As advised on September 27th and updated several days later, Ken Anderson the Editor has been offline since August 25th. During this time I have been publishing whatever articles writers have sent me.
I wrote on September 27th that my changed circumstances meant that I would not have constant access to the internet for the forseeable future, but that was amended days later when my situation changed.
Unfortunately the internet connection in my room is faulty and I have had to find an internet bar in order to continue assisting the Editor by publishing articles for writers.
Yesterday I finally managed to get back online.
I want to thank those writers who had sent me copies of their work, and I wish to apologise to Wm Fankboner for not yet having had time to amend one of his previous articles. My first priority has been to get new articles published.
Unless one actually uses the 'article manager' at Magic City, (and it seems that not too many writers actually do) one is not aware that certain 'keyboard' characters need to be changed before articles can be published.
Additionally, the editing of articles - as far as the article manager is concerned, relates to certain 'article manager' formatting. So when an article is received, things such as commas and inverted commas must be replaced, and the background formatting (which originates in the document sent to Magic City) needs to be changed. This is a time consuming event.
As far as keyboard characters are concerned, I have in my computer a file that allows me to make corrections very quickly, but unfortunately that file does not work in the internet bars here in China. So everything must be done 'inside' the article manager.
This is not just time consuming, but as a foreigner sitting in a Chinese internet cafe, I find many people like to stand around and watch what I am doing, especially when they see me working in the 'background' of an online newspaper.
With respect to writers, there are only a few who are aware that the Editor gave me access to the 'Editor's console' some time ago, and so not many writers send copies of their articles to me. I am therefore limited in how much assistance I can give in providing Magic City with daily articles.
My thanks to those writers who have sent copies of their work to me for publication.
You may also note over this week that I am publishing a series of small articles related to my situation here in Baotou Inner Mongolia in China.
I am still in Baotou, and seeking redress from my previous employers. Unfortunately because of the public holiday week, I am out of contact with government employees charged with making enquiries.
Those small articles being published, are not 'pre-emptive' articles, but rather part of a campaign to get EET executives to consult with me. You see, Mr. David Gao of EET Shanghai has always refused to even acknowledge receipt of my emails, and so, 6 days after he was sent a lengthy letter of complaint regarding a variety of matters in relation to EET, and having once again failed to even acknowledge it, I came to the conclusion that such deviousness (or perhaps cowardice) deserves a little prod. Hopefully my prodding will stir something up. (Yep - I might even regret that!)
Nevertheless, one cannot stand by and do nothing, when one believes beyond a shadow of a doubt, that one is dealing with very 'unprofessional' business people.
As I wrote in an email to my family a month ago (a copy of which went to the Australian Embassy in Beijing), I know that somewhere along the way, people connected with that EET Nursing School are going to get burned. Maybe it will be the Canadian Government or Hospitals and maybe it will be the Baotou women who sign up for the course. I really don't know; but that someone will suffer is beyond doubt.
Over time, I will perhaps publish all relevant material, information, copies of emails etc in relation to 'unprofessional' behaviour (for want of a more down to earth expression) of this company, but in fact it is my hope that everything can be resolved out of the public spotlight, because if the executives of this organisation continue to act like ostriches, and if this matter goes too far, many people will suffer.
When I made my decision to leave EET and move out of my apartment during the day of September 27th, I did in fact have the option of waiting till the following day - my day off. Had I done that however, it would have meant teaching a brand new student just the once, and as his parents had paid an unseemly amount of money for 2 months of tutoring, I was concerned that he would not be successful in retrieving his money if no other foreigner became available to teach him. {I have been listening to promises of a foreign teacher arrival for 3 months.}
EET apparently re-opens today, and as I am not in contact with staff there, I have no way of knowing if another foreigner has arrived. If not, those children whose parents paid a lot of money, will have no teacher. If a foreigner has turned up, then I have no doubts that it will not take long for him/her to discover that they made a bad decision. Perhaps they will leave too!
But I will write more about this later.
Best Wishes to one and all, and again my thanks to writers for sending material, and my apologies to Wm Fankboner.
R.P. BenDedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
A copy of my letter of complaint to David Gao EET Shanghai. (He never replies.)
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