Letters from the Inside, Sarah Pender, #73

Dear Kel,

I'm listening to the top 30 country songs being counted down and it is a great way to feel better---listening to all the sad songs makes me feel for--for them--and eventually feel better about my own loneliness. I am a little jealous that they even have relationship to wreck in the first place. I still don't know what happened betw. you and Amir after he came back from Iran. In one letter, he came home; in the next, you had blown it, he hated you and it was too raw for you to talk about. And now you say that Amir had to sneak to see you in the rain b/c his family hates you. I never got to hear the story, so I'm not only clueless, but I missed the story. I have no love life, no romance to speak of, and look forward to your Amir stories. Remember, I live in a bathroom, Kelly. Your love life is like cable tv reality shows for free people. I missed the special Amir--coming home episode. Can I get a rerun?

Oh, man. Now it is the song, "Where were you when the world stopped turning?' about Sept. 11th. I remember I was in jail and after the second plane hit...about ten minutes later, the jailers pulled the plug on our tv and we conjured up the beginning of World War III and what would happen if they invaded and started bombing Indianapolis (as if)?

Would they leave us in there to die or be captured or let us free to fend for ourselves? It was wild being left in the dark. After the hurricane and now the beefed up security for terrorist threats, I imagine life has been a little weird for the past two weeks in NYC.

Did you really read James Joyce's Ulysses? I heard that it took him seven years to write that book and it was initially rejected by publishers only to become one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. It did not, however, make my "Books that have make history: Books that can change your life" list put out by Great Courses audio lectures. :-) Homer's Iliad made it but not Odyssey. Other books I have read that made the list:

Bhagavad Gita
Book of Exodus
Mark
Job
Inferno (Divine Comedy)
Othello Julius Caesar
Gettysburg Address

What is sad--there are 36 books on the list. Out of the seven I read I can only recall the specifics of four of them. I do want to read Beowufl, 1984, Faust, Walden, and the autobiography of Ghandi.

I'll write mom again about your name. She said there were lots of hands in the box 2 weeks ago but had been overwhelmed with issues at home and then she's been doing stuff for my court case, transcripts, and I believe today she was interviewing with the producer of Snapped! They flew my sister up from FL and got her a rental car so they could do the interview together. My interview is Tuesday. I'm partly nervous, and partly confident. I believe it will ultimately help me. Last Saturday, she was wheezing with an awful chest cold. I worry about her.

Have you ever had a one-night stand via CL?

What does ZOMG stand for?

Are you still creating text/cards/stories out of media for Amir?

You should document them all and public them in a book: LOVE HURTS. LOVE BITS. Loving a Sociopath to Pieces. WordPlay, LOVE IS PUZZLING!!!

I love your premonitions and futuristic anagrams. I still hang onto what I discovered in them. I'll be released legally from prison, healthy and happy in Dec. 2013. The Universe rocks.

How far away are you from Amir on the distant shore now? Is there a chance that you can get the captain to turn the boat around? If you yell, "Swim, Baby, SWIM!" would he come for you?

I sent my query letter into PM Press and today I saw that Ms. Magazine reviewed a book from PM Press. They publish a lot of radical literature, activist stuff, so feminist literature would certainly fit in there. I haven't written anything since I sent in my submission to the PEN American Center's contest for Prisoner Writing two weeks ago. My civil case is moving along; I have the interview this week with Oxygen Networks show, and heavy correspondence with a local TV investigative journalist and setting up an interview there, too. Plus, more hand art projects out to other artist to spread the requests. This week I got one from CAN, ENG, and NJ. This is fun. Oh, I heard on our local NPR station an interview with Ken Honeywell; he had a couple fellow writers started a marketing company and their side project is a literary site that pays authors for their work--a little sarcastic, fun, and snarky (that's YOU!) called punchnels.com It'ts about four years old now. Anyway, I thought you might want to submit something because you have great stories.

Hope you are well and have new Amir stories. I love you two being together like bored housewives love their favorite soap opera couple. And new dates are a close second favorite.

Peace,
Sarah