Dear Tom,
A belated welcome back! I’m sure you and your family had a grand time
together. We did, for certain!
Back to reality. We must decide in the next few days how to conduct the
meeting on February 12. Judy Brodsky, aided by her husband Bernie (“Knee
Pads”), has agreed to handle the RRPSG’s publicity and public relations;
understandably, she is pestering me for an announcement or press
release highlighting the fact that Dr. Hamill will be our speaker.
After a series of delays and glitches, including a question of whether
he would make the meeting at all, yesterday I obtained the offical
approval of the Neurology Department’s Administrative Secretary together
with the good doctor’s curriculum vitae which I had requested -- all 25
pages!
When I sat down to write the press release it immediately became clear
that assuring ourselves of a good turnout for Dr. Hamill by means of a
press release inevitably means opening the meeting to the general
public -- which in any case is probably the only and certainly the
best way to attract more than a modicum of people.
Is this the type of meeting we want? One’s first instinct -- and
perhaps the right one -- is to say no, that it violates the essential
spirit of a support group trying to create a small community of caring
Parkies, Carepartners, their families and friends. When you think about
it, however, this encompasses a lot of people not directly affected by
Parkinson’s. Moreover, it’s doubtful that the release would bring in a
large number of people even if The Herald and a number of other papers
picked it up.
Let’s assume for a moment that enough people responded to make the
library overcrowded. We could then simply use the large room adjacent
to the library for the first hour, when Dr. Hamill would deliver his
remarks for, say, 40 minutes or less and answer questions until three
0’clock, after which the members of the RRPSG would retire with Dr.
Hamill in tow to the library for refreshments and friendly, informal
give-and-take with him and the usual pleasant networking amongst
ourselves. How fortunate we are to have accomodations perfectly suited
for the easy and graceful execution of such a plan! The adjoining room
is itself a congenial meeting place for 40 to 60 people; I know, because
Polly played violin and I played tuba there twenty years ago in the
(deservedly!) short-lived Central Vermont Symphony Orchestra.
There are a number of pros and cons to this approach which we can
discuss if you wish, but I believe that on balance the weight is clearly
on its side. What do you think>
Cheers, Elliott
TO HELL WITH PARKINSON’S !! LONG LIVE WET BONES !!
Ten Ribald
Parkies Proverbs 17:22
