Clarion West laptops all replaced
Thanks for Your Generous Response to Clarion West Dorm BurglaryLinkDue to the swift and generous response of the SF community, Clarion West has now received nearly enough money to replace the four student laptops stolen July 4 from rooms at the workshop residence. Clarion West staff, volunteers, and students all express their thanks for your very timely help. They especially want to thank BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow, Jay Lake, and many more for their generosity and for alerting others to the need for money and laptops. Donations began coming in from around the world just hours after the theft.
"If we collect funds that are much in excess of the cost of replacing the stolen computers, we will return them proportionally to the donors," said workshop administrator Leslie Howle. "The use of PayPal makes this relatively easy to do." She added, "We are all overwhelmed, and the students are immensely grateful. They were devastated by this theft, and it's been amazing to see the community rally to support them."
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I am all for how the community came together to replace stolen property, but whatever happened to pen and paper?
You *can* write with pen and paper, you know. Most literature ever written was written longhand.
"Missing writing time" sort of made me laugh, is all.
genericrich, go read the comments in the previous post.
Fanac for Teh Win. It's part of our Fandom heritage.
Part of me seeks being better than to execrate our thieves. While a risk of letting evil feel unopposed is equally unsettling. An idle thought of justice after a harsh fashion would be SHUNNING of the thieves if they are ever positively identified.
Look up the history of the terms Avoidance and Meidung in their Amish context.
An avoidance not of seeking punishment so much as instructing a redeemable soul to seek that path.
Though I will now place an admonition of sorts amongst us all. Never lose sight that redemption over punishment is the worthier goal.
As sadly Spacing the toads is not an option nor can we easily in real life Toad them either.
Woot!
Oren, I have no idea what you just said.
@5: Dude - he's talking about spacing the toads. Where are you, 1985?
Wouldn't it be awesome of some of the "b...b...b...but can't they use pencils" posters took their own advice?
Re:#5
I seem to have failed at sharing some thoughts I considered on track.
First being that Fanac extends beyond con space.
Second being that we might consider what our handling of the perps says about our character as a whole.
Third being my declaration of redemption over revenge or punishment as MY desired ethic.
And the last was of humor. Oblique homage to Heinlein's concept of "Loonie Justice" which were it applied to our present perps could literally result in their breathing space... Trope fluence is a writing skill demanding constant mindful care lest one fail at it. As I seem to have. With the tagline about Toading being a reference to the "Virtual Rapes" case on LambdaMoo.
I do wonder if my having been dehydrated from several hours in the sun made me seem more obtuse than my normal good natured jagged orbits.
I'm all for starting a "Pencils for Posters" donation campaign.
K, gd s gd, bt wh r ths ppl tht cn ffrd lptps n th frst plc nd cn ffrd t g t clrn--thy dn't rlly sm lk th knd f ppl tht r gng t nd fnncl ssstnc. My gdnss.
Mother, they don't seem that way - to you.
It's one of those things where I have a pretty good savings account because I never buy anything nice. Some of these writers have spent quite a lot to get there and already received financial assistance.
I wonder how many people donate to buy Uni students new laptops.
#8 - oren
Thank you. I totally get it now. Right on.
stll, thnk bn bn s th grtst fd, cr frvr!
Generic Rich, do please go see the comments on the previous entry. The ones without their vowels are readable with a little work.
Mother @13, how do you know they don't?
If you think it needs doing, go out and start taking donations.
@moderator: ckd nd fd 40 stt ppl ths mrng, s dn my gd fr th dy bt rgrdlss stll thnk clrn stdnts r n a gd tx brkt.
Mother, what *data* do you have? I'm working from 'quit job', 'took out loan', 'saved for years', and 'required scholarship'.
If someone's house burns down, you don't shrug and say that if they can afford one house, they can afford another.
Mother, I've had several friends go to Clarion. Some were well-off when they went; others weren't, and got there only by scrimping and saving. One of them had, at that point, never in her life earned as much as $10k in a year.
Um, wow. I totally missed this. Where have I been all weekend? Glad to hear no one was hurt, though replacing the work on those machines...
God, I can't even think about that.
I am hugging my lappie right now and strangely relieved that I was rejected by CW this year.
people of a certain leaning tend to rant and rail against "anyone getting anything for free when I didnt11111!!!" absolutely regardless of the situation.
K, s sm wr wll ff nd sm wrnt, s thy ll gt lptps?
wht dt r y wrkng frm? lnk pls.
f y cn ffrd t g t clrn wth lptp thn y cn prbbly ffrd nw n n yr wn, nff sd.
s hs th sm s lptp?
I'd recommend re-reading post 19.
Just because you've managed to scrape together the funds for the workshop doesn't make you rich or able to purchase a replacement workshop.
I realize the concept may be difficult to grasp.
er, laptop. I fail.
Mother, if I bought a laptop and that laptop was stolen, I could not buy another laptop. I do not know anyone who could do so.
Could you buy a laptop within twenty-four hours? Right now, with no warning or preparation?
