From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #934 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 Wednesday, January 8 2003 Volume 01 : Number 934 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 12:44:19 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] R-Rated Movies Robert Slaven wrote: > That's why I was *really* glad to see For The Strength Of Youth updated. Just > one paragraph in there says it all: > > "Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, > violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that > in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as acceptable." This is a big improvement, but what is violence doing in this list? Vulgar movies, yes I can see avoiding those. Immoral, certainly, pornogaphic, of course. But violent? God flooded the world and drowned everybody and everything in it except what could fit in a single ship. God commanded the Israelites to slay entire cities, including men, women, children, and animals. When the king refused to follow this commandment completely, the prophet of God drew a sword and took care of it personally. Skipping over numerous other Old Testament references, Jesus braided a whip and, with physical violence, drove the money changers out of the temple. Ammon lopped the arms off of several Lamanites. General Moroni was extolled at length in the Book of Mormon for his ingenuity in conducting warfare. Mormon led his people into battle, even when he felt the cause was lost. The American patriots of the eighteenth century were inspired to instigate a war to secure their independence. Joseph Smith in Carthage jail emptied his pistol pointblank into several men. Lots of Mormons took up arms in World War 2 and killed lots of people, and this was considered A Good Thing. Violence is not in the same class with these other evils. There are indeed times when violence is acceptable, indeed necessary. Are we obliged to pretend in our stories that violence doesn't exist in the world just like we have to pretend that sex doesn't exist? > I can't find it, but when I do, I'll post a link to something Orson Scott Card > wrote on how he taught his family how to select and watch movies and TV > programs. It's a lot more work than just looking at a rating and going > yea/nay, but IMHO it would be a much more effective way to teach kids about > what is and isn't good to watch. Maybe I'll come across as a bad parent, but I have never made a big deal out of protecting my kids from witnessing the evils of the world. I don't go on a major research project to see if we're going to watch a film or not. I don't stand guard in front of the TV set, wielding the remote as a weapon against the slings and arrows of Satan. I won't let an Internet filter near the family computer. If something questionable comes up somewhere, I calmly explain to them what I think about it and what they can do about it. So far, my kids have shown no tendency to indulge in sex, dishonest behavior, or even violence. They haven't gravitated toward evil TV shows or pornography on the Internet. They don't show any interest to do so. They appear to have little curiosity about "forbidden things." In fact, they seem to have a well developed ability to let the evils of the world roll off their backs like water off--well, you know--without jumping in and joining the fun. Of course, I'm not done raising them yet. Maybe they'll turn into Charles Manson as adults. But if they're headed that way, they are hiding the tendency very well. - -- 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 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 08:31:45 -0700 From: "Kim Madsen" Subject: [AML] Agency and Compulsion (was: R-Rated Movies) Gae Lyn Henderson writes: "Obedience to authority disallows our freedom to question, to struggle with contradictory evidence, to listen to opposing opinion. I suspect that most people reading this will jump to defend the fact that we are taught over and over again to study and exercise free agency." This hit me when I read it. The question was explored beautifully at Sunstone this last summer in a paper by Brian Ferguson. It was called "The War in Heaven Revisited: Agency vs. Compulsion". Did anyone have a chance to hear it? It was ultimately very "faith-promoting", but asked some challenging questions along the way. "Clearly," the author writes, "to have knowledge, wisdom, and strength is good, but can obedience, humility, and submission, be bad? If so, how, and under what circumstances?" Ferguson had a wonderful analogy--do we protect ourselves by quarantine or innoculation? (He specifically said he was speaking about adults and not children.) He is a friend of mine, so I wrote and asked for permission quote extensively from his paper here on AML. He said he'd be delighted to have his ideas discussed here and gave me a link that leads to his home page and the full paper if you're interested http://www.burgoyne.com/pages/bferg/index.html (An aside here: I realize that I am unsure of the correct way to punctuate the quoting of an extensive passage in email form. If this were a printed paper, I think the correct thing to do would be to indent the entire section. However I think that would wreak havoc with Johnathon's ability to post this to the internet. I don't know whether I should open each paragraph with quotation marks so you'll know it's Br'er Ferguson still speaking or not, so I'm opting to do that...I don't want anyone thinking these brilliant ideas are mine...and