I was assigned to invite Roy Underhill to the IPTW in Ohio... I called 
him up and told him honestly that I had no clue who he was and had never 
seen his TV program but that I, the 'mason' calling the 'carpenter' had 
been asked to call and invite him to come be our keynote speaker. I then 
quickly flipped the interface task over to Rudy who it turned out was at 
least on speaking terms with Roy... and Rudy knows about wood stuff. Roy 
was our keynote that year and in NoLA at Holy Cross he wandered around 
the neighborhood in the rain and dried his socks w/ the infrared paint 
stripper where the kids were working on window sash repairs. It seemed 
to me it was vital & refreshing for him to have peer time non-celeb and 
just hang out.

In full disclosure though I am in the 'business' I can't handle watching 
any of the fix-it-up histo presto TV programs. For one thing I have no 
patience, for the other the one-way information that television provides 
seems so far removed from reality that it has no meaning to the RL (real 
world, as gamers abbreviate it). Steve Thomas when I met him left a 
lasting impression that there is nothing there to bother with. I stood 
in a lunch line one timevand talked w/ Bob Vila  and what I think of him 
I cannot repeat in civil discourse. Roy is a real good solid person.

Currently reading Al Gore's book, The Assault on Reason. What he writes 
is making me really pissed off. Anyways, he provides a very cogent 
explanation of the effect that the one-way aspect of television has vs. 
the written media of newspapers etc. on our public discourse. Newspapers 
-- the ability to write a letter to the editor -- being much more 
accessible to citizens, and a media of two-way discourse, as opposed to 
television that is accessible only with money, and access to the 
technology, and a one-way information feed. He brings in issues such as 
the neuro-biological brain activities that occur when we watch 
television as opposed to how we read a newspaper, or a book. Connects in 
with me with my aversion to watching fix-it-up programs on the 
television... I am much more attuned to focus on my hand/arm motion with 
a saw cutting.

Though further disclosure... I watch a whole lot of television and read 
a book at the same time and consider it down-time relaxation.

][<en

Rudy Christian wrote:

> Hi Ruth,
>
> I think the Woodwright you are referring to is Roy Underhill. Last 
> time I saw him was in New Orleans at the IPTW (International 
> Preservation Trades Workshop) in Holy Cross. He's a PTN (Preservation 
> Trades Network) member now and hangs out with a lot of us at the 
> annual conferences. You can see some pictures of him at the PTN websie 
> www.PTN.org.

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