Friday, September 25, 2009
Letters from the Outside, In, KK to Swango, #30
Sept 25, 2009
FRIDAY
Dear Michael:
Wow! Feast or famine. For the whole week no letters and then today THREE from you!
So much to discuss. How overwhelming! I have a little dog at my feet; he turned five last Friday. Such a cute, but annoying, animal. I got home late last night from a slam and stayed up even later watching taped Project Runway. I had a drink so I was tired and wanted to sleep late, but of course, a stupid fucking telemarketer called me at 8am! Then the dog was awake and barked for the next hour. Ugh.
The slam last night was on the theme the Dark Side. I was planning on telling my Brujeria story but my name was not selected so now I know that I will tell that story for the GrandSlam on Monday. The theme of that is TRANSFORMATION and the story fits well as I was given the chance to change my life and remove the darkness by washing myself in steak blood, but opted not to. I aborted the chance of transformation.
I have still not gotten the Blackberry or new laptop, but have plans to do so in early Nov. Windows 7 comes out Oct. 22nd, so a month after that seems appropriate. Blackberry in time for holidays too.
So much darkness lately: DJ AM, all these celeb deaths, the Yale girl murdered and now the Essex Hotel murder—did you hear about it? I passed it just last week after the murder. I fear I will be murdered. In fact, on my blog a few times a year I do an update about if I’m found murdered or dead under mysterious circumstances, I list all those who’d be suspects. You know, just to be safe…
There is much to tell about Reid, and I know you are enjoying your own little lit version of “Gossip Girl” so I’ll recount it all to you later in the letter after I address some of the other things you’ve asked or commented on in the three letters I just got. I’m trying to type quickly as I have many things I must do today. I am trying to head out to lunch shortly---starving!---and then see September Issue. Have you heard about it? Only reason I’m seeing it is, because it has come to the theater by my house.
I will read this Times migraine article later. I had not seen it, so thank you for sending it along.
I have been loving Mad Men. The loss of the foot to the Deere tractor was so darkly funny! Such amazing writing.
I will also read this ovarian cancer article; I have had several ovarian cysts. When I was 15 I actually had to have laporospic (sp?) surgery to remove one. Not fun.
I have been watching Glee and while I hate musicals there is something endearing that makes this show very easy to watch. Very relaxing.
I have recently seen: Jennifer’s Body (dumb!) & the Informant (just ok). I was disappointed with Jennifer’s Body b/c I found Cody’s first, Juno, so good. I think she may be a one-hit wonder. Maybe she should try a dark sitcom next instead of long form. I want to see Coco Before Chanel. I will probably go see it on Sunday. It’s playing at the Angelika in Soho. I would also like to see Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, the movie based on the David Foster Wallace collection. However it is playing at only one theater in an inconvenient location so I will have to wait for the DVD. I would also like to see Bright Star, but again, I think I will wait for the DVD.
I’m sure you will be pleased to know I have started watching Breaking Bad. It is a very good show. Very dark. The only issue I have is the meth head who helps Cranston out by partnering with him---the actor is overacting the part. It seems inauthentic. Still, I have heard he gets better in Season Two. I have only watched the first 3 eps of Season One so I have a long way to go. I’ll let you know if it remains compelling viewing.
The NY Comedy Festival is coming in November to Carnegie Hall and I got a ticket to go see Tracy Morgan perform. Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais, & Andy Samberg are also performing but I can’t afford to get those three other tickets. I’d love to see them all though... 30 Rock is going to start again soon. I like that show a lot. SNL is also debuting its new season this weekend. Do you watch that show?
I continue to enjoy America’s Most Wanted and 48 Hour Mystery. A friend turned me onto a new true crime show called First 48. It’s live and real-time coverage of gruesome crime scenes. I really love watching True Crime stuff but it creeps me out. I wonder if I have ever met anyone who has actually killed someone else. You have---and this may be inappropriate to ask, but I am wondering if you could tell me what it feels like to take another’s life. I know it’s a dark, creepy question, but I’m very curious how you feel about this. I know you cannot give details of any crime b/c of legal reasons. I’m not asking for that. I’m just asking for the deep thoughts, psychological pinings, you have regarding this. How did you decide to first do it? What did you feel as you were poisoning someone? Afterwards was there guilt? Remorse? Confusion? Again, I’m not judging, although I am firmly against anything that is illegal in any way, but still you are one of the few people I have access to that can tell me these things first hand.
