The Black and White Cookie So your stepfather was Black? Wow. It's just that I had the biggest crush on you back when you were on WYWO, live near "the city," (San Francisco of course) and always hoped to run into you so that I could say how brilliant I thought you were. And I never realized, until reading "Saying Goodbye to an Angel in Sin City," that I was kind of afraid of ever meeting you - because of what your views about Black people might be. And as I'm sitting here typing this, I feel bad for finding out this information, after learning about the loss to you and your family. ButŠ I feel a little bit better. I don't know why. I could go into things that I think would better help you to understand, and that I really want to convey about what this has told me about myself and our societyŠ but I don't want you to have to read all of that. But I just want to thank you for sharing that tiny bit of info with all of your readers. It's hard for me to think that my assumptions were based upon stereotypes as I have grown up in such a racially diverse family, and grew up in a mainly all white townŠ but something inside is telling me that it is. And something is also telling me that it shouldn't be so difficult to talk aboutŠ but that's just the way the subject and our society about race are. It shouldn't matter, and sometimes it really doesn't matter to us at all (we don't think twice about the things that people claim we do when it comes to race), but it's always there. Hey, thanks for allowing those who admire your work the opportunity to converse with you (on some level at least). And if you're ever writing an article or column on the topics that I have covered hereŠ feel free to use me for a point of view or for some input. Writing this e-mail has actually inspired me to possibly write about the subject - maybe I'll send it to a magazine or newspaper when I'm done (and if that doesn't work, I can always just blog it). Sincerely, A fan of your talent P.S. Thanks for coming back out west :-) "The key to eating a black and white cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet, still, somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie. All our problems would be solved." -- Jerry Seinfeld Home Syndicated Column News Archive Good Day New York While You Were Out Lovers Lounge Fashion Police Photo Gallery Video Gallery Mailing List Books and Music Resume