Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #40

Dear KK---

[Ed.: Overall this letter discusses film and why his letters have been less frequent lately. I am omitting all of this because it is not very interesting or noteworthy. However, I will post an excerpt of this letter that discusses how people sell his letters and correspondence on e-Bay and other memorabilia sites. I came across a Christmas card of his being sold and alerted him.]

....

Welcome to my world, KK! Yes, I've been aware of the strange world of eBay memorabilia for some time. The "good news" I suppose is that according to a friend of mine who on occassion has checked it out, the few items of mine are not exactly at the top of the food chain. He said one item a few years ago went unsold & was removed.

I decided early on that I can't really worry about this stuff. I love writing & communicating too much to not do so or feel constrained. It's usually pretty obvious when one of these collectors/traders/sellers write. They usually stop once they realize that my letters are not really "star matieral"! Tha'ts if I even bother to respond. I don't if it's clear that's their reason for writing.

Two other points on this:

1) I do remember the item in question. It was sent by a [supposedly] religious woman who sent me some funds the Christmas before last. She also sent me some articles on that show "Gossip Girl" -- which has the tag line "You know you love me XOXO Gossip Girl" Anyway, what are you gonna do?

2) Now check this out: There are now very sophisticated software programs that can take a person's writing (especially printing) -- from say, a letter---pick out each letter, scan, copy, etc.--rearrange to say or print anything you want. Probably not good enough to fool an expert, but on a site like e-Bay? Please! So while I happen to know this one is--as you said--certainly my handwriting, it would be quite easy to make a fake. C'est la vie. Like I said, welcome to my world.