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Re: TI Editor's Letter




Poster: "Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>

On Thu, 6 Nov 1997, Julia Windsor wrote:

> I'm not in mommy mode, not now, not ever. BUT, I do enjoy the letters. 
> If you're not enjoying the letters, you don't have to read them.

While you do have a point about that, I think the real issue is about
appropriateness.  The TI editor's page is not an appropriate forum for the
editor to tell cute stories about her child, no matter how cute the
stories may be.  In an editorial, one expects to hear the editor
expressing an opinion or making a point relevant to the focus of the
publication or the interests of its readers.  *IF* that point can be
illustrated with a story from "real life" concerning said editor's child,
spouse, best friend or pet poodle, that's all to the good.  But when the
stories are not of general interest to the readership, or do not
illuminate the editor's arguments, they're unnecessary and should be left
out, because the editorial is not the correct forum for them.

Now, a concocted example of what I mean.  :-)  I love knitting.  I think
it's fascinating, and I could go on about knitting for hours.  I could
also post a quarterly report to the Merry Rose telling you all about my
knitting:  what I've finished recently, what new yarns I've tried and how
they've performed, what new techniques I've learned, etc. etc. etc.  Some
of the time I could probably relate my knitting to SCA purposes and the
mediaeval period, but a great deal of the time I probably couldn't.  (I
have absolutely no evidence for the existence of cardigans in period, for
one thing).  Some of you out there might find these reports entertaining,
and perhaps even informative.  All of you would have the right to delete
them unread if you so chose.  But I'd wager that a fair number of you
would find them irritating, and that I'd get a fair number of nasty-grams
asking me please to shut up about the knitting already, because the Merry
Rose is NOT a forum for knitting, it's a forum for SCA topics.  If I
really want to share my knitting experiences, I'd do much better to
discuss them on the knitlist or on the usenet yarn group.  Likewise, if
the editor of TI really wants to share stories about her child(ren), she
should do so in a context designed for that purpose - Parenting magazine
or someplace like that - rather than in a magazine which is directed
toward members of the SCA and topics relevant to historic recreation. 

Alianora
*****************************************************************************
Stephanie M. Thorson			|  SCA: Lady Alianora Munro
Dept. of Scottish History		|  Clan White Wing
University of St Andrews		|  Tarkhan, Khanate Red Lion

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