From: Midn John Carswell <m020966@nadn.navy.mil>
To: Elliot McGucken <mcgucken@jollyroger.com>
Subject: The Drake Raft Field Trip

Ahoy!

Just as I am on the verge of finishing my first rigorous year at the Naval Academy, I am on the verge of finishing your great achievement, The Drake Raft Field Trip. It has rocked like few books I have read, and when I say rocked I mean it in the truest sense of the word. I'm a lover of rock n' roll, but only the kind that rocks the soul and your work here is more counterculture than one hundred million Woodstocks and
gave me a better high than the biggest, shiniest heroin needle ever could.

When your book spoke with characters who are replicas of the hearts and souls of our peers, I didn't understand it. But the scene after Uncle Walt's piano lesson, that is a work of Shake-a-spear's caliber. From then on I understand your book. It's a satire of Swift's caliber, and I can see the characters in the people who surround me. All I can say to that is Hallelujah and Amen! The truth is being spoken in a mighty way and rocks the soul! We are on the verge of a great rennaissance here, it's happening even as we speak.

My heartfelt gratitude for writing that book. God bless yer merry soul!

Keep rockin',
John

From: Debbie Burton <dburton@denalics.net>
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: The Drake Raft Field Trip

Loved reading the excerpt from "The Drake Raft Field Trip." Meant a lot to me. Thanks for letting me read it.

Debbie

From: Alicia Triche<AJTRICHE@CONCENTRIC.NET>
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: QUALITY: The Drake Raft Field Trip

Hi-

Okay, I don't know who you guys are, I've only breezed through most of the pages in this web site in, like, the past five minutes (so, did that letter to Rolling Stone actually get published?) but I just have to tell you something!!

I just read the first bit of the excerpt you have from the Drake Raft Field trip thing, and it's actually really good!! Let me explain how exciting this is to me--I NEVER think anything is good that was written after, say, 1950 or so. I am sick and I mean SICK of gratuitous, insincere, disgusting references to whatever bodily fluids will get people published. Like, the swishy butt in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," and basically every story Walter Kirn ever wrote, and for God's sake, I just read something by modern "acclaimed" author Jessica Treadway that talks about breast milk! NONE of this was actually an integral part of any, like, PLOT, either.

But this story you guys have posted, it's pretty sincere, and you've got the language of our generation down pretty accurately, and it was a lovely experience for me, to read it. I've always had this fantasy that there would be modern books that match the quality of all the classics I love to read--is that what you guys are about?

I just wanted to say, good job, and I really mean that, And I haven't seen anything quite so brilliant in anything I've read that was written so recently.
Sincerely,
Alicia
From: butlerh@wkac.ac.uk
To: mcgucken@augustus0.physics.unc.edu
Subject: Drake Raft

Hello there Elliot.. You may be wondering who the hell i am.. well i met you two summers ago in Linda's bar on Franklin St. I was the English nanny, friends with the spanish girl Pillar. Well anyway i read your book that you sold me..The Drake Raft Field Trip (The Tragedy of Drake Raft). I was really engrossed by it when i took it babysitting with me and their dogs decided they wanted it for lunch.. So now i am left at the part where they were gonna have a concert?? What the hell happened at the end.. please tell me.. I hope that you are still using this Email. from Hazel Butler.

From: ugmtjh6961@-------
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: I know your pen

Captain, or maybe I should say Elliot,
Ahoy how ye be good matie? I tried to send this mail once, but apparently I have screwed up and will have to send it again. I have just finished reading your news letter for this month. It says you're a ghost. Well I will tell you Captain or maybe I should say Elliot, I know your pen, and the true answer to the mystery of the Jolly Roger. I haven't spoken until now out of love for your work. The fact still stands that by any name you hold a pretty pen. I have read The Drake Raft Field trip and loved it. I tip my hat to ye, to speak the truth can be a hard thing to do. At the same time running a ship can be a hard thing to do as well. I dabble both in html and in writing poetry, and I lend my fingers or my pen to your service. I currently am going to order my own copy of the D.R.F.T. and your sonnets, I would like to support the good ship as much a possible. If there was a time when I wanted to send the good ship a picture, a little art work, how would I go about it? Take care of yourself Elliot, may the Lord protect you and keep you.
At the Good Ship's service,
John Harrell

From: WRalph@----
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: the drake raft field trip

elliot-
i am loving your book. every un-PC joke my brother and i ever made is in there - the far side lab guy, lesbegay magazine and feminist literature (clittorally speaking is perfect) and the chinese assistant who speaks no english etc etc. i love the kids' reactions to everything, like response of pretending to be homeless to increase sensitivity. i guess they're what older people call refreshing but it's just that they are what we all think and no one says. there is some author, and of course i can't remember who it is right now, whom i love just because he/she always knows exactly what is going on in people's heads. em forster maybe. i'll remember later. all the college stuff is totally true to life - the secret societies, the social life, the theater people, and i love the fact that drake got kicked out of class b/c his poems rhymed. every little nuance actually exists. the people are reminding me of friends of mine. it's great. i hope this jolly roger mission of yours succeeds. if i weren't here, i'd help. write back. weatherly

From: "C. Lyle"
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: The Word
I can't believe that I sat here and read this whole thing. It's almost 3:00 am and I don't usually read this much this late. I would normally copy it and read it later, but I just couldn't stop reading. I know I will be thinking about this for days to come. The story comes at you from all angles, and has an incredible mixture of ideas. I love where you seem to be going with this. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

and it had that fresh smell to it-- you know, that one fresh springy smell that doesn't really smell like anything except for itself. You know the kind I mean, and if you don't, you're missing out , so first chance you have, go out sometime right after an afternoon June thunderstorm, and breathe deeply, and then you'll know what I mean.

Yes, I know what you mean. It revives your soul and makes you want to live forever.

Crissala

P.S. The Drake Raft Field Trip seems to be another excellent look at the "quiet desperation" motif from an awakening standpoint. Extremely cool book.

From: jill<JLS0667@EMAIL.UNC.EDU>
To: mcgucken@physics.unc.edu
Subject: Hello
i own an unbound original galley proof of "the drake raft field trip". i love it. it can be a little self indulgent at times but its real ludicrousness and pace keep it cool. your video sounds like a real undertaking. good luck, let me know how you're doing with it. jill jls0667@email.unc.edu

From: "Joshua P. Hochschild"
To: mcgucken@physics.unc.edu
Subject: Ahoy!
To the Captain of the Jolly Roger:
I have read with interest the first two chapters of The Drake Raft Field Trip and it has kindled my curiosity. I would like to request information on purchasing a manuscript of the book, if you have not yet found a pub lisher. I can't promise to pay any price, as I am a philosophy grad-student, and we don't get as much funding as you. We don't make the bombs of defense.
Joshua P. Hochschild
Department of Philosophy
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556

From: Samuel Anderson<ANDE3970@TAO.SOSC.OSSHE.EDU
To: mcgucken@physics.unc.edu
Subject: Your work- I want it
Elliot and the crew: Where can I get your literature in full? I love REAL writing, and I really enjoyed chapter one of The Drake Raft Field Trip--- now I need the rest. I'm not joking, so don't laugh at me (because you like to laugh at people) and just tell me how I can get the remainder of your literature. Soon!
Samuel Anderson

From: kmahon@mailhost.intac.com
To: mcgucken@physics.unc.edu
Subject: Very interesting....
I've just caught up to The Jolly Roger a few days ago after seeing a reference in alt.politics. I'm afraid it's going to take some time before I understand enough to come aboard. However, being a 44-year old boomer, let me suggest that just as Gen-X'ers are not all of one type, neither are boomers. (Although I must admit that my generation's propensity for self-righteousness makes us hard to love as a group. This is the generation that is nostalgic about its rebellious drug abuse as young adults, but thinks it can stop 14-year olds from smoking cigarettes.)

I've just now finished reading Chapter 32 of The Drake Raft Field Trip. Coincidentally, just before that, I read an editorial in REASON magazine that made reference to a 1959 essay written by British novelist and physicist C.P. Snow, who 'posited that the humanities and sciences were moving away from each other and that humanists would soon be utterly ignorant of the science that shapes our world'. It appears from Chapter 32 that certain humanists have already decided that scientists incapable of grasping the humanities. The opinions of your "bald man with glasses" are dismissed because he is a 'scientist' - as if a gap exists that cannot be bridged. Part of what we may perceive as 'problems' with so much of our media and government these days stems from the fact that so many editorialists and elected representatives have not paid the price in learning from the classical writings of the past. It is a shame that most of us can get through 16 years or more of college/university education and still be ignorant of the writings of the great classical authors. In the meantime, I'll continue to follow your voyage.

From: chad7@______.ASU.EDU
To: Red Avenger<DRAKE@JOLLYROGER.COM
Subject: THE DRAKE RAFT FIELD TRIP
Captain,
I think I have unraveled the mystery of the jollyroger. There are two Drake Rafts. One is the real person named Drake Raft and the other is the character in the Drake Raft Field Trip. The character in the D.R.F.T. is representative of Elliot McGucken and his struggle against the liberal establishment at Princeton. Cliff is the real Drake Raft and Timber is Becket Knottingham. I hope I have figured it out.

I have just finished reading the Drake Raft Field Trip and I thought it was excellent. I was very interested in Sycorax's speech to the Princetonians After Dark and the jollyrogers near the end of the book. I just finished writing a paper for a class called the Human Event here for the Arizona State University Honors College. The class is centered around trying to find the truth in the works of the Western Canon. But anyway, the paper I wrote was on the topic of whether or not I thought Plato's society in The Republic was just or unjust. I never thought of his society being similar to that of the liberal agenda as Elliot had it in Sycorax's speech. I was very impressed.

Fighting the battle against the postmodernists here on the western front, Chad D.

From: kwelch
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: aloha

DRAKE, who are you? why are you so freakin' cool? and how did this whole Jolly Roger business get started? I think it's just beautiful, I never can seem to find that kind of gumption in people my age (I'm assuming you're somewhere 20ish?) Anyhow, well done captain!

:)Kerri

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 16:07:56 -0700
From: Don & Kathleen Starbuck
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Hello

Hello,

I came to your site quite by accident! It is a wonderful site to say the very least! Poetry touches my inner most being and oh how I wish I could express the thoughts, feelings, and events that lie deep with in me via poetry! I thought you might find it interesting to learn that your site has been visited by some one with the surname of Starbuck. I don't know how I can prove to you that this is the truth, but it is, so will just trust that you will believe me. My husband and I love the ocean. He very much likes Light Houses. We have vacationed in NC several times and it is our great hope to move there in the not too distant future. We plan to be in NC in Nov. This depends on our having the closing on our home by then. The purpose of our Nov. trip will be to find employment and housing.

The area we at the moment plan to locate to is a small town called Farmville. It is about 8 miles south of Greenville. We feel this is far enough inland to reduce risk of violent weather and yet is an easy drive to the ocean. Again I will say how much I've enjoyed your web site and that I will visit frequently.

