Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:00:38 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Gilliland Fliers
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

> omni at omniphile.com 10/24/2006 10:28:45 PM >>>

>Just FYI, I got a letter in the mail today from Alexis.  It appears to
be
>that flyer that is under discussion.  It's similar to the one he
handed
>out
>a while back, except this one is about the move of the WSFA
>meetings from
>his place.  I've only read about half of it, but so far not a lot of
it
>sounds familiar to me...and I was there for most of the events in
>question.  There are a lot of statements about the motives of others
>(how
>does he know them?), and several people named in particular, while
>other
>involved parties are not mentioned at all (Mike Walsh comes to mind
>in that
>capacity).

Though I have I talked and emailed various people in a private manner
regarding events of the last few years, let me state a few things
publically.

My decision to decline to attend meetings at Chez Gilliland was brought
on by Alexis's letter in the December 2005 issue of File 770.  The
letter utterly misrepresented events to an important segment of fandom
to the detriment of WSFA.

Some folks stood up and said, "Enough", others quietly ceased coming to
1st Friday meetings.  My decision was mine and mine alone.  To quote
Melville: "Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, 'I would
prefer not to.' "

As for the Screed, let me just note that if one is going to send off a
such a 5 page document you make sure you have verifiable facts...
verified.  Otherwise, the tapestry one is trying to construct will come
unraveled at the merest tugging of a thread of two.

1.  "Mike Nelson, who is doing programming for Elspeth Kovar's
Capclave, has pointedly omitted me from the program, a cut intended to
show my insignificance, but since I am the only author currently active
in WSFA it also shows Mike's personal animosity"

Elaine Brennan did programming, always was doing programming.

2. "The vote is taken, the club moves, 21 for, 10 against, 6
abstentions, and 2 walk-outs, the walk-outs being me and Lee leaving
when we saw that the Nelsonites were present in force."

The vote was 21 for, 5 against, 4 abstentions.  Though the numbers were
not reported in the WSFA Journal, anyone who was there will probably
remember the outcome.

And finally, let me note that my irony meter exploded.

One of the public reasons Lee has been angry at Keith is that he
Googled her and discovered information about her that she had given to
Rich Lynch for his history of fandom in the '60s.  She described it as
essentially illegal, and Alexis in his Screed called "the legally
actionable results of Keith Lynch's half-assed google researches on
Lee".

Page 4 of the Screed: "and googling Cathy A. Green, Lee found..."

I'm sorry, my irony meter not only exploded, but it went up in flames.

......................

Let me conclude on a personal note.

I have been a member of WSFA since about 1969 (maybe 1968, I don't
recall exactly).  I have spent a significant part of my life as a WSFAn.
 I have held a number of offices in the club, the club was willing to
elect me Discalve Chair post-ConStellation.  And one of the things I am
most proud of was having Alexis & Dolly as Fan GoHs at the 1989
Discalve.

All of this hurts me to the core and makes me incredibly sad.

Michael J. Walsh