The State of the List

[Gary Zack]

Please forgive me if you have received numerous copies of this post!! 
I've tried posting it twice and it didn't go through to my knowledge - 
maybe that means I should remain a lurker and that this shouldn't be 
read at all!!!!
Bear with me - it normally takes me ten times to get something right!!!!

Hi all,

I love Joni - I love this list.  I joined in June of 2000, and when I 
posted for the second time and forgot the NJC tag, I was immediately 
slammed by a listmember offlist who is not a member of the list anymore. 
I was so humbled and humiliated; that I unsubscribed immediately; and 
then I thought - why should one person stop me from joining a list about 
the favorite singer/songwriter/painter/poet, etc., in my life?  I 
immediately resubscribed and cannot tell you all how grateful I am for 
the wonderful people I've met, interacted with off list via e-mail, and 
for those who have supported me through my somewhat off-kilter life. 
Many of you have been life-savers/sanity-savers for me.  I hope you know 
that.  I love the banter, the insights into peoples' lives; and of 
course, all of the Joni information from those of you much more 
knowledgeable and intelligent than I.  Where else could I hear from 
people throughout the U.S., England, Canada, Ireland, Argentina, and all 
of those far away places, from people who love Joni as much as I do? How 
much about Joni and her life and works I never knew!

I still hesitate to post often - "maybe it's paranoia, maybe it's 
sensitivity..."  this list is full of intelligent people, and I do fear 
being "slammed" as I was in the early days of my list membership.  I'm 
working on that......

I agree wholeheartedly with Ashara regarding getting "stuck on one 
topic."  I love nothing better than to wake up on a Saturday morning, 
grab a fresh cup of coffee (with a cat or two on my lap) and read about 
whatever someone on this list has to say.  The volume of political posts 
make me weary....and sad sometimes.  I guess I must admit I come here to 
escape some of the sad realities of war and life that I am bombarded 
with constantly - but I don't mind political posts or actually anything 
in moderation; but as I think Colin pointed out, when the bulk of the 
posts are political, I feel like I'm on some sort of political mailing 
list, and if I wanted that I would have joined one specifically.  I am 
certainly not without my obsessions too....I could talk about Laura Nyro 
endlessly, and especially Joni's early and unreleased recordings; but I 
think people would tire pretty quickly if I posted about Laura Nyro six 
times a day!!!  I love the diversity of the list - and was once on the 
joni-only - I missed out on a great deal of wonderful stories and 
discussions!  But of course, that is a person's choice.  I am still 
somewhat stunned when I get 130 e-mails downloading into my mailbox at a 
time!!

So again, I've stuck my neck out and posted - I hope I can finally feel 
more free to do that without admonishment.  To those of you who 
responded to my December post, know I hold you especially dear - write 
and send me your address again.  My computer crashed in December and I 
lost many e-mails from people whom I wanted to stay connected personally 
with.  For those of you whom I've never met or written to, know that I 
read your posts and feel that I know you, if only from a distance.  Bob 
Murphy and Catherine in Toronto never fail to make me smile; Bob Muller 
knows his music like no one I've ever met; Mags is never without a kind 
word; and there are so many more of you who are so knowlegeable and 
intelligent; and many of you whom I won't mention as to not embarrass 
have been most kind and caring to me and simply caring in general.  What 
better internet family could I ask for?

If this seems shallow, or too "caring" to some, sorry, but it's the 
truth for me.  Let's stay kind, caring and sensitive to others' 
feelings.  People are so precious.  We could be "Here Today and Gone 
Tomorrow."

With Best wishes and peace to all!

Gary Zack