Letters from the Inside, Christopher Porco, #3

Hi Kelly,

It is Sunday night, and I'm watching my Yankees hopefully clinch the division series tonight. The Twins are leading right now 1-0, butI have faith. How are you doing? How did the Story Slam go? It sounds like a lot of fun. Do you read the piece or recite it from memory? I really enjoyed it, a lot of the wit might be hard to translate to an audience if you dind't have a script, I think, but I guess if you memorize it well, it could be just as good or better. I have been to poetry readings and things of that nature, a lot of the time they come off as pretentious I think. I love the creativity and comedic possiblities of the story slam thing.

My cell is located near the door of the yard, which is nice in the Summer, because of the breeze, but bad tonight, it is like 25 degrees right now.. Currently, the door is wide open, because they are searching people as they come in. Apparently a copy fround a blood trail outside, and they are checking people for wounds. Lovely, I know. It isnt' uncommon for someone to get cut or bloody their hands fighting, and not wanting to get caught, trying to slip inside unnoticed. A couple months ago this guy I am somewhat friendly with stitched himself closed with dental floss after some kind of altercation outside. The thinking is that if you go to the hospital, you are going ot get moved, and won't get a chance to get the guy who cut you back. Not exactly the mentality I grew up with in the suburbs.

I love the fact that you have a dog. I think you can tell a lot about a person by if and what kind of pet they have. And I know it must be hard in the City to have a dog. What kind of place do you live in? I have always liked visiting the city, but dn't know how I would like living there. I suppose after my most recent accomodations, I could probably handle most situations though. My dog, Barrister, died last Summer, he was 14. He was our second Yellow Lab, and the second one named Barrister. Weird, I know. There are a lot of things to miss here, but for me one of the worst is the type of companionship you get from dogs. There is an absence of that unbridled warmth they bring. Ok, that sounded bizarre. I swear I'm not a crazy dog guy or anthing.

I didn't know you could access my court documents online. How did you get to them? There is a lot not included in them as well. Mostly as a result oof us not doing our job at trial. I may have mentioned the overconfident attitude that contributed to that. As to who I think did this [the murder] that's the million dollar question. If I had to guess, it would be someone connected to the priest sex abuse stuff that has been going on in the Albany area for several years now. I didn't learn this until after my trial, but my father was mentioned multiple times along with the judge he worked for in very threatening letters sent from various sex abuse victims. They seem to think there is some kind of Catholic conspiracy in the Albany legal system. (Many of the judges/lawyers are Catholic.) The lawyer who represents many of them contacted my lawyers and me before trial saying he had information about my case, but my lawyers basically ignored it. I truly do not know though. We have a fingerprint belonging to one of them, and DNA that matches two. And a description of cars that very well could have been the cars used in the getaway. One of the main hurdles I fce now is the lack of investigation that took place, both by us, and the police, in the beginning. And believe me, it is hard to do from a prison cell. I catually just sent a letter to Dr. Baden, the former M.E. of NYC, to ask him to take a look at the forensic pathology aspects of the case. Hopefully he will be willing to take a look, because I thin it is very likely the attack at my house took place around 11 or 12 on Sunday night, a time I could not have been anywhere near Albany. There are still a lot of loose ends out there. The key to all of this ti getting reversal though, so hope for that.

I mostly watch sports on TV, but always catch Desperate Housewives, and I am liking Glee on Fox. And I am embarrassed to admit I watch Gossip Girl too. Ha. You can only read so much, it is nice to have a tv in the cell with you.

Before all this, I was sort of an economics major in college. I say sort of because I didn't do a whole lot of schoolwork. I was on the swim team and in ROTC and lived in a Fraternity, which was great for my social life, but not so great for my grades. I've always wanted to be an attorney though, that hasn't changed. Right now I feel like I am just treading water, waiting around in limbo. It is a disconcerting feeling. So I am just racking up credit, I don't care so much what my undergrad degree is in, because of the law school aspiration. That requires a felony-free criminal record, which I don't have at the moment. Oh, my sentence is looong; 25 years plus 25to life. With good time, I would be eligible for parole after 46 years or so. Or as they say in here, my parole officer hasn't been born yet. I guess for sanity's sake, I try not to think or focus on that. I still believe in the system despite my current predicament. Hope is common here, but rarely bears fruit.

