Argument...Yes.....Banishment....No

["pwmjoy@earthlink.net" <pwmjoy@earthlink.net>]

Dear ARN:

I am opposed to banishing AB for many reasons, some of which have been already elucidated by several respondents. Art is free to state: 
"Still trying after all these years? Has a ring to it, kid of like a song lyric. In any event, I called the Board to tell them to put you back in the 
classroom and this is how you treat me? Ingrate.There's a pathetic quality displayed here in both you and many of the group. We're these big, bold assessment reformers looking out for the best interests of schools, children, and democracy, but doggone it, we just can't cope with dissent and the only reason someone could disagree with us is that he is a paid agent of the testocracy. I mean, grow up. By the way, the past perfect tense of "write" is "written." You wouldn't want to make that mistake in Substance, people might think you're not really an editor." ......Ya get the victim role, the now easily recognized vocabulary like "pathetic" and "grow up", the accusation that others just can't take the "dissent" he dishes out, pointing out seeming contradictions in positions others take, e.g., "best interests of schools, children, and democracy", and goofy, funny  stuff like correcting another's spelling in a piece where his own spelling is off, e.g., "kid" instead of "kind". I don't care if he works for the Bush-League or takes rhetorical advice from Karl Rove. A while back, I began the delete thing. It felt good. Yet, I noticed that many of the most interesting things I read were in response to the Meistro-of-Maturity's corniness. Furthermore, every once in a while, he seemed to actually have something to say that was laudable; I can't remember right now, but I know there were times. While I complained recently that he takes up too much time and space on ARN, I didn't mean he should be removed from the list. There is an aspect to AB's presentation of himself that has a pinch of gutsiness to it, i.e., a minority position that would be easy for someone to shrink from. Good for him. Occasionally, he keeps some of us on our toes. I think that secretly in his heart of hearts,  he would have to admit, that the majority here at ARN keep him on his toes freeing him to don ballet shoes to enjoy a moment of bliss as he courageously pirouettes into the abyss of letting go and sensing that, perhaps, there is other music out there that may be healthier than what is his usual habit of hearing. 




pwmjoy@earthlink.net
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