"SUSANNA SAYS--"

from New York

61.

Hi Everybody:

+ ?

It is really fascinating to realize there are so many of us But it is even more fascinating to verify that most of us are pretty nice citizens, fairly intelligent people and quite harmless to the rest of society I have had the privilege of meeting quite a few new friends in these last months, all of them wonderful human beings, In every single case I've found that the most burning desire (aside from dressing of course) has been to meet others To share with others a secret untold for a lifetime Our member Pegie Val Addair maintains that the essence of TVism is "alone-ness", She tells me that basically the TV doesn't need others to be "herself", I most violently disagree with Pegie. (violent in a lady like way of course) I have seen it happen over and over again Once a TV finds another TV or someone else who understands "she" will long for that company and the dressing up in solitude will have lost much of its appeal You should be at my apartment some morn ing and hear that phone ring, 10, 15 times all TVs wanting to chit chat, to feel that they aren t alone always asking when I m going to have another get-together at home Pegie is right when she says that a good many TVs are afraid of meet- ing others because of timidity, scared of not being able to com- pete with more experienced "sisters" Granted. But once that timidity is overcome and the first get-together takes place. that shyness vanishes. Some TVs can achieve a more feminine appearance than others, some are actually pretty others are not But I say: So what? We do not look for each other's pany because we want to hold a beauty contest That' ridiculou: We do know that solitude goes against "human-ness" and that one of the greatest punishments inflicted on human beings through- out history has been that of solitary confinement. That is the lot of most TVs.....solitary confinement within the limits of a room--locked with chain and key...scared of the slightest foot- step outside. That is why it is so important to end this se- cret lonely expression. It is not good for mental health.

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