Encore Villette

[ellenkushner]

Greetings from Wiscon.

On the plane, I sucked down some more Bronte (when not absorbed by someone else's abandoned copy of Esquire), and found this:

"to feel, and to seize quickly another's feelings, are separate properties; a few constructions [i.e., sorts of people] possess both, some neither. Dr. John had the one gift in exquisite perfection; and because I have admitted that he wa not endowd with the other in equal degree [this is, after all, the guy who misunderstood her back in my last post], the reader will considerately refrain from passing to an extreme, and pronouncing him unsympathizing, unfeeling: on the contrary, he was a kind, generous man. Make your need known, his hand was open. Put your grief into words, he turned no deaf ear. Expect refinements of perception, miracles of intuition, and realize disappointment."

Your constant reader,
EK,
"Reminding People (even dead authors) of their (even fictional) Boyfriends since 1973"

Comments

[ogre-san.livejournal.com]

That's us. Often well-meaning, but clueless.

[poukledden.livejournal.com]

Hi. I'm a fan of your work and just discovered your livejournal yay :-). I read Villette some years ago and loved it. I remember there was something about the ending that bugged me, but for the life of me can't remember now. I've always appreciated Charlotte Bronte's way of viewing people and their interactions. What I've always most appreciated was her ability to critique, in a social sense, while staying firmly implanted in the realm of individual human interactions.

It's been too long, I think. You may have inspired me to pick up one of her books again. :-)

[badger2305.livejournal.com]

Regarding Wiscon programming: it turns out that I was (partially) in error about how programming choices were sorted at Wiscon. My original comment to you that it was done completely by Jane Hawkins' marvellous code was not true. It turns out that the top 30 items were hand-staffed by kalmn and therefore I ought not blame blind watchmakers for wiscon programming oddities. wild_irises was rightfully cross with me about this, as it doesn't help to perpetuate false notions about how this stuff works, and she reminded me that every program participant has to express a preference for being on an item (i.e. if you don't ask to be on a panel, it's unlikely you'll be put on it).

I came away from our conversation with two impressions. First, I simply do not understand the sorting algorithms for programming, and second, it would be nice if there was a more transparent process (greater explanation?) for how these things get decided. After all that, I decided this was more evidence supporting my desire to be less involved in running conventions. C'est la vie.

[badger2305.livejournal.com]

"our conversation" - the one I had with wild_irises. Grr. Must remember to preview entries, but still am in convention-recovery mode.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

"our conversation" - the one I had with [info]wild_irises.

Well understood!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Well, fortunately it takes me forever to act on things like this, so you got me this valuable info before I was able to steam anyone up . . . Thanks for the followup and careful explanation, though. My respect for wild_irises and kalmn knows no bounds, and I'm glad you got to talk it through with them.

more evidence supporting my desire to be less involved in running conventions.

Yes! Yes! Come and help run fascinating Alternative Arts organizations instead!!