Re: Celebrating Jon

["B. Silk" <bsilk@titan.iwu.edu>]

This is delightful, Sara--especially since it relieves me of a little of 
the embarrassment I felt during my first year as wc coordinator when I 
asked a student worker (not one of our tutors) to post a sign saying that 
the wc would be closed early early on that day (it was the last day 
before a holiday and the tutoring staff was devastated by flu).  Come to 
find out the worker was conscientious but an atrocious speller.  The sign 
read:  "The Writting Center will be closed after 2:00."  When we got back 
from break and I went in to the Interactive Learning Center (where we 
housed--or warehoused), I found the sign--with scribbled comments from a 
passerby.  Whoo, was my face red.  But mostly from laughing.  It was 
funny that the tutors and I thought this was embarrassing but hilarious, 
while folks not directly connected with the center (colleagues from 
the English dept.) found it more alarming than we did.  I don't know if 
that's because their senses of humor are less puckish, their egos are 
more easily offended, or they just never have had to roll with the 
punches like I have.  Heavens, as hard as it is to get people to pay 
attention to our PR, I didn't figure word would spread like wildfire (and 
it didn't).

But, you know, Sara, I like that "profreading" part of your future ad.  I 
think that, actually, that accounts for a lot of what I try to make 
students sensitive to in class and in the writing center.  At least part 
of what we can do is to give students enough background and awareness to ask 
the right questions about the discourse community and the idiosyncracies 
of the prof for whom the student is writing.

That *would* be worth a full page ad.

  --Bobbie

On Thu, 4 Jan 1996, Sara Kimball wrote:

> I'm glad to learn that I'm not the only person being throttled today -- 
> especially since I was informed today that our telephone advice line is 
> listed in the Austin phone book as the "grammer (sic) hotline."  What the 
> heck, next year we'll just take out a full-page add offering help with 
> "speling, editting, and profreadng."
> Sara Kimball
> 
> On Thu, 4 Jan 1996 WRCENTER@lucy.ch.pdx.edu wrote:
> 
> > Rats!  Mickey, it just throttled me too--the audacity!  Since when are machines
> > allowed to throttle their human creators at will?  I want a shrubbery!
> > 
> > Cliff Barnett
> > 
> > >Date:          Thu, 4 Jan 1996 14:55:31 -0600
> > >Reply-to:      wcenter@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu
> > >From:          Mickey Harris <harrism@mace.cc.purdue.edu>
> > >To:            Multiple recipients of list <wcenter@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu>
> > >Subject:       Celebrating Jon
> > >
> > >
> > >How frustrating....I wrote a WCenter message with lots of good wishes
> > >for Jon and got back this virtual raspberry:
> > >
> > >
> > >Forwarded message:
> > >> From server@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu Thu Jan  4 14:51:15 1996
> > >> Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 13:51:05 -0600
> > >> From: server@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu (ListProcessor Server Account)
> > >> Message-Id: <9601041951.AA01769@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu>
> > >> To: harrism@mace.cc.purdue.edu, nobody@unicorn.acs.ttu.edu
> > >> Subject: Posting to bit.listserv.wcenter failed: 
> > >> Content-Length: 106
> > >> 
> > >> Article not accepted by server; not posted.
> > >> 400 No space left on device writing article file -- throttling
> > >> 
> > >
> > >
> > >Hmmmm...rejected by an automatic server which is too busy throttling.
> > >Wow, that's really rejection, Big Time! Has this happened to anyone
> > >else? Can I file a class action suit against a machine that would
> > >rather throttle than convey messages? And how do machines throttle?
> > >
> > >'Nuff...all I wanted to do was add my wishes for a happy, healthy
> > >birthday and many, many more, Jon-boy. (Jon Etheridge? Jon Edmonton?
> > >Jon Elias? Jon Engleburt?)
> > >-- 
> > >Mickey Harris
> > >harrism@mace.cc.purdue.edu
> > >
> > Portland State University Writing Center
> > PO BOX 751
> > Portland, OR  97207-0751
> > 503-725-3570
> > wrcenter@lucy.ch.pdx.edu
> > 
>