Speaking of death—how’s this for a segue?---I watched the new HBO series, Bored to Death. It was boring. It takes place in Williamsburg, a place I hate only less than the people that inhabit it. I also hate Jason Schwartzman with his disconcerting hair and garish features. I’ll watch one more ep. to see if it gets better. The critics seem to like it…
I have a copy of Rachel, Rachel on dvd and it reminds me of the Seinfeld movie reference---a young girl’s erotic journey from Moscow to Minsk! Ha! I tried to watch Night at Marienbad but it was just bad sans Marien. Just saw the Drowning Pool starring Paul Newman. So sexy he was! Saw Sugar---boring. And the Valentino documentary---beautiful clothes and kinda funny how he and his boyfriend interacted with each other.
I do not like that show Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s always the same boring formula, but I am going to try to watch this season just because there are five eps. that include all the Seinfeld characters as a sort of reunion. Can’t miss that! Still, Larry David’s everlasting curmudgeon of a character bores me. Oh, and I have Flash Forward taped. Can’t wait to watch it later. I’ll let you know what I think. Did you get to watch it? What are your thoughts on this?
Gosh, still so much to say! Recently I started looking for some people I went to grammar school and high school with. A few have friended me and man, it’s amazing. In those years I was nerdy and ugly and made fun of. I had thick glasses, spaced teeth and a big nose. But man, I look at what these people who were so cool and popular look like now and it is shocking. They are all old and dumpy. Compared to them I am a supermodel. Sounds immodest, I know, but I’m NOT exaggerating. I have style for miles and am trim, up to date and well groomed. Up on culture, pop and otherwise, and am quicker than ever. I know I’m tooting my own horn, but I am just shocked at how different we are now. I think they are shocked too. Several commented on how how different I look and how they didn’t recognize me without my glasses. Ha!
And in closing, I’ll give you the Reid update. So since the Ensure incident the crush is OVER. I told him so and he didn’t believe me so I had to get a bit harsh and tell him about the Ensure. He laughed it off and says he still thinks if he breaks it off with his g/f he and I will be dating in a minute. Not true. I’m so totally turned off by him now—not just b/c of the Ensure---but he won’t take no for an answer. He has become quite co-dependent and I think I really dodged a bullet. I can’t believe how enamored I was for two months and how quickly it has gone completely in the other direction. I find him slow and annoying like an old wash woman. He second guesses me and is always proven wrong. It’s exasperating!
He keeps trying to flirt and I keep telling him very honestly I want no part of that anymore. That it’s dead now. He doesn’t get it. I told him he had a two-month window and that window is sealed shut now. I’m SO glad he didn’t leave his g/f for me b/c then I’d be stuck with him and he’d annoy the shit out of me.
Last night he came to a slam with me b/c his g/f cancelled like she always does. I’m beginning to think she is happy to get rid of him for a night. Either that or she is even more annoying than he is. He likes to complain about her and his life with her and the cats but does nothing to fix it.
I have OCD and like to get to non-reserved events an hour early. The Moth slams fill up quickly and have a limited number of seats. At almost 40 I want an actual seat. I like to get online at 6pm and be one of the first 10 to ensure a seat. Anyway, b/c of him being late last night we were 200th in line and it was awful. I was sweaty and panicked and he suggested just leaving but I really wanted to tell a story. Luckily he found two small tables so we moved them and sat on them. But really…so annoying.
Then afterwards I mentioned I was really hungry and would love a small fries. I rarely eat fast food but was in the mood… And he said no and started lecturing me about how bad they were yet he had just had a GIANT BROWNIE for dinner in front of me. WTF?! And then drank a coke. Couple that with the Ensure drinking and I eat way healthier than him. Jeez. So I didn’t get my fries but told him when I got home all I wanted to do was kick back with a Smirnoff Ice --- it was the only cold alk beverage I had at home--- and he was hemming and hawing how alcohol dehydrates you. Duh, I know this but I was going to be HOME where there is tons of water too. I do not want someone trying to control what I do or offer constant commentary about it, and I am pretty dominant myself and do not like being monitored.
