The Mason Spirit

More Grammar Goofs

Please do not publish letters like the one from Raoul Drapeau, who took a misguided stand on the who/whom issue. He, and his sixth-grade teacher, represent a shrinking minority who believe those rules recorded by a group of monks in the Middle Ages (at least those who survived the Black [Death]) were divinely inspired when, indeed, they were simply copied from Latin rules.

An example: The scribes wrote that one must never divide an infinitive. Why? Because one cannot do so in Latin. Why? Because in Latin the infinitive is one word. Yet today, we are allowed TO boldly GO where no man….

Rules must come from usage, not the other way ’round.

Merton L. Bland, MA Linguistics ’95

On Our List

I recently received the spring edition of the Mason Spirit, and, as always, it is terrific—lots of interesting info and it looks fabulous. I am so glad it is sent to retirees.

Many thanks to you and your team.

Bobbie Fuller, Former Director of University Information

Cheers for Coach Linn

I enjoyed the recent article on Mason sports. I hope you’ll look into doing an article on Coach John Linn. He coached just about every sport at Mason. I was on the trap and skeet team when we won our first national championship. I was on the team for the first three championships, and Mason won many more in a row after that.

Coach helped bring a number of Mason teams up to a level where the university could recruit and hire coaches that were specific to a sport. He was an institution at the school, and I’d love to see him get credit for helping build the athletic program at Mason.

With the new Recreation Athletic Complex, what will happen to the memories of this great coach that were preserved in the old John Linn Memorial Gymnasium?

John Shafer, BS Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies ’88

The Linn Memorial Gymnasium is still inside the Recreation Athletic Complex (formerly the Physical Education Building) and received a facelift during the renovation. Thanks for the great story idea. We will add it to the list.

—Editor

Oops

A few weeks ago I picked up the spring issue, and to my incredible surprise the very first page I opened to had a picture of ME, in my kayak, with Dr. Lee Talbot. Since when did I become Marty, his wife, as the photo caption states? I was one of his graduate students from 1997 to 2000. In that photo, he was assisting me with my research on marsh wrens at Dyke Marsh Nature Preserve in Alexandria. It was an honor that he chose that photo for your article, yet the misidentification deprives that honor not only from me, but also Marty, his beautiful and amazing wife, who took that photo.

Sandy C. Spencer, MS Biology ’01

Dr. Talbot let us know pretty quickly about the mistake in the “Building Legacies” article in the spring 2010 Mason Spirit. Since our readers missed the opportunity to see Marty Talbot, we are including a photo in this issue of the couple on one of their many adventures.

—Editor