From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V2 #112 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 Thursday, July 31 2003 Volume 02 : Number 112 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 07:15:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Chirs O Subject: Re: [AML] Sci/Fi and tech - --- Scott Parkin wrote: > Gee, and I thought true science fiction folk were omni-platform. No, all real SF writers use Macs. Just think of "The Time Machine", "The Martian Chronicles" or "I, Robot". Without the Mac, those great works would have never existed. To steal--and mangle--a quote from Dijkstra: "Science Fiction is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." :-) [Chris Oglethorpe] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 19:18:55 -0600 From: "Annette Lyon" Subject: Re: [AML] GLBT -- correction Umm--I didn't say this. Please be careful when you attribute your comments. Annette Lyon Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 04:38:11 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] GLBT Annette Lyon wrote: > > > If they wanted to use GLB, I could stand that. Why throw in > > transsexual anyway? A transsexual is nothing more than a gay or > > lesbian who feels so strongly about their sexual orientation that > > they make a permanent physical commitment to the lifestyle. D. > > Michael Martindale > > Are you being serious with that comment? I don't have any first hand > knowledge but I suspect there's a lot more to it than that. I don't know that I'm being serious about any of this, other than exasperation over the silliness of political correctness. - - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:00:03 -0600 From: "Bill Willson" Subject: [AML] JUSTESEN, Sammie _Common Threads_ (review) JUSTESEN, Sammie - Common Threads Bedside Books; American Book Publishing ISBN 1-58982-065-7 paperback edition 270 pages listed price - $22.00 This is a well written story about a Mormon Ranching family living in Idaho and a big city police detective's quest for revenge against the drug lord who was responsible for the murder of his daughter. Although the setting is a small Idaho town and its outlying ranch lands, I found myself thinking the story was about Cache Valley, and in particular Logan. I'm sure that is because I live in Logan and the names of familiar landmarks, stores, restaurants, and bars that were used by the author were because she lives in Logan also. In the background and woven into the fabric of the story are the heartaches and pains of the Logan family's tragedies, and lost faith. The main characters have dropped out of activity in the church, and a main character's wife has recently been baptized. As the story unfolds, through the conflicts and struggles, Molly (Mormon) Logan maintains her attitude of service and is faithful to her callings. The authors many years as a medical editor show up in the plot and the scenes, as the reader is given much of the medical details about the condition of several of the characters as they lay suffering in the hospital. I also found some of the police work details a little on the unbelievable side. Despite several minor plot or scene flaws, I still enjoyed reading this book. It is fast moving, and because the characters are all strong and believable I found the reading entertaining. In the end, besides finally bringing the bad guys to justice, faith in the church is restored to those who were faltering, and the Logan family is united and stronger than ever. The big city cop learns a lesson in repentance and restitution, and about the evils of revenge. The book ends on an up-beat as Caleb Logan tells his dad that he's about to become a grandpa. Bill Willson, writer http://www.latterdaybard.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 08:50:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Mary Aagard Subject: [AML] Review of Krakauer and Others in _Salon_ Yesterday I read the article on Salon.com written by Laura Miller and I'm super glad that Eric Samuelsen wrote in to refute her assumptions in her essay (http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/26/mormons/index.html). I always like to read the letters to the editor and I was so pleased when they published Eric's letter. (http://www.salon.com/books/letters/2003/07/29/mormons_coulter/index.html). Bravo for writing such a well-thought out response to such a horrible essay. Mary Aagard __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 07:53:51 -0700 From: "Levi Peterson" Subject: Re: [AML] Dialogue Call for Papers on War and Peace Thanks to Chris for posting our announcement calling for papers on war = and peace for Dialogue. We would welcome submissions on other topics = too, of course, including Mormon literature. If you would like to = converse with Karen Moloney or me, you can reach her at = kmmoloney@juno.com or me at my old standard althlevip@msn.com. Messages = to dialoguemss@aol.com are also forwarded to us. Levi Levi Peterson althlevip@msn.