I would like to write about everything that has gone on in my life, I even think I could be good at it. There are legal considerations, I have to assume that anything on paper in my cell isn't going to be private. Probably the biggest reason why I haven't though is simpler, pure laziness. I just feel like I have so much to say, I wouldn't know where to start. I feel like I would just vomit out a bunch of stuff on paper that wouldn't be coherent at al. I know that is what first drafts are, but I don't know if I am even up to that point. I need to take some writing classes...


They just caught a guy right here with his knuckles all torn up, I guess he was fighting someone. He wiil probably end up getting sent to the box for a couple months. I have never been, but I imagine it isn't a pleasant experience... I am including a poorly lit, fuzzy polaroid so you can get an idea of what I look like after 3 years in prison. I got the tattoo here, I wanted a memento from prison, if I ever manage to get out. I learned how to make a tattoo gun out of a cassette motor and guitar string, and had the guy use that so I knew it wasn't being shared. I am terrified of getting some nasty disease... That said, I am going to cook some dinner and relax, so I will end for now. I hope you are well and staying warm. Say hi to mini, and take care of yourself. I will write again before too long.

Bye Bye,

Chris

***

An Education: A Study in Sociopathy

I went to see An Education. I was so looking forward to it. It's a tale of a sociopathic charmer and his seduction of a 16 year old honor student in 1960s UK.

I related to it because I, too, had my first romance with a 32 year old when I was 16. He wasn't necessarily completely sociopathic, although he was a drug addict who did his share of lying to both me and his live-in girlfriend (who later became his wife, who then even later became his ex-wife). However, he was always respectful of my wants, and I did nothing beyond kissing him for the 12 years I knew him.

The minute Sarsgaard (sp?) picks up Jenny at the bus stop I KNEW he was a sociopath. My movie companion didn't, sticking to the naive belief that they'd up end happily ever after, even after it comes to light he is a thief and liar.

I won't spoil the end, but it is a great little movie. Because it is based on the actual memoir of Lynn Barber, it rings very true.

It reminds me of one of my absolute favorite movies--in my top five--called Smooth Talk. It came out in 1985 and starred Laura Dern and Treat Williams. It is based on a Joyce Carol Oates story, that I believe is called "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Such a subtle and beautiful--even though the subject matter is anything but--film. If you can get your hands on a copy, watch it as a companion piece to An Education.

Young women being seduced by older men is not a new theme by any means. I just wasn't sure if this would be more of a Lolita tale or a Smooth Talk one. Clearly it is the latter, but handled exceptionally well and with a relatively happy and uplifting ending.

These two movies should be mandatory watching for teenage girls and could easily be used as an entertaining learning tool. As highlighted in An Education, even the smartest of girls can be waylaid easily by a cunning man with an equally intense pathology.

Letters from the Inside, Sarah Pender, #16

Kelly,

Just finished working through an architectural magazine--Habitus--Not my thing--too fancy. I like middle class homes the best. Like in the Midwest, homes that range from $90,000-$350,000--that's my speed. I think these ultra-rich, million dollar plus homes are a waste of resources. Even when they are made with landscaping, ponds, etc., it's still a waste. Anyone who can afford to spent 1.5 m of 4 m on a house can just as well spend $750,000 or 2m and use the other half to help make the world a better place.

Wastefulness bothers me.

My sister is the materialistic one in the family. She'd love that stuff. I can't justify or even feel good in my ind, owning a home with 5 bedrooms when I have no children and a small extended family. Seems ridiculous, like owning four cars for two people.

I like the handmade paper you sent. I once made paper using a sieve and pulus and added flower petals for design. Pretty.

Not been feeling happy. It's so hard to get out of a funk one I'm in one. I think being captured in this room is getting to me. Nine months in this cell 23 hours a day. Makes me want to bang my head and gnash my teeth.

Or sleep 16 hours out of the day.

