i wanna be your dog

“take a deep breath and do whatever you must to survive and find something to be that you can love.”

Iggy Pop wrote those words in his response to a fan letter.  I read the letter a few days ago over at Monitor Mix and these words, along with his salutation (“all my love to a really beautiful girl. that’s you laurence. iggy pop”) have stayed with me all week.  They’re beautiful, sweet, and make me love Iggy even more (an artist, mind you, that scared the living shit out of me when I was a kid).

More so though, I keep imagining what it must have been like to get those handwritten words from an idol when you were an awkward adolescent who felt all alone, awkward, misunderstood, an outsider.  You shoot this letter off to a music idol who, presumably, you feel is a kindred spirit, someone you can confide in, who might understand what you’re going through.

And you get those sweet and encouraging words back.  Something like that can be life-changing and, depending on where you are emotionally, life-saving.  Four days later I’m still moved by it.

Really sweet, Iggy.