DEAR BOODLES: Them, Us, We

Originally sent: May 20, 2007 1:00am

Dearest Boodeleena,

I cannot tell you how much your encouragement and positive reinforcement means to me. I especially enjoying our ongoing correspondence, even though we live only 10 minutes apart. Isn’t it exciting to receive a letter in the post! It is very much of the Victorian era, where an outing to visit a friend would have been an entire day’s journey, leaving written communique as the more prudent choice.

Victorian era friends...

I hope you don’t mind that I always type my letters on my computer. I cannot stand to look at my puerile penmanship. Your Baroque epistolary, however, is a joy to behold. Perfectly frame-able as works of art in their own right.

A sample of Theadora Van Runkle’s Baroques epistolary.

I do enjoy the solitary concentration and escapism of writing, and practice whenever possible although very much behind the scenes and for my eyes only. My dear friend Esther Kaplan, a much published journalist, editor and author of "With God On Their Side"

With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, And Democracy In George W. Bush's White House

- how Christian Fundamentalists trampled science, policy, and democracy in George W. Bush's white house, insists that I should write professionally and has offered to act as my editor, when I decide to do so. Perhaps I will begin to send her some of my humble efforts for blue penciling.

Enough of this stiff Victorian prose…

I was wary of the second act of “Them”, fearing that Francine (du Pessix Gray) would lapse into a bitter tirade against her “neglectful, distant parents”, which is so often the case with these spoiled children tell alls, and which has become hackneyed and tiresome.

A book by Francine Du Plessix Gray about her parents

Alexander Liberman and Tatiana du Plessix Liberman.

I was happy to see that the book kept pace and she had a rather healthy take on the whole situation. Ultimately, I believe that she loved them both deeply and appreciated all of the sacrifices made on her behalf and the privileges that they afforded her. Anyway, there is no such thing as a utopian paradigm by which to gauge, so whether it’s in...

a grass hut