I don't know if the end of each paragraph should have quotes because the beginning does, or if I should only end-quote each paragraph that was taken from disparate sections of the paper...I'm opting for the latter. Sorry if I've done this wrong. I tried to research the correct protocol but all I found was the correct way to quote large passages in written (printed) form...another aside, anyone have a good link to an online source for email, eletronic or internet punctuation protocol?...and who decides those things anyway...and I think this has officially become a tangent and not an aside at all....) Anyway, here are Brian's points that touched me, ringing true in that deep core. From "The War in Heaven Revisited": "This life isn't like some kind of all or nothing, pass or fail, final exam. It is more like an internship, a practical, hands-on, experience with the physical world. The challenge is whether we can learn to consistently sift the wheat from the chaff and choose long-term happiness over short-term pleasure. God isn't interested in controlling us. He sent us here "to see" (Abraham 3:25) what we will choose to do with our agency. He has given us laws, not as some arbitrary loyalty test, but in order to bless us." "Agency is a necessary precondition to obedience. Obedience cannot occur where there is no choice. Any attempt to place obedience ahead of agency, or, in other words, to compel righteousness, is to implement the premortal plan of Lucifer. The same plan which the Father rejected." "This raises the question of whether the church should focus its energies on combating disobedience or on dispelling ignorance? Is the role of the church to be the enforcer of righteousness or the bearer of the good news of the gospel? Clearly both impulses are present in the Church today. My contention is that they are mutually exclusive. The police officer cannot assume the responsibilities of the physician, and the physician is ill suited to the job of policeman." "Though the role of prophets is clearly to call people to repentance, it seems to me that prophets rarely call down fire upon the wicked. Much more often they are found pleading to God to spare the people in their weakness and give them more time to repent. The Gospel is not intended as a wrathful condemnation of the wicked, but a blessed relief - good news for the afflicted. "One of the "missions" of the Church is to "Perfect the Saints." I believe this mission is a process of education, not a process of enforcement. Given the fact that there is sin, temptation, and misunderstanding in the world, there are two methods one can use to protect oneself: quarantine or inoculation. You can either hide from the world or learn how to function safely within it. "Quarantine is an act of deliberate isolation. On the personal level, it often takes the form of "avoiding the very appearance of sin." This phrase is commonly heard in church sermons, but I have never heard it quoted from its original scriptural source. It comes from a prayer by Nephi in which he was grieving over his personal weaknesses. 'O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?' (2 Nephi 4:31). "The interesting thing here is that Nephi is not asking the Lord to make him appear righteous, he is asking to feel fear and revulsion whenever temptation arises. Nephi doesn't want to avoid the appearance of sin; he wants to avoid sin whenever it appears. This distinction is critical because it is the distinction between righteousness and hypocrisy. "Avoiding all sin is, of course, the desire of every righteous person. With years of determined practice it is even possible to approach this ideal. Joseph Smith taught "the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin." At the very same time, he taught "that this is a station to which no man ever arrived in a moment." (History of the Church 2:8). And, of course, the Lord's Prayer reminds us that we cannot do this without His help. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13). "However, avoiding the "appearance" of sin has two problems. The first problem, as mentioned above, is the potential for hypocrisy. It is entirely possible, indeed common, for a sinner to maintain the "appearance" of righteousness. Over time, the natural human tendency to hide our sins can become a carefully maintained, smoothly polished veneer of "respectability." Respectability has everything to do with image and nothing at all to do with righteousness. This is what Jesus was referring to when he called the Pharisees "whited sepulchers" (Matthew 23:27). "The other problem with avoiding the "appearance" of sin is that it can lead to a rather nasty form of judgmental, self-righteous isolationism. Non-Mormons in Utah often complain about this. They feel that their Mormon neighbors won't socialize with them because Mormons believe they are morally superior to non-Mormons. In many cases this feeling is justified by the actions, and even the words, of some Mormons. Again, Jesus warned us against this tendency with the parable of the Good Samaritan. We are not to become so obsessed with purity that we become uncivil to our fellow human beings. The commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself" is far more important than the Pharisaical obsession with personal purity. "On the organizational level, the quarantine approach is paternalistic. It implies that "we" the organization know what is best for "you" the individual. We will protect you from the evils of liquor by the drink, the