Re: Alt List correspondence on "Nabble'

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> Subject: RE: Alt List correspondence on "Nabble'
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>> DEAR CHRISTINA,
>> My name, Bob Kiss, is not among those that you feel assured are "real
>> people". I am not sure if I am not sufficiently significant to be
>> mentioned
>> or if my name is "...just too clever". Well, Eric Neilsen has met
>> me as has
>> Steve Shapiro so, indeed, I am that I am. Also I have gone to the
>> trouble
>> of building a web site in my name. Kiss is a VERY common name in
>> Eastern
>> Europe (my Dad was from Moravia).
>> Believe me, my name has cost me dearly as an adolescent (viz the
>> song "A Boy
>> Named Sue") and many of my e-mails wind up on my friend's spam
>> boxes labeled
>> "sexual content". I WISH!!!
>> In summary, "Just remember this...a Kiss is just a Kiss...a sigh
>> is just a
>> sigh...the fundamental things remain..." etc., etc.
>> CHEERS!
>> BOB
>>
>> Please check my website: http://www.bobkiss.com/

Bob and All:
This reminds me of a time when I was teaching statistics, when I
announced, just before students started taking the final, that I had
their term papers graded and ready to pick up when they handed in the
final, rather than taking time out of the test period to hand them
out before the test. To reassure them (I thought) I said that the
papers were great, with only one exception. It didn't occur to me
that all the good students would assume that they must be the one
exception, and would suffer anxiety over it the whole time they were
taking the test. (The one exception probably couldn't have cared
less). One learns from one's mistakes, and needless to say I never
did that again.

But this kind of blanket innuendo is exactly the kind of thing that
makes this list weird sometimes; someone throws out that kind of
backhanded anonymous accusation, and everyone else is left to think,
what does she mean by that? Who does she mean by that? Does she mean
me? Probably many people on the list who weren't included in the
roster of names that were specifically excluded from the accusation,
have wondered, does she mean me? And if so, why me?

The other thing I object to in that rather inflammatory, uncollegial
and elitist statement, other than the fact that it was made at all,
is the suggestion that anyone on the list who hasn't been personally
met by Chris is somehow suspect, or that only people who frequent
APIS and educators' conferences are assumed to be legitimate members
of the list.

And about the credentials --- who here has ever made a deal of their
credentials? I can't think of anyone who has, in fact one thing I
like about this list, and some other photo lists I have belonged to
like the large format list, is that people don't make a fuss over
their credentials. You know that some people are academics, and
others are professional gallery artists, and others are hobbyists,
and others are well-known photographers, but it doesn't matter which
are which; in my experience expertise is not highly correlated with
credentials (as a matter of fact some of the most unadulterated
nincompoops I've ever run across are Ph.D.s, and I can say that
because I have a Ph.D. myself.) But please, let's not start making an
artificial distinction between "credentialed" and "not-credentialed"
people. To my mind, the only credentials required here are: do you
know your stuff, or not. If you do, it doesn't matter if you don't
have a degree in the subject; your expertise will speak for itself.
If you don't, the degree won't help you here. My 2cents,

Katharine (My name IS Katharine Thayer, and I have no credentials
other than the prints themselves and a small regional following. I
haven't been to APIS, although I tried to get there twice, but that
doesn't make me any less real.)
Received on 07/01/06-02:39:05 PM Z