X-Message-Number: 1388
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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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