From james.w.spinks.1 at arczip.com Sat Apr 4 17:46:06 2009 From: james.w.spinks.1 at arczip.com (James W. Spinks.1) Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 16:46:06 -0500 Subject: [Squaredancing] FW: Only in America Message-ID: FYI a few years old but I was talking with some one a few days ago...a non SDer who's only experience with SDing was in High School and thought it "Silly" and "Hillbillyish" and had seen the Reader's Digest article/qwip in a Doctors office copy of RD. Don't remember if I passed this on to the listserve group back in 2004 or not. SDers need POSITIVE publicity NOT NEGATIVE especially from a magazine with as large a readership as does Readers Digest. Below is the reply and the message I had written to RD's editor at that time. Jim Spinks -----Original Message----- From: RDEditorial_RDW at ReadersDigest.com [mailto:RDEditorial_RDW at ReadersDigest.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 2:13 PM To: James.W.Spinks.1 at arczip.com Subject: Only in America Dear James: Thank you for contacting us regarding "The RD Hit List" in June's "Only in America." We appreciate your taking the time to share your feedback and perspective regarding square dancing. The spirit of our headline was not meant to be malicious, but was just our way of saying, "check out" these unusual speciality plates. Our intention was not to discount any of them. Still, we will certainly share your comments with our editorial staff, including your suggestion that we publish a follow-up article. We appreciate your support of Reader's Digest and hope the despite your disappointment with this material, you will find much to enjoy in our upcoming issues. Sincerely yours, The Editors To: letters at readersdigest.com cc: From: James.W.Spinks.1 at arczip.com Subject: Only in America sender's message = I take exception with your comments/classification of specialty tags on page 24 of your June 2004 issue. Specifically item 5 Square Dancer License Plates. In your list of states that have Square Dancer Tags you left out Maryland. Square Dancing is Maryland's State Folk Dance and has a tag for it. I have one these tags. SQUARE DANCING is NOT "SILLY" NOR is it "SQUARE" NOR is "RIDICULOUS". The Square Dancer Tags promote MODERN WESTERN SQUARE DANCING a most HEALTHFUL activity for people of ALL ages. I am 54 years old and have been doing so since I was a JUNIOR in HIGH SCHOOL. It is a most enjoyable leisure time activity. You meet many many nice people square dancing. It is a most excellent method of exercise. Most club dances last 1.5 to 2 hours. Square Dancing is VIGOROUS activity and much more interesting and enjoyable than going to a GYM for a workout. I am Six Foot One and 175 pounds. Square Dancing has kept me trim. There are two regional Square Dance organizations that cover the state of Maryland. One is WASCA - Washington Area Square Dancers Cooperative Association. WASCA's Web Site address is: http://members.aol.com/wascaclubs/index.html. WASCA has approximate 100 Square Dance and Round Dance Clubs in Maryland, DC, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia as members along with the individual club members. The other regional organization of clubs is the MASON DIXON Square Dancer's Federation based in Baltimore, Maryland and has clubs located Baltimore, Northeast Maryland, Delaware and lower Southeastern PA. as members. There are many PROFESSIONAL Modern Western Square Dance Callers that make their living calling for the many Square Dance Festival and Conventions that occur through-out the country and thought-out the year. Every year WASCA sponsors a 3 day Spring Festival in March at a local hotel. WASCA's 46th annual Spring Festival occurs on March 17,18,19 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Reston, Virginia. Usually 5 to 6 National Professional Callers "call" for the Festival. The callers for next year's Festival are Tom Miller of Pennsylvania, Dave Miller of Michigan, Tim Crawford of Canada, Joe Saltel of Texas, Ed Pabst of Ohio and Jerry Biggerstaff of North Carolina. Every year there is a National Square Dance Convention. The Mason-Dixon organization sponsored the 1984 Nation Square Dance Convention at the Baltimore