I like the Sci Am article on depression. It makes sense, but in my case, I've gotten depressed, solved my issues at hand, and now have no energy or motivation to actually implement them. I hate this.

You speaking on technology, sounds like me when it came to new contraptions while I was out. What I figured out, though, was that all the TV/Cable/DVD connectors are color coded, so it's easy to plug one into the other. Red, yellow, white. Piece of cake. And that wireless router? Get help. Setting up the network is easy--but only after someone shows you the first time, which of course, it only takes one time. Anyway, I understand your technology dilemma, though I had a much better excuse for being backwards about it. :-)

Good luck!

My friend has a BlackBerry Bold and loves it! She can get internet, email, texts, radio stations, pictures, videos, and reception even if she were standing in the middle of the Gobi desert. She seems to love it, so I guess it's worth the investment for one. Better than a flat screen for a room you never watch tv in. Silly.

Only you can get a billion % off discount on slim fit leather pants because you are a 4. With the obesity rate so high and bikini season over with, the world is flooded with sizes 8-14. True story. But KUDOS to you, cuz that shit rocks. I'm happy @ size 10-12. Looking for to getting back to it. I enjoyed gaining weight out there. Food is comforting. YUM!

That sucks that your insurance doesn't cover acupuncture. My stepmom out in Seattle has coverage for acupuncture, massages and other alternative medicine. Can't you swithch companies w/o your premium going up?

I am scheduled to be released from solitary, 20 December. I will be moved to a dorm setting, where I will have a roommate and we will not be locked in our cells. I will be given a job and the opportunity to engage in programs or outdoor recreation activies with other offenders, like volleyball, jogging, etc. I will be able to use the phone when I want, shower freely, order food from commissary and most important, be able to hug my mother at visits. I am very much looking forward to it.

They don't really parole in Indiana. Parole is not an early release thing, it's a babysitting mechanism after being released on your regular outdate.

My wife is at Rockville Correctional Facility. She is the woman who helped me escape. I am not allowed to write to her nor am I able to even write freely about her. The DOC censors my letters. It's infuriating.

Congrats on placing 2nd at another story slam!!! I don't know your pigeon story, so I look forward to hearing that one along with how you place in the Grand Slam. Doesn't it feel good to know you are talented at stuff?

Never been vacationing to any place exotic or real special. My family is from Zimbabwe, though, so I've hear many neat stories, seen a thousand photos, and slifes of the bush. They say Africa gets in your blood. Romances you. Makes you hate it and love it so much, you never want to leave.

How long will it take for you to wrap up your civil case? And wouldn't you want to do jury duty at least once? It seems to me that you'd be an impartial member, for sure. So many people are judgemental these days and commit heinous acts of their own, by over convicting people.

Repressed anger manifests its ugly head.

How'd memoir writing class go? You keep so busy with neat stuff to do. Life is good, huh?

I can't believe you have written Reid off for drinking Ensure. Maybe he has Crohn's disease!! Although, he's still a creep, since I am convinced that his g/f doesn't know about you, or the extent of what he'd like to be doing with you.

I appreciated your 11 Sept stories. I was in jail at the time, having been there about one year. I remember the breaking news coverage and once the towers fell, they cut of our tvs and so there we all were, making up theories. Most of us agreed we were under attack and it would start WWIII. We plotted that if the enemy hit our cities, we would likely be unguarded and leave. We had grandiose schemes.

It is late. My head throbs. Time to lay down. I hope you are well.

Life is good.

Sarah

Letters from the Inside, Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, #15

