named after the fictional nightclub in Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- The Bronze.

At the official UPN site www.buffy.com, The Bronze's clock is set to New York

City time. . . . So, if you're wondering, that's how TeaTimeSunday ended up

being at Tea Time in Manhattan (4:00 PM) . . . Of course, if you ask the Brits

(and I did), you'll get conflicting opinions about just what "Tea Time" means,

with some of them claiming there isn't any such thing . . . But I'm sorry, I've

heard about "Tea Time" all my life . . . Movies taught me there is Tea Time,

and as I'm sure you know movies do not lie. (smile) Well anyway . . . We

spent 10 weeks (starting wlth the first day of Spring) holding Tea Time in

The Bronze . . . and, oh yeah, we had to talk in verse . . . either haiku

or -- now, get this -- iambic pentameter . . . That was my idea . . . OK,

here I'm going to brag . . . I wrote 154 Buffy-related sonnets . . . and yeah,

there are a lot a people who'd say (as some have asked me in The Bronze),

"SO WHAT's THE POINT OF THAT?" . . . AH. That's where you need to understand

the difference between poetry and rhetorical verse . . . the latter being

a disciplined way to share viewpoints . . . with the goal of being

as clear as normal speech . . . but with the heightened power of rhythm,

the memorability of rhyme . . . the surprise of (fast-graspable) metaphors

. . . and . . . (most important for the Network Society) . . . concision.

The person who takes the time and care to focus their opinions through

the constraints of the Shakespearean sonnet form, have not only trimmed

their words down in number . . . but if they truly learn to speak in

a "natural voice" in verse (rather than in an strained, artificial manner)

their ideas will flow in a way that is far more efficient . . . which is

to say . . . considerate . . . of all those who are willing to listen to other

points of view . . . but, like each of us, can only stand so much. . .

IN OTHER WORDS . . . doing this is good for democracy . . .

Yeah, yeah . . . . we hear that kind of crap all the time . . .

Mostly from those who want to say the word because it's a word

that sounds comforting . . . truth, justice, the American way . . .

democracy . . . "democracy" . . . yada yada yada . . .

BUT I TRULY MEAN IT: DEMOCRACY. . . . As ugly as it can be . . .

Which is the point I'll end on here . . .

because "Good Lord" (smile) I could go on forever . . .

Civility.

In The Bronze there's a handful of volunteers who handle the mostly

thankless task of continually posting "the rules" of online dialogue there . . .

RESPECT . . . and all the details of "what not to do" for those

who can't figure out how to act based on that word. . . .

BOTTOM LINE: Only one uncivil sentence was spoken during Tea Time

in 10 weeks. . . WITH THAT I rest my case. . . Kindest regards.