A Letter To Argentina

Dearest Giacomo,

I love getting your letters from Argentina. I can almost taste the wine and language in your every line. I wish that our biggest decisions would always be between whether to visit glaciers or follow whales.

But these last two months have been crazy. For our city and for our country - and yes even I am quite different than when you left me.

First I will talk about art because that is always the love that binds us. I am happy to say that the Conduit Gallery has launched a comeback - you would be proud of Nancy these days. Their current show is one of the best I've seen in a while.

Also, I've been to openings at Light and Sie, Dunn and Brown, the new CADD gallery downtown, and the new Samuel Lynne Gallery. The CADD gallery has its moments, and half of Dunn and Brown was good. Light and Sie fell off from earlier this summer when they had the best art exhibit I've seen in Dallas in four years. But it is Samuel Lynne that deserves our attention.

As quick as we are to praise great men - we are equally quick to damn them - and Samuel Lynne promised to bring 21st century art to Dallas and spectacularly failed to deliver. Fortunately for us all, 21st century art has been here for quite some time.

I have been thinking a great deal about the act of writing lately, and will have my first "real" poetry workshops in early 2009 trying to inspire young people to love poetry. One will be at Brave Art and one might be at the Dallas Theatre Center. I managed to sell another painting last week - which for me these days is like hearing the echo of a distant prayer.

Alas, I haven't felt much like an artist recently. I haven't felt much like anything. My non-profit has been on hold for the last two and half months - and it tears me up inside. Yet I know that my job and ability to make money is important. I feel like I know twice as much about the world now! I have received my Texas life and health insurance license and my Series 7 license. This week I will hopefully earn my Series 66 license and will finally be able to start work as a registered investment advisor representative.

I am very excited about it, I think I will be able to help hundreds of people become financially secure - people who aren't rich but who are artists, teachers, non profit workers, small business owners - the type of people that make our country great.

Needless to say, I have been following this financial turmoil very closely. It is like every day you have to keep a scorecard just to keep track of who owns who. But throughout it all I have tremendous faith in our country and in American ingenuity. I firmly believe that innovation in clean energy and green technology is our path back to prosperity and that the rise or fall of our great country will be determined by how well we do in those areas.

Yet, I agree with you - I don't know when conservatism stopped being about the best of everything and started being about gutting moose and Joe-Six Pack. We went to a very elite and conservative school for 8 years - and I saw not one moose gut.

But then again we were always liberals and maybe we didn't understand that swallowing a six pack in one gulp is just as important fancy houses and exotic trips. That sometimes one must sacrifice deeply held beliefs, trample God and country, in order to save both hair and hide. Regardless of the election outcome, it is a bad time for intellectual conservatism (quite possibly an oxymoron).

I didn't receive your postcard from Uruguay yet -but I will anxiously look for it. I am at an odd place in regards to females - they are there but I don't think I am. Who would have thought that I would still be recovering from two years ago - but I am still trying to figure out the more mundane parts of my personality. But the big parts are firmly in place - my life is entirely about serving other people and praising my God. Why that can be so simple to me (yet so difficult for most!) but things like deciding whether or not to kiss a girl can be so hard is beyond me.

Dallas misses you. It is State Fair time and the world is abuzz about football on all levels. The days are perfect now in early October, not scorchingly hot anymore, very sunny, a light breeze - I was even struck to use the word "bucolic" yesterday.

My family is well, David is trying to decide about colleges and getting through his senior year. Mom probably won't be affected by the DISD layoffs (it is a huge mess, they came up 64 million dollars short in the budget this year and didn't realize this until September), Dad is still working nights at the pharmacy. Hopefully, I will be fully working and back to chasing my dreams by the time you return. If you do stay in Dallas - I can at least get you an interview at my job :)

I love you and miss you and think of you always. Keep having the journey of a lifetime in Argentina. Give my best to Laura.

Always,

Darryl