Dear Kelly,

Very powerful set of blogs on the Sept. 11th events. Maybe some of the most powerful think I have read on the subject. I bought this large coffee table book in 02 put together by...hell, I forget, but it was over 500 pages of photos from that day and the following weeks. There were the violent ones--the planes actually hitting, the Falling Man- and then there were the ones that spoke volumes in silence, like this little accountanty looking guy in a suit, covered in dust, his glasses fogged up, with literally thousands of pieces of partially burnt paper falling around him. He was looking down at one of these pieces of paper, which he had picked up, reading it. Like, he was in such a state of shock that reading that paper was the most imporant thing in the world. It was my favorite photo. My Sept. 11th story is nowhere near as dramatic as yours, obviously. I was in Waco at Baylor. I was supposed to be at my apartment, but I was really at a girlfriends. (please don't post this, as I was technically going out with the woman who was to come my fiancee at the time, and we are getting along very well right now and I don't want her reminded of my...ah, failings) I had worked late the night before at the bar, and didn't have class until 10, so I planned to sleep until 915ish. Alexis woke me up at just before 9, screaming to come look at the tv. It was totally surreal. We watched the second plane hit, just standing there in her living room, not a thread of clothes on, now really knowing what to do. I left pretty quickly, went to my apartment and packed a jump bag (survival shit, mostly) and set out for Houston, a trip of about 3.5 hours. I thought the possibility of any attacks in Houston were slim, as there are not too many serious militarily valuable targets there, unless you count the fact taht most of the companies which own the power grid are based there. But I knew that if something did happen in Texas, it was likely in Houston, probably via the Port. So I drove to my girlfriend's work , and then went to her house. She had just graduated and was living alone for the first time ever, and we just watched television all day. Her college roomate from UT eventually called us from NYC to tell us she was fine. We were glad to hear from her, because her cell wouldn't work, and she only lived like 20-30 blocks from the WTC. Maybe I'm wrong on that, how far is Tribeca from WTC? I know its not far, like on the other side of Chinatown from there, right? It's been a few years since I was there. It is odd that we both had the same thoughts about Bush being our president. Maybe not odd. Accurate.

8 years later, the violence of that initial act has compounded exponentially, though of course most americans don't care, as the thousands of dead muslims in the Iraq/Afghan wars are not really important to them. We could have cemented our place as a moral nation by a systematic disemboweling of the terrorist networks, but no, we went for the american option, mainly bombing the fuck out of everyone. And how look at us. Massive debts from the war, a truly impossible task of national building in Afghanistan, and maybe even larger task of having to make up for our mistake on the glogal stage. Sure would have been nice to have that 1 trillion dollars we spent in Iraqz in the national coffers right about now, huh?

Anyways, sorry Reid turned out to be a wussy. Ensure, huh? There was a guy with AIDS who lived next to me in the country jail who was given that shit. I guess he needed it. Besides vitamins, what's the point? There was a time my freshman year when I was lifting weights a lot, and I made these whey protein shakes. That is the only supplement that I have ever tried personally, but it does work, IF you really push yourself.

Thanks again for the article on Willingham. I ended up getting about 20 copies of that sent to me, but you were first. Very disturbing story. Rick Perry has a tough primary battle coming next year...he is tied up on the polls with Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of our senators. We all need him to lose, and lose badly. I'm not thinking that a democrat has much of a chance here in Texas, but if that primary battle gets real ugly, it might give a leftist candidate some ammunition.

It's cooled off there? Not here. Still hot as fuck. You know, you could use your India story for transformation, with a little tweaking. You could pretend that the experience transformed you into a vegetarian. :) Even the brujeria story could be a transformation from a believer in the occult into a skeptic, or vice versa. I mean, that is the point of stories, isn't it? The selective re-imagining of history? However you do it, I'm sure that you will do well.

Ugh, the Tyra show. I'm glad to hear you aren't participating. That has got to be the worst excuse for a television program currently on the air. That's not fair. I am sure there are worse. There is a television peace program in most of the jails I was in, which balanced the desires of the whites, mexicans and blacks. The Tyra show was always on, every day for the blacks. Why these hard-core gangsters gave a shit about the perils of menstruation (one of the shows, I'm serious) is beyond me. Maybe she has gotten better since 05/06 . None of those shows are worth anything to me. They are the softest of the news programs, to the extend that I don't even classify them as news. Pop-culture nonsense. Ha, now who sounds like your grandfather? Pass me an Ensure, please.

I'm trying to imagine what saffron pears would taste like. I've made a saffron risotto before, many times. Pears. I can see that, sure. As you can imagine, we don't see saffron too often on the trays there. Hell, around here, ketchup is considered a delicacy on par with white truffles.

