Sitting at a table in the cafeteria of Hillridge High School, Lizzie McGuire, fifteen, was writing a note to her favorite pop star, Michael Jackson. Ever since she had first heard his music by borrowing the album Thriller from her friend David ‘Gordo’ Gordon one summer day, she had taken a liking to the King of Pop (as Michael was often known to be called) as well as his music.

Dear Michael,

Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be famous myself. However, I agree with you when you say that you know how the press is, and how people can, as you once said in an interview for 60 Minutes, “twist the truth”. I hope you are doing fine. I know I certainly am. But, after all, being a student in high school (like me) or a pop star (like you) is not always easy. Sometimes it takes a lot of hard work. But being busy as a bee can be really neat most of the time. Good luck on your next creative project. :)

From
Lizzie McGuire

After looking over her letter, Lizzie was pleased that there weren’t any mistakes at all. It looked fine.

Dear Lizzie,

Many thanks for your nice letter. I’m glad that for every mean person out there, there are some nice people out there in the world as well. And I’m glad that you agree with me about knowing how the press is, as well as how people can twist the truth, too. How’s high school going for you and Gordo? I hope you are well.

Love,
Michael Jackson

Dear Lizzie,
I know how hard it is when you’re in high school. I’ve been doing some research, and it doesn’t seem that way just for you. In other words, you’re not alone when it comes to feeling isolated in adolescence. Others have felt the same way.

So here’s my advice. Just keep your eyes on the bright side of life, and look for the beauty in other people, as well as the beauty in nature, too. Keep away from the ugly side of life; there are enough bad things in life dragging people down, after all. That’s how life is sometimes, of course.

Just keep one thing in mind: Looking on the bright side is usually a good idea.

Respectfully yours,
Michael Jackson

Sitting at his desk in his Neverland ranch, Michael picked up a pencil and bent over his desk, thinking over what to write in his letter to David ‘Gordo’ Gordon. Then his eyes lit up as an idea came to him. Putting pencil to paper, he began to write…

“Dear Gordo,

How are you? I hope you are well, and are doing great in high school. As for me, I’m doing very well, and I enjoy writing letters to my fans, such as yourself. I can see you, Gordo, getting my letter and reading every word (while also studying it) before getting a pencil (or pen) and beginning to write your reply to my letter.

Besides writing letters, I also love music, especially making music. As I’ve said before, music is like a tapestry, with one thread being different from another. Speaking of which, I hope that you’re enjoying listening to my album Thriller, as it’s quite the album for me - both ground-breaking and record-breaking, to be precise. However, when the album came out in 1984, I was a Jehovah’s Witness back then, and ironically, the Jehovah’s Witnesses forbid their members from delving into the supernatural. As you remember, Gordo, I tried to pull the plug on Thriller, but it was too late. The album had become famous, and even won me eight Grammys. Can you imagine that, Gordo? I know I sure can myself.

Well, anyway, I hope to hear about what you are up to in high school. I’m sure you’re doing well. And since being a movie director is what you want to do, I know you can accomplish that when you set your mind to it. :)

Good luck, my friend.

Sincerely,
Michael Jackson.”

Michael looked over the letter to make sure there weren’t any mistakes in spelling or grammar, and grinned upon seeing that there were none of those.

Sitting on his bed, David ‘Gordo’ Gordon perused the letter he had received from none other than Michael Jackson. Deep down, he knew that Michael was not only a great singer and dancer, but also a great pioneer when it came to the music business.

As Gordo read the letter, he somehow sensed that Michael also had a talent for writing letters - especially when writing the letters to his fans, too.

With that, Gordo picked up a notebook and turned it over so that its back was facing him. Then, he took out a piece of notebook paper and placed it up against the back of the notebook before picking up a pencil. For some reason, Gordo felt that pencils were much nicer than pens, mostly because pencils had erasers, and erasers came in handy when someone made a mistake writing something down.

Finally, he began to write…

“Dear Michael,
I want to say thanks for your nice letter. I must say that you have a great correspondence with Lizzie and I. After all, you’re not only a great singer and dancer, but you’re an awesome writer as well, especially when it comes to writing letters to fans as well.

Of course, I’ve heard that writing a letter is a good way to get your thoughts organized, and I think it’s very awesome, too.

However, I’ve heard that most people, but not all, have dysgraphia, which is a learning disability that means “difficulty expressing thoughts in writing”, or to put it simply, “writing difficulty”.

Thankfully, I don’t have that disability, as I’ve looked over my handwriting, and it looks fine to me.

But anyway, enough about that. I hope that you are doing well, and that your next creative project turns out to be really awesome, too.

Finally, thanks for your encouraging words about my dream of becoming a movie director. That means a lot to me, and also helps me to want to aspire to my dream even more.

Sincerely,
David ‘Gordo’ Gordon.”

The next day, Michael was working out what word to use next in a sentence that was part of his new letter to Lizzie when he heard the click of the mail slot on his front door and the flop of a letter on the doormat. He smiled as he got up out of his chair and headed to the front door, where he bent down and picked up the letter. As he straightened back up, his grin grew even wider when he saw who it was from.

David ‘Gordo’ Gordon. It seemed that Gordo had taken some time to reply to his letter.

And upon seeing that the letter was addressed to him, Michael secretly felt as though Gordo had done his best to write a letter to him. After returning to his desk and sitting down at it, Michael opened the envelope, pulled out the letter and began to read it - one paragraph at a time.

As he read, he smiled. He had to admit, Gordo was smart - in a genius type of way. And he was quite smart to tell Michael about the learning disability known as dysgraphia and how it affected a person’s ability to write, too.

When he was finished reading Gordo’s letter, Michael put the letter aside and then turned back to his letter to Lizzie, his mind now on one thing when it came to her. He hoped that she was well, and that she was doing great at Hillridge High School, too. After all, being a high school student was not always one good day after another. Sometimes there were bad days in between.

Dear Lizzie, he began, and then began to think how to best write his new letter to her. His eyes lit up as though he had gotten a new idea, and then he began to write, while also making sure to take his time with it; taking one’s time was better than taking shortcuts, after all.