In Revolutionary Letter #11, Diane di Prima talks about a road trip she took with a friend and their encounter with a man at a gas station who didn't seem to like them both. She says to her friend that it's not the two them he didn't like, it was the idea of them that media had created. And all the confusion and misguided hostility could be taken away if only they could just sit down with the guy and talk to him over a beer. Then he would be able to see past their hair, dress and the connotation the media had created for people who dressed like them. A simple idea, a simple solution yet so difficult to actually create such a situation. I find it frustrating how little people listen to one another and neglect to give time to one another to explain each others point of view.
On another note, I remembered a song I had heard a while ago called "I Wish I was Punk Rocker" by Sandi Thom and remembered a line from it. "When mom and dad were in their teens, and anarchy was still a dream and the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail." We forget because we live in such a fast-paced and connected world that in the olden days, you had to send a letter to keep in touch. So we may take the title Revolutionary Letters too lightly when really a letter in the mail was one of the strongest forms of communication for the working class. Just a thought.
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