From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Noam Chomsky Birthday Celebration Request... 

Nov 20th, 1998

Dear Friend,

This is Michael Albert from Z Magazine writing to you. I have an unusual
request I would like you to consider. 

December 7 is Noam Chomsky's 70th birthday. Some folks who Noam works with
at MIT got together a few months back considering what kind of present
they might give Noam to convey people's feelings.  They came up with
soliciting a paragraph or two of good wishes and sentiments (what Noam has
meant to people, etc.) from a large number of people he has affected
around the world. They decided to do this by way of a web site. People
would go to the site and enter their comments and when Noam's birthday
arrives the creators will resent him with a scroll of the names of all the
people sending him best wishes. Later he could go to the site and see what
people actually wrote.  This was a nice idea but due to insufficient
"promotion," with only a couple of weeks to go there are way too few
comments to make a worthy gift. 

So the originators of the idea have asked me if I would use the internet
to let more people know about this gift for Noam and also to make clear
that everyone who has strong feelings for and an intellectual/political
"debt" to Noam for his writing, his commitment, his life, should say so as
a birthday greeting. You don’t have to personally know him – you just have
to feel that he has made a difference in your political development,
beliefs, commitments, or otherwise, to want to send him your "birthday
greetings." 

If Noam has meant enough to your work and political allegiances to want to
thank him for it and wish him well on his 70th, there are two ways you can
do so. 

You can go to the web site (www.zmag.org) and enter your comments via the
link to a Noam Chomsky Birthday Celebration Form you will find there -- or
you can just reply directly to this email message with your birthday
greeting. In either event, what you write will be added to the site for
unveiling on December 7th, and most importantly your name will be added to
the scroll of well wishers presented to Noam on his birthday.

I thank you for your time and do hope that you will join in this
celebration of Noam’s 70th birthday…. 

Yours, 

Michael Albert
[log in to unmask]

P.S. I am told this is to be a surprise. So, while you should certainly
tell everyone you know who you think might want to wish Noam a happy
birthday, you should not communicate directly to Noam himself about it.
Thanks again... 

------------

Again, to add your name to the birthday scroll, either go to www.zmag.org
and click the link for Noam's Birthday Celebration Project and fill out
the form you find there, or, if you prefer, use your email reply option to
send me back the information requested below. Either approach will work
fine -- thank you. But please reply as soon as possible and no later than
December 5th. 

Your Name: ______________________

Your Email Address: _____________________

At most a paragraph or two indicating how Noam has impacted your life, your
values, or your actions, or your regard for his work, and some statement of
your feelings on his 70th birthday:
_________________________________
_________________________________
...

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