Rhonda from the Bluegrass

I agree with you wholeheartedly! I've always heard "it takes all kinds" in regard to humanity. Really? I honestly think that if all the rapists, murderers, thieves, arsonists, druggies, etc. . . decided to leave, I wouldn't miss them. It always seems to me that the people who try to live moral, fair lives are the ones who are censored, put down, and ridiculed. Everybody is always going all out to try to defend the criminals and their acts . . . to find or create excuses for the vile things they do. I am just sick of it!

Hi, Chris: thank you so much for your kind reply and your suggestion. I don't know if they can prescribe that, but I will ask my brother about it. I just want him to have this behind him, and be healthy again. I still remember when he was born - they lived in Vicksburg, Mississippi at the time - I went all the way down there to meet him, and he was the most beautiful, angelic baby: blonde ringlets and enormous blue eyes! He is 29 now, but I still remember those first days and it just tears me up to see him going through this. He's a good fellow, and my brother is an outstanding man, so watching such good people (especially ones I care so much about) go through this is a truly heart-wrenching situation. Thanks again . . . your well wishes and prayers bring me comfort.

I feel that way, too. I am disgusted with HBS because of the facebook thing, and because they had set a precedent for many years of giving the entrants the next year's kit and then stopped it cold turkey, with no notice. I mainly entered because of the kit gift. When I called them, they informed me they had recently offered next year's kit on sale. Well, fat lot of good that did me . . . they put it on sale before I knew I wasn't getting it. Now, it is over $120 + shipping, and there is NO way I am going to pay that! It was THEIR idea to make an overpriced kit for the contest - the least they could have done was give us a "heads-up" in time to buy it on sale! I am really starting to wonder about how these contests are handled, anyway . . . last year, I heard who was going to win a certain big contest a full month before the judges announced the winners. The people who gave me the information said they had it on good authority. I kept thinking "surely not, how would these people know?" . . . but, when all was said and done, the one that I had been told over & over was going to win . . . did. Add to it the fact that the winner had closely emulated someone else's style, and I just didn't feel very good about the overall situation. Of course, that was just my reaction . . . I am sure we all had our own individual feelings about it. It just leaves me feeling that perhaps there's no point in my even entering. I don't do gimmicks, I am nobody's pet, and I don't kiss up.

While I am glad her intention was to educate, not to promote the use of meth, I am going to be just completely honest here: I think hers won a prize because of the gimmick, not the artistry of the piece. I saw several entries that I personally thought were much more deserving in winning a prize than that one. Do I think hers was well-done? Absolutely. Just not better than many of the other entries. I can think of three that Greenleaf members did that I think are better than that one. (I am absolutely not including mine. Mine wasn't nearly even finished, or at least not as finished as I had plans for it). It just seems like the contests have degenerated into a "who can come up with the best gimmick" situation. Before all of you jump on a soapbox, yeah - I know it's Ernie's contest and he can decide who wins. I get that, o.k.? While I realize many of you will disagree with me (that's o.k. - you are entitled to do so), I am just going to say that I believe in honesty - I don't have it in me to say what people want to hear just to appease them. I don't believe someone should be chastised for being honest (within civil boundaries, of course), and I don't think it is acceptable to have double standards. For example, why is it that it is wrong to "censor" a piece we don't like (and be accused of "bullying"), but it is completely acceptable for everybody to "censor" a person's opinion (and that's not considered bullying)??? That is what I have seen happening, and I don't care for it. I think this goes back to not seeing the forest for the trees in the way . . .

My nephew is having his brain surgery (far more complicated than we originally thought) on Tuesday, February 1st. Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated. It's all I can think about - I dread this ordeal for him so badly.

I NEVER said HBS & Greenleaf are the same company, nor did I insinuate it. I just said that other companies and their contests ARE discussed on here. As far as the edit I was talking about, I distinctly recall that the first one had more than one mention of "just leave" (rather vehemently) within the post. I am not saying I disagree with your sentiment - I didn't see the original post - just that it elicited a very strong response from you.

I don't know what the comment was either, but to elicit such a harsh, hostile (the pre-edit version) response from Tracy, I assume it must have been objectionable. Having said that, though, I do think that the HBS contest is as relevant to the Greenleaf site as many of the other miniature topics that come up here. After all, a lot of us entered that contest. And, there are a lot of posts about other brands of houses, places to buy minis, etc that are not Greenleaf related. If the HBS contest isn't relevant here, are those? And, don't forget: last year, the Spring Fling contest was piggy-backed by HBS. I agree that it is in all of our best interest to be civil but I have also noticed that many who jumped to the defense of the entry in question, citing their reason as being opposition to censorship, are quick to censor the opinions of those who don't see it their way. If a person is opposed to censorship, they can't be opposed on just one side of the fence. I spoke to HBS today because I never received confirmation of my entry. Since the winners were already announced, I thought I should have at least been told mine got there. I was told they didn't send confirmations out. I told them I was disappointed in the cost of the kit for next year especially in light of the precedent of previous years (sending us the next year's kit as our gift) - that had been stopped without telling us it would be. I was told they had offered next year's kit at a big sale price. I told them that if I had known, at that time, that we weren't getting the kit as our entry gift, I would have bought it. They could have at least given us a heads-up that we weren't getting it so that we all would have known to buy the kit while it was on sale. The representative indignantly informed me the kit was "way too expensive to give as a gift" (told you so!). I told her I understand, but would have liked to have known in time to have bought the kit when the sale was going on. I also told her while the kit may be "way too expensive" to give as our entry gift, in this time of dire economic recession, it is "way too expensive" for me to even consider buying. I won't be able to enter next year if I can't get it at a pretty big sale price. She also told me about all the sales that are on Facebook. I am not a Facebook member, and I don't want to be. Apparently, unless I decide to cave in and join, I am not going to be getting some of the sales. So be it. I don't have time to fool with Facebook, and in the extremely brief time I did join, I hated it. I think it is ridiculous that information about the winners is on Facebook, but there is zero information about it on the Miniatures.com website. I just wish the contests could get back to the way they used to be: affordable kits, information accessible to everybody without having to join things we don't want to, and good clean fun.