Overposters Anonymous

[Project Willow]

Wow. I can't believe Alice is leaving!

Yes, and all the departures are sad, but everything she said makes sense to me. There are certain topics that I do not post to because I don't feel as if I've studied them in depth enough to add to the discussion in a productive way. Those topics often overlap with Alice's main interests. Even though I've read much of her writing and have witnessed and give great credence to the respect she engenders here, our paths have rarely crossed. When they've crossed, however, her contributions have been very valuable. So Alice, I understand and wish you well.

I had occasion a few months ago to review a number of my own postings to RI over the last 5 years (OK, I was bored and having DID couldn't remember my interactions with a certain troll a few years back). It became apparent to me that at one point, especially with respect to my area of interest, ra/mc, I had just been repeating myself. So I understand the idea of diminishing returns. There is a downside to familiarity as well. There can come a time when many of us are able to predict what other regulars will say about any given new arising situation. There comes a point when enough has been said about older topics as well, for the time being.

Even though my contributions have been waning due to everything I've stated above, I can't imagine not visiting the forum, even if periodically. Hope you'll be lurking in the interim, Alice, and that goes for the rest of you who've departed of late.

[Nordic]

I understand her motivations. She doesn't mess around, that Alice, she doesn't chat and write anything frivolous, she gets in here and she writes stuff that really counts. I can't imagine the mental energy that goes into what she does.

Me, I just sorta fart around about 80% of the time .... like now .....

I'm just sure I haven't learned everything that she can teach me yet. Maybe I should dig into her archives when I have the time.

Nobody else I know has her point of view.

[Simulist]

Since I rarely make my way into the Lounge, I didn't notice until today that Alice was leaving the board.

Alice, if you happen to read this, I want to thank you for all of the heartfelt and illuminating posts you've shared over the years, and I sincerely hope you decide to come back some day.

I think I'd like you very much if I ever were to meet you, and I wish many good and happy things for you and your dear family.

[stefano]

I also only opened this thread now... I'm very sorry you won't be posting any more, Alice, but know that what you've already put on this forum stand as a very rich library of information. Thank you.

Good luck with the things you put your energy into now. I've also, since moving, started to feel the urgency of involvement in concrete activities and activism; I hope I can bring just half as much to my schemes as I'm confident you'll bring to yours.

Thalla f'rassek.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Second, I've wanted to thank Peregrine for that lovely Bach piece that you posted in the "what are you listening to right now?" thread. I downloaded it and it now forms an integral part of my kitchen music repertoire, inspiring me and encouraging me to take my time so that I produce good food.

If it was the concerto for two violins, that was me, and I'm glad you like it. To me, that piece is joyous.

Third, I want to say that it's also a small thing, but I was more discouraged by Joe's "friendly" characterization of what I wrote as "shit" than I was with all the nonsense spewed by what's-his-face.

I honestly don't think Joe meant to refer to your writings by that. I imagine he meant it in a more general way and certainly not disrespectfully to you.

Sorry you feel the need to go and I hope you return eventually. Even if I don't always agree, I always find your writing interesting.

Peace.

NO I didn't mean it to refer to you Alice.


If you are referring to the when I called 17 breezes a joke ... well perhaps I should have said Zionists rule the world stuff, instead of shit.

I had fire brigade shit to do last night. And tonight, and on the weekend, and its stopping me doing my footy club shit (including playing on Saturday, in the Anzac Day game, which is something I love doing.) I'm a foul mouthed yob so I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression to you.

So "That Zionists rule the world stuff"

Thats what I meant, I don't agree they rule the world, but their influence is pretty strong, I doubt they "call the shots" either, I guess we'll never see eye to eye on that.. Also alice, FWIW I appreciate your take on Zionism alot more now - thats its an ideology shared by people who are not necessarily Jewish. I actually think that way myself now thanks to you.

I know we have had our disagreements, but I appreciate your POV alot more now than I did 3 years ago, and I am glad you were so staunch about it.

I do hope you at least come back every now and then, even if its just to say to say hi, cos believe it or not, if I am away from here for a while, or I don't see you post, I often wonder about you, your family, and hope they and you are doing and staying well.

Egypt is a fascinating and extremely complex country undergoing enormous changes: it's a very turbulent time to be here, and I'm lucky enough to have the chance to meet and engage in dialogue with individuals who are in the front lines of change here, but all too often I've taken a rain check, saying I was too tired, or not interested (enough).

The nagging feeling has become a certainty: I have to go. Everything I've needed to say, I've already said. It took years, but now I have nothing valuable to add. You know what I know.

I doubt that last bit, but I do totally understand where you are coming from. Especially wrt the "real world" and how sometimes you have to engage with it - its so easy online sometimes compared to really doing the hard work in the real world. So good luck with the changes in Egypt. And get involved where yo can. I know we disagree on some things, but I am convinced you have a huge store of basic decency and a sense of people deserving a "fair go".

I'm sure thats something Egypt needs in spades during times of change - everywhere does really. (I know its something Australia needs by the truckload right now, and its sposed to be one of our cultural myths.)

And please leave your account open.

Take care and good luck, and I hope the future brings good stuff to you and your family.

[Allegro]

I’ve not yet found the essay of some length, a very sensitive essay you wrote years back at RI. If you’ll remember, you were recalling I think a day in a university classroom, listening to a story that included a scene in which people who were holding each others’ hands were stood against posts and in front of a squad of arms men. The first-read of the essay at that time had a profound effect, and that memory lives now. You ended the piece with something like, ‘it’s not that we had lived here, but who we were while we lived.’ You are not forgotten.

I found Alice’s essay here, and I was on the right track; unsurprisingly, I had misremembered some details expressed by her.

Toward the bottom of the page, you’ll see the introduction to her essay begins after Starroute’s response. Alice began

That is not at all what I meant. There's nothing "normal" about these people, and the problem, as I see it, is that neither they nor most of US fully appreciate the horror of what we are making, either through our actions or through our inaction. [More].