Paramount Pictures Inc.
5451 Marathon Street
Hollywood 38, Calif.
March 19, 1945

Dear Charles:

A man named Inkstead took some pictures of me for Harper’s Bazaar a while ago (I never quite found out why) and one of me holding my secretary in my lap came out very well indeed. When I get the dozen I have ordered I’ll send you one. The secretary, I should perhaps add, is a black Persian cat, 14 years old, and I call her that because she has been around me ever since I began to write, usually sitting on the paper I wanted to use or the copy I wanted to revise, sometimes leaning up against the typewriter and sometimes just quietly gazing out of the window from a corner of the desk, as much as to say, “The stuff you’re doing’s a waste of my time, bud.” Her name is Taki (it was originally Take, but we got tired of explaining that this was a Japanese word meaning bamboo and should be pronounced in two syllables), and she has a memory like no elephant ever even tried to have. She is usually politely remote, but once in a while will get an argumentative spell and talk back for ten minutes at a time. I wish I knew what she is trying to say then, but I suspect it all adds up to a very sarcastic version of “You can do better.” I’ve been a cat lover all my life (have nothing against dogs except that they need such a lot of entertaining) and have never quite been able to understand them. Taki is a completely poised animal and always knows who likes cats, never goes near anybody that doesn’t, always walks straight up to anyone, however lately arrived and completely unknown to her, who really does. She doesn’t spend a great deal of time with them, however, just takes a moderate amount of petting and strolls off. She has another curious trick (which may or may not be rare) of never killing anything. She brings em back alive and lets you take them away from her. She has brought into the house at various times such things as a dove, a blue parakeet, and a large butterfly. The butterfly and the parakeet were entirely unharmed and carried on just as though nothing had happened. The dove gave her a little trouble, apparently not wanting to be carried around, and had a small spot of blood on its breast. But we took it to a bird man and it was all right very soon. Just a bit humiliated. Mice bore her, but she catches them if they insist and then I have to kill them. She has a sort of tired interest in gophers, and will watch a gopher hole with some attention, but gophers bite and after all who the hell wants a gopher anyway? So she just pretends she might catch one, if she felt like it.

She goes with us wherever we go journeying, remembers all the places she has been to before and is usually quite at home anywhere. One or two places have got her–I don’t know why. She just wouldn’t settle down in them. After a while we know enough to take the hint. Chances are there was an axe murder there once and we’re much better somewhere else. The guy might come back. Sometimes she looks at me with a rather peculiar expression (she is the only cat I know who will look you straight straight in the eye) and I have a suspicion that she is keeping a diary, because the expression seems to be saying: “Brother, you think you’re pretty good most of the time, don’t you? I wonder how you’d feel if I decided to publish some of the stuff I’ve been putting down at odd moments.” At certain times she has a trick of holding one paw up loosely and looking at it in a speculative manner. My wife thinks she is suggesting we get her a wrist watch; she doesn’t need it for any practical reason–she can tell the time better than I can–but after all you gotta have some jewelry.

I don’t know why I’m writing all this. It must be I couldn’t think of anything else, or–this is where it gets creepy–am I really writing it at all? Could it be that–no, it must be me. Say it’s me. I’m scared.

Ray

https://lettersofnote.com/2020/04/18/am-i-really-writing-it-at-all/

Hi, I'm gonna tell you some stuff about Dr. Phil and save you a trip to Wikipedia.

1) He is not a medical doctor. He has a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Texas.

2) BUT, he is no longer licensed to practice in any state.

3) Why? Well...

In1988, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists determined that he had hired a former patient, without "proper separation between termination of therapy and the initiation of employment."

4) But wait, there's more.

The patient also made claims of inappropriate contact initiated by Dr. Phil. This was kind of dropped from the case, but it's, you know, -interesting to note.-

5) He was brought up on ethics charges for having an inappropriate non-physical relationship with a patient in 1989...

6) and in 2008 for practicing psychology without a professional license or certification

7) and also for violating doctor-patient confidentiality regarding Britney Spears.

8) He surrendered his Texas license in 2006, and has never held a license to practice psychology in any other state since.

9) Despite not being a medical doctor, he started selling weight loss shakes in 2003. The name of the shakes was "Shape It Up, Woo, Woo!"

10) Because it's illegal to practice psychology without a license (sorry, Lucy from Peanuts) his TV guests have to sign paperwork saying they are only receiving "advice."

11) In other words: He's an entertainer. Maybe even a skilled one! But he's not a doctor. He's not even a licensed psychologist anymore. He's DEFINITELY not an epidemiologist.

12) In conclusion, Lucy from Peanuts is probably a better authority on viruses right now.

Good night.



https://twitter.com/rebeccamakkai/status/1251005475967184897

A wave of planned anti-lockdown demonstrations that have broken out around the country to protest the efforts of state governments to combat the coronavirus pandemic with business closures and stay-at-home orders have included far-right groups as well as more mainstream Republicans.

While protesters in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and other states claim to speak for ordinary citizens, many are also supported by street-fighting rightwing groups like the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, religious fundamentalists, anti-vaccination groups and other elements of the radical right.

On Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan, a protest put together by two Republican-connected not-for-profits was explicitly devised to cause gridlock in the city, and for a time blocked the entrance to a local hospital.

It was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, which Michigan state corporate filings show has also operated under the name of Michigan Trump Republicans. It was also heavily promoted by the Michigan Freedom Fund, a group linked to Trump cabinet member Betsy DeVos.

But the protest also attracted far right protest groups who have been present at pro-Trump and gun rights rallies in Michigan throughout the Trump presidency.

Placards identified the Michigan Proud Boys as participants in the vehicle convoy. Near the state house, local radio interviewed a man who identified himself as “Phil Odinson”.

In fact the man is Phil Robinson, the prime mover in a group called the Michigan Liberty Militia, whose Facebook page features pictures of firearms, warnings of civil war, celebrations of Norse paganism, and memes ultimately sourced from white nationalist groups like Patriot Front.

The pattern of rightwing not-for-profits promoting public protests while still more radical groups use lockdown resistance as a platform for extreme rightwing causes looks set to continue in events advertised in other states over coming days.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/far-right-coronavirus-protests-restrictions?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1587118995

Margaret Atwood will show how she has gone from handmaids’ tales to handmade tales when she unveils her latest project: a puppet show version of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death.

The novelist is to be a guest on Mary Beard’s BBC Two arts show Front Row Late, hosted in lockdown from the study in Beard’s house. Atwood’s contribution is what Beard calls a “very surprising” version of Poe’s horror story: a puppet show choreographed by the author and her sister Ruth, with all the characters made from household objects.

“An empty bottle and some hand sanitiser take starring roles,” Beard writes in a blogpost.

Poe’s story, first published in 1842, tells the tale of a prince attempting to avoid a plague by hiding in his abbey.

Atwood’s version was as funny and engaging as it sounded, said Beard. “But, in our discussion, Atwood also raises some pressing questions about the role of horror stories in our cultural imagination, asking what pleasure we can take in tales of plague, and what we can learn from Poe’s gothic fiction – as well as casting her sharp eye to life after pandemic.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/15/margaret-atwood-showcase-gothic-puppet-show-mary-beard-bbc?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1586979666