Just replies to e-mails as I go through the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com).
A) If the members are sick of something, there's no point in e-mailing about it. I'm one member. If the community says "No more," then it's no more.
B) If you're someone who's e-mailed and felt you should have had a response, by all means e-mail again. But there are too many e-mails in the public account which is why you need to be specific in your titles. Most working the public account (Martha, Shirley, Eli, Jess, Ava and myself) will delete it without reading if it looks like spam. There's not enough time. Four people were apparently deleted without being read for that reason. You need to be clear in your e-mail heading what you're writing and titles like "Can I trust you?" (if you have to ask, then, no, you can't), "Urgent" or "Repond please" will be seen as spam (to cite only a few popular titles by spammers).
C) If you're Dumb Ass, it was made clear that you wouldn't be read. Stop e-mailing. I'll also assume those unread e-mails deal with things other at websites so, I'll repeat, the public address does not exist for you to whine about something someone posted at another site.
D) Members e-mail to the private accounts. Those get worked more often. When others go through the public account, they move any e-mail that they think I need to read into another folder. I check that as often as possible. Otherwise, I get a report on the e-mails. If you're moved to the "Must Read" folder, you are read by me (you're also read by me if you're on the top four pages when I check the public account -- that's 100 e-mails and that's generally all the time I have in one sitting to read). If a reply's needed, I do reply when I read. (Actually, I reply and it goes to the "Draft" folder. Ron long ago explained the need for that to me. I send out no e-mails myself. So you've got another delay on top of the ones listed.)
E) Ruth plans a report for later today. She had one planned last weekend but pulled it. This was addressed at The Third Estate Sunday Review last Sunday. I haven't made a point to link to the piece with a "Here's why Ruth has no report" because it was feared by others involved in that piece that if I did so, ____ would see it as an opening to avoid writing Jess (at thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com) to offer the apology he needs to give Jess. Ruth won't be addressing it specifically for the same reason (I just got off the phone with her). She did have a report planned, she'd made notes on it and, for reasons explained at The Third Estate Sunday Review, suddenly was without a report. This has been addressed in community newsletters but a number of visitors have e-mailed about it this morning. She did not have a family emergency, she was not "blowing off" her report, and she's not sick. She's fine and plans a report for later today.
F) A vistitor was "thrilled" that Isaiah did two comics this week: Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Casual Lunch" and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Karl Rove Leaves the Administration". The visitor wondered why Isaiah can't do a comic every day? Because he has life. He is also doing comics for Maria, Miguel and Francisco's newsletter and for Hilda's. Visitors may only see one comic a week (or none if he's taking the weekend off) but he's doing three already. The visitor offers a list of suggested comics. That e-mail's not going to get to Isaiah. I've trashed it because Isaiah has explained that's not helpful. He has to visualize the comic himself. He's been doing illustrations for the community over two years. If you need to see more of his illustrations, you should use the link provided in each comic to look at past work. Going to Flickr will not help you. We used to use Hello! until it ended its arrangement with Blogger/Blogspot December 31, 2006 (with no notice that it was ending the partnership, no heads up to users). We then switched to Flickr. However, not all of his comics are up at Flickr because there have been Sundays when Flickr either wouldn't take it or took hours and hours. He has considered creating an archived site and actually planned to do so before he started doing illustrations for two community newsletters. Time for him, like everyone else, is limited. What happens to the originals? Some he's held on to, some he's passed on to members. ("The Peace Resister" is framed and hung in Rebecca's mother-in-law's house so it's not "available." Nor are any to visitors. I know Elaine has several framed throughout her place as well. He usually sends the hard copy original onto her if it's a movie parody.) Isaiah and I are working together on something else that will hopefully be done here next month. For more on Isaiah, you can see the May 2005 piece at The Third Estate Sunday Review "Talking With Isaiah, The Common Ills cartoonist" (there's at least one other interview but I'm forgetting the title and the last template switch by The Third Estate Sunday Review screwed up the archives. I'm not remembering the title of it and don't feel like playing with Google for twenty to thirty minutes to find it.)
G) Kat has had a stomach virus as well as many other things going on in her life. She has a draft she's editing of her latest CD review. It should post on Sunday morning. If she or I remember, it will post no later than 8:00 am EST. She is now holding them for Sundays so that there's something up Sunday mornings due to the fact that I'm usually very late here on that day due to the all night writing edition (which stretch into all morning) at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Her review that should post tomorrow is on the latest Cowboy Junkies' CD.
H) Folding Star ran A Winding Road (at Blogger/Blogspot and at Blogdrive). FS remains a member but got sick of blogging for several reasons. The current websites of that name (at Blogger/Blogspot and Blogdrive) are not run by FS (though someone's made a real attempt to make it look as though they are). FS deleted both sites after deciding to stop blogging. That was either the fourth community website started (after this one, after Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude and after Third Estate Sunday Review). Some of Folding Star's posts are quoted in The Third Estate Sunday Review's archives, some are re-posted in full there.
You can see The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Folding Star interviewed by C.I." for more of FS.
I) The Beatitudes is a new book by Lyn LeJeune and the royalties go to "directly to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation as part of The Beatitudes Network Campaign, dedicated to rebuilding the public libraries of New Orleans." Libraries are one of our most important physical resources and, certainly, the libraries in New Orleans need assistance because so much was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The book:
portrays New Orleans as Dante's purgatory, a place where the sins of men are exposed for all to see, where redemption is close at hand but most often lost.
This world is revealed by the lives of two social workers, Hannah Dubois (white and nicknamed Scrimp) and Earlene Washington (African-American and nicknamed Pinch), who start their own business, Social Investigations, in order to solve the murders of ten foster children in New Orleans, Louisiana. The NOPD, the Catholic Church, and politicians have sidestepped clues that point to those who hold great power. As Hannah and Earlene find more and more evidence, they also know that they are dealing with a force that crosses into the realm of the paranormal. The murderers are part of a secret organization called the White Army (la Armee Blanc), centered in New Orleans, but rooted in Medieval Europe and the Children’s Crusades. Each clue leads to a beatitude and each chapter defines the novel: The Pure of Heart, The Persecuted, The Merciful, The Sorrowful, The Peacemakers, The Meek, The Poor in Spirit, and Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Justice. The Beatitudes is thus a study of good and evil, and that act, the murder of innocent children, which encompasses all of the seven deadly sins. The Beatitudes is Book I in The New Orleans Trilogy.
You can find out more information by visiting The Beatitudes website. As funds are steered elsewhere, all public libraries need support and if the book is interesting to you, a purchase would help out the New Orleans public library system.
That's a reply to some of the e-mails I'm coming across this morning. After Jess got burned, less and less people will receive personal replies when they write the public account which is common_ills@yahoo.com.
