channeling the bad fairy

Recently, a good friend of mine had strange experience wherein he responded to a public blog entry with a private email. The blogger then posted that email, in its entirity, on the blog itself, making what had been a private commentary a very public one. We (and by 'we' I mean good friends with whom I generally see eye-to-eye with whom I discussed this situation) all agreed that this was bad form on the part of the blogger.

That said, and fully admitting that I know better, I am going to do just that. I am that annoyed. This is probably going to seem really petty at the end of the day, but whatever.

Some background: There are two kinds of Fulbrights for students, the IIE and the Hays. The IIE is administered by the Dept. of State, and open to anyone with a bachelors degree. The Hays is administered by the Dept. of Education, and open to students enrolled in Ph.D. programmes. The grants don't differ greatly, though there are some reporting and financial particularities to each.

Or so I thought.

The experience has been a bit different. Sure, I invited myself to the Fulbright reception last September on somewhat dubious grounds, as I hadn't actually activated my grant yet. But when my paperwork finally went through a few months later, I did got through all the orientation crap at the Embassy. I have received mail there. I signed up for the weekly newsletter. Hell, I even volunteered to paint children's faces at the Embassy 4th of July picnic this Saturday.

But the fact remains that the IIE students are far more present on the Embassy radar than Hays students are. I was warned about this by someone who held Fulbright-Hays here in the late 1990s: she gave me the impression the Embassy hadn't a clue who she was or what was doing. So much for institutional support.

Here's the sticky part: this is a small town, and I know the students who have spent the past year here on IIE grants. (In fact, I've been sharing living accommodations with one of them for the past month.) And it's ususally from them that I hear about Embassy events. In fact, I think I was able to crash the Fulbright reception last September because one of them had mentioned it to me, assuming I was already in the know.

Well, yesterday my IIE housemate asked if I was going to the 4th of July party. Why, yes, I replied, I've already signed up to paint faces at the picnic on Saturday.

Not that one, she said. The one on Friday, pulling out a fancy, embossed, card-weight invitation bearing her name in flowing script and admitting her to the ambassador's residence this Friday from 1pm to 3pm (business dress).

Let me take this moment to assure you, Reader, that my housemate wasn't waving this invitation in my face; she was only hoping to have some company in what she rightly thought would be a stuffy affair.

I wanted to know where my invitation was. I had checked my mailbox on Friday, so what could the matter be? I sat down and wrote the person at the Embassy who generally handles such matters:

Dear Ms X,
I hope this finds you well. I have a quick question regarding the Embassy's Independence Day celebration on 6 July. I fear that the Embassy doesn't have a record of my postal address, and therefore any invitation that would have been mailed to me would not have reached me. This is an oversight on my part, for which I apologize. Please let me know with whom I should update my contact information.
Many thanks for your help,
-Fluffy

She wrote back:

Dear Fluffy,
I will see if an invitation was issued to you. Meanwhile, where would you suggest, in the case that one has been, that it be sent? Or would you collect it from Public Affairs?
Ms X

Now, how on earth am I to imagine where the Embassy would have sent the invitation? I don't think like Embassy folk; I don't have that particular chip in my neck. But I tried to play along:

Dear Ms X,
I'm not sure whether it would have been sent at all, because I can't remember whether my postal address is on file with the Embassy. It's entirely likely that it went to Public Affairs. I will check my post box today just to make sure.
Thanks very much,
-Fluffy

And this is what I got in response!!!

Dear Fluffy,
I am sorry, but you are not on the list of invitees for the official reception on July 6-- it may be that, as we hadn't heard from you for a good while, we made the assumption that you were no longer in country. If you would wish to come to the all-American Saturday, July 7 picnic at [xxx] School, do contact [Y], embassy community liaison officer, at [Y@email.com], or give her a call at xxx-xxx ext. xxxx
Best,
Ms X

Not on the list of invitees? No longer in the country? Oh, I was furious. Not that I am so deeply in love with America these days, but look at it this way: I am a graduate student. I thrive on free food. I thrive on relationships wherein people with more money than I have pick up the bar tab while I tell interesting (but, they hope, not deeply problematic or disturbing) stories about my research. (That probably sounds smarmy. I do reserve the right to discriminate among possible (m/p)atrons.) Regardless, the fact is that I would have enjoyed it. Yes, I would probably have walked away thanking my lucky stars I didn't wind up in the foreign service and gone back to ignoring the Official Americans for at least a few months, but I would have done so on a full stomach.

Anyway, I was angry -- angry like Maleficent was angry when she got left out of Aurora's christening. I lost my temper:

Dear Ms X,
I'm sorry that it comes as a surprise that I'm still in country, particularly since I've had fairly regular correspondence with various embassy personnel, have retrieved mail and packages from the embassy, etc., etc. over the course of the past six months that my grant has been active. I'm sorry also that some Fulbright students seem so much easier to keep track of than others. Thank you for your reminder of the Embassy picnic on Saturday, for which I signed up a month ago.
Very best,
Fluffy

Now, I know I lost my temper, but really: who wouldn't?!