To the Source:
I was shocked and outraged when I read the Source article about the Bacchanal [see Bacchanal 2001] , and I must say that I agree totally with Pat Deery's response. An incredible amount of work goes into planning a party for all that attend, and those that attend do so by choice for all of the exact reasons that Pat stated.
I for one grew up on St. Thomas and take insult to the fact that people are talking about incorporating this for non-profit. In so many words you have insinuated that Sue Tully was dishonest. This is utterly absurd and certainly not pertinent to an article about the party.
I was unable to attend this year, but each year is special in its own way, just because of who attends and the camaraderie that we all experience by the fact that we all at one time were St. Thomian residents and all are still St. Thomians at heart.
To even try to compare year to year as though this was some kind of contest is ridiculous, and whoever wrote this article sounds as though she was doing a critique on it. That is not what this is all about. In the article she lost all the heart and soul of what the Bacchanal is about. I feel quite sure she really couldn't have lived on St. Thomas most of her life. It's not the Golden Globe Awards. It's just a bunch of us renewing old ties, and those of us who don't live in Florida give great thanks to people like Anne Lawrence, Ann Johnson, Ron Morrisette and Sue Tully who take their time out to make this all possible for, as Patrick says, "all o' we."
Terri Solomon-Schirmer
Phoenix, Ariz.