Anyway, enough venting. I think you get my drift.
I have to run and get some Mexican food and see that movie. I hope you are doing well and that you will write me again soon!
--- KK
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Letters from the Inside, Thomas Bart Whitaker, #14
Dear Kelly,
Hey. Sorry its taken me so long to write you back. I have been feeling very laconic lately. I am nowhere as strong as I pretend to be sometimes, and writing always seems to take something from me. Someday they will have Mood Organs like in Philip K Dicks books, where I can just press "Happy" and a little injection later, Happy will I be. I guess there is prozac, but they don't exactly sell that on the commissary around here, do they? Received your cut-outs from the New Yorker article on Cameron Willingham. He was before my time, of course, but I know of him via the rumor mill. Everyone has long known him to be innocent around here, but I was surprised to see a major publication do an article on him. We don't get much in the way of that type of press. I am doubtful that Texas will ever admit that he was innocent, though. The DP is biblical law down here in Redneckland, and a few stories printed by the "Liberal Media" are not going to change anything. Just recently, they agreed to give John Penry a life sentence, if he agreed to sign a form saying that he was not, and has never been, retarded. His IQ is well below 70, and consent was not his to give, as he was incapable of knowing whether he was retarded or not. But such is the way of things down here. Tell me: can you find me the link of this story on the New Yorker's website? I'd like to talk about it on mb6, but it would be easier to reference if I had the address, rather than having to scan and paste these pages. If you can't find it, that's ok.
Breaks your heart, doesn't it? I get...angry, sometimes, and often I don't even know why. I think it must be stuff like this, simmering on some subconscious back-burner, never leaving me be. Because they are still doing this. These legal games, all designed to justify some perverted and archaic ideology that is completely inscrutable to me. Me, the supposed bad-ass sociopath, can't figure out why they are so despicably blood-thirsty, so fucking callous. I'm supposed to be the bad guy. If I were keeping track of such things, and I were really interested in taking lessons on being a bad guy, simply looking at my prosecutor and the system around me would be all the lesson I could ask for.
Anyways. You asked what I have been reading of late...not much. They finally re-opened the library again after summer break (thought I can't figure out why a prison library would require such a break), so that should guarantee me two books a week, but they are running slow again, so I haven't been able to get anything since mid-August. I was reading the Harry Potter books in Spanish, which is surprisingly fun. The translator went to a lot of effort to convey a real sense of "british-ness" throughout the work, which is not at all easy, as you know. I was hoping to get something with a little more meat on it this week, but we will see. I have some money coming later this month, as my Bronx Bombers have clearly run away with the .. East. I had a bet with a good friend of mine, who is a Sox fan. When we set the bet, I was 2.5 games down, but I kept the faith. So, I've got at least 50 bucks coming, which is a big deal to me. Not sure what I'm going to ask for. Maybe some Dawkins or Victor Stenger or Bart Ehrman...something like that. Any suggestions? As you might guess, I am somewhat outside of the mainstream when it comes to hearing about new literature.
How did your visit go with your friend from Portland? Ha, you have a crush on a guy with a girlfriend? You strike me as being a little too smart for crushes, but whatever floats your boat. Who can control the heart (or all its other vaguely connected organs?) I guess love is the best game/show in town, though I think that says far more about the quality of the town than the show. Fucking cheerful, aren't I? I'm so glass-half-empty, I make Robert Malthus look like a naive optimist.