Equal Rights Amendment, same-sex marriages, etc. by making them illegal. You won't have to decide how you feel or what to do about these issues because we have decided for you and we have taken steps to keep them away from you. "Please understand that I am not being sarcastic or cynical here. No matter how one may feel about the three examples I just gave, my point is that these are recent historical issues in which the Church took a position and acted strongly on that position despite the contrary feelings of a significant number of its members. "Nor am I saying that the Church has no right to take such positions. In fact I personally believe quite the opposite. If any being has the complete and utter right to be paternalistic toward the human race, it is, by very definition, God the Father. And since ours is a revealed religion in which Prophet leaders have direct contact with the will of God (again, by definition), it is precisely in the area of "knowing what is best for us" that the Church can provide its greatest service to us. "I am merely saying that the quarantine approach is highly problematic. Carried to the extreme, the organizational use of the quarantine approach becomes cancerous to the organization itself as attempts to "root out the evil" turn into witch hunts complete with loyalty tests, hidden accusers, secret police, forced confessions, private tortures, and public executions. Lest one think I am being too melodramatic here, I remind you of the very real history of the Catholic Inquisition, and, on a much smaller level, the history of the Mormon "September Six." "Are there forces in the Church today that attempt to compel righteousness? Of course there are. Does it make a difference if these forces are motivated by love and concern for us rather than by the power-hungry pride that motivated Lucifer? I don't think so. Another lesson we should certainly learn from the War in Heaven is that the ends cannot justify the means. If they could, then Lucifer's plan would have been the better one. "My point is that just as isolating children from the temptations, problems, and sins of the world is not the best way to help them grow into strong, caring, righteous adults, attempting to isolate God's spirit children from the tests of this life cannot help them grow toward Godhood. We are here on Earth for the very purpose of facing opposition. Those who attempt to protect us from the test are, no matter how well-intentioned, helping the adversary. "The best way to protect children from disease is an early and complete series of inoculations. Taking this metaphor back to the problem of sin, inoculation implies that one is taught early how to recognize and avoid sin and also learns how to repent and overcome the temptations that one will inevitably fall prey to. The process involves learning and applying the first principles of the Gospel: faith and repentance. "I believe Joseph Smith wanted the Saints to "know more and be wiser and stronger." He taught that "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance" (D&C 131:6). He also said: "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God. (HC 4:588.) "Joseph Smith did not govern the church through compulsion. When asked how he governed the increasing number of people in the church, the Prophet replied, "I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves" (Quoted by John Taylor, in Millennial Star 13:339 [15 November 1851].). Like the Apostle Paul and the Prophet Mormon, Joseph Smith expected his people to take responsibility for their own actions and to "work out their own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12, Mormon 9:27). "This ideal is a difficult one to maintain because, like Israel of old in demanding a King, the Latter-day Saints are forever insisting that their leaders tell them what to do. I am suggesting that it is high time the Saints stand on their own two feet, learn correct principles, and start governing themselves. I believe the major reason the LDS church seems so paternalistic is that its members, despite a century and a half of prophetic teaching, still act like adolescents. I am not suggesting that we, as individuals, do not need the church - quite the contrary. The church is the sole source of the priesthood and ordinances we need. I am saying that we need to grow in knowledge, wisdom and strength. I am saying that we need to start serving the church instead of expecting the church to take care of us. I am saying we need to use the differing gifts and talents God has given each of us to bless others rather than to comfort ourselves. I am asking each of us to take on the responsibilities of mature faith. "My proposal is not without risks, of course. One of the important factors that led to the War in Heaven was Lucifer's pride, and clearly pride has continued to be his relentless master since that time. Given the example of Lucifer, we all should be constantly alert to the seductive danger of pride in our lives. Even though I am suggesting that we each take greater responsibility for our own decisions, I am not suggesting that we should start considering our own limited individual judgment to be the supreme arbiter of truth. The truly wise are always willing to consider the possibility that they may be wrong. Lucifer was apparently not able to consider that possibility for himself. "Lucifer failed because he just didn't understand how the universe works. He was so caught up in his own desire for power, for glory, and for recognition, that