December 5, 1973 (Letter from Michael)

I have owed you a letter form some time now; sorry I haven't gotten around to it.  (For about two weeks after I got your second letter I carried it back and forth from work to home to have when I had the chance to write.)  So I'll give you the typical response of having no excuse and then give you excuses...I mean explanations.  Largely, almost entirely, that is, my life consists of working six days a week.  Nights and Sundays I seek amusement or, more often, fall out.  Work is OK but having little free time really gets to me.  Actually I wouldn't mind the lack of free time so much if there wasn't such a lack of money.  And that wouldn't be such a problem if my damn brother would ever open his store.  Do you believe that it's not open yet?  It's almost 4 months since the lease was signed.  But my brother does things full-assed.  His idea is to set the store up entirely, make it look beautiful, perfect, get all the stock in before opening.  That's fine if you can afford it.  But we're not quite in that position.  What he could be doing is selling stock while he's working on the interior, etc; but he doesn't believe in doing business that way.  Therefore with regard to that store money is going going out, not a bit is coming in.

Other than that, life is generally good.  Liz and I go to movies now and then, out to eat, or walk around.  We're living apart officially; essentially we're together 90% of our free time.  In some ways though it's good to have separate apartments as we can be apart when we want to.

I see Dennis 2-3 times a week.  He drops into the store to bullshit around.  He quit personnel work and is now selling insurance for John Hancock.  In fact he and Donna have really gotten into the middle class lifestyle.  They've gotten quite settled and bought all sorts of new things -- car, stereo, couch, table.  More than the accumulation of goods, which like the stereo I wouldn't mind having, though is their attitude.  I can see that they are almost on the verge of being trapped into the their mode of living.

Harvey can't stand any of us anymore because we're not acting like the hippie freaks we're supposed to be.  Up to a point I can relate to that.  But I know that I am working not because I want to but for basic survival.  In fact I have in no way compromised my ideals, beliefs, or desires for personal and social change.  But I fear most people can't live totally as they might wish.  What's critical, I think, is to make every effort to maintain one's beliefs, standards, principles, etc., even while one is forced by society to make certain apparent compromises.  (Is this making sense?  I am sort of rambling on, talking off the top of my head in between occasional customers.)  As well I constantly look for ways to help work for the changes which our society needs; although lately I have not been able to find movements or people with whom I desire to work.

Meanwhile Harvey has stopped attending classes and believe it or not is looking for work on a newspaper -- possibly with the Courier in Buffalo.

The other night some friends of mine at Boston College Law School asked me to be a witness for them in a mock trial.  I was a minister who was suing the defendant for libel -- he said I had misused church funds, smoked marijuana, and drank alcohol -- generally caroused around.  Well, it just wasn't true.  I was on the stand for almost 2 hours (I had had to memorize a bunch of stuff, make up the rest) and we won the case.  I sued for $50,000, won $10,000, but my lawyers said that it all goes to lawyers' fees.  C'est la vie.  But it was fun and interesting and I learned a bit about legal doings.

Well, that's it for now.  Please write when you get a chance.  Hope you are well, not working too hard, and more importantly hope yo might get an opportunity to come up and visit.