Kathy

Date: Wed, 4 Aug 12:28:29 -0700
From: don
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: lost times
Dear Drake-

In the course of some on-line research, i stumbled across your Nantuckets site, and, being a former year-round resident (at the time i lived there, the favorite t-shirt among we locals was "I'm not a tourist. I live Here") i felt i had to respond. Thanks for the thundering words, which awakened echoes in my soul.

I was a permanent resident, and i remember the long winters when the harbor froze and the planes couldn't fly, and we'd gather on the cliffs to watch the Coast Guard cutters try to break through the ice pack to deliver much needed staples. I recall the long winter nights, closing out the "Hood" as we called it then. (There was a particularly interesting waitress named Lucy, at the time, who put up with our "celebrations" with immense patience and good cheer). Also the "Box", when we were in a more garrulous mood, or a pool-playing mood. I was the manager at a pizza joint just down the road from the Box. Don't know if it's still there, used to be called "Foood for Here and There", owned by a decent man named Mark, whose last name i cannot remember. (This was 21 years ago). There was a character named Russ Carlson, whose jeep was the vehicle for many midnight carousings out to Sankaty and back. An ex-sailor named John Ferrara also owned a jeep, and i have fond memories of burying it in the dunes one afternoon, trying to impress a summer girl. If you still live there, and you happen to know either of these two men, please tell them Sundance said hello.

I worked for several years at the Cottage Hospital also, whose policy was to complement their nursing staff with interns during the summer. The resident nurses at the time, I remember, were generally a wild bunch. Hardest working people you ever saw during their shifts, but afterwards........well, fond memories there, too.

Just thought i'd say thanks, from a former year-round resident. I've done and seen too much to ever wish for those days again, but still, I'm glad i was there for those several years. I make my living as a writer and photographer now, and my time on the Island has kept me supplied with many memories to draw on. Thanks again p.s. I hope Nantucket has not turned into the Vineyard yet.

Date: Fri, 13 Aug 22:18:22 EDT
From: N2Bloom@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Ahoy Deadhead! Welcome aboard THE JOLLY ROGER!

Ahoy Mates, glad to be aboard and bound for dangerous waters. I'm tired of politically correct currents and silent majority seas! Keep an even keel and show no quarter! Argrhrghrrgh! I'm ready to steer into a gale of torrential truth. I only hope to stay seaworthy. I'll try me best.

Deadhead..

From: PEQUOD
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Mates. ye are wicked awesome.

Awash ten long years now on Derrida ridden seas - what joy for a broad to find such raffish young scholars. Give me Dante, or give me death!

Date: Sun, 9 Feb 14:45:40 GMT
From: butlerh@wkac.ac.uk
To: mcgucken@augustus0.physics.unc.edu
Subject: Drake raft

Hello there Elliot.. You may be wondering who the hell i am.. well i met you two summers ago in Linda's bar on Franklin St. I was the English nanny, friends with the spanish girl Pillar. Well anyway i read your book that you sold me..The Drake Raft Field Trip (The Tragedy of Drake Raft). I was really engrossed by it when i took it babysitting with me and their dogs decided they wanted it for lunch.. So now i am left at the part where they were gonna have a concert?? What the hell happened at the end.. please tell me.. I hope that you are still using this Email. from Hazel Butler.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Avast! I've seen liberals do the same thing to Shakespeare! Of course we'll send ye a new on! The Drake Raft Field Trip can be bought at http://jollyroger.com/drft.html

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 10:34:00 -0700
From: ugmtjh6961@-------
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: I know your pen

Captain, or maybe I should say Elliot,

Ahoy how ye be good matie? I tried to send this mail once, but apparently I have screwed up and will have to send it again. I have just finished reading your news letter for this month. It says you're a ghost. Well I will tell you Captain or maybe I should say Elliot, I know your pen, and the true answer to the mystery of the Jolly Roger. I haven't spoken until now out of love for your work. The fact still stands that by any name you hold a pretty pen. I have read "The Drake Raft Field trip" and loved it. I tip my hat to ye, to speak the truth can be a hard thing to do. At the same time running a ship can be a hard thing to do as well. I dabble both in html and in writing poetry, and I lend my fingers or my pen to your service. I currently am going to order my own copy of the D.R.F.T. and your sonnets, I would like to support the good ship as much a possible. If there was a time when I wanted to send the good ship a picture, a little art work, how would I go about it? Take care of yourself Elliot, may the Lord protect you and keep you.

At the good ships service,
John Harrell

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: At yer service, matie, and God bless ye too.

From: goleson@-------- To: becket@jollyroger.com Subject: Ahoy!

As I read your Declaration of Independence From Slackers, I thought of this Heinlein quotation that might strike your fancy:

"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as bad luck."

Enjoy!

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy! America's about protecting the individual so that all might benefit. America rocks.

From: Jonas Made
To: Red Avenger
Subject: Re: Welcome aboard THE JOLLY ROGER!

Thank you! I have just seen the future of literature laid out before me, and it is beeeeautiful!

The problems you describe are just as endemic in Britain - desperate... I have formed a small literary group here in Durham which coincidentally conforms to the JR constitution; we will be bringing out an anthology sometime in 97 so if you're interested in reviewing it (I would be honoured) let me know.

Inspiring, truly inspiring!

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Avast! The UK rocks too!

From: Grebo
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Your sonnets

Greetings there!

I'm a physics major at Sam Houston State University and I must admit I just fell in love with the sonnets. Is there any chance that they are all published somewhere somehow? (If there's info in the site on this don't get mad at me, I just got too excited and didn't bother to read anything else.) Also, I am the secretary for our chapter of the Society of Physics Students and thus mainly in charge of coming up with new t-shirt designs (being the most creative one helps too) and I was wondering if there was any way (If my chapter agrees to it) for us to print one of the sonnets (with all pertinent information as well) on some shirts. We are a non-profit organization and we use the money from t-shirt sales to help pay for food, gas, and hotels at zone meetings and also for our annual scholarship given to a qualifying member.

Thanks!

--Eric

Oh, if you're interested at all, I would be more than happy to send you copies of the designs of the shirts that I created in either text or Word Perfect format.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Avast! Feel free to use the sonnets, as long as ye send us some shirts. You can buy Drake's collected sonnets at http://jollyroger.com/loot.html

To: "'-Raft, Drake'"
Cc: "Coman, Curtis"
Subject: Trial by Moonlight

Ahoy, Red Avenger!

Billy Bones reportin' fer dooty, sir. The latest issue of the Jolly Roger was, as usual, excellent. You fellows do have a knack for pouring out your soul.

I re-read "A Nantucket Ghost Story" when you re-sent it back in October, and that, combined with some of the sonnets in the last JR, got me to thinking a lot about my younger days (I'm only 34, but I'm happily married now with two children, a cat, and a house in Atlanta, so there's been some water under the bridge since those days!). I was reminded of a little ploy I used to use when I was living in Virginia, amongst the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, and I went out on the occasional date. There was a special spot along the road near my house where, after dinner or a movie, I would park, we would get out of the car, and look out over the valley near my town. There were no lights for miles around ,and there would be the dark pastures and woods before us, and above us a black field of stars spread out across the Southern sky. I didn't necessarily have any romantic designs (although there were a few girls whom I wouldn't have minded cuddling up a little closer to!)...I just wanted someone with whom I could share the moment.

I guess it was a test of sorts; I wanted to see how the girl reacted to this sort of sight. What was I looking for? Perhaps a commonality of feeling, a sense that she, too, understood that we are more than the sum of our parts, that there is wonder and beauty around us ( and within us) if we only take the time to look and don't allow the cares of this world or the nihilistic intelligentsia to take it from us. I guess I was looking for the same thing you were looking for in the graveyard. A few years later, I found the girl who understood my longing perfectly, because she felt it too, and we've been married for ten years now.

--Billy Bones

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Cool story-- I'm sure you guys will continue to have fun and things. It's always a pleasure to hear from ye, Billy Bones.

From: Debby Jerez <djerez@
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: silence poem

I'd appreciate it greatly if ye'd ship me a copy of the bit about perfect silence. My e-mail is djerez@brill---------- I was intrigued with those insightful words, and I've a mate or two that'd enjoy them just as I did. Thank-you for yer time good sir. -Lilbrat(a homesick deckswab)

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Avast! Here's Silence-- by Drake Raft

I know where the most perfect silence is,
Seen it in the wild blue off Hatteras,
A mile out, rainbowed sails in silent bliss,
Looked like they'd collide, but they safely passed.
I know when the most perfect silence is,
Down a dusty Ohio road, high noon,
No shirt on, being burned by the sun's kiss,
Sixteen, takin' my time-- it was still June.
I know what the most perfect silence is,
It's what we say when falling out of love,
It roars and thunders right through the kiss,
Says all that no words can ever speak of.
I know why the most perfect silence is,
It is there for the whisper to be born,
The whisper in her ear became the kiss,
Just a dream in DC early one morn.
I know who the perfect silence is for,
It is for the ones whom we love the best,
It is there to protect them from our core,
By the silent trust we all seek to rest.
And I know how rare that silence can be,
With everyone talkin', it's hard to hear,
But I know I felt it, on the streets of DC,
The sound in her eyes-- it was crystal clear.
And it brought back to mind the rainbowed sails,
And the way it looked like they would collide,
Like two souls set upon fate's iron rails,
But the most perfect silence never died.

THE CREW REPORTS FOR DUTY

Date: Mon, 6 Jul 11:13:48 -0400 (EDT)
To: Red Avenger
Subject: I love you guys

I love ya man!!!

Ever since I can remember I have had this great love affair with reading. The first book that I can remember reading that left on impression was "Great Expectations." (My random memory) I am really glad to have found people who have a sense of passion about reading and writing. Now I am on this mission at my university to establish a reading and discussion session between Junior High, High School, and College students. I received this inspiration from you guys and just wanted to say thank you.

CJ

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there! And we receive our inspiration from ye!

Date: Fri, 10 Jul 13:17:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Sullivan
To: Red Avenger
Subject: writing and Freedom 4th of July Poem

O Cap'n me Cap'n,

Great poem, Drake!! Just read yer message from 7/1. I were in the 82nd Airborne meself. 'BOUT TIME A POEM OR TWO STARTED TELLIN' 'BOUT PRIDE IN YER LAND!!! Hey - do ANY of those who hate the blessed U.S. of A. stop to realize that we are the ONLY country to protect their right to insult us like they do?

ANYWAY, I been meanin' to ask ye - does the good ship JollyRoger have need of a Chaplain? I be an evangelist when I be 'on the beach' , and I'll be all for any of the mateys who need some comfort or advice from the Good Lord or His Good Book. Give 'em me address if ye will.

Keep up the good fight - a country that can't take pride in its literature WON'T take pride in much else about itself, either !!

Yers Truly,

Bilge Rat

THE CAPTAINS RESPONDS: Ahoy there mate! It's always an honor to have members of the armed services aboard, and we're also blessed to have a Chaplain in ye. I will definitely post your message, along with yer email, in our next issue. It's because of ye that our ship has a destination.

From: Jeremiah X McEnerney/NVSPHQ/NAVSUP
To: Red Avenger
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM

Drake, with all that salty lingo, I'm ready to head back to sea!

Thought you might enjoy the following verse which every plebe at the Naval Academy has to memorize during plebe summer. Go Navy!

Tx/Jerry

How long have you been in the Navy?

"All me bloomin' life!

Me mother was a mermaid, me father was King Neptune. I was born on the crest of a wave, and rocked in the cradle of the deep.

Sea weed and barnacles are me clothes, every hair in me head is hemp, every bone in me body is a spar, and when I spits, I spits tar.

I'm hard, I is, I am, I are."

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Thanks for the line, mate! I know the feeling-- I've been on this ship since the dawn of time.

Date: Wed, 22 Apr 21:38:32 -0400 (EDT)
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: starbuckclassicalpoetry.com

I like your web page.

Your story reminded me of a similar experience. A few years back I was working for the Army Corps. of Engineers at the Field research Facility in Duck.

During the fall, I decided to read Moby Dick for the first time -- it was a knock out. The beginning was slow for me, but soon I was reading it during every moment I could steal. I will never forget the morning I finished Melville's yarn ...

Part of my job at the research pier included taking daily weather measurements. I was still a little hazy in the mind (a wee bit before sunrise) so I don't recall all the details of my half mile treck to the pier's end, but I remember the end of the walk like it happened yesterday... a large whale was swimming at the end of the pier. It was the first time I ever saw one in the wild. This was one of those moments in life where you realize there is a bigger picture. A lot of folks don't understand what I mean.

Regards,

W. Terry Lease

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrgr there sailor! I understand what ye mean! Avast!

Date: Thu, 9 Jul 15:12:22 -0400 (EDT)
To: Red Avenger
Subject: Freedom Poem

I just got my email up and running again after an awful experience with trying to upgrade to win98. i read your poem that was posted in the jolly roger E newsletter and had to let you know that i haven't read such a grand original poem since ... jeez! maybe college (for me that was a while ago). i was an English major, so i had exposure to a lot of good original works. this was a true touch to the little patriot that still wanders around inside me. if you don't mind, i'd like to send it off to my dad.

thanx!

Blessed*Be*

tristan

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Thank ye, thank ye. Please feel free to send it off to everyone! If it weren't for ye out there, we wouldn't be here! At yer service!

16:48:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: In The Name of Freedom poem

On Mon, 20 Jul, Pamela Benich wrote:

In The Name of Freedom, is truly a beautiful poem. Can one purchase a copy?

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhgrh! It's as free as the wind!

drake@jollyroger.com

From: Bidlack To: becket@killdevilhill.com
Subject: wow

becket--

you are the absolute voice of truth; you speak straight to my soul. i've been sitting here for the past couple hours just in awe of your work. being only a freshman in high school, i'm often encouraged by both friends and adults to just slack off because it's not worth the trouble, but you have been the inspiration and verification that i needed that it's going to be up to me to find what's inside of me. thanks a lot. belinda bidlack, an already struggling artist

From: Mary Cohutt
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: The most perfect silence.....

I know what the perfect silence is.......silent words that touch.....tears that fall unnoticed... a softening heart...

Thank you for your words

From: Adam Jones
To: captain@jollyroger.com
Subject: A cancer within the literary world

Mr Raft and fellow JR mariners:

For some weeks now fellow JR deckhand Seymour Jacklin and I have been conducting a campaign against 'poet' Murray Lachlan Young. For your sake I hope you have not yet come across him as I am sure his rabid, vapid, drug fueled rantings would drive you into apoplexy. Murray was recently signed to EMI for around 1m pounds sterling, and, I believe, appears occasionally on MTV in the States reading his abominations between programs. He is being promoted as a poet and sees himself as one. To think that a man who is clearly an idiot is lining himself up with Whitman and Pound makes me nauseous.

Unfortunately some of his poetry is now on the net, and the following URL will refer you to one of his better (but still dreadful) offerings. URL will refer you to one of his better (but still dreadful) offerings. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bookworm/juggler.htm.

So far the reaction to MLY has run along the following lines:

In a number of media interviews Young has painted a picture of serious poets - the majority of whom, naturally, do not like him - as stuffy reactionaries opposing the man who heralds the renaissance of poetry. However poetry requires a certain amount of intellectual rigour and crafting; I doubt that even Young himself would consider claiming his 'poetry' contains a modicum of either. (from my web pages).

Although you must be very busy, Seymour and I would be very happy to see opposition to 'the bimbo of poetry' championed by the great JR crew. Failing that, a few words would be very much appreciated as an indication to the crazed supporters of this fraud that the poetry world isn't going to lie down and let MLY urinate all over it.

The saddest thing is that some elements of the press seem to think MLY represents the future of English poetry and are pushing him as 'the modern Byron'.

Thanks - regards to the great floating bastion of literature and all who sail with her...

Adam.Jones@durham.ac.uk http://www.dur.ac.uk/~d61m4w/

From: Greg and Jan Millsaps
To: mcgucken@jollyroger.com

Elliot,

I thoroughly enjoyed your massive website. I am a North Carolinian and can appreciate your love for our Outer Banks and Blue Ridge mountains. I am an avid backpacker and surfer so I enjoy these extremes as well!

This site is definitely a wake up call to an apathetic and snoozing generation. I think the neo-conservative/classical liberal/libertarian type views are gaining a hold on the hearts and imaginations of our generation (I consider myself part of the so-called "Gen X" even though I just turned 30). I found the articles in "Hatteras" intriguing. Do you have a creative writing type of journal? If so I would love to submit some poems and/or short stories for consideration.

Thanks again for the hard work you folks have put into this site... I know this level of eloquent insight doesn't come cheaply! Please email me back when you get time.

- Greg

Date: Fri, 24 Oct 12:06:32 -0500
From: Ville Platte High School Library
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: on the really cool pirate theme of the web-site

Avast,maties and yo ho ho! This is the infamous Bloody eye billy. This the best ship Ive seen from Canary to James town. What inspired the pirate theme and do you have a a musical like the Pirates of Penzance? If you do E-mail the lyrics to me at VPHSL@7. Ahoy, throw the liberals to the sharks and sail on the seven cyberseas! My favorite book is Le Miserables but only after treasure island! Shiver me timbers, Its a mutiny Ive got to skin a few wharf rats!

From: SARAH SCHAEFFER
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Ahoy jollyroger!

Ahoy!. Thank you for the letter. It was awesome. I cannot tell you how relieved I am at yer words! In an effort to love me fellow man I was becoming liberal minded. I was gettin' pulled down in mire of creature worship. Ah thank you man, you saved me from a fate worse than death. I think I accidentally sent your message back to you. I'm new at steering me rutter on the internet seas. Not since I've read George Macdonald, have I seen anything so thought provoking. I don't know what I'm going to do with ya you bonnie man. I was thinking that there is some one you'd like to meet. He 's a pastor over here in Seattle Washington (USA). He's 26 and endeavors to make the Book of all books relevant to our generation. I call us the orphaned generation. Left in front of the one eyed babysitter while our parents went to accumulate all the material possessions they rallied against in the 60's. Anyway his name is Mark Driscoll, and he teaches near the University District. He's real intelligent and has a knack with words. They also have a discussion philosophical group on campus. The web site is Marshillchurch@aol.com I think you'd really enjoy yerself. His friend Lief reminds me of the Red Avenger. He has a talk show to reach out to the orphaned generation. He gets down to the brass tacks too, cuts right to it. Anyway, thanks again for your frank reply to the Postmodern porno graphic 'slackers' who's 'words don't mean anything.' I would say one thing thou. It's real easy to get into the rut of railing against the jerks and forget to promote the good. I'm not worried though. You've got a good head on your shoulders and I thought all you needed is the merest whisper of a suggestion. I look forward to your next hail. If there's anything I can do for ya just whistle. Ayla the Jem piping off.

From: Kristen
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Love to all!!!!!1

This is amazing I never knew of your site till I stumbled upon it this day. I am amazed and can not think of a greater place to find out the Truth! I am definitely going to make sure my friends read this. I am a junior in high school and fear the plot of liberals against me when I go to enter college. I have already confronted extreme liberals in my current school, and I was given an undeserved lower grade because of it (but I got him back by telling the Truth in front of the class every time he said something stupid, I mean liberal. I would love to receive your newsletter or be notified if this site is updated. I am sorry, but I do not know my e-mail, but as soon as I know I will write again (we just rerouted our entire computer) Well, I'll be looking for more later and thank you for the wonderful site!

Kirstin

From: Nat Carswell
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Cc: nacjr@iglou.com
Subject: AHOY!!!!!

I love this!! I have found my home on the world-wide web. My name is John Carswell, and I am an eighteen year old high school senior at an all-male Catholic high school in Louisville, KY. The cooling sting of the sea-breeze, the gentle roar of the Atlantic shore... the possibility of the high seas!!! This is madness!!! I have grown up with the ocean a part of my soul!! No man-made music is sweeter to me than the jollity of the Jamaican steel drum. All of these things I associate with literature, the poetry of Shakespeare, with my own endeavours into the world of beautiful, painful truth, which is the Word!!!

I will be in contact with ye; rest assured of that!

The Dread Pirate Carswell

Date: Mon, 8 Dec 23:49:57 -0500
From: Fred Hallett
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Sailor's Shakedown Cruise: A bit of wisdom from John Stuart Mill

Doolies (the lowest form of cadet life) at the U.S.Air Force Academy must memorize this cogent bit of philosophy written by one of England's foremost thinkers. It bears repeating in this good company: "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has little chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " Sailor

From: barbara macauley <bjcm1@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Duplicate Registration

Thanks for your letter. I am a grandmother, who received WEBTV from my 15 -year-old grandson last July for my 70th birthday. I am having great fun with it, and found your website thereon. My husband and I retired here to Chapel Hill in l982 to be near our only son. Then he moved to Switzerland, London, New York, and lives in Connecticut at present. DON'T ever try to follow your children...as they might MOVE. Anyway, we are still here in Chapel Hill...and probably will stay here now. I don't have any interest in starting a literary cafe, although this town might be ripe for one. This is a very strange and diverse place.. as you know. We are among the few Republicans in these parts... and the liberal professors abound. But it is kind of fun to be different! Sincerely, Barbara (The Blonde) Macauley.

