Well, being an Ayn Rand reader, I do prefer being respected rather than liked, so your letter was actually a compliment in my mind. And it gave me a chuckle! I am glad you are a striving-to-improve environmentalist, and the Sierra Club is a very good organization although I do wish they would come out more strongly for population stabilization. I believe that we cannot clean up the air and the oceans and save the forests and the animals etc. unless we first ensure that the human population stops growing! In my lifetime (42 years), the world population has more than doubled! It makes me sad that environmental organizations are afraid to put in their list of “Top Ten Things You Can Do” is to have only 2 kids or fewer. Every enviro group should have population as its top priority because virtually all the man-made problems of our eco-system stem from that.

As for “Kidsongs”, no, that is not I – as those who heard me on the Baywatch CD know, I am no singer! I googled and you might be confusing me with Alexandra Picatto.

Thank you for writing. I am glad you stumbled onto my website!

Best,

Alexandra

Dear Jacqueline,

I wish I still remembered the language! It was actually our parents that told us about how we communicated – I don’t recall it at all. Caroline and I still have a secret code phrase for when we are on the phone and we cannot talk candidly because someone is in the room, but other than that, we speak in plain ol’ English.

I hope you are enjoying Fighting Fire. It was a Book of the Month Club pick, the American Library Association gave it a starred review, and it was the Today Show’s Top Ten Summer Read of 1998. It is a wonderful read even if you have no association with firefighting. Keep an eye out for Caroline’s newest book, East Wind, Rain, which will be out May 2nd, and is easily available on amazon.com. Go to www.carolinepaul.com to read more about my terrific twin and her work, although since you are reading her autobiography, you know quite a bit already. However, Caroline had to retire from firefighting due to injuries sustained on the job, and she is now a full time author, so her life has changed quite a bit. You can read about that on her website. Incidentally, she has the same webmaster as I do! Because, well, we are twins and because our webmaster, Vietly, is great.

Thank you for writing and giving me an opportunity to boast about my sister!

Sincerely,

Alexandra

Since I am a huge fan of David’s also, I want to honor his privacy in this very personal family situation, and not comment at all. Divorce is hard on everyone, but what makes it harder is when everyone insists on discussing in public what is a very private matter.

Respectfully,

Alexandra