Issue 79 | Correspondence | The Sun Magazine

Correspondence

Saw a sign outside a church the other day — “God Is” — in big black bold letters . . . my first reaction was to look on the ground beneath the sign for a fallen word, maybe blown off by the wind or time. It took a while until I realized that there was no need to look; there was no missing word.

Richard Brown Atlanta, Georgia

I first read your magazine in my brother’s bathroom in Durham. I was living outside of Chapel Hill at the time. I got married in August and moved to Oregon shortly afterwards to live in an intentional community of twenty people. When someone asked me which magazine subscription I would like as a wedding present I chose THE SUN because I knew it would be a reminder of our life in Chapel Hill. I read all of it with nostalgia, even the ads, which had no meaning for me back then. I really enjoy it.

Elf Fay Deadwood, Oregon

Your editorial prompts this letter, and enclosed checks. I send love, and brightness, and money for you, and the whole staff. I’m almost one of those who barely heard of Chapel Hill before now. And I must confess to having to confront a prejudice that North Carolina would not be where I would first look for the radiant spiritual light from you which reaches me, all the way here in the desert of Southern California!

I’m sending the $10 to Howard Rubin so he can pass it on to the Salaam Cultural Center. That was a terrific interview [with Brother Yusuf Salim, Issue 74] about a fascinating man. I have a long-time love of jazz (own a piece of a club in San Francisco called Keystone Korner) and count many jazz musicians as my friends. So the article meant a lot at many levels.

Until about a year and a half ago I lived in San Francisco. (I am or was a clinical social worker by trade.) Then I moved to the desert, where I am now putting up a wind generator, digging a well, starting to learn about growing food. (What a switch for this urban person!)

I don’t know if I’ve really communicated all the love and gratitude I have for you all, but at least now you know I heard you out here!

Elaine Fielder Lucerne Valley, California

Seven years ago, when I was living in L.A., I came up with an idea for a magazine, but I never did anything but talk about it and dream about it. And I kept looking at the magazines that were coming out over the last seven years and not liking them because they were “cultic,” in some sense.

Then, about six months ago, I came across an issue of THE SUN, and said to myself, “Ah, somebody is publishing my magazine, over there in North Carolina where my grandpappy came from.”

I am amazed at every issue, delighted, inspired, encouraged.

J.C. Whitehurst San Marcos, Texas

Somewhere in what you write is the story of your survival and surviving through difficult economic times and times not particularly nurturant to creativity, writing, or ideas. I would like to tell you (and I’m sure that you have wished many times to believe) that we are likely soon to come out of this dark tunnel that we seem to be traversing. No light in sight that I can see. Still, you move on.

A friend of mine who is a student of history tells me that even in dark ages people lived. I don’t know that I ever gave much thought to what people actually did in “ages of decline.” But they lived and ate and slept and went on day to day. Sometimes frustrated, disappointed. Anyway, here we are. My outlook may be pretty bleak — maybe my “neurochemicals” are out of whack today, but I don’t think so.

When my bills come I put them in a stack and, with money tight all the way around, several (donations, subscriptions) have gradually had to be culled out. Somehow, I still am drawn to THE SUN and it/you survive this sorting. I have some idea that people, causes, ideas, or whatever, making it through repeated “sortings” has something to do with what we choose to take with us through “dark ages” when most everyone has to travel as lightly as possible.

Besides all that, I awoke with a headache today and I read the latest issue of THE SUN and it went away. Take care, best wishes, and keep your faith.

Conrad Fulkerson, M.D. Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry
Durham, N.C.
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