From: Renee Gilbert <gilbre01@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: English Major Burnout

Hello. I was browsing through your webpage while looking for things for my paper. It was good enough for me to bookmark it. I'm an English major at Indiana Univeristy. It is absolutely amazing how much red tape and hassles I have gone through while attending this stupid university. The thing that really burned me up was the fact that if one were to transfer between campuses of the SAME university, the credits won't even transfer!!! I was knocked a whole grade level because of it. Most of the profs are bland. The reason why they have the "My way of no way" mind frame is laziness. They don't want to take the time to even explore what anybody has to say. I have one more year and I'm burned out. I even feel regret for even attending university, but that stupid degree is needed. Enough of my whining. For aboard your ship, I find myself beyond it all. Renee

From: Philip A. Brown
To: becket@killdevilhill.com
Subject: think you

Thank you for putting a kick-ass site on the web. It's great to find people I can actually discuss my studies with. This is what makes learning such a great experience.

From: Kurt
To: becket@killdevilhill.com
Subject: motivation

It is nice to see that literature is not dead. Finding anything of bookmarking Killdevilhill, I find it much easier. Thanks for helping keep books alive.

From: The Boryan's <maach@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Ahoy there matey

Dear becket,

I just simply love your web page. There are a lot of fun things to do. I like that greeting card w\ the lighthouse and the sonnet. That was a brilliant idea. I haven't had time to explore your entire site, but I have bookmarked it and plan to return many times. I appreciate the work you must put in to send people (including myself) the sonnet of the day. That was also a neat idea. I can appreciate your site even more, because I have been to every one of those lighthouses you mentioned and have pictured, and have stayed on the Outer Banks many times. We usually stay in Duck. Well have fun keeping your site up. Yea drop me a line if you get time at aboryan@hotmail.com

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 97 20:22:56 UT
From: "Captain F. J. Schwindler"
To: Red Avenger
Subject: RE: Ahoy captain! Welcome aboard THE JOLLY ROGER!

Red Avenger:

Have just had time to finally read your welcome aboard letter. Loved it - even though I am not generation x (I'm 55) and have far too many degrees (PHD, 2 MAs, 3 BAs) and am a retired USN Captain who is really Captain of a "real" pirate ship (101 year old, 121' barquentine called "Barba Negra - The Spirit of Savvannah") Unfortunately I am neither a poet nor a particularly good writer - but I do appreciate your work. (And I do like Beavis and Butthead and Rush, too.)

Whilst I will probably contribute nothing to the work of the ship - I would very much like to be able to use what is produced to open the minds of the various crew members I have in real life. We use "Barba Negra" as a training ship to help teach 11-18 years olds how to actually be people (contrary to popular perception - it takes real work to accomplish this task). Some of our kids are "normal" - others are "at risk" (whatever that means). All are kids who need to learn values and character stuff like trustworthiness and self reliance and teamwork, etc. (all things no longer taught much anyplace else for the reasons elucidated in your welcome aboard letter. So... if you don't mind, our little pirate ship will sail along abeam or astern your frigate (by the way - no self respecting pirate would ever have a frigate - too slow and cumbersome - a Corvette or Brigantine or Barquentine or some such would be far more adept at harassing the enemy and scoring victories, etc.) (And - they are far cheaper to operate - a frigate is almost the epitome of establishmentarianism - expensive, bulky, etc., etc.)

Keep up the good work - I'll visit when I can & hope to hear from you as you can.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: ARGRGRHRGR! 'Tis always great to have a genuine Navy Captain aboard the Good Ship-- there're a couple others. We have considered trading our frigate in for a swifter, more dextrous craft, but half the time we're running over the enemy's frigates with our Oak keel of reason, so we figured we might as well keep her.

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 11:54:56 +0000
From: Alicia Triche
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: QUALITY

Hi--

Okay, I don't know who you guys are, I've only breezed through most of the pages in this web site in, like, the past five minutes (so, did that letter to Rolling Stone actually get published?) but I just have to tell you something!!

I just read the first bit of the excerpt you have from the Drake Raft Field trip thing, and it's actually really good!! Let me explain how exciting this is to me--I NEVER think anything is good that was written after, say, 50 or so. I am sick and I mean SICK of gratuitous, insincere, disgusting references to whatever bodily fluids will get people published. Like, the swishy butt in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," and basically every story Walter Kirn ever wrote, and for God's sake, I just read something by modern "acclaimed" author Jessica Treadway that talks about breast milk! NONE of this was actually an integral part of any, like, PLOT, either.

But this story you guys have posted, it's pretty sincere, and you've got the language of our generation down pretty accurately, and it was a lovely experience for me, to read it. I've always had this fantasy that there would be modern books that match the quality of all the classics I love to read--is that what you guys are about?

Please don't put me on a mailing list or anything; I don't have any money to buy anything, I am just some grad school spit-out trying to squeak by & find a permanent job but maybe one day, after I figure out how to get my own novels published you guys can say hey! We knew her when! She was going around looking for Fitzgerald in a hay stack-- but meanwhile, I just wanted to say, good job, and I really mean that, And I haven't seen anything quite so brilliant in anything I've read that was written so recently.

Sincerely,
Alicia Triche

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Welcome aboard the renaissance generation.

From: kcmasong@

To: drake@jollyroger.com

Subject: Greetings to the Captain

Ahoy! Captain Drake!

Twice I've received emails from your Frigate and its about time to express my gratitude (or at least hear something from one of your sailors). I just want you to know that I appreciate reading your essays, but most especially your poems ("The Most Perfect Silence," and "cvii," that is). The potentials of the WWW had indeed been expoited to the full by your cause. These times, there is a need for a bulwark of conservatism to stand guard against external forces set out to mar the Truth which we all, philosophers, literati, and the general wise men, safeguard and vindicate. Continue in the cause conscious that there's someone following the way.

Set the sails and off we go!

Kenneth "Four Eyes" Masong

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: In this community of eternal souls, there are as many behind us as there are infront of us.

From: "B. Lewis Noles"
To: captain@jollyroger.com
Subject: www.jollyroger.com is Outstanding

Drake,

I just wanted to say that I am quite impressed with the www.jollyroger.com website. It has been awhile since I last visited the site, and I can see it is much improved. I first ran across your site soon after started developing my web page devoted to the "great books." You folks are definitely hoisting a big canon. It looks like your giving the "the ivyed halls of 'isms'" a run for their money.

Keep up the good work,

Lewis

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: At yer service matie. And may ye enjoy walking the halls of Western Canon University every bit as much.

From: Jade
To: becket@jollyroger.com

hi!

you guys have an great site, with some really awesome writing. I've rediscovered the great books and found great new stuff to read(before, i was beginning to think anything modern would be liberal and "politically correct"and have nothing worth reading). The Jolly Roger has been a constant inspiration to me as try to keep my head above the water here at princeton(the high school, not the university).

may your ship always follow a true course and be blessed with favourable winds, -Mona
aka Jade

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: And may you always be aboard our ship.

From: DTBLVB@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Ahoy l.b.! Welcome aboard THE JOLLY ROGER!

Thank you for the welcome!!

You have put a smile upon my face and a stirring in my heart. It has been in the past several years that I've begun delving into truely great literature. Frankly, I like exciting that part of my brain that has been dormant for so long!!

Thank you for being radical in a traditional sort of way.

Blessings.
l.b.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: They keep on trying to turn back the clock to the sixties and seventies, whereas I envsion a future of tradition. Avast!

The Crew Reports For Duty

Date: Sat, Dec 11:37:52 EST
From: Schmitt@
To: drake@jollyroger.com, captain@jollyroger.com, becket@jollyroger.com, mcgucken@jollyroger.com
Subject: Have Finished Reading Your Stuff

Gentlemen:

I have spent the last 2 weeks (my private time allowing) reading your "literature" posted on your WWW site. Fair-to-middling applies to some of the long verse. Albeit, the recurring themes carry it to the end. Becket's stuff has the most impact when it comes to the descant and treatise. Raft's narratives are fine and close to perfect. All in all, the writing is passionate. Gutsy reach, my fellows. Gutsy reach. As for the rambling, banner-waving and antheming, well, such are leapings of the flames of a young man's ideology. Strive to do it with eloquence.

In the end I realize you guys are a triumvirate of ditto-heads. That's fine and good. As are most of Limbaugh's points of light. Any great thinker would agree. Nothing refreshing, however, does the puddingy fellow seem to come up with that hasn't been said before by my own Dad. I already know what the problems are. Tell me HOW to make it better. Duh.

As for the feminism horrors -- well, like you guys said, it's hard to find too many women who even consider themselves a feminist these days. For the most part, women need a lord and master onto whose raiment to cling. Someone to shepherd them through this life and tell them when to fetch their tea. And that goes back to my mother-in-law's line "if you act as a pancake, you shall be eaten as one."

The Captain Responds: Ahoy there mate! Thanks for the kind words!

From: Joseph_A_Starbuck/DET_C/MAG-42/FOURTH_MAW@marforres.usmc.mil
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: The Paradigm Shift

You are a genius. Amidst the hail of incoming rounds from all directions, you have found a safe foxhole whereby thoughts can be directed to the internal, and then transmitted in SOS to God's Kingdom. It's obvious you made the connection; it shows in your work. Don't know how you did it, or how you found the time to do it, but you accomplished it still.

I'm Starbuck, and ironically my name is, too - your website piqued my curiosity. My father and brother suffered fates similar to Starbuck, albeit in the hands of today's world. In search of the meaning behind all this, I found God, His Son, my identity and purpose. I found him at home! Indeed, "home is where the heart is!" Now that this has been gently placed in your hands, you may ponder over it until you too discover its glorious miracle, by today's definition.

You are in my prayers. Your pain runs deep, but the oak have grown is glorious and beautiful! You are blessed!

Joe

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there matey! Yer in our prayers too! Avast!

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 16:56:09 -0500 (EST)
From: becket@jollyroger.com
To: "Virginia A. Mason-Schuman"
Subject: Re: Thanks from an "old" gal...

...who has always seen the white whale. Keep the magic going, or we're all goin' nowhere fast. The revolution of ideas has never really died, it has simply been "pinin' for the fjords". Best, Gin.

To: becket@jollyroger.com
From: Sarah

Ahoy dear friends,
It does my soul good to hear reverence for the blessed things in life without the perpetual obfuscation of truth. May the creator treat you well. If your interested in clearing out the postmodern fog with even greater tenacity I recommend the Stand To Reason web site by Christian apologetics speaker Greg Koukl, he deals with relativism and similar issues in a classical way at www.str.org, unfortunately I think your out of the range of these west coast air waves so you can't catch the radio program.

Oh, how tired we grow of the one dimensional soulless mediocrity that is peddled by the mainstream media. I hope the crew inspires the the bright ones of our generation to seek vengeance on the liberal establishment (but not with the weapons of this world) nay, but with those of the written word and the spirit.

Peace be with you!

