Letter Writing Wrapup

 Having just dropped a final letter in the mail this morning, I am happy to announce that National Letter Writing Month has been a success.  

• Letters written: 30
• Letters typed: 18
• Letters hand written: 12
• Domestic addresses: 28
• International addresses: 2
• Responses received (so far): 3
• Letters returned, undelivered: 1  (and then resent)
• Months until next Letter Writing Month: 11

It's been a fun month, but it's taken time away from my Postcrossing activities.  I look forward to more postcards in May.  Write on!

Letter Month midpoint

 In addition to it being Tax Day (don't forget to file your returns!), today is the midpoint of National Letter Writing Month.  I'm glad to report my goal of writing and sending one letter each day to family and friends has so far been uninterrupted.  The commonly given benefits of handwritten letters are that they are a pleasant and personal way to communicate with another individual.  In today's digital age, it is certainly unexpected and hopefully a pleasant surprise to receive such an old fashioned message; an actual, physical object, manually transported by a postal system that remains by far the world's largest.  But being a scientist myself, I must mention that there are actual biological benefits to writing letters.  It's science!  According to one scientific paper:

 Handwriting is a complex neurophysiological process integrating motor, cognitive, and emotional components. Beyond its functional role in communication, it carries cultural and psychological significance. 

 Handwriting develops more areas of the brain than keyboard or texting messages.  It contributes to enhanced memory development and greater engagement with the material.  It's also a classy, joyous, and affirming way to strengthen relationship.  It may take more time and effort, but that also has value in fostering a deliberate and thoughtful moment in what otherwise can be a frantic life. So in the remainder of the month, I will continue to improve my neural pathways, burnish my penmanship, and sustain my friendships.  Write on!

Letter Writing Month 2026

 It's April once again, which means Letter Writing Month is here.  As in past years, my goal is to write one letter each day to mail to family and friends.  (Last year's efforts were interrupted by a medical event, which I don't expect to be repeated this year.)  The letters I write during the month may be typewritten or hand written using my small collection of machines and fountain pens.  But all will be sent by USPS mail, while the service still exists.  This is a time of year I always look forward to:  renewing friendships, catching up with those who aren't online, and practicing the nearly-forgotten  communication method that served mankind for centuries.  The paper, ink, and stamps stand ready, so let's go.  Write on!

Blog to blog

 A few months ago, I discovered the blog "La Boite aux Lettres du Monde", which my high school and Duolingo French lessons enable me to translate as "Mailbox of the World".  The blog author, Daniel, solicits postal mail with interesting stamps from all over the world, which he posts on his blog.  In return, he promises to reply to senders with mail of his own.  This is a man with whom I share a like mind, so I sent off my letter on about November 30th.  Today, Daniel has posted my letter.  For the international 1st class 1 ounce postage rate of $1.70, I used two first class forever stamps ($ 0.78 each) and a vintage 14 cent stamp.  The paired forever stamps come from this year's issue of battlefield scenes of the American Revolutionary War, which was issued this past April.  Some of that stamp issue are matched pairs, or two stamps that combine to make one scene; the ones I used were from the Battle of Lexington and Concord.  I've had great enjoyment following this blog, and seeing all the beautiful stamps from around the world, and I look forward to receiving my reply from Daniel.  Stay tuned.

Not dead yet

 Only hours after it began, April Letter Writing Month had to be put on pause.  You see, on the morning of April 1, I was unexpectedly hospitalized for a bit more than two days (no foolin'!)  Yes, only months away from beginning my sixth decade of life, I was admitted to a hospital overnight stay for the first time ever.  Got to take my first ever ambulance ride, too!  I'm home now, feeling very much better, and eager to jump into daily correspondence with family and friends at last.  I also have a lot of postcard writing to catch up on. But to all my correspondents, fear not.  I am back at my desk, pen in hand (or typewriter, as the case may be), and daily letters will resume immediately.  Write on!

Letter Writing Month

 As I did last year, I will once again be participating in National Letter Writing Month.  Each day in April, I intend to write a letter to family and friends, and send it to them through the good 'ol US Postal Service.  It might be a letter composed on a vintage typewriter from my collection, or it may be handwritten.  Either way, it's my favorite time of year when I renew contacts and check in with those who I don't otherwise frequently communicate with.  Surprising as it may be, I still know people who are not active on social media and so I don't have much current news about their lives.  Through daily letters (and hopefully replies of any sort- postal, electronic, or otherwise) I hope to get back in touch with lost friends and family.  So here it goes.  Want to join in?  Feel free to contact me, and I'll be sure to reply.  Write on!

