The South and Drum Corps

[nhsalan]

Wayne,

You are correct; my intention was to point out that each person's "reality" is shaped by their own experience. Myself, Steve and some others our age cannot have any true perception, (except historical through stories etc...) of the activity in the 60's and 70's. Many of us however, lived in a most "complete way" the rising popularity of the activity in the South in general in the late 70's and early 80's both as band students influenced by the rising popularity of Southern corps and as corps members. For all of us, our individual "realities" are colored by our own experiences so while on the surface, the "facts" may be the same, they are usually "interpreted differently" by different people.

You should see the research on the "reliability" of "eye witnesses" to crime. Most people would be SHOCKED to realize the number of people we've put in jail through the years based solely on "eye witness" testimony if they knew how unreliable and often contradictory those statements can be.

With that said, Michael does make a larger valid point. (I'm not sure if he was aiming his comments at anyone specifically, I am not, more at the larger issue. Knowing his involvement with the Cadets through the years, I"m guessing his was a "bigger picture" idea as well). I've discovered over the years that for some people, it's much more important to be "right" than to truly discover the truth about an issue.

I used to engage in debate with folks like that, both on the net and personally (you probably don't remember the legendary disagreements both Steve and I had with a character named "Howdy", but that's a good example). I finally realized that they were neither worth my time, nor the effort I expended in trying to argue my position.

Later, AA

[Russellrks]

Not trying to beat a dead horse but I would say Spirit of Atlanta was much more community based during the "TV money" years (1977-1980) than at any time since.

And we were humble then as well.

We humbled the #### out of some people. B)