Laura McCaffery <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: No Subject

> I have to saym Bravo.....there ARE many thing wrong with the
> school system, but I think trying to homogenize is the worst
> sin.  Pasteur has a lot to answer for.  Both my children are
> products of the public schools as is my granddaughter. They
> all have a cultural literacy background that is enviable.
>  Perhaps too many parnets find it easier to complain that
> listen and nurture.  NMost of the dire comparisons are for
> averages, not per centages and do not take into account the
> changing attitudes toward employable and a whole lot more
> sociological and attitudinal cinsiderations.  As a librarian
> I work daily with products of and students in all kinds of
> schools including those of the home school....the contrast
> is inetresting and surprising.  Attitude, demeanor anad
> social skills tell.   The first 1 -3 years and being read to
> are important.

        Well, the litany you hear outside the US is usually on how bad the
american schools are. Which means what it means, very little, because I
surely haven't had the opportunity to check.

########################

From:    Robert Micallef <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: From: SF-LIT Digest - 19 Nov 1997 to 20 Nov 1997

>>      If you have a deep faith in a religion then you will
>> put all of you mind into making that god real.  You will
>> see signs in the context of that god.  Humans need gods to
>> make sense out of the unexplainable.

> Well I suppose that was the point of my original post to
> Nicola.  Simply put, we should avoid saying case closed on
> any interpretation of myth and symbolism.  I have no problem
> with your Freudian interpretation, 'the gods are a neurotic
> need for authority figures.'  I guess it might work?  But
> your unequivocal reply seems to say that its the only
> possible 'scientific interpretation.  Why?  Based upon what?
>  Why not Wayne's Jungian notion? Still I'm not sure what all
> this says about fantasy and speculative fiction-- but its
> darn interesting!

        Well, I noticed this detail in Negative Burn's posting only now, so I
apologize if I'm answering through Robert Micallef's one. While I agree
with Robert that any interpretation of myth and gods - mine included - give
only one aspect of the whole story, I pray not to make confusion between
having personality and being real. Four cases can be distinguished: gods
with or without personality and human beings able or unable to perceive it.




        Nicola
        [log in to unmask]

        Hear the love-fire tangled
        in the reed notes, as bewilderment
        melts into wine. The reed is a friend
        to all who want the fabric torn
        and drawn away. The reed is hurt
        and salve combining. Intimacy
        and longing for intimacy, one
        song. A disastrous surrender
        and a fine lover, together.

        - Jelaluddin Rumi