This is an off-the-cuff piece I came up with late at night one day soon after visiting Denmark. Late night in Seattle winter sparks a certain section of the imagination.

1. NOT
SNIPED
A STORY OF RISK
& TREPIDATION
BY DK

2. October 10, 2007
Dear S,
The thing about Los Angeles is it’s so
darn hot and smoggy. It really hits you
when your plane deposits you back at
Sea-Tac, and the air is damp and sud-
denly all your clothes are sweaty.
As you get further up in latitude,
people don more clothes. Dutifully I
pulled out my wool knit sweater and
the scarf I made last winter whiling
away my time at cafes. It’s easy to
while your time away in coffee shops in
LA-
Seattle. They are warm, friendly places
in a climate that’s cold and biting.
Book reading, café-hopping, and
SEA
knitting are all good winter activities. So
is theatre-hopping, something I would
like to say I do.
It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter,
S. I wish I could tell you a lot of things,
but most of the things are, well, difficult things. The way people grate on your
to communicate in eletronic form. nerves, the way there are places that
The upshot of my various ramblings go back and forth and cut in between.
in diaries and conversations with a Like those drivers rushing around in
handful of interesting people here in Los Angeles—moving in front of my
this town is this: you can’t let yourself rented beach-colored Malibu and driv-
get caught up in the random nature of ing me a little mad. Getting mad

3. doesn’t solve anything.
I’ve sort of turned to zen masters, to see what they might say. I would give you a
summary, but zen is rather difficult to summarize since it involves, more or less, not
over-intellectualizing stuff.
Life has gone in a bunch of circles since I wrote you last, S, but there are some
good things that I can share. Now that I have a minute to focus a bit and think
about what might interest you.
The feeling of merging.
Traffic patterns.
Scooting about in the sunshine.
The air thick. Gas stations everywhere.
People in a rush, though everything looks like a small town.
The voice at the back of my head telling me I shouldn’t be participating in this.
Shouldn’t drink from plastic bottles. Which are ruining the planet. Guilt about that.
Guilt that doesn’t turn into anything but letter-writing.
Disappointment in our own ability to effect some sort of real and positive change.
At times I think about going to live in Europe again, but Europe is far away, like a
dream that’s at the fringe of a question. Thinking about expatriating is like wander-
ing the halls of memories too comfortable to ruin by trying to reinvent. It’s curtains,
S. No random foreign country for moi.
I can’t think too much about that, really.
But you know what? I’ve been wanting to tell you about the hit man in CPH.
Cheers,
DK

5. OPEN
In October, 2007, I decided to
pick up and head to a part of
the world I’ve always been very
curious about.
I set out, quite spontaneously, This therapist I know told me this
to engage a new muse, Copen- thing. I don’t know what I think yet
hagen. but here it is. The best thing you can
do for yourself in a time when you feel
your world crumbling beneath your
feet is remember there is solid ground
elsewhere. Trust the open space and
learn to let it lead. Open up. Trust.

7. Bang.

8. Just like
that.

11. CPH
Nevermind the whole first half
of my trip I kept thinking I was
gonna get sniped. I know. You
are thinking: Why? You’re not
that important. I was think-
ing: Hell, yeah, I’m gonna get
sniped.

12. And then I see this Finnish film
all about--guess what!? Snip-
ers! Yeah, and you thought I
was a freak. Intuition, man. I’m
telling you, you can see it all
with that third eye.
What?
What are you looking at me like
that for?

13. Bang. Bang. Bang.

14. a ng
B
Youmisseddude!