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 01:11:43 GMT From: "Jeffrey Needle" Subject: [AML] SOLOMON, _Predators, Prey and Polygamy_ (Review) Review Title: Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy Author: Dorothy Allred Solomon Publisher: W.W. Norton Year Published: 2003 Number of Pages: 399 Binding: Hardback ISBN: 0-393-04946-9 Price: $24.95 Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle It might be enough to just say that Dorothy Allred Solomon is the 28th child of Rulon T. Allred, went through hell as a child, and grew up with a desire to live a normal life, with more than the usual amount of baggage. That's the short review. It is beyond the scope of this review to relate all the events, all the twists and turns. Rather, I'll offer a brief overview, and then commend this book to all interested readers. Solomon's book merits reading. And despite its drawbacks, which I shall outline later, it delivers a compelling and absorbing story of growing up in a polygamous family and the tensions from within and without that would ultimately lead to tragedy. Solomon begins by recalling some of her memories as a child growing up in a polygamous household. As seen through the eyes of a child, the experience was near idyllic. Solomon evokes pleasant memories of family outings and childish mischief, of living in the midst of nature's splendor, but isolated from the outside world as mandated by their lifestyle. Solomon's recollection of her father's place in the family structure is remarkable: As the family patriarch and the leader of our religious group, my father was next to the godhead in our eyes. He looked like Heavenly Father, with his crown of silver-blond hair, his long straight nose, his piercing blue eyes. And when he spoke, his teeth biting each pronouncement, we felt the precision of his authority. Once God had spoken the world into being; now our father declared our day-to-day reality, and it materialized. (p. 21) This is a portrait of man loved and respected by this daughter of a plural wife. She later describes Rulon as the center of her life. And even as she grows to resent her father's lifestyle, and his growing insistence that she follow in his footsteps and live "The Principle," she never loses her love, and respect, for her father. Ultimately, the chooses monogamy, but her affection for her father remains. The book then probes deeper into daily life on a polygamous compound. Here we meet the other plural wives, including Solomon's mother's sister, Ella. There is some discussion of family unity and simmering jealousies, of an imposed, compartmentalized lifestyle dominated by a childless, and thus compensating, first wife. Solomon recalls the birth of her younger brother, the coming together of the sister wives at such times as childbirth. But simmering beneath the surface of it all is a conflict between Rulon and the brother of "Aunt Adah," another of Rulon's wives. This brother, the leader of the "Short Creek" polygamous sect, claimed priority over Rulon's group. The tension between the two men, and Adah's propensity for having her family to her home regularly, increased the difficulties among the wives and between the families. Aunt Adah would finally leave the Allred sect, further increasing tensions. Through it all, Solomon recalls: I once asked my father which of his wives he loved the most. He grinned and said, "Each of my wives is a queen, a jewel in my heavenly crown." I wondered aloud how they could be at once jewels in his crown and queens with crowns of their own. "You children are *their* jewels. And they love each of you as I love each of my wives." Then, searching my eyes he said, "You must never give up your quest for queenhood, darling. It is your birthright and your destiny." I suspect he meant I should become one of many wives, content to have power through my husband's priesthood authority. But even when I was young, I sensed that "queenhood" could be a hollow title, the booby prize in the great and passionate tableau of life. (p. 53-4) What follows is a sometimes confusing but always engaging tale of fear and flight, families living apart to avoid being prosecuted by the authorities. It tells of two forays into Mexico, where they hoped they could live unmolested, but would encounter poverty and hunger, and at last opposition, that would drive them back to the United States. It would be during