U.S. District Judge John Gerrard of U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska

                                                            10/02/2017

U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard

U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska

c/o Robert V. Denney Federal Building

100 Centennial Mall North, Room 586

Lincoln, NE  68508

Dear U.S. District Judge Gerrard,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history, social justice, and public policy.  In these subjects, I like to learn the need for Civil Rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, have criminal justice reform to help protect people’s rights while reduce crime, and many others.  U.S. District Judge Gerrard, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work in the judicial system and in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska to be very inspiring to me.

When you served in the Nebraska Supreme Court from 1995-2012, I liked on how you were a strong supporter of  Civil Rights  by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, pushing for strict sentencing on people who commit hate-crime,  and expressing the need to end racial profiling in the judicial system.  Also when you served in the Nebraska Supreme Court, I really like on how supported the need for diversity in the judicial system like more women including minorities to help improve the judicial systems relationship between the minorities communities and even help bring different perspective to ideas or rulings on different cases.  In May 2011, I was very proud on how you accepted President Obama to nominate you to serve on the on the U.S. District Court of the District of Nebraska to help him improve the judicial system along with push for criminal justice reform. Congrats on being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in January 2012.  In your current role as   U.S. District Judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska I really appreciate on how you are a continuous supporter of Civil Rights,  advocate for the need to continue to reduce racial profiling,  and express ideas for criminal justice reform like expand programs to help victims of crime or drug users get the care they need,  have DNA testing including forensic science to help solve a cases while reduce sending an innocent person to jail.

U.S. District Judge Gerrard, 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 continuous commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  Also your approach on your advocacy for criminal justice reform  along with the need for diversity motivates me to continue my interest in learning history and social justice. My future goal is to someday work in these areas to emphasize the need to make Civil Rights stronger, have diversity in society to make it better for all people who are different, have criminal justice reform to help protect people’s right while reduce crime, and many others. Also my letter is a gift to you for inspiring me and to wish you a Happy Birthday for November 2^nd.

I strongly believe that you are making a great impact in the judicial system. I’m very proud on how you are working hard to support Civil Rights, express the need for criminal justice reform, and express the need for diversity.  You have inspired me to work hard on my disability and continue to be motivated to learn history including social justice. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter,  making a difference in the judicial system, and inspiring me.  I wish you the best to continue to advocate for common sense ideas in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick

State Senator Kate Bolz from Nebraska 29th District

12/12/2017

State Senator Kate Bolz

c/o Nebraska State Capitol

Room #10115

P.O. Box 94604

Lincoln, NE  68509

Dear State Senator Bolz,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan with a strong interest in learning history and social justice. In these subjects, I like to learn the need to make Civil Rights stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, and many others.  State Senator Bolz, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as State Senator from Nebraska 29^th District to be very inspiring to me.

In your current role as State Senator from Nebraska 29^th District, I’m very proud on how you are a continuous strong supporter of Civil Rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, supporting laws to help combat hate crime to help protect minorities including people who are different, and expressing the need to have equal pay for women to protect them from being discriminated in pay.  On the environment I really like on how you express the need for more renewable energy resources to help reduce addiction on oil with gas, encourage businesses including housing to use energy efficient products to help reduce high energy cost, and provide funs to improve services to help clean parks including water resources to make them safe for people to use.  Your commitment to improve education by expand funds for special education to help students with disabilities get educational resources they need to learn, provide more after school programs for youth to get help on their assignments, and push for more volunteering programs to help engage youth to help their community is common sense.  On the economy, I like on how you are an advocate for the need to raise the minimum wage to help minimum wage workers afford to live and push for job training programs to help train youth including workers to develop job skills to help prepare for the workforce.  Another thing that I like about your work in the Nebraska state legislature is how you are an advocate for women’s rights to  have healthcare,  express support for ethics reform to reduce gifts from lobbyist to public officials in order to reduce corruption,  and support programs to help victims of domestic violence or victims of crime get help on their trauma from the law enforcement resources.

State Senator Bolz, I have autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advance subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased. Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability. On the NewDeal website about progressives who are public officials where they share some ideas about how to improve society and I enjoyed watching you explain some of your ideas about the need to improve healthcare  to help people with pre-exiting conditions, have ethics reform to reduce corruption, make civil rights stronger, and many others.  Your work in the Nebraska State legislature gives me motivation to continue to learn history and social justice. My future goal is to someday work in these areas to help emphasize the need for Civil Rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination,  have environmental protection to reduce pollution, and many others.

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference in the Nebraska state legislature. I’m very proud on how you are a strong supporter of Civil Rights, advocate for social justice, and many others.  You really inspire me to work hard on my disability, continue to learn history including social justice, and develop an interest in learning about your work. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making a great difference, and inspiring me. I wish you the best to continue to advocate for common sense ideas.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick

Former Mayor Nina Jonas of Ketchum, Idaho

9/25/2017

Mayor Nina Jonas
c/o Office of the Mayor
City Hall
P.O. Box 2315
480 East Avenue N.
Ketchum, ID  83340

Dear Mayor Jonas,

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 understand the importance of making Civil Rights stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, improve public safety, and many others. Mayor Jonas, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as Mayor of Ketchum, Idaho to be very inspiring to me.

