Joshua_Tree3 Jul 2005

Language is an issue. Culture is another. Most of the Dutch people that I've met via Internet have been, like you, easily as literate in English language and pop culture as the more intelligent native speakers. That doesn't mean that you'll ever be comfortable with it.

I wrote a couple poems in French while I was in highschool. Two of them were memorable enough to survive the religious purges that decimated my notebooks between 18 and 21. One is a bilingual poem inspired by the opera Carmen. The other became a passionate series of poems in an enjammed dimeter that leaves the reader as breathless as befits the subject matter.

It was worth doing. If it was the only thing that I had to do with my life, I would do it well. As it stands, I am fortunate to be able to write as much as I do.

...and the site, well, you're right. Largely because the posters *ARE* the critics. My point, ill-made as it was, is that we can scarce expect to attract better when we have a rabid dog in our 'midst. It's a shame to lose a talented individual who has already found the site and endured for as long as you have.