I would like to remind the readers that there is another Mark Twain site overlooked that is devoted to Mark Twain studies -- The Mark Twain Birthplace Historic Site in Florida, Missouri, and the journal, The Twainian, that dates back to January 1939 and published by the Mark Twain Research Foundation. John Huffman Historic Site Administrator Mark Twain Birthplace SHS Union Covered Bridge SHS (573)565-3449 Fax- (573)565-3718 [log in to unmask] "Jim Leonard" <[log in to unmask]> Sent by: "Mark Twain Forum" <[log in to unmask]> 03/21/2008 08:58 AM Please respond to "Mark Twain Forum" <[log in to unmask]> To [log in to unmask] cc Subject carrying the daily news Thanks to Kevin Bochynski for taking action on the David Fears problem. An occasional slip is excusable, but Mr. Fears' refusal to make any concession to the prevalent standards and concerns was too extreme. If we continued to participate in a forum in which racial slurs and personal insults were taken as acceptable, we'd all be functioning as his co-conspirators. Thanks, too, to those who spoke up on behalf of Jocelyn Chadwick--a distinguished Mark Twain scholar who feels deep concern about the damage that can be done by insensitive references to ethnic stereotypes, and who acts on that concern. Mr. Fears' allusion to her as "someone [who] even tearfully quit the forum" over such matters is intolerable. Mr. Fears also suggested that some of us feel a "proprietary" relation to the Mark Twain Forum. As one of the small original group who signed up for the Forum when Taylor Roberts first launched it somewhere back in the dim reaches of the 1990s (and a continuous subscriber ever since), I do have something of a proprietary feeling about it--and about Mark Twain studies in general. The Forum is one of a number of valuable elements of Mark Twain scholarship--including the Mark Twain Circle (and its publications, The Mark Twain Annual and the Mark Twain Circular), The Mark Twain Journal, The Mark Twain Project at Berkeley, the Japan Mark Twain Society (and its journal, Mark Twain Studies), the Mark Twain sites (Elmira, Hartford, Hannibal, and the perhaps-emerging one at Redding), and Mark Twain websites such as those maintained by Barbara Schmidt and Steven Railton (though the excellent site formerly maintained by Jim Zwick is now unfortunately dismantled)--all of which blend together to yield a framework housing what feels like a true community of scholars. The Forum is, for day-to-day communication, the glue that holds the framework together. And so: a toast to Kevin and Pegge Bochynski and the Mark Twain Forum. And if Taylor Roberts still reads the Forum (and since he's still identified as Associate Administrator, I suppose he does), a toast to him, too. --Jim Leonard