Letter From a Repository Kid? Maybe.

"Albert E. Cruikshank" posted the following message in "The Fray" Sunday night. He says he's a child of the repository.

My parents told me I was a product of the sperm of a doner to the Repository for Germinal Choice.

I'm 17 and have now known about this for 4 months.

Today I saw the Slate article and got into a fight with my Mom. She says I was supposed to be smarter. That was why she told me. Because I won't be going to college on account of my scholastic ineptitude.

She said she would have tried to get a refund if the place didn't close—and if the process had actually cost her anything.

So, it doesn't mean you will be smart just because your parents are. My parents are both very well known doctors in one of the country's largest citis. As for me, I'm looking at going to art school and learning guitar. Or maybe re-doing grade 12 and trying to get into an easier college. Don't know.

Fray readers are skeptical. Read their responses to Cruikshank at the bottom of his Fray message.

I'm skeptical too. Cruikshank is correct about one detail that he could not have learned from my story: Cruikshank's mother told him the process did not cost anything. Unlike most sperm banks, the repository did not charge mothers. Founder Robert Graham considered the repository his form of social work.

But when I tried to e-mail Cruikshank to check his credibility, the mail bounced back. Cruikshank also made several other Fray postings under different names that sounded very different from this one. Still, "Albert Cruikshank," if you're out there and you want to confirm that your story is true, send me an e-mail. If it is true, I would love to know more. Has it been upsetting or liberating for you to learn about your origins? Has your mother always been on your case about being smarter? Do you resent the repository? Do you want to know anything about your biological father? Please contact me at or (202) 986-1168. Anyone else involved with the repository, please do the same.