he was blind to an understanding of why God's plan was organized the way it was. Lucifer just didn't get it. Since the purpose of the plan was to advance, and eventually to exalt, God's children, free agency was not an optional component, it was an essential ingredient. In my view, Lucifer fell not so much because he disobeyed, but because he refused to understand. His pride made him unteachable. "If, then, pride is a barrier to advancement, isn't humility the proper alternative? The answer is that it depends on how one defines humility. The word humility comes from the same root as humble and humiliated. Clearly it is more desirable to be humble than it is to be humiliated. The difference is that humbleness is a state that comes from within a person while humiliation is a state that is imposed upon someone from an outside force. So, too, humility should be the quiet understanding of one who knows his own weaknesses and limitations, not the frightened submission of one who is afraid of punishment. "Obedience is another term that needs to be carefully defined. Obedience is not a principle; it's an action. Agency is the condition that makes obedience possible. Laws are the mechanism by which blessings are achieved. So, agency allows us to obey laws and claim the attendant blessings. "Ultimately, our salvation is based upon obedience to Eternal laws, not obedience to human authority. We have been warned that human authority is too easily corrupted to be dependable. As Joseph Smith said: "We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. (D&C 121:39.) "Because of this problem, we surely should not blindly obey just anyone who may have, or claim to have, authority over us. We have the obligation to learn the Truth for ourselves and to obey those laws that will bring us the blessings we seek. Does this mean, then, that I am suggesting we should never "obey, and be humble and submit"? No, it does not. I am suggesting that we clarify our definitions and our priorities. We should dedicate our lives to knowing more - constantly seeking greater light and knowledge. We should pray for the strength to accept full responsibility for all our choices, good and bad, and for the wisdom to recognize when we need to change course and repent. "I hope that our leaders will continue to resist the pressure and temptation to quarantine us. That they will refuse to treat us as children in need of protection and instead consider us as siblings to be taught - and to learn from. I hope that we, as church members, will stand up and use our agency wisely - to grow in knowledge and to strengthen ourselves and others." There is more to the paper. I apologize for the length of this post, but I felt Feguson's points were articulate, spiritual, and for me uplifting and reinforcing of the things I believe. And I believe they have a direct bearing on how we should view and create art in the LDS culture. Including R-rated movies. I read an article in Yoga International Magazine that touched a nerve with me on this point, yet it was just discussing television viewing, not movies. It talked about the process of yoga as being a cleansing, internally and externally, physically and spiritually. It talked of how one detoxifies or purifies the body through food choices, correct eating, correct breathing, yogic asanas (the physical exercise part). The article went on to say how this yogini (the author) found himself on a path of personal inner purity that no longer allowed him to view television as the images were too violent, too negative, too sexual without emotional connection, or too immature, vapid, childish, to not interfere with all the meditative hard work he had done. To watch any TV, for him, was such a setback to his internal peace and tranquility, that he could no longer choose to do it without intense personal pain. "All truth," I thought to myself, and it was related in a way that made me question my own choices and path, not making me feel judged or condemned, just encouraged. I reflect on that article and Brian's paper whenever I find myself wondering where the balance is in my own life of how much time I spend in personal meditative spiritual pursuit (search, ponder and pray) and how much I spend "entertaining" myself. Kim Madsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 13:30:16 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] Short Film by O.S Card At this address you can view a short film shot by Card and his Fresco Pictures production company. It's kind of bizarre and has Card written all over it. http://www.frescopictures.com/movies/remindme/index.html - -- 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 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 12:19:33 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] Stansfield Books Banned (FW DN) The most interesting thing to me about the following is the news that Deseret Book has banned three novels by Anita Stansfield. Bookstore and author both filling vital roles By Jerry Johnston Deseret News columnist Last week, many shoppers got a letter in the mail from Sheri Dew, CEO of Deseret Book. The letter explained why the store was pulling books from its shelves that were deemed inappropriate. Last week, I also had lunch with Anita Stansfield, the LDS romance writer who - next to Gerald Lund - may be the most successful novelist in LDS history. She has sold more than 500,000 books. And now three of her books have been deemed inappropriate by Deseret Book. It made for an interesting