A tenth anniversary
 

Poking around in the admin console for statistics, I came upon this: The Sphere's very first member registration--Alex Pepple's, of course--took place on December 15, 1999.

We are ten years old. In Internet terms, that probably makes us an institution.

Thanks, Alex, and happy (slightly belated) birthday, Sphere.

Happy Birthday Sphere!
 

Hear! Hear! In my mind I'm blowing my silly paper tongue thing and eating ice cream and cake!

Lance L.

Anyone In The Mood For A Celebration?
 

Eratosphere is half as old as I am. Which, when I think about it, is kind of weird.

We should have a Poet Laureate to write an occasional verse for this birthday!

Maybe on D&A something could be created? It has to be acknowledged - ten incredible years.

Thank you to Alex and every participant I have read and learned from over the years.

Happy Birthday, Eratosphere!

love,

Cally

Eratosphere is definitely the premier workshop for serious folks, one that is free and in which even experienced poets and writers can learn continually. (I do anyway, and I've been publishing for decades.) The Able Muse is a high class publication. I wish I had discovered them both at the very beginning.

Hats off, Alex, for the tremendous contributions you have made for all of us who love to read and write and discuss poetry. Thank you for your investments of time and money, thank you for your generosity and your hospitality. All of us who frequent here, to post or to lurk, are in your debt.

Best wishes to Alex & Co for the coming holiday season, and may you have many happy returns.

Celebrate, yes! Ten years before the mast!
Gathered poets, at sail in wine dark sea
and ink, asking, "It's good, don't you agree?"
Poor poets, smitten so with the good lash.

Get Dressed
 

I hope no one missed this link while celebrating.
Catch the young woman with the sax at 1:13.


Tuxedo Junction


Back to work for me.

This really is cause to celebrate! My sincere gratitude to Alex for Eratosphere. I would never have been able to improve my art without it.

Happy Birthday, Eratosphere, and many happy returns! ;)

Cathy

Ten years is long enough to make a significant impact on the lives of many writers. I just wish I had discovered Eratosphere earlier. Not only did I improve as a writer here, but I learned an enormous amount from the other participants, and many of their works then stimulated my own ideas for poems. When the Sphere is working well, it is an embodiment of symbiosis. It is unfortunate that periodic personality clashes and disputes have led some to leave (or have led to their expulsion). We all lose when we can't get along. I have seen it happen often enough to think that it is more due to the human condition than to anything that can be readily prevented. But if changes can be made that will improve the situation, it would be good to make them.

Susan

Thanks, Maryann for catching this! And thanks everyone for the Happy Birthday wishes! Keeping with the statistics theme, my special thanks to our oldest member still active here, Peter Richards, who jumped aboard only three days after me, and to our newest member already active here with posts to his credit, Billy Dean!

Cheers,
...Alex

Thank you, indeed, Alex.

Like Susan and many others, I have learned an enormous amount here. This has most often been the result of considering why the poems of others worked for me or did not work and then putting this into words in a comment. For this I am grateful to Alex and to all those down the years whose lines have pricked me into thought.

I have been a member since 2001, and, again like Susan, I regret the fallings out that have occurred, on more than one occasion, during that time. Poetry matters a great deal to those to whom it matters (to people like me, of course), but it is not an ultimate good (if, indeed, such a thing exists).

Clive

Thank you from me too, Alex. I learned most of what I know about poetry here and I am very thankful to you for that.

Over the years you have done a tremendous amount of work to make the ‘Sphere the fine place it is. You have kept the technology up to date, arranged staffing, dealt with design and management, and assembled the issues of AbleMuse. You have treated it as a labour of love and have been tolerant of the ups and downs along the way, always trying to sift fairness and compromise from the varied input you receive.

Thank you for all you have done and best wishes for the next ten years.

John

Sonnet Central is also celebrating its tenth anniversary:

http://thesonnetboard.yuku.com/topic/7280

After ten years
of courting the Muse,
Eratosphere enters
its Terrible Twos!

Congratulations, Alex. This place has made me the poet I am today, but it's also done a lot of good. Do I curse or bless you to wish for ten more years? In either event, that's what I wish for.

Alex,

I never would have guessed that the act of analyzing another's poem
could fortify my own writing skills. Thus, the writer is edified and the reader and analyzer is edified. Your steady hand, Alex, deserves much of the credit.

Many thanks,
Lance Levens (joined 2003)

Thank you, Alex, for all your efforts. I've learned a lot from the poets here and have made some friends along the way. There are quite a few Spherians who attend the West Chester Poetry Conference every year, and it's always great meeting others face to face. I hope you can make it East next June. It would be great to meet you, too. :)

Patti

Thanks again, everyone for this birthday bash!

Cheers,
...Alex