Anyways, something more cheerful, since I've already managed to bash the south, the Sox, and love and life in the space of 1.25 pages...saw my Dad a few weeks ago. He flew in from Colorado with his new wife to take a look at some houses in Houston. He came up to see me while she went to Dallas, and then they were back in Aspen. Still difficult for me to picture him as an Aspenite..horribly mixed mental images there. My Dad is not exactly pretentious, but I guess there have to be some normal people there. They seem to be writing some Christian book on the subject of hope. I am sure it will be fine, for all of the...ah, "minor" differences in opinion when it comes to such things. Hope is nice; a plan is better. Hope is, ultimately , wishful thinking. It asks that some power greater than ourselves--be it god or chance or Ed McMahon--intervene and save us from a problem which is usually of our own design. It is an irrational thing, hope. A plan, though, is simply a battle tactic for the future. If a hoped for event never materializes, i.e. God doesn't show, then what can you do? Toss up another prayer I guess? A plan, even a failed one, is always a learning opportunity, the same way that a failed hypothesis lets a chemist or whatever know he is missing something important. When a plan fails, I have no one to blame but myself. I think we hope far too much in this country. If we spent ten percent of the time we spend on hoping and praying on actual actions, we woudn't need a heaven in the skies. We'd have one right here. I don't' guess its any wonder most of my religious friends stopped writing me. People can put up with all sorts of deviance, if they think that you will ultimately reinforce what they already believe about the universe. I told one of them recently that everything I know about god leads me to believe that he would vastly prefer an honest, skeptical disbelief over a plastic, showy, Fox-News sort of faith. She replied with, "Well, I like Fox-News," thus totally avoiding the point of my comment. Pretty common occurrence for the far right, in my experience.
Pretty scary story you wrote about going to see the tarot reader. I saw a lot of that in Mexico, and heard quite a few stories. Old-wives tales, mostly, but a few of the narcos I knew swore by the stuff, claiming a bruja had gotten them out of legal problems many times. I was advised to see one, but I never made it down to see her. I don't' really regret it, but it might have been somewhat entertaining now that I have read your report. If it makes you feel any better, I would suspect that your "days of tears and ennui" probably have very little to do with the fact that you didn't rub raw meat all over your body. Its hard for me to imagine that god or spirits or whoever oversees such rules and regulations would be such a niggling, meddling little micromanager about a subject as huge as sadness. . If god really requires raw meat body wash to make you happy, then its no wonder I have such problems with faith. ") on the other hand, maybe raw pork is the perfect moisturizer, and you missed out on making a billion dollars setting the new health-care trends. Sounds right, doesn't it?
You mentioned you have been watching Mad Men. Seems like the kind of show that I would have liked, from what I have seen about it in the papers. There really isn't much on network TV that interests me anymore, although I would probably watch much of it, if they let us buy tvs. I got a new radio recently, and I have no decided whether I'm going to rig it up to receive tv audio or not. They got smart on us and changed the board up, so there is much less clutter, which means that its easier to see modifications done to it. Considering how long I have been without a radio, I'm not quite willing to risk it just yet. I will get bored with it soon, I'm sure. I've already built an AM antennae, since the one in our room is blocked from receiving AM. Not that there is much on AM radio in Texas, besides Rush and Hannitty and Glenn Beck. I flipped though their diatribes today, trying to find the sports channel, and they were all going on and on about Obama trying to inculcate our nations youth with his socialist agenda. As far as I heard, he simply told kids that they owed it to the country to stay in school. Socialist! Sigh.
What's new in NYC? My insomnia has kicked into some hyper-advanced state of existence...really kicking my butt. It's gotten to be pretty standard for me now to go 2 days without sleeping. I mean, I did that in college, too, but this is different. I got a friend to print me out some do's and dont's regarding lifestyle habits, which were supposed to help eliminate insomnia. They didn't work, although they did make good paper airplanes. Working out would help, but I am still waiting on my last doctors appointment and evaluation of my x-ray. I won't go through all this crap again, so I am playing it safe for now, waiting on the green light. Has it started to cool off there yet? It was only 96 here today! Huzzah for fall. Sigh again.
Well, I hope this finds you well, Kelly. Gotten your money from that deadbeat yet? I bet I could get it from him :) Haha, want me to get a bunch of losers to write him incessantly from DR? Might be kind of funny to see how long it takes him to get in touch with him. Stay safe.
