Modern Letter Project

For the past decade or so, I have quietly mourned the demise of letter-writing as something of the past--something I've always loved, particularly on the writing end. In my early teenage years, I wrote back and forth with a pen-pal in France; I always relished her letters and postcards, enjoying the rare opportunity to learn about another culture from someone my own age. I remember us both being surprised at just how similar we were and how connected we felt, though thousands of miles apart.

I always had a feeling there must be like-minded letter-lovers out there--it just took a fellow cyber-dweller to help me find them.

I signed on for the Modern Letter Project back in February and have since sent two and received four glorious, handwritten letters. Two were responses from the fabulous people I had written to since joining the project. The other, which I received Friday, came from Nicole in Queens:

She cleverly wrote on each of three sides of these colorful pyramids, then folded them and stacked them one inside the other. I felt like a kid (first thought: Neato!) when I opened the envelope and excitedly set my pyramids up beside each other on my desk before reading them.

In spite of the fact that my schedule is so demanding these days (work, school, more work, repeat), I love carving out time to write without the use of a mouse and keyboard--it truly is a lost art, particularly when writing to people you don't know. I find it a wonderful way to wind down, strengthen my writing and learn something new about myself with each letter I send.

Check out more photos here or by searching "Modern Letter Project" on Flickr.

Posted by ayelet at May 6, 2007 04:35 PM