day. To begin with, let me apologize for setting these two women in high relief to make a point. In her letter, Sheri Dew urges people to "come home" to Deseret Book, implying many have been staying away. Some customers felt the store was selling objectionable books. She wants readers to see Deseret Book, once again, as a guiding light, as a polar star that people can use to chart their course. Anita Stansfield, on the other hand, sees her books as companions for those struggling along the path. Like the people Christian meets in "Pilgrim's Progress," the characters in a Stansfield novel help us bear our burdens en route to the Celestial City. As for me - I'm the smiley guy in the old Certs commercial who says "They're both right." I don't see conflict. I see a complement. For years Deseret Book has gone where few religious bookstores dare to go. They have stocked a full array of books from national mainstream publishers. For a time the store had the best of both worlds. But now, the world has changed. So much coarseness has crept into mainstream literature that Deseret Book feels its role as a refuge - as a sanctuary - is being compromised. Like the foyer of the church, the store sees itself as an entryway into a place where people can shed their worldly cares, dust off their ideals and find peace and strategies for coping. In short, Sheri Dew is the keeper of the flame in the city on the hill. Anita Stansfield holds the hands of those of us who struggle up that hill. Tell me we don't need both. "I get letters from people who feel strengthened by my books," Stansfield told me. "There are two sides, of course. Some people would use my books against the church. That is wrong. But others who complain about them are simply being self-righteous. I feel I have a message for women that will help them hold to their dreams." Sheri Dew's heart breaks at the sight of suffering, but she is in a role as defender of the faith. In her letter she says the store will stock items that deal with abuse, even adultery, as long as they show "honest consequences for individual choices." Anita Stansfield defends the faith, but her heart is with those who end up bleeding on the rocks with no idea why. And me? Yesterday I went to Deseret Book because my head was down and I needed to "lift my eyes." I went there to remind myself why I try. Then I went out and bought Anita Stansfield's "The Gable Faces East" and found others who feel guilt and chagrin. I learned I am part of a whole tribe of clueless, confused people who hold chilling secrets in their hearts. In other words, Anita Stansfield offered me a hand and - encouraged - I could step again toward the light. Forwarded by Chris Bigelow - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 14:10:03 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] R-Rated Movies - ---Original Message From: Jonathan Langford > > For right now, my standard (inconsistent though I acknowledge > it to be) > pretty much is that I stay away from R-rated movies for > myself as well as > for my family. I'd rather make that my default mode for the > time being. It's > a form of laziness, certainly, but I also think that it's a (partial) > protection from certain types of problems that I'd just as > soon avoid from > the time being. I think this is an excellent standard and your reasons perfectly sound and consistent. I think we've all acknowledged that we have to have *some* filter for the movies that we see. What filters we use comes down to individual circumstances based on effort and perceived value. For someone who admits having less of an interest in movies, a "no R-Rated" policy makes perfect sense. It's quick and easy and if you don't identify greatly with movies, then it's as much as you need. Myself, I love movies and find great value in them, so it is worth the time for me to dig deeper than just the rating and trailers/advertisements. Others have expressed roughly the same viewpoint. It's a matter of trade-offs and we all will make those trade-offs slightly differently. Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 16:55:14 -0700 From: luannstaheli Subject: Re: [AML] Free Books on Friday (My Christmas Present to AML) Stephen, I just saw your message today, Saturday Dec. 21. If your books didn't find a home, I'd love to have them for my classroom library at Payson Jr. High. I live in Spanish Fork. Please let me know! Thanks. Lu Ann Staheli - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 23:01:55 EST From: Vholladay5254@aol.com Subject: [AML] re: SLOVER, _Joyful Noise_ at Center Street Theatre [MOD: I saw this too over Christmas break. It was truly excellent. And made something to do with the in-laws...] I went with friends last Thursday and I'm very glad I did. I know many AML subscribers are out of Utah, but for those who have a chance to go see it, take the time to do so. It's a moving play, the actors were very believable (Thom Duncan is both majestic as King George (II?) and tender as a grieving widower, and I think for those of you with teen children or mature kids in the single digits, the play would invite thoughtful discussion in families and make a great holiday tradition. Valerie Holladay - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 21:30:46 -0700 From: Eileen Stringer Subject: Re: [AML] R-Rated Movies >> I saw the movie "Glory." To me it was very uplifting, . >> Paris Anderson It was for me as well, very uplifting and life changing. >That movie was more or less the turning point for me