Re: positively final appearance

jordie chambers (jordiekc@rocketmail.com)
Mon, 07 Jun 1999 13:02:31 -0700 (PDT) 

Scottie, I'm sleeveless, I'm glad you chose to stay. 
Personally, I had no idea you were planning to leave.  I
do believe I can learn from you and your writing
especially.  I guessing you are or were a writer by trade,
are you?  I'm not sure what I'm going to write yet when I
give these words a second inspection, so brace yourself,
could be a sluicer (btw, thanks, I'd never heard the word
before and was looking for another to replace
seeing-eye-door - do you think I'd be safe from the
literal connotations of the word, considering that
seeing-eye-doors are usually in supermarkets and
what-nots?)   

---Scottie Bowman <rbowman@indigo.ie> wrote:
>
> 
>     There are few more laughable sights than the listserv
>     prima donna who is forever threatening to flounce
>     off stage in the hope of hearing the entreaties being
>     shouted from a suddenly guilt-stricken audience.
> 
I don't think so, I think it's sad and dramatic for any
undue goodbye, no matter what the banality cowards might
believe.

>     I don't see how I can easily avoid this particular
role -
>     especially when the withered cheeks are still flushed
>     with the sort of flattery offered by the likes of Tim,
>     Paul, Mike ...
> 
Sycophants they are not, except Paul, and I'm leaving that
exception in open ground simply because I haven't had the
empirical knowledge to greet his acquaintance as I should.
 I never trust strangers, and I don't blame you people for
it either.

>     I can only throw myself on the mercy of that same
>     audience & ask them to believe that my protests were
>     honest ones.  I really DO think we should discipline
>     ourselves a bit more - or at least that  *I* should -
>     & not go on indulging the kind of codology that
>     I've always found just too easy to churn out.

Codology, like the cadence.  It's not in my dictionary but
I assume it means undisciplined prose.  In that case, I
agree.
> 
>     Never forget the words of that great perfumed nancy,
>     E.M. Hemingway:
>             'The great thing is to last & get your work
done
>             & see & hear & learn & understand; & write
when
>             there is something that you know; & not
before;
>             & not too damned much after. [….] The thing
to do
>             is work & learn to make it ...'
> 
>     
I've scribbled that down.  I'd like to know the ending of
the quote but, knowing Ernest as I don't, I'm guessing
he's pulling a Captain Ahab.  It's a chaseable
unchasability, this life.  How unpoetic and crude, I'll
revert to the credo on my wall, from Death in the
Afternoon, Chapter 16:

There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and
time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their
acquiring.  They are the very simplest things and because
it takes a man's life to know them the little new that
each man gets from life is very costly and the only
heritage he has to leave. 

(1932 - I pasted a picture of Sam Nichols on the 8.5 by 11
paper, not for any good reason, he's just a photogenic
fella')
It would be ridiculous - with those words in mind -
>     to do any more unnecessary flouncing.  I shall, of
course,
>     stick around.  But I hope with the sluice gates
swinging
>     open a little less often.

I'll try my darndest to help you keep them closed,
Scottie.  By the way, I never felt like I was insulting
you, and if I did, I'm sorry.  Personally, I like Scottie
of the starship enterprise.  I liked the movie, Silence of
the Lambs, but I didn't like Lector.  I don't think you're
Hannibal Lector.  I hardly know you.  I don't believe age
should mean very much when it comes to e-lists, but I do
respect your words.  Sorry again, if my responses don't
agree with my respect.
> 
> 
>     Scottie B.
> 
> 
> 

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com