Who will you choose to receive your letter?

December 25 2016

This is the thing about a hand-written letter: It’s ephemeral. It’s personal. It’s (mostly) untraceable. It doesn’t go into a database. It's not for public consumption.

That’s what makes letters so very valuable. They are more and more rare, and, yet, remain a beautiful way to whisper to just one other person across the miles.

It might seem strange to use electronic media to encourage something so old-fashioned. But today, I’d like to ask you to write one letter or postcard to another person -- family, friend, acquaintance, stranger -- by hand. Bonus points if you write to someone who would least expect to hear from you on paper.

Before you send what you wrote, take a photo of something tantalizing about it -- the stamp, the photo on the postcard, your hand dropping it into a postbox -- and share it on Twitter and/or Instagram tagged #ListserveByHand. If you want to tag me, too, on either platform, I’m @egratto.

Happy writing.

Genie Gratto
Oakland, CA
[email protected]


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