Cleaning Up My Errors (before the book is written)

Good Morning Jim – and salutations to Kim as well!

This Jim is Jim Wilson, who hails from Oregon, but winters (or year-rounds it now), in Puerto Vallarta. He styles himself "WholyJim," a reference to his belief he is fully self-actualized, and while I was in PV, he attempted to lead a metaphysical group at Mercedes-managed La Quiza bar, art gallery, and art-lessons studio, but pulled a Governor Palin after one meeting and canceled the group. I don't know if the misspelling of 'wholly' is to emphasize its contains the word 'holy,' or is humorously meant to show that, although metaphysically fully realized, Jim, still a tad human, has the domain of spelling to complete his realization on. 

I DO know that he had been calling his wife, 'Kimberly,' rather than 'Kim' -- in Mexico -- and I warned him that like Americans say 'Kleenex' when they mean 'nose tissue,' because Kimberly was the first brand of toilet paper in Mexico, when Mexicans hear 'Kimberly,' they imagine 'ass wipe.'

Anyway, please don't confuse this Jim Wilson with Jim Richardson, the one-week visitor to PV who stayed at Hotel Mercurio and responded badly to my offer to him, also, that I would correct any errors I'd published about him. As of Saturday 10:00 AM (EDT), I still have received no response from Jim Wilson.

First off, after approximately two years of seeming insanity (I’m counting since about the time my former literary agent, Cynthia Zigmund, announced the sale of my book to Alyson Books on a trade site on the internet and the first movie producer sniffed it), things are now rapidly settling down in my life. Remembering I had some international calling credit on my phone yesterday, I called Mercedes, and she said to email you to contact her to email me.

Sound a bit peculiar to you too?

But, Mercedes long ago proved to me she is a playful imp of the first order, and even though I also, last night, found my giant stash of business cards from Mexico, so tons of phone numbers, addresses, and email address – including hers – I thought about it (and you and Kim), and decided to write you and copy Mercedes,  because as the dust has been clearing, I am realizing some of the errors I have made and it is time to try to make a few amends.

Actually, I’ve made two very serious attempts so far – one with Cynthia Zigmund, and I am now completely convinced that she (like me, actually) is innocent of any intentional wrongdoing. We both were caught in the storm of political games that arose when powerful people realized I had virtually ‘arisen from the dead’ of what can best be called a 30-year chemical lobotomy on Lithium, had begun connecting the dots of my experience, and would NOT stop until I made sense of all the amazing things that I’ve witnessed during my almost 60 years. I posted my journey on my blog in real time, so it shows all my triumphs and errors, and brought on every imaginable scheme to medicate, commit, incarcerate, or kill me, imaginable. My adversaries tried every trick in the book, but failed to stop me. I now have an understanding that is complete enough I need look no further. I’m in clean-up mode now, and hope I still have your ears (eyes).

I realize that at the time I left, things had gotten bad between the two of us (not really counting Kim, since she was not so involved). The fact of the matter is that I reported things I extrapolated from certain things you’d told me about your distant past, and assumed they had to be true or you would not have backed out of certain financial-support commitments you had made to me. I now realize that I had to seem entirely insane and dangerous to you in that my published and harsh AND untrue words about you would have scared ANYONE from me – and they certainly would not have felt they needed to honor any financial commitments they had made. You did the right thing.

Today (a month after being released from a 28-day incarceration in the New Hanover County Jail in Wilmington, NC where I now live), I am working for an arborist, planting healthy trees and major-pruning or taking out diseased trees. My boss has such high ethics that his clients are only the wealthiest in the area. The estates we work on are incredible. Unfortunately, boss-man seems to be bipolar and had a total psychological meltdown last week and could not work for 3.5 days, which has made my climb out of the financial hole even more problematic than it should be. That said, I brought every bit of it on myself, so I’m not blaming him (or anyone else) for it – I’m just happy to have a boss with integrity, regardless his current stability.

I also go out on the interstate and at gas pumps tell stories of how I had to check on my parents in their 90s and forgot my credit card – “I still have a gallon, could you help me a little? I only need about 2 1/5 or 3 gallons to get home to Raleigh.” I split what cash I get between the gas tank and the bills, but I hate doing this. Of course no one has to assist me, and I NEVER ask for cash, which would be the crime of panhandling.

I do hope you have gotten good use out of the Rosetta Stone Five Level Spanish program I sold you and Kim ($550.00 never-discounted retail, new, approximate). I had not loaded it on but one of my computers and it is legal to put it on two. I’ve gotten no complaint from you about its working. I do believe, however, that I sold it to you too cheap – and the first thing I want to say about that is that it is water over the dam – the second is that I DID sell it to you for $50.00 USD (or maybe 500 pesos, I forget), and NO ONE forced me. The price because you said it could be bought for that price on Craig’s List.

Don’t know if you read about this in Mexico, but Rosetta Stone lit after those cheap copies because (unlike the one I sold you), they were illegal. In fact, Craig’s List has been widely criticized for all manner of crimes it facilitates but takes no responsibility for, including selling of sex, slavery, and narcotics trade. Knowing that, perhaps you can see how I CONFUSED part of that with you. Your insistence on that price seemed like a confirmation of my suspicions, but I now see you only saw the price and negotiated without malice. For the record, although defended by key Republicans and such and therefore not suffering real penalties, Craig’s List has been pressured to put in certain attempts to control some of the illegal activities it had become notorious for in the United States, but in general, Democrats and others often termed ‘Progressive’ avoid it still like the plague.

Here is what I’d like to do for you: I will modify or completely pull off all inappropriate and unfair things I published about you on my blog – no matter what you think of me, do, etc. This is a sort of free-will ‘gift’ that depends on nothing else at all from you. The assistance you DID give me was invaluable, and I thank you. But I must ask you a favor; I have so little time. Please google on one line “Scott Kenan” and “Jim (can’t believe I’m blanking on your last name at the moment, but it goes here)”. Then check my blog posts that come up and simply paste a link to each into an email to me and I will clean them up and let you know when I have completed the work. I’ll then work with you if you are not satisfied.

Only two days ago, I discovered a counter on my blog that I had not even realized was there. There, I discovered that nearly no one had looked at my blog until I moved to Mexico, June 2010. Then, readership quickly soared, and I have had over 22,000 hits in aggregate. Things are now peaking, with 3,300 hits the month before I was arrested here. Yesterday, I had well over 100 hits.(Added later: As of 10:00 AM today, I've already had 72 hits TODAY!!!) This is probably no great number, but I have reason to believe that very influential people are the ones who read my blog, and I hate that I have misinformation that defames innocent people on it. I am entirely committed to cleaning this up, so please let me know at your earliest convenience.

Also, both Jim and Mercedes: Since it is a proven fact that my emails often do not reach the intended addressee, please reply to this email immediately just to let me know you received it. If I do not hear from you, I will follow up until I am satisfied that you got it. I will post it on my blog to ensure my readers hold me to it.

scottkenan.blogspot.com

www.walkingonglass.net

www.scottkenan.com

I hope to have the last two updated soon. I intend to base my second book (on what happened when I sought to publish my Tennessee Williams memoir) on the blog, so good clean-up is essential before things go into the book.

All best to you all!

Scott