I want to thank all of the organizers for a wonderful FEAST a couple
of weeks ago! I enjoy this conference so much!
My daughter, who accompanied me to FEAST this year and in 2007 is
very, very sad that the conference will not be in Florida again next
time. I tried to explain to her the political reasons behind the
decision to try a new location, as you will see from her message
below, although she does not yet grasp the implication of harm being
done that is not directly to an individual (we'll work on that). I
confess being very torn myself between loving the Florida location, in
part but not totally because it is a great place to bring my daughter,
and agreeing with the political concerns about where our money is going.
Anyway, Zoë wanted to express her protest to the organization about
the change in location, and I certainly did not want to quash her urge
to do so, so I promised to pass on her message. Here it is:
Dear Feast,
I'd like to make a suggestion on account of the location of Feast. As
a ten year old girl, I'm sure you don't take me seriously. And I'm
sure you think I only want you to stay in Florida because I think it's
fun there. I can tell you it's fun for everyone involved in the
program and you are making a huge mistake. Florida may have homo
sexual issues and a bad environment, but they haven't done anything
wrong to the speakers or anyone involved, have they? I'm sure no one
there has given you a hassle about anything. Why move to a cold, 3
star place when you can live in peace at a 5 star hotel, with a beach,
and a pool, and great places to visit?? If things have gone wrong,
notify me and I'll take back the comment. Just a suggestion. Thank you
for listening.
Sincerely Yours,
Zoë Stubblefield
(Daughter of Anna
Stubblefield, Speaker
at Feast of 2009)
***********************************
Anna Stubblefield
Chair, Department of Philosophy
Rutgers University-Newark
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