tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 28 02:54:34 1995

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Re: From the Edge of the Galaxy

> 
> On Mon, 27 Feb 1995, Matt Gomes wrote:
> (about Glen's financing of the camps...)
> > I can't believe that Glen got 14 people to buy into this!  Paying for Glen's
> > loans to the city?  I guess P.T. Barnum was right!
> > 
> > -majIq
> 
> Ah, give the guy a break, Matt.  He *did* make it happen, he just didn't 
> necessarily pay for it....  And as cheesy as it may or may not have been 
> in 1993, I think any event that brought together 'angHal and Qanqor in 
> the same spot *was* worthwhile....  I imagine Glen should have charged 
> more of the participants, but then he'd have likely had no participants...
> 
> David E G Sturm

I'm assuming that David meant 'angghal (the closest I've ever come to 
using a Klingon name) and I would have to agree with him that the great 
success of the 1993 camp was bringing together not simply myself and 
Capt. Krankor, but also David Barron and Jeremy Cowan. Much of the energy 
of the next year of the KLI no doubt came from the energy of that 
meeting, the sense of common purpose and vision.  But that was back in 
1993 when the KLI cosponsored the first camp.  That was also back when I 
personally met with the City Council of Red Lake Falls, on Glen's behalf, 
and worked with them to arrange a grant for the shortfall the camp 
appeared likely to have.  The condition for this grant was that I would 
bring the KLI back to RLF for a second camp the following year.

Things began to fall apart when it became apparent that Glen and I could 
not work together long distance to produce a camp we would both be happy 
with.  Rather than bash each other's heads in, we agreed that I should 
bow out and let Glen run the camp himself, under the auspices of the ILS.

At this point things began to go rapidly down hil as the city of RLF 
changed their tune a bit, and began demanding payment.  Glen (allegedly) 
defaulted on several debts to KLI members about this time as well.  The 
plans for the 1994 camp hit a number of snags, some related to the points 
I was against when we were working together (such as running a three week 
camp instead of a one week camp) and some that were new to Glen alone.  
The result was an underattended one week camp which I'm told was a VERY 
good experience for the Klingon novices who attended, but it was not a 
financial success, and it certainly did not generate the needed revenues 
to pay off the debt from RLF.

The really big loser here, in my opinion, is Red Lake Falls.  They let a 
good thing slip away from them.  I don't know whether this was because of 
Glen's stubborness or simply cold feet on the part of the city council, 
but surely the amount of national media coverage the 1993 camp received 
should have been more than worth the money Glen asked for.

As for Glen's (indirect) posts to this list, well, I'm of mixed 
opinions.  I continue to try to be supportive of most everything that 
promotes the Klingon language.  The last issue of HolQeD ran a review of 
the first of Glen's primers, and we provided free advertisement and 
ontice of his 1994 camp in several issues last year.  At the same time 
though, it's no secret that Glen and I continue to mix like oil and 
water.  I find his shameless hucksterism (seats on the High Council 
indeed!) to be both embarassing and offensive.  On the other hand, I too 
am quick to ask for the financial support of the membership of the KLI to 
keep us running, and perhaps the difference between these two is only one 
of degree, not of kind.  I'm also annoyed at Glen's manipulation of the 
fan community and fan tradition, particularly as Glen has expressed to me 
that he had no familiarity or interest in Star Trek (let alone Klingons) 
prior to learning of Okrand's work with the language.

However, these are my views, not as Editor of HolQeD, nor as the Director 
of the KLI, but simply as a member of this list.  Regardless of my own 
feelings or attitudes, the official position of the KLI is to support 
most everything that supports the Klingon language.  Which means that you 
can probably expect to see other reviews of the instructional materials 
that Glen creates for his camps, and probably other articles by Glen in 
the pages of HolQeD (assuming he continues to submit them).

While I typically disagree with Glen more often than I agree, the history 
of artificial language movements in the past points out all too clearly 
what can happen when proponents begin to factionalize.  I don't know if 
we can truly expect to avoid this forever, but I hope we can continue to 
forestall it for as long as possible.

Lawrence

-- 


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:: Dr Lawrence M Schoen, Director   :: The KLI is a nonprofit ::
:: The Klingon Language Institute   :: tax exempt corporation ::
:: POB 634, Flourtown, PA 19031 USA :: DaH HuchlIj'e' ghonob  ::
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