Dear Pearl ,

I'm afraid, dear friend, that the news is mostly all bad.
An earthquake in Peru . A bridge collapse in Minnesota .
Dead miners in Utah . That horrible hurricane in Mexico .
Preening candidates vying ceaselessly for our attention.
The ugly, ugly, unending war in Iraq .
The bickering about it all.

It is simply too much. My head reels. My heart breaks.

Oh darling Pearl would you join me in a call for a change?
No more gathering in our living rooms at the end of the day to

watch the news. A break, please, from the headlines and

the agitating pundits.

Instead of The News, let us propose an hour a day to be spent

immersed in beauty, in music, in art, in wonder, in laughter.

The Olds, we'll call it.

Soldiers will still fight. Debates will still rage.
Dreadful things and dreadful people will still be all around
us. But we will be stronger and calmer, deeper and braver
for remembering the best efforts of our perplexing humanity.

Give me a call the moment you're free. I have not the
slightest idea how to change the world without you.

Your Devoted Miss Blue