It's about 2am right now. They were supposed to execute a guy I knew at 6pm yesterday, but we still have not hear anything about it. We are on lockdown, and they cut the radio feed 7 days ago, so only those of us who know how to build AM radio antennae are able to pick up the news, but none of them have reported anything. It's just not news down here. I'm guessing they got him. His "homies" all believed he would get a stay, but I don't see it. His last issue was technically valid, but his application of the issue was pretty tenous, and we all know the CCA could care less about such things. I just don't see it. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

Glad to hear work has picked up. I finally got to meet my new stepmom last week. She seems very nice and pretty quick. Good memory, which is vital because my dad has the tendency to forget stuff. Kind of cute, too. I guess that is a sign (another one) that I am getting to be an old fart, if I can say that about a 50-something. That, or I am just really, really deprived. Maybe both. They decided to stay an extra month in CO, so they won't be back until OCT now, but they did come back for a few days to look at a house they want to buy in Sugar Land and come to see me. She was pretty easy to talk to, which is good. She seems to make him happy, which is all that is important. I'm not sure if I mentioned that they are writing some christian book together or not. Something about hope. Yay, more hope. Just what we need. I am sure it will sell well.

Have you much experience with Craigslist? You mentioned it in your last entry, but it was not in existence when I was out there. How much does an ad cost? Is it free? Would a listing for my website profit from putting an ad up? I heard you have to pick a single city for the ad...I would probably pick NYC for a variety of reasons: largest media concentration in the US, reliably blue city/state, higher amount of liberal activist types, etc. etc. What do you think?

I got to see the season finale of Breaking Bad in the hospital. The last few minutes of the most recent season were...powerful, to say the least. I won't ruin it for you, but its a good example of how evil acts multiply exponentionally. It will affect you, I think, due to 9/11.

So Reid was too wimpy: What does Mr. Perfect look like to you? You have had a pretty varied life, so I'm curious to hear what your ideal mate would look like.

All right, I'm off. I hope that you are doing well, and that the warm weather lasts as long as possible for you. I would trade you any day. Be safe.

T

Just received your Sept 15th letter tonight...I will answer that soon! Thanks for the web address!

Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #49 & 50

#49: Letter dated Sept 19, 2009
Not going to transcribe this one as there isn't much noteworthy. He discusses MAD MEN in depth. Makes a few comments on a letter I sent him using some Gossip Girl references to discuss it. Is interested in learning of the current state of corrective surgery for the eyes. Discusses current movies and an old one I just saw, Loving. Briefly discusses his views on depression. Talks about the deaths of DJ AM and Patrick Swayze. Ends with stamp and pen shortage.

***

#50:

Dear KK---

Scarcity of stamps be damned--two letters from you deserves a prompt reply (unlike my sorry performance last week...) Plus your writing tends to have a way of demanding that it be answered and commented upon. What is the band's name---Jane's Addiction? Call this"Kelly K Addiction" - the only "cure" (a temporary fix to be sure!) is TO WRITE!

And there is much to write about, Kelly. Let me begin with the eternal topic of the weather, since you mentioned the onset of autumn. You have such a lovely way of putting a poetic touch on the seasons:

I love this: Kelly's Definition of FALL:
"Everything dies and it always seems dark."

Please give me the KK definition of winter. I'm sure it's life-affirming!

Anyway, just north & west of here, winter follows summer, or so it seems. Up in the high country on Pike's Peak (elev 14,000) they had several inches of heavy wet snow on Sun & Mon- also in other elevations down to about 10,000. Near freezing this morning.

But I know you stay for the City, not the weather. Given a choice between New York @30 degrees & East Texas @ 80 degrees, I think you'd choose NY.

One final weather note: I lived just south of Atlanta for over a year. That flooding these past few days has been incredible. With its interstates flooded, that whole metro area will be at a standstill. Mass transit is a joke. Plus most areas had never flooded before, so most homeowners have no flood insurance.

