By swing4me on Monday, January 31, 2000 - 05:34 pm: EditRondoe, that post is by Shana - I know because I know her personally...she's a real sweetie and those are her words alright... there's no reason to get her involved in any of this.
Writing on this forum is so impersonal...email, the internet... any sort of communication using the computer as the main source is so impersonal. when trying to state an opinion, one loses track of their main focus... and all the 'conversation' becomes is a battle of the wits...trying to prove one's point no matter how off the subject one gets or how low one stoops to do so.
I've actually done this myself over email with someone I've never met, while working out dates for our San Diego Lindy Exchange. I contacted an organizer from Chicago to find out if they were planning to hold another lindy exchange in April, in order to avoid date conflicts with our own. I did so out of courtesy, and at that point in time, it was me talking. But once I received a reply back that they wanted those dates, but hadn't begun planning yet... I became someone else. We exchanged many emails back and forth - basically me telling her that we were going ahead w/ April since they hadn't begun planning yet and that Chicago should give San Diego a chance to hold an exchange on the ever so busy lindy calendar, and her telling me how important it was to them to keep their annual exchange a tradition. I didn't quite go so low as to insult anyone... but I kept on picking and picking at the argument just to be the one in the right...then one night Meeshi came up to me at the Rocket and had a talk with me. He said the organizer, a friend of his, had spoken to him about the situation over the phone, and it wasn't until then that I actually 'heard' her side of the story...until a real person came up to me and spoke for her. And right at that point I felt sooo incredibly bad and I realized what I was doing. I eventually got to speak w/ her on the phone, and we worked things out... and she seems to be a very nice person and I look forward to getting to know her better when we do finally meet.
I read through some of the stuff that's posted and can't believe my eyes sometimes. Much of what is said here I would never expect to come out of anyone's mouths out in the dance scene! That's because here there's no consequences and even though people can be identified, the computer is still a kind of mask that people can hide behind...put the same two people together in one room to get to know one another and they wouldn't dare say the same things in person...
I never feel any of this tension when I go out dancing. The main reason I go out dancing is to get away from all the things I have to worry about in this complicated life - and it makes me happy to go out and most of the time it lifts me up. We talk much about how do we get more people into lindy and encourage beginners? Well, this surely isn't the way...I'd hate for any beginners or dancers from out of town to read these posts...it sure as hell wouldn't make me want to come to S.D. What an impression to make - but the scene's really not like that...the people that post such crap aren't like that... at least that's what I'd like to think...
but maybe someone will prove me wrong by bashing my post too...at least that seems like the pattern as of late.
-Valerie-