In January 2014, I was amazed on how you made history by becoming the first woman to become Mayor of Ketchum, Idaho.  In your current role as Mayor of Ketchum, Idaho, I’m very proud on how you are a strong supporter of Civil Rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, expressing the need for women to have equal pay in the workforce, and pushing for laws to combat against hate-crime to help protect minorities including people who are different.   On education, I like on how you support improving special education to help students with disabilities get educational resources they need, push for after school programs to help youth get help on their assignments including get them active on recreational programs, and expand reading literacy programs to help students improve on reading comprehension.  On social justice, I like on how you express the need for law enforcement to reduce racial profiling to help protect minorities and support the idea of the need to help provide immigrants including refugees a safe haven in order to protect them form being oppressed.  Expanding on job-training programs to help youth including workers to develop job-skills to help them prepare for the work force and provide tax-credits to small businesses including local businesses to help them be part of the community is common sense to improve the economy.  On the environment, I like on how you are a continuous supporter of reducing climate change with reduction of pollution by joining Mayors National Climate Action Agenda with different U.S. Mayors in different cities from both political parties or are non-partisan to find ways to promote renewable energy to reduce addiction to oil with gas, supporting renewable energy projects to help reduce addiction to oil with gas while protect the environment, and working with city services to help clean up parks with water resources to make them safe for people to use.  

Mayor Jonas, 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 including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  On Youtube “Mayor of Ketchum Interview- Nina Jonas”, I enjoyed learning about your goals to improve society in your role as Mayor.  Also your current role as Mayor of Ketchum, Idaho motivates me to continue to learn history including public policy. My future goal is to someday work in history in order to emphasize the need to make Civil Rights stronger, the need to protect the environment, and ideas to improve social justice.

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference in your current role.  I’m very proud on how you made history by becoming the first woman to become Mayor of Ketchum, Idaho. Also I appreciate on how you are working with different U.S. Mayors on combating against Climate Change, protect Civil Rights, and many others in order to improve society.  I was wondering if you could please take the time  to share with me your goals that you are working on in your current term and explain what Ketchum, Idaho is like.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter,  working hard to make a difference for society, and inspiring me.  I wish you well to continue to make a great difference and to make a great impact with other U.S. Mayors to make society a better place.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick

Mr. Tony Shalhoub Actor

11/28/2017

Mr. Tony Shalhoub

The Band’s Visit

c/o The Ethel Barrymore Theatre

243 West 47^th Street

(between Broadway and 8^th Avenue)

New York, NY  10036

Dear Mr. Shalhoub,

My name is Matt Winick and I’m a fan of your acting. My favorite tv show that you played in was Monk.   The main reason I like Monk was because I enjoyed the plot of the show about Adrian Monk who loses his wife where he has a meltdown and later becomes a police consultant for the San Francisco Police Department on solving different cases. Also another reason I liked the show was about how police consultant Adrian Monk work hard on his struggles with a disability which is obsessive-compulsive personality disorder with other phobias when trying to move on from his wife’s death, solving different cases by using observational abilities, and trying to feel confident in society.   Mr. Shalhoub, I really thought you did an excellent job portraying Adrian Monk because I liked on how you made Monk have a sense of humor when solving different cases, expanding on Monk’s traits on solving cases by using his observational abilities, and making Monk work hard on his disability.  I enjoyed watching all the seasons of Monk because I liked on how each of the episodes weren’t dark like other crime drama shows and how each of the main characters had different unique personalities or have a sense of humor.  

Mr. Shalhoub, I have autism and having autism is difficult for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.   Also when I was in elementary school through my community college other people would tease me because I struggle on learning material in the class.   Other people would tease me about not going fast enough at work and in society I struggle to fit in.  Your role as Adrian Monk on working to control his disability with working hard to fit into society and the Monk tv show really inspired me to work hard on autism.  I would watch each episode to see how you work hard to overcome some of your struggles and I would use your methods to help me practice to work hard on my disability and to practice learning about how society works.   Even when I struggle with a disability on a daily basis I’m very proud of myself for working hard and also for the Monk series including your character to help me feel motivated to continue doing the best as I can.

Mr. Shalhoub I strongly believe that you made a great difference in making your character Adrian Monk a great character and the Monk show a great show to watch. You and the show have truly inspired me to work hard on Autism, try using skills that I’m good at to help society or people, and work hard on improving myself or try learning new things.  I was wondering if you could please share some advice about continue working hard on my disability and if you could please take the time to answer some of my questions that I have. Here is a picture of me as a gift to you to keep to remind yourself on how you inspired me.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make Monk including your character a great influential, and inspiring me.

P.S. here is $5 as a donation for you to use to fund the arts or to donate it to the theater to help make arts a better place or help people with disabilities get the care they need.