TheBanyanTree: Tales of a Woodcat

[Roger Pye]

My understanding of the function and purpose of 'TBT' is that it is a 
storytelling community which resides somewhere on the international 
internet highway as did its predecessor 'The Spoon Cafe'. That most of 
the stories are about ourselves and our experiences is, in my opinion, 
irrelevant, although clearly this fact has confused other subscribers in 
the past, particularly those who asked for a review of their writings.
******************

(Back in 1998 Youngblood said."Tell a story in exactly 55 words."

(Hmmm.
(What is a 'story'?
(It must have a beginning.)

			In an old stone and wooden cottage by a little running creek on a
			farm high in the Snowy Mountains, there is a family of three cats,
			two dogs, one sheep, a man and a woman,

(It must have a middle.)

			who all love each other very much.

(It must have an ending.)

			Please drop in next time you're passing, we'd love to see you.

********
CLICK!

The box whirred. Coloured lights flashed and flickered. Amorphous 
colours and text
danced across the screen. A tune played. A background image of a tabby 
cat appeared.
Icons superimposed themselves.

BINK!

  A dialog box - 'This program has performed an illegal operation and 
will be shut down.'

"Aw, shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

CLICK!

The box whirred ........

*****************************

For moderators to deny any topic to contributors is, again in my 
opinion, not censorship at all but sound commonsense based on previous 
experience. Notwithstanding the demonstrated rationality or 
reasonableness of contributors - and I do generally enjoy and learn from 
the writings of Margaret just as I do those of Tobie and most others in 
our community otherwise I would not be a member - it doesn't take much 
to upset someone to the point where they leave and as a result we all 
miss out. It isn't just John Bailey or Tabby Cat, there have been 
several others. Also I have to admit that in my own 'stories' I have not 
always been as sensible as I should have and  have lost friends here as 
a result.

I feel it must also be taken into account that the Tree IS international 
in nature and the machinations of political figures in the USA are 
really of very little interest, from most aspects, to those of us who 
don't reside there. I'm sure that if I were to go on at length about 
Little Johnny (Howard)* or his predecessors Keating, Hawke and Whitlam 
most of you would be confused or totally disinterested.

* Our Prime Minister

Perhaps my opinions are coloured by the facts that I'm married to a 
political scientist, that we are 'eccentric' enough not to own a tv set 
but use the internet and the weekend papers to keep up with global 
happenings - like being subscribed to the Seattle Times, as we are to a 
number of US newspapers - that we have both worked consistently on 
several federal election campaigns.

The Banyan Tree is a place I go to relax. It used to be that I wrote 
quite a lot for our community but these days I rarely have the time and 
that is my loss. It is not a forum for political or religious or other 
contentious matters - please, let's keep it that way.

woodcat