this period of flight and hiding that the Allred family would encounter the LeBaron family. Ervil LeBaron would emerge as the titular head of his own polygamous group, a man jealous for authority over Allred's family. And as kindly and saintly as Rulon T. Allred is portrayed, even so is Ervil pictured as if his name did not contain the letter "r." Purely bad, violent and vengeful, it would be Ervil who would orchestrate, using two of his female followers in disguise, the violent assassination of Rulon T. Allred. When Solomon finally marries, it is, of course, a monogamous union. But her husband joins the Marines and is shipped off to Vietnam. There he encounters horrors he could only have imagined before. And he loses his faith, and his mind, and must finally return, a shattered and broken man, to a wife and a child he's never met. The husband, Jess, returns from Vietnam with a friend, Stan. Stan is also a burnt-out case. During Jess' absence, Solomon has contemplated a renewed participation in the mainstream Mormon church, and wants to get her husband involved, too. What follows is a (verbally) brutal discussion. Speaking in the first person, Solomon remembers thinking that Church participation might have a salutary effect on her husband: ...the habits of my childhood urged me to gather with others in the name of God. Maybe I could forgive the persecutions, erase the scars of paranoia, balm the searing guilt of the war. I asked my husband, "If I went to church would you come with me?" I must have known what he would say even before he spoke. "Do you know what I was ordered to do in the name of loyalty and obedience?" I thought of the rumors that our soldiers had killed women and children in Vietnam. "What were you ordered to do?" I asked softly. He fumbled in his pants pocket for a wooden match. "I'd die before I promise obedience to another institution. Their walls are reinforced with bodies." (p. 272) I felt a bit of a chill as I contemplated Jess's attitude toward Church, toward authority. As Solomon moves on to discuss her father's violent death, she spares us none of the gory detail. Allred, a chiropractor and, in a limited sense, a medical doctor, welcomed all to his office. He was shot down in front of his nurse, also one of his plural wives, bleeding to death in front of the wife. It would be many years before the women who killed him would be brought to justice. After a first jury acquitted them, Solomon was able to get around the double jeopardy problem, and see the assassin re-indicted and, this time, convicted. In the end, LeBaron's involvement in this crime, and others, would end the dynasty that brought so much tragedy into so many lives. This book represents a sequel, in a sense, to a previously written account of her life in a polygamous family. Solomon believes that she needed to re-tell the story as she has matured and healed over the years. I've not read the first book, so I don't know how different the accounts are. Now, allow me, please, three quibbles with this book. First, from time to time, Solomon reverts to tortured prose in an effort to wax poetic. An example is a recollection of a sense she had, at a very early age, while on an annual trip to Utah from their Monterey, Mexico outpost: ...something happened in the mountains. Something I call soul or spirit triumphed over the dialectics of the ego -- though of course I did not think this way back then. What I observed as a child was that the mountains were bigger than our biggest voices. The sheer cliffs echoed our choir to the sky and the call went on and on. The heart of the sunflower opened like a small replica of the sun. Perhaps a macrocosm above reflected the microcosm below, suggesting that my father's belief in the Celestial Order of Marriage and eternal family was really possible. (p. 197-8) Shall I feel shame that I read this paragraph twice, and still didn't know exactly what she was talking about? I admire a good turn of phrase as much as the next person, but sometimes simplicity can serve the writer at least as well. Warning to aspiring writers: excess in waxing poetic can lead to waxy buildup. It is to be avoided, as it causes the reader to stumble and lose the tempo of the story. Interestingly, the further back her recollection, the more she tends to overwrite. Her account of the death of her father, the subsequent trials, the appearance on Sally Jesse Raphael's program, are all sharply told, with few of the rhetorical excess evidenced by the above cite. Second, the book suffers, but not much, from poor editing. On page 303, for example, Pres. Hinckley is named "Gordon B. Hickey." Wow! You'd think an editor would have picked up on this right away. It isn't