no subject and New Column
- Subject: no subject and New Column
- From: J* H*
- Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 09:12:14 -0400
Barbara,
I have read the two recent posts that Glen Williams has asked that you
forward to hosta-open readers.
There seems to be something behind or within the posts that are puzzling
to me. I wondered if they appeared puzzling to other readers as well.
Let me try to summarize how I interpreted these posts.
Glen explained that he was proposing a New Question/Answer Column in the
Hosta Journal in which he would be the Arbitrator for selection of
questions to be answered by appropriate people he would select. The
criteria of the questions and answers to be selected would be whether
information being discussed was a fact or merely an opinion about a
subject.. The ground rules included the prohibition of any questions
and answers on hosta politics. Glen would use the hosta robins and their
members as resources for these questions and answers. He solicited
questions and expected hundreds by Sunday.
In my mind red flags started to wave, sirens went off and ringing and
clanging bells suggested that huge trucks with loads of large rocks were
backing up, indicating DANGER. I asked myself "What is happening?" Why
doesn't Glen subscribe to hosta-open and discuss this with everyone
there directly? Is he going to continue discussion each time through
you? No offence intended, but this seems very clumsy to me.
Now my questions to Glen....What is hosta politics? Is this an attempt
by someone in political power (such as a former secret hosta policeman,
for example) to control others by restrictions/rules/ regulations? Does
being an Arbitrator give one person power and authority to decide Truth
(also known as facts) from Fiction (also called mere opinion)? Does
selection of questions and "correct" answers
give undue power and manipulative control to one person? And/or his
friends? Who decides whether the Arbitrator is competent in science ,
for example, to determine fact from opinion?....the Arbitrator himself?
Hosta-open was created as a media to openly discuss hosta subjects of
all kinds . It is doing fine with freedom of expression available for
all to use , express and judge for themselves. I suggest that Glen may
wish to rejoin Hosta-open and find this out for himself.....but that he
leave any attempts at Manipulation and Control of others with Phoenix.
It is not acceptable at Hosta-open....AND THAT'S A FACT.
Jim Hawes
Barbara wrote:
Glen asked me to post this to the Open Robin. Here is your chance to
help the
Journal.
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 14:44:51 +0100
From: Glen Williams <gw1944@VERMONTEL.NET>
Subject: Your Questions Please
Questions Wanted
I would really appreciate as many questions as possible from the
hosta-robin-people for the new Hosta Journal Column. The title of the
column was going to be Facts and Opinions on Hostas. There are some
other
good suggestions out there so I will hold off with a final title. But,
I
mention the original title because it suggests just what we are
looking
for: questions which can be answered with facts as well as questions
which will tolerate only opinions. Much of hostadom is still at the
opinion
stage....but making steady and stoloniferous process toward facts. Any
question and answer column needs to respond to both.
The audience for such a column is the general hosta rank and file
membership, an audience that probably is not as obsessive/compulsive as
many of us are on the hosta robins.They have a real life from May -
September....and don't raise seedlings in the winter. They are good
people who simply would like to learn more with just a little effort. We
aim to please. Then they will buy more hostas, become obsessed , and
name
their children after prominent hostas.
There have been a lot of wonderful questions and answers over the past
few
years on the robins. Any of those (with the response) would be a great
resource. The next resource is you and what you've always wanted to ask
,
did , but got no answer, or were afraid to ask, because you did not
want
anyone to know that you didn't know what a chimera or a peduncle was.
Perhaps it is the unasked questions that you did not want to be seen
asking
because they appeared so basic i.e. watering, fertilizing,
transplanting.......that need asking. All is fair game for this
column.
It won't be a vehicle for hosta politics, but certainly wanting to know
something about hosta history , our early and later day hybridizers,
consumer information, questions about plants and hosta people...it's
wide
open, with the one exception.
So please send me a list of your questions ( even if they have been
answered previously), subjects you would like to see explored through
questions, opinion questions, fact questions, rumors, myths.....nearly
anything that the general, non-rabid gardener would want to know about
hostas. Maybe some questions for rabid hosta gardeners would be a good
thing too(there must be some short answers to some short scientific
questions). You can send them to me privately or publicly, e-mail
address
; gw1944@vermontel.net , phone 802-885-2839, or by snail mail : Glen
Williams, 20 Dewey St., Springfield , Vermont 05156.
The weekend is nearly here. Search the nooks and crannies of your mind.
If
you want the questions published anonymously that can be done. I hope
to
be looking at 100's of questions by Sunday. Then I will start the
search
for those people who can answer the questions. Thanks and thanks again.
glen W.
From the heart of summer in Vermont.... where it is cool and sunny and
all
the tourists raise their hands to ask directions.
Glen Williams
20 Dewey St.
Springfield , Vermont
05156
Tel: 802-885-2839
Barbara
MA Z5
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