As a current undergraduate student very interested in Ezra Pound,
I joined this list serve with high hopes for mature, academic discussion
of Ezra Pound's works, most especially his poetry, as it is a formidable
and challenging (but also invigorating, and, at its best, moving and
affecting) collection.  At times, I have found this kind of discussion at
its best.  But more often, I tend to find meaningless squabbles over the
relative merits of completely unrelated books (i.e., the Seamus Heaney
discussion) and bitter academic infighting.  If this is the life of
academia, perhaps I should reconsider my choice of careers...  Is there
any way the list serve could perhaps sped more time on actual, worthwhile
discussion and less time on these more trivial matters.
        Of course, I realize that most of the contributors to this list
serve probably have quite similar feelings.  To those, my apologies for
taking up both valuable time and e-mail space.
--Jake