Convention Center. WASCA sponsored the 2000 National Square Dance Convention also at the Baltimore Convention Center. Over 13,000 Square Dancers attended the convention in Baltimore during June of 2000. There is even a European organization of American Square Dancing clubs named: "European Association of American Square Dancing Clubs" (EAASDC) their web address is: http://eaasdc.de/bulletin/index.htm Modern Western Square Dancing was introduced to Europe by our military troops. Modern Western Square Dancing has it roots in traditional Square Dancing, which dates back to the founding times of this country. I respectfully suggest that BEFORE you declare a license plate that PROMOTES a HEALTHFUL and HISTORIC activity such as Modern Western Square Dancing, SILLY and RIDICULOUS, you do some serious research on the subject. Account Number =null sender's first name =James W. sender's last name =Spinks sender's address 1 =P.O. Box 902 sender's address 2 = sender's city =Seabrook sender's state = MD sender's province = sender's country =us sender's zip = 20703-0902 sender's phone = sender's email id =James.W.Spinks.1 at arczip.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cynde at twistercom.fi Sun Apr 5 09:58:07 2009 From: cynde at twistercom.fi (Cynde Sadler) Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 16:58:07 +0300 Subject: [Squaredancing] FW: Only in America References: Message-ID: This happened five years ago and you met a person a few days ago who remembers it? That's a lot of damage done by Reader's Digest! Who knows how many wannabe dancers never turned up to give it a look-see? 100s? 1,000s? Did they ever write a more positive article about SD? If not let bombard them now with pressure to write one with all the positive qualities showing. Friends of my almost 80-year-old mother say that she looks and acts younger than she did 5 years ago when she started. She thanks me so often for 'forcing' her to start. She round dances now, too and absolutely loves it all. She feels I (+ SD) saved her life*. Tell THAT to Reader's Digest! Cynde * There was nothing wrong with her just a widow and lonely at times ----- Original Message ----- From: "James W. Spinks.1" To: "Square Dancing Mailing List" Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 12:46 AM Subject: [Squaredancing] FW: Only in America > FYI a few years old but I was talking with some one a few days ago...a non > SDer who's > only experience with SDing was in High School and thought it "Silly" and > "Hillbillyish" > and had seen the Reader's Digest article/qwip in a Doctors office copy of > RD. > > Don't remember if I passed this on to the listserve group back in 2004 or > not. > SDers need POSITIVE publicity NOT NEGATIVE especially from a magazine > with as large a readership as does Readers Digest. > > Below is the reply and the message I had written to RD's editor at that > time. > > Jim Spinks > > From WA8VEC at ARRL.NET Thu Apr 9 22:54:53 2009 From: WA8VEC at ARRL.NET (Mike Gormley) Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:54:53 -0400 Subject: [Squaredancing] I Love Lucy Square Dancing Message-ID: <49DEB4FD.6070706@ARRL.NET> Just ran across this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISAA1ih9Ty0 Mike Gormley Florida Keys From shcaldwell at gmail.com Fri Apr 10 09:14:49 2009 From: shcaldwell at gmail.com (Sandy Caldwell) Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:14:49 -0400 Subject: [Squaredancing] I Love Lucy Square Dancing In-Reply-To: <49DEB4FD.6070706@ARRL.NET> References: <49DEB4FD.6070706@ARRL.NET> Message-ID: <535fd42a0904100614i66eb4c33h8cf81a9f5f608cee@mail.gmail.com> I'm sure I saw that sometime in the past, but it's still funny. It was even real square dancing! Sandy On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 10:54 PM, Mike Gormley wrote: > Just ran across this video. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISAA1ih9Ty0 > > Mike Gormley > Florida Keys > > _______________________________________________ > Squaredancing mailing list > Squaredancing at rbnsn.com > http://rbnsn.com/mailman/listinfo/squaredancing_rbnsn.com > -- Sandy Caldwell Atlanta/Virginia Beach -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: