1/11/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Sorry to miss our letters recently. As I shared with my Friend who inquired about my silence, “I had a consequential faculty meeting on Monday that took a lot of psychic energy. It went fine.”

            My vigor came back yesterday when I had “a magical moment.” My BFF & I decided on this name for those occasions when our heart strings are pulled. If you remember Coffee Talk on SNL in the early ‘90s, the hostess would pause when she got “verklempt” & would say, “talk among yourselves.” That’s what I’m referring to. An intense emotion that catches you by surprise – I could write an essay about it, but given my character limit, suffice it to say, my spiritual button was pushed when the pink haired person at the library returned my phone to me. Perhaps if we finally meet up in person, I can tell you more about it.

            Did you enjoy your visit to Mexico? According to the NYT, “the US is back on better terms with some of (our) closest allies.” That’s great! Thanks for trying to address our immigration issues. You spoke my mind when you said, “We cannot wall ourselves off from shared problems,” & “when we work together, we can achieve great things.”

I wish we could stop problematizing the movement of people who are seeking a better life.  Humans have always done that. Those who have the courage to leave family & home have the kind of ambition that fuels growth. We should stop fearing them. I encourage you to emphasize this as you talk about immigration. I would also love to see us making more room for Rohingya refugees who don’t have homes to go back to.

            I understand that you also talked about drug smuggling. Speaking of which I wanted to make sure you heard about Tun Min Latt’s arrest in Thailand. He’s known to be a close associate of Min Aung Hlaing & has procured supplies for the military. As always, I implore you to keep an eye on that situation.

            BYBS,