mel jacobson on tue 23 may 00
miss dendinger was my sophomore year english teacher. she had
big feet for a tiny old woman. she did not like us boys calling strange
people `fairies`, as she loved the fairies in literature and felt that
we made fun of very wonderful images.
one of the first things that she taught our class was not to cheat.
writing was important, and the ideas, thoughts and information
that came from our pens was sacred. if we used other peoples
ideas, thoughts and creative efforts we were to give credit.
that seemed to make sense to me, still does. it is sacred. don't
trample on sacred things.
i went to work at the minneapolis star and tribune during my junior
year in high school, became a copy boy. it was a wonderful job
to work in the newsroom of a major newspaper, i loved it.
in the years of 1952-59 at least, there were major discussions
every night in the newsroom about copyright, sources, honesty.
it was sacred.
things have changed some, but, just because you type on a computer
and send your messages by email, or read your copy on a monitor,
it changes nothing. ideas should be your own, if not, give credit.
it is sacred.
i have been blessed over the past few years to have had some ideas
of mine published. they are not big ideas, they do not make me
any money, but they are published and that makes me feel good.
i have also been blessed to have been able to work with some very
interesting editors and publishers. my experience is that they have
been interested, concerned, and fair. i certainly know that they are
not out to get me, or take advantage of me. in fact, it is just the
opposite, they are there to help me.
you know, writing a book about `glazes of inner mongolia`, is never
going to make anyone any money. most of those books never turn
a profit for anyone, but they often get published. think how much
money is made from the average poetry book, zip...but, they do get
published. often, authors think that their work is the most important
thing ever to come off a typewriter, and they can be hard to deal with.
(ask moderators of listservs?) editors deal with that sort of thing everyday.
not easy. people often want to publish for the wrong reasons...they
want fame and fortune.
write to give information, ideas, creative thought. make it your own.
the rules have not changed. when you give credit for anything you
use, well, it is just the correct thing to do.
i have made up (if that is possible) a couple of variations of glazes.
i have seen them turn up in magazines with new names...makes me
kinda crabby, but, once i saw one published with `mel's orange`
as the title and that was nice.
clayart is not a place that you can grab anything you want. if you
take an idea from this forum you are obliged to give credit...and
it is nice that we have archives, as we can find the original post
if you do not give credit.
so, in ending i would like thank people like williams, butler, beach
and others for their work and effort to get the news out about
clay. they are dedicated professionals and i admire them.
mel/mn
FROM MINNETONKA, MINNESOTA, USA
http://www.pclink.com/melpots (website)
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