--T
Hey. Sorry its taken me so long to write you back. I have been feeling very laconic lately. I am nowhere as strong as I pretend to be sometimes, and writing always seems to take something from me. Someday they will have Mood Organs like in Philip K Dicks books, where I can just press "Happy" and a little injection later, Happy will I be. I guess there is prozac, but they don't exactly sell that on the commissary around here, do they? Received your cut-outs from the New Yorker article on Cameron Willingham. He was before my time, of course, but I know of him via the rumor mill. Everyone has long known him to be innocent around here, but I was surprised to see a major publication do an article on him. We don't get much in the way of that type of press. I am doubtful that Texas will ever admit that he was innocent, though. The DP is biblical law down here in Redneckland, and a few stories printed by the "Liberal Media" are not going to change anything. Just recently, they agreed to give John Penry a life sentence, if he agreed to sign a form saying that he was not, and has never been, retarded. His IQ is well below 70, and consent was not his to give, as he was incapable of knowing whether he was retarded or not. But such is the way of things down here. Tell me: can you find me the link of this story on the New Yorker's website? I'd like to talk about it on mb6, but it would be easier to reference if I had the address, rather than having to scan and paste these pages. If you can't find it, that's ok.
Breaks your heart, doesn't it? I get...angry, sometimes, and often I don't even know why. I think it must be stuff like this, simmering on some subconscious back-burner, never leaving me be. Because they are still doing this. These legal games, all designed to justify some perverted and archaic ideology that is completely inscrutable to me. Me, the supposed bad-ass sociopath, can't figure out why they are so despicably blood-thirsty, so fucking callous. I'm supposed to be the bad guy. If I were keeping track of such things, and I were really interested in taking lessons on being a bad guy, simply looking at my prosecutor and the system around me would be all the lesson I could ask for.
Anyways. You asked what I have been reading of late...not much. They finally re-opened the library again after summer break (thought I can't figure out why a prison library would require such a break), so that should guarantee me two books a week, but they are running slow again, so I haven't been able to get anything since mid-August. I was reading the Harry Potter books in Spanish, which is surprisingly fun. The translator went to a lot of effort to convey a real sense of "british-ness" throughout the work, which is not at all easy, as you know. I was hoping to get something with a little more meat on it this week, but we will see. I have some money coming later this month, as my Bronx Bombers have clearly run away with the .. East. I had a bet with a good friend of mine, who is a Sox fan. When we set the bet, I was 2.5 games down, but I kept the faith. So, I've got at least 50 bucks coming, which is a big deal to me. Not sure what I'm going to ask for. Maybe some Dawkins or Victor Stenger or Bart Ehrman...something like that. Any suggestions? As you might guess, I am somewhat outside of the mainstream when it comes to hearing about new literature.
How did your visit go with your friend from Portland? Ha, you have a crush on a guy with a girlfriend? You strike me as being a little too smart for crushes, but whatever floats your boat. Who can control the heart (or all its other vaguely connected organs?) I guess love is the best game/show in town, though I think that says far more about the quality of the town than the show. Fucking cheerful, aren't I? I'm so glass-half-empty, I make Robert Malthus look like a naive optimist.
Anyways, something more cheerful, since I've already managed to bash the south, the Sox, and love and life in the space of 1.25 pages...saw my Dad a few weeks ago. He flew in from Colorado with his new wife to take a look at some houses in Houston. He came up to see me while she went to Dallas, and then they were back in Aspen. Still difficult for me to picture him as an Aspenite..horribly mixed mental images there. My Dad is not exactly pretentious, but I guess there have to be some normal people there. They seem to be writing some Christian book on the subject of hope. I am sure it will be fine, for all of the...ah, "minor" differences in opinion when it comes to such things. Hope is nice; a plan is better. Hope is, ultimately , wishful thinking. It asks that some power greater than ourselves--be it god or chance or Ed McMahon--intervene and save us from a problem which is usually of our own design. It is an irrational thing, hope. A plan, though, is simply a battle tactic for the future. If a hoped for event never materializes, i.e. God doesn't show, then what can you do? Toss up another prayer I guess? A plan, even a failed one, is always a learning opportunity, the same way that a failed hypothesis lets a chemist or whatever know he is missing something important. When a plan fails, I have no one to blame but myself. I think we hope far too much in this country. If we spent ten percent of the time we spend on hoping and praying on actual actions, we woudn't need a heaven in the skies. We'd have one right here. I don't' guess its any wonder most of my religious friends stopped writing me. People can put up with all sorts of deviance, if they think that you will ultimately reinforce what they already believe about the universe. I told one of them recently that everything I know about god leads me to believe that he would vastly prefer an honest, skeptical disbelief over a plastic, showy, Fox-News sort of faith. She replied with, "Well, I like Fox-News," thus totally avoiding the point of my comment. Pretty common occurrence for the far right, in my experience.