I cannot claim to be a real art museum/exhibition aficionado, even in better days. However, I saw a brief article about a William Blake exhibition "A New Heaven is Begun" at your Morgan Library & Museum. Blake is just unhinged & phantasmagoric--such bizarre & often powerfully religious visions of the world. You might recall that it was his stunning work "Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun" that played central role in Thomas Harris's first "Hannibal Lecter novel": RED DRAGON.

Anyway, Kelly, if you have the time or inclination to see Blake at the Morgan, let me know what you think.

I was very glad to be wrong about that teen slasher/comedy "Jennifer's Body" Turned out to be a box office dvd. Not surprising was that the other "J" movie--Jennifer Aniston's latest, also fell flat. Someone needs to get J.A. some meaty roles outside of romantic comedies. Best I've seen her was in a film almost no one saw: "The Good Girl", where she played a plain Jane in a dead-end job with a pothead husband. Unless she demands it & takes some chances, she'll do romantic comedies her whole career. She needs some Charlize Theron roles. Speaking of which, what do you hear about "THE BURNING PLAIN" with Theron & Kim Basinger? I've seen the ads, but no review.

Quick item from the "MAD MEN" two weeks ago--when Betsy gives birth. Did you notice the glass IV bottles? Plastic IV bags didn't come until the 1970s. Attention to detail...

Thanks for the 3 JUN 63 date of death of John XXIII. Fits in perfectly with the timeline. [Ed.: I am omitting long discussion of Mad Men.]

***

Now onto your letters [see what you do to me?] Yours dated 11 SEP: yes, I was in jail. Saw the whole nightmare as it unfolded, and didn't sleep for 48 hours...The Kennedy Assassination of our lifetimes..so far...

OH MY GOD, KK--Thank you for your amazing and emotional blog entries from 9/11/01 & 9/12/01. To me those first person raw reactions to what was happening at the moment in real time, are the true history of that day, or any day, for that matter.

I have some comments, but let me wait until a 2nd or 3rd reading. Thanks again.

[Say what you will, I have no doubt you & I would have been good friends & probably more in another universe. To quote our man Desmond on "LOST" - "in another life, brother...]

***

Congrats on your 2nd place Story Slam showing with the OUTLAW theme. Given how well and colorfully you write, I am not at all surprised at how well you do at these things, but I am so happy for you!

I agree: P F __ G! [Ed. I do not know what this means or what he is referencing here.]

Should I have sent in a couple of stories? Just kidding...

You must tell me the story: your blog=police questioning? How did that happen?

Continuing with your letter: "TRANSFORMATION" is a heavy theme for the GrandSlam. My God, KK, you have transformed yourself and your life continuously since you left home. But "DARK SIDE" is definitely more your cup of tea! Good luck with both.

Sounds as though work is better. Has the real estate/publicity business left its worst days behind it? The economy seems to be recovering in fits & starts.

Yes, I have been to New Orleans. At Mardi Gras, no less. Amazing city. Of course it was tied to a truly lovely girl at the time. So much of what men do throughout our lives, Kelly, is tired to and controlled by the female sex. Really, you have no idea... Can talk about that interesting but potentially sexual OMG - Red Alter/Red Alert> topic much more if you want...Women have tremendous power, but many don't ever realize it...

You are so totally Super Type A, Kelly. Where do you find the time, with all you have going on, for Cooking School and Memoir Writing?!

And constructing pastries?
Do you read to the blind in your spare time?

To quote a "Seinfeld" episode...I have a friend who couldn't do in a month what you do in a week!

Need to wrap this up and get it in the mail to you, but a couple of film notes:

[Ed.: I am omitting film notes.]

Still have more to talk about-so once again this is Part I. Hope to get another letter off to you before the weekend.

So take care, keep slammin'! and know I"m thinking of you. Stay healthy, KK.

Yours,

Michael

P.S. Thank you for the column about the new massive tome of J. G. Ballard's short stories. Already on my future paperback reading list.

Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #48

Dear KK,

Not sure if you've been following the very strange disappearance of that Asian med student at Yale in New Haven, CT. She was last seen this past Tuesday at 10am broad daylight entering a lab building. After that...nothing. And what has made this a national media obsession is that today was supposed to be her wedding day on Long Island. I know the NY tabloids have gone nuts over this story. So you have the whole "runaway bride" potential...or just another urban homicide.