as if Pres. Hinckley weren't a prominent public figure. It's astounding that something like this could slip through the editing process. Third, and last, I believe the book suffered from not having a Family Tree published somewhere in its body. More than a dozen wives, so many children, so many branches of the family, it can be a dizzying experience trying to keep track of everyone. I contacted the publisher on this one, and they agreed. "Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk" is a very good book. Anyone wanting a glimpse inside a minimally functional polygamous household will find a wealth of information here. And while the author is clearly distancing herself from the lifestyle, she pulls together her memories in a compelling and dramatic way, bringing you into the family as a distant relative. My minor quibbles aside, I gladly recommend this book and welcome its voice into the continuing discussion on plural marriage and, by extension, alternative lifestyles. - ----------------------------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 11:09:47 -1100 From: Subject: [AML] Jon Krakauer on National Public Radio Jon Krakauer, author of "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith", will be interviewed tomorrow (Wednesday, July 30) by Terry Gross on "Fresh Air" on National Public Radio. Also to be interviewed, according to the show's website, http://freshair.npr.org , is Richard Turnley (sic) -- obviously a typo for Richard Turley, managing director of the Church's Family and Church History Department. Here are the broadcast times for "Fresh Air" in Salt Lake City: KCPW-FM 88.3 M-F 10 a.m.-11 a.m., repeated from 9 p.m.-10 p.m. and in San Francisco: KQED-FM 88.5 M-F 1 p.m.-2 p.m., repeated from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. Here's how KQED describes the program: "What happens when people live on the edge, then go too far? Novelist Jon Krakauer ends up writing their stories. Krakauer has turned his sights to the dark side of extreme religious conviction. The author of "Into Thin Air" has just written about two Mormon fundamentalists who murdered their younger brother's wife and child, claiming God ordered them to do it. Terry Gross talks with Jon Krakauer on the next Fresh Air." Regards, Frank Maxwell San Jose, California - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 10:17:29 -0400 From: Sam Brown Subject: [AML] BARNEY, _Cremaster 3_ (Review) [MOD: Apologies for the delay in posting this review. Got misplaced in the vacation and moderator switching cracks...] [NOTE: This review may contain objectionable material.] Cremaster 3 2002 Matthew Barney is director, producer (with Barbara Gladstone). 3 hours (can't find film length anywhere) Unrated (I suspect it wd be NC17, _maybe_, but in any case it's not rated) Not available on video www.cremaster.net Reviewed by Samuel Brown Hello, Just a quick note/pseudo-review as I avoid writing letters of recommendation for aspiring doctors (Billy Entitled personally founded a charity that serves over four million displaced Ghanaians, then re-wrote Kofi Annan's address on the AIDS crisis in Africa). My friends and I went to see Cremaster 3 at Boston's MFA a few weeks ago. I haven't quite known whether to mention it to the AML list as it will definitively out me as one of those Eastern urban liberals, but I felt that some on the list might derive pleasure from it, and I saw it tacked on the end of the LDS film summary in the latest aml-list-digest, so I figured it was time to report it. A note though: this film (were Barney ever to release it on DVD), would never, never, never be carried by Deseret Book in their a-single-Rulon-"Bobbie"-Smith-in-the-Western-desert-doesn't-like-it-WE-don't-like-it campaign. There are images in this review that can be upsetting, and if you prefer wholesome literature, I would delete this e-mail message without reading further. For most people the description will be enough to eliminate interest: a three-hour film without a single line of dialogue (a couple of songs, one or two with discernible English words), named after the muscle that involuntarily elevates the testicles (responsible for that perplexing miracle of vanishing virility when cold waters run deep)). For me, it felt like Tarkovsky (whom I love) taken to the next level, and it was splendidly successful. We didn't read the synopsis from the Cremaster web site until after the film, at which point the purely sensuous (not sensual, to my eye, though there is a modest amount of ritual nudity in the film) experience of the film became much more richly symbolic. It's the story of the Apprentice Mason, his boss the Architect, and the construction of the Chrysler