[pct-l] authors' merits

[Sean Nordeen]

Hey Iron Chef.  

I had realized that Funnybone was most likely trying (too hard) to be funny, though such humor is better left at the table he was talking over then posted publicly.  I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn't mean it as a personal attack.  And yes, I thought the attacks on him were overboard since he is on the trail and hasn't really had a chance to digest/respond to all the "postive" feedback I'm sure he has been receiving.  So yes, everyone should just step back, take a deep breath and let things calm down for awhile.

However, your "defense" of him for some reason left me feeling irritated and made me want to shift into an attack posture against him.  After realizing this, I had to step back and consider why I was feeling that way.

Your whole "neutral" defense actually seemed to be condescending and a bit belittling to me.  I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but that is how it came accross to me and since you were defending funnybone, I started to associate your words with him which wasn't fair to him.

The comments that seem to put me off the most were mainly these.  One, the only person who had an issue of Yogi being a waitress (though an extremely overeducated one) was funnybone's journal entry.  No one here had a bad comment about it (unless I missed it or perhaps skipped over it as being beneath my notice).  Though I have a master's degree, it is in engineering not literature, but somehow I had missed all these so-called advance vocab words (perhaps your bar is a bit low) that I needed to look up.  Maybe my brain automatically filters those out to spare me a headache later or to protect me from spraining my wrist as I try to haphazardly reach behind me for that large hardback dictionary. Actually, I started reading his journal, not for the superior command of language that he shows, but rather because he was one of the first people out on the trail so there wasn't much competition at the time, he had hiked it before and therefor I thought he might have some unique insights, he was taking it slow so might give more detailed coverage to areas that others would skip over very quickly in their descriptions, and he was occasionally funny (though some of his opinions seem to negatively balance that out).  Somehow, when you discussed these issues, I felt like I was being put down.

Now these were just my reaction to everything and not anyone else's and I would never dream to project my feelings on everyone else here.  That would require a broader brush then I actually own (I only have those 1" foam brushes that Home Depot sells for $.50)  After all, it's a Read your Own Text Forum (ROTF) world.  So take these comments with a grain of salt since I have to assume that I'm the only one who had a negative reaction here.  I'm sure you didn't mean to come off putting anyone down.  But please remember, watch out for those general attacks on the American population (99%!?  Oh please, I live where everyone speaks Spanish, Chinese or Korean and often wonder why I learned English instead of Spanish.  Surely, that number is more like 96% and rapidly falling thanks to documently challenged immigration.  Funnybone himself commented on how he was almost overrun by the nightly stampede near Campo).

Oh, and one final comment.  In writing, it is far easier to be engaging when trying for humor then when trying for a serious tone which may be the real reason Funnybone has so many journal hits and not his SAT vocabulary.  Though I seem to fail at both.  Maybe it's because I always try to mix humor and seriousness together and that never seems to work.

Now I'm sure I was far more entertained by this then anyone else was so I'll furtively(ouch, my wrist just started to hurt) go back to that rock I was hiding under.

-Sean
(or if there are already too many Sean's on this forum, Miner will do for now though I'm not sure I want that as a trailname yet. While it is a nickname I picked up on a backpacking trip, it quickly evolved and sunk into the sewer once it was revealed that I was born in 69.  I'm not sure I want that sort of thing associated with my good name).


>Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 10:06:24 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Matt Geis <mgeis at yahoo.com>
>Subject: [pct-l] authors' merits
>To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>Message-ID: <20061016170624.33810.qmail at web32108.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ascii
>
>Did I use the apostrophe correctly in the subject here?  We're talking about 
>the possessive here, yet also about multiple authors?
>
>I'm going to have to go against what Brick says, and talk about the merits of 
>the authors. I will not be detracting from them.  I'll be talking about their 
>**merits** (this is a good thing).
>
>As for Yogi:  I wish folks would try to get to know the subjects of their 
>attacks prior to launching them (maybe they'd cancel the attack...).  Yogi 
>works as a waitress, at least according to the last time I talked to her.  She 
>also happens to have an MBA.  That particular degree, however, often leads to 
>a career path in a cubicle that doesn't afford good long-distance hiking 
>opportunities.  So, what does she do?  She plans, executes, markets, and sells 
>her own guide books.  The lesson, I guess, is that the "lowly waitress" 
>serving you might just be a lot smarter than you think.
>
>As for her book:  I contributed a fair amount of info to it.  That being said, 
>I'm kind of glad it didn't exist when I did my hike, as I think it would have 
>taken away a lot of the surprises.  Of course, should I ever hike the CDT, 
>I'll be contacting her to get that book, so call me a hypocrite.
>
>As for Funnybone:  The guy has some strong opinions.  I don't think he was 
>criticizing the book as much as the idea that YOU NEED TO HAVE THIS BOOK!  A 
>couple years back one hiker was given a faux trailname "Yogi Says" because of 
>his endless stream of citations.  Sometimes hiking your own hike means 
>actually figuring things out for yourself -- otherwise, we could just choose 
>to sit in an armchair with a pile of guidebooks, maps, and trail guides.  The 
>attacks on his literacy make me laugh.  To my knowledge, he skipped out on 
>college to pursue a career as a professional athlete.  He's raced in Europe, 
>and has a command of *several* languages (unlike the other 99% of the United 
>States).  I challenge ANYBODY to read his journal and even go a single week of 
>entries without running across some unfamiliar word (if I had a way to 
>actually verify someone could do this, I'd offer a plate of 5 pancakes as a 
>prize).  Some of those words would stump an 800-SAT scoring whiz-kid (the best 
>
> part, is that they're used correctly, and people would actually take the time 
>to acknowledge their own ignorance and just look up the word, before assuming 
>that this college-pedigree-less hiker just invented it, they would see that 
>not only did he get the word right, but nailed the exact nuance as well).  
>Somehow, I think Chuck is actually that well-read -- I do not think he's 
>carrying around the Oxford English Dictionary in his pack.
>
>Sure, the guy may incorrectly punctuate his sentences, but his *command* of 
>the language is why his journal is the most-read one on the TJ site (if that 
>quote in another email is correct).  It's readable.  It's funny.  Anybody who 
>has ever seriously tried their hand at writing can tell you it's hard to write 
>something that's easy and engaging to read.
>
>So calm your asses down, people.  We don't seem to get all in a huff over the 
>pinko lefty blue-state wimps on the list, nor do we attack all the gun-toting 
>red-state hillbillies, so this is another issue where people would do well to 
>just cool it.
>
>In the interest of full disclosure, I know and consider myself friends with 
>both of these hikers, so maybe I have an advantage in restraining myself and 
>not jumping into the fray with a lot of name-calling and insults.  So, that 
>gives me an edge on being a little more fair and respectful than some of the 
>other people on the list.
>
>Now, feel free to correct my punctuation, spelling, and diction.
>
>Iron Chef
>