What's in a name?

Every day, we receive a gargantuan monstrosity of mail, faxes and e-mails. And one of the things that always brings a crooked smile to my face is the many ways people spell my name and the many people the correspondence is addressed to.
I say “crooked” because such mail immediately makes me wonder what else could be misspelled. And I say “smile” because I’m crooked (but in a good way).

For the record, my name is Ivan (pronounced “E-van” or “Eeeee-vaaaaaaaaan” as some like to do), not Yvonne, Evon, Evan or the many alternate spellings (I won’t even get into my last name). And now that we are on the topic, I’m a dude, not a damsel, and you don’t have to speak to me SSSSLOWWWWLY just because I have an accent.

And yours truly is the Life Editor, not Claude Dixon (now in Ohio), Sid Leavitt, Edwina Henderson (both retired and having fun) or Modele Clarke (who is now giving the “good news” as the reverend at the New Progressive Baptist Church in Kingston). The list of names goes on, but I don’t even know who some of our former workers are.

By the way, Tempo magazine no longer exists, and the Freeman moved from the Rondout in the mid-’70s, when I wasn’t alive.
So feel free to send items to Preview magazine at preview@freemanonline.com or to us directly at 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, N.Y., 12401. If you have Web access, go to the Freeman’s site and click on “About Us” on the lower left of the page. Or, you could get a copy of the paper (that might be too crazy for some of you, but I warned you I was crooked).

E-mails

Firewalls and filters and all those fierce and foul automated protection systems for e-mails are far from perfect. They are supposed to block junk e-mails (“Zero percent mortgage!” “Buy this stock!”). And, to a large degree, they do work. But they are devoid of critical thinking.

So while a recent e-mail about the local puppet production of “Puss ‘n’ Boots” was blocked (you figure out why), the Life department "won” the “international lottery.” I just have to send the guy who send me that e-mail thousands of dollars for “processing.”

Our tech guy, Dave Hyatt -- a master of all things digital -- keeps upgrading, updating and uploading new systems and software to protect us. Things being as they are online, the “spammers” always figure new ways to harass and annoy.

So keep things sound, simple and safe, starting with the subject line (the title) of your e-mails. And if you get blocked for whatever reason, give me a call (with a crazy device called a telephone) and we’ll figure something out.