On March 25th, SSQQ held a Benefit class on behalf
of Texas A&M University. In Mr. Huzar's first letter, he had spoken
bitterly of how SSQQ was draining profits from TAMU coffers. If we may
refresh your memory...
"Should
you not refrain from using the trademarks, quite honestly, I (and I’m
sure many other Houston area Forbidden Words) would find it a
blatant act of
greed on both the part of SSQQ and Leisure Learning magazine and
rather
disgusting that you would contribute to end the noble act of raising
scholarships for worthy students."
Not accustomed to being accused of Greed on a daily
basis, I thought it might be a nice gesture to hold a benefit class in
"Forbidden Word Jitterbug" to dispel any notions
that SSQQ wished to exploit A&M's good name or deprive its students of
any scholarship funds.
I originally asked Rachel Seff to teach the class.
Rachel is not only an SSQQ instructor, she is also an A&M graduate class
of '92 with a Master's Degree, and a high-profile member of the Alumni
community to boot. Very active in A&M fund raising and many other
events, Ms. Seff was recently presented the '99 TAMU Harris Award for
Community Service!
I figured the A&M community would respond if
"one of their own" was teaching the class. However as the days
neared the event, I canceled my own course that night and decided to teach
the class myself. Rachel was more than willing to teach it, but the truth is
she barely knew the dance and only agreed to teach it as a favor to
me.
Originally Mr. Huzar wrote encouragingly of a joint
effort between the Association of Former A&M Students and SSQQ, but as
the event approached I did not hear from him. Nor did I hear from anyone
else connected with the Association. It was becoming clear to me that either
Mr. Huzar and the Association wished to distance themselves from the event
or no one in the entire community even gave a damn.
On the night of the class no one from the
Association identified themselves to me although I suspect a couple members
were in the class. There were quite a few new faces to me. I considered the
response very impressive. The class was attended by more than 40 people, a
very big turnout.
I was worried there might be some hostile people in
the group, but everyone there was very friendly. The class was enthusiastic
and I received many "thumbs up" from the students in the group.
The only mildly negative comment the whole evening was from one gentleman
who expressed regret we weren't going to teach anything Advanced. He left
after the Break, I believe.
In all it was a very pleasant evening. My only
disappointment was that Mr. Huzar did not bother to attend... or if he did,
then he did not bother to identify himself. I had hoped to shake his hand
and put the whole incident to rest. I had also hoped to foster a link
between SSQQ and the Alumni Association, but apparently that was not meant
to be either. I was going to propose doing the benefit on a yearly
basis.
In the following days I found it odd that no one
had contacted me before or after the event. After all the headaches I went
through, I thought someone might say something. As for Mr. Huzar, he had
managed to send me EIGHT emails in one week's time trying to talk his way
out of the mess he created, but apparently his finger lost the magic touch
for the dance@ssqq.com SEND button as
March 25th came and went.
It is pretty easy to make a mess, but no one likes
to stick around and clean it up.
I emailed a couple of A&M exes for the correct
address. I was very pleased to pass on a check for $500 which I sent to the
Houston Association of Former A&M Students.
I did think it odd that 10 days after sending the
check I still hadn't gotten a "Thank you" letter or email. Maybe I
should have listened more closely to that foreboding sense that all was
still not right or forgiven ...
Little did I know.
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