This is the first column to the members of AFT6157R (retiree chapter of the faculty union of EVC/SJCC) in our new digital format. A great deal of discussion preceded our decision to go digital. The stereotype of senior citizens who don’t use computers or have email addresses was evoked. The question of whether anyone would read their email was raised. The expense of snail-mail postage, paper and envelopes was considered, as were the ease of generating digital communiques vs. paper ones was further considered, along with many other thoughts and ideas. Our treasurer, Ron Levesque, did some research on our membership and determined that fewer than five members had no email addresses. That fact settled the discussion. We decided that we would follow the rest of the world and communicate digitally. Personally, I prefer paper, but…. The further truth is that all the officers of AFT6157R are regular writers (Walt Soellner just published his third novel), and all of us use email every day—I would guess that most of you lead similar lives where the convenience of phones and computers have encroached into your lives in a remarkable way. The officers all had to admit, though, that we didn’t know much about setting up websites, so we hired Susan Yuen, the creator of the AFT6157 website, to help us out. She has served us well, and we hope to have the website up and running by April 24th, the date of our next general membership meeting (1:30 p.m. at Walt Soellner’s home, 523 S. 6th St, San Jose). We do hope that you can make it to the meeting and find out the latest news, see some old friends, and share some quality snacks—you can even drink a glass of wine,
Teachers tend to travel whether retired or not, and my guess is that you all have some remarkable adventures to share with our membership readers. If you write it, we will publish it. If you have an interesting way to fill your time, we would love to hear about it. If your children or grandchildren are achieving remarkable things, we want to know. If you have a poem or short story that you would like to share, send it in. Our upcoming newsletter needs you to make it a group effort. As an English teacher, I have heard everything that can be said about grammar insecurity. I have decided that everyone suffers from the dreaded malady. If it keeps you from writing, please be assured that I will be happy to edit your work before we publish it in our new newsletter. I hope to hear from you soon. My email is w.jacobs4140@sbcglobal.net. We hope that all is well with you and yours.