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| ©1982-2001 Charles A. Elliot, ACExpress Los Angeles, All Rights Reserved |
CHUCK'S NEWSLETTER ™ 2001
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This is (usually) about Mental Health (well, there is a link to my MindStar.org).
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14th
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE |
CN 27 |
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Since 1987 - 14 Years Ahead of
Its Time* |
*(From Chuck's Newsletter #13, 1-89:) According to M-TV, there is a magazine article that sees that by the next millennium everyone will have their own newsletter. Well, we've been around since 1987....The next millennium is the year 2001. You don't need a calculator to know that this newsletter is 14 years ahead of its time.... |
| Circulation: unknown as yet on
Internet and no copies by mail +Please read, post and/or circulate+ |
Intro
Last year and in
previous years, I've explained the origin of Chuck’s
Newsletter . This
time, I'll only say -
Brief history
On Sat. 11/7/87, I bought 4 new Firestone tires (when they were safe),
and sped in my ex-Porsche 924 (on a day that it ran) to my new job to
catch up on my work. I can’t remember the work I did that day, but I
wound up writing the 1st issue of Chuck’s
Newsletter. It was a personal rag to a few friends and
relatives. Well, here's how I described it in the 7th anniversary
issue. (By the way, "7" is significant to me, comes up a lot
of times just in this issue, and there's more to it.)--
| INTRO
Seven years ago today, 11/7/87, I started a newsletter and called it, since all of the possible other names were taken, Chuck's Newsletter. It started out literally as a letter home, telling 10 friends and relatives how I was doing. In later issues I started to tell about my experiences in the insane mental health system but I was reluctant to use my name so I said "By XXX". People I knew all knew it was me but, fortunately, people I worked with didn't. I was often asked what the focus of the newsletter was. It seemed that everyone wanted to know the focus. I finally decided that the only possible focus could be mental health, what it's like to be diagnosed mentally ill, or as we say in San Diego, being a "mental health client" or just plain "client". I used my real name and told about personal experiences. Sometimes Chuck's Newsletter came out monthly and some people told me I would lapse into mental illness if I did it that often. I always laughed at this and said, "No, not me." Well, I did slow down to quarterly. Now it's every two years!! but I plan to return to a monthly or quarterly format, depending on the rigors of law school that I just started. (Western State University School of Law, 4 years, expected graduation date, May 1998.) [Ed. note, it didn't happen.] If you are receiving this by mail and have before, it's been 4 years since your last issue, #19. Tempis fugit when you're having fun. Issue #20 departed from the usual newsletter format and was entirely one article on my 60 days in County Mental Health, for which I had 60 pages of hand-written notes. Everyone always asked me why I was writing everything down. I said that it's because I'm a writer and that's what I do. I only issued about 20 copies of #20, CMH Diary, to people at a panel that I was on in 1992 on quality assurance in hospitals. Now, here's Chuck's Newsletter #21. I'm averaging 3 issues a year, so that ain't bad. |
Now back to Chuck's Newsletter #27.
Of course, my sympathy goes out to the 5,000 who were killed in the Attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the thwarted Attack that resulted in the plane crash in Pennsylvania. Also, my sympathy goes out to the 4 (hopefully no more) who died from Anthrax. A lot has been said about all of these deaths, but my special sympathy goes to the Vietnamese woman who died of Anthrax in New York City - she had no family and was buried using donations from her union.
For my coverage of the Attacks and the War on Terrorism, see my page on my DotTVGuy.tv website.
Having been a protester against the Vietnam War, and having marched against the war in the streets of San Francisco with 300,000 people, it sometimes feels strange to me to be supporting a war. But I am 100% for the bombing of Afghanistan. I only cringe when we talk about arming the Taliban's foes, the Northern Alliance. I think to myself the chant, "Vietnam without Trees. Vietnam without trees." I hope we continue to have free speech so I can think these thoughts.
For a month or so after the Attack of September 11, it seemed that there was no other news but about the Attack. Then in October, 3 items of note -
October 18 - my 54th birthday (I didn't tell anybody I knew, just wanted to be by myself - which I do anyway. Saw Ben Stiller in Zoolander, just to have some comedy. Ate at my new traditional buffet, Sherman's Creole Buffet.
October - November - the first world series to go into November. Congrats to the Arizona Diamondbacks, though my heart has always been for the NY Yankees since I was about 8 years old (except when I lived in L.A. and when the Yankees played my hometown team, the San Diego Padres).
October 31 - Hallowe'en - the 1st Hallowe'en with a full moon in about 46 years; the next being in about 20 years.
What about Chuck? I mean this is Chuck's Newsletter. Well, I got to hurry 'cuz I have less than 30 minutes to post this on the web to make it on this anniversary date. But essentially I'm developing about 10 web sites. The thing that took a lot of time this year and was a total waste is what I call "the legal stuff". I've spending a lot of time on the store for my nonprofit site - MindStar.org.
More details maybe later.
And now my standard outro -
PEACE - LOVE - CIAO - BYE
| ©1982-2001 Charles A. Elliot, ACExpress Los Angeles, All Rights Reserved |