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Thank you AAW and the board

B

Brujo

Joined
Nov 15, 2006
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Location
Merced, California
Since opinions are flying around about the AAW I would like to add mine.

I love the organization and the direction it is going! The journal is exceptional.

As a younger turner I and those my age or younger are the future of this organization.

Nothing has turned me off from the AAW as the constant bickering over what is and is not art or woodturning. My opinion of this organization from the journal is excellent. My opinion from spending time in the forums is that the organization is made up of bitter old man afraid of change, afraid of art, and who are completely intolerant to all ideas that do not mimic their own.

From meeting various turners from this forum I know this is not the case. It is unfortunate that the general feel of the forums do not always reflect the generous nature of most of the members of the AAW. People who would go out of their way to help a newbee gain the skills to become an accomplished turner.

If the members of the organization can not be flexible enough to accept new ideas and interpretations of art and woodturning this organization will loose any appeal to the younger audience. Most people my age want to create something new and exciting, not just rework the same old projects.
 
Wish I could state myself that clearly. I think we are doing a great job getting people involved in turning. At 55 I used to be the youngest guy in the club. Now at 58 we have quite a few guys in thier 40's and some in their 30's. I don't think the AAW is going to die just because the older generation is leaving.
 
Brujo said:
Since opinions are flying around about the AAW I would like to add mine.

My opinion from spending time in the forums is that the organization is made up of bitter old man afraid of change, afraid of art, and who are completely intolerant to all ideas that do not mimic their own.

.
Click to expand...

Talk about inflamatory ! Perhaps you should read the Policy on uncivil behavior. It is obvious that you were never taught to respect your elders.
 
Preach on young man, Preach on!!!

I could not agree more with you after the last week and a half.

I have constantly been amazed by the openness of turners to helping the "N OO B"s. We were all one at one point in time. I am no where near the turner that some who I meet are, but I respect them even more for their willingness to share their abilities with me. Over the years I have learned that even the few that I felt were initially unfriendly have turned out not to be such. Perhaps it was just a bad day for both of us, but in time they have proved that first impressions are sometimes wrong.

Sometimes we are so much like the caterpillar and not like the butterfly. Remember they are both the same creature, just at different stages of life. In order to be all that it was meant to be the caterpillar must break out of the cocoon of its own making, and then stretch it wings to fly as the butterfly that it is. If all it does is walk around on the ground it never reaches it full potential.

Clayton Cochran
still striving for perfection
 
Unconditional respect is for nature, people have to earn it

Keith,

I will admit to being very inflammatory at times on this forum. This is not one of them. If I offended I apologize. But to be honest I would consider you quoting me out of context to be inflammatory as well. Your intent was clearly to be divisive or you would have included my whole quote.

Considering the next sentence is..."From meeting various turners from this forum I know this is not the case."

Once again Keith I am sorry if I offended you, but I would also like to thank you for illustrating my point about the general feel of the forums perfectly.
 
Brujo

First I agree with you on all else you said. What I take offense to is that you have generalized all of us into one catorgaization. It's kind of like me saying, this organization is nothing but a bunch of young punks. Of course thats not true and it's not true that it's made up of a bunch of bitter old men either. Theres always a bad apple or two in any organization. The "generalization" is what is offensive to me.

Now as far as respect goes. I was rasied to respect all men. Until the give me reason not too. It's much easier that way.
 
Brujo, this is good to read... I'm glad you took the time to post.

As I said in another post my hat is off to the board who is willing to donate their time to keep us going. The only thing we can ask is do the best you can... period.

As woodturners we agree to disagree with everything we do. We agree that we like to turn wood but after that it's up to the individual... that's where we disagree but it's ok because we like to turn wood. Everyone has a different idea how the finish product should look so respect what they did and turn what you want.
 
Semper FI

I agree also. I equate being a woodturner like being a US Marine. I have only been turning for 2 years, I'm now 38. But like the Marines, we are a small brother, and sisterhood. I can go talk to a 80 year old Marine like he was my best friend, just like I do other turners.

From what I have seen from the turners that I have meet, they will share all of there turning secrets(which there are not many because everybody shares them), and they will invite you over and actually teach you how to do them.

Matt Rabe
Semper Fi
 
Brujo, I agree with everything you said and the way you said it.

No matter how you word your opinion or observation, someone would be offended............that's life.

Heck I told my granddaugther (15) at her dance recital, "Honey, I hate the drive (3 hrs), but I love you and love to watch you dance so much, I would make that drive anytime."..............she got mad, said, "if you hate it, you don't HAVE to come, you know"..............see, that's life!

Don't apologize, your apology will be misinterpreted, too.

I apologize to anyone whose feelings I just hurt..........maybe.......maybe not........

I'd rather talk to, argue with.....er, debate with.... and be friends with a woodturner than anyone else. You guys are the greatest.

