X-Message-Number: 1388 From: Subject: CRYONICS Reply to Paul Wakfer by Tanya Jones Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 01:48:29 PST 02 December, 1992 Response to Paul Wakfer by: Tanya L. Jones For a man who hasn't had one single conversation with me over the past many months which was related to anything but Cryovita Laboratories and equipment, Paul Wakfer has made many assumptions about my thoughts, my intentions, my expectations, and my understanding of my position as Alcor's Suspension Services Manager. In one of his first items of amplification (#1363), Paul writes: "His [Mike Darwin's] knowledge and experience are so important, that if it is a choice of having him doing suspensions or having the people who do not like working with him doing suspensions (it is my understanding that these are mainly Tanya, secondarily Hugh and thirdly Ralph in deference to Tanya, his lover) then they must be taken off suspensions or at least told to put up with it or quit suspensions." I must extend a *thank you* to Paul for both bringing up my *personal* life in a very public forum and for making unjustified implications by way of that introduction. The implication, obviously, is that Ralph will make professional decisions by considering their effect on our personal relationship. It is clear to me that Paul understands very little of the basis of my relationship with Ralph, and furthermore, *he has never asked.* I would be most interested to know on what examples of personal interference Paul has based his conclusions. Paul also seems to be laboring under the impression that the emotional issue of like/dislike is the only issue involved in working with Mike Darwin. This is not the case. He also appears to believe that respect is an all-or-nothing affair. I greatly respect Mike Darwin's contributions to and knowledge of cryonics. I am also expecting great advances in cryonics to emerge from his laboratory work with Biopreservation. However, I have problems with some of his personal- interaction and decision-making skills in the face of stress. These problems have not in the past, nor would they in the future, prevent me from working with Mike. Unfortunately, this is no longer an issue for me, as MIKE refuses to work with me. I feel that it is also important to point out that when Mike departed, nearly a year ago, he left in a manner which left Alcor flat with regards to any suspension capability. Paul is right when he asserts that the procedures, equipment, and consumables were being kept in Mike's head. It was an unfortunate circumstance then, that Mike was unwilling to part with that information prior to his departure, despite previous assurances that he would do so. Since I could not count on any help from one of the men who developed Alcor's entire suspension protocol, and the only other true authority was in suspension, I was then faced with a massive self-education program before I could even begin to examine whether or not Alcor even had a response capability without Mike Darwin. All of my attempts to bring myself up to speed in an area I knew very little about (at this time I had attended Mike's transport course and participated in three suspensions and some animal work) were done without the assistance of the one person who could have taught me. Although there didn't appear to be any specific qualifications that made me the person for the job, there was one thing I had which was not evident from any other corner of Alcor: a willingness to try to repair the damage left by the wake of Mike's departure. Despite all of the obstacles, e.g. lack of cryonics experience, lack of medical background, lack of a technical background, and even a lack of the promised training by Mike himself, I attempted to make order from chaos, attempted to determine just what Alcor's suspension capability was without Mike. Since my background is in business, I began using multiple management and organizational tools to accomplish this. Throughout Paul's postings, he gives the impression that organization is a nice thing to have, but it's not critical. He uses snide twists of phrase to demean order and organization. Well, one thing which has come *directly* from my implementation of order is that the time it takes for Alcor to respond to an emergency call has been reduced from an average of one and a half hours [A-1268, 30 Dec 90; A-1058, 10 Jul 91] (when all information was stored in Mike's head) to 20-30 minutes [A-1171, 01 Jun 92; A-1184, 16 Jun 92] (even Mike could find nothing else to do)! I appreciate Paul's comments on my productivity, but he then goes on to claim that "she completely and continually fails to understand the depth of knowledge and experience that is required to be the technical leader of transports and suspensions." Here, he is *way* off the mark. I am very much aware of the qualifications required to perform the technical aspects of all phases of a cryonic suspension, and I have never pretended to hold any medical qualifications which would have made me a contender for the position, had circumstances been otherwise. Paul has never asked me how I felt on these issues, in regards to my personal qualifications, therefore, his entire attack is based purely on assumption and hearsay. Further, he goes on to claim "she has consistently refused to take, or even acknowledge the necessity of, any formal technical or university or biological or medical training." This is utter balderdash. Once again, Paul has never asked for my opinions on this matter. When Mike first left, I was utterly inundated with work, and to attempt to attend any structured university program would have meant leaving the response capability in an unresponsive state (an unacceptable option). Then, when I finally did have a bit of breathing room, I enrolled in a summer class (Anatomy and Physiology--a medical prerequisite), which I was completely unable to attend, due to the numerous suspensions of the summer. Now, at a time where I might otherwise have had time to enroll in a night class, the near-dissolution of Cryovita's involvement with Alcor has intervened, and my time is consumed with packing boxes, restocking, etc. No matter when I take classes, they will interfere with my work at Alcor. I am not a person who can work on two unrelated degrees (business and medical) and still successfully hold a full time job, especially one as stressful as I hold now. Every once in a while, I like to sleep. :-) Paul then goes on to make derogatory remarks about my attempts to earn a Master's Degree (in Business Administration), which is an endeavor into which I've put a great deal of time, money, and effort. He does this when he's under the impression that I *want* this job I hold. This belief is fully evidenced by his statement "to his credit, in contrast to Tanya, Ralph, I believe, would gladly relinquish his suspension team job if such a person [a medically qualified, experienced person] came along." (Of course, this is another example of Paul's lack of conversation with the individual he's discussing.) To be perfectly honest, my "real interests at Alcor" also lie elsewhere. I am going to quote from a memo I sent to the Board of Directors some time ago (before any of these communications began circulating) which clearly states my intentions. "For the forseeable future, I am the Suspension Services Manager. However, I hold this position with the expectation that I will one day be handing the suspension responsibility to someone who is medically qualified to hold the position. Improving the organization of the emergency response capability can only serve to smooth any future transition period." To cease pursuing my real interests in order to enter a career field I do not wish to enter, which would merely be an interim measure, would be one of the most short-sighted decisions I could ever make. Forgive me for being just a little bit selfish, but I really have put too much time, money, and effort into my education. I simply cannot afford to start over. I admit that I was also being selfish when I began working on the suspension system upon Mike's departure. I wanted to ensure that Alcor had suspension capability in the unlikely, but possible, event that I should require suspending myself. Since no one else appeared to be attending to any of the things that were needed to re-establish a response capability, I stepped in. Now, nearly a year later, I know that Alcor *would* be able to suspend me should I require it, and that there is sufficient documentation and redundancy in personnel that whoever steps into the Suspension Services Manager position after me will not have to go through the trouble that I went through to make sense of the emergency response system. I have worked very hard over the past year, and sometimes it disgusts me to read things which have been posted by people who have never taken the trouble to *ask* what the real story is. As much as I would like to resolve more of the issues in debate right now, I can only address the ones which affect me directly. I believe that I have covered most of those above. If anyone out there has any questions about what I have written here: I work at Alcor, feel free to give me a call [909-736- 1703]. 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