Letter writing is a great way to celebrate the International Day of Words

Today, November 23, is the International Day of Words, an initiative of the Cesar Egido Serrano Foundation of Spain. The organization aims to share the idea of "The word as a link of humanity, and against all forms of violence."

According to the foundation's Facebook page, "On this day, more than ever, words will become the bond of humankind where people with the same ideals of using words and dialogue as a tool for understanding between different cultures and religions will gather."

That sounds like, to me, a great concept to combine with letter writing. Through writing letters, especially with international penpals, we can better understand the people of the world and their various cultures. 

So, if you've been waiting for the right time to start writing more letters, to seek out penpals or to reconnect with people you used to communicate with, today is a great day to put that in motion. Write a letter today and then carry on the spirit of International Day of Words every day with your letter writing. 

Get to know people through correspondence. Share information about your life and your culture. Ask questions about their lives and cultures. Open your mind to new ideas; learn everything you can about the world beyond your mailbox.

Happy International Day of Words, and happy letter writing! 

Holocaust victim's note illustrates the power of a handwritten letter

Vilma Grunwald's letter, from the U.S. Holocaust Museum

Hello fellow letter writers!

It has been months since I have had the time to blog and almost as long since I have had a chance to write letters. I have been working on an extensive project/job that takes up much of my daily time.

Just about every day, I think, "This is the day I'm going to blog again," and, yet, the end of the day comes and I never got around to it. I still love letter writing and follow letter writing news and blogs with great interest.

That's what prompted me to finally find the time to blog today...a news story about a letter. The article is on the Indianapolis Star newspaper's website, www.indystar.com, and was written by Will Higgins.

It is a testimony to the power that a simple letter can hold.

I encourage you to read the article. But, I'll give you a brief overview of the letter and the story: Frank Grunwald was 11 years old when his mother and brother were sent to the gas chamber Auschwitz. As she was about to be killed, Vilma Grunwald scribbled down a few sentences in a letter to her husband. Amazingly, the guard she gave the letter to delivered it to Kurt Grunwald, a fellow concentration camp prisoner.

The letter has survived all of these years and has been donated to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum's chief acquisitions curator thinks that it could be the only one of its kind in existence.

The letter is powerful. It is poignant. It is, at once, heartbreaking and inspiring.

The story is something we all need to keep in mind when we think a text or even an email is good enough to get our point across.

Read the story. Then, write a letter.

Sincerely,
Carla

Friendship Day

"Gifts of Friendship" notecards from the USPS.

Oops. Looks like I missed Friendship Day yesterday. Fortunately for letter writers, Friendship Day can be any day you choose to write a letter to a friend!

This year, the U.S. Postal Service released a set of stamps featuring Disney's villains. But, in 2004, the Disney stamps featured Disney friends. I looked around online, and it looks like you can still find a few of the friends stamps, if you're willing to pay more than face value.

Still for sale in the USPS online shop are the "Gifts of Friendship" notecards and matching stamps. That set celebrates the bond between the United States and Japan on the centennial of the gift of dogwood trees from the United States to Japan in 1915. I wrote in detail about those stamps on this blog last year (click here to read that post). The USPS also issued related stamps in 2012.

No matter what kind of stamps or notecards you use, go ahead and write a letter to a friend today. Keep in mind, friends don't have to be only friends; they can be relatives or in-laws, too.

Happy belated Friendship Day!

USPS explores the wonder of sharks

Forty-two years after the movie "Jaws" hit the big screen and 101 years after a series of real shark attacks terrorized the Jersey Shore, the USPS is introducing a set of postage stamps featuring five species of sharks. The First Class Forever (49 cents) stamps showcase images of the mako, thresher, great white, hammerhead and whale sharks. All of those sharks are known to inhabit U.S. waters.

According to the USPS news release, there will be a First-Day-of-Issue ceremony at 8 a.m. July 26 at the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky. It will be a ticketed event. Tickets are limited to a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone interested may request free tickets by sending an email to usps.com/sharks.

Art director Derry Noyes designed the sheet with original artwork by Sam Weber. The sheet includes four stamps each of Weber’s five shark illustrations. The stamps can be pre-ordered in the USPS shop online.

Lincoln's 'Bixby Letter' in the News

From the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana

in the Library of Congress

More than 150 years ago, a letter was hand-delivered to Mrs. Lydia Bixby of Boston by the adjutant general of Massachusetts. The letter was presented as correspondence from President Abraham Lincoln, offering his condolences on the deaths of her five sons in the Civil War. Controversy has surrounded the letter since it was first received. And this week, Time magazine's website features an article by Lily Rothman, Time history and archives editor, regarding the latest research on the letter.

According to Time, a working group at the Center for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University in Birmingham, England, has been using forensic linguistics to solve the mystery about who really wrote the letter.

As a 1995 article in the "Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association" explains, the situation was full of drama from the beginning. Not only did Mrs. Bixby not have five sons die in the war, but she was a Southern sympathizer and reportedly tore up the letter shortly after receiving it. Apparently, before it was delivered to Mrs. Bixby, though, the letter was shared with the Boston Evening Transcript and the Boston Evening Traveller, which published it. That's how we know about it today. The copy that is known today, pictured above, is thought to be a copy of a forgery.

But, the issue that has brought 21st century technology together with 19th or 20th century handwriting is the true author of that letter. It is possible -- and even likely, according to the Time article -- that Lincoln's secretary, John Hay wrote the letter. The group that has been researching the letter will present a paper on the topic at the ninth International Corpus Linguistics Conference at the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England, on Wednesday, July 26.

They compared the writing of Lincoln and Hay to that of the letter to determine who actually wrote it. Although that concept has been around for quite some time, the use of computer technology makes it even more certain that Hay wrote the letter for Lincoln.

You can read the Time article here and the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association article here. They are both interesting reads.

Regardless of whether the author of the letter was Lincoln or Hay, it is an elegant example of a sympathy letter. The letter says, "I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming." And, "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom."

Jane Austen letter shows her satirical nature

A letter written by author Jane Austen sold yesterday at Sotheby’s in London for quite a bit more than the estimated 100,000 British pounds ($128,820 USD) it was expected to bring in. According to the Sotheby’s website, the letter written to Austen’s niece sold for 162,500 pounds ($209,333).

The 1812 letter highlights the writer’s satirical tendencies with its commentary about a fellow author’s recent book. Written in third person, the letter was sent to Anna Austen but is written as if it were addressing the other writer, Rachel Hunter, whose Gothic novel “Lady Maclairn, the Victim of Villainy” Jane Austen deemed to be “most tiresome and prosy”

A second piece, a fragment of a letter written to the same niece in 1814, was auctioned off at the same time for 17,500 pounds ($22,544). Another letter fragment was also offered, but the auction site had not yet listed the final sale price of it when I checked this morning.

For more details on the letters, visit the Sotheby’s site. There is a news release and three auction listings.

Wyeth to be honored with U.S. postage stamp set

On Wednesday, July 12, the U.S. Postal service will have a First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremony for the Andrew Wyeth stamps that commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.It will be at the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Wyeth's home town. His son, Jamie Wyeth, is expected to be at the ceremony.

According to the USPS, the pane of 12 Forever stamps celebrates the centennial of the birth of Andrew Wyeth (July 12, 1917 – Jan. 16, 2009), one of the most prominent American artists of the 20th century. "Working in a realistic style that defied artistic trends, Wyeth created haunting and enigmatic paintings based largely on people and places in his life, a body of work that continues to resist easy or comfortable interpretation," the USPS news release states.

The set of stamps each features a detail from a different Andrew Wyeth painting. The paintings are: “Wind from the Sea” (1947), “Big Room” (1988), “Christina’s World” (1948), “Alvaro and Christina” (1968), “Frostbitten” (1962), “Sailor’s Valentine” (1985), “Soaring” (1942–1950), “North Light” (1984), “Spring Fed” (1967), “The Carry” (2003), “Young Bull” (1960), and “My Studio” (1974). The selvage, or area outside of the stamp images, shows a photograph of Wyeth from the 1930s. Art director Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, designed the pane.

Wyeth, who finished his last completed painting just a few months before his death, received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990 and the National Medal of Arts in 2007. Sites in Pennsylvania and Maine that influenced his work were recently designated National Historic Landmarks.

The stamps are available for pre-order on the USPS website.

Happy mailbox!

It's been a great week for incoming mail! I received letters from two fellow bloggers, several Postcrossing postcards, a letter with a wax seal that survived the system, a postcard that made it all the way from France with 3-D stickers on it and more.

One of the Postcrossing cards is a Father Christmas puzzle postcard from the Czech Republic. It's especially significant because not only do I collect Santa Claus stuff, but my great-grandparents came to Texas from what is now known as the Czech Republic!

