Linguistics & Science Fiction Network Online Bulletin
August 5, 1998
Greetings, one and all! Sorry I'm late -- we had a weather glitch. (A very *welcome* weather glitch, I hasten to add, after almost a month of drought and blazing heat.)
1. In June and July we went to two sf conventions: Conestoga, in Tulsa; and Conjuration, in Columbia, Missouri. Conestoga was just plain excellent -- a small and elegant and interesting and well-run event. I recommend it highly, and want to mention that next year it will probably have not only the regular sf programming but also an academic sf track that runs concurrently with the other Saturday program track. If you'd be interested in an academic sf session, let me know and I'll keep you posted on developments.
The hotel is *very* nice, but pricey enough to make lining up a roommate to share costs a good idea. My sf poetry workshop was a total failure, with not a single person showing up -- but that's all right; I was scheduled at the same time as the Guest of Honor interview with Connie Willis (unavoidable -- SOMEthing had to share that time slot), and if I'd had to choose between those two items I would have gone to hear Connie Willis too. Since nobody showed up at my workshop, I *did* go hear Connie Willis, and it was terrific; more in the upcoming newsletter. ***
Conjuration was another matter entirely; all I intend to say to you is that I won't be going to any future Conjurations, under any circumstances. Not ever.
2. There's an article I'll be bringing up in the next deadtree issue, and discussing in detail -- but I want to let you know about it right now. It's written by David Grossman, titled "Trained to Kill," and is on pp. 31-39 of the August 10, 1998 issue of Christianity Today. You may not read religious magazines (or may not read Christian magazines); please don't let that keep you from looking at this piece. Grossman -- by the wildest of ironies -- lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and teaches at Arkansas State University there.
His thesis is simple: the U.S. military, appalled by the reluctance soldiers showed in World War II to do any face-to-face killing, developed effective methods for "training army recruits to circumvent their natural inhibitions to killing fellow human beings." He says these methods are now a routine part of military training; the same methods, he claims, are now being used to train our children to kill. He claims that video games are part of that training, and that they are the reason for the excellent marksmanship (with guns) shown by the children who kill today.
He gives television the major portion of the blame; he doesn't mention football or other "contact" sports. He says something I've seen nowhere else: he claims that the reason murder rates are falling is not because fewer murders are being attempted but because fewer murders are *succeeding* -- more people survive than in the past, he says. He claims that the statistic to watch is not the murder rate but the aggravated assault rate, which keeps going up. He agrees with me about the pull of fame, saying that rejected kids think they can get even with people who reject them because they can get their pictures on television.
There are a lot of dots to this puzzle that he doesn't connect (perhaps because the editors wouldn't let him do so in this brief article, I don't know); but he is headed in the right direction. Please read the article; please spread the word, so that others will read it.
3. I need to let you know that George and I will be away on book tour for Abbeville (for "The Grandmother Principles") from September 1st until the middle of October; we may make it home for one or two days at the end of September, just long enough to download the email and pick up the snail mail before going back out again. (Barring acts of Providence I can't predict, you will get your September/October newsletter on time nevertheless.)
I don't have a way to pick up email on the road, unfortunately; if you need me for anything urgent during those six weeks, please leave a message on my answering machine, with a number where I can get back to you. I pick up phone messages daily. It worries me to leave our place for six weeks, with nobody looking after it (this is called "attachment to *things*," yes). However, there's a good omen: I won't have to fly. We've worked out an alternative, and George will be driving me to the New York gig. That's a great relief....
4. With my trusty agent's help, a new publisher has been found for Native Tongue. The reprint will be coming out from the Feminist Press, at City University of New York. That means that those of you who use it in your classes won't have to work from photocopies any more, and I'm very happy about that. I've offered to do a teacher's guide for the book; don't know yet if the press will let me, but I've offered. If you have any requests or suggestions about what that teacher's guide should contain, now's the time to send them along.
5. I've had so many queries about doing another Gentle Art training session that I've allowed the thought to cross my mind; if you'd be interested in attending one next spring (in Tulsa or Oklahoma City, depending), please let me know.
6. I want to close this time with a list of the most essential questions from the L&SF Network Directory Page. (Those of you who have already filled it out and have no changes to make can ignore the rest.) If you haven't filled out a page for me, or need to update yours, I'd be grateful for your responses by email so that I can get them on file. Thank you much!
L&SF NETWORK DIRECTORY PAGE QUESTIONS -- please put an asterisk by anything you want kept confidential.
First, I need your name, address, phone/fax/email.... then:
1. What is your connection with linguistics? (Just interested; academic linguist; language teacher...etc.)
2. What is your connection with science fiction? (Just interested; reader; writer; artist; editor....etc.)
3. Are you interested in getting in touch with other members?
4. I've said that language is our most powerful tool for bringing about social change and sf is our most powerful tool for trying out such changes in advance to see what they would be like.... What's your opinion on this?
5. If you could just say SHAZAM! and that would do it, what would you have the L&SF Network do? What changes would you make in the organization? What changes would you make in the newsletter?
6. Anything else you'd like on your Directory page? Information about yourself....comments....suggestions...criticisms....complaints....encouraging words.....
Till next time, then....
Suzette
