Should I write Midgley's biography?

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Moksha
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Moksha »

Dr. Shades wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2024 10:37 am
Should I assume that my letter simply got lost in the pile of correspondence on his coffee table and go knock on his door directly? Or would this be a boundary violation?
Perhaps he dropped your letter in Dr. Shades' dossier.

A pleasant and gracious visit might do Dr. Midgley some good, but would Dr. Peterson and the SWAT team from BYU see it that way? Many elderly people are delighted when they have friendly visitors.
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Doctor Scratch
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Doctor Scratch »

Dr. Shades wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2024 10:37 am
Anyway, a little over two weeks ago I wrote a letter to Dr. Midgley, politely informing him that it would be my honor to write his biography and requesting an interview. I included all of my contact information, but I still haven't heard back from him.

Should I assume that my letter simply got lost in the pile of correspondence on his coffee table and go knock on his door directly? Or would this be a boundary violation?
Dr. Shades:

I think that, in this case, you're definitely in the clear in terms of paying Midgley a visit. If we evaluate the decision based on Midgley's own behavior, and based on his own affiliations and apparent values, then going to see him would be 100% fine. In fact, I think you should photograph and/or videotape the visit while you're at it. Perhaps RFM or Coffee with Kish could then have you on as a guest to in order share the pics and/or video.
"If, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
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Gadianton
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Gadianton »

Alternatively, find where his closest family member goes to church, confront them after church and try to get on their good side. Then come back here and say they agreed with all the potential bad stuff that could go into the book.
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Moksha
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Moksha »

Gadianton wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2024 11:25 pm
Alternatively, find where his closest family member goes to church, confront them after church and try to get on their good side. Then come back here and say they agreed with all the potential bad stuff that could go into the book.
Are you referring to Dr. Midgley visiting neighbors, relatives, former students, seminary colleagues, and ecclesiastical leaders of Grant Palmer to get as much damaging material as he could to put in his Maxwell Institute hit piece published by Dr. Peterson?
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Dr. Shades
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Dr. Shades »

Doctor Scratch wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2024 4:21 pm
I think that, in this case, you're definitely in the clear in terms of paying Midgley a visit. If we evaluate the decision based on Midgley's own behavior, and based on his own affiliations and apparent values, then going to see him would be 100% fine.
That's a good point. I'll drop by in person soon.
Gadianton wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2024 11:25 pm
Alternatively, find where his closest family member goes to church, confront them after church and try to get on their good side. Then come back here and say they agreed with all the potential bad stuff that could go into the book.
LOL!!
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by hauslern »

Another nail in the coffin to show the bias against Fawn Brodie by Midgley in his arguments against her writing about Jefferson's relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings.

Midgley was very critical of Fawn Brodie's book on Jefferson and his relationship with Sally Hemmings. I found another source that shows John Adams was aware of it. Another interesting article on whether John Adams was aware of the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemmings.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... 180960789/

"Adams’ letters offer tangible evidence that at least one of the country’s leading political families was aware of the Jefferson-Hemings relationship long before the scandal broke. The documents cast new light on the question of elite awareness of the relationship, on the nature of the press in the early republic, and on Adams himself."

www.smithsonianmag.com
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Everybody Wang Chung
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Everybody Wang Chung »

Dr. Shades,

If you could spare a minute, we would love an update on the project.
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."

Daniel C. Peterson, 2014
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Bret Ripley
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Bret Ripley »

Everybody Wang Chung wrote:
Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:53 pm
Dr. Shades,

If you could spare a minute, we would love an update on the project.
"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, young Lou Midgley's bedroom was illuminated by a flash of lightning. His eyes shot open as he startled awake from a fitful sleep, with the voice he had heard in his dream still echoing in his ears: 'someone, somewhere, is sinning.' Lou would sleep no more that night."
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Everybody Wang Chung
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Everybody Wang Chung »

Bret Ripley wrote:
Sat Feb 08, 2025 6:26 pm
Everybody Wang Chung wrote:
Sat Feb 08, 2025 5:53 pm
Dr. Shades,

If you could spare a minute, we would love an update on the project.
"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, young Lou Midgley's bedroom was illuminated by a flash of lightning. His eyes shot open as he startled awake from a fitful sleep, with the voice he had heard in his dream still echoing in his ears: 'someone, somewhere, is sinning.' Lou would sleep no more that night."
Lol! That would make a great opening paragraph for Dr. Shade's book.


Here are a few opening sentences that Dr. Shades could consider to grab people's attention:

- "How 13 crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby Midgley into the air was beyond his mother's comprehension, but as Midgley grew into a man, that was certainly the least of her worries.”

- "It was the day Midgley's prostrate exploded."

- "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As smart as a Mopologist'."

- "Midgley had been called many things since joining the Interpreter Foundation, but until now no one had actually compared him to Satan."

- "'Where's Papa going with that axe?' said an adolescent Midgely to his mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."

- "Midgley was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smog less Chicago day in January of 1930; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Casper, Wyoming in September of 1914."
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."

Daniel C. Peterson, 2014
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Bret Ripley
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Re: Should I write Midgley's biography?

Post by Bret Ripley »

Everybody Wang Chung wrote:
Sat Feb 08, 2025 6:38 pm
Bret Ripley wrote:
Sat Feb 08, 2025 6:26 pm
"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, young Lou Midgley's bedroom was illuminated by a flash of lightning. His eyes shot open as he startled awake from a fitful sleep, with the voice he had heard in his dream still echoing in his ears: 'someone, somewhere, is sinning.' Lou would sleep no more that night."
Lol! That would make a great opening paragraph for Dr. Shade's book.


Here are a few opening sentences that Dr. Shades could consider to grab people's attention:

- "How 13 crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby Midgley into the air was beyond his mother's comprehension, but as Midgley grew into a man, that was certainly the least of her worries.”

- "It was the day Midgley's prostrate exploded."

- "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As smart as a Mopologist'."

- "Midgley had been called many things since joining the Interpreter Foundation, but until now no one had actually compared him to Satan."

- "'Where's Papa going with that axe?' said an adolescent Midgely to his mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."

- "Midgley was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smog less Chicago day in January of 1930; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Casper, Wyoming in September of 1914."
All excellent alternatives, my good man, although I suspect exploding prostrate wouldn't be any worse than exploding upright.

Try this on for an ending: "He thought he would live happily ever after; but he didn't. Nobody does. Except maybe those three Nephite assholes."

(I voluntarily surrender any and all rights to royalties.)
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