Dear Mr. Crutcher

Dear Mr. Crutcher,

It’s 4:30 in the morning right now and I’m reading Whale Talk. It’s been a long time, years even, that I’ve stayed awake telling myself, “One more chapter.” Not even Harry Potter did it. And yet you’ve done it twice in a row with Deadline and Whale Talk. I’ll be perfectly honest- you’ve moved up in the ranks very quickly. In my eyes, you stand with Tim O’Brien and Hunter Thompson as my favorite authors. Good company, if I say so myself.

I’m 23 years old an in school studying adolescent education and English. I say this because when I tell people that I want to be an English teacher, the general reaction is surprise. Most people think I’m too cynical or jaded for the profession. I suppose that might be true that I’m jaded, but I don’t think it’s indicative of a fault. I’ve accepted that there are bad people and that bad things happen in the world, but that hasn’t stopped me from looking and hoping for the best in people. It’s the disappointment of these that lead to the matter of fact knowledge of bad people and bad things that I think people confuse for cynicism.

But I’m an idealist at heart, Mr. Crutcher, and I think you are too.

You take ideas that are complex, and you boil them down into their essence, and you do a very good job of it. You make it so that anyone can understand, especially kids, and in doing so paint them as ideals to strive for. You did it for acceptance of that which is different in The Sledding Hill. You did it for friendship in Whale Talk. And you did it for love in Deadline, which has one of the most amazing passages I’ve ever read, on par with Kerouac’s roman candles and Fitzgerald’s orgastic future: “I’m going to give you one free. Love, in the universal sense, is unconditional acceptance. In the individual sense, the one-on-one sense, try this: we can say we love each other if my life is better because you’re in it and your life is better because I’m in it. The intensity of the love is weighed by how much better.” I don’t fancy myself a writer, but if ever I can create something as beautiful as that, I’ll call myself a poet.

You also create characters that are real and flawed, but nevertheless they are inspirational (though I suppose they’d have to be flawed if they are to be changed by the end of the story, thus being inspirational). I’m not too far removed from high school, so I can be inspired and moved by your protagonists I hope someday I can be as fearless as Ben Wolf (though hopefully without the terminal illness). I hope I can be as strong a leader as T.J. Jones. Even your supporting characters draw the same response. I hope I can be as good a teacher as Ms Lloyd. I hope I can be as good a role model as Mr. Simet or Coach Banks. I hope that I can be as good a father as Mr. Jones.

In the end, I think your loftiest ideal is very simple, as good ideals tend to be: be good to each other. It’s one that I hold true, and hope I can live up to.

Sincerely
Mike