Love Letters in the 60s and 70s
Selfe, Dickie (2009-3-19)
>>DICKIE SELFE: So, my name is Dickie Selfe. This is my second literacy story. This is the one that really made me into something of a writer. I am not a great writer and I was even less of a writer in high school. I never talked to anybody, I never wrote anything; I don't remember writing at all in high school. I am sure I did but I don't remember it. What I remember first is I met my wife, Cindy Selfe, in high school. We used to sit out on the lawn at lunch and eat lunch together and stuff. She didn't really like me that much so we didn't really get together or anything. 
>>DICKIE SELFE: When we left high school, I started corresponding with her; I wrote her letters. I wrote these long -- you know, it was the late 60s, early 70s -- these long, self absorbed letters about how horrible the world was. Probably, I haven't read any of them and I don't want to read any of them. But, anyway I would write her these letters and occasionally I would get back letters from her, handwritten with lots of peace stamps on them and flowers in the margins. It was really a very 60s, 70s sort of experience. We did that for eight years. She went off to finishing school and then she went off to the University of Wisconsin. Then she graduated and went overseas to Scotland. And finally came back to Houston and we started seeing each other again. At this point we made contact. What I found out later the kicker is -- and good thing I didn't know this before -- was when I would send her these letters when she was in college, she would take them and show them to her roommates and then they would laugh and make fun of everything. Oh my god. If I had known that -- by then it was already too late; I was already addicted to her and to letter writing. So that's the way I started writing. 
>>INTERVIEWER: I can't believe she just told you that. [unintelligible] to go and do that?
>>DICKE SELFE: She really did this.