“Perhaps we have failed as human beings. Perhaps we have embarrassed ourselves to the natural world. We have been rigorous and willful in all the wrong ways. But it doesn't have to be this way. Maybe you don't want to deal with (marching), the permanent marker and poster board. But try something else. Carry someone's groceries. Chat with the custodian in your office building. Donate blood. Live in Rwanda for a year. Write letters to the Department of Buildings. Learn to knit. It is only going to get better from here on out.” WorldWayWantWritingTryingYearsHumansHas BeensNaturalHuman BeingsDealsBloodBuildingOfficeLettersPermanentGet BetterBoardsDepartmentEmbarrassedNatural WorldGroceriesPostersWrong WayDonateMarkersRwandaCustodiansOffice BuildingsDonating Blood Author:Sufjan Stevens
“A letter is not a dialogue or even an omniscient exposition. It is a fabric of surfaces, a mask, a form as well suited to affectations as to the affections. The letter is, by its natural shape, self-justifying; it is one's own evidence, deposition, a self-serving testimony. In a letter the writer holds all the cards, controls everything about himself and about those assertions he wishes to make concerning events or the worth of others. For completely self-centered characters, the letter form is a complex and rewarding activity.” WellsSelfCharacterFormWishNaturalEventsActivityShapesEvidenceLettersComplexesAffectionSurfaceDialogueCardsMaskServingFabricTestimonySelf CenteredAssertionSelf ServingOmniscient Book:Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature Source: Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature
“Letterwriting is the natural outlet of the "odds." The busy-bodies, the idle, the perverted, the cranks, the feel-it-my-duties ... Also the plain depraved. They all write letters. It's their safe outlet, you see. They can be as interfering, as long-winded, as obscene, as pompous, as one-idea'd, as they like on paper, and no one can kick them for it. So they write. My God, how they write!” FeelsWritingLongIdeasBodyNaturalDutySafePaperLettersBusyKicksOddsInterfereIdleOutletsObscenePompousDepravedCrank Author:Josephine Tey
“Let your letter be written as accurately as you are able,--I mean with regard to language, grammar, and stops; for as to the matter of it the less trouble you give yourself the better it will be. Letters should be easy and natural, and convey to the persons to whom we send them just what we should say to the persons if we were with them.” IfsGivingShouldMeanPersonsMatterAbleLanguageEasyNaturalWrittenTroubleLettersRegardGrammar Author:Lord Chesterfield
“Deafness produces bizarre effects, reversing the natural order of things; the interchange of letters is the conversation of the deaf, and the only link with society. I would be in despair, for instance, over seeing you speak, but, instead, I am only too happy to hear you write.” WritingWould BeOrderSpeakNaturalSeeingEffectsProduceConversationDespairLettersInstanceLinksBizarreDeafDeafnessNatural OrderInterchange Author:Lord Chesterfield