29428: Leiderman: comment: about retro-fascination (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

leiderman@mindspring.com

2 November 2006

dear Readers:

today's "good editorial" from mouthful Institute for Research in Social Sciences and Politics -- the "non-profit think-tank devoted to the development of democracy in Haiti" <www.irsp.org/culture/faith1.htm> -- had a back-date of December 2002, an ironic title ["What's Next?"] and a lead sentence beginning, "Twelve years ago..."  what's all this about?  is there an exam tomorrow?  is it a bedtime story?  are we on Star Trek?  can we beam up some Haitians?

recently, there seem to have been a (pardon the expression) "spate" of retro-postings here...old articles, old editorials, old interviews, etc. from dog-eared cyberfolders and websites that name-dropped on people who have moved on in life...some have even died.  did we subscribe to Haiti's version of Turner's Movie Channel?  are readers getting so rocking-chair bound that they have to look backwards to keep up appearances?  say it ain't so.

this IRSP editorial...it mentioned a lot of characters who are still accessible, alive and kicking; I know two.  if the poster thought the editorial was "good" four years ago, think how much better it would be if he sought out a few of them for some here-and-now comments to append.  that's being "value added."  said nicely, it just means getting out of the rocking-chair.

thanks,

Stuart Leiderman
leiderman@mindspring.com