1503 E. Park Ave., Apt X8
				Valdosta, GA  31602-3288
				New Year's 1995

Dear Treasured Relations,

	Once more I find myself at the computer, reflecting back on the 
events of the past year, and I come to realize that 1994 was the year I 
finally joined the 1990s.  From cable TV to postmodern poetry, from 
contemporary alternative music to computerized e-mail, from relativist
philosophy to fouled-up rapid transit, I realize we're all products, 
perhaps victims, of our times.
	I went on line for the first time in March.  Since then I have 
experienced the ecstasy of near-instant communication over the net, and 
the agony of busy phone lines and downed computers.  Right now, over a 
dozen people are receiving this very greeting via e-mail, rather
than snail mail.  I discovered that though I can utilize the internet for 
substantive communication,there is an awful lot of garbage out there.  
Computers are a means, not an end, to the problems of our society--a 
statement I made in a column for The Orlando Spectator last 
summer and continue to debate with a friend of mine who works for NASA.
	I've written for another Spectator this year, that's the 
Valdosta State University Spectator, my campus newspaper.  During the 
fall, I and another writer did the "point/counterpoint" feature where we 
debated hot issues--my most controversial piece was on the military.  
Other publications this year include a poem, "The Battle on My Bathroom 
Floor," in VSU's literary magazine, Odradek.  I have written quite a 
number of poems this year--almost three dozen--including writings for 
poetry classes in which I made a real breakthrough, feeling out a new 
fragmented, postmodern style, almost along the lines of Susan Howe, and I 
am quite pleased with the direction my poetry is taking.
	Though I have also written an interesting short story about lost 
idealism and Tiananmen Square, by far my most exciting writing this year 
was completing my book, Stupid Stories, Dreadful Drama, and Putrid 
Poetry:  Selected Works of Jonathan Chisdes.  As the title
implies, it is a collection of some of my best works, united by certain 
themes and situations that show, as a friend put it, "the incarceration 
of the 1990s," but with an idealism about overcoming it through the 
personal--for it is inside the individual where hope shines, where the 
great moral strives take place.  One of the reasons I wrote the book was 
at the urging of  a dear family friend, Sol Liskin, to whom I partially 
dedicated it, and I was greatly saddened three weeks ago when he died,
but I comfort myself in knowing that he lived to see my book completed,
if not published.  Still, I will miss this great man who inspired me.
	My graduate studies at VSU kept me quite busy in 1994.  Six
classes and a half-dozen presentations.  I've written major papers on a
wild but little known play by W. B. Yeats called "The Herne's Egg," Frost's
"The Road Not Taken" and his relationship with Edward Thomas, the daemonic
in Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and Lamia, and the relativism in
Thomas Berger's Arthur Rex.  Somehow I've managed to keep up a 4.0 GPA
and for it I was awarded the Graduate English Department Scholarship in 
front of the whole school by the president.  I was also inducted into
Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, and elected its vice-president.
That job includes chairing a committee whose members can't coordinate 
their schedules.
	Back in January, I had some social problems--a break with friends
in Georgia--but I still had several good friends in Orlando whom I got
to see several times.  And I also got to see the majestic splendor of
Niagara Falls, reflected on the meeting of the constant and the flux.
And I also got to visit both of my sisters--Judi in NY state and Sarah
in Virginia.  On my way back from Sarah's, I was on a plane that hit
major turbulence, was three hours late, sat me next to a crying baby,
and lost my luggage--typical air travel in the 1990s.
	But it was worth it--especially when I flew up to New Jersey in
July for the wedding of one of my longest friends, Barry Federovitch,
where I served as an usher.  We had an exciting bachelor party at Yankee
Stadium (before the strike), and I got to witness some interesting
Catholic and Filipino wedding customs.  At the reception, I got to
slow-dance with the maid of honor, the prettiest girl there.
	By far the most exciting thing to happen to me is getting a job
with VSU's radio station, WVVS 90.9fm.  I was in training for six
weeks until I got my FCC license on November 17.  I play college/
alternative music, make announcements, and comment (occasionally
humorously) on the music or campus events.  I also read the day's news
every weekday at 10:00am, and I help out with the student forum talk
show.  This can lead to bigger things, such as my own talk show, or
a job at a commercial station.
	I do not know if I will pursue the radio/communications path
after I get my degree in less than a year, or if I will go into
teaching, journalism, publishing; exciting decisions lie ahead in
1995.
	I wish every one of you a year full of life, and I pray that
we can keep in better touch this year.  I treasure our relationships,
and in an age of fragmentation and isolation, they become more and more 
valuable.  Hang in there.

		Peace on Earth,

		Jonathan Chisdes

		(912) 245-0780
		jchisdes@grits.valdosta.peachnet.edu