I finally sorted myself out and realize that Kevin is our administrator.
But I appreciate
you telling us what you know he goes through.  I earnestly hope we can help
improve his experience.

To start:  I apologize for my "bullying" remark.  Maybe it is my age, but I
had
a school marmish reaction sometimes wanting to say "Boys, boys...."   This
has
forced me to a bout of introspection which brings me to this realization.:
I found fault with fault finders.  I've hated haters.  I'm prejudiced
against prejudiced people.  I'm bigoted about
bigots.  I've noticed this before that I can commit the act I might condemn.
My apology is sincere.  I hope I've learned something about my own behaviour
and will do better.

 (My favorite saying is "Nobody's Perfect" and I apparently live to prove
the point.)

My interest in Mark Twain started while I was at St.John's College, the
so-called
Great Books school in Annapolis, Maryland.   I parfticipated in a
demonstration seminar
for some group in Washington, DC, with students from each of the four
years.  The book we read and discussed was Huckleberry Finn and I remember
being shocked that it
could ever be considered a children's book.  My favorite part, of course,
was his choice
to do wrong and not turn Jim in.  I agreed thjat it was a Great Book, of
course.

I'm in my anecdotage, so forgive me if I wander on my way to my point;
which is that
I thought about the St.John's program  built around seminars twice a week on
the books we read.  We addressed each other formally:  Mr. & Miss & Ms.  I
can't remember any occasion when we criticized another instead of  the ideas
expressed.
Differences of opinion or insights were freely expressed and offense was
never taken.

I'm speaking of the obvious, already mentioned by others .  If we just tried
very
hard to never resort to personal attacks, we could continue to enjoy the
wonderful
exchanges I've seen so often here.

I grieve at each resignation because I'm just getting to know you all.  I'm
working at
sorting you out and don't hope to completely succeed.  The embarasing part
is that
I sometimes own a book you've written.  Sigh.  Forgive me for any future
gaffes.

What I've learned is that we have a very interesting group of people here,
and I
look forward in hearing more that any of you have to say.  (I'll confess, I
have loved the personal revelations in the last few days.)

I think of Mark Twain as the most interesting figure we've ever had in this
country..  I even rate him above Ben Franklin, my second candidate for tht
position.  But for variety of experience,  travel, career, interests,
losses, writings, opinions, attachments, you can't beat our Mark Twain.

One more thing.  I plan to write from my account at home from now on so that
noone will mistakenly think I TEACH at CSUS.  I'm a student, primarily so
that I can use their library.

Hoping to become a more active part of your community,
Arianne Laidlaw

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 4:05 PM, Ken Rasmussen <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I greatly appreciate the spirit of Arianne's remarks, but I should make it
> clear that I am NOT the Forum's list administrator. That thankless job
> belongs to my dear friend Kevin Bochynski, who has long been one of the
> most
> selfless and generous people whom I've ever known. Without his patient and
> unremunerated toil, the Mark Twain Forum would have died years ago.