The "Lives" column on "Truck Stop Girls" in Swaziland was darkly & brutally correct. It shows that the norms of poverty & sexual behavior have changed little since I was in southern Africa. Beyond the understanding of most Americans...

Great story "What A Wonderful World"... "a shrill loon, full of coarse white hair and overly-long toenails poking out of nylons." Her description perfectly captures her underlying insanity.

AND the locksmith never says a word! AND your own thoughts screaming in your head about the utter absurdity of the situation...

Still another entry in your book of collected essays. You have it half-written already!

On a serious note-when I was in med school, the young sister of a very close friend died of ovarian cancer. She was only 16--and had been ill for several years before. Very sad. Tragically, the detection & Rx of the disease has not equaled the advances in other types of cancer. Made quite an impact on me then--still does today.

So for you-a WSJ article on detection of ovarian cancer. Do read it, please.

Thank you for the David Sedaris story "Laugh, Kookaburra".

[Made me think of LOST again and wondering if it is a huge hit there with its Sydney connection?]

Anyway, you take care & hope to hear from you again soon.

Be well, Kelly.

Yours,

Michael

Letters from the Inside, Michael Swango, #47

Dear KK---

Hey sunshine! If you are into numerology, today is your day. 9/9/09... locally we had a baby born at 9:09am.

This will probably be "Part One" of my letter. I just received your letter written on one of your "glorious solo Saturdays"--so I want to make sure I get something in the mail to you before the end of the week. As I've said before, these "short mail weeks" tend to disrupt/delay service. So--will probably be more over the weekend... :)

Your first paragraph was classic K----! A Luddite harangue about technology that I'm sure many people would be sympathetic to, because I am sure many consumers feel similarly overwhelmed. Again-perfect for inclusion in your book of essays, columns & blog entries.

In all the ads I see, these electronics shops say they send tech geeks out to your house or apartment to hook everything up. Music to your ears, I am sure!

OMG! Kelly--You were the kind of person that Blackberrys & mobile email were invented for! You know--the career woman with a busy social life...Hope your research and budge allows you to do so.

Wow! Clandestine meetings with Reid in dark, romantic coffee shops, and you wearing hot, sexy leather pants... [And, OMG, Brittany, did you hear that he likes her, he like likes her*!!]
*SEE the Seinfeld episode "the Doodle"--George and the woman who is in Elaine's art class. "You like him?? Yeah, George is cool!"

The death of DJ AM is a bit more complicated than most. You may recall that executive plane crash last September, a flaming disaster, in which two members of Limp Biscuit and two pilots were killed. The only survivors were DJ AM and the band's lead man. Both were severely burned and spent weeks/months in burn units, hospitals & rehab.

More on this when I continue next time. Plus, Reid's science fiction novel. My first thought was the girl made into a vampire (at age 12) in Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. Made into a movie with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt & Christian Slater in 1994.

The girl is of course increasingly bitter that she cannot age physically or sexually past age 12. As you know---Sex is a huge part of Vampire lore & literature, past and present.]

Great trivia question: Who played the 12 y/o vampire in the film?
<answer on reverse>

My physician friend sent me this article on migraines from the Times. I'm sure you saw it, but I wanted to send it to you anyway. Any chance you could be a candidate for a treatment trial?! i.e. no cost to you!

Believe it or not, I have immense sympathy for all sufferers of migraine.

Thank you for the Andrews & Thomson article on depression from Scientific American. I've only just skimmed it--but it's a most interesting outlook. Full comments to follow after I read it in detail.

Must get this in the mail, but obviously more of your letter to talk about. Plus I think I have a couple of things to send you as well.

So take care, my lovely Luddite, Please send full details of you & Reid. It's better than "Gossip Girl" ... Thinking of you, and hope to hear from you again soon.

Yours,

Michael

*KIRSTEN DUNST played the lovely little vampire girl. I know many will disagree, but I love her as an actress & believe her best roles are ahead of her.