For the record

Feb 28, 2005

I am not Anthony Zuiker. My name is Anton Zuiker, and I am the second cousin of the creator of C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation.

I’ve posted short items about Anthony before—I’d love to be able to tell you more about Anthony, but I’ve actually never met him, and he has yet to respond to my messages and letters. I know he lives in a big house, has a lovely wife and darling daughter son, and created a kick-ass television show. Because of him, the Zuiker name has appeared all over the place, including a Talk of the Town piece in the New Yorker magazine.

Why set the record straight? Because every few weeks, I get an e-mail message or a comment posted to this weblog from someone wanting to give Anthony ideas for C.S.I. or feedback on his fame. Today in my mailbox was an envelope addressed to “Andrew Zuiker” and no return address (the postage label indicates it came from the 91320 zip code area in California). Inside was a letter from a woman wanting to share some kind words for Anthony:

Recently I learned about your path to CSI, how seemingly circuitous but utterly inevitable it was. Can I tell you how inspiring it is to hear about someone finding what he was absolutely made to do in spite of all the odds? The main thing I have to say to you is thank you for believing in yourself to the point of making things happen. That’s the simple lesson most of us just don’t absorb this lifetime somehow.

She also included her one-act play, which I’d be inclined to peruse and offer my own feedback, but she’s not given me any way to contact her (though, through some online searching, I think I’ve located her). I really would like to forward her letter and play onto Anthony, as futile as that might be; I wrote a letter to James Michener when I was a kid, but never got a response, though I did end up meeting Richard Gildenmeister, who was personally dubbed ‘the book general’ by Michener.

What I’d like even more is to be able to share a beer with Anthony, to sit and talk about writing and reading and the Zuiker name, and to tell him how much I’ve enjoyed C.S.I. How about it, cos?

[Edit 3/1/05: corrected Anthony’s child after checking the family tree.]

Anton Zuiker ☄