To: drake@jollyroger.com
From: Jennifer

I really really hope you can respond to this. I don't want to sound... sketched, but I think I'm swimming in dark waters. I read your letter to Rolling Stone, and it could not have come at a more perfect time. You leave me feeling inarticulate and uncertain and I love you for that. Just when I was beginning to think that Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" was the only literary index to reality, when I was ready to swallow another overgenerous helping of mediocrity by surfing the web looking for Derridian anti-pages, I happen on your ship. I just felt my heart swell, you know? I thought I'd never feel that for a written word again, thought I'd never see my human side as anything other than an absurd distortion of a scavenger's instinct, seeking emotional gratification to feed the void inside of me. You've reminded me of my quest and even hinted that I might find... can it be?? friends of like mind! BLESS YOU!

BUT WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW??? I apologize for sounding desperate, but I am terrified, alone, OUT TO SEA BUT HOMEWARD BOUND

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy then mate! We'll see ye back in port! Avast!

From: becket@jollyroger.com
To: Susann Pearson
Subject: Re: Bravo!

Way to go, Maties!

It's about time some present-day young folk busted out and became somebody. You may never FATHOM the depth of my disgust for the X-Generation slacker-bunch who coucheds at endless, commercial-riddled MTV with their "hot-pockets" from Mom's microwave. You may never fully comprehend my sickness with the whole, pointless push of them. Why are they here? What have they ever felt? If they do feel, how would we know? -- they never write about it. And surely they don't seem to read. Shelley is turning over in his Mediterranean grave. MTV. That's the norm. Oh yeah, and commercials. Ugh! Keelhaul 'em. Make them kiss the gunner's daughter. Aye?! Or better yet, toss them overboard as feed for the tigers... the long ones. Arrrrgggggghh. Now there ye be.

Date: Mon, 7 Dec 21:12:49 -0500 (EST)
From: becket@jollyroger.com
To: Stephanie Kennedy
Subject: Re: ADMIRATION

I enjoyed reading your work. You write with great strength and will. I would love to read more of them.

Angel

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: And we'd love to write more!

From: Diana Prewett <------------@hotmail.com>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: killdevilhill

Hey handsome!

Thank you very much for allowing me to use your poetry in my classroom. I know my students will enjoy it. They complain that most poetry is boring, and they don't understand why they have to read it. I feel that if they have the opportunity to read current poetry in modern English, it will help further their education. Please let me know if you have a book of poetry out, I would LOVE to buy a few copies-- I searched Amazon, but I couldn't find anything. I am writing from Clovis, California. I haven't been teaching long, just since August 8.

I know this is a lot to ask, but could you please give me an autobiography of yourself? I would like my students to get a sense of who you are as a person. I don't want to just introduce you as "some guy who posts his stuff on the Net." Thanks!

Diana

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrghr Lassie! Yer coming close to the mystery of The Jolly Roger there, mate, and there are some things I have promised never to tell! But I am much flattered by yer choice of my poetry, and I shall strive to serve yer students as best I can. I haven't had any time to publish my poetry, as I've been too busy writing it and posting it on the net. Avast!

From: Bronwen <-------@fas.harvard.edu>
To: "becket@jollyroger.com"
Subject: thank you

thank you for sending me your "Poetry for a Pristine Girl." i'm a girl, actually; i joined the Jollyroger because you guys stand for things i believe in. i'm a freshman at Harvard, and coincidentally i am in the process of writing a newspaper article about very much the same issues your poem deals with. i've been sort of stuck -- having trouble putting to words what i feel. your poem couldn't have come at a better time. it's inspired me.

so many young women today are missing out on beautiful things -- things that are rightfully theirs by virtue of their femininity and their humanity. lately i've been looking around at my peers -- aggressive, career-hungry girls to whom sexual modesty isn't given a first thought let alone a second -- and i've begun to wonder what it is they're searching for. most of them won't find true happiness in the waters they've chosen to navigate. so many of them don't know -- because nobody's there to tell them -- that their femininity offers them some of the supremest joys God

has given our species. motherhood, caring for your children, loving a husband the way he was meant to be loved are not forms of slavery as so many women believe. they are wonderful, noble, beautiful things. i'm too young to know this first-hand, but my instincts tell me this, and i've also watched my mother stay at home to raise four kids even when it would've have been better money-wise had there been fewer of us or had she worked. God has specific plans for our sex, and in an incredibly brazen and ungrateful fashion we've taken those plans, torn them up, and thrown them back at Him.

like i said, i'm at Harvard right now. i've got some of my own plans to be a journalist, to make some sort of name for myself, but i also dream of a day when i'll get married and have kids. hopefully i will have it in me, if i ever have to choose, not to let my career plans interfere with that dream.

anyway, thanks again for your poem. you guys are great. keep up the good work.

--a happy passenger aboard yer ship

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy mate! 'Tis so true that no amount of money can ever replace the filial bond established between a mother and a child, and it is this bond which is society's fundamental lecture hall for teaching everything there is to know about honor, love, duty, respect, and fidelity. Is there any greater, more ennobling, and more profound occupation than motherhood?

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 22:00:40 -0500
From: Jeremiah McEnerney <--------@epix.net>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: POETRY FOR A PRISTINE GIRL

What beautiful words, Mr. Becket. It's a good thing that one way love set you free, to set your sails on other, uncharted waters. But let me ask you this...better yet, let Mr. Frost ask it:

"Sometimes I have my doubts of words altogether, and I ask myself what is the place of them. They are worse than nothing unless they do something; unless they amount to deeds, as in ultimatums or battle-cries. They must be flat and final like the show-down in poker, from which there is no appeal. My definition of poetry (if I were forced to give one) would be this: words that become deeds."

Fair winds, Jerry

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there mate, and thanks for the education! One of the greatest things about this ship is its crew's wondrous erudition! Ye'll find that we used yer quote in a passage at http://carolinanavy.com.

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 07:21:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Kristin Park <------------@yahoo.com>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: POETRY FOR A PRISTINE GIRL

I stand and applaud not just on poetic talent alone, but poetic courage as well. The ability to touch and go on subjects that are often left leaving the reader with a wishy washy sense of dramatics is rare now a days. I often wonder what leads a writer to their subjects and how much is truth and what lays in fiction....but I felt soul bearing in the words and so I raise my glass.

Kristin

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 14:24:28 PST
From: Lauren Dvorak <---------@hotmail.com>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: smile

i just wanted to tell you that i really appreciated the poem by "becket knottingham" on february 14. i've always felt the hands behind this whole thing were a believer's, now i know. in Jesus, laurie

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 15:01:07 -0500
From: The Gannon Family <------@erols.com>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: POETRY FOR A PRISTINE GIRL

I just happened to stumble upon this site while looking for literary criticisms of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, and I must say that I love it. I plan on being a literature professor after graduation. I always felt as if no other living soul felt the same way about literature that I did, but now I do not have to feel so odd. I have never seen a site like this before. It is amazing!!

BEAUTIFUL POEM ... THANKS FOR SHARING IT WITH ME.

Date: Fri, Feb 04:37:51 -0400
From: babbsey <--------@niner.uncc.edu>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Not exactly pristine. . . .But Trying!!

Becket,

I was touched by your "Poetry for a Pristine Girl." I too, love God with all of my heart . . . . and have also hurt him very badly by allowing myself to be seduced by mortals from the "other" side. I know what it is to yearn for physical beauty, only to find an empty shell within. I am an architecture student, and oddly, I have found this phenomenon to be the case in the realm of building design as well. Many a liberal professor I've known, have, ironically, harped on the crisis of Postmodern buildings (one that is used often as an example: Michael Graves ANYTHING, but chiefly his Portland office building. Beautiful??(perhaps SEXY is more descriptive) facade, but nothing more than Dilbert cubicles within. These professors harp, and then generally tend to go back and contradict themselves in practice (or lack of practice). You sailors ARE definately on to something. Oh, and Becket, would you ever consider a BROWN-eyed girl? No pools of blue to be drowning in here . . . . just an Honest-To-Gosh romantic, North Carolina Smoky Mountain girl, who is trying to become a better human being. (and I'm also doing a little facade renovation on the side!)

Love and a pirate's Arghrgh,

Angie

Date: Fri, Feb 23:06:27 EST
From: NCGD@aol.com
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: I am enraptured with the quality of material for perusal at your site!!!

This is FANTASTIC!!! I want to read more of it but I am trying to finish up my graduate degree right now! As a strong advocate of "real" literature let me applaud what you've done here. Your site is a wonderful service to literature and the web community. I have a strong undergraduate background in the liberal arts, and I miss having someone to discuss all of the great literature and philosophical works that I once adored with on a daily basis. Now - maybe I have found a place where I won't feel strange about spouting Emerson or Thoreau.

Thank you so much! You've helped me to rediscover why I love learning.

Date: Wed, 03 Mar 13:27:09 -0500
From: Mike Gole <---------@tez.net> To: becket@jollyroger.com Subject: The Site

AMAZING!!
PROFOUND!!
PLEASING!!
PROVOKING!!
Just plain Kick ***!!

Whilst sailing the Web Sea, in search of truth and justice, I happened upon this post of ryhmme and reason. A the smile of my face grew, I found a new home! The joy in my heart to find a treasure of intelligent prose and conservative statutes, oh I can hardly bare it. Praise be to God, the maker of noses, for shared beliefs and open minds! I have marked my sea charts, with a mark of righteousness, to guide my ship back to this most pleasant port. Well done and well said!!! Mike Gole aka, Richard James, Soldier of God

Date: Sun, 7 Mar 01:25:41 EST
From: MsXWriter@aol.com
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: A Liberal's Thanks :)

GASP!!

Ah, yes, I can hear it from here--all the way in Michigan. A liberal English Lit/Journalism degree-holder (emphasis on Shakespearean studies) is writing a letter to the conservative revolutionaries of starbuckclassicalpoetry.com. What is the world coming to, dear Beckett?

I have actually been searching for your site for a long time. I am quite happy that I have found it. It is amazingly well-done. What a relief to find a site that is devoted to the Great Works. Our obvious political differences aside, my compliments do not sway. I have been searching for a site where I can peruse others' thoughts regarding Literature--most notably, Shakespeare and Twain, my personal favorites. I have found it with your site.

Keep up the good work--
Ms. X

Date: Mon, 15 Mar 16:25:11 +0200
From: Julia Aitchison <-------@iafrica.com>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Thank you!

Dear Becket,

To whoever wrote on what they learnt at Toni Morrison's fiction class - Thank you, thank you, thank you - you exactly echoed my description of some academics - simple wankers. Laziness, self-indulgence & smugness to the Nth degree. I'm writing from Cape Town; am doing English Honours at the University of Cape Town and am seriously considering dropping it - hence my joy at seeing other sickened reactions to various classes. Kate

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there mate! Don't let school get in the way of yer education!

