Observing Leslie

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Get a Letter, Send a Letter

A beautiful, handwritten letter from a friend. July 2, 2013.

The U.S. government, despite the good ol’ USPS’s need to cut costs, recently put the kibosh on canceling Saturday mail delivery.

Jenna Sauber and I believe the letter campaign we kicked off a few months ago in homage to real mail saved Saturday deliveries. Clearly, the government saw our genuine appreciation. And since when has the government let anyone down?

As a thank you to the government—and because we really, truly love real letters—Jenna and I have crafted a new real-mail campaign that may end up as a round one to an ongoing project.

The scoop:

We will send letters to the first ten people who sign up for the campaign. Each of the ten “winners” will receive real mail covering one of the following five topics (and they cannot pick which one to receive):

  • First heartbreak

  • Difficult decision

  • Favorite recipe

  • Offbeat hobby

  • Vivid childhood memory

Recipients must then respond to the letters they receive with their own stories on the same topic.

Get ready for the twist:

Not only will the recipients not know which topic they’ll receive, they will not know from whom they’ll receive their letters. Jenna and I plan to each “draw” five entrants.

New friendships, commence!

If this all goes swimmingly, we’ll report back on our blogs with status reports. (And why shouldn’t it go swimmingly, I say?) We may even do another round, so if you don’t make it into the first pool, stay tuned for announcements on the second.

Hurry and sign up before others take all the slots!

You know you want a letter.