Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 578.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 17:07:54 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: happy new year
Dear Colleagues:
From my privileged geographical position nearby Greenwich, and so telling
time by GMT, allow me just six hours prior to midnight on this 31 December,
to wish all of you the most joyous and intellectually prosperous of new
years. Some would say as well that in six hours we'll enter a new
millennium, but that scale of time is so vast, so daunting and beyond the
span of anyone's life that a millennial changeover seems to me altogether
too abstract to stir the blood. Humanists in this country may find the
ambiguity richly ironical, as the Millennium Experience Company closes its
great, expensive tent officially at the end of the day. One year ago this
evening, in Washington DC, I listened to Bishop Desmond Tutu preach to
honour the past century in a message of hope, which he heroically rescued
from the tragic savagery that he reviewed as its most characteristic
attribute. Tonight, for me at least, a quieter, less spectacular but deeply
joyous evening at home -- after finishing this message assurredly NOT in
front of a computer but an ageing television beside a quite beautiful
Christmas tree.
Humanist will again fall silent from 3 through 7 January but will resume
with my start of term on the 8th. All the best to all of you.
Yours,
WM
-----
Dr Willard McCarty / Senior Lecturer /
Centre for Computing in the Humanities / King's College London /
Strand / London WC2R 2LS / U.K. /
+44 (0)20 7848-2784 / ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/
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