From: Jack Cuzzi <----------@yahoo.com>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Many Thanks

Becket,

I just read "Poetry for a Pristine Girl". I can't believe it. You've articulated that which I've felt & experienced for many years. Phrase upon phrase found me shaking my head in disbelief (rather, welcomed belief!) - that there was another who thought,felt,struggled in similar ways. Thank you. I stumbled upon the Jolly Roger while working on my Master's thesis/project in Educ Tech (Writing in Webbed Environments).Along with hearing & meeting Ray Bradbury, and reading C.S. Lewis' Abolition of Man alongside That Hideous Strength, I found some antidotes to the Post-Modern poisons forced down my throat. Thanks for the fresh air, courage, reclamations of romance, faith, feminity, truth, language, literature, and Life. I am indeed, thank - full.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Thanks for the kind words, mate! Me poems would all be for naught if I didn't have profound souls to share them with.

From: "Tom Gilbert (Proposal Services Organization)"

To:becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: POETRY FOR A PRISTINE GIRL

Dear Becket -

Have enjoyed your poem (`Poetry for a Pristine Girl') immensely and would like nothing better than to publish it in our online magazine, Creekwalker. We've posted `The Two Nantuckets' by Drake while our `Drake Raft's Great Adventure' by Taylor Stinson is on your Hatteras site. As Drake once wrote, The Jolly Roger and Tawnybark are sailing a parallel course on opposite shores.

We continue to find your site a veritable magnetic north for sensible literature, ethical thought and social commentary in these turbulent times. Creekwalker Magazine can be found at:

http://www.tawnybark.com/creekwalker/index.html

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Agrhrgrhgrh! Everyone voyage on over to Creekwalker Magazine! Captain's Orders! Avast!

To: drake@jollyroger.com
From: Tammy@
Subject: nantucket musings...

drake--

i am overwhelmed by your writing!!! i have just discovered Nantuckets.com, and just finished reading (for the tenth time) your "Two Nantuckets". you express my feelings exactly--even though my summer visits to the island have been few and far between the past ten years. I, too, have been having an intense love affair with the Lady--she has woven a spell around me that nothing can penetrate. i have known Her for all of my 36 years, but have never had the opportunity to spend more than summers, and an occasional few weeks in the winter (my favorite time). i echo yr. sentiments and feel fortunate to have happened upon a "kindred spirit". the visceral feelings i have for Her, transcend the superficial layers that clog Her surface. The germ of wheat lies buried deeply and safely protected. i long to dig deep into Her body and become one with that feeling again. i am planning a winter visit--i must leave this hell hole called nyc. perhaps, then, i will be able to walk with Her, shrouded in fog that holds the key to all of our musings.....blessed be

kezia

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrgrh! Wish we were all on Nantucket now! Perhaps ye would meet me for a some grog and a few tall seafaring tales-- as tall as the good ship Jolly Roger herself-- at the Brotherhood of Thieves.

From: Susann Pearson
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: Your Leanings

Of all the stuff I've read, I love your little stories. They are local colour at it's best. Very good. You lean naturally toward the narrative. You find your comfort there. Interesting where writers find their literary home. Yours is in the telling of a story. The narrative, my boy.

I like the Portrait of Windy "thingy." It was most refreshing and lets your linen fly in the breeze. We got to see it for the unravished thing it was too. What a breath of fresh air. Write on.

S.

From: Susann Pearson
To: Drake Raft
Subject: Re[2]: Your Leanings

Very well, shipmate. Like Windy in my ability to bewitch the brother company perhaps...

But I take no pride in it. Nor entertain feminine frivolity. Nor make a casual affair out of any engagement. I was a captain of my galleon long before puberty put your knickers in a twist. And I sailed this wickid main long before you tenderfeet put to sea. Had my sealegs before you guys weaned yourselves off of Dramamine. Ahoy, indeed.

I was salty when you chaps were still in grade school. My writing practice has known no respite. I have been at it since I was thirteen and my prow is keen. She sails like the devil and fetches anything she looks at, gentlemen. This I can tell ye with a gusto.

Am thoroughy impressed with what you et al have done on the Net. A bracing BRAVO from Washington DC.

The figurative brigantine is all the rage. Let it beckon the slacker punks to the written page.

Let it make of them readers of great literature. And you and I can keep writing it in the mean time...

Write on. and

Fair winds and following seas, S.

From: "C. Lyle"
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: The Word

I can't believe that I sat here and read this whole thing (The Drake Raft Field Trip). It's almost 3:00 am and I don't usually read this much this late. I would normally copy it and read it later, but I just couldn't stop reading. I know I will be thinking about this for days to come. The story comes at you from all angles, and has an incredible mixture of ideas. I love where you seem to be going with this. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

and it had that fresh smell to it-- you know, that one fresh springy smell that doesn't really smell like anything except for itself. You know the kind I mean, and if you don't, you're missing out , so first chance you have, go out sometime right after an afternoon June thunderstorm, and breathe deeply, and then you'll know what I mean.

Yes, I know what you mean. It revives your soul and makes you want to live forever.

Crissala

From: Denise Wagner
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Highlander sends Christmas greetings

Becket:

Highlander sends her most hearty Christmas greetings to you and all your crew. May this Christmas find you home and happy with the ones that you love most. May the winds blow and may there be sunny skies, and may always find your port in the storm. During this semester I have read your poems and Drake's and was moved to tears by what I read. Thank God someone in this world has the courage to write what both of you do, and I would sometime in the future hope to read some of Eliot's poems. May God bless all of you, and have a happy and safe Christmas and New Year Holiday season.

Until I hear from you again, May the Good Lord bless of all of ye. As for me I will be finishing up my finals on December 17, 8, so you won't be hearing from me for awhile. But that doesn't mean I won't be thinking about you. Now as for me I have some gift wrapping to do, and my best tartan to press off. I hope you hear my bagpipes playing....

Love to all,

HIGHLANDER

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 15:30:04 EDT
From: Smcollie@aol.com
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: JOLLYROGER.COM: AMERICAN GIRLS & HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Becket,

Thank you for what has been the best reading I've had this summer. Thank you. As a mother trying to raise a daughter in this society, and trying to tell her that she doesn't have to do drugs, she doesn't have to have sex, she doesn't need an abortion to fit in with the "in" crowd...this page gave me the spiritual lift I needed.

Thank you, because there are times I'm the only one still telling a daughter that it's just fine to be a mother...

Lynda J. Cox
Collies of Wych

Date: Sat, Jun 23:35:24 -0700
From: Claire
To: becket@jollyroger.com

Dear Becket,

How do I put this? Your writings put a smile to my face. Not the generic smile used for the many picture taken of me, but the slow creeping ray of light across my face when I come across something truly wonderful.

This crew and site serves I think the greatest function of the WWW: show some of us that *we are not that weird.* I am not that weird for wrinkling a disgusted brow at MTV and what passes for culture among my peers. I am not a misfit for preferring the classics to the latest issue of Seventeen. And for this I thank you all.

I am headed to a small Christian university in an honors program that proudly offers the Western Canon. From there I will continue to wander your fine site. :)

Again, thanks for the reassurance that there is some group out there who is sane.

Claire

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 10:03:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kristin Park
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: JOLLYROGER.COM: AMERICAN GIRLS & HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

This poem made me want to go home.....you are learning the southern woman well...well done. Young woman, southerner, and Christian

Date: Sat, Jun 12:02:20 PDT
From: "................" To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: great poem!

Dear Becket, great poem you wrote! I always enjoy your insightful and delightfully human perspective. What a talent do you plan on writing any books or getting it published? I'd definitely buy it.

A Fellow Poet, Zach

From: CAPTAIN R
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Misty

Dear Becket,

I just read The starbuckclassicalpoetry.com Classical Poetry Port page, and the photo of "Misty" brought tears and a pain to my heart.

It's not sexism that makes me say that the world of the Pequod is not for women, at least not for women like Misty. God does not think it wrong for men to leave women in the port with hearthfires burning and a light in the window. Don't expect nor ask them to ship aboard the whaler. He created them different, no matter what the feminists say.

(1 Pet 3:7) Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

CAPTAIN R

P.S. Where do I find a copy of "Wrath of the Jolly Roger"?

From: CAPTAIN R
To: Becket
Subject: Re: An American Girl

Dear Becket,

The women who take offense when you open a door for them will be incensed by your poem. The other 90% will sense the romance (perhaps very latent) with which God designed them.

Just a few comments from me elicited by a couple lines in your poem:

Without faith, we ARE dead -- spiritually dead. But, until we are redeemed, we are never better off physically dead. There are only two places for us after we leave this realm according to Jesus: Heaven and hell. The billboard which says, "You think it's hot here?" could have said, "You think you've got it bad here and now?" Jesus said that hell is so bad that you DO NOT WANT TO GO THERE! It would be better to enter Heaven mutilated than to enter hell whole. If plucking out your eye, or cutting off your foot or hand, would keep you from the sin which leads to death (spiritual death, the second death, the lake of fire), then that would be better than keeping all your parts and going to hell. (Matt 5:29-30; 18:8-9; Mark 9:43-48)

Jesus tried many times in many different ways to tell His listeners about the terrible consequence of unredeemed sin. Which is why, when one of my aunts defended Dr. Jack Kevorkian as being a humanitarian who relieved human suffering in a way that we offer unquestioningly to our pets, I pointed out to my aunt that she was assuming that the people so killed were being sent to a condition better than the one in which they find themselves. If you believe Jesus at John 3:3 and 3:5 (and I do), then Kevorkian only would be doing a favor to born-again people.

Many people sometimes WISH that they were (physically) dead. For Christians who know where they are going, one might ask, "Who wouldn't rather be in Heaven than suffering here?" But, for unsaved people to wish themselves dead is the epitome of ignorance, foolishness, and deception. The guy who blows his brains out is saying, "Jesus, I don't believe You." Eternity is a very long time to regret that remark.

My other comment has to do with postmodern liberalism knowing your sword. In the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17), the only offensive weapon is the sword. The sword is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word (beginning of the Book of John). And in the Book of Revelation, the Son of Man has a two-edged sword coming out of his mouth (Rev. 1:16), and He tells the church at Pergamos to repent or He will come fight them with the sword of His mouth (Rev. 2:16); and, when the armies of saints finally ride forth from Heaven (Rev. :13-21), the rider on the white horse is called the "Word of God", and He strikes the nations of the earth "with the sword that proceeds from His mouth."

(Heb 4:12): "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Don't doubt for an instant the power of that sword.

CAPTAIN R

Date: Thu, 20 May 20:08:45 -0500
From: carolyn stout
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: The Jolly Roger

What a surprise to find rebellious literary folk! I am delighted to know there are people your age who beligerently love the classics. That they can teach us morals I couldn't agree with more. Heaven knows the campuses could use some!

From: Gregory Pischea
To: captain@jollyroger.com
Subject: Oh Captain my Captain.....

I just signed on board and wish I had more time to read and hear everything on "OUR" web site. I will return from shore leave soon and will catch up on my required reading.

