[UPDATED 15 Dec 2013: I found the articles. They’re linked in the text now.]

I had to search thru an old email program today for something that came up 10 years or so ago, and I stumbled upon one of four emails that Henri Pachard wrote to me back in November/December 2002.

I had written an article somewhere that I can’t find (FOUND IT!) that approved of something Pachard wrote.  At the time he was a columnist for AVN Insider and for some other outfit I can’t quite place, YES something I think — yesportal.com! thanks Rog! – and he had written an article about awards shows and the positive effects they have on a group of people who mostly suffer from low self-esteem which I thought was particularly astute (FOUND IT!), and I wrote a reply to it somewhere which found its way into his hands.  He sent this along:

Thanksgiving Day, 2002, 3:40 pm

Dear Jeff, (I hope this reaches you)

Dave Cummings forwarded me your recent post on r.a.m.e about myself and my writing. After reading your comments and descriptions about myself – more than once, I admit – and your beautiful sentiments, I printed it and took it to my wife to read it to her. 

I told her that I finally know, now, why I keep writing like I do, and asked her to listen. 

After I read your comments to her, I nodded my head to her, and she knew – for the next few seconds or so – that I would not be able to speak from fear of my voice breaking. So she waited until I could.

“This is why I do it.” I whispered, and she nodded her head to me.

Fuck, man; you touched my heart. It’s guys like you that will keep me writing as long as I’m able.

It’s guys like you that make it a privilege.

Sincerely,
Henri Pachard

Holy shit!

I wrote him back:

> On 28 Nov 2002 at 15:46, Henri Pachard wrote:

>     Fuck, man; you touched my heart. It’s guys like you that will keep
>     me writing as long as I’m able.
>     It’s guys like you that make it a privilege.

Wow.  That’s heavy, man.  I’m glad you’re out there filming people fucking and writing about it.  I’ve long been a champion of yours — you had me with DMJ2 and I’ve been with you ever since — and am glad I’ve had the opportunity to tell you.

If you’re going to be in Vegas for CES (or whatever the hell we’re calling it these days) I hope our paths cross.  I’ll be the geek in the iafd.com shirt. :-) 

At the AVN Expo in 2003, I had the great pleasure of meeting him, and we had a very nice conversation about the business, the IAFD and RAME, various fan websites, fans in general, the internet, the classics, and generally mutually admiring one another.  (Which still boggles my mind.)

So, after I found those emails, I went off in search of the original article, and couldn’t find it, but I did spend WAAY too much time browsing thru the Internet Archive’s snapshot of the AVNInsider site and Pachard’s columns.  They’re well worth a visit, and that’s really the purpose of this post — go read Pachard.  (The link takes you to his first column.)

(I’d also like to take a minute to plead with someone to make these articles available somewhere else.  AVN’s current site? eBook?  Something?)