Book reviews, art, gaming, Objectivism and thoughts on other topics as they occur.

May 15, 2006

Rain Check

There will be a slight delay of a day on the fiction this week, as I'm suffering from a terrible case of Book I Can't Put Down. It'll be up tomorrow.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Ms. Snow; I discovered your blog via Nick Provenzo's Rule of Reason. Thank you for lending your voice to the promotion of Objectivism - the only hope for our future. I have been an Objectivist since the early 80's, and am proud to have supported ARI since its inception. My comment concerns your description of yourself, and I hope you will take it in the spirit it is intended - that of constructive criticism. You describe yourself as "a lady Objectivist that still has time to do two things that no one seems able to do..." Grammatically (and especially for one who blogs as "Literatrix", the implication being one well versed in the art of writing), I believe it would be better to say, "a lady Objectivist who still has time to do two things no one else seems able to do..." After all, "that" generally modifies an object, not a person. Also, two "thats" so close together, in my opinion, do not read well. I hope you don't think I'm nitpicking; I just think that, as "Literatrix", some people may question your credibility.

Sincerely, David Ragaini (ragaini@adelphia.net)

Jennifer Snow said...

Well, it's quite possibly the weirdest comment I've received thus far. Whatever gave you the idea that, because I AM an Objectivist, I represent Objectivism?

My implication was that I'm deeply into the pursuit of reading and writing: I never claimed mastery of same. I've been fairly pleased with my output on the blog so far, considering that I don't edit anything that I post, not even so far as to check for egregious spelling errors.

I appreciate your criticism, so let me offer some of my own in return: you won't sound so much like a pretentious blowhard if you take people as they are instead of as you imagine they ought to be.

Toiler said...

What a presumptuous twit! (I mean Mr. Ragaini, not you, Literatrix.) Geez! I can't believe someone would be so rude.

Even as a writer, I would almost never presume to correct other people's speech or informal writing without invitation, especially people I don't know, and especially not in public. Besides, two "thats" and a missing "who"?! Christ! It's not like you misspelled your own name or something!

And by the way, I don't buy the idea that this man's only interest was to help. Just consider what he might have said instead, something like, "Hey, Literatrix. Love your blog! I just saw a slight grammatical error on it. Do you care? If so, I'll send you a note about it in private. Otherwise, great site!"

Yes, Mr. Ragaini, you are nitpicking, to say the least. It makes you look like an arrogant boore.

Jennifer Snow said...

Hah, thanks Toiler. It just goes to show that being an Objectivist doesn't necessarily mean you have good manners.