Dear Ferret Folks-
 
I have never seen one of the calendars that Judy Cooke produces.  I do
not know her personally.  I do not know her personality.  Is she funny?
Shy?  A whiner?  I have no idea.  I *did* read her explanation for why
she prefers one kind of photograph over another for drafting the
calendar, and where the five dollar submission fee goes.  I read the post
out of curiousity.  My curiousity satisfied, I moved on calmly to the
next FML post, and forgot all about it.  Until today.  Until I saw Judy's
post criticized as one that should be a "little more polite." I did a
doubletake when I saw that.  When the critique of her post then cited her
"arrogance" and "bad attitude", I actually went back and looked.  Was
there a post from Judy that I had not seen?  A rude and arrogant post
reeking with the aforementioned "bad attitude"?  No.There was only the
one, nine paragraph post from Judy that I had read.  I read it again,
looking for the rudeness, arrogance, and bad attitude It simply wasn't
there.  Well,that doesn't stop us on the FML, anymore, :a body that seems
increasingly unable to let any statement pass without making an attempt
to shred and slander the author.  Let's look for the RUDENESS of Judy
Cooke.
 
Paragraph One:
>I have been told I should address this issue.  My first thought was to
>just let it pass because I believe the people questioning the calendar
>have never seen the calendar.
 
This is poorly reasoned, but not offensive to me, one of the many who
have never seen the calendar.  If the problem is unfamiliarity with the
process, the problem is best solved by familiarizing people with the
process.  This should have come sooner than it did, if only to take some
of the momentum away from this burgeoning flame war, and to protect the
high esteem with which the calendar is viewed by the ferret community.
 
Paragraph Two: In this paragraph, Judy discusses her failure to have
become engaged sooner, and apologizes for it.  No sincere attempt to
apologize for a mistake made should be disregarded by anyone with any
breeding at all.  It is not *rude* to offer a sincere apology, something
that the FML readership is failing to understand in larger and larger
numbers.  It is increasingly being looked upon as an opportunity to give
someone another kick.  "SEE!  She apologized!  She's guilty!  Kick her
*ss!" I see no rudeness, arrogance, or bad attitude in this paragraph.
 
>This will be the 5th year for the FML calendar.  In my humble opinion,
>it is a very special calendar because it is real ferrets belonging to
>real people.  This year, because I am in the middle of a move and my
>life has been quite the mess, I guess I haven't 'promoted' this contest
>as I have in years past.  I guess I have just assumed that everyone
>knows about the calendar.  New people come and go and they don't know
>me, don't know about Support Our Shelters and don't know about the
>calendar.  I apologize for not being more clear with the details.
 
Paragraphs Three, Four, and Five.  In these, Judy describes her 5x7
preference, and her dislike of electronic submissions.  Whether you like
her "editorial" policy or not, someone HAS TO BE THE BOSS, or this
project will grind to a halt.  The criticism has been made that "a 5 x 7
blown up for a calendar is going to look pretty crappy." Is there anyone
alledging that these last four calendars were "pretty crappy", because I
have never heard that criticism, and Judy, as stated, uses the 5x7's.
Again, I do not see these paragraphs as rude, arrogant, or indicative of
a bad attitude.  I see someone who loves her work explaining what she
does and why.  I see enthusiasm, and high standards, things that probably
account for the good reputations that the calendars have.
 
>To be honest.....I don't want the picture you have laying there that
>you took a couple of months ago or last year.  I want you to go get your
>camera and you ferret and take some pictures specifically for this
>contest.  Please....someone back me up here.....the pictures in the last
>4 calendars are special!  There are some extraordinary shots!  Yes....
>some probably were taken months ago and have just laid around....but
>it's been my experience that a person will not spend money to have a
>picture blown into a 5x7 unless it's a very good picture.  And we want
>very good pictures!
 
>In the past, the judging was done by actual, live human beings!  The
>5x7's were all placed in a photo album and taken to both the Forum at
>the Falls and the 2003 International Ferret Symposium in Atlanta.
>Larger pictures display so much better than the smaller prints.  The
>object is to make your picture the best it can be...and if your picture
>is really that good and worthy of one of only 12 spots in the calendar,
>why wouldn't you want to blow it up so it displays better?
>Unfortunately, there is no ferret event that I can get to this year to
>have live humans do the judging - but the rules will remain as always in
>hopes that we can again vote at a ferret function!  This time, the
>winners will be decided by SOS members.
 