Short bio... Im a retired United States Marine Corps flight officer who also spent time in a upper class classroom teaching high school American History. Currently, I'm working on two book, with the first almost ready for my publisher. The second is in outline form and involves a prison ship bound for Australia in the early 1800's. I'm a big fan of Lord Nelson, Hornblower and anything about the day long gone at sea. I have over 2 thousand books in my library...

Thanks for having me on board...

From: christina kearneky
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: FRISCO CALLS

Hello Becket,

I haven't received any mail from you lately so I figured you have been busy creating new stuff for your site or I have been removed from the mailing list. Of course I hope this is not the case.

By the way, I wanted to brag about my successful semester; so nice that one of my papers for composition is being submitted to a journal (wish me luck)! You and your friends left a mighty impression on me and all the others who frequent your site--keep impressing us and stay in touch.

Love and God Bless

Christina

From: Glenn Wilson < >
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: Forget Rolling Stone,send your Comments to Chis Matthews CNBC's Hardball

You guys should have sent you byline to Chris Matthews of CNBC's Hardball instead of Rolling Stone. Chris, in his most animated self is bewildered by the new trench coat mafia syndrome, stating "when I went to school I listened to music and read stuff and the jocks were the alpha wolves but I didn't go out and kill anyone." One look at Grungservatives and their discordant philosophy would drive him mad. It's the image-young fogies, where he's attempting to be a hip old dude. Let me sing the song a little longer...Take an American Indian in full battle regalia-US jungle camoflauge pants, ammo clips for his mac-10 on his belt loops, a full breast plate made of dear bones, and full war paint while he's helping a little old white lady cross the road. Terrorist or the original Boy Scout? Grung and Golf clubs, Grung and philosophy, Grung and brains...you've got the establishment bewildered?

I love you stuff, and so for the all the bilge swine at the Jolly Roger a poem with an agenda.

In her is the end of breeding.
Her boredom is exquisite and excessive.
She would like some one to speak to her,
and is almost afraid that I
will commit that indiscretion.

by Ezra Pound

your swab,

Black Jack Shallac

From: Chris Clemence
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: POETRY FOR A PRISTINE GIRL

Becket,

With your permission, I'd like to post your poem, entitled POETRY FOR A PRISTINE GIRL, on my web site. I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable. You did a masterful job at expressing many of the thoughts and feelings I've had on the subject. Thank you for your consideration, and keep up the good work.

Chris Clemence

Please feel free to inspect my site. The URL is:

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Dorm/2388

***THE CREW SPEAKS OUT*** From: "Chris R. Johns"
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Problems in Kentucky

Ahoy,

Greetings from the bluegrass state where the closest thing we have to an ocean is the local LJS.

There is a movement that is currently sweeping the history departments here at the University of Kentucky that I thought you should know about. To complete my university requirement, I took HIS 108 (US history through 1865). The biggest shock awaited me. As the class unfolded, my favorite president, Thomas Jefferson, was trashed. Forget the fact that he was an instrumental founding father who penned some of the greatest documents in history. Forget the fact he led the nation with a sound heart and mind. Forget the fact he doubled the nation's size. All the professor wanted to talk about was his affair with his slave and his hypocritical views on slavery. Aaaaarrrrgggghhh... He slipped into tirades where he dragged Jefferson through the mud and stated that all historians were starting to think along the same lines. Say it ain't so maties. Can they do this?

Chris "Poop Deck Pappy" Johns

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Yeah, I guess they can do that, 'cause Jefferson and the Founding Fathers provided them with the freedom of speech, even though Jefferson & Friends certainly never advocated supporting embittered desecrators of our Western heritage with taxes. You can bet they're spinning in their graves. But too, the founding fathers knew that this would happen. And thus the founding fathers included within the United States Constitution amendments which guarentee us the freedoms that allow us to ridicule that which is ridiculous, laugh at that which is risible, and defend that which is sacred. Jefferson said that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, for he foresaw the corruption of his ideals. Jefferson perceived that God granted man freedom in granting him life, and this fundamental precept instilled within him the faith that in a free society a divine order would prevail, where the righteous and honest would ultimately triumph over all forms of ignorance, tyranny, or corruption. And so it is that in the United Sates we're free to read, respect, and honor Jefferson; we're free to enjoy his exalting words. We're free to allow his writings to meld with our souls and inspire us to become independent, moral thinkers, to follow that never-ending thought I call freedom. And we're free to talk about him and build a literary warship upon which we're free to revel in the richness of the American heritage. Thomas Jefferson once said that he could not live without books, and neither can a moral democracy. Check out the Thomas Jefferson and American Revolution Campfire Chats, which we here dedicate to ye, the fearless readers of The Jolly Roger, on this Independence Day, so that ye might enjoy yer intellectual freedom:

http://killdevilhill.com/jeffersonchat/wwwboard.html http://killdevilhill.com/revolutionchat/wwwboard.html

From: Wda99@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Inspiration

Dear Becket,

Being new to the WWW, I just found the jolllyroger. As a retired engineer, with no writing talent, I was inspired by your writing. You have great writing talent as well as a very logical mind, which an engineer can appreciate.

Keep up the great writing. I will spread the word on the jollyroger in my small world.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there! Beauty's in the beholder's eye.

From: Tealeh@
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: certain poems

Mr. Knottingham,

Are the poems in the killdevilhill gallery yours? They are excellent-I want to know where I can purchase them.

A fellow poet-warrior, jp

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Thank ye! Becket's poems are all free at the moment, and ye can view them at http://killdevilhill.com/gallery.html But ye can purchase Drake's sonnets at http://jollyroger.com/beaconway/poetryofdrake.html

From: WRalph@
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: the drake raft field trip

elliot-

i am loving your book. every un-PC joke my brother and i ever made is in there - the far side lab guy, lesbegay magazine and feminist literature (clittorally speaking is perfect) and the chinese assistant who speaks no english etc etc. i love the kids' reactions to everything, like response of pretending to be homeless to increase sensitivity. i guess they're what older people call refreshing but it's just that they are what we all think and no one says. there is some author, and of course i can't remember who it is right now, whom i love just because he/she always knows exactly what is going on in people's heads. em forster maybe. i'll remember later. all the college stuff is totally true to life - the secret societies, the social life, the theater people, and i love the fact that drake got kicked out of class b/c his poems rhymed. every little nuance actually exists. the people are reminding me of friends of mine. it's great. i hope this jolly roger mission of yours succeeds. if i weren't here, i'd help. write back. weatherly

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Thank ye for the kind review matie! The Drake Raft Field Trip can be ordered at

http://jollyroger.com/rogerlodge.html

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From: MSLYNCH@
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: FATHER'S DAY EXTRA www.jollyroger.com

Ahoy mates!

What an inspiring bit of prose you managed to put together for fathers day, God love ya! Where are all the sane people in the world? Someone let them know we've found a safe haven! Great job!

Thanks,
Mark Lynch

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there parents who're trying to introduce yer children to the Great Books. Check out TREASURE ISLAND at http://jollyroger.com/treasureisland.html

From: John Flugel
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: FATHER'S DAY EXTRA www.jollyroger.com

You guys kick major butt! I am a 15 year old book worm, who defitnely loves this Jolly Roger thing. I like to write, but no one understands my writings. It is an absolute shame that not even the evaluators of knowledge think of me as a simply GOOD writer, they put me in a class of absolute illiterates who do not know what a paragraph is. I am no Shakesphere nor am I close, but for one thing, I have what it takes to become a good writer, and that is dedication, and soul, I probrally cannot spell decently, but I know I am good, I have had my deep, spaced moments with the pen and paper, I know what it feels like to read a good story, or poem, or a simple lovely phrase. But no it is not about what I as an individual believe in, but what the ignorant bunch called the "public" believes in. One shall see I will revenge on those who doubt me, I will rise above the common, and join the philosephers (SP) of the era, where nobleism was worshipped, and self-love was but a thought only thought about by the dreamers the second before they met a good friend of us, who goes by the name of DEATH. I Love you and those around me

John Flugel

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrgrhr there! Keep on reading, writing, and thinking, keep an even keel, steer clear of drugs, MTV sirens, and other aspects of the postmodern fog, and watch yer port side! This generation shall author a literary renaissance, and we need ye to keep yer wit's pistols primed!

From: Sprowl@
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: THE JOLLY ROGER: FATHER'S DAY EXTRA www.jollyroger.com

To the Jolly Roger & Crew;

As a Gen X'r and a father of two small children, (and a student at a Midwestern university that has liberal tendencies), I must say that you are indeed a much needed breath of fresh air. I am fond of the Classics, and I find your email & web site an oasis in the midst of liberal desolation. I have experienced the contemporary required "writings" in some of my college classes, including the extreme feminists whom I am greatly puzzled by (I am amazed by the accusations that I, as a white, European-descendant, a product of Western-culture/civilization, and of course, as a man, could possibly be responsible for all those social injustices & ills...?) So, I am compelled to write that your Father's Day sonnet is indeed refreshing!

I plan to encourage my two boys to read the great Classics that are so ostracized by the PC crowd. Great literature should flourish, and not be censored by the "thought police". Surely, if academia had their way, my children would never read CS Lewis, or even Twain. Such a thing is unimaginable.

In closing, I implore you to keep up the good work. There are In closing, I implore you to keep up the good work. There are many of us out here who read and enjoy the Jolly Roger's good work. As a fellow conservative, Christian, and lover of good literature, I conclude by bidding you to keep the faith!

David Sprowl

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there Mr. Sprowl. Thank ye for the kind words. When yer kids start reading C.S. Lewis and Mark Twain, have them stop on by the C.S. Lewis Campfire Chat and Mark Twain Campfire Chats. No man nor mountain shall come between us and The Great Books.

C.S. LEWIS CAMPFIRE CHAT http://killdevilhill.com/c.s.lewischat/wwwboard.html MARK TWAIN CAMPFIRE CHAT http://killdevilhill.com/marktwainchat/wwwboard.html

From: Barret Dolph
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Keelhauling or Trampling, pick your pleasure....
While to the outside world we may be miles apart there is a close affinity between your ship and our troop. Here in Taiwan I lead young children in the White Horse troop. While after three years of study our children are reading Tolkien, Homer, and Jane Austen. True enough here homework is required, tests are weekly, literature is read, and the students are awake. We both have found that, curiously enough, to be alive, alert, and learning is a good bit more exciting than to be unlearned and numb. So keep those swords, and pens, sharp, continue the course, and if any try to evade your grasp by relocating here we will gladly run them down.

S. Barret Dolph
Headmaster
White Horse Development Center

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrgrh! The world, like the future, is ours! Keep up the good work! Check out the J.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, and the Classics Campfire Chats:

http://killdevilhill.com/tolkienchat/wwwboard.html
http://killdevilhill.com/janeaustenchat/wwwboard.html
http://killdevilhill.com/classicschat/wwwboard.html

From: Herman Melville
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: From a new bucaneer . . .