as well. Good >heavens, the movie even feature a testimony meeting. I found it very >moving spiritually, and even the violence was used for specific >purposes. There was really only one shockingly violent scene, right at >the start--and the was necessary to set up the characters willingness >to change. >Russell Asplund Isn't interesting how we all view things differently. I have never for myself, ever found that scene right at the start to be that violent to me. I agree that is it necessary and important to the film and the character and perhaps that is the reason that I do not deem it to be as violent as other scenes I have seen. "Glory" in my opinion is one of the finest movies ever made and I recommend it highly, but I would not let my children watch and then on their first time never alone. One of my favorite and most moving scenes for me is the dialogue between Matthew Broderick's character and Denzel Washington's character when Denzel Washington's character does not want to be the flag bearer. And the whipping of Denzel's character for alleged desertion. To be unchanged after viewing that scene is not to be alive. Eileen Stringer - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 01:41:36 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] SMART, _Exemplary Elder_ (Deseret News) Deseret News Saturday, December 21, 2002 'Exemplary Elder' is ode to a pioneer's devotion Missionary diaries are sparse yet powerful By Susan Whitney, Deseret News staff writer EXEMPLARY ELDER, THE LIFE AND MISSIONARY DIARIES OF PERRIGRINE SESSIONS, 1814-1893, edited by Donna Toland Smart, BYU Studies, 382 pages, $28.95 ($18.95 softcover). In the newly published memoir, "Exemplary Elder," we learn about the life of Perrigrine Sessions, a Utah pioneer who was writing stream-of-consciousness before James Joyce was even born. Sessions filled eight journals - using virtually no punctuation in the process. The founder of Bountiful, Sessions lived through the dramatic historical days of the LDS Church (the exodus from Nauvoo, the coming to Zion) but wrote only summaries of those days in his diaries. He did keep meticulous notes on his many missions to England. Enter Donna Smart, to edit and clarify Sessions' life. Smart not only footnotes and explains Sessions' journal entries, she gives the reader introductions and sidebar articles. Smart spices up the memoirs with biographies of Sessions' wives and his adopted nephew, Jim Indian, and excerpts from his son's history of Bountiful. The question remains, will this book appeal to the general public? The only reason it might not is that Sessions' missionary journals are so completely unadorned: He went here and preached. He went there and preached. His health was good. His health was poor. No matter how he felt, however, Sessions went and preached. In these details, repetitive though they are, his devotion reveals itself. His devotion and the historic times he lived in, as well as Smart's interpretations, may be enough to draw in a number of readers. And certainly not all the details are mundane. Take, for example, an early section of the book, in which Sessions remembers being a young man when typhus struck his family. In footnotes, Smart explains the epidemic, saying bedbugs carried the disease, and it flourished in straw mattresses and cramped quarters. " . . . in 1832 were all sick with the typhus fever," wrote Sessions, "And my sister Anna died August tenth aged seven years and four months and twenty-four days at this time Mother could not raise her hand to her head and lay in the same room where my sister died . . . My Aunt Apphia and her daughter lay in another room they were all helpless I had the fever and had got so I could set up some my brother David was just comeing down with the fever and my Sister Sylvia being the second time deprived of her only sister she morned and wept untill she had to go to bed at this time my fealings I could not describe . . . September 15 my brother Sylvanus died being sixteen years and three months and twelve days old. . . . " Copyright 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 11:40:14 -0800 From: "Susan Malmrose" Subject: Re: [AML] R-Rated Movies > << There was a sex > scene in it and I could literally feel the spirit leave when that came on. > It felt like a vacuum just sucked it out of the room. >> > > Had he enjoyed the movie up to that point, including violence? Who? My husband? He was inactive at the time, and his friend was a non-member. (It was me that felt the Spirit leave.) I don't remember anything of the movie leading up to that point, not sure that I was there from the beginning of it. Susan M - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 02:12:24 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] Naparasteck's 2002 Review (SL Tribune) [Among the books with Mormon connections listed below are biographies of Philo Farnsworth and Joseph Smith, a non- fiction book about Mark Hoffman, and novels by (presumably) non-Mormon authors John Fulton and Nicole Stansbury, both of which center on a non-Mormon family's struggle to fit into Mormon Utah society.] Salt Lake Tribune December 22, 2002 The Best of the West in 2002 BY MARTIN NAPARSTECK Biographies, memoirs and novels aimed at teenagers stood out among the most noteworthy books published about the West in 2002, but the two best were novels that came out of the past, although in different ways. Tim O'Brien's July, July, set mostly in Minnesota but with sizable sections in Arizona and