*Four* people had laptops stolen. *Four* people had laptops replaced by the community they are part of-- a community takes care of its own. Four people for whom new laptops are necessary to get as much out of the workshop as possible.
The data I'm working with is from the post itself-- students who quit jobs, saved for years, got scholarships-- and from knowing a few Clarion grads.
The house comment was meant to show that just because someone has a thing, it does not mean that someone has money to replace said thing. If my car explodes tonight, I can't buy another car. If my computer does the same, I can't buy another computer.
I have made this as clear as I can. If you do not want to support Clarion West students, don't. But please don't say that it's because they have enough money to replace the computers on their own.
wh cnt sy tht?
s bng bng nt rd b thosnds ppl, sm f wh my nt hv th sm pnn s y?
ths ppl tk 6 wks ff wrk, pd ttn, nd frm thrs n ths cmmnts, 1 md lss thn 10k/yr. 1.
cn by nw lptp tdy sy, wht r thy, $500 nw?
a lptp s n a hs. a lptp s nt fd. y pspctv s lst.
Mother needs some kittens and duckies.
Kate Wilhelm wrote a terrific book, Storyteller, which talks about the Clarion Writers' Workshop. If I may quote from page 56:
"Many of the students had made tremendous sacrifices in order to attend the workshop. One man sold every possession he owned to raise the money. Others borrowed money. They quit jobs in some cases when they could not get time off."
I would keep going, but to apply the same logic that Mother applied, surely if one can afford the bandwidth to get to Boing Boing, one can afford $16 for a copy of Storyteller.
After all, as you know Bob, no one ever saves up to buy anything. Therefore, anything anyone could possibly buy has to be something that fits within their monthly stipend. So, if someone buys a laptop one month, that surely means he or she can afford to buy a laptop every month. Not that this matters, of course, because most people can find at least $500 in just the spare change they accidentally leave in the laundry for their maids to wash.
BTW, Mother, goal post shifting is so unseemly. You go from "gd tx brkt" implying that cost doesn't actually matter to Clarion students to "wht r thy, $500 nw" implying that, whoops, cost does matter. What exactly are you trying to prove again?
(It did occur to me that perhaps Mother should have given Clarion West whatever computer s/he's using. Since s/he owns one, s/he can obviously afford another one. However, no one was asking anyone to give to a cause he or she doesn't believe in.)
Deep sigh of depression for those who need some enlightenment. Not anger as that's not on track for my desires. I wish we had something akin in tech to the focused sound gear to narrowcast clues where needed. In a gentle reminder sense of healing not hurting that goes also to urging deliberation of responses. We can appear fools indeed for not understanding AND commenting as if we did.
A certain sort of wisdom is reached by learning how to question. It's a skill sadly underused by all- my self included! becoming slowly closer to wisdom by asking the right questions. And I have asked many wrong ones to be truthful.
Clarion and other "Craft masters uplifting worthy journeymen" workshops are something to be cherished as a paying forward from the masters to their inheritors. Note a phrase inherent in MY thinking of certain workshops doing as they do RE: selection criteria. I have been in classes of many sorts where we had persons needing a time longer as apprentice in that subject before walking the tables.Let alone participating in advanced work.
Yes, That explains why I would consider my having a Clarion seat denying it to someone more able to profit from it! Perhaps in a few years I would consider risking the shame of being rejected if I applied.
Where this seeming ramble of mine is directed is to the flippant dismissive "Get a pencil" clique. There may well be for some a merit in using dead tree marked in ink. NOT so in an intense time compressed scene. Especially one where arguably hired valets and room maids to free up class time might be a Very Good Thing. Let's just say that in my 40 something years life taught me that serious study demands one NOT live like an "Animal House" frat dude ok?
whps, cst ds mttr. ;) f crs t mttrs.
gvng ths clrn ppl lptps s mrl jdgmnt. 1 thnk ts prfctly accptbl fr m t dsgr wth tht jdgmnt. 1 thnk ts k fr m t pst cmmts dsgrng wth t.
ths ppl wnt t clrn wth lptp, ! blv tht f thy cld gt lptps nc thy cld d t agn.
kt wlhm wrt a bk bt 27 yrs f clrn. 27 yrs! 1 mgne thr r mny hrt brkng strs vr ths 27 yrs, bt tht ch nd vry stry s nt hrtbrkng.
1 bt smwhr, smn hs wlkd vr glss shrds fr htdgs, lt ln 6 wks @ sm wrtrs wrkshp.
What is the biggest moral lesson out there?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Help out some people in a tough spot, and maybe it'll come back to you. Maybe not. It's worth the risk.
MY mother taught me that. She also taught me that some people will take advantage of your good faith - but most of those people stick out like a sore (and in this case disemvoweled) thumb.
These Clarion people are lucky to be part of such a community of people who value their work and their potential.
yay!
Mother: Here, watch this. It's good for what ails you.
TNS/H, ts cl tht y r pd t pst ct pcs nd dnfnd nly n pnt f vw.
MDHatter 27: Or maybe just some kittons.