I spent several years in graduate school for literature and also grew heartily sick of Michel Foucault and multicultural fiction that stank and women who insisted I couldn't "understand" Virginia Woolf because of the genitals with which I was cursed. Any place where you can open a book and read a line like "There is no text," and nobody bats an eyelash, that's madness without a method to't. Sail on, brave pirates. Some day we will live in a world where a book will be judged not by the color of its author, but by the quality of its contents (apologies to MLK).

THE CAPTAIN REPONDS: Argrhrghr! And so it is that we're seeking to unite people with a literature based on the Truth, rather than to divide them with a literature based on skin color and gender. And check out our Virginia Woolf Campfire Chat, where yer free to disucss her as an author, rather than as a feminist.

http://www.killdevilhill.com/virginiawoolfchat/wwwboard.html

*****KILLDEVILHILL.COM JOLLYROGER.COM*******

THE CREW SPEAKS OUT

From: stephanie stout
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Right wing Feminism

Dear Elliot...

Though you probably don't remember me as I'm sure you receive much mail every day from JR fans across the world, I wanted to drop you a line after reading the most current edition of JR. Fantastic work, and I marvel at your passion once again as I did the first time I read a JR issue.

I do, however, have a small bone to pick. Although I'm sure when you are referring to feminists you are referring to far left liberals who wish to destroy men and traditional family values, I would like to argue that there are "feminists" who are right wing. There are some women who celebrate motherhood, hips, and a child's sloppy kiss. Women who treasure their family and would do anything to protect it. Women who love the feel of a child's hand in theirs. Women who adore a good friendship with others. Women who weep with those who can't get past the glass ceiling simply because they are a woman. Women who believe they have a voice and aren't afraid to share it. Women who beam with pride when their daughters get a lead role, become valedictorian, get their college degree, become leaders. Women who wait for the day their children will rise up and call them blessed. These women are the true feminists. These women are the one's who have tried to protect their families from the "other feminists."

With Mother's Day around the corner, let us be reminded to applaud those women who have exemplified the true meaning of feminism. Those who have reared their children, made more PBJ sandwiches than they can count, picked up endless toys, worked hard in their jobs as mother or accountant or writer or astrophysicist--these women are heroes.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrgrhgrh! Every day is mother's day aboard THE JOLLY ROGER! Great letter & well stated! I completely agree that women are awesome. I totally think that women should be provided with an equal opportunity, as should everyone, to pursue their passions. My mom's one of the most inspirational people I've ever known. She's a professor of Sociology, but she always valued raising her kids more than publishing in inconsequential vanity-journals, and I am forever indebted to her for staying home throughout those seventeen years while I took it all for granted. It's the fringe feminists I have a problem with, who detest romance, the Great Books, and the traditional family, because they were never able to create these things themselves. And because they can't have them, they don't want anyone else to either, as that is their selfish definition of equality.

From: CheroKid@aol.com
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Ahoy Capt Johnny Lee Blade! Welcome aboard THE JOLLY ROGER!

Thank ye kindly Capt . Proud to be part of yer crew. Sir there be be lots of mates here to join us if ye give the word, I will show them the light of your ship. The stomping ground I speak of is the college of lake co, in IL. So with your permission I will spread the word with my land lock, truth loving class mates of the great ship THE JOLLY ROGER.

YO HO HO! DEATH TO THE BORING AND POLIITICALLY CORRECT WORDS OF T.V. LAND.

LONG LIVE THE JOLLY ROGER

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Agrhrgrhrgh! Spread the word me merry matie! The ship is ours! Spread the word!

From: Steve Brown
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: your poetry

I liked your poetry; it reminded me about my sailing days in the pacific. well cast off then i must be going now, ta ta!

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there! Glad to hear from ye away down under! I've never windsurfed the Pacific, but I plan to someday soon!

From: Gregg Bailey
To: drake@jollyroger.com
Subject: Postmodern ship spotted in the wake...

Avast!

I have lately been thinking about the whole postmodern scene, and I have come to the conclusion that Nietzsche was right!

Are there any doubts that this slavish love of equality is in essence a war against all greatness? At bottom, the slave's revolt in morality is characterized by resentment against all forms of excellence, a depraved sense of self-importance, and values of decadence. In summa, the post-modern herd moralists fit the Nietzschean critique to a "T." If ye would doubt that prophets exist, gain access to eternity and study yer Nietzsche. Methinks that some great men have proved themselves capable of peeking around the corners of centuries of human history, although I am sure that the post-modernists would think such an idea to be mad.

The fact that the same people who are hysterical over Pat Buchanan appropriate Nietzsche and Heidegger as partners in the great cause of equal rights for all shows that they are intellectual and moral plebians. Imagine Stanley Fish hugging Martin Heidegger and you will see the comedy of the situation. Further, imagine Nietzsche dressed in drag as a proponent of radical political equality. It seems that the man who once said that greatness "requires semen in the blood" is now supposed to *really* mean that semen should be freely distributed as a public service.

If ye would be interested in checking out me web site, be sure to visit http://lobster.connectup.com/~gregb I do some writing and art, and I am always interested in ways of sinking the postmodern ship. It smells of a certain decay, although I'm sure that those aboard prefer the smell of carrion to the sweet smell of spring. If ye would be interested in some writing from a Nietzschean perspective, I gladly offer my services.

Yer mate,

W.G. Bailey (Ishmael)

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: AGRRHRGR! I totally think Nietzsche perceived the dangers of a secular society, and thus he was a prophet of communism, fascism, radical feminism, socialism, postmodernism, and nihilism. But those who commandeer him so as to promote communism, fascism, radical feminism, socialism, postmodernism, and nihilism, shall be made to walk the plank! Agrhrgrhgrhr! Send yer work on in mate!

From: steven walfred
To: captain@jollyroger.com
Subject: glad to meet ya mateys!!

Aarrgh and heave to laddies. It does this old salt good to see such fine buccaneers as yerselves loosing furious grapeshot at the scurvy dogs who fain decree themselves lords o' the sea. Tis would be an honor to serve under ye flag and I would heartily share me booty in exchange for passage on yer fine ship.

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS:

Avast! Welcome aboard, and keep yer mind loaded and primed with an unabridged copy of Moby Dick at all times! Ye never know when someone's sneaking up on ye on yer port side in this postmodern fog.

Ahoy! If ye see the White Whale, drop the crew a line!

From: North Star <>
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: starbuckclassicalpoetry.com poetry port

Dear Becket,

I enjoyed reading your essay very much. The spirit of your mission is extremely exciting. I ran across the Jolly Roger and Starbuck a few days ago, and this mysterious, adventurous feeling has crept into me. Something about you and your partners' words have stirred my sleeping soul. I have become so caught up in my career and my graduate work that I forgot the youth that used to write poetry, that used to shout out a battle cry for change. Last night, for the first time in eons, I set myself to the task of writing my girlfriend a poem. I felt so invigorated! I worked on it until three in the morning, and at the last line, I knew that this was the most worth-while creation that I had made in years. Thanks for letting me aboard.

Your mate,
Northstar

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Argrhrghr there! Many times have I stayed up late, plundering infinite treasures by the tip of me pen. 'Tis the greatest of feelings, when noble inspiration fills yer sails, and ye find copious booty in all corners of yer mind. 'Tis something the postmodernist perpetually envies.

From: Sherry Vowel
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Wonderful Website

Dear Mr. Knottingham,

I don't quite know how I came across your site (might be because I'm re-reading Moby Dick), but I'm glad I did. You write beautifully.

It's unfortunate that many of your instructors seem interested only in money, politics, or towing the politically correct line; however, their disinterest seems to have started you on a noble quest--to gather together the orphans left floating on their coffin-life buoys and to give them a safe port to sail in to and out of again, knowing they will always be welcomed back.

Continue thy noble quest and take heart; not all instructors are egoists (unfortunately, some have I met), nor are all thirtyish persons materialistic moneygrubbers (these, too, have I known).

Good sailin' to ye,

Sherry Vowel (33-year-old English prof, who teaches because she loves to hear her students think out loud)

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: ARGRHRGR! Were I one of yer students!

From: Gharris
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: How can I learn?

Ok, I found this site looking for info on a report after reading Pride and Prejudice in an AP English class. I'm a Senior in a small Middle west high school. I've been a frequent visitor since I first found you guys. Have read P&P, The Sun Also Rises, Red Badge Of Courage, The Great Gatsby, and now The Scarlet Letter for my AP class. Bought a bunch of classics from a used book store (Lord Jim, Poetry and prose by John Milton, Farewell to Arms, Heart of Darkness) to read this summer. Going to St. Thomas University in St Paul next year. How do you guy's write such great stuff? I've used 2 ink tanks for printouts and have about 20 bookmarks to various places on your site in my browser. I'd love to learn to write poetry like that but not sure how or where to start. "Ubi abundavit peccatum superabundavit gratia!"

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Ahoy there! If ye'd like to learn to write poetry, fall in love, read Shakespeare, Melville, and Milton, and then let yer spirit express yer sentiments until ye've won her heart. It's how I learned back in Ohio, one glorious September.

From: Pam S.
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: thank you

Thanks for putting such a cool site on the internet. I just came upon this site in my travels, and haven't had time to thoroughly enjoy, but have bookmarked it and plan to come back very often. As a freshman in high school, I agree with some of the other postings that we are told to slack off because it doesn't really matter. Thank you for turning my brain back on again, and making me realize what the world has to offer.

- Kirsten

THE CAPTAIN RESPONDS: Agrhrh! The wind's rising for this generation, I say. The deeper ones have yet to speak for themselves, and we shall be captaining the millenium's renaissance, or something!

From: LUDWIG L
Subject: upon this sight.

I was searching the net for information on the 101 Airborne division during WWII and somehow ended up at your web site --I'm so glad I did! What a wonderful place to visit and I will visiting again!

I feel like I've found a diamond mine --Great stuff!

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 18:43:36 +1000
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Ahoy!

Ahoy maties!,

I'm just writting to send a message to ye'all that your site is truely magnificant. I'm a newcomer me'self, an aussie chick with a love of literature.

Your newest shipmate, casio132.

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 22:29:59 EDT
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: Re: Ahoy rather be red! Welcome aboard THE JOLLY ROGER!

Avast!

I've found me ship at last! Is there yet romance, chivary, men willing to write rhyming poetry to win a wench? (As I did, so long ago) still longing for that magic when words stir more than intellect? I'm astounded, but...

Why not!

Regards, RB red

Date: Wed, 18 Aug 12:06:20 -0500
To: becket@jollyroger.com
Subject: businessphilosophy screed

Dear Mr. Knottingham:

I found the Jolly Roger site by accident, looking for likely sites for my students to explore (I teach early American history, never one of the "hot sellers" in academics), and read through your essay. As a Unitarian-leftist- skeptic academic who has (oddly enough) never had any trouble connecting the greats of the past with the present day, I can only say "good for you"--the renaissance will come in time, the jeep and (maybe) the girl hopefully a little sooner.

With best wishes,

David

Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy