To all subscribers: It's 8:30 and a beautiful Friday morning. I want to apologize to everyone on the list for a couple things: Perhaps I exhibited bad etiquette by not responding so often to the list. I find, as many of you may also, that I quite often in life jump from one thing to another rather quickly. For a while I got excited by classical music and now have several books and a few hundred CDs in my library. Then it was film and I developed quite an affinity for mail-order (yikes) and so I have stacks and stacks of videotapes--not to mentioned being betaed by laser-disc. My point--I bought several, in fact most, of Salinger's books a few weeks before I signed on to the list (a renewed interest) and thus sought out something like this on the web. Nevertheless, the leitmotif of my adult life dictated that I get bored with the subject (sorry). So, no, I didn't speak up. I apologize. What usually would galvanize me into speaking up were subjects off the subject, such as the recent discussion (which I won't mention here). I'm about to graduate as a fiction writer and literature major and have developed certain anitpathies to certain ideas over the last few years. My mistake was, I admit, making blanket statements without immediately backing them up. MY ALACRITY TO RESPOND GOT IN THE WAY OF MY BEING CIRCUMSPECT. (ever happen to any of you?) In fact, I deserved the original responses. What I don't feel I deserved was the name calling, but I have forgiven. ANother trick, I feel I am rather good at, is subtle condescension. And, of course, many of you have developed some prowess in this as well. You know who you are. :) These are things I know I should work on in this environment. What I'm getting at: Discussions like this are no problem for me in person, face to face. For several semesters I have spent time in seminars where I distribute my own work to everyone in the class and am forced to sit through an hour or two of each class mate picking at it (I'm sure many of you have experienced this as well). In that situation, we all can be quite gentil and very often ferocious. Fortunately, these conversations always end in drinks and laughs at a local bar, or even handshakes and jokes in the hallways. I guess, on the internet, we lose certain amenities of physical contact, real world discussion. Like making a sarcastic remark but being able to crack a smile that tells the person you're only kidding. As I said before, even when it seemed to be getting ugly, I was laughing at my desk. I guess it's hard to relay that with a :) or a j/k. Finally, I apologize for an extra long message and hope that in, at least this one response, no one will take offense. And, perhaps, as a newcomer to the list (intellectually if not physically), I can help you all better understand the feelings of "alienation and censure" a "newbie" may feel (perhaps wrongly) when at first he chooses to speak. I hope everyone of you has a great day. I promise to make an effort to avoid condescension (and to avoid it when I see it) and to avoid falsely attempting axiomatic statements. Peace and a good day to all!