David Bloomberg
Since Thanksgiving is approaching, I thought I'd use my space this month to thank everybody who has helped REALL remain a voice for rationality in Illinois.
Before I do that, though, I'd like to note that we will not hold a meeting in December. This is mostly due to the proximity of various holidays and the fact that I will be our next speaker but won't have time to prepare in time. Come January 6, though, I will be speaking and expanding on the subject of three book reviews I've recently done. One deals with Dilbert, one with mass hysteria, and one with the so-called Bible Code. I've tentatively titled it, "Dilbert Hysterical Over Bible Code," but don't quote me on that.
Now, on with my thank-you's:
First and foremost, I have to thank all of our members. Without you, REALL wouldn't exist. I would, of course, especially like to thank the Patron Members, whose generosity allows us to undertake additional activities and plan for the future.
I'd like to speak for everybody in thanking Editor Bob. Bob doesn't have a lot of spare time but he manages to put out a first-class newsletter every month, sometimes staying up until the wee hours to do so (it's for people like Bob that Kinko's is open 24 hours). When we first started REALL, I said to Wally Hartshorn (aka Webmaster Wally), our first editor, "So we put out a monthly newsletter; that won't take much time." Ha! How little I knew.
And what would our newsletter be without the articles that fill these pages? I'd like to thank everybody who has written articles for us (I'd name you all, but I'm afraid I might leave somebody out). In addition, I'd like to thank everybody who has spoken to us at our monthly meetings.
We've had a great run of speakers this year, and I can only hope to continue in 1998.
Speaking of Wally (a couple paragraphs ago), I'd like to thank him as well. He has spent a great deal of time on the unofficial REALL Web site, and it shows. Our group is known literally the world over, and that is in large part due to Wally's work. Wally has also taken on the Secretary/ Treasurer's role again, as if he didn't have enough to do. So I'd like to thank Kevin Brown, who held that position for the last couple of years.
While the Web has allowed us to become known worldwide, we are still a local group whose focus is local activities. I'd like to thank Vice Chairman Ron Larkin and Malcolm Levin for coming to the Illinois State Board of Education meeting on extremely short notice to fight to put evolution in the state school standards. While we lost that battle, we made our voices heard, and that may help us in later years as we try to make those standards better.
I'm sure there are others I should be thanking, but it's been such a busy year, I just can't remember everything. If I forgot to thank you, please don't take it personally. Maybe I'll just say Editor Bob must have missed that part.
Have a good Thanksgiving, and, as always, if you have any comments, suggestions, or thoughts about REALL, send me an e-mail or jot me a note.