>>Electronic submissions - to be honest, the real reason I don't take
>them is because most people don't know what they are doing.  I tried
>electronic submission once....but since I needed the pictures to put
>into the photo album, that meant I had to print the pictures into 5x7's-
>and almost every picture I printed did not come out with the clarity
>and crispness needed.  It added entirely too much extra work and was
>not worth the effort.  But...there are services out there you can use -
>Shutterfly comes to mind!  Upload your picture there...they will print
>it and sent it to me!  If your picture is that good and worthy of a
>place in the calendar....is it not worth your effort?  If it's not...
>that's fine!  There is no one saying you have to enter this contest!  It
>is purely a personal choice!  If you want to go to the effort to share a
>special picture of your ferret - that's wonderful!!  Please...send your
>pictures on!!!  If not...that's fine too!!!  Go hug that special ferret
>instead!
 
Paragraphs six, seven, and eight.  In these, Judy discusses costs, and
explains where the money goes.  If she were not forthcoming with this
information, I would have great doubts about her personally, and about
the calendar in general.  But she *is* forthcoming with the information.
Again, I see no rudeness, arrogance, or evidence of a bad attitude in
these paragraphs.
 
>Money.....100% of the profit goes to SOS.  This calendar is not cheap
>to produce!  It is not done by a professional printer.  Over the years,
>I have talked to three different professionals and each time I am told
>the same thing - they cannot reproduce the look I want.  And I'm sure
>it's just me being picky...but this is the look I want!  Again, if you
>have never seen the calendar - you'll have no idea what I'm talking
>about! The entry fee helps to offset the initial start-up costs.  It
>cost me about $9.50 per calendar...and I sell them for $16.00.  I try to
>keep them reasonable so more people can afford them...but the cost of
>paper has again gone up this year!
 
>Each year for the last 4 years, the calendar has raised between $700-800
>for SOS.  For those who don't know, Support Our Shelters is the
>organization that through the tireless and never-ending effortsof their
>few hard-working volunteers, raise and disperse funds to needy shelters
>all over the country.  I am very proud to be a member of this fine
>organization and I am equally proud that the Ferrets of the FML Calendar
>is one of their annual fundraisers - and I hope it will continue to be
>for a long time to come!
 
>If you want to show off your ferret and support SOS at the same time,
>please, follow the rules and enter your photo.  If you just want to see
>some amazing ferret photos and support SOS, the calendar should be ready
>to purchase by mid-Sept.
 
The last paragraph is gracious, and self explanatory.
 
>To everyone who has been involved in this project for the last five
>years-Thank You!!This is one of those things that would never work
>without wonderful people like you to support it!
 
*************************
 
Today I saw in the FML
>I found Judy Cooke's post explaining her reasons for her requests.  Why
>couldn't these reasons be sent to Laura Holland instead of the rude
>reply she recieved.
 
Judy sent her information to Laura Holland and everybody else at the
same time in her nine paragraph post.  JUDY COOKE DID NOT WRITE THE
INTOLERABLY RUDE POST THAT WAS SENT TO LAURA HOLLAND.  Some craven coward
named 'Anymous" wrote that piece of trash.  And ever since, people have
transfered their reasonable disgust for that author to Judy Cooke, who
is NOT responsible for it.
 
Again, in today's FML "Your(Judy's) answers to peoples questions wouldn't
have to be as lengthy as your post but they should be direct and a little
more polite" Perhaps you should read her post *again*.  Her answers were
direct (There is no conspiracy here, as much as people would like to
have there be one).  They were direct, and they were polite.  Why not?
Laura's questions were direct, and polite, except for saying that the
process that Judy has used with the 5x7's for the last four years will
look "crappy."  Apparently it doesn't.  If Judy's nine paragraph post is
an example of rudeness, arrogance, and a bad attitude in our modern
world....*hit, I wish I ONLY had to deal with rudeness like that in my
daily life.  I wish that was the extent of the arrogance I am forced to
confront as the years pass.  Bad attitude?  Am I the *only* person here
who has ever worked with teenagers?  Tried to get something done at the
Registry of Motor Vehicles?  Been honked at and flipped off for (gasp!)
stopping at a red light?  (Not a yellow one, a RED one?)  Instead of
blasting through the intersection so the guy behind me on the cell phone
can get to work .03 seconds faster?  (So what if we kill a few people
doing it.)  I get more attitude from my *ferrets*!
 
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML issue 4940]