[ Contents | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Bob Quesal
Date: 10/22/02
Time: 4:49:26 PM
Remote Name: 143.43.201.67
To quote Sam Cooke, "the evenin' sun is sinkin' low, the clock on the wall says it's time to go…" but before I do I want to thank everybody for their comments about this year's ISAD essay. I thought long and hard about whether to even allow the essay to be posted for this year's conference and, as I mentioned, my first draft had to be toned down. In retrospect, I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. The response was more extensive, and more positive, than I could have imagined. I still have a fear that the "fluency bigots" read the essay but they just didn’t have enough nerve to post to the discussion. And, to be honest, I doubt if the essay will do very much to change their minds, anyway.
I was talking to a colleague last week and didn't realize that she had not seen the letter, so I showed her a copy. She wrote the following note:
"This letter is just unbelievable. He has to be nuts. No one in their right mind could seriously write crap like this. (I did giggle a couple of times at some of the more absurd statements – so maybe the man is good for a laugh.)"
Unfortunately, I'm still not laughing. Perhaps I'm too sensitive, but I imagine that I will hold strong negative feelings toward the letter-writer for the rest of my life. I can't imagine what he could do at this point to make amends. Is that harsh or unfair on my part? Perhaps. But that's how I feel. He deserves no respect and he deserves no forgiveness as far as I am concerned. And he isn't getting any from me. Grrrr…. Maybe this wasn't so cathartic after all. ;-)> But I'm happy to have had the opportunity to expose this narrow-minded, unfair type of thinking. It's scary to me – and, if you haven't noticed, very offensive. ;-)>
Thanks again, everybody, for your support. Let's keep fighting the good fight.
Best Wishes,
Bob Q.