Your English is excellent and thank you for writing!

I have been driving electric cars for 10 years now. My first two were regular cars (a Datsun and a Volkswagon Rabbit) converted into electric cars. Their range was at most 45 miles. Three years ago I leased GM’s EV-1, the first from-the-ground-up mass produced electric vehicle ever. In fact, I was fortunate to get the first car ever made to be leased to the public (car #37 – the first 36 were demo cars). It is a forest green color and goes 65-80 miles, more that enough for my LA driving needs. I charge it at home, with a special charger, although I sometimes make use of the 100+ free chargers around the city. The car is very fast (great pickup too) – it easily goes above 80 mph. It is the only car I have, and I am not insured to drive Ian’s (gas) car, so I plan my driving around the limitations of the EV, which still works out very well!. (As soon as Toyota’s hybrid car comes out – a mix of gas and electric 90% cleaner than regular cars, that will be our other car).

The technology is just getting better and better for alternatively fueled cars, and I hope more of you will take advantage of that soon. I hope one day Bulgaria will have cars that don’t pollute so much! Thank you for writing!

Best wishes,
Alexandra

I was lucky enough to meet Donna several times, and she is a very nice woman.

As for my funeral scene, yes, that was true that I disguised myself as The Woman the Producers Always Wanted Me to Be: A big breasted blonde. I sat among the guests at the funeral scene, but it is hard to see me (only in the establishing wide shot) and I left before the camera turned around on the guests! I think the woman you see is the producer’s wife, Debbie Schwartz, a very nice woman who also wrote a lot of episodes.

Thank you for watching the show! Alexandra

The persons most inspiring to me and most responsible for my activism are, firstly, my mom. She just was conscientious in her everyday life: she always voted and gave blood regularly, she boycotted certain companies if she didn’t agree with their practices (Nestle, because of the baby formula scandal, and iceberg lettuce because of the way the pickers were treated, and tuna fish because it wasn’t dolphin-safe. This was all in the 60’s and 70’s. She also recycled and had a very “don’t waste” attitude (due to growing up in England during World War II, when things were scarce). I know that all that role modeling rubbed off on me.

My brother Jonathan has also influenced me a lot. He is an animal rights activist and has not eaten anything from animals for years (he is a vegan: no dairy, no wool, no honey etc.) and he taught me about the horrors of animal testing, especially on household things like cleaners and makeup. I respect him a lot for not giving into societal pressure and being so committed to his beliefs. On October 1st, he goes to court because he tried to stop the Makah Indian tribe in Oregon from killing whales. Because he got between the high powered rifle and the whale, and “got too close the whale, thus endangering it” (the government’s words), his boat has been impounded and he risks jail.

I admire my friend Chuck Levin, who sets up a card table on the sidewalk and registers people to vote. He has been doing it regularly for 31 years, and has registered thousands of people through his consistent commitment.

I hope you have people that inspire you to make the world a better place – it will keep you going.

Good luck!

Alexandra