The Objectivist Family Tree

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Howard,

It is an honor to welcome you to OL.

Michael

[howardahood]

Thanks, Michael. I don't know how the wind blows here and may offend. I will speak frankly. Always do.

I knew the Brandens, the Holzers, Robert Hessen, Mike Berliner and his wife, George Reisman, and many others. I was not in the inner circle, but I had some contacts with people who were. I was permitted to attend the live NBI question periods in NYC and saw Ayn Rand in action many times. I was on the panel of Ayn Rand on Campus, a Columbia University radio program which was recorded in Rand's apartment. I saw AR speak many times and had a couple of private meetings with her and NB regarding a proposed article I worked on. I left NYC in the summer of 1968 to deal with the draft and get a job. I thought little about Objectivism until I read the books by the two Brandens. These books got me thinking and I re-evaluated Objectivism, AR, and my connection to the movement. I still consider myself an Objectivist but differ from the orthodoxy on a number of points.

Howard

Howard,

It is an honor to welcome you to OL.

Michael

Edited April 7, 2008 by Howard Hood

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Howard,

Things get heated here sometimes, but the only thing that really offends me (and I believe it does some others) is when a person does not think with his own mind. Disagreement is entirely natural to free minds, since we all have so many different experiences and values.

I am very proud of this little community and, from what I have read so far, you will a wonderful person to interact with.

Please make yourself at home. I have no doubt you will find many old friends here and make new ones. Objectivism is merely a starting point, not an end in itself.

Michael