Pretty scary story you wrote about going to see the tarot reader. I saw a lot of that in Mexico, and heard quite a few stories. Old-wives tales, mostly, but a few of the narcos I knew swore by the stuff, claiming a bruja had gotten them out of legal problems many times. I was advised to see one, but I never made it down to see her. I don't' really regret it, but it might have been somewhat entertaining now that I have read your report. If it makes you feel any better, I would suspect that your "days of tears and ennui" probably have very little to do with the fact that you didn't rub raw meat all over your body. Its hard for me to imagine that god or spirits or whoever oversees such rules and regulations would be such a niggling, meddling little micromanager about a subject as huge as sadness. . If god really requires raw meat body wash to make you happy, then its no wonder I have such problems with faith. ") on the other hand, maybe raw pork is the perfect moisturizer, and you missed out on making a billion dollars setting the new health-care trends. Sounds right, doesn't it?
You mentioned you have been watching Mad Men. Seems like the kind of show that I would have liked, from what I have seen about it in the papers. There really isn't much on network TV that interests me anymore, although I would probably watch much of it, if they let us buy tvs. I got a new radio recently, and I have no decided whether I'm going to rig it up to receive tv audio or not. They got smart on us and changed the board up, so there is much less clutter, which means that its easier to see modifications done to it. Considering how long I have been without a radio, I'm not quite willing to risk it just yet. I will get bored with it soon, I'm sure. I've already built an AM antennae, since the one in our room is blocked from receiving AM. Not that there is much on AM radio in Texas, besides Rush and Hannitty and Glenn Beck. I flipped though their diatribes today, trying to find the sports channel, and they were all going on and on about Obama trying to inculcate our nations youth with his socialist agenda. As far as I heard, he simply told kids that they owed it to the country to stay in school. Socialist! Sigh.
What's new in NYC? My insomnia has kicked into some hyper-advanced state of existence...really kicking my butt. It's gotten to be pretty standard for me now to go 2 days without sleeping. I mean, I did that in college, too, but this is different. I got a friend to print me out some do's and dont's regarding lifestyle habits, which were supposed to help eliminate insomnia. They didn't work, although they did make good paper airplanes. Working out would help, but I am still waiting on my last doctors appointment and evaluation of my x-ray. I won't go through all this crap again, so I am playing it safe for now, waiting on the green light. Has it started to cool off there yet? It was only 96 here today! Huzzah for fall. Sigh again.
Well, I hope this finds you well, Kelly. Gotten your money from that deadbeat yet? I bet I could get it from him :) Haha, want me to get a bunch of losers to write him incessantly from DR? Might be kind of funny to see how long it takes him to get in touch with him. Stay safe.
--T
Friday, September 11, 2009
Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #46
Dear KK---
No letters from you so far this week--perhaps tomorrow or Friday? In any event, wanted to get a brief note off to you before the long Labor Day weekend. Are you planning a final hedonistic sex/drugs/rock n'roll Bacchanalia as summer unofficially ends?!!
I didn't think so...I will be "near the mountains"... Really, Kelly, have to keep your sense of humor, even if it's the black, twisted kind you & I like in our films!
Ran across the most informative article on "Flash Forward"--the new ABC series you and I have discussed before. Very much like "Lost".
[Ed: I have cut out the rest of the Flash Forward commentary and subsequent Mad Men commentary.]
I admit it: Your "Rolo Dog" made me laugh! Does that canine realize how utterly spoiled life with Kelly is?
BRUJERIA: KK--this was a fantastic story--which totally held my interesting from beginning to end. Your descriptions of the roach-infected apartment "smelling of death, urine & garbage" made my skin crawl.
This is the sort of thing you are so good at KK. And I say again that a book full of these stories/columns/blog entries should definitely be on your radar.
Also enclosed --an article sent to me by someone who thought I was a watcher---of Project Runway. Feel free to keep me posted as the season progresses. Mi casa es su casa...
