Dear Mr. Kilbey, Mr. Koppes, Mr. Powles, and Mr. Wilson-Piper:

I am writing to ask for your forgiveness. My sin was that of a lack of faith in the Church. After listening to your band faithfully since 1984, I had lapsed into other musical tastes and wandered off away from the band’s music sometime around the release of Sometime Anywhere. I write you as a loving admirer and fellow artist as I have now re-discovered the band’s inspired and breath-taking output since then, most recently with Untitled #23, a work of sublime resistance against world-weariness. It is an album created in a world and an earth established on a plane of insight so far removed from our dreary time of financial crises and cynical politics that I frequently wonder if the band had made some sort of bargain with spirits from another world as they were creating it.

This album has been a spiritual and artistic tonic in my simple life of working and taking care of my elderly parents here in south Florida, a cultural and spiritual zone of daily barbarism and crass ignorance. To listen to Space Saviour, Dead Man’s Hand, and Happenstance in my modest apartment by the Atlantic is to be imbued with resolve, courage, and determination, as well as awe. The resolve is to continue to grow and develop as an artist and a son, lover, and friend. The courage is to want to grow as an artist (a painter and photographer). The determination is to never accept the simple-minded cynicism and deathly commercial spirit that envelops artistic practice in a world that reduces every action, every production, and every relationship to a dollar figure.

Untitled #23 comes from the muses, the gods, and the angels whose aura shines on The Church. That they choose The Church, and have never let them down in over 30 years, is a testament to the spirit and will of each of you to grow and gel as men and a band. As I now warmly embrace every single one of your albums that I had not encountered in my time of exile from the band, stupidly thinking that Sometime, Anywhere was the beginning of their end.

I first started listening to your music when I was about 17 years-old, on my way to high school. My friend Jerome Duran had lent me a compilation tape that included Electric Lash. From then on it was pure bliss, love, and lust. The music evolved and so did my love for the band, from The Blurred Crusade (to this day my favorite with “Fields of Mars” still being my favorite Church song) all the way to Priest=Aura, whose sublime atmospheric sonic booms resonate in the ether of my dreams and nightmares.

(to be continued)

Dear Mr. Tebow:

I am writing to wish you a speedy recovery from your recent concussion and to thank you for your awe-inspiring character and sportsmanship. I am a Gator alum and longtime Gator fan. But I am writing you as a friend and someone who is concerned only with your well-being and life after football. It is for this reason that I urge you to take as much time as necessary to properly heal from your injury, even if it means you miss the remainder of the season. Life and your health are more important than football and your contributions as a man of honor and character will always exceed anything you accomplish on the gridiron.

I have watched you play since your first game in 2006. Everything I read and see about you impresses me greatly and inspires me to be a better person, friend, and son. I want to thank you for your courage, grit, character, goodness, integrity, selflessness, and leadership. You embody the ancient idea of the hero and you continue to serve as a profound inspiration in my life. You are a wonderful role model to children and adults everywhere. Such is your influence that it transcends the world of sports. But I am sure you know this already, yet you remain humble and honorable. You are a true testament to all that is good and true in people and you have done your parents proud.

I could never express my gratitude for your qualities, your comportment, and your integrity. These are qualities that I, as an artist, a businessman, and a friend, try to live by every day of my life. I know that I have not always succeeded in doing so but I continue to strive to become great, to become someone who is loving, kind, and good to those less fortunate, and one with empathy for the suffering of others – values that I consider to be central to the Christian faith.

I want to send you my wishes for a speedy and safe recovery. I pray for it and for your long and prosperous life full of joy and fulfillment. I will never forget you Tim Tebow, even long after this year’s college football season and when you are retired from the NFL. I send you all my thoughts for a healthy future and I invite you to call on me at any time if you ever have need for a new friend, a contemporary artist or if you are ever in the South Florida area so that I may invite you to my family’s home for a fine Greek meal. Again, I thank you for being such a shining example of goodness and integrity.

Sincerely,

George A. Magalios

Dear Mr. President:

Congratulations on your historic victory in a remarkable campaign. I am writing you to thank you for your courage and leadership. I am an artist and entrepreneur whose background as a philosopher and political theorist has meant that I have often, to my regret, relegated direct political involvement behind theoretical concerns. I have never written an elected official before and I am generally someone whose political viewpoints could best be described as green and left of left. I have often been very disillusioned by the Democratic Party’s inability to offer national healthcare, swear off the corrupting influences of Washington corporate lobbyists, and stand up to former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney’s reign of greed and terror. After watching your victory speech on election night and your inauguration speech, I was moved to tears. I remain moved and inspired by your courage, dignity, grace, intelligence, fortitude, and integrity. I pray that they may always be your friends and trusted allies in times of crisis and joy.

After eight years of darkness I am so proud to be an American by choice (I was born in Canada)! I am once again excited to read the news and the political analyses. I am thrilled that you are honoring your principles now that you are in office. I am grateful that you ordered the closure of the American military presence in Guantanamo Bay. I thank you for implementing the highest standards of ethics for your staff members. I thank you for your economic stimulus package. I pray that you will also end American military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere as soon as possible so that the world may see the United States as a harbinger of peace and not war. I pray as well that you will make the dream of national health care a reality for all Americans and end the shame of our greedy and unfair health system.

I am excited at the prospect of having a president who values intelligence, thoughtfulness, wisdom, decency, and integrity in his dealings with other countries, his political rivals, and his fellow Americans. Yours is a special story Mr. President and watching you and your lovely family so full of happiness and strength on inauguration day inspired me to reflect on the angels that bless you all. I pray that they will always shine on you and protect you from the darkness and negativity that will inevitably visit you while you are President.

I encourage you to safeguard your integrity, your highest principals of honor, dignity, and decency. I urge you to protect all the great power of love and wisdom that helped bring you to office. I ask that you never lose sight of the light that is your family. I encourage you to preserve your optimistic spirit. Never give up. Never give in to cynicism. Remember that you will always have friends like me when the bright times of optimism occasionally recede into the shade of darkness. Your election was historic not just because of the color of your skin, but also, if not more so, because of the strength and charisma of your character. Your goodness and your integrity are greatly needed Mr. President and I want to tell you that they have touched me, and many in my life, deeply already.

If I can ever be of service to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are ever in the South Florida area, please feel free to call on me so that I may have the honor of hosting you and your family for dinner. I send you and your family all my love and wishes for a successful, prosperous, and peaceful presidency and eight years in the life of the United States of America.

With All My Love and Respect,

George Anastasios Magalios