I struggled with that.. but this user/class is just for mod_perl applications, and this seemed the easiest way to get at the specific data i needed into the user object (ie, the cookie/get/post input/session ids) for a while I had:

$r = apache request;
$session_and_form = new myPackage::session_and_form( \$r);
$user = new myPackage::User(\$session);
$page = new myPackage::Page(\$user)
[download]

but it seemed more right just sending the apache ref to the user, and have the user create internal refs to the session/form info it needs on init
im new to mod_perl, as is very evident by my questions and approach. i'm bound to be doing manny things wrong... but its working.