Letters

Mona's Case

EDITOR: It's hard not to laugh at Mona and Carl and the jargon-filled world of HUPO ("The Therapeutic Classroom: Mona's Case," Illinois Issues, January 1983). To see the perpetrators of such monstrosities as "resonate," "prizing," "impactful" and "unconditional positive regard" hoist by their own petards is indeed gleeful to behold. And Shereikis is right to set Mona's self-truncating odyssey of self-examination within an educational setting. Colleges and universities are hotbeds of "relating" as well as the seedbeds of the HUPO movement. But the missionaries of this plastic mind set have fanned out across society. They now infect with "Affective Sharing" just about every profession and institution in America. Workshops, seminars and lectures, not unlike those to which Mona is always rushing off, are now the standard fare of a wide range of seemingly diverse groups. Each morning, bankers, used car salesmen and military planners ogle their mirrors and "self-actualize" themselves by "resonating" along with Mona: "I can only try to live by my interpretation of the current meaning of my experience. . . ."

When I think of these developments, my laughter loses it self-congratulatory ring, it turns hollow and then nervous. I fear the push from Reaganomics and the shove from George Gilder's spruced up Social Darwinism is molding the "Me Generation" of the seventies, Mona's generation, into a selfish, anxiety-ridden cohort of the eighties. Socrates' already debased, "Know thyself," is becoming "Help yourself." Self-absorption is being transformed into crass selfishness. The ubiquitous "bottom line" is what people and institutions increasingly use as their only guide to conduct and decisions; never mind that lines, by definition, lack depth and dimension. And everywhere the tools of hypocrisy have a new, oily edge.

Sincerely,
Gary W. Daily
Department of History
Indiana State University

EDITOR: After reading "Mona's Case" I came down with a case of my own. Difficult to describe the malady but easy to recognize the symptoms: headache, guilt and introspective malaise. As a high school teacher, I would be responsible for the Monas of freshman English — those devotees of afternoon soaps, late night stereo and a half hour of study in between. I would be responsible for Mona thinking the way she does, complacent in her ignorance and happy in her ability to communicate, such as it is. Because she labeled everything from Shakespeare to Thomas Hardy as "booooring," maybe, just maybe, I allowed her thinking to infiltrate my planning. So Ordinary People is a classic novel (after all, it's been around for three years) and it did win an Academy Award. So now I use Rod McKuen and Bruce Springsteen for poetry and Paul Zindel wherever he fits in. Now, too, when ordering books I tend to scrutinize "young adult fiction" much more than the other "booooring" texts. My symptoms of poor health never allow me to be cured of my malady because each year I see more and more Monas who want to try to handle less and less and think at the same time how wonderful they all are.

Perhaps a cure would be a crash course in Rogers' self-help books for me. If I can think as well of myself as Mona does, then I should be healthy soon. In that case, I'll never have to worry about the malady, not even have to worry about what it was in the first place.

John Galvin
English Department Head
Rogers High School
Newport, R.I.

Filmmaking on location in Illinois

EDITOR: A note to thank you and writer Ben Dobbin on the marvelous article that appeared in the February edition of Illinois Issues on the work of the Illinois Film Office.

Mr. Dobbin's lively, accurate reporting style heartily captured the work we at the Illinois Film Office do to encourage filmmaking on location in Illinois. Luring producers to film their productions in Illinois is not limited to just having the right locations. Equally important are professional technicians and talent as well as competent services and facilities. Therefore, it was very important that interviews with people such as Bill Hoffman of Hoffman Enterprises and Walter Goralczyk of the Rubenstein Lumber Company were incorporated into the story. Companies such as theirs are an integral part of the package we sell.

We would be proud to add the Illinois Issues article to our kit of selling tools as one more example of the enthusiasm and support exhibited by the state of Illinois for on-location movie making.

Thank you again for your thorough and very professionally done article.

Lucy Salenger
Managing Director
Illinois Film Office

May 1983 | Illinois Issues | 15