Old Letters from Ed Powell

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Posted by Tom Booth on October 01, 2003 at 13:59:48 from 209.214.48.211 host-209-214-48-211.tys.bellsouth.net :

I found an article by Ed Powell in an old Permaculture Journal about Catalyst and wrote to the address for more information as I had been working on a similar publishing idea.

A rather lively correspondence followed. It really blew my mind when Ed wrote back and informed me that he had made my letter into a class handout!

Here is one letter I happen to have on hand which was so encouraging to me that I saved it in a plastic liner. There are several others which I edited and compiled for publication in a newsletter (as yet unpublished).

11/18/87

Dear Tom,

Enclosed you will find the class handout I made of your recent, remarkable letter. Never have I had a nicer compliment on Catalyst.

In fact, I experimented with the following subtitle for Catalyst

CATALYST: A READING POST

What I wanted to convey was the notion of the journal stimulating writing in the same way a "listening post" stimulates talk. I wanted readers to do exactly as you have done: write in response to it . . . free associate . . . build from it.

Just this morning reading rough drafts of student papers I realized I enjoyed the process because I write commentary back to the student. Fact is, I always take pleasure in student writing and at one time read 250 student BOOKS at the end of each semester. Other faculty people would say to me, why do you waste so much time reading student papers?

My response: reading my students work--if its real work on their part, if they have put effort into their production--is never a waste but a delight. "Time you enjoy wasting is never wasted time" --as someone else said; who I can't now recall.

A friend thought your idea of silence good.

I want to build on your idea of 'reality as shared experience' Here is the heart of sociology. Institutions are conceptual systems, and concepts are always shared ideas. A word means what it means FOR YOU AND I. Consciousness is a "knowing with", a knowing together. The stem SCIO, means to know in Latin . . . from it comes the word science.

I think there is a time in adolescence--sometime between age 14-18--when the Concept dawns on and gives us insight into the Infinite, links us up with it, and this is when the Self is born. We begin then to know that we can choose the world we live. Stan Taylor says we live in a world not an environment. Environment is a percept-- a composite of things--a world is a percept integrated by concept.

Hope to hear from you again,

I am,

Your respectful correspondent,

Ed Powell

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: I found an article by Ed Powell in an old Permaculture Journal about Catalyst and wrote to the address for more information as I had been working on a similar publishing idea. : A rather lively correspondence followed. It really blew my mind when Ed wrote back and informed me that he had made my letter into a class handout! : Here is one letter I happen to have on hand which was so encouraging to me that I saved it in a plastic liner. There are several others which I edited and compiled for publication in a newsletter (as yet unpublished). : 11/18/87 : Dear Tom, : Enclosed you will find the class handout I made of your recent, remarkable letter. Never have I had a nicer compliment on Catalyst. : In fact, I experimented with the following subtitle for Catalyst : CATALYST: A READING POST : What I wanted to convey was the notion of the journal stimulating writing in the same way a "listening post" stimulates talk. I wanted readers to do exactly as you have done: write in response to it . . . free associate . . . build from it. : Just this morning reading rough drafts of student papers I realized I enjoyed the process because I write commentary back to the student. Fact is, I always take pleasure in student writing and at one time read 250 student BOOKS at the end of each semester. Other faculty people would say to me, why do you waste so much time reading student papers? : My response: reading my students work--if its real work on their part, if they have put effort into their production--is never a waste but a delight. "Time you enjoy wasting is never wasted time" --as someone else said; who I can't now recall. : A friend thought your idea of silence good. : I want to build on your idea of 'reality as shared experience' Here is the heart of sociology. Institutions are conceptual systems, and concepts are always shared ideas. A word means what it means FOR YOU AND I. Consciousness is a "knowing with", a knowing together. The stem SCIO, means to know in Latin . . . from it comes the word science. : I think there is a time in adolescence--sometime between age 14-18--when the Concept dawns on and gives us insight into the Infinite, links us up with it, and this is when the Self is born. We begin then to know that we can choose the world we live. Stan Taylor says we live in a world not an environment. Environment is a percept-- a composite of things--a world is a percept integrated by concept. : Hope to hear from you again, : I am, : : Your respectful correspondent, : Ed Powell

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