Dearest Mr. Pinkwater,
I want to tell you haw much joy and fresh eyes you have given to me and my three children, who are now 31, 21, and 15. When I was first turned on to your wonderful writings, my oldest was 8 and I convinced her, briefly, that I wrote the book, as we look very similar.
I have a couple of things to share- when I was in high school in the 60’s (Beverly hills High) I was in a group calling themselves the ‘Ennui Provo%u2019s’ and except for being 16 an not 12 and taking a lot of psychedelics, were alarmingly similar to the wild dada ducks – we sponsored a 30 pace brick bat duel, sang Christmas carols in June on the sunset strip while handing out IBM cards and celebrated dada a lot.
I know that you have been interested in meditative philosophy from your books and find that your description of the dancing Popsicle in Borgel, without giving away any secrets, is an excellent description of what is often referred to as ‘pointing out’. I have been a student of the Kagyu lineage (Trungpa) for 40 years and you see to have had some real experiences – it is so wonderful to share them with kids in a light hearted way.
From reading the Neddiad, I think that we kind of occupied the same space for a while; I was raised in Beverly Hills and your description sounds very west LA to me, during the time I was around your protagonist%u2019s age. I also went to Harvard school and suspect you may have briefly gone to Black Fox or one of the other military schools. Anyway whether or not you did, you evoked very familiar memories of that time.
Much love to you,
Stefan Carmien
I did go to Black-Foxe Military Institute. I think the Harvard School used to beat us in sports from time to time. Meditative philosophy is good if one doesn't get all serious about it. Very glad to know you and your children enjoyed some of my work.
