Copyright 2020, InterAmerica, Inc.
I regard friendship(s) as a serious and interactive “virtue" that must be handled in the way described by Montaigne in his essay Of
Friendship:
" ... [w]hat we commonly call friends and friendships, are nothing but acquaintance and familiarities, either occasionally contracted, or upon some design, by means of which there happens some little intercourse betwixt our souls. But in the friendship I speak of, they mix and work themselves into one piece, with so universal a mix- ture, that there is no more sign of the seam by which they were first conjoined. If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I. "
So let me tell you how some of my friendships, in the UFO
community really are….
Most of you know that Bryan Sentes is a noted poet and
teaches poetry in various venues, some in a college milieu. So I sent him some
shards (pages) from a poetry book I and a few friends created and which was
good enough to be mentioned (twice) by the Detroit NEWS in pieces the
newspaper wrote about me, as did Fort Wayne’s Journal-Gazette when that
paper also did a number on my critical activities involving news media.
The poetry magazine was Clod and Pebble, taken from the
Blake poem The Clod and the Pebble:
The Clod and the Pebble
"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."
So sung a little Clod of Clay
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
"Love seeketh only self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."
(The poetry book was an adjunct to the Clod & Pebble
magazine which dealt with current issues and has been represented at our blogs
for going after Edward U Condon, causing him some strife but not enough to get
him removed from the Colorado UFO study. (See effort online.)
I still have a few of the poetry books I and my gang at the
time published, and when I came across one the other day, I took it apart and
scanned some poetry from poets who were exceptional I thought, and sent them to
Bryan via Facebook’s Messenger. Here’s one of the pieces of poetry – it’s more
than a poem – by Connie McConnell:
I wanted Bryan to take a look and tell me if Bonnie or our
effort had any value. I asked him to not slough off my effort as it was a pain
in the neck to provide the pages for him, and I had destroyed the “magazine” to
do so.
(Also I recounted how, when Bonnie McConnell sent us her
poetry and I found in the one shown here, the line circled in red, and sent her
a note saying she had made a mistake: Time is HARD, I thought, not Time is
NARD. She offered to change the line.
Fortunately, one of my fellows knew the
word “nard” and told me I was a jerk. (Look the word up; it’s a poetic word for
sure.) I then apologized to Ms. McConnell and told her never to change her
poetry because some stupid editor didn’t get it.)
Bryan never got back to me except to say that he appreciated
my effort, Meanwhile he’s posted scads of minutiae or esoteric items on his
Facebook page, as I awaited some word
from him.
(In the past I’ve sent book titles to him – two of them by
me, written in my pen name, which both newspaper accounts divulged when they did
their stories on me. He usually writes that the books are deficient or
worthless – even my two, which I know he could never have read, as they were
for select audiences, as requested items. Also, a few of the not-by-me books
are so little known that I doubt he could have read them or find them in a
bookstore or online.)
This is friendship?
Then I sent a request to Professor and authoress Diana
Pasulka – who is a Facebook “friend” – asking her thoughts on the James Kugel
book I’ve promoted here and also the textbook by Sommers that Matty suggested
I read.
She said she’d look into the Kugel book. That was a few
weeks ago, Meanwhile, she, like Bryan, has been donating witticisms and re- marks
all over the UFO pages at Facebook.
This is [Facebook] friendship?
Finally, I, along with Kevin Randle and Nick Redfern, have
pressed our Brit friends on the whereabouts of Christopher Allan [CDA], a
notable UFO investigator and up-to-now regular commenter at this blog and
Kevin’s. Nothing lately and no response from him via two Gmail accounts.
The indifference has been painful: it seems once you are
gone, among the UFO crowd, you are not only gone, but pretty much forgotten.
That’s it. I feel a little better now. And if Bryan sends me
an apologia, I will ignore it; not because I’m sore with him but because the
matter is now closed as far as I’m concerned.
As for Ms. Pasulka, I still await her appraisal of Kugel and
maybe Sommers.
As for CDA, I miss him and hope he has only been temporarily
abducted by ETs and will return to us from that experience, nothing “worse.”
RR
RR