Ruth

P.S. I do a lot of tongue-in-cheek, I have typical female emotions/moods but I love you all no matter what anyone says 🙄 😀
 
First, thank you Brujo for saying what needed to be said. Next, as far as thoes that want to bad mouth you and try to put words into your mouth, simply ingore them. You will have at least one in every crowd no matter what the subject. As for the AAW Board, so far all I've seen from them is a lot of hard work to make the AAW a top notch organization. If you don't care for the way one of these individuals is doing the job, there will be a vote coming up. I suggest you put your name in the hat.

G.A. Darling
 
Ed are you the same one who is teaching box making at John Campell late august? I was thinking I would drive down and meet you. Make that Up to meet you. I'm teaching in Atlanta on Thursay the 21st and could possible drive up through the Folkschool on Saturday or sunday on my way home. I always love to go through there when I can.
 
Jerry Rhoads said:
Hooray for the board.
And I never met a turner that I did not like! Young or seasoned.
I have learned from a lot of them.

Jerry
Click to expand...
I want to second and third this statement!
Most experiences in my life have led me to believe that when it comes to sharing valuable knowledge and/or ideas, people just don't (unless they are getting paid).
I got into woodturning BECAUSE the people I met were so helpful, so selfless and so happy to share their knowledge and experience... and didn't seem to be afraid that anyone was going to "rip off their ideas." In fact, the vast majority seems to get pleasure from knowing that someone else values their ideas enough to want to learn about them.
Fearless people who seem to see that they can show what they know and what they have learned without losing a thing in the transaction.

How distressing it has been to find that this communal mindset has such a narrow scope.
I hope that the political restrictions take hold and we can get back to the joys of woodturning, and that we can use the same mindset in dealing with non-woodturning that we tap into for symposiums, demonstrations, learn and turns and "play dates" when friends come over to spend the day turning together in friendship and harmony.
 
John C Campbell Folk School

John,

I am guilty as charged. I will be teaching Ornaments and Boxes at John C Campbell beginning on our 45th anniversary, August 24. We are going to have a great class. There are a couple of openings. One person who teaches woodturning there regularly has signed up because his wife will be there for a different course. I told Richard Raffan this when he was staying here with us and then asked him if he would like to take the class and REALLY make my day. I'm not so stupid that I thought that he would want to do that, but we had a good chuckle.

I have run into an interesting question/dilemma for the boxmaking portion of things. I must assume that there will be someone in the class who is allergic to exotic woods and possibly to walnut and even maple. So, I guess that cherry is a domestic wood that would work for making boxes, but there aren't many choices. I would not want to spoil someone's week by setting off their allergies.

Mike Stafford will be there with me. He will either take the course or assist, depending upon the number who sign up. In either case, he will demo making a box at some point in the course. We plan on having fun.

We would be delighted to have you stop by JCCFS when we are there. However the date that you mentioned will be a week early. 🙂
 
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Ed I usually take whatever wood I want with back ups just in case. Then I ask the class if anyone is allergic. I don't take Cocobolo or other species that a lot of people are allergic to. That's just pushing it but I have used walnut a fair amount. I've never found anyone allergic to maple but that doesn't mean there aren't any.
I got the dates wrong I just glanced at the workshops and it didn't really register. I may have to see if I can get an extra day off. I met Mike at the symposium but didn't really get to talk to him. I'd love to meet you both. I'll try to work something out. Maybe I can call the office on Monday morning and tell them my car broke down in Atlanta and I'll need an extra day. Since I only have 2 vehicles and both have over 200K they will believe that. Besides Mary Dornboss at the craft gallery might need some more mirrors. It's been a few months sent I sent any.
 
Brujo said:
Since opinions are flying around about the AAW I would like to add mine.

I love the organization and the direction it is going! The journal is exceptional.

As a younger turner I and those my age or younger are the future of this organization.

Nothing has turned me off from the AAW as the constant bickering over what is and is not art or woodturning. My opinion of this organization from the journal is excellent. My opinion from spending time in the forums is that the organization is made up of bitter old man afraid of change, afraid of art, and who are completely intolerant to all ideas that do not mimic their own.

From meeting various turners from this forum I know this is not the case. It is unfortunate that the general feel of the forums do not always reflect the generous nature of most of the members of the AAW. People who would go out of their way to help a newbee gain the skills to become an accomplished turner.

If the members of the organization can not be flexible enough to accept new ideas and interpretations of art and woodturning this organization will loose any appeal to the younger audience. Most people my age want to create something new and exciting, not just rework the same old projects.
Click to expand...

Thank you for saying what I have been feeling. It is very interesting that for a surprisingly number of people, the Internet seems to serve as a communication medium with implied permission to dispense with courteous behavior in conversation.

In my face-to-face meetings with people, I almost never encounter people exhibiting the types of uncivil behavior that is rampant on the Internet. Even though uncivil behavior on this forum is nothing compared to what can be found on most Internet forums, courteous behavior is not up to the standards that it could and should be meeting.

My personal goal that I strive to maintain in Internet forum discussions is to apply the same degree of courtesy and civility that I would use in any face-to-face conversation. I may fall short in both of these areas, but it isn't from lack of trying.

If I encounter anyone in a forum who is consistently uncivil, I always have the option of going to the Control Panel and setting my preferences to blank out any posts by those individuals.
 
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