Now, it's time for me to get busy and do my part to keep the art of letter writing alive!

Have a great weekend!

Online exhibit shows the letters of war

The Legacy Project, which I've mentioned on this blog several times, has teamed up with the Gilder Lehrman Insitute of American History to present an online exhibit titled "Battle Lines: Letters From America's Wars."

The exhibition has five chapters, and each chapter features several letters. If you have the right software in your computer (Adobe Flash), you can see images of the original letters, as well as typed transcripts.

To visit the exhibit, go to http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/battlelines

It is a wonderful project, especially interesting for history buffs and letter lovers (I've seen the term epistophile used unofficially online).

Letter Writing Inspiration

A News Cafe

Here is some letter-writing inspiration to start the week off on a good note:

Last week, Valerie Ing of Redding, California, wrote her column for A News Cafe (anewscafe.com) about Wendi Harner and her letter writing habits. Not only does Wendi love to write letters, but she's also a big proponent of Girls Love Mail, an organization that sends letters to women who are in treatment for breast cancer. Anyone can write letters to be sent in packets to those with cancer.

To read Valerie's story about Wendi, click here. For more information about Girls Love Mail, visit the group's website at GirlsLoveMail.com.

Looking for something to do? Write a letter!

From what I can see, based on today's weather forecast, much of the U.S. is expected to experience warm temperatures this summer day, with highs ranging from the upper 80s to more than 110 degrees (F) for much of the country, especially the west, southwest and southeast. Many of the areas that aren't forecast for hot weather likely are expecting storms, or at least rain today. And, it's not just in the U.S. that it's a hot summer.  I'm getting reports from Postcrossing participants -- via their postcards and comments on the postcards I send them -- that it's quite warm in parts of Europe and Asia, as well.

What I'm getting at is that if you end up spending time indoors today to escape the heat or the storms -- or cold in the southern hemisphere -- this is a great time to write a letter or two. Banish the boredom of summer by reaching out to the world with a handwritten note or postcard.

And, if the weather is nice enough, find yourself a comfortable spot outside and get to writing!

What to write about? Write about the weather, your plans, your dreams, your day...just write!

Reminder for U.S. residents

Don't forget...next Tuesday the United States will celebrate Independence Day, and mail will not be delivered or picked up by the U.S. Postal Service. It's a federal holiday, and there will be no mail service on Tuesday, July 4. So, mail your letters early and/or expect a slight delay.

Happy letter writing!

Letters to Soldiers -- Past and Present

From the Amarillo Globe-News

This past weekend, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas, hosted a letter writing event in conjunction with its exhibit “The Great War and the Panhandle-Plains Region.”

The story caught my attention because of the letter writing aspect but also because I visited that museum a time or two as a kid. We lived about an hour away.

According to Lisa Lamb’s article on the Amarillo Globe-News’ website, there were two parts to the Saturday event. Area residents brought their World War I memorabilia to be considered for inclusion in the museum’s collection, and a program on Letters From Home highlighted the importance of letter writing during World War I. Additionally, visitors had the opportunity to write a letter to today’s U.S. military members through the Operation Gratitude project.

After reading that story, I tracked down Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization in California. The group’s online media kit says that they send care packages and letters of support to individual soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines deployed in harm’s way, to their children left behind, and to first responders, veterans, new recruits, military families, wounded heroes and their caregivers. Starting in 2003, they have sent 1,784,080 care packages so far.

Those care packages include a variety of items, including letters. According to the Operation Gratitude website, they have sent 5 million hand-written letters. That’s a lot of letters!

You can read more about Operation Gratitude and how you can become involved on the organization’s website.

It sounds like a good project that letter writers will enjoy!

A column about letters and a letter about the column

Last week, Lana Sweeten-Shults, a writer and editor for the Wichita Falls Times Record News, wrote a column about letter writing, and my friend Laura alerted me, knowing how interested I would be.

The column focused on her kids and how she came to realize that they didn't know how to write letters -- or postcards -- and her mission to remedy that situation.

She steps back in time to when she was a young girl, writing to her penpal, sending off for photos of celebrities and writing to her sister who was in the Army. You can read the column on the Times Record News' website at http://bit.ly/2rrw1Tx

Sweeten-Shults' column inspired a letter to the editor by a reader who reminisced about letter writing and other topics. In his letter, Joseph E. Whalen, Jr. of Wichita Falls suggests that people who protest things might see better results if they wrote letters instead.

