April 1998 L&SF Online Bulletin
Subj: L&SF Online Bulletin, April 1998
Date: 98-04-07 10:08:28 EDT
From: ocls@ipa.net (George Elgin, Suzette Haden Elgin)
To: ocls@ipa.net
April 7, 1998 -- L&SF Online Bulletin
Greetings and frazzled salutations! We are in our usual state of March-to-November Chaos here, except that this year it's truly worse than usual. I am so glad that we closed down the nursery business at the beginning of this year; if we hadn't, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like here.
1. Outrageously Brief Chaos Summary in three segments, leaving out the gardens and the grannying and the et ceteras.....
## I am working *very* hard trying to promote "How to Turn the Other Cheek," with zero support from the publisher -- literally zero -- and resistance from the media of a kind I've only run into before in conjunction with touch dominance. People call for interviews about "your latest book," and then when they hear what the latest book *is,* they switch to "the one before that." Nothing I can do moves them from that position. And yet, the book seems to be selling. I think that the problem is a genuine terror of the possibility that (a) the instruction to return good for evil is supposed to be taken seriously, and (b) that there's actually a way to do that if you're willing to try. I don't intend to give up; something has to be done about this "religion/spirituality is combat" mess. Note: If anyone has seen a review of the book anywhere, I'd be grateful to know about it; my thanks to Laura Mallard for the review she sent, which is the only one I've seen.
## The grandmothering book that's coming out in September from Abbeville is getting intense and welcome attention from the editor and publisher. Which is wonderful, but is taking huge chunks of time. I'll probably be touring for that book this fall, which means I have to plan for at least two lost weeks in my schedule -- somewhere. No way to know where/when at this point.
And I must say that I've been flabbergasted at how little material exists out there for grandmothers. There's all kinds of grand*parent* stuff, but almost nothing for grandmothers, even when you search the Web up one side and down the other. If anyone knows of a magazine or newsletter specifically for grandmothers, would you let me know as quickly as possible? I've been unable to find a single one....
## I am slogging along with the Plenum book on multilingualism and the power of language, trying hard to finish one chapter a month -- maybe get one chapter ahead in anticipation of losing September or October to a book tour. Each chapter -- I kid you not -- is equivalent to writing a moderately-sized monograph. It will be worth it in the long run, and I'm delighted to have had the opportunity to do it, but it's not easy. My thanks to all of you who have sent answers to my "deniability" and business meeting questions....
2. I've been visiting four Websites that I want to mention here in case you aren't already familiar with them. One is the "Salon" site [www.salonmagazine.com], which has a complete archive of articles on the various Clinton scandals and the associated conspiracy theory. Next, the "Edge" site -- a magazine that strikes me as custom-tailored for members of the L&SF network ---- is at [www.edge.org]. Delightful stuff is to be found at the MIT Medialab; go to [www.media.mit.edu/MediaLab/overview.html] and proceed from there. Finally, there's a beginner's guide (and various other guides) to effective email, posted at [www.webfoot.com/advice/email.top.html].
3. The next issue of the newsletter is the Verbal Self-Defense issue. It won't be as late or as be-typoed at the last one, Providence willing -- because this is not a 28-day month and neither George nor I has the flu and George has promised me that he'll get our copier fixed so we won't have to have the copying done at American Speedy as we did for 17:4. If you have any special requests for things to be discussed in 17:5, please let me know ASAP. And then, last in this volume, comes the Editor's Choice issue. If you have a particular topic that you'd like considered for this year, now's the time to tell me, so that I can start gathering material immediately.
4. I'll be reviewing Deborah Cameron's book, "Verbal Hygiene," in the May/June issue, and would welcome any input you might have. Verbal hygiene is exactly what you might think it is; attempts to make language clean and tidy and inoffensive. As defined, it's what I do; Cameron doesn't approve of it.
5. No, I can't take credit for having written Gennifer Flowers' name as "Germifer Flowers" in the last issue; it was just one of the multitude of errors I made because I was trying to work much too fast. I don't believe I would have done that on purpose, in any case; I sincerely hope not.
6. I *think* that we have at last found a publisher for a reprint edition of "Native Tongue"; if nothing goes wrong at this final stage, it will happen. Something can always go wrong at the final stage, in publishing; just think of HarperCollins, which recently cancelled 100 books that had already been signed and sealed, with advances already paid to the authors! But we're hoping, and I'll let you know.
We'll be on the road a great deal in May; if you don't hear from me or can't reach me, I am probably away -- I'll catch up as quickly as possible. I hope to see some of you at Conquest in May, Conestoga in June, and/or Conjuration in July.....
Best wishes, in unseemly haste,
Suzette
PS: It sometimes happens that when a member decides not to renew, I fail to delete his or her email address and the Bulletin continues to go out. If that's happening to you, I apologize; just email me with "delete" in the message space and I'll take you off the list immediately.
