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VERY SPECIAL THANKS THIS MONTH TO LELAND, WHOM I'VE BEEN WRITING A LETTER TO FOR OVER FOUR MONTHS
COMING SOON: 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SECOND EDITION OF MY 1ST BOOK
COMING EVEN SOONER:
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→archived postcard: july 2003
November 11, 2003 Hi - Does this obscure dead star look as though he might conceivably have been a candidate for THE SMITHS or MORRISSEY cover art?
If you said yes: thank you. This is my dad, photographed in 1958. He died today -- Veteran's Day -- 11 November 2003. Looking at my dad's hair in this picture, it's kind of hard not to think of Morrissey. All the more so given that one comfort for me as he lay dying (of lung cancer -- even though, like me, he never smoked) was reading Mark Simpson's SAINT MORRISSEY. It's Simpson's best book yet. Mark is my closest author friend. Also, he's dedicated this new book to me. But -- as Mark can himself I hope attest -- I merit probably 8 point something marks out of 10 in consistently speaking the truth. Even when I shoot for 7. This is but one of my debts to my father. (Who, by the way, never in his life had even one drink. But who, on the rare occasions he ended up doped up after some outpatient treatment, strongly resembled his son Steven after the right amount of cognac: off-the-wall funny, sometimes momentarily discomfiting in truth serum stupor, and sometimes embarrassingly stupified, but never mean.) In a separate (MY FATHER AND MYSELF) piece of writing I am striving to tabulate just how much I owe to a man I disowned at age 10 (in the most hateful language conceivable. For which I'm not sure he ever entirely, completely forgave me. Even when I was 19 he would still quote me: "I hate you and everything you stand for!" It never seemed to help, me repeating: "Dad, when I said that I was only ten years old!"). I do owe him an awful lot. Specifically [cutting out lots of text that you will hopefully later see in print:] * He encouraged me to become a photographer, and when I was 13 helped me buy my first 35mm SLR. * Even if I still can't reconcile my father's James Dean punching-bag-in-the-basement exterior with his affinity for stray dogs and cats, were it not for him I could never have discovered my affinity for "stray" military men with stories to tell. * My father was at ease with death before I was conceived. Bedtime stories in latter 20th century America probably didn't get any more ghoulish than the ones he told me, my brother and my sister. Especially given that they were almost all of them unquestionably true! You see, when my father was born in 1937, his adopted parents were over 50. So, the particular brand of gallows humor he imparted to me stretched back to before the turn of the century before last.
When I saw him last, two months ago, I told him that without this sense of humor I would have killed myself in my early 20's. Without my (dad's) sense of humor my books would never have been published. Or even if they were they would not be worth reading. Anyway, he maintained his sense of humor right up to the end. Until, no longer able to breathe on his own, the day before yesterday he said: "THIS IS AWFUL." An obituary will be published in today's GRAND RAPIDS PRESS. But they forgot to leave out the "donations" part. Should anyone be so inspired, my father's charity of choice would be your local humane society. Thanks. - Steve, 11 November 03
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The "Best of Seadogphoto" CD-R is finished. The first 20 copies have been mailed off to friends and supporters. For information on how you can order a copy, click here. Meanwhile, the Seadogphoto site is undergoing a major transition as it moves to a new server. (Now, more than ever before, I appreciate the many long hours Seattle web designer Eric Gould has for six years now devoted to stevenzeeland.com! Thanks, Eric.) - Steve, 3 November 03
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