So--hope to receive letters from you tomorrow or Friday. Either way, will write again over the long weekend. Hope you get some sunshine.
Stay well. Thinking of you and hope to hear from you soon.
Yours,
Michael
No letters from you so far this week--perhaps tomorrow or Friday? In any event, wanted to get a brief note off to you before the long Labor Day weekend. Are you planning a final hedonistic sex/drugs/rock n'roll Bacchanalia as summer unofficially ends?!!
I didn't think so...I will be "near the mountains"... Really, Kelly, have to keep your sense of humor, even if it's the black, twisted kind you & I like in our films!
Ran across the most informative article on "Flash Forward"--the new ABC series you and I have discussed before. Very much like "Lost".
[Ed: I have cut out the rest of the Flash Forward commentary and subsequent Mad Men commentary.]
I admit it: Your "Rolo Dog" made me laugh! Does that canine realize how utterly spoiled life with Kelly is?
BRUJERIA: KK--this was a fantastic story--which totally held my interesting from beginning to end. Your descriptions of the roach-infected apartment "smelling of death, urine & garbage" made my skin crawl.
This is the sort of thing you are so good at KK. And I say again that a book full of these stories/columns/blog entries should definitely be on your radar.
Also enclosed --an article sent to me by someone who thought I was a watcher---of Project Runway. Feel free to keep me posted as the season progresses. Mi casa es su casa...
So--hope to receive letters from you tomorrow or Friday. Either way, will write again over the long weekend. Hope you get some sunshine.
Stay well. Thinking of you and hope to hear from you soon.
Yours,
Michael
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Letters from the Inside, Christopher Porco, #1
If you aren't familiar with Christopher Porco, here is a bit about him and why he was sentenced to life in jail:
Wikipedia, Christopher Porco
TruTV: Christopher Porco Murder Case
48 Hours Mystery Porco Video
Times Union Archive: Porco
***
[typed on blue paper]
Dear Kelly,
Please accept my apology for not getting back to you sooner. I had originally planned on writing ot you when I got your note, but got sidetracked as I often do, and forgot about it until I was going through and tossing old letters out. Please don't be offended by that, I procrastinate way too often, and it usually ends up with me forgetting about someting I needed or wanted to do.
It was very sweet of you to take the time to write, I hear from peopole I do not know somewhat frequently, but rarely write them back, for a variety of reasons. More often than not, it is because despite my status as a guest of the state, I tend to get pretty busy, and don't write the people in my life as often as I should. You sound like a very nice person, one that I wuold love to correspond with, but I do have a concern when you mentioned your background in media. I don't think this was your intention, but I have no interest at this point in any type of media exposure. I didn't get the impression that was on your mind, but you just mentioned that you had some experience. What paper was your column in? I get The Post here daily, it's by far my favorite paper.
I want to keep this brief, but I will give you just a little background on who I am. You may have an idea from the stuff on TV, but unfortunately it is difficult for someone to get an accurate picture of a person through that lens. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I am currently appealing my conviction, the briefs are all submitted, and oral arguments shoudl be this Fall, we will have a date soon I think. The lawyers are confident that we will win, but they said that before trial too, so you never know.
I live in a cell block with about 250 other inmates here at Clinton. I think there are a couple thousand inmates total here. Beyond the fact that it is prison, and I am separated from my family and friends, it is not too terrible. After three years or so, I am mostly used to it, which in itself is a good thing. I am taking 15 credit hours right now through Louisiana State University, and am getting closer to a Bachelor's at the ripe age of 26. What is your educational background? Beyond that I just try to stay in shape, and live day to day. I am blessed to have wonderful family and friends, who have stuck around some really tough years.
I would love to hear more about you, where you work, go to school, just general stuff. Career aspirations? I would love to read some of your writing as well. That is, if you can get over the delay in writing slight.
I am going to end this for now, please feel free to write me if you get a moment, I would love to hear from you, and I promise to be better about staying in touch in the future. Feel free to ask whatever you want as well, I am a pretty open person. Take care of yourself, I hope you hear from you before long.
--Chris
P.S. Cute picture by the way...How old are you?
[Ed.: Excessive comma usage and typos are his.]
