[Squaredancing] FW: Only in America

Sat Apr 4 17:46:06 EDT 2009

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: <http://rbnsn.com/pipermail/squaredancing_rbnsn.com/attachments/20090404/b7c2ea36/attachment.html>