An open letter to the FBI on the occasion of a Salt Lake City raid
Agent Dale Cooper
If I hadn’t become a filmmaker, I would have been an FBI agent. I feel confident I would have gotten in… I’m smart and disciplined and a good problem-solver. As a child, I read every detective story and mystery book in the library… literally. I was the kid who played detective instead of cops and robbers. I staked out neighbors’ garages and houses in elaborately imagined crime stories. I would have never believed you if you’d told me that as an adult I would feel deeply disillusioned with the FBI.
My impression of an FBI agent was a stalwart defender of American justice and a tireless fighter against crime and violence. It seemed a noble and righteous vocation. Digging through evidence, interrogating witnesses, following leads, analyzing clues, and getting your man (or woman). That man or woman would be someone who committed a crime against an innocent individual, someone who was a threat to society and a danger to our freedom.
Ironically, it was the story of a very peculiar FBI agent that drew me into filmmaking and away from dreams of working for the bureau. Agent Dale Cooper drove into the town of Twin Peaks and my bedroom television one night in 1990. The mystery and beauty of that world entranced me, and I became obsessed with the idea of creating fictional worlds. Agent Cooper was intuition and virtue embodied. He was everything an FBI agent should be: concerned with justice, open to unique ways of solving a case, and always alert to the changing dynamic of a case. He never took the question of good and evil at face value and never let prejudices get in the way of seeking the truth. And he always had time for a slice of cherry pie and a damn good cup of joe.
Making connections
The amazing political blog Down With Tyranny just put up a great post on meat-eating and its environmental impact. The post mentions Thom Hartmann, a truly genius writer and radio talk show host. I have not read his latest book mentioned here, but I did read The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, What Would Jefferson Do?, and The Prophet’s Way, and they each had a huge impact on my thinking. Apparently, in the new book Thom says (quite accurately), “A sudden and worldwide shift to vegetarianism… would have more impact on global warming than if every jet plane and car in the world were to fall silent forever.”
Down With Tyranny also mentions Cheri Shankar’s recent Huffpo post on the same subject.
And they mention us! Howie Klein, the writer, saw a test screening of the film:
“Last year my friend Phil took me to the screening of a groundbreaking movie that is mostly filmed, Bold Native; they’re still working on it. I still haven’t gotten it out of my mind.”
