Quote Originally Posted by Stacia Novy View Post
"Spelling and punctuation errors abound, including the often-repeated unnecessary use of an apostrophe in the official name of the North American Falconers Association not as North American Falconer's Association." This quote actually inspired a completely separate piece in the Hawk Chalk, "The power of an apostrophe" by Stacia A. Novy

Dear C.J. Van der Merwe,
I’m not in the habit of responding in public forums, but your comments (in quotes above) necessitated a full reply.My Apostrophe Article was not “inspired by any other article in the Hawk Chalk” or any secondary writer.
As an accomplished author, I was contacted by NAFA officers and asked to write an article on the proper title of the organization.I have all email traffic to confirm this, and will gladly forward the correspondence to you or anyone else that would like a copy.In fact, Kent Carnie himself mailed The Archives of Falconry documents to include with my article.
The NAFA title has been corrupted for decades; this misrepresentation is making the organization look unprofessional, sloppy and incompetent.Many members have complained about this issue over the years, including some NAFA directors, and editorial corrections were needed in the Hawk Chalk, Journal, emails, and official letterhead. Therefore, the article was printed to educate members and standardize NAFA media.
As part of the normal editing process, my article was previewed by the HC editor and several reviewers before publication and its content approved for the August Hawk Chalk.
Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms Stacia Novy,

I certainly apologize for causing you such emotional distress, I did not realize that one line would make you lash out quite so violently. You do not owe me any proof, I actually believe what you say. With all this being said, I do believe that the average reader will put two and two together and come to the same conclusion about both articles being published in one HC. Right or wrong, it looks like a setup to drive Mr. Smith's point home. For your benefit, I will say it again, PERCEPTION IS REALITY. You are owed an apology for how that all looks and comes across, but it's not from me.

In the future, I strongly suggest that you research facts before posting unsubstantiated claims via the Internet.It makes the commenter look incredibly foolish when those claims can be so easily negated by solid evidence.Working in academia and in medicine, following such protocols is a must for me.Judging by your posts, I imagine that your work and life do not require such high standards. What a shame.
Stacia Novy
I think you could have easily with an semblance of professionalism explained your position without this last paragraph, but since you thought it necessary to go down this path I will respond in kind. The tone of your post and writing style (yes, it matters how you write in a forum as well) and obvious insecurities make you look somewhat foolish yourself. Your post comes across as composed by somewhat of an elitist author (or at least it appears you would like to be viewed that way) and that is something a vast majority of people find, for a lack of a better word, ugly. Since you are an accomplished author I would have thought that you would be better than to judge a book by it's cover, and that in itself is a shame.

Finally, in the future I will be more careful what I say around school nurses (I am assuming here of course, you did say you were in academia and medicine), not that your profession and life has ANYTHING to do with this discussion. If I were you, I would also be angry at a lot of people for using your wonderful article to further their own causes, by mistake or on purpose. You should look elsewhere however, I just pointed out the FACT that both articles were published in the same HC and they tied together nicely. PERCEPTION IS REALITY.

Have a great weekend, or at least try to, this is far from the end of the world.

Respectfully,