U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow from Michigan

12/07/2016

 U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow

731 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C.  20510-2204

Dear U.S. Senator Stabenow,

My name is Matthew Winick, a resident and a constituent in Ann Arbor, Michigan studying history and government. Senator Stabenow Thank you for your hard work and achieving legislation to help our state and America through jobs, healthcare, and protect the environment including our Great Lakes. Senator Stabenow I was able to benefit from your recent work on the legislation like American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus bill) and The Affordable Care Act. Your sponsor and your support on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act help benefit me in 2009. In 2009 the stimulus bill helped me get into a job training program called The B. Side of Arts (EMU College of Business) where I learn new skills through training with learning more about business. The Job training program paid well and helped me prepare in the future. U.S. Senator Stabenow, I have Autism with a learning disability and having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights and your advocacy for people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability. I am grateful of having you as a United States Senator for Michigan.

The reason I am writing this letter to you is because I would like you to support The Dwight D. Eisenhower National Memorial in D.C. and help the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission with moving the project forward to build the memorial to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower from being delayed. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission is a great commission and I like Mr. Gehry’s design of the memorial. The memorial design does an excellent job of honoring President Eisenhower for his achievements along with his D­Day plan which helped the allies during WWII,  upport Civil Rights, and many others. In 2014, The Commission was very kind in giving me a chance to write an endorsement letter to support their work and endorse Mr. Gehry’s design. I am a proud to be a supporter of the memorial. From a history student perspective I believe that President Eisenhower, President JFK, President FDR, President Truman, President Wilson, President Obama, President LBJ, President Lincoln, President Ford, President Carter, President George H.W. Bush, and President Clinton have some similar views and achievements like the need for healthcare reform to help people get the care they need, extend Civil Rights to protect people who are different like minorities, gender, people with disabilities, and people with different orientation from discrimination, and creating job training programs from the government to help train workers and improve the economy.

Senator Stabenow I would like you to support this memorial and help move it from being delayed. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter and keep up the good work to help Michigan with your achievements and the country. I would like to sometime discuss you more about my concerns about our country including Michigan.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

Mr. John Travolta

2/13/2017

Mr. John Travolta

PO Box 410

North Hollywood, CA  91603

Dear Mr. Travolta,

My name is Matt Winick and I’m a fan of your acting and your activism. My favorite movies that you played in were Grease, Be Cool, Swordfish, Wild Hogs, Saturday Night Fever, A Civil Action, Primary Colors, The General’s Daughter, and Ladder 49. In Grease, I enjoyed the musical romantic comedy about two lovers in high school which are Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson where they work out their differences of their social class. I thought you did an excellent job portraying Danny Zuko because I thought you did an excellent job making Danny have a great traits like working hard to improve his relationship with Sandy, having a good singing while the dancing, and having a kind personality when he is in a different social status. My favorite songs in the movie were Grease lighting, Summer Nights, and We Go Together.  You and Ms. Olivia Newton-John did a great job making Danny and Sandy a main characters with great traits.  Be Cool was a great movie because I enjoyed the plot about Chili Palmer who wants to enter the music industry where he is trying to learn how the industry works.  In Be Cool, I really enjoyed on how you made Chili Palmer  a great character with interesting traits like having a sense of humor, willing to build turn some foes into allies to help him be successful in the music industry.  A Civil Action was a great historical film due to I enjoyed learning about Attorney Jan Schlichtmann to take legal actions against some of the companies that make groundwater contaminated with toxic chemicals even though he loses but his work gives the EPA to bring action against the companies.    

Your role in A Civil Action got me very interested in learning history. In history, I like to learn the need to make Civil Rights stronger, protect the environment, and many others. Also in history I enjoy learning how famous people or different individuals work hard to make a great difference.  Also A Civil Action gave me a great message about the need to protect the environment, learn for the need to reduce powerful companies from corrupting the judicial system, and enjoy learning about how Jan Schlichtmann worked hard for environmental advocacy.  When I was young in middle school I was in a group of other middle schools students in a play called Grease. In the play Grease the people who produced it created some new characters so that other middle school students and I could participate. I had a role where I played Officer Ronald that they created where I would play as a police officer where I would warn Zuko and his gang from getting in trouble and I had a few lines like How are you? Better stay out of trouble Zuko? and many others.   Mr. Travolta, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I struggle on comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased. Another thing that I struggle with Autism is losing friends due to people get very judgmental about me being different or not meeting their standards.  Your story about dealing with your son having Autism, advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, and pushing for funds to help people with Autism inspires me to work hard on my disability.  Your roles in acting in different movies ranging from serious to comedy helps me improve on vocabulary including practicing speech and learning how to have a sense of humor. 

Even though I still struggle with Autism and dealing with different obstacles, I’m proud to call you a true role model to me and an inspiration to me. I really think that you do such a great job acting in different movies and making your characters have great or interesting traits. I have a birthday card wishing you a Happy Birthday for February 18^th and $5 as a donation for you to use to help fund a charity to help people with Autism. Here is a picture of me as a gift to you for inspiring me. Mr. Travolta, you have inspired me to work hard on my disability, be interested in learning history,  and be confident to be in a middle school play called Grease. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, doing an excellent job in acting, and inspiring me.  I wish you well to continue to make great movies and make a great impact on society. I hope that my letter and my birthday card can give you motivation to continue to make a great difference and to make you have a great birthday.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick

Second Picture he sent me

120th Speaker Carl E. Heastie of the New York State Assembly

2/13/2017

Speaker Carl E. Heastie of the New York State Assembly

c/o Legislative Office Building

198 State Street, Room 932

Albany, NY  12210

Dear Speaker Heastie,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history with public policy. In these subjects, I enjoy learning about the need to make Civil rights stronger, improve environmental protection, and many others.  Speaker Heastie, the main reason I’m a writing you a letter is to explain how I find your role as 120^th Speaker of the New York State Assembly to be very inspiring to me.

