17 Farney Rd.
Arnold, MD 21012
January 31, 2015
Dear Mrs. vanAntwerp,
My name is Caroline Dobsen and I am a junior at Broadneck High School. I am taking AP Government this year and we have an assignment to interview someone who worked in the judicial system at a federal or state level and write a 7-8 page paper due at the end of the semester. My grandfather told me about you because he thought you lived close to me. I live in Arundel on the Bay. My grandfather was a lawyer and he said he knew you from some cases he tried in the 1970s and 80s. I looked you up in the white pages online. It said your number was unlisted but had your address. I don’t live very far away from you, so I wanted to ask if you would let me interview you and write my paper about you. I’ve actually thought I might want to go to law school.
My phone number is 515-5988 and my email address is [email protected], if you want to do that.
I get out of school at 3:15 but I have basketball practice until five. I could meet after that or on a weekend. It probably wouldn’t take that long. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Caroline Dobsen
February 16, 2015
VAN ANTWE, SYBIL
17 FARNEY RD
ARNOLD MD 21012-1358
USA
Dear SYBIL VAN ANTWE:
Enclosed you will find the results of your DNA testing processed by LabCorp, as part of your membership with Kindredproject.org. These findings will give you an idea of your genetic makeup according to nations, as found against our entire body of DNA, although your results are independent and have not been linked to the results of any other individual.
Please do not hesitate to send any questions you may have to the Customer Service Team of KINDRED PROJECT([email protected]).
Felix Stone
7 Rue de la Papillon
84220 Gordes
FRANCE
February 18, 2015
Dear Felix,
How are you and how is Stewart? How is he recovering from the surgery on his shoulder? Shoulder surgeries are terrible with recovery I’ve heard. It’s really too bad. He is very good at tennis.
I am writing for one reason only and that is to tell you I got my DNA test results back from the lab. Apparently I am fully one-half British (I suppose this includes Scotland and Wales, wouldn’t it? Northern Ireland?), a quarter Native American, which surprised me but explains my dark eyes and hair, and a quarter bits of this and that, Russia and Iberia. Doesn’t it seem unlikely, though? Couldn’t they just slap down anything and send it off? And anyway, even if it’s true, what’s interesting about it? Aren’t we all just ready mixes of everything now that the world is so small and everyone going this way and that—but it’s neither here nor there, Felix, I logged into my profile on the website and it’s got my little colored world map and a corresponding pie chart simple enough for a second grader to decipher. It does make one think, but it’s not that interesting. I called the children to tell them, and they were happy to know. Fiona asked if I was glad to have done it and I told her it doesn’t really much make a difference to me. So that’s that. A little British, a little Native American, a little Russian. Classic American mutt!
You know when you fiddle around in the webpage, now that I’ve sent the spit and they have my DNA, there are all these other features. I asked my friend Basam (he’s a Syrian refugee engineer customer service representative) a little more about the box you can check to link to others. I’m not going to do that, of course,seems like the most foolish thing in the world, doesn’t it? And like I said, how do I know it’s not a scam and they tell you this person is related to you, but they’re not? The whole system could be—very well it’s likely it is—run on the unrealistic hopes of gullible schmucks desperate for family. Thank you, no. How would one know if such a claim could be believed, and anyway, it’s irrelevant. I can admit that it’s been a little bit interesting, but I’ll not carry it further.
Changing topic, I didn’t tell you a few weeks ago I met with a high school student for an interview. She’s writing a paper about me because of the clerkship. When she came to the house in sweatpants about five sizes too large and her wet hair thrown up in a mess on top of her head I thought, well, she looks about as bright as a root cellar, but she asked me good questions, as a matter of fact. The child knew something about government and politics. I did enjoy thinking about everything again. She recorded the conversation as if she was Bob Woodward. She took it seriously, and I appreciated that. Somehow we got onto the topic of letter writing. I think I mentioned to her that being a clerk requires sharp writing skills, and then it was her wanting to know how I learned to write well, so I told her it’s just practice, like everything. She wanted to know with whom I exchange correspondence, and I told her: anyone! Of course the letters I cherish most would be of little or no interest to her, but I showed her a few of the more remarkable letters—the one from Jackie Kennedy, the one from Walt Disney. She wasastoundedthat people write back, and of course I told her: people are just people. Famous or not. Silly, but then it was fun going back in. I sat for the rest of the afternoon once she’d gone thumbing through some of the correspondence I’ve saved. There are hundreds of letters, into the thousands I expect, and to think, each one has a counterpart somewhere, even if it’s in a trash heap.
Please send me your schedule for June as soon as you have it. I don’t expect you to sit around my house for the whole month, but it would be nice to be able to make some sort of plan. There will be a parade of homes downtown the second weekend, and I can take a look at the chamber of commerce website to see if there is anything else worth doing. There are plenty of outdoor festivities on Friday and Saturday nights in the summer and of course the birds are asquawk at your coming. Remind me, do you land in Washington or Baltimore on the first? I am going out with Mick Watts again. Not a word. Not one single word.
Love,
Syb
