Miracle wish
Hi Leo -- Just read your story on Shoptalk. I bet you're getting a lot of emails. I was struck by your piece. I just love simple, clear writing. I am just finishing Charles Bukowski's "Women" and I felt the same way about his writing. In contrast, I am in the middle of Adam Gopnik's "Paris to the Moon" which got the most fawning praise from every huge critic in the New Yorker-New York Times axis and I can tell you it is one stinking bore. I didn't feel anything in it. And I felt something immediately when i read you piece, and it was not just the tough subject matter.
Reading you made my miss my days at as a reporter at the Desert Sun (though not the Orange County Register, ugh, what a nightmare that place was!) and also made me remember what good writers can be found in smaller places.
Good luck - I wish a miracle for you.
Dana Kennedy