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Like Dylan in the Movies
Jun. 28th, 2008 05:20 pmYesterday was the 7th anniversary of this journal, and also Frank O'Hara's birthday. Specifically, it was the anniversary of when the journal was created - the first entry wasn't until July 2nd. Back then, I was living with Uncle Rex, and Val was either still in Spain or just returned from Spain. I don't recall whether I had by then acquired a bureau (actually a repurposed kitchen hutch), or whether I was still keeping my clothes in three large cardboard boxes (skirts and trousers; shirts; pajamas and underclothing) which I fished through each morning.
What I remember most from that summer is that Bush had taken office but 9/11 hadn't happened yet, so that the war on science was not yet eclipsed by the war on terror. I remember writing letters to the White House, trying to explain stem cell research in a folksy way, and to incorporate religious ideas like the quickening to explain that surely these cells were not yet ensouled, and therefore God wouldn't mind. I was fairly certain these letters would not be read, but I handwrote them on good heavyweight stationery with a fine fountain pen, to signal that they were not form letters, but a genuine attempt at contact from A Concerned Citizen - one, moreover, who used older methods. Perhaps someone who rejected most technology, and yet somehow was still convinced by this new science.
What I remember most from that summer is that Bush had taken office but 9/11 hadn't happened yet, so that the war on science was not yet eclipsed by the war on terror. I remember writing letters to the White House, trying to explain stem cell research in a folksy way, and to incorporate religious ideas like the quickening to explain that surely these cells were not yet ensouled, and therefore God wouldn't mind. I was fairly certain these letters would not be read, but I handwrote them on good heavyweight stationery with a fine fountain pen, to signal that they were not form letters, but a genuine attempt at contact from A Concerned Citizen - one, moreover, who used older methods. Perhaps someone who rejected most technology, and yet somehow was still convinced by this new science.
