From: julie c
To: rg
Subject: Another embarassing letter
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 07:35:03 PST

Dear Cheyenne,

I do not know you yet but I  hope to meet you some day.  The reason I 
want to write to you is  to tell you how Richard Gardner, your father,  
has influenced my life.  

We are of the same age and probably at similar stages in life.  I am 
searching to find my path in life.  I am interested in many things, too 
many probably...  I have traveled all around the world and have  been 
exposed to many different cultures.  I come myself from a mixed 
background with a French father and an Australian mother.   My colorful 
background , my studies in Anthropology and my curiosity for films all 
attracted me to the place where I am working now and where I met Richard 
Gardner.  From the very beginning I knew  that I had found a perfect 
niche for myself at Documentary Educational Resources.   Cynthia Close, 
our executive director,  is a charming ,very creative, very classy  
woman.  She  runs the organization with care and finesse, which are the 
two qualities I admire in her.  When it comes to business she is very 
shrewd and as a person she has a great sensibility.   
Richard is a more difficult person to describe with words.  He is such a 
unique.....and wonderful person. He is always full of ideas for work and 
that is why he needs people like me, young, enthusiastic and motivated 
to put them into practice.  He always brings into work something out of 
the ordinary to show us.  During the Fall he picks up leaves, always 
choosing one that  had either a unique shape or a particularly beautiful 
coloration. He then scans the leaves and they join the other digital 
leaves that are on the Web.   He also takes very peculiar pictures.  My 
favorites are his pictures of  what he calls his “urban anomalies” 
series: an abandoned  shoe on the asphalt, a dead albino squirrel on the 
ground,  a pile of snow that doesn’t melt because it is always shaded 
from the rays of the sun. Things that most people would chose to ignore 
but that have a story to tell.  I think he shows them to all of us so we 
can imagine the story behind them.  There are also the pictures of 
beautiful  sunlit clouds and blue skies seen between the branches of 
trees.  He has an endless curiosity for everything around him. 
At first  Richard seems  a little  scruffy in appearance and dowdy, his 
usual attire is an old t-shirt and blue jeans.  But  when you know him 
better you know that beneath all that lies the heart of an artist.    
One thing that always struck me about Richard are his hands.  He has 
beautiful hands with slender fingers,  always impeccable polished nails 
like sea shells.    He takes great care of his hands as a piano player 
would do, the only difference is that his keyboard is attached to his 
computer.  When everybody is normally sleeping, late at night, he is 
working on his computer. He is   “Informatik Conquistadore”!  
Richard taught me everything I know about computers and the web. His 
great patience and his ability to turn any activity into a fun game make 
him a great teacher.  Sending mail to producers was transformed into the 
“folding and mutilating” activity and a time to have lively discussions 
about every imaginable topic. I have spent many hours discussing many 
things from Tyrannosaurus Rex, to comets to relationships and the 
meaning of life.  Our topic of conversation has often revolved around  
relationships because that is his area of expertise!  I myself  have 
been in a relationship for almost a year with a musician .  I went 
through a major crisis recently when he  decided to move out of my 
house. He said he had stopped loving me.  I was devastated.  I went to 
work but couldn't hide my tears.  As Cynthia knows too well,  I wear my 
heart on my sleeve.  That day I couldn’t do anything and was a sobbing 
puddle of tears but I remember Richard was able to make me laugh, 
against my will.  I didn’t want to, I wanted to wallow in self pity!   I 
spent a couple of days in their house in the attic which offered a great 
refuge from the harsh world.    Richard was right  when he told me 
things weren’t as bad as they felt.  When I felt better about  myself 
everything around me improved.  But I don’t want to talk about myself.  
I told you this anecdote just to let you know the kind of man he is.  I 
saw Cynthia cry once too.  I know Richard then spent the whole week-end 
holding her hand to comfort her.  Richard is that kind of person, he can 
make clouds disappear , he is always there. Richard will never judge 
anyone.  I think he knows too well what it is to suffer from losing the 
person you love..   

Richard Gardner has given me invaluable things.  Among other things I 
have learned to look at the world differently.  I am a  little absent 
minded and disorganized.  But since I have been working at DER I have 
learned a lesson that I can apply to all aspects of my life: pay 
attention to details!   I still have a long way to go but I know that 
there has been an added texture to my life because I  am more aware of 
what is around me.  I can say that he has made my window to the world 
more transparent and I can SEE more and with richer colors.  
Transparency is another of his cherished theories.  It has been the 
topic of our latest discussions.  As I understand it, artists and 
scientists have always tried to reveal the truths of the world , make 
things more transparent, and often they have gotten into trouble for 
doing so because most of us are not always ready to hear the truth.   I 
suspect Richard did get into trouble in the past for trying to make 
things too  transparent ..

As I am writing this letter  I realize that I have  spent almost a year 
working for DER.  I am planning to go to graduate school next year and 
it saddens me  that I will have to leave.  I will miss my conversations 
with "Richie-pooh" and I will miss all the people that work there.  They 
have been like family which I needed because my real family is not 
around. Both Richard and Cynthia have been a very positive influence on 
my life.  It has not been an easy choice to decide to leave but I am 
destined to move on and pursue my goals in life.  I want to be able to 
look back at my experience and be able to say that I  did my best to 
live up to my potential, to give back to Richard and Cynthia something 
in thanks for what they have given me. 

I am telling you all this Cheyenne because telling you what I think 
about your father is my way of thanking him for everything he has given 
me as a person.  Richard Gardner has been a steadfast friend; I could 
rely on him in both good times and bad times.  That is why also I 
believe he is the perfect father. I hope to meet his daughter one day.  
I hope you join us tomorrow at our Christmas party.  Richard will 
probably be wearing his  favorite T-shirt  that Cynthia brought back 
from the Margaret Mead Festival, the one with the dinosaurs that glow in 
the dark!  
 
Sincerely,

Julie C