Some of you are writers...

[MikeWaters]

let's say fiction...do any of you incorporate Mormondom in your work? How do you feel about a portrayal that some might consider not favorable to the church. For example, a kid that decides not to go on a mission. Or a church scout leader that molests kids. You know, the sort of thing that happens in life, but because of your experiences you decide to tell the story in terms of Mormon culture.

The reason I am thinking about this is I was listening to an interview of Phillip Roth on Fresh Air (NPR) and he was explaining how he was heavily criticized by the Jewish community due to his portrayal of some Jews in his books (Roth is Jewish). That reminded me of Neil Labute and his recent experiences in being taken to task (and disfellowshipped) for some of his work portraying a couple of Mormons as homophobic and violent. Labute has ended up leaving the church.

Of course my mind jumps to the scenario of what would I do? Do I avoid telling Mormon stories because someone somewhere thinks all stories of Mormons should be Ensign-esque? Do I *change* my work or stop doing work if an ecclesiastical superior asks me to?

Frankly it kind of both angers me and makes me sad that we are not secure enough to allow for the sort of literature that has existed and always will exist, where difficult stories are told in context of the authors experiences and culture. Are we so beholden to the concept "what if one person falls away because of this?"

I know there is probably more to the Labute story than meets the eye. But I would be sad if our tent is so small that we don't want people that get under our skin or provoke us, or explore our culture.

It reminds me of Juanita Brooks, disobeying the apostle who told her not to publish the rebaptism of the Mountain Meadows scapegoat......who here would have the guts (or some would say rebelliousness) to do that?

Perhaps I should be more optimistic.