EILEEN CHOW HESSIAN REGIONAL SERVICES LORING JOINT USE FACILITY, MAINE

18 November, 2005

Hey Aunt Eileen!

Your favorite niece reporting in here. What's new in the world of nuclear mayhem? Have you heard the rumblings about bringing Seabrook back on-line here in New Hampshire? I'm dying (pardon the pun) to find out how Hessian is handling disposal of the old warheads at Loring. It's ironic that you were Mother Goose over those bad boys for more years than I c an count, and now you get to pick up the mess as a civilian. Better than the alternative, I suppose. Watch that dosimeter and come visit soon.

I don't know if you've been following the news from my neck of the woods, but things are getting ugly. The cold has really set in, and it seems to freeze all these yahoos in place with it. My "mediation" consists of frantic shuttle diplomacy between petulant Good Ol' Boys with too much pride to sit in the same room with each other. Of course they don't take me too seriously. Both the Union and the Bosses seem determined to *chong dou fu zhe* - remember your Cantonese? To go the route of the overturned cart. Writing that makes me think of my father; I still miss him a lot.

About the strike - and there *will* be a strike, I'm afraid - it will be an epic disaster, worse than anything this region has ever seen. The economic ripples will reach every corner and every dinner plate. It is so frustrating to realize that, for example, the overtime for fire and police protection is coming directly out of the new elementary school. All because a tiny cadre of pig-headed louts are terrified of making any concessions.

I've tried *everything*, Eileen - used all my persuasive skills. I even re-read my undergraduate rhetoric text. My only strength is my disarming appearance - small, female, and wheelchair bound, I am certainly no threat to these testosterone-soaked chumps. It gets me access, but once I start talking, they stop listening. Rod Masterson, who is the President of ACWU, just grins and nods his large red head. "Yes, Ms. Chow, got a point there, Ms. Chow." I tried an emotional appeal - I looked into his Marine Corps record and found that he served in the Gulf under Walter Boomer, commanding a combat engineering company that was one of the first over the berm, one that got chewed up by the tail end of the Republican Guard. I got to talking about the war, and brought up the interservice and international concessions that were made to save lives and secure a victory. We got to talking about teamwork and the give-and-take of command, and wheels were turning in his head, and then he saw where it was leading and it was back to "Yes, Ms. Chow." A brick wall.

I'm tired. I'm not sure how I can get these people to the table, but I'm determined that there is a way. I described it one night as a Gordian knot, and my friend Andrew, bless his heart, said, "just cut it." It'll take a pretty big blade. Wish me luck.

Much love,

TULA

PS: Send cookies.