Hi, Len!

 I came within a whisker's width of making it to Missoula. Money is a 
 problem, being retired and on a fixed income with no travel allowance. 
 And somehow retirement brings with it a weird kind of "I'm too busy to 
 do anything" life.

 What we need is someone WITH an expense account--a semi-old but still 
 employed person--to revive the Old Timers Meeting. I think it used to 
 serve as an incentive to retirees, mostly just by offering a kind of 
 assurance that other veterans would be there and would have at least one 
 or two hours to rub elbows with each other.

 Oh, well. Every year we get another set of old timers!!

 JCW


 On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:19:01 -0400, "Engel, Leonard Prof." 
 <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> My Lord!  You are still alive and kicking!  We (John Gourlie and I)
> missed your distinct and witty presence at the WLA meeting in 
> Missoula
> two weeks ago.  We were reminiscing at how many old timers don't show
> anymore---and what a pity it is!  John and I ran a James Lee Burke
> panel and he showed up to be a respondent; he's very popular in
> Montana, and a lot of people came to see and hear him and have him
> sign his latest book--- a good time.
>
> 	Congrats on your new book; sounds great---looking forward to reading 
> it!
>
> 	Wishing you well, old friend, and hope to see you next year,
>
> 	Cheers,   Len
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Western Literature discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of jwork
> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 2:48 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Book Announcement
>
>  Autumn Greetings, WLA'ers:
>
>  A few old timers have been waiting for this, and here it is.
> University  of Oklahoma Press announces the publication of my memoir,
> DON'T SHOOT  THE GENTILE. It's the (mostly factual)account of how 
> this
> Presbyterian  ended up as a token gentile at a 90% Mormon college
> teaching subjects in  which he had no training and zip experience.
> Included are valuable  insights into such faculty activities as
> furniture allocation, booze  running, gravel delivery, sex and child
> rearing. Early reviews have been  very flattering; my sister-in-law
> found the book hilarious.
>
>  For you WLA newbies, I am an emeritus member. I was co-founder of
> the  Literary Sins section as well as the WLA Reader's Theatre and in
> the old  days was a regular, but not a founder, of the Jim Beam 
> Annual
> Memorial  Seminar and Auction. I am also the editor of PROSE AND
> POETRY OF THE  AMERICAN WEST and author of several lesser books.
>
>  That's DON'T SHOOT THE GENTILE, Univ. of Oklahoma Press by James 
> Work.
>
>  JCW