Denver, explores how the turbulence and moral debates of the late 1960's still shape us. It centers around the 2000 reunion of the Darton College class of 1969, men and women wounded by that turbulence (only one went to Vietnam). It contains more word play than O'Brien fans are accustomed to but is peppered also with numerous references to his earlier books. July, July builds on O'Brien's reputation as the finest chronicler of not just the Vietnam War but of his generation. Philo Farnsworth, decades too late, has finally become the subject of two worthy biographies. Both also examine the life of his principle nemesis, David Sarnoff. The Last Lone Inventor, by Evan L. Schwartz, and The Boy Genius and the Mogul, by Daniel Stashower, focus on the competition between Farnsworth, born in Idaho and raised there and in Utah, and the RCA headed by Sarnoff, to be the first to invent television. RCA, with its millions, made millions more, while Farnsworth, working above a garage in San Francisco, won pretty much only pattern rights. It is a sad tale of money and ruthlessness trumping individuality and puck. Horatio Alger never would have written this story. Fans of Tony Hillerman's should delight in his kindhearted memoir of growing up in Oklahoma, fighting in World War II, working in journalism, and, in his 40s, becoming a novelist. Like his novels about Navajo police solving murders, this memoir is easy to read and filled with interesting facts. Hillerman is a man grateful for what life has given him, and therefore he appropriately titled his memoir Seldom Disappointed. Two other 2002 books about the lives of famous people were also noteworthy. Joseph Smith by Robert V. Remini examines the life of the founder of the Mormon church, viewing it as an almost inevitable product of Jacksonian America and its emphasis on the ability of the common man to do great things. If one poor boy -- Andrew Jackson -- could grow up to be president, Remini's portrait suggests, no one should be surprised that another grew up to start a religion. In the growing near-genre of books about Mark Hoffmann, The Poet and the Murderer by Simon Worrall tells how one of Utah's most famous killers (and also one of the world's greatest forgers) nearly duped the Eastern literary establishment with a fake Emily Dickinson poem. Three particularly good Western novels aimed at teenagers were also published in the past year. Gloria Skurzynski's Rockbuster is framed between two of the most sensational trials of the early 20th century, union leader Big Bill Hayward's 1907 trail in Boise for the murder of an ex-governor of Idaho and Joe Hill's 1914 trail in Salt Lake City for the murder of a store clerk. Both cases were as much about class consciousness as they were about murder, and Skurzynski's novel captures that superbly. In Michael Spooner's Daniel's Walk a 14-year-old boy from Missouri goes West to find his father and along the way encounters adventures that directly parallel those of Huckleberry Finn when he rafted down the Mississippi. Just as Huck ends up recognizing the humanity of blacks, so too does Daniel end up recognizing the humanity of Native Americans. Kimberley Griffiths Little's The Last Snake Runner transports a 14-year-old modern New Mexico boy back to 1598 to witness one of the worst acts of barbarity by Spanish conquerors against Native Americans, a "trial" in which all adult men were sentenced to have one foot cut off and all adult men and women were ordered into slavery for 20 years. Writers of Western fiction for adults demonstrated that there are many good ways to render a story. The best of the novels was More Than Enough by John Fulton, about a family of non-Mormons in Salt Lake City who just can't fit in. Conversely, Nicole Stansbury's Places to Look for a Mother is about a woman who tries too hard to fit in wherever she lives, surrendering her own personality for any that will be accepted. In Open Spaces by Russell Rowland, some members of the Arbuckle family are as emotionally barren as the plains of Eastern Montana where they live. By contrast, in Debra Magpie Earling's Perma Red, set in Western Montana, Flathead Indians and whites endure emotional lives as filled with jarring ruts as an unpaved road; it's near-melodrama, but extraordinarily well-crafted. Two collections of interlocking short stories, near-novels, Why I Lie by Michael Gills and What About the Love Part? by Stephanie Rosenfeld, both Salt Lake City writers, offer alternative paths to good storytelling. Jack, the protagonist in Gills' stories, is unhappy because he discovers an uncomfortable truth, while Abby, Rosenfeld's main charactger, is unhappy because she refuses or is unable to discover a truth about herself. Two other 2002 Western books, both difficult to classify, should attract readers interested in good, but unusual literature. Newe Hupia, Shoshoni Poetry Songs, by Beverly Crum, Earl Crum, and Jon P. Dayley, is a collection with intelligent commentary of a near-extinct art form and provides a culturally useful service just by being published. And Providence of a Sparrow by Chris Chester, about a near-dead baby bird nursed to health and given his own room in the author's Portland home, is that rarity in nature/environment books, intelligent without being preachy and witty with little sarcasm. The bird -- B -- looks down on many humans, but the author respects the reader's intelligence and moral judgments. Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #934 ******************************