Letters

Hello X I am a 46 year-old college professor who has been a fan since the mid 70s I guess and this is the very first �fan letter� that I have written in my life. Recently I began parent teaching at my child�s elementary school, basic arts and crafts and cultural awareness for first-graders. About a month ago I was teaching them about Anansi the Spider from West Africa and then had them make a spider from construction paper. One child, as rambunctious as the rest, finished his spider literally before all of the other kids and asked if he could decorate his spider while the others figured out how to get the legs on theirs. He made a number of strangely familiar designs on the spider, beautifully altering it from the original. Independent of the designs, however, I was struck that though constructed quickly, his was the best design of them all. Just last week this child, Asa, was in my group again, this time making a Kwanzaa candle with the same results�the kid is a natural born artist if there ever was one. Again, he wanted to decorate his candle�then it hit me, these were the same signs that I had scribbled all over everything as a kid. I asked him what they were and to my astonishment he replied they are signs from the Spaceman and the Star-Man. He explained to me that there was this group named Kiss and that these were their designs. I was stunned to find that he knew the names and characters in detail of the original band (I�m sure he means no offense to the new members). After class I talked with his teacher who informed me that this little kid lives in a hotel. Here in Albuquerque, that is code for protective services or some other agency providing shelter; all of that to say that this kid has nothing. My family will make sure that he has a great Christmas. I just wanted you to know that there are still six-year-olds out there who adore you as much as we did�and still do. Also, irrelevant, but for what it is worth, I am an African American male and this little boy is of Native American / Hispanic descent. As a Black kid in the growing up in the Deep South, it was not cool at all to let your boys know that you liked Kiss, that was strictly for white kids! I learned from this first-grader that your music and legacy has had a much wider influence perhaps than I imagined. How many barriers has your music obliterated socially, culturally, politically?!?! I know you get millions of requests, but anything that you might send to this kid, even an unsigned postcard, would probably make a huge difference in his life�I suspect in his mind at least�he really is your biggest fan. Warm Regards, Dr. Finnie D. Coleman Director, Africana Studies University of New Mexico