How can I possibly explain myself? I signed on to be the official spokesperson for phase 11, and up until now I've been silent, or perhaps I will remain silent, paralyzed, lacking the courage to press the send button like so many times this month. No, this one I will send in, its my last chance:

Probably I am remembered by most of you for my role as Dr. Spock: unemotional, technical, confidant. But in real life I am none of these. Truly I am unable to express the depth of my isolation caused by this stigma. My role as the official phase 11 spokesperson was finally going to be my chance to catapult my career out from under this rock. As the official phase 11 spokesperson I was going to soar past perfection, not just as an actor, but as a person. However as I discovered the true meaning of phase 11, I became increasingly intimidated by this pack of powerful people. Not that any of you would have intended for me to feel this way, but the question remains: How did I get chosen for this role when any one of you could easily out do me? Then this question was washed away like sand in my wave of curiosity: Just how would phase 11 unfold as a uniquely wonderful experience for each person? I was frozen, speechless...

I camped across the river from phase 11.

Please pause your initial reaction at that statement to judge me as a freak, for I assure you I was not sneaking around. I was not lurking in the shadows. No I never even attempted to approach the official phase 11 campsite. I just sat there in the sand, watching the stars restlessly, but comforted by your warm laughter as it leapt across the water.

Even the incense of the unexpected aliens, didn't break my meditation. What would Langston Huges say? I guess he would only comment on the great desperate island dividing the phases. Well what about Shakespeare, could he write some witty phase comedy? I was searching in circles for some brilliant truth, ready to burst across the river at the instant it occurred, so eager to pass my announcement around the campfire; but I was thinking too hard to realize something so simple. Yes the most elegant phase phrase, the most meaningful statement I could possibly make as the official phase 11 spokesperson, has finally occurred to me amongst the aftermath of phase 11. And hence I close my soliloquy with this truth:

See you at phase 12!

love
leonard