To: hammoude@juno.com
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 07:49:03 -0800
Subject: Re: guest?
Message-ID: <20021029.074908.-280935.3.LTownsend3@juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
From: Louise D Townsend <ltownsend3@juno.com>

Hi, Andrew.  Sorry I missed your call last night.  Can you send me your
writings electronically or are you worried about privacy issues (in which
case, I suppose I could pick them up, or you could mail them to me or
drop them off -- let me know what works).

I am very interested in this issue and have become more so because of
recent reading (did you see the review in the NYT of a book on animal
rights by a former Bush speech writer?), so I look forward to reading
your material, and I suspect I will learn a lot from it.

That said, even if I begin to feel the kind of moral repugnance you
describe (and I think I already feel it to a certain extent), I doubt it
would persuade me that Karen should be barred from the group because of
what she does for a living.  The issue here (for me) was finding a
congenial and smart addition to the group.  As I pointed out to you the
other day, we don't know everything about everybody who is already in the
group, their politics, their vices, the possible ramifications of the
work they do on the environment, the world at large, etc. (or do you?).

To compare Karen to Mengele is to be absurdly reductionist, it seems to
me, but perhaps after reading your material, I will see things
differently.

Louise

On Thu, 24 Oct 2002 23:03:01 -0700 Andrew Hammoude <hammoude@juno.com>
writes:
> Hi Louise,
> 
> You're right -- your friend Karen is indeed smart and thoughtful; we 
> just had a great conversation.
> 
> But not quite smart and thoughtful enough, and I'm vetoing her 
> membership in book group. She has been, and continues to be, 
> involved in animal experimentation, something I find morally 
> repugnant, and I prefer not to have to associate with the 
> perpetrators.
> 
> If she truly loves to be challenged, then I believe she must have 
> been delighted by our conversation.
> 
> Regrets,
> Andrew
> 
> 
> On Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:11:18 -0700 Louise D Townsend 
> <ltownsend3@juno.com> writes:
> > Hi, Andrew.
> > 
> > I have a friend in another book group and we're both kind of 
> > wearying of the lack of analysis and lackluster discussions that 
> we 
> > have had recently in that group.  So I started to tell her about 
> our 
> > group and how lively and interesting the discussion can be and how 
> I 
> > really like what we read, the people, etc., etc., blah, blah, 
> blah.  
> > Anyway, I think this friend (Karen) would be a good fit.  She's a 
> > scientist, smart and thoughtful, and really loves to be 
> challenged.  
> > 
> > 
> > So, might I bring her as a guest to the White Teeth discussion and 
> 
> > see if she might come on a regular basis?  I wasn't sure if you 
> had 
> > a specific policy on membership (I remember you grilling me on the 
> 
> > phone!).  Karen would be happy to call and talk to you if you 
> wanted 
> > to hear more about her reading experiences and interests, etc.
> > 
> > Thanks, Andrew.
> > 
> > Louise
> > 
> > Louise Townsend
> > 1134 19th Avenue, E.
> > Seattle, WA  98112
> > (206) 329-2907
> > 
> > 
> >   ________________________________________________________________ 
> Earn $20 for every new person you bring to Juno Platinum To learn 
> how, go to www.juno.com/refer

Louise Townsend
1134 19th Avenue, E.
Seattle, WA  98112
(206) 329-2907


________________________________________________________________
Earn $20 for every new person you bring to Juno Platinum
To learn how, go to www.juno.com/refer