In your current role as 120^th Speaker of the New York State Assembly, I’m proud on how you are a strong supporter of Civil Rights. Also on Civil Rights, I like on how you advocate for people with disabilities’ rights, push for laws to combat against people who commit hate-crime to protect minorities or people who are different, express the need for equal pay for women to help protect them from being discriminated based on gender, and support LGBT rights.  On the economy, I like on how you expand job-training programs to help train youth including workers to develop job-skills, increase unemployment benefits to help people who are unemployed get help on finding a job, and sponsor “Wage Theft Prevention Act” which is to penalize employers that steal employee’s wages.  Supporting renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biofuel, and energy efficient products) to help reduce addiction to oil with gas and expanding fund to help clean up parks including water resources to make them safe for people to use is common sense.  Also on helping the African American community, I liked on how you worked with President Obama on expanding funds to help young African American boys including girls get educational help along with provide recreation programs to help them from turning to crime.  Support funding special education to help students with disabilities get educational resources they need, push for early childhood education to help young children develop reading skills, and express the need to reduce high cost for people who want to get a higher education are great ways to improve education.  

Speaker Heastie, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights and be an advocate for people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability. Your work on improving the minimum wage and worker’s rights motivated me to watch different documentaries about the need to raise the minimum wage to help workers afford to live, the need for laws to improve worker’s rights including the working conditions, and many others.   Your role as 120^th Speaker of the New York State Assembly drives me to continue my interest in learning history with public policy. MY future goal is to continue to learn how social justice is an important issue, understand how diversity plays a role, and many others. My letter is a gift to you for inspiring me and for Black History Month to help recognize African Americans who work hard to make a great difference for society and history.

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference in your role as Speaker of the New York State Assembly on many different issues.  You have inspired me to work hard on my disability, continue my interest in learning history with public policy, and understand the importance of protecting worker’s rights.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making a great difference, and inspiring me. I was wondering if you could explain what it is like being Speaker of the New York State Assembly.  I wish you well to continue to make a great difference in your current role as Speaker of the New York State Assembly.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

Mayor Byron W. Brown of Buffalo, New York

2/01/2017

Mayor Byron W. Brown

c/o Office of the Mayor

City of Buffalo

65 Niagara Square, Room 201

Buffalo, NY  14202

Dear Mayor Brown,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history with public policy. In these subjects, I like to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination, have education reform to improve learning, protect the environment from pollution, and many others.  Mayor Brown, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as current 62^nd Mayor of Buffalo, New York to be very inspiring to me.

In 2005, I was amazed on how you made history by becoming the first African American to become Mayor of Buffalo, New York.   I’m very proud on how you are a strong supporter of protecting women, minorities, and people with disabilities from being discriminated in public places including education. Also on Civil Rights, I like on how you support funding women including minorities businesses to help them compete in the economy, advocate for people with disabilities’ rights, push for laws to combat against hate-crime to protect people who are different, and express the need for equal pay for women.  Funding special education to help students with disabilities get educational accommodations they need, pushing for after school programs to help student get help on their assignments from tutors, working with city council to push for fund to upgrade schools with technology along with renovate the schools to make them safe, implementing Mayor’s Summer Reading program to help improve literacy rates for students including youth who struggle with comprehension, and expanding early childhood education to help young children develop reading skills are great ways to improve education.  On the environment, I liked on how support funds for renewable energy projects (solar, wind, biofuel, and energy efficient projects) to reduce addiction to oil with gas, push for funds to clean up parks including water resources to make them safe for people to use, improve recycling with trash services to help reduce littering while make community clean. Your approach on the criminal justice reform like hiring police officers to patrol the streets including neighborhood to reduce crime, pushing for treatment programs to help drug-users get the care they need, working with law enforcement to find ways to reduce racial profiling, improving to court system to help assist victims of crime or victims of domestic violence get help, and implementing community service to help rehabilitate non-violent offenders including juveniles so they won’t re-offend is common sense.

Mayor Brown, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights and your support for people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  Your current role as 62^nd Mayor of Buffalo, New York motivates me to continue my interest in learning history with public policy. My future goal is to someday work in history or in public policy to create common sense ideas to make society a better place.  My letter is a gift to you for inspiring to me and for Black History Month to help recognize African Americans who worked hard to make a great impact for society.

I strongly believe that you make a great difference for society in your current role as Mayor of Buffalo, New York. Mayor Brown, I’m proud on how you work hard to improve education, to make Civil Rights stronger,  to have a better environment, and many others.  I was wondering if you could explain your favorite achievements as Mayor and to share some advice about working hard on a disability.  Here is a picture of me as a gift to you for inspiring me.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making a great difference for society with common sense ideas, and inspiring me. I wish you well to continue to make great progress in your current role.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick