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[Theresa Kishkan]

So pleased, Lisa, to see such an articulate and passionate defense of
freedom of expression. There are many mine-fields in contemporary culture
(the one I find it difficult to accept is the PC term, "fishers", for
fishermen....I live in a fishing community and yes, there are women in the
fleet, and the language ought to include them but I always think of fishers
as small mammals like mink. In some trades, felicitous terms come easily:
"fire-fighters" takes care of gender issues there, for instance, as a woman
friend who is a fire-fighter has observed...) and learning to face them with
grace and tolerance is a challenge.

The problem I have with place name changes (and I speak as a white woman,
albeit with Ukrainian roots on one side, roots that attracted their share of
pejorative terms when I was growing up) is that so much of what is important
about place is the layering of its histories -- the natural, human, mythic
and geological histories. Names can be baggage, redolent of cultural
prejudices, but they can also help us to know something deeply important
about a place. Naming is in some ways an act of elimination but it is also
an act of definition.

Anway, I like to hear everyone's perspective and urge Dave to continue as he
has, moderating with courtesy and an open mind.

Theresa Kishkan
RR1 Site 20 C11
Madeira Park, B.C.
V0N 2H0
(604)883-2377
Red Laredo Boots (1996); Sisters of Grass (2000)

"What secrets do the hills contain in their suede hollows, what mysteries
are lifted from the stones in the unbearable stillness of morning?"