IJMC - One Year Anniversary

Today is roundabout the International Junk Mail Clearinghouse's one year 
anniversary...or at least I and the founder are calling it so. Today also 
marks our 250th subscriber, welcome, Erik Simper! So for now, I'll stand 
down, pleased to present a letter and story from our founder, Michael Ivey!
							-dave



------------------------ Begin Founder Letter -----------------------------



		A Letter from the Founder, Michael Ivey
                - ------ ---- --- -------- ------- ----


When the IJMC first started one year ago, I never dreamed that it would
come to this.  From it's humble beginnings as a small mailing list in
Pine, to a full-featured listserv (coming soon!), this has become a major
entity on the net, with a web page that is about to be updated, finally.

I want to take this chance to thank Dave, and I think you all should.  Send
him mail, and tell him how much he rocks.  This list's development has been
mainly due to his efforts.  Thanks, Dave.

I would also like to thank all of you for being subscribers, and for letting 
us know what you like, and don't like, and for keeping us FLOODED with
contributions.  We may be moving sites soon, so your continued support really
means alot to me.

Now I want to introduce an old post, that's been updated.  It's a story many
of you may have heard, some from me in person.  It's a true story, and that
I swear.  It is very special, so read it carefully, and listen to it, let it 
touch your heart.




                          the story of the spoon

once upon a time, there was a fairy.  she was the happiest fairy in the entire
world.  she was so happy, she had never experienced the human emotion of
sadness.  now, this was back in the days when all the people in the world could
sit down and have dinner together.  and the fairy would go to these feasts that
the people had, so that she could be with them, because, as one person so 
eloquently put it, she was 'groovin on the mortals.'  and the people loved 
having her there, because she was a lot of fun.  

one day, while the fairy was sitting there eating mashed potatoes, green beans, 
corn and red jello cubes, she looked around at the people there, and suddenly
realized that none of them knew how much she loved them.  they had no idea.
they couldn't comprehend her love.  so, she decided she would have to tell 
them.

she decided that she would commision a huge statue to go in the middle of the
table, that would be big and colorful and have lots of things coming off of it,
and it would proclaim love to all of humanity.  however, she was a minimum
wage fairy, and inflation in fairyland had gone through the roof, so she didn't
really have the kind of cash it takes to commision a great work of art.  she 
was, needless to say, upset, but then she remembered that it's better to make
somethign for someone than to buy them something, anyway.

so she decided that she would make them a sculpture. but all she had was mashed
potatoes, green beans, corn, and red jello cubes.  so, she made a big pile out
of the mashed potatoes, stuck the green beans into the pile, sprinkled corn
over the top of the whole thing, and then balanced the jello cubes on top of 
the green beans, and it was really groovy looking, but.....it somehow lacked 
the desired effect.  she was, needless to say, distraught, and she put her 
head down.

it was the closest the fairy had ever been to tears.

then, she looked up, picked up her spoon, polished it off, since she'd been 
eating mashed potatoes green beans corn and red jello cubes with it, and turned
and handed it to the guy next to her.  

he took the spoon, and looked at it.  looked at her.  looked at it.  looked at
her.

and he understood.

he wanted to keep it with him forever, so he bent it, and put it around his
wrist.

she was so excited that she jumped up, grabbed a handful of spoons and started
giving them to people.  some people took them, and threw them back at her, 
thinking she was wacked out.  some people thought it was cute, and kept them,
but they didn't see the real menaing.  but some people, the wise ones, 
understood what they meant.  and the spoon fairy kept giving mortals spoons,
and those people that had them started giving more spoons to people, and 
telling the story.

and the spoon spread and the story spread and the spoon spread and the story 
spread and the spoon spread and the story spread 

and the spoon is a symbol of unconditional human love, and with a little bit
of that, we could heal the world.




This story is very, very special to me, and I am very proud to say that people
all over the country share in its power.  I am also very honored to let those
of you who wish to contact the spoon fairy, do so at her email address:

               -=>      spoon@lib.brenau.edu     <=-

Please be nice to her, she's very special, too.

Thanks for listening to me all year, and for being a part of this big thing.
And keep sending us those lousy email forwards...it's what we do best.

	                               -michael

-------------------------- End Founder Letter -------------------------------

There it is...if it needs anything, don;t send it and tell me, since it IS
late when i wrote it.  thanks, dave.

-michael


    Michael Ivey                          "Venimus, Vidimus, Dolavimus"
    Linux enthusiast                  trans: We came, we saw, we hacked. 
      
      shroom@crl.com  --  strein@gsu.edu  --  stdmdix@gsusgi2.gsu.edu