Dear Reader, Here is a Valentine’s Day treat. I recently saw the play: She Loves Me. It is based on the 1937 play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklós László. The action takes place in a Budapest perfume shop in the 1930’s. The binding central element behind the story is the exchange of letters between two […]
ready, set…GO!
Day #1- Hello Dear Reader, Universal Letter Writing Week begins today. YAY! Here I am ready to get started. Won’t you pick up your pen and join me. The goal is one letter a day for 7 days…However, it works for you. See you tomorrow. Happy letter writing, Carol _____________________________________________________ Help LA wildfires: […]
“Love Jimmy”
Dear Reader, Isn’t this a great photograph? And what a smile! James Baldwin would have turned 100 this month. His incredible take on life, his writing, his astute cultural commentary are all timeless contributions. This past summer, in honor of this great author, Yale’s Beinecke Library showcased the exhibit: “Love Jimmy”-Letters from James Baldwin to […]
My New Pen Pal
Dear Reader, During this past year, I participated in a pen pal program sponsored by a local chapter of The Agency on Aging. I was given the name of a young girl, an 8th grader at a nearby middle school. We exchanged letters once a month. She had the double challenge of not only having […]
“Now I’m Dead”
Dear Reader, Recently, the Letter Exchange posed the question, “how do you want to alert your pen friends that you are deceased?” While I was considering various approaches, I came across this video. It is too precious not to share it. The transcript is copied below… British journalist Caitlin Moran wrote this letter to her […]
Letters to Self
Dear Reader, Here is another “Guest Author” treat from Colette. Her Letters to Self is such a thoughtful idea to fulfil her personal wish to continue receiving mail from foreign places -way into the future. She’s right, it’s brilliant! Ever since I learned how to write, I have had pen pals. The French nuns at […]
Addie and Rebecca
Addie and Rebecca were pen pals during the mid-19th century. They were free black women who navigated the turbulent times during America’s Reconstruction Era. Addie Brown, born in 1841, was orphaned early in life and as a result she joined the working class as a domestic servant. Five years older, Rebecca Primus was born in […]
“The Happiness Challenge”
Happy New Year Dear Readers. I must confess the challenge of this New Year’s moment has overwhelmed me. Much like the 2 faced Roman god Janus who starts off the year with Janu-ary, I don’t know if I’m coming or going. I am still writing holiday greetings, and the thought of jotting down my […]
“My Dear Friend”
After her grandmother died in 2000, Rachael Doyle, a high school junior from Long Island, decided that she wanted to do something to lessen the loneliness for some seniors in a local nursing home. Rachael along with 2 volunteers went into the senior facility and offered the women there makeovers. It began with doing the […]
Royal Pen Pal
Dear Reader, Here is a Royal story that we can relate to. Queen Elizabeth had a pen pal. Often, Her Majesty kept a “stiff upper lip,” so it is heart warming to learn that she let her hair down with an annual birthday card to her American pen friend in North Dakota. Here’s the scoop […]