I just sent a copy of my posting to her at the address she was using
on the Forum: camy <[log in to unmask]> I'm sure she'd appreciate
other messages of encouragment.
[Kevin...I hope it's OK to send her email address, since it's
available to anyone who's saved their old emails.]
Ben
>Do you have Camy's e-mail address, by any chance? Now that you
>mention it, I have noticed her absence. It seems to me that the
>Forum should be open to all comers, at all levels of Twain
>skowlarship and, after all, every one of us had a starting point.
>Besides, as one of my favorite mentors asserts, "We're all bozos on
>this bus," myself (especially) included.
>MZ,KC,MO
>-------------- Original message from Ron Owens
><[log in to unmask]>: --------------
>
>
>> I so would like Hal Bush's posting be the last word on this whole
>> thing, but I feel the need to reveal one more incident in this whole
>> talk of leaving the Forum. Do you all remember "Camy?" She is the
>> blind woman whose passionate interest in Twain, and her questions,
>> spurred some great discussion from many of you. She has a degree in
>> literature, but she posed many questions because she cannot use search
>> tools as easily as most of us, and she is hugely captivated by Mark
>> Twain. Well, Camy left the forum because of negativity shown to her,
>> particularly by one person on the list who privately said she shouldn't
>> be asking so many questions since this is for collegiate folk. (Most of
>> you would agree this individual is not even in that category.) When
>> considering Hal's 4 cautions, might you all also consider the point of
>> this forum. Besides being a practical tool for researchers etc., can
>> it not also be to further stimulate interest in Twain by answering
>> questions from folk like Camy, the same way you all eagerly do
>> following one of your public lectures, and thereby not give the
>> impression of an Ivory, Ivy Tower Forum? And why shouldn't ordinary,
>> decent civility be an ongoing part of any discourse on the internet as
>> in public? And that should include patiently dealing with questions
>> you've heard before, and not treating such people as interlopers in a
>> private club. Let's follow Hal's advice. The best invention in the
>> world is the delete button. But stay nice.
>> -- Ron, in Elmira
--
.................................................................................................................................................
Benjamin N. Wise, Ph.D. Home Phone: 603-256-8350
Professor Emeritus Fax: 603-358-2897
Keene State College [log in to unmask]
Keene, NH 03435-2001
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