Letter from Derrick Jensen!

A few days ago, a couiple of days before Christmas and in the depth of night, I wrote a long anticipated (by me at least hehehe) e-mail to one of my favourite authors, a person I admire enormously that has influenced much of my thinking. His name is Derrick Jensen, and he is also considered one of the most vocal and dedicated activists who challenge our conception of the civilization we have developed to live in.

I have read much of what Jensen has written, and I find all of it sublimely thought provocative. Whether I agree with Jensen's arguments or not, and I can't tell whether that is more often than not since I am often too engrossed in thought to figure it out, they are always extremely convincing and somewhat of a paradigm shift. His ideas, however, are so dense and well articulated that I would not, and indeed could not, paraphrase them. I indeed asked to ask Mr. Jensen if he would grant me permission to reproduce some of his writings on my blog, and here is our exchange:

My Initial e-mail



Greetings Mr. Jensen,

My name is Ruben Rosenberg Colorni and I am an International Public Administration and Political Sciences student at The Hague University in The Netherlands, representative of many student bodies and, perhaps most importantly, an admirer of your writings most of which I have had the pleasure and privilege to read. I am contacting you today both as a fan and as an amateur writer, to express my pleasure in reading your books and making a special request, if you'd be so kind to grant it.

It would be difficult to include all the personal reasons that have led me to the creation of my blog and, consequentially, this request. Suffices to say I am have become increasingly disillusioned by the way our human civilization has developed, as you have poignantly expressed in your "Endgame" series. Not only that, I have become increasingly disillusioned with a lethargic, corrupt and opportunistic political class which is willing to sacrifice the well being of its peoples, constituents and its planet for private and extremely limited interests (even if those interests were wide I still would not agree with the violent exploitation of our planet for human benefit, which is ultimately self destructing).

I have just begun writing my online blog, which you can visit (and you would honour me with a comment if you feel so inclined) at http://alternativepoliticalnews.blogspot.com. After years and years of expressing my frustration on paper and conserve those writings for my own future reading pleasure, I decided to seek a wider audience. As I have mentioned, I am at my first arms with the blog and blog writing in general, but I intend to write extensively on issues pertaining to indigenous tribes, political, economic, environmental, human rights and sustainability issues, in the broad terms of such words.

I would like to request permission to copy and publish extensive parts of your writings within my blog, with appropriate references to your works of course, in order to bring your ideas and conviction to my (albeit still limited) audience, and spread the incredible insight they provide. Of course I realize the need for limitations on the extensiveness of length of publication (if I were to publish a chapter a week, I would rapidly contribute to driving you out of business as a writer) and thus wonder what your conditions for publishing your works may be.

Once again, I would like to reiterate my admiration for your writings and your relentless dedication to the dismanling inherently and ultimately self destructive conception of our civilization, which strongly resonates with my ideal to dismantle the political system that is associated with the perpetuation of such system. I wish you the best on your future endeavours, and a wonderful time for the upcoming holidays.

Sincerely Yours,
(an admirer)

He replied very quickly, within twelve hours, with the following e-mail (I omitted his assistant's name and e-mail for privacy concerns)

Derrick Jensen's Reply


Dear Ruben,

Thank you for your note. Thank you also for your kind words. And thank you especially for your good work.

Sure, you can post parts of my published work on your website. thank you for asking. How long are the longest pieces you want to use? Perhaps we could limit each one to a couple of thousand words?
Please run each thing you want to post past my assistant, XXXXXX, <xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx> before you post it.

Your website looks really good!

Thank you!
Derrick

Firstly, I was pleased that such a wonderful author was so quick to respond and welcoming in accepting my request. Secondly, I'm really excited to be able to bring to you some of the knowledge and ideas I've had the privilege to absorb from his writings. Thirdly, nothing I could say about him or his books, and no segments of them which I will be posting, would do justice to reading a whole one of his books. So, trying not to sound like a commercial, I strongly suggest that if you wanted to buy yourself a present for Christmas and you are a bit late and haven't come up with one yet, check out his website and order one of his books (The "Endgame" is particularly mindblowing)!

I will be choosing which segment to publish during my trip to Rome to see my 105 year old grandmother, and will be back with a choice before the new year!

I wish you all a wonderful festive period!