As we head into this weekend, let's take Lana and Joseph's advice and write some letters. Write about whatever strikes your fancy. Write to complain; write to say "wish you were here"; write to say "I miss you."

Happy letterwriting!

Letter Writing Project Benefits Students and Chicago Organization

To me, one of the fun and wondrous things about life -- and the internet -- is how one thing leads to another and another and before long you have learned something new and fascinating.

I started out researching a story about letter writing. I came across an article on the Chicago Reader website about two Chicago school classes that wrote letters to each other. The story not only detailed how the students got to know their letter-writing partners, but it also explained that the project culminated in the publishing of a book featuring some of their letters.

As I looked up more information about the book, I discovered 826CHI, a nonprofit organization that provides free writing and tutoring programs for Chicago students. Not only does the organization have workshops, field trips and in-school projects, it also has a publishing department that prints and binds students' works into books that are sold at The Secret Agent Supply Co., a shop in Chicago that benefits 826CHI.

The letter-related book is titled "P.S. You Sound Like Someone I Can Trust," a line taken directly from one student's letter. You can order the book online at The Secret Agent Supply Co.  

You can read more about 826CHI and all of their programs, including a gallery of student writing, at the organization's website.

And, you can read the entire article about the letter writing project on the Chicago Reader.

According to the article, each year 826CHI has a unique project, so this letter writing program was a one-time event. But, that's not to stop anyone else from creating a similar program between two school classes. Such a project could teach handwriting, business skills, writing/English skills, as well as the basics of how to write and mail a letter, and much more, I'm sure. It could be done with or without the book. But, if a group wanted to publish a book of their letters, a quick print or print-on-demand service could handle it inexpensively.

I certainly hope the idea spreads and more and more young people learn the joys of letter writing!

My kind of soft drink!

My husband found this Dr Pepper bottle featuring postage stamps. It appears to be a part of the "Pick Your Pepper" promotion the soft drink company first launched last year to celebrate self-expression.

According to a news release last summer, the hundreds of unique designs were inspired by "various millennial passion point categories." That must mean that stamps -- and maybe letter writing, snail mail, analog communications, etc. -- are still relevant and interesting!

Other designs include unicorns, fireworks, cassette tapes and many more. Have you seen one yet?

Outgoing mail

I got up bright and early this morning and wrote four postcards to Postcrossing.com members. Are you a member of Postcrossing? It's a great way to connect with people all over the world! Check it out if you love sending and receiving postcards. Some Postcrosing participants are interested in "direct swaps" and/or regular letter writing, but not all are.

I'm also sending out a letter to a friend today. I love using vintage (never used, of course) stamps!

Monday morning roundup of articles about letter writing

From the Irish News

Here's a Monday morning roundup of recent stories in the news about letter writing. Enjoy!

Penpals meet in Boulder, Colorado, for the first time after corresponding for 60 years. Read the story in the Boulder Daily Camera.

A letter collector writes about the joys of letters. Read the story in the Irish News.

Some celebrity penpals are strange pairings. Read more in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Three writers pen the letters they never wrote but wish they had. From the Belfast Telegraph.
 

To write or not to write about politics

There seems to be quite a bit of political turbulence world-wide nowadays, and I'm curious if people who have international penpals discuss politics in their correspondence.

I would have to say that I usually don't write about politics in my letters, mostly because I'm not very confrontational, and I don't want to offend anyone. But, I'm happy to answer questions from my penpals, even offer up my opinion, if I'm asked for it.

I think that the longer a correspondence continues, the more likely penpals are to write about such matters. Once they get to know each other better, through their letters, they are more comfortable being open and honest about things like that.

How about you? Do you write about politics or any other controversial topic in your letters?

Letter writing finds a new generation of fans

From the Grand Haven Tribune.

Thanks to two Michigan school teachers -- who just happen to be mother and daughter -- a new generation has discovered the joys of letter writing.

According to the story in the Grand Haven Tribune, Trisha Larsen and her daughter, Georgeanne Larsen, live in western Michigan. They teach kindergarten in towns just across the Grand River from each other. And, since February, their students have struck up a correspondence.

One of the things the students have learned is how they like the same types of things that the kids in the other school like. What a great way to teach the youngsters about the world, even if it isn't that far away!

Read the full story online at the Tribune.