From:
"Christopher Locke" <chrisplocke@hotmail.com>
In regards to your
recent communiqué on the proposed Mississippi documentary, all
I can say is: Mississippi? What the fuck do I know about Mississippi?
All I know is that I can see it (the river at least) muddying itself
towards the Gulf when I stare out of a plane, not to mention that
it's an annoying word to type, (why not the picturesque Chad? If every
a word deserved my time and comments, it's the mighty Chad.) It's like
this: if you're going to spend any time at all, you'd be wise investing
it in a documentary on New Hampshire...you know, start small.
Sure, this place has
got its familiar images and tourist traps: the blanched lighthouses
hugging the coastline; the miles of unspoiled green terrain rolling
between the dramatic Presidential Mountain range; a nuclear power
plant in Seabrook so archaic it could pop its cork quicker than a teenage
boy buried under a stackful of Hustlers. Yeah, everybody knows about
these things. But what do they really know about the people that have
made this state what it is today?
For example, my neighbor
Ivan is 78 years old and still runs his logging business the way he
did when he started it over 50 years ago: chop first and ask questions
later. Yep, you can find him over at Nute's Trading Post with the other
men, chatting idly while the stiffening corpse of a deer spins slowly
between them. The deer is slung from a hook, and rows of newspaper catch
the violet-colored blood that drips in dime sized splotches above it.
This makes Ivan, (and the other men, of course) feel good about themselves.
Sometimes they sip coffee as a deer carcass twirls in the morning light;
the steam has a way of getting between them, and they wave it away with
gloved hands, smiling.
Or maybe you'd care
to focus on Stenson? He's about 50, though nobody knows his real age,
and is all bent over because he hurt his back when a horse kicked him,
(remember Crooks from Of Mice and Men? You get the picture.) Except
Stenson keeps his right hand out in front of him, as if he's holding
something. The thing is, he is bent over so much, (almost 90 degrees)
and has his right arm straight out in front of him, he looks like Eric
Heiden or some shit like that, speed skating towards Olympic glory.
He walks like this all the time. People yell out of car windows as they
pass Stenson, "Going for the gold!!!" they say. Stenson doesn't
mind. He told me himself. I asked if he really was going for the gold.
He put his good finger to his lips and
held it there.
Alright, here are
a few preliminary ideas. See what you think. I'm going to get back to
my show. It's Cops in New Orleans. They're busting up some guy who doesn't
have a shirt on and is all fired up on crystal meth. Wow. He's pretty
strong. He's kicking out the rear window of the cop car. Hey, now that
I think about it, New Orleans is in the Mississippi delta, right? You
see, I now know something about Mississippi after all.