building. It's about ambition, greed, selfishness, destruction, betrayal, absurdity, ascension, evolution, the plight of the working class (my interpretation), and the Babel-based hunger for a tower that will pierce the heavens and spill their celestial essence onto our skin. For Mormons, it contains a large amount of Masonic symbolism, which will remind them of Joseph and Brigham's temple endowment. Personally I found this a fascinating approach for a cultural Mormon to explore some of its sacred symbols from a distance, without revealing any forbidden truths and without embarrassing the church but allowing aware viewers to explore the symbols. A simple example of the film's richness (there are countless others): the Apprentice climbs the elevator shaft of the Chrysler building with wire, and the maitre d' attaches them to an ornament over the top of the elevators' doors, then plays them like a giant lyre, singing a haunting Gaelic ballad to his own accompaniment. It's not a film for the squeamish: Serial killer Gary Gilmore is dug from soil/manure, emaciated and gasping. The Apprentice is tortured and forced to swallow Gilmore in his bizarre sarcophagus, resulting in a visually surprising prolapse of his rectum beneath a ritually modified genital appliance (it looks like a plastic anemone). There are two gory deaths, a race of putrescent horses. You will never look at the NY Guggenheim (or the Chrysler Tower) the same again. So, the precis, at the end: not a crowd pleaser, but for die-hard aesthetes, an original, overwhelming film. I recommend it highly but exclusively to its target audience, art-house liberals. I'm anxious to see the others in his 5 part series, though, as I understand it, Barney only allows them to be shown at art museums and similar venues. - -- Yours, Samuel Brown, MD Massachusetts General Hospital sam@vecna.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 11:15:48 -0700 From: "Richard R. Hopkins" Subject: [AML] Passing of Cherilyn Hopkins I don't know if this is appropriate for this list, but it might be of interest to some here to know that my sweet wife, the former Cherilyn ("Cherry") Rebecca Baker, award winning stage actress and dancer, suffered a massive heart attach last Wednesday and passed away on Friday, July 25, 2003. Her funeral is today at 1:30 pm at our Ward in Murray. Richard Hopkins - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 09:26:36 -0700 From: "Susan Malmrose" Subject: Re: [AML] Review of Krakauer and Others in _Salon_ I'm glad I kept reading all the way to the end. Cuz it had my favorite part: "The kinds of societies such men set up, whatever ideology and hero-worship they're wrapped in, are breeding grounds for atrocity. The only appropriate word to describe them is one that's been nearly drained of meaning by the overblown rhetoric of political correctitude: patriarchy. Institutions like fundamentalist Mormon clans or 18th century Salem serve as a salutary reminder of what that word really means. A society that demands unquestioning obedience to its leader or leaders, as the Mormon Church did and still often does, is really just a macrocosm of the kind of family where the man of the house regards the women and children in it as his property to use as he sees fit; exactly the situation that tract that inspired the Lafferty brothers recommends. It's a short step from that to the belief that Big Daddy gets to wipe out the lives of any underling or outsider who interferes with the free exercise of his power. Whatever stirring words he comes up with as an excuse is beside the point. The guys to fear aren't just the ones who believe in a god, but the ones who think they're entitled to act like one." You'd think Mormons would be running around killing people all the time, wouldn't you? Susan M - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:33:44 -0500 From: "Thom Duncan, replying from the Web" Subject: Re: [AML] Review of Krakauer and Others in _Salon_ - --- Original Message --- From: "Susan Malmrose" To: Subject: Re: [AML] Review of Krakauer and Others in _Salon_ >I'm glad I kept reading all the way to the end. Cuz it had my favorite part: > [snip] Well, Mormons who believe that the man is the absolute ruler of the family and that the prophet is like the pope are more likely to go around killing people than Mormons who believe that marriage is a partnership and the prophet is an inspired but nevertheless human male. Ironically, depending on which set of GA's writing and scriptures you wish to search, you can find more than enough "official" support for either of those positions. Thom Duncan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V2 #112 ******************************