Dave Sim's blogandmail #223 (April 22nd, 2007)

Package of photos and a nice letter from Alexandre Tremblay of St.-Jean-Richelieu dated Feb. 20.


Dear Dave Sim,

I meant to write this letter and to send the enclosed package, a (great) deal sooner. I'm afraid that procrastination was raised to a new level, as the pictures included are those from the first Bible reading that you did last summer. You might call the laminate a very late "end of Cerebus" gift. I like to call the picture: "God's Chair". (Don't worry, by God I do not mean Dave Sim. It would also be fitting to call it: "Dave Sim's chair", but that would be a tad less artistic).


Another reason why I did not write sooner is that I always have a million things to write you about, but I don't take the time to actually do it. So I will just write this short letter, but at least send you the pictures.


The regular pictures will, I presume, be at least of some use for the Cerebus Archive. I will be keeping my own copies, as they may be useful later. I will be attending University in the near, near future, studying in psychology, driven by the sole intent of having "official" credentials to put into effect my plan to reorganize and revolutionize the world of education. If God wills it, you may, before the end of your days, witness the Dave Sim Wing of an institution, at which point the picture of my brother, you and I would proudly hang upon its walls. (Ya gotta think big!)


The only point that I will bring up in this letter is again the Cerebus Archive. We bought Collected Letters after the Bible reading (we ran into your friends at Now and Then Books). So my brother Fred and I just wanted to say, (in regards to the custodian aspect of the Archive, and the related difficulties of work visas and such), that we are both Canadian citizens and would at some point in the future be glad to take up the job of protecting the Archive.


As ever thank you for your time.


Before I forget, let me mention that Now & Then Books, the World's Oldest Comic-Book Store is still in business as of this writing (April 5). Give Dave Kostis a call when you get a minute to congratulate him. The betting was that he couldn't make it past Christmas.

NOW & THEN BOOKS - 519-744-5571





Well, the "Dave Sim Wing" of an institution seems further and further away three years after I was writing those letters, Alexandre. Thank you for the laminate, over-sized picture of the rocking chair that I used at the Registry Theatre and the other smaller photos as well. It was kind of poignant getting them and looking at the picture of the "crowd" that first time out where I had thought, well, you have to start small and build from there -- little realizing that the eight people who showed up was going to be the largest turnout for one of the readings and that two of them would leave about fifteen minutes in. Seriously Failed Experiment was what I was thinking looking through the photos (also funny that you would take a photo of The Regency Apartments -- obviously for the High Society connection, however they're only a few years old -- if you had told anyone why someone from Quebec was taking the picture they wouldn't have had a clue what you were talking about). I had been really sure that the "No Preaching" Scripture Readings were a good idea, that it would work. In retrospect it might have worked somewhere else but not in Kitchener. In Kitchener, if you're interested in scripture you go to church and get it there. And, as I discussed last week, I'm the only person who sees scripture as being narrative. The only reaction anyone could have would be "wow, too many disconnected anecdotes all at once." People referred to it as Bible Study, again conforming to the idea that what you do with scripture is to grab a disconnected anecdote, put it under the magnifying glass and study it, syllable by syllable.


I left the chair and the carpet there for the Registry Theatre to use. Community Theatre isn't exactly known for having enormous budgets for set decoration. I still plan to continue with the readings, but Trevor's just going to record them here at the house and, since I'm not having to rent the premises, we can do it at something less than the grueling three-hour sessions I was doing at the Registry.


But, it's a funny thing how these things work. A couple of weeks after your reminders of my Seriously Failed Experiment came in, I got a letter from David W. Johnson and inside there were two $1,000 money orders for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region with a little parenthetical note that he hoped some of the money could be used for hygiene and showers. I mailed them to Katharine Schmidt at the Food Bank along with a suggestion that she might want to share some of it with Joe Mancini at The Working Centre where they do have a clothing/hygiene/hot showers program for the disadvantaged as per David's request. She faxed me back that that's what she would do and wished me good luck with getting the scripture readings going again.


$2,000 for the poor of Waterloo Region. Not bad for a Seriously Failed Experiment.

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REPLIES POSTED ON THE CEREBUS YAHOO! GROUP
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If you wish to contact Dave Sim, you can mail a letter (he does NOT receive emails) to:

Aardvark Vanaheim, Inc
P.O. Box 1674
Station C
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 4R2

Looking for a place to purchase Cerebus phonebooks? You can do so online through Win-Mill Productions -- producers of Following Cerebus. Convenient payment with PayPal:

Win-Mill Productions

Or, you can check out Mars Import:

Mars Import

Or ask your local retailer to order them for you through Diamond Comics distributors.