AWADchat

Chat with Jacqulyn Fulner

This chat was held on Dec 9, 2000, 2 PM EST (7 PM GMT). We talked with Jacqulyn Fulner during a test run of the new chat feature at Wordsmith.Org.

Chat Transcript

Anu Garg (Moderator)
Welcome everyone to the beta test of online chat at Wordsmith. My name is Anu Garg and I'll be the moderator. We have the honor of having Jacqulyn Fulner as our guest speaker today.

This is a moderated chat. Your questions will be sent to me and in turn I'll forward them to our guest speaker. You can type your questions in the small window at the bottom of the chat screen.

Anu Garg (Moderator)
Welcome to the chat, Jackie!

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Thank you. I am very honored to be asked.

belMarduk
Hi Jackie. Tell me, are you the same Jacqulyn Fulner that is on the Honor (notice American spelling :-) ) of the Louisville Free Public Library? If so, what does this entail?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Well, there's only one of me, but I don't know what this list is. If I'm on a list there, it is most likely for overdue books!

Capital Kiwi
Jackie, what value to do get from the Board?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Oh, mercy! Learning, laughter, and love! This place is SO MUCH FUN!!

Jazzoctopus
Jackie, who is your favorite gutter manufacturer?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Quite possibly the Buns of Steel folks!

jmh
Amazing, I just looked in and assumed I must have the wrong time - I couldn't work out my local time in relation to GMT - glad to see that I am on GMT after all and not an hour late!

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
I am so glad you're here!

Capital Kiwi
Jackie, has that Cezanne turned up in Louisville yet? Provenanced and everything?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Okay, it seems that hitting the enter key sends the message. Can't seem to get away from my computer long enough! I did get to the Gutenberg exhibit, though.

emanuela
I am here too. It is my absolutely first chat : are there rules or subjects to respect?

Anu Garg (Moderator)
Welcome to the chat. The rules are the same that you will follow in a face to face meeting with a number of people.

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Capital Kiwi
No, no Anu. No advertising, please!

belMarduk
Why do you think we need a moderator on a live chat board involving words (no insult intended Anu dear). Just wondering since we are not much of a crowd.

Anu Garg (Moderator)
That's a good question. We are expecting a large number of users when the chat begins Dec 19. In absence of a moderator, it may become a free for all and it will be difficult for the guest to make sense of it when hundreds of messages scroll on the screen at high speed.

jmh
Jackie, Can you tell us a little about yourself - we all see your contributions to the board but its hard to work out who is the person behind the posts!

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Sorry, hit enter again out of habit. I have two degrees in social work. My husband is a probation officer. My daughter just turned 16, and my son just turned 15. I was fortunate enough to be able to quit working when they started school, so I've been able to be involved with their school lives a great deal. We've tried to see to it that they got a good preparation for school, and have a sound value system to back that up, for when they're on their own.

Jazzoctopus
What do you like most about living in Louisville?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Louisville is small enough to be very friendly--you can smile at a stranger and get one back--if they haven't smiled at you first! Yet it is also large enough that we have a good selection of the arts, too: orchestra, ballet, several theaters,and some Broadway shows come.

jmh
Anu - I think that the moderator idea, is not so bad. My husband (partner to Bel) has been a guest on one of these chats. Unlike the main board, it can be very difficult to follow several threads at once.

Jazzoctopus
Do you support Cincinnati's bid for the 2012 Olympics that would include Louisville in some of the events?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Actually I hadn't heard about that. Either way would be OK by me.

jmh
I'm not sure if there will bid. Manchester hoped to hold the 1996 and then the 2000 but lost both times - it's a long drawn out and expensive process!

belMarduk
Do you go to the orchestra and ballet Jackie. Oft times, people do not visit things that are in their own city. They usually do this when they go on holiday/vacation somewhere.

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
i used to go to the orchestra when I was still playing my violin. But, the first two years after I got out of college and moved back here, I broke an arm each year. I decided that somebody was trying to tell me I wasn't meant for a career in the orchestra, and over the years have gotten away from it. I do miss it, a lot. Never been much into ballet. I did go to a Cinderella spoof once that was hilarious--these two tall men were the (very) ugly stepsisters, and they just galumphed all over that stage!

jmh
Jackie - which parts of the board do you enjoy most and are there any discussions that you don't enjoy?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
I LOVE the humor!!!!! Also some of the posts that edge over into the philosophies that reveal a bit of who we really are--I still laugh about an early one I read, about preferring to get round to chores a week next Tuesday!

Jazzoctopus
Of all the topics that we've discussed in Wordsmith Talk, what's your favorite?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Sorry, I hit Enter again. I guess if I absolutely had to boil it down, I'd say the discussions on how people get along.

jmh
Yes. I like the humour too. Sometimes, like now, there are several people across a few time zones and it really does become quite quick fire. There are some sharp wits. I love the contrast between the long thoughtful posts and the short silly ones. We even survive discussing politics from time to time - don't we, Jazz!

belMarduk
Were you raised in a wordie family. I know I owe my love of reading and words to my parents. Where did your's come from.

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
My mother--she loved crossword puzzles and just language in general. My French ancestry may also have something to do with that. My father grew up on a farm. He graduated from high school, but he wasn't much interested in academics himself.

belMarduk
As to Jazzy's question. What do you mean about how people get along. Do you mean how they interact or how they live.

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Somewhat, about our "rules of engagement". Mostly about how people live their daily lives.

S.Judy
What author are you especially fond of and why?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Dick Francis! All of his books have marvelous character development, yet are so well-written that I keep turning pages in eager anticipation of what's coming next. I like action--something happening to keep my interest. A friend recently loaned me Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, thinking I'd love it--it was the most boring thing I've ever read. I also love Mary Stewart.

Jazzoctopus
What do you think we should do to solve the problem of having about 150 posts a day? Should I take speed reading classes?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Sorry again. I wish I had a solution. I hate to think of people not posting, and I also hate to think of me not reading what they WOULD have posted, and yet--it just takes so much time! But I just really, really love reading what we all have to say! Maybe Anu can hire maids and cooks for all of us, as well as homework-doers! If anybody has any ideas, please post them!

jmh
I find that I read most of the posts very quickly. It doesn't take me long to read them. The main problem is if I've been away for a week. Then I don't suppose that if I'd been away I would feel obliged to read all the newspapers that arrived through my letterbox while I'd been away. Everyone talks about information overload these days. the board is meant to be fun, not another task to complete every day.

emanuela
how much time do you spend at AWAD every day ? (the true question would be how much time does Anu work for us-how can he find the time to swim,work , juggle 3 balls...Anyway, I can juggle 3 balls too)

Jazzoctopus
As a solution to post volume, I think we should emulate China and limit everyone to two posts a day : )

Capital Kiwi
Do you think there is anything that we - or Anu - could do to improve the Board and the way it works?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
The only thing I've thought of that I'd like to see and that isn't there is a list of all the people who have posted, that would include access to their bios. The biggest thing that would help me is if the screens would change faster--sometimes they do and sometimes they take a long time. This adds to the time it takes to get through a backlog of new posts.

belMarduk
Which brings up a question...how do you incorporate being the doyenne of the Board and our most active member into your family life.

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Didn't know I was a doyenne! I try to get on here late at night, and when the kids are in school or doing homework. Now that they are teens in high school, they have a lot of things of their own going on, that I don't need to be involved with. (Boy Scouts, for ex.)

Anu Garg (Moderator)
Chat ends in five minutes.

belMarduk
Jackie, thanks a lot for being our 1st live chat guest. Mille merci.

jmh
So how have you found discussing with people from different countries? Have you had a lot of experience of different cultures meeting like this?

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
The BEST! I just LOVE learning about how people in other cultures live!!! Absolutely fascinating!

S.Judy
Thanks, Anu

jmh
Thanks Jackie - go and have a nice long (or short) drink!

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Thank you so much for being here!!

Anu Garg (Moderator)
Thank you everyone for participating in the chat, and a big thank-you to Jackie for being our guest today.

I look forward to seeing all of you here on Dec 19 to chat with John Simpson, Chief Editor, OED.

Jackie (Guest Speaker)
Couldn't get a box for S.Judy's either, but YES!

Anu Garg (Moderator)
Have a good weekend, everyone. Thanks again, Jackie!