ROANOKE TIMES Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310011 SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO COLUMN: Ben Beagle SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE
Dr. Peter McLeay
University of Wolverhampton
Dudley Campus
Castleview
DUDLEY UK DY1 3HR
Dear Peter:
I must say, old chap, that I hardly expected such a spirited response to my column of Feb. 15 of this year. I was absolutely stunned by the venom in your fax of 16 July 1996.
One wonders whether such an attack on someone in the colonies is quite cricket. But there it is:
"There's this journalist on The Roanoke Times who, secure in the knowledge that the target of his mockery was some distance away and not likely to take a local U.S. paper with a rather modest and restricted circulation, felt inclined to rubbish a research project whose legitimacy is well established
You went on to say that other American journalists were helpful to your project: "So many in fact that the dumb professor from Wolverhampton is still responding to them and following up the advice and comments received."
I suspect, old man, that there are people even in the United Kingdom who might look askance at a project aimed at discovering what air conditioning, or the lack thereof, has done to America's "sense of place,"
I shall scarcely forget the title: of your report: "The Technological Homogenization of American Culture and the Demise of a Sense of Place."
Nevertheless, I didn't mean to "rubbish" your work, though I must still believe there are higher purposes for academic exploration.
All of that quite to the contrary I now, as you requested after your bile abated somewhat, encourage my readers to contact you at the above address about their air conditioning.
Their numbers, however, may be small indeed when one considers the "modest and rather restricted" distribution of this newspaper.
I regret not being able include your home address, university phone number, fax number, e-mail or web site. All of this, dash it all, takes up quite a bit of space in a paper as limited as this one is.
Besides, some of them undoubtedly are afraid of faxes, e-mail and web sites. And they probably don't like to make overseas phone calls.
By the by, we're using ceiling fans for air conditioning at our house, and so far we're having a totally smashing summer. The dog, though, continues to pant terribly.
Best wishes and rule Britannia and that sort of thing,
Ben Beagle
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB