\u2026Also included in the envelope with these letters: two issues of Moneysworth: The Consumer Newsletter<\/cite>, from June and July 1974. (Apparently Peter was a subscriber.) I\u2019m not digitizing those, but here are some of the headlines:<\/p>\r\n Also, a piece about the newsletter\u2019s creator and publisher, Ralph Ginzburg<\/a>, having been sent to prison for publishing Eros<\/cite>, \u201ca hard-cover quarterly magazine devoted to \u2018the joys of love and sex.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n Anyway, here\u2019s the second-written letter.<\/p>\r\n Content warnings for: talking about foster kids in ways that I find pretty offputting; someone having killed a kitten with a BB gun; reference to weight loss.<\/p>\r\n READ THIS FIRST<\/p>\r\n August 16, 1974<\/p>\r\n Dear Grandpa and Grandma<\/p>\r\n It seems like such a little time since you were here \u2014 it goes by so fast \u2014 but I realize it is a fur piece (sic) \u2014 since then, Larry has had a major freakout & gone to the Childrens center in his home county for 3 weeks, to decide he wanted truly to be here, & is now truly here & it\u2019s really a pleasure. George had a freakout, too, started believing his fantasy that he runs the house & began to refuse any discipline. So he spent a weekend in Juvy & is much improved. Ivan is off camping at Eel River (near the Yolla Bolly \u2014 Middle Eel National Wildeness, I kid you not.) Robert decided he wanted to live here (we asked him about it) and about 3 hours after announcing same, was Why all this news of kids? We\u2019ve got six chickens and getting a feisty Leghorn rooster tomorrow. And two lovely kittens have adopted us \u2014 but they and all of Elsa\u2019s live outside now. One of Elsa\u2019s was given away, & one of the new ones died of BB gun wounds (oh, did I scream & holler about that. No one admitted shooting it) and one of Elsa\u2019s is to be given away in trade for the rooster. We\u2019ve had lots of zucchini & a few tomatoes, 2 out of 16 celeries survived, ^^garlic^^ corn, pumpkins, beans, flowers coming \u2014 and a volunteer GIANT Hubbard (??) Squash (at least 15 # so far) and volunteer tomatoes & little gourds near the house.<\/p>\r\n The big news is vacations \u2014 Peter & Jed & Joaquin are on one now \u2014 they are staying with a dear friend in Santa Cruz & tomorrow will be leaving for Colorado, for a 10-day Harbinger reunion at a hot springs resort. They\u2019re going in a friend\u2019s VW On September 21, one of our teachers from Japan will be in the U.S. She is the daughter of our original teacher Meishu Sama, and I just We\u2019re thinking of joining the \u201cY\u201d so we can swim all year. $13800<\/u><\/sup> for any size family, for pool, sauna, instruction, sports, gym, Bike riding permeates my consciousness. I shall have to stop & sleep. Won my first Monopoly game tonight, learned to tread water yesterday.<\/p>\r\n much<\/u><\/p>\r\n love,<\/p>\r\n Marcy<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n P.S. Have I ever really thanked you for all the goodnesses of your visit? The whole thing was such a pleasure it seems like it just happened & I still feel good from it \u2014 I\u2019m finally getting back to the mending now that I have some time & really appreciate all you did \u2014 and so good to have water out there in the garden where it\u2019s needed \u2014 and all the marvelous clothes ..... and everything \u2014 anyway, take good care of yourselves\u2014<\/p>\r\n much love<\/p>\r\n Marcy<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n Amusing Google Docs OCR errors:<\/p>\r\n For my notes on the above letter, see end of this post.<\/p>\r\n Now the first-written letter.<\/p>\r\n Content warning for further unfortunate stuff about the foster kids, especially a couple of bits that could easily be read as abusive. Most especially for a phrase that implies that one of the kids invited violence against him, and for a description of setting up a foster kid to not be believed by authorities when he makes allegations against his foster parents. (In this particular case, the kid was lying about those allegations, but even so, I\u2019m really uncomfortable with adults doing this kind of thing.)<\/p>\r\n Here\u2019s the letter:<\/p>\r\n READ THIS SECOND<\/p>\r\n 1 August 1974<\/p>\r\n Good morning, folks!<\/p>\r\n How I would love to be typing this so you could read it as well as having it \u2014 but ya can\u2019t have everything, I guess, so we\u2019ll just be glad I\u2019m getting it done.<\/p>\r\n Reading a book called graphotherapeutics \u2014 this guy would know all my innermost secrets, like my inherent propensity to \u2014 oh, that\u2019s right, that\u2019s my deep dark secret. Guess you\u2019ll have to have my handwriting analyzed if you want to know.<\/p>\r\n The thing I was interested in most is that his method has been used for years as a diagnostic tool by some Childrens shelter in Southern California. The director says he can tell which kids are the real delinquents. Then they change certain aspects of the handwriting (by long practice) which results in modified behavior. Evidently this is a short-term change & needs constant maintenance, but can probably be a good handle for reaching in for further change. How about that!!!<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n Well, now that you\u2019ve been here I feel much less guilty about not writing often, \u2019cos you know how it is. Did you get Jed\u2019s little tattletale note? George & Mark were so incensed about that they wouldn\u2019t play with him for days. I was amazed, myself. We told them they could write to you too, & complain about him, or us, or anything but that wasn\u2019t the point. (But I don\u2019t know what the point was.)<\/p>\r\n Things are settling a little here. Jed & I each have a half hour swimming class in Sebastopol every day ^^Joaquin dropped out of his.^^, and we bought the big boys a little motorcycle which has totally placated a lot of leftover energy. It\u2019s called a trials bike, by Yamaha, 80 CC, can only be ridden on the dirt road, ditches, yards, etc, but illegal for street riding. Maximum speed is 40 mph \u2014 it\u2019s a skill bike, made for obstacle courses & developing skill at riding slow (which is much harder than fast riding) and we\u2019re pretty happy with it.<\/p>\r\n Larry had a major freakout & spent almost 3 weeks in the childrens shelter in his home county before he decided to come back here & keep a cool head. He & all the others are going to be in more or less regular therapy from now on. They\u2019re all being tested by a psychologist who works He gave us one good idea for building The good thing is that this gives Robert a reputation for crying wolf, which may come in handy if he ever decides to really get mean & plant some drugs here & then report it. This is why he\u2019s not staying. His social worker is looking for a new placement.<\/p>\r\n He admits he did consider this. But not worth the $5 he\u2019d have to pay for the pot, he says.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n Amusing Google Docs OCR errors:<\/p>\r\n General life updates from Marcy, on a fairly wide variety of topics. \u201cHow I would love to be typing this[,] so you could read it as well as having it\u2014but ya can\u2019t have everything, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-marcy","category-hearthlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1493"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1532,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions\/1532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\r\n
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x<\/strike> reported to us for Shoplifting \u2014 cigarettes \u2014 so he is finishing up a month\u2019s restriction. Mark continues the same as always \u2014 argumentative & bossy & paranoid and smart. We\u2019ve had \u2019em all tested \u2014 psych profile & I.Q. Discussions of their IQs elided by Jed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n![\"Behind](\"http:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/1974\/08\/house-map-202x300.jpg\")
<\/a>xxx<\/strike> camper, so the car is here \u2014 in the shop for major maintenance, Wednesday through Saturday (I hope) so I\u2019m riding a 10-speed bike when I need to go into town. Which is sure getting me skinny fast. It\u2019s about 3½ miles each way; I rode at least 10 miles today, and was so wiped out I stopped at a friend\u2019s shop and had him bring me xxx<\/strike> home the last trip \u2014 it\u2019s not the tiredness but an aching bottom \u2014 those 10-speed seats are medieval torture instruments. Anyway, I like my \u201cnot-really\u201d vacation very much indeed \u2014 The big kids let me have my space, and I can be away from the house on my own for hours at a time, visit friends, and not have to be responsible for anyone but myself. Not that I\u2019d refuse to see them if they came home tomorrow, you understand, but just that it\u2019s nice for a change. I will get to take them on several<\/strike> Jed & Quin on several mini - vactions when school starts.<\/p>\r\nxxx<\/strike> at present is the head of the Johrei movement \u2014 so we will go to L.A. to see xxx<\/strike> her & take the kids to Disneyland at the same trip.<\/p>\r\nxxx<\/strike> found the red ink letter, and some of this is pretty repetitive. xxx<\/strike><\/p>\r\nx<\/strike> etc, etc. xxx<\/strike> for a year!<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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xxx<\/strike> as a team with a psychiatrist\u2014both will see them & evaluate, then one will continue to see them\u2014& us\u2014 xxx<\/strike> in advisory capacity. All on Medi Cal<\/p>\r\nxxx<\/strike> trust. For a birthday present, a sealed bottle of wine, with lots of ceremony, marked \u201cto be shared by you & xxx<\/strike> us on your 21st (or 18th) birthday.\u201d We were totally taken with the idea \u2014 don\u2019t know if Ivan xxx<\/strike> can keep a bottle of wine till he\u2019s 18 (4 years from August 7) but we\u2019ll see. Only 2 years for Larry. Mark will be 13, finally, in Octob<\/strike> September, & George just had his 13th birthday in April. Robert we believe we are not going to keep. He is having a very hard time adjusting & is not happy here. He\u2019s 13½, with m.a. of about 9, very provocative of violence (toward himself) & totally unwilling to learn anything. Last xxx<\/strike> week he was being scolded for shoplifting (one day we told him he either had to change his ways or prepare to leave, so next morning he agreed to Shape up. An hour later x<\/strike> we got a call from a store manager .... 4 packs of cigarettes!) So along with restrictions, he got lectured at quite a bit. At one point he was alone with Peter, I believe George was looking in, & Robert declared that he\u2019d really like to get us busted & he\u2019d find something illegal we were doing & report us. So Peter said, why don\u2019t you tell them we have sex orgies & shoot dope in our arm every night. So Robert did it. He called the Sheriff (George got the number for him \u2014 he couldn\u2019t figure it out) & actually told that story. Then xxx<\/strike> after 4 or 5 repetitions Peter took the phone away from him & explained what was going on, & that we were open for inspection any time, etc. The Sheriff was very nice about it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Notes<\/h2>\r\n
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