10 o'clock curfew each night, not looking for or causing trouble, but wrapped up in our own juvenile world of who loves or hates who for tonight. Reading Sorensen's story, I felt a powerful connection to my parents and grandparents who allowed that tradition to continue. Then, with a pang, I realized my own children (in the 80's and 90's) didn't enjoy that delicious scary freedom of dark streets, so different than in the day. What drove the children indoors? Parental fear of strangers and gangs? Too many programmed lessons and activities? I only have one 14 year old daughter left at home. I wonder if she'll play hide-and seek with me tonight? Sorensen writes even-handedly whether exploring spiritual experiences or questioning doubts, "apostate" grandparents who still bring joy and love, beloved pets or secret codes with best friends. The narrative voice is clear and child-like, immediate, yet imbued with the distance of age remembering when. It is filled with the wonder, confusion, and fear of a child noticing the nuances of the adult world. The book is a fast read--a summer afternoon spent with dear relations and friends. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 08:16:59 -0700 From: "Kathy Fowkes" Subject: Re: [AML] Revelation and Style > Um, at great risk of being called puffed up or holier-than-thou or some > other epithet, I _have_ heard God dictate quite clearly on occasion, > actually. But most of the time it is a feeling or confirmation or > what-have-you, accompanied by the witness of the Spirit. > > Therefore I believe it could go either way, whichever is appropriate for > the occasion. > > Linda Just to give a second witness to Linda's testimony, I've also heard God dictate very specific words, but *very* infrequently in the past. Usually it has been only a feeling of light or darkness, wrongness or rightness, peace or confusion. Usually it feels or I "see" light -- I guess that would be that second sight kind of thing as Paris talked about, but for me it's as much feeling light, as seeing light. I have yet to find words for it, except perhaps the phrase from the end of verse 10 of D&C 67 -- seeing with one's spiritual mind as opposed to the natural or carnal mind. My first experience with receiving revelation from the Spirit that I *knew* was revelation was my moment of conversion when I asked in my mind if the Book of Mormon was true as the missionaries were teaching me about it at the beginning of our first discussion, and in answer a pinpoint of light burst into existence in the void of my heart (I saw it in my mind as a great blackness, darker and emptier than space). That light grew until it filled my whole body. I felt it as warmth and joy and peace unmatched by anything in my experience until then, and saw it in my mind's eye as light filling me and pouring out of me. That light was accompanied by words to my mind. Five statements carried with an undeniable witness to my heart of their truth, but they were part impression and part specific words. God lives, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and everything the Bible says about him is true, He is my personal Savior, the Book of Mormon is also the word of God, and finally, listen to the missionaries here before you, you can trust everything they say because what they teach is of Me, it is true, and you have no need to fear or doubt their words to you. When I heard the words "God lives!" I heard them with such power I can still feel it to this day, more than 20 years later. With the words came the realization that he not only lived, but KNEW me, had been watching over me all this time, and would always be there for me. Before that for years I had questioned and agonized and shaken my fist at heaven because of the total lack of sure guidance in the world, and what I felt was abondonement by God -- if he ever had existed, I felt that he had turned his back on us down here. But that's how the whole 'light' and 'darkness' thing started for me -- it was my first lesson in how the Spirit 'feels' so it's become how I feel the Spirit most often. I can only think of one other time when I heard specific words, instead of just that impression that only certain words were able to express correctly, until this past year. But this year I've been trying something different, and specific words come more often than before. I've been trying to implement Elder Scott's advice about receiving promptings and impressions of the Spirit which he gave in a BYU devotional address from Jan 2001, which was published in the June 2002 Ensign. He said: "You can learn vitally important things by what you hear and see and especially by what you feel, as prompted by the Holy Ghost. Most individuals limit their learning primarily to what they hear or what they read. Be wise. Develop the skill of learning by what you see and particularly by what the Holy Ghost prompts you to feel. Consciously seek to learn by what you see and feel, and your capacity to do so will expand through consistent practice. Ask in faith for such help. Live to be worthy of it. Seek to recognize it. **Write down in a secure place the important things you learn from the Spirit. You will find that as you write down precious impressions, often more will come.** Also, the knowledge you gain will be available throughout your life. Always, day or night, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, seek to recognize and respond to the direction of the Spirit. Express gratitude for the help received and obey it. This practice will reinforce your capacity to learn by the Spirit. It will permit the Lord to guide your life and to enrich the use of every other capacity latent in your being." So I've been writing down the impressions that come, no matter how minor or small or quiet, and what Elder Scott promises is happening. My capacity to hear the Spirit has expanded and changed. Now I actually hear words sometimes, when during my first decade in the church I was lucky to recognize the impression of "yes" and "no". I don't think I'm "special" beyond how everyone is special as a son or daughter of God. I'm certainly not better than anyone, and I frequently feel worse! Like Linda, I was watching this thread, but afraid to reply, for fear of appearing puffed up or holier-than-thou. But now that Linda's spoken up, I wanted to second her witness that it is possible to hear words, as well as impressions. Why shouldn't it be possible? He is after all our Father. He *wants* to talk to us as clearly as possible, words, impressions, promptings, whatever works at the time. "The Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways as they can bear it." (_Teachings_, p. 305). "It is the first pinciple of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, for he was once a man like us. . . . " (_Teachings_ p. 345-346) Kathy Fowkes - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #807 ******************************