A Gift in the (e)Mail

 This morning I got comfortable in my recliner with morning coffee and ipad and opened my inbox to a 'surprise'.

People sometimes tell me how much I have helped them, and when they do, well, cockles definitely warmed.  Since I woke up with (another) sinus headache and was feeling particularly groggy, I opened an email with some anticipation of a weaver wanting a question answered.  

Instead, my day - perhaps my entire week - got made brighter.  I quote:

"Although I am just a weaver in my spare time, I wanted to send you a message of saying thank you for your wisdom which transcends beyond the loom. I absolutely love your book and I also have watched your course on Handwoven a few times.

 

As a lecturer, I teach my students how to write undergraduate dissertations. Hence I am quite often confronted with questions such as “what referencing system to use” and “shall I use British or American spelling” or “how do I present my data”. In these instances, I always quote you (giving you due credit of course), with the simple but useful words “if you cannot be perfect, be consistent”. Indeed the students find this very useful and it surely helps them to get more autonomy with their decision-making. This is something I have often struggled to teach them in the past.

 

At our session yesterday, I resorted to your wise words again, but the students have adopted them already to a point where I only need to say “if you can’t be perfect” as they instantly respond with “be consistent”. I have explained to them before where I got this from and that it comes from a very efficient weaver who has perfected her craft and approach. In fact in my next writing group session with them I am going to draw the parallels between good and efficient weaving and academic writing.

 

From one teacher to another, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for developing these useful and easy to remember guides that are so useful for many disciplines. You can now know for sure that they are being passed on at (name of college redacted) London to a new generation of Business Management graduates who I hope will hold on to them for other challenges they will encounter!

 

I wish you all the best!

 

Christopher"

With cockles completely warmed through, it's now time to go to the loom and toss a shuttle a few hundred times.  :)