Bitter Bobby's rebuttal.

Today I was reorganizing some of my remaining possessions here in Bangor (and, by reorganizing, I mean "packing up and taking up to the frigid bat-infested attic), I came across a paper I wrote my senior year about starting a business in Papua New Guinea. It was a lame final project for my "Peoples of the Pacific" class. When I saw the paper, the gorge rose in my throat, but I couldn't remember why. Had I gotten a bad grade on it? I flipped quickly to the back and saw the hard-won A-. Then I saw it: the commentary written underneath. Ooooh, the commentary. Here goes! Feast on the evil.

(Following commentary on the paper)

"Stylewise, I hope you will forgive me for saying, you have some significant writing problems. Your punctuation seems OK, but you are quite 'wordy', your sentence constructions are often unnecessarily complex (and sometimes incorrect) and your word choice is quite often inapproriate. Please don't take this as a blast of criticism; I'm just wanting to alert you to difficulties that I think need your attention. By all means, run through my handout again and, if you've not already got it, get a hold of Strunk and White (see syllabus). One can improve writing style, but it takes a lot of hard work and practice - I know this from experience."

I remember sitting in my desk-chair reading that and thinking: when does Professor (Blankety-blank!) go home? Did he drive today? How much will it hurt when I cut his Achilles heels out from under his car, where I've been lurking for hours?

Of course, he couldn't help it: he's British. Yet it cut me, cut me so deeply!

(The Kahlua Mudslide is taking the edge off.)

It's been three years since he wrote that. But in the end, HE doesn't have a blog that people read! Just those big, scholarly books and articles about New Guinea that have made him world-famous! Dammit!

Have a great night, Bangor.

Lumberjack Dom