Welcome to the new age. Two nights ago I was laying in bed reading the live from New York Saturday night live history book. It was late. I read about their 25^th anniversary show they did a few years back. I couldn’t remember if I had seen it or not. I wanted to see it. o.k. So I lazily grab my laptop in the pitch black of the night, I log onto eBay and in less than a minute I purchase a copy of the 25^th anniversary special on DVD for $5 from someone who lives in Oklahoma. Today the DVD arrived. Amazing. God I love eBay. 

-----Original Message-----

From: Rosie

Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 4:56 PM

To: xxxxx@transcendence.com

Subject: abortion

Hey Fishy, I'll try my best to get you those cigars.  I just thought I would ask your advice on something.  What do you think about abortion.....not me of course ( ha, I got you didn't I)....I went to this talk today on pro-life and found that I seemed to be the only one in the room (other than the speaker) with views against abortion.  I ended up having nearly the whole room against me and even had a girl who was a friend and I had had over to my house ignore me.  It seems like a hot topic over on this side of the Atlantic and if you are not pro-abortion then your seen as someone who is against freedom and human rights.  My stance is that I think a baby has rights and that a person who is responsible enough to have sex knows that there is always a minute possibility of pregnancy and if that scares them so much they should not be having sex.  Ok...so I know I might be militant cause I have not found my self in the situation but I would just like to know your views cause I know that you like me are quite opinionated and I respect your opinion! :)

Love Ro

Hey Rosie Posie,

Well that is a tough one for me.

I think it goes like this:

When you are young, you are a fool if you are not a liberal. When you are older, you are a fool if you are not a conservative. Perhaps the same thing has been said about being an atheist and a believer, or about abortion. 

When we're younger, it seems like no big deal. Get it done in the first few weeks and move on. After all it should be up to the mother. It's her body. It certainly seems like an open and shut case for human rights on the pro-life side--pro-mother's life that is. But alas, as we become older and more of our friends find it impossible to get pregnant, or lose their babies to miscarriage, or are forced to adopt for various reasons, it does seem to make you think about the possibility of creating it so people just have them instead and then give them up to other people. 

But then again we would have a lot more orphans out there just roaming around with no parents who love them. Because the thing is that if someone wants to abort their baby they aren't going to want to keep them around or take care of them, so what kind of life is that?

And the gov is going to do an awful job of it so it's like we are forcing that whole family into a real bad and tough situation. What if the child never gets adopted? How sad. But is that better than not being born at all? I don't think so. No definitely not. Even worse, what if the mom has the child and just totally treats it like shit and doesn't take care of it for years and years like we see in the inner cities and all that? That would be awful too. 

Although some kids get adopted and do seem fine and have great lives. Eddie Murphy is a great example of that for one. And so many others. I have two really good friends who were both adopted because at the time their moms didn’t think they could take care of them. And they have had amazing lives so far. But I digress. To abort or not to abort, that is the question. 

I just don't know yet. Maybe one day I will make up my mind. Right now I am torn on this issue. When I was younger I thought it was cut and dried. I wish I could give you an answer.

Just stick to your guns and believe in yourself. Your heart will guide you in the direction you need to go on this one and in everything else. You'll never let yourself down. People are fucked most of the time--very few realize that it is o.k. for other people to have their own opinion. So you have yours. Good for you.

Love,

Fishy 

Ps--don't forget my cigars or I won't let you in :)

Dearest Taxi,

C'mon and get with the program guys. Help us out here with the category listings will ya? Here are some pointers:

Crew cuts cheesy music and chains hanging from their pants pockets (Good Charlotte, Linkin Park, Evanescence) category = ALTERNASCHLOCK

Longer hair cooler music and makeup (Radiohead, hives, coldplay, strokes) category = MODERN ROCK

In other words, this listing is definitely not MODERN ROCK. Its bad enough these mainstream bands are still using the term alternative when they are about as alternative as meat and potatoes or Britney spears. Don't take our beloved modern rock now and give it to them. The absolute horror. Or better yet, give the real original bands making waves and changing things up the category Alternative back, and start calling these other alternaschlock rockers Modern Rock. Fine. But stop mixing the two categories up indiscriminately. 

Last GREAT movie: a river runs through it. Wow. This was such a good movie. It made me drool to create art this good. I was so inspired by it. This kind of film comes along so infrequently.