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #45
Dear KK---
Much to get to in your two letters, so let me plunge right in: Beginning with two "heavy" subjects-I very much appreciate your sharing:
I can totally understand your thoughts on children. However, I would add only one caveat. I have seen women and men more set against wanting children than you---who have changed their minds when circumstances changed. But you do seem fairly certain.
And I respect your thoughts on HIV and AIDS: But you are so right even though it is the leading cause of death among 3-=40 y/o African-American men in Washington DC you wouldn't know HIV/AIDs still existed in the US.
Again, my immersion in the disease and its devastating toll in Africa probably pushes me to keep it on everyone's radar. My apologies. For now I will demur on inflicting some of my harrowing stories from those years, out of respect for your feelings.
Well, that's a cheery start, isn't it?! I guess you're still waiting for your topic for your "Story Slam" on 28 SEP. How do they choose topics and who chooses them? Seems as though that could make a huge difference especially with HBO Specials & Hollywood careers apparently now in play!
Was able to re-read the article after you so kindly sent me a copy. It really is an entire sub-culture. Fascinating how these things develop. Now I have a much better idea of your surroundings when you perform at one of these. Takes guts, Kelly. Kudos.
Two more things about your "Slam Life". Did you or will you go to the "Moth Ball"? And I stand by my opinion (for what it's worth!) on your potential guy who lives with the ugly girl: The amount of attention he is paying to you shows he is quite interested and wants more. Unfortunately, one can be in a relationship and by coincidence or serendipity meet someone who just blows you away. It ain't pretty, it ain't convenient, but it happens. This is of course as obvious as it is true. Good luck--I will say again--you have everything going for you, Kelly: looks, intelligence, twisted sense of humor (the best kind!)...and (don't get upset please, I call 'em as I see 'em) and intense & inventive sensuality that explodes like a volcano for the right man...When you do find him, whether it's online scrabble guy or someone else, he will be very lucky if he has the energy to keep up!
***
(Ed.: The next part of the letter discusses MAD MEN and various movies. I'm cutting that out of the transcription here.)
***
Yours,
XOXO
Michael
Much to get to in your two letters, so let me plunge right in: Beginning with two "heavy" subjects-I very much appreciate your sharing:
I can totally understand your thoughts on children. However, I would add only one caveat. I have seen women and men more set against wanting children than you---who have changed their minds when circumstances changed. But you do seem fairly certain.
And I respect your thoughts on HIV and AIDS: But you are so right even though it is the leading cause of death among 3-=40 y/o African-American men in Washington DC you wouldn't know HIV/AIDs still existed in the US.
Again, my immersion in the disease and its devastating toll in Africa probably pushes me to keep it on everyone's radar. My apologies. For now I will demur on inflicting some of my harrowing stories from those years, out of respect for your feelings.
Well, that's a cheery start, isn't it?! I guess you're still waiting for your topic for your "Story Slam" on 28 SEP. How do they choose topics and who chooses them? Seems as though that could make a huge difference especially with HBO Specials & Hollywood careers apparently now in play!
Was able to re-read the article after you so kindly sent me a copy. It really is an entire sub-culture. Fascinating how these things develop. Now I have a much better idea of your surroundings when you perform at one of these. Takes guts, Kelly. Kudos.
Two more things about your "Slam Life". Did you or will you go to the "Moth Ball"? And I stand by my opinion (for what it's worth!) on your potential guy who lives with the ugly girl: The amount of attention he is paying to you shows he is quite interested and wants more. Unfortunately, one can be in a relationship and by coincidence or serendipity meet someone who just blows you away. It ain't pretty, it ain't convenient, but it happens. This is of course as obvious as it is true. Good luck--I will say again--you have everything going for you, Kelly: looks, intelligence, twisted sense of humor (the best kind!)...and (don't get upset please, I call 'em as I see 'em) and intense & inventive sensuality that explodes like a volcano for the right man...When you do find him, whether it's online scrabble guy or someone else, he will be very lucky if he has the energy to keep up!
***
(Ed.: The next part of the letter discusses MAD MEN and various movies. I'm cutting that out of the transcription here.)
***
Yours,
XOXO
Michael
