Hi Tonia!
I agree with you. Our nation is facing some serious political 
and economic problems that have far reaching implications 
socially that academia will be called on to address.

However, sometimes we just need a bit of room to be funny and 
human. I deal with real important issues, conflicts, and 
ethical debates seemingly everyday at my university. It helps 
that fellow students, professors, and colleagues can come 
together sometimes and just be people. 

Sincerely,
Allison (your friend from last summer)


---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 22:13:17 -0500
>From: Tonia Deetz <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: too serious  for us????  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
> I want to say that the listserve should have room for 
all "tones"  . . . we
>certainly have enough of the light hearted, which are 
endlessly
>enjoyable--but sometimes serious concerns need to be raised 
and people whose
>sensibilities are piqued should be heard and respected. I 
don't like to think
>that any one member should dictate what level of seriousness 
should be
>acceptable here, any more than we should limit number of 
submissions on the
>same topic from the same person or even if a person 
is "qualified" to talk on
>any given topic.  We are all capable of taking histarch as 
it is or going
>elsewhere. Setting the TONE for others who respond seems 
unecessary . . . the
>various view points ARE the purpose.