From: Shachihoko <trmiller@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us>

Permit me to play devil's advocate for a moment.

You asked for it.

There is *no* rule that says a writer has to uphold standards of grammar,
spelling, punctuation, etc.  There is no rule that says a writer has to
write *well*, or has to meet any standards of quality.  As Natalie
Goldberg put it in _Wild Mind_, "You are free to write the worst junk in
America." (Or in Canada, or Australia, or your city, or the world, or the
universe.

Then he who ever followeth such rules had failed in their own purpose,
tripped on their own shoelaces, and gagged under their own senseless
breath.  True, there may be no written law, but he who seeks the audience
of the more than six hundred ffml subscribers, members, lurkers and the
likes will have to get used to the fact that he is being given opportunity
to improve on his talents, if any, or work megerly on what he has, until
he produces something comprehensible to the naked eye.

So why are so many people taking off after Dr. Thinker? Goodness
knows *I* wrote a fairly scathing critique of one of his pieces, but

since

then I've just let it go. Dr. Thinker's writing is, by most objective and
subjective standards, anywhere from bad to rotten to horrid to
(unprintable - no pun intended).

I wouldn't say that.  He did have enough learned thought to even be able
to convey whatever he wrote, or mis-wrote, through the digital world of
e-mail.  He is knowledgable, though, I'd rather suspect his intentions.

*But that doesn't mean he has to fix it.*

Of course, know this.  We are not bullies, we aren't scorned by the fact
it hurts us even more if we can't, at least help a poor lost soul towards
better writting, or even just improving his or her talent.  He'll just be
that servant that hid his talents on the ground for safe keeping, and that
saddens many of us.

Let me offer three names for you to consider: Alan Ginsberg, e. e.
cummings, and James Joyce. How did these three writers become famous?
They broke the 'rules.' Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" was written with
the intent of breaking established rules about poetry; e. e. cummings
wrote without capitalization (and frequently without any punctuation, as

I

recall). And James Joyce? He wrote two books which I am sure most of you
have heard of - or at least one, anyway: _Ulysses_ and _Finnegans Wake_.
_Ulysses_ was banned for obscenity; _Finnegans Wake_ is practically
written in another language.

And I'm sure they receive a lot of flak burst and AA fire from almost
everywhere, and yet they, as you said, became popular...Surely they had
improved from their original begginings, therefore they are like the
upstarts, pioneers of sorts, but they couldn't have lead the path towards
greatness with out guidance.  Only the Almighty can do that on his own.

And the three of them are famous for it.
So what's the difference between them and Dr. Thinker? I won't
speculate.

I think you already did, far earlier in this message than this question
appeared.

My point is that Dr. Thinker doesn't have to write well. We're all

telling

him to get a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a grammar handbook - maybe he
has them after all, and writes in his "mangled" style for a *reason*.
He doesn't have to "fix" the way he writes unless he wants to.
And the rest of us don't have to like it, although we're certainly
welcome to.

We shouldn't doubt the ways of a person's own writting.  Though, it'll be
harder for us to ask for his brain in order to understand either one of
his works, or even thoughts.  That's why, in the interest of
understanding, comprehending, and all the more being entertained by either
his works, his plot, his humor, or problems...we asked him to eagerly
return to writting but with some dose of comprehesibility on the side.

Having said this . . . I intend to read Dr. Thinker's next piece
of writing with an open mind, and I encourage the brave among you to do
the same - without flaming his writing afterwards.

Good for you, it'll be best that way.

And if you don't like it, you don't have to read anything else he
does write. Just keep an open mind, and remember that there really *are*
no unbreakable rules of writing - except one: to write. It doesn't have

to

be good.

It's just a pity he forgot to make a good first impression.

Ja ne!

-Florencio B. de la Merced, Jr.