Different Slants

Seeing the World from a New Angle

Letter to My Cousin about Our America…by Robert M. Katzman

Letter to my (new) cousin, married to my blood cousin, who is justifably distraught over where our country is torn now, and how his own family suffered so much pain long ago because of their skin color. Funny, never met him, but I feel like I know him, and what is eating at him. I really care:

Bernie, whatever you call yourself, you’re good enough for me. And there are milions and millions and millions of “me” who aren’t ignorant, or hateful or under the illusion that one kind of person is somehow magically more valuable than another kind of person. What you wrote on Facebook is passionate and well-written–not that you need my opinion–I hope you get enough positive reinforcement to dilute the pain I read in your words.

We are living through an ugly time, but I sold old newspapers for a living, like

Pearl Harbor Bombed! or Hitler Dead!

and many other mindless moments in time recorded on yellowing crinkly paper that the grandchildren didn’t want, so I got it. Think of it this way: Trump and this period in our history and the hate that it has generated are a short time–shorter than many people can grasp–but I can, when Trump’s political demise and humiliation, along with people who share his poison will be yellowed crinkly newspapers that my grandchildren will throw away because they have no value to them.

Yesterday’s News. It is inevitable. I believe it is certain, and immodestly, my view of history covers centuries of forgotten passions, because when I closed the store to care for my beloved dying Joy, the hulking piles of thousands of those old newspapers I left sitting on shelves in the dark, newspapers left behind because no one would buy them, because the people whom the headlines were about had no value anymore. I say this without passion, though I certainly understand what you say about how you feel.

I write this to you my cousin whose skin color means nothing to me, like I’m a voice from the near future, a vision from an older man who has seen the same kind of periods of history pass by, over and over and over and over and over and over…love to you and my beautiful cuz Jackie.

Bernie: if anything written here has any use for you whatsoever, please reprint it or send it out with my blessings, because it is all I can contribute, and I’d like to think my words matter to people who need to read them. I am proud to stand with you, no matter how far apart we may be in miles.

 

 

Publishing News! 

Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart  and Vol. Two: Fighting Words

Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.

My facebook Book site is: @dontgoquietly

Please visit my new website: http://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.

Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:

Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.

Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998                                                                                                                    (262) 752-3333, 8AM–7PM

Books cost $24.95 each, plus shipping

For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95

(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95

I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.

My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.

2 Comments »

Comment by Charlie Newman

July 6, 2018 @ 9:33 pm

Nicely written, as always.
However our opinions on this time in our history differ.
I think Trump is simply a symptom and that the disease is the large number of people who voted for him.
With luck, you’re right and I’m wrong.
C

Comment by Bernard White

July 6, 2018 @ 11:36 pm

Dear Cousin Bob, I am grateful for your words and grateful for your perspective. “the arc of the moral universe is long and it bends toward justice and time flies when feel outside of time, right? memories, dreams, reflections…. I am so grateful to people like you who are willing to share the intimacy and vulnerability and the courageous risk of loving. to alchemical miracle of transforming pain into beauty…. sending love and blessings….

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