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Bits and pieces
Mon, Nov. 3rd, 2003 07:30 amStill writing. Got lots done yesterday. More to be done today. In the news...
Alumni blues
I attended Wellington C. Mepham High School on Long Island. The school was known primarily for two things: strong academics and an overwhelming athletics emphasis. Being a Drama Club girl, the latter was always a sore point for me, as athletics gobbled up almost all funding for extracurricular activities. Well, the news this academic year is that several students on the Mepham football team have been charged with assault and a raft of other offenses in a pretty dramatic hazing incident that's gotten national attention, drawn protest from a group of misguided anti-gay protestors from Kansas who seem to think the incident was about homosexuality rather than intimidation, and apparently created a huge rift in the community. I'm quite saddened by the whole affair but, in some ways, not entirely surprised. Mepham had the classic "Jocks Rule" attitude in its social structure, and the administration was notorious for giving the athletes more leeway than almost any other portion of the student body. My suspicion is that all of that is about to change.
Science fiction blues
Science fiction Grand Master Hal Clement a.k.a Harry Stubbs died last week. He was the Guest of Honor at the first science fiction convention I ever attended, and at the time I, frankly, had no idea who he was. Time, my career, and the occasional gracious personal encounter changed all that. I didn't know him well at all, but my impression was of a sweet man with a love of the field. It's a loss to the genre. Several days later, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach also went to the great publishing house in the sky. A sad week for science fiction. The last five years have been tough in this respect. As I look over the Science Fiction Writers of America obit archive, it's quite sobering.
Okay, enough of the blues. Time to get back to work.
Alumni blues
I attended Wellington C. Mepham High School on Long Island. The school was known primarily for two things: strong academics and an overwhelming athletics emphasis. Being a Drama Club girl, the latter was always a sore point for me, as athletics gobbled up almost all funding for extracurricular activities. Well, the news this academic year is that several students on the Mepham football team have been charged with assault and a raft of other offenses in a pretty dramatic hazing incident that's gotten national attention, drawn protest from a group of misguided anti-gay protestors from Kansas who seem to think the incident was about homosexuality rather than intimidation, and apparently created a huge rift in the community. I'm quite saddened by the whole affair but, in some ways, not entirely surprised. Mepham had the classic "Jocks Rule" attitude in its social structure, and the administration was notorious for giving the athletes more leeway than almost any other portion of the student body. My suspicion is that all of that is about to change.
Science fiction blues
Science fiction Grand Master Hal Clement a.k.a Harry Stubbs died last week. He was the Guest of Honor at the first science fiction convention I ever attended, and at the time I, frankly, had no idea who he was. Time, my career, and the occasional gracious personal encounter changed all that. I didn't know him well at all, but my impression was of a sweet man with a love of the field. It's a loss to the genre. Several days later, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach also went to the great publishing house in the sky. A sad week for science fiction. The last five years have been tough in this respect. As I look over the Science Fiction Writers of America obit archive, it's quite sobering.
Okay, enough of the blues. Time to get back to work.
