Dear Mr. Sherman

Dear Mr. Sherman,

I'd like to offer you and the Arizona Climbing Community an apology, since it's become increasingly apparent that my post on this website, found here
is the reason that you have terminated your attempts to reach out to us regarding the Tam O'Shanter climbing area, as stated by user CJD in his 4/19 post here.

Additionally, I feel the need to clarify a couple of things, since I get the impression that I have been misinterpreted by several individuals. Firstly, I did not call you "a douche" as CJD would like you to believe. Rather, I relegated you to the 'douche' category as I feel that you have expressed characteristics of 'a douche-like person.' Secondly, I did not name you "Emperor of Arizona climbing"(sic), but was asking the question (that remains unanswered): Who nominated/elected one person to speak for all Arizona Climbers in this matter? Lastly, I would much prefer to email this to you directly, but strangely enough I can't seem to find any sort of contact information for you. Google is pretty adept at scouring the internet(s) for information such as email addresses, but alas, no such luck. Oh, I also couldn't find any evidence of you soliciting input from other climbers. Did this go the way of the tamosutra.pdf
and 5 million White House emails that were recently misplaced? I sincerely hope not. By the way, where exactly did the guidebook go?

Anyway, the best way to communicate things to you seems to be through your acquaintances/friends who alert you to what's being written about you and "Tamo" on internet forums. Here is my email address, if you'd like to correspond: braxton@u.arizona.edu. This diatribe may lead you to believe I'm just angry and unreasonable, but the truth is I'm quite the contrary. I'm actually the one who added the Tam O'Shanter area to this website, in an attempt to gain knowledge about the area as well as this whole situation. In other words, I'm not blindly anti-Sherman or anti-Tamo. Maybe I've got it all wrong and what I perceive of your actions isn't anything more than my own subjective, self-constructed reality, which turns out to be far from the truth, thus making me 'a douche.'

I look forward to hearing from you soon, Mr. Sherman. I sincerely hope you can prove me wrong. If you do, I'll assign myself to the 'douche' category, ASAP.

Sincerely,
Braxton Norwood

After speaking with Mr. Sherman via telephone the other day, I have a different perspective regarding Tamo (i.e. I'm in the douche category). I honestly believe his purpose is to create the first state park that caters to climbers, not to replace another climbing area.

This doesn't make me either Pro- or Anti-Sherman, I actually have an Ed Abbey view of making areas into parks, but what is important to me is that I don't think he sold us out. But, like anyone's opinion, that's all it is; don't flame me for it. I'm not trying to start another discussion, just reminding you that "he who is without douche cast the first douchebag."

Braxton,

It is refreshing to see somebody actually talked to Sherman to get the complete story. I appreciate that you "un-douched" him as well. No matter where anybody stands on the Oak Flat/Tamo spectrum it is important to understand that Sherman and the rest of us really are trying to do something positive.

Chris

Maybe if he would actually speak to all of us and give us "the complete story" then more people might feel differently.

I,ve have noticed that in the last ten years climbers seem to be more intereted in bashing each other instead of helping.I think sherman see's this and tries to stay low key now.Can you blame him.I would like to think of my self as a world climber instead of a state climber,so i like info on all areas.thank you for all the great years of info mr.sherman.