Who wants a hand written letter?

My Wednesday was surprisingly eventful.

Began with work at NYPL. Still cranking out those veteran pages. I spent a fair amount of time today on Ralph Stern. While I can't pick an all time favorite veteran, I really appreciate Stern's story. He was almost a part of the D-Day invasion, but due to faulty equipment, he was stuck in England. His group arrived in France 20 days after D-Day and he witnessed the bombing of St. Lo (the town that was considered the gateway to Paris) and also participated in the march of Paris.

So pretty neat, right?

What Stern does well in his interview is locating people and places. It made the compilation of his resource page a lot of fun.

I also had lunch with my aunt and uncle. We ate a neat restaurant called STK and I had a delicious chicken sandwich.

Then it was back to work at NYPL and then home to the Hotel Belleclaire. I had just enough time to drop my stuff off before Whitney, Ashley, and I headed back into the NYC concrete jungle.

Our destination was Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. I've been to Housing Works before and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Not only is it a great organization (all the money they raise goes to raising awareness and helping to fight HIV/AIDS and homelessness) but the cafe (and thrift shops all around Manhattan and Brooklyn) have the greatest vibe. Very laid back and chill.

The event was called Women of Letters: "To the Person I Misjudged." Basically three years ago, two women created this literary salon of sorts where they have groups of people read letters that are addressed to somebody or something. The authors of these letters read them to a crowd and it helps to sustain the letter writing culture that is slowly disappearing.

Personally, I love letter writing. Close family and friends of mine can attest to my letter writing (and card making skills). I love my handwriting and I love writing a note to someone. It goes back to my love of writing in general; the ability to put words on the page that mean something. Especially since the person who received the letter can keep said letter. Reread it when they are happy (or sad). And letter writing is disappearing with emails and people just not setting aside time to sit down and write.

Maybe I'm just a weird kid who loves handwriting over typing and sending out random letters to my friends. I'm also that kid who prints out special emails and who pins them on my wall to reread when I need a Hailley pep talk. It's way easier to read the printed version instead of scrolling through my massive inbox.

Moral of this little rant: letter writing is powerful. Just so you know.

I loved the performance. Each author brought something different to the table and they really got me thinking. It was one of those performances where I have the itch to write. You know, grab some coffee and stay up late scribbling away. I do have a bunch of stamps sitting in my room....maybe some people will be getting letters soon!

Once the event was over, we all headed back. Tomorrow is an art day with Kathy; it's our second to last art event. Can't believe how fast time is flying by!