Hi Ann, sorry for the rough trade. We don't have a bouncer to rout the miscreants, so it can get intense from time to time. I hope you find the best that FFLife has to offer whenever interacting with our odd mix of interesting and often brilliant personalities. If nothing else, our thought provoking, unruly playground is often good for a belly laugh.
We've had a rare influx of women lately, who quite miraculously, didn't get chased off the reservation by Rev. Barry's Baptism of fire. He has a tendency to jump on newbies with both feet. He's a nasty fixture around here. We're use to it. Fortunately, you'll find welcoming friends more than willing to bring balance to the conversation. I read your interview for Horse Journals. It's wonderful to see that your passion for riding lead you to such a fulfilling career and successful business. You are truly blessed. I am grateful for whatever chance winds or beneficent fates brought you to our shores. Welcome. P.S. I am so relieved you are not Robin. <belly laugh> --- In [email protected], awoelflebater <no_reply@...> wrote: > > Hey Susan, > > This has been a bit of a culture shock for me at FFL. But I feel you have > given me an opening here to clarify something without being shot out of the > water. And it relates to the conjecturing as to how I happen to have appeared > at FFL at the exact time that I did. > > I will tell you something strange. I went to the funeral of a former member > of Robin's group about two weeks ago. I do not associate with the former > members even though many of them live within an hour of me. There are perhaps > 20 of them. By some fluke, two days earlier the husband of the deceased > ex-member called out to me in the grocery store to say that his wife had died > and invited me to the service. Now, I never see these people and here he was > at this moment with this news. I felt like I should go to the funeral. It was > filled with many of my old Robin acquaintances, really the core group from > years before the Americans got involved. It was really strange for me but > also strangely nice to see them, to see that they were thriving and happy in > their marriages, with their abundant kids (virtually every one of them are > devout Catholics). > > Now one of those former members emailed me a few days later listing a whole > whack of links to posts that Robin had made on this site. No one had seen or > heard from him for 25 years so this was big news. I clicked on some of > these links and FFL was revealed. And I started to read, and read and read > and discovered that it was indeed Robin (no one who was familiar with his > writing could mistake the style, the lack of brevity (!), the brilliance.) > > So there I was scrolling down pages and pages of posts and there was one > where he was conversing with Vaj. There was this perfect space created, this > fleeting opportunity to insert my comment because he mentioned something > about if anyone who had really been there with him all those years ago and > spoke out he would know for certain if they had experienced the real deal > with him in the context of a seminar. > > And then I just sort of jumped in. It seemed like all these events had > colluded to result in this spontaneous post, it was like it was my cue. There > was no planning, I am not Robin in disguise (d-uh) and I really had no > agenda. I still don't. I have no idea where this is all going. > > As of this morning I was definitely not going to stick around. Too much weird > negativity toward me, too much work to make myself heard and the anonymity > aspect gives the wrong kind of license to people who want to behave badly. > > If I do stick around here is what you can expect from me: honesty, > willingness to clarify when possible, civility and respect for the same when > it is shown to me. The beauty of the internet is I can just go away in a > moment if I need to. > > Hopefully you made it to the end of this long post. But I'm still not Robin. > > > > --- In [email protected], "Susan" <wayback71@> wrote: > > > > > > I think I owe an apology to you, Ann. When you arrived here a few days > > ago, I thought you had been asked by Robin to join FFL. The reason for > > that assumption is that he had recently asked if anyone who knew him back > > in the 70's and 80's would please post here about what he was like then and > > what it was like to be involved in his course. And you appeared! Robin > > wanted to defuse Vaj's comments about those times. I thought you were > > responding to that call from Robin. I also thought you would then clear up > > some of the issues between Vaj's perception of the events surrounding > > Robin, and Robin's own memories. > > > > Whether you are here to support Robin or not, I do not know. But your > > comments are interesting. Welcome. I described your posts as "evasive" > > because I wanted you to explain in more detail about your time with Robin. > > That was an unfair characterization by me. So, now that I am home from > > work and have a chance to read the posts of today and settle down and > > spend more than 30 seconds at FFL, I realize I made a mistake. You > > obviously have no obligation to answer questions about your time with > > Robin. Just enjoy your time here at FFL and, again, welcome. > > > > --- In [email protected], "Susan" <wayback71@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "Susan" <wayback71@> wrote: > > > > <snip> > > > > > Because there have been only very general statements and nothing > > > > > at all specific or informative, my vote is that this is a friend > > > > > of Robin's. Or Robin hmiself? > > > > > > > > Oh, Susan, good grief! Can you really not tell the > > > > huge difference in writing styles? Robin couldn't write > > > > in the uncomplicated manner Ann does if you held a gun > > > > to his head. > > > Different writing style, for sure. But an evasiveness that made me > > > think, initially, that she was affiliated with or was Robin trying to > > > defend himself. > > > > > > > > > Something off about it all, right from the beginning. > > > > > > > > Great, let's now see what kind of psychiatric diagnosis > > > > we can pin on Ann. > > > > > > A psychiatric diagnosis was not at all what I was even thinking. That > > > idea is yours. > > > > > > > > What, pray, would be "off" about a friend of Robin's > > > > from his past showing up on FFL? Especially if she'd > > > > found out he was holding forth here? Remember, for 25 > > > > years he'd deliberately made himself inaccessible to > > > > his former followers. > > > > The off part is the evasiveness - talking about being heavily involved > > > > for 3 years, but never giving any details at all. I do recognize she > > > > might not want to give those details. Still I find it somewhat evasive. > > > > And why don't you express your suspicions to her face? > > > > > > I did post to her directly. > > > > > > > > > >
