Wow. I'll admit to being totally blindsided by such an unmerited torrent of internet snark.
NoFake wrote:Richard has asked me to post this:
I believe that it's always better when every John Alden speaks for himself. But since Richard has not responded to the olive branch email that I sent him yesterday after reading this, I'll try to untie his knots one at a time:
Pals of mine
I certainly meant no offense by that familiar term. I'd assumed that Richard recalled the night that, as fraternal members of the Episcopal Actors' Guild, my friend Mercury vet Arthur Anderson, my New York City Opera wife Bernadette (if memory serves), and I performed bits of Bard for him as part of his lecture in Guild Hall. And I note that we have had cordial communication a few times since.
don’t hide behind pseudonyms (?)
The "?" is certainly appropriate after that charge! I am not even slightly pseudonymous here - in fact, a good deal less so than many members. "Craig" is my given name, and the "Wich" part of my screen name is the first syllable of my surname, "Wichman," which can be found in many posts around the Board.
and resort to snide innuendoes
No bitter snideness from here, nor oily innuendo of any kind. (Witness the "pal" and the
) My remark about The Shakespeare Authorship Question* was meant as an affectionate joke, riffing off of The Kane Authorship Debate. unless, of course, they are academics
I have a decent education, and do my best to apply what modest intelligence that I have. But beyond that, I infinitely prefer the description "amateur" (in the sense that Charles Laughton said he meant it), to "academic."
who continue to resent my long-held belief that, until the birth of nanotechnology, nothing was known to exist anywhere in the universe that was smaller than what they laughingly refer to as their “minds.”
Wow again. All I can say to that, is that I haven't seen such a scattershot, and unmerited, online ad hominem attack in quite some time.
Not much more that I can say, other than to repeat the point that not the slightest malice was meant, and if any offense was taken, my apology is genuine.
Take good care and be well, all.
- Craig
(Wichman)
*(P.S. - For anyone who cares, my take on that subject itself: I think Richard and I made clear that night years ago, that we evidently stand on opposite sides of The Authorship Question. I believed in Will's bona fides then, after years of study at NYU including Shakespeare with Mario Siletti; I've continued to believe in them as I've been blessed to produce and play his works since; and I have had that opinion fortified recently, by finally reading Marchette Chute's wonderful survey of his life. But I don't think that an honest difference of opinion merits personal attack - and that, of a type that seems particularly uncharacteristic when involving the man known as "sweet" and "gentle" Shakespeare himself.)