Somebody's always watching me

 And interesting confluence of items crossed my desk yesterday.  First was an advertising email from The Folio Society, a purveyor of luxury editions of classic books.  They've recently released a limited edition of 1984, by George Orwell on the 75th anniversary of its first publication.  The landmark novel is one I have had repeated experiences with.  I was required to read it in high school, at a time when I couldn't yet fully comprehend its message.  I read it later as an adult and appreciated the dystopian tale much more.  Then in 2017, I attended a Broadway theater production of 1984, just as the full Orwellian nature of the Trump administration was becoming understood.  The loss of objective truth, the populist authoritarianism, the memory holes, and the doublespeak ("alternative facts" was an early feature of those dark years) was damage that the country still is dealing with.  The Broadway stage version of 1984 was as shocking and provocative as live theater could possibly be, and as gloomy and foreboding as Orwell must have intended.  Having experienced the show and having lived through the (hopefully only) Trump term, I will be forever changed.  So with that in mind, I ordered a copy of the new book, bibliophilic prole that I am.  More on that in a later post.

Concurrently with all that, I read an article in the Washington Post that describes a formal surveillance program of the US Postal System.  The so-called "mail covers program" allows the tracking of postal mail to and from targeted individuals, with little regulation or oversight.  Back when mail was still a primary mode of individual communication, and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution was still respected, detailed laws were put in place to require warrants to open mail.  But merely monitoring and recording addresses of mail to a specific person requires very little formal approval.  Without warrants or judicial approval, law enforcement agencies of all descriptions can request the USPS to monitor the mailboxes of targeted individuals, which it does with little resistance.  Despite the Post's recent article, this is not a new practice.  In 2013, the mail surveillance of award-winning author William Vollmann was described in an article in Harper's Magazine.  Vollmann had mistakenly fallen under suspicion by the FBI of being a suspect in the Unabomber bombings.  His mail was tracked - and indeed opened - for years before his innocence was demonstrated by the brother of the actual Unabomber, who recognized his manifesto.  This is a sobering reminder for a snail mail aficionado like me, who likes to believe that old-fashioned physical letters escape some of the privacy concerns of online digital communication.  Indeed, I can't help wondering if my innocent personal correspondence with iconoclastic individuals like publisher Fred Woodworth has landed me on some watch list.  Woodworth himself has often written about incidences of FBI harassment in his own long publishing career.  The truth is evident: 75 years later, Big Brother is still watching.

Writer's brain

 In this digital age, the art and skill of handwriting has quickly faded.  In many schools, students are no longer taught how to write in cursive.  And despite a more recent backlash to the anti-cursive trend, handwriting in any form is becoming a lost art.  This, despite the growing evidence that handwriting is useful, and important in brain development.  It seems that typing words on a keyboard doesn't promote the kind of memory and linguistic skills that forming letters by hand with pen and paper does.  The evidence seems clear- to really learn something, write it down by hand.  Your brain will thank you.  Maybe even in cursive.

Where's George?

 Such is the randomness of life, that I recently returned to a pastime I had enjoyed many years ago.  More than a decade ago, probably.  That is the practice of maintaining an account on Where's George, a currency tracking web site.  The idea was to gain amusement by entering the serial number of bills of paper currency as they pass through your hands.  Then, if other web site members also log them in when they obtain them, the site would report that event to you, with info on the bill's location, time of travel, etc.  I participated in this for a few months many years ago, but never had a bill registered after I did.  It seemed like an interesting effort, but participation in it is apparently low.  Nonetheless, this morning I entered the numbers from some bills in my pocket.  Once I spend them, I will hope that they pass into the hands of another Where's George member, and I'll be notified of it.  We'll see.  Stay Tuned.

Speaking of anachronistic futility, National Letter Writing Month concluded yesterday.  After sending a daily letter throughout the month to family and friends, I received precisely two in reply.  So the age of written correspondence is clearly waning.  But in an odd way, I derive some encouragement from this sad ratio.  Being able to compose and send a written letter makes me exceedingly rare, and perhaps even special.  That's what I'm going with, anyway.  So too, this Where's George project.  It can be no surprise that most people won't take time out of their day to type in a serial number from a dollar bill to see where it might have come from.  But compounding that problem is the fact that fewer and fewer people even carry or use cash in their daily lives.  Less than 14% of people report using cash for most of their purchases these days.  And while a majority of Americans say they carry cash on a daily basis, this is closely linked to the person's age and younger Americans are much less likely to carry cash at all.  So I won't get my hopes up about scoring a hit on Where's George.  But I'll let you know if I do.

Weeks, not months

 As an avid fan of postal mail, I have traditionally held a positive opinion of the US Postal Service.  With its long and interesting history, it is now by far the largest postal system in the world.  Over 44% of the world's mail is processed by the USPS, and in 2022 the USPS delivered 127.3 billion (B, for BILLION) pieces of mail.  As an active postal customer for decades, I have recently seen delivery performance drop off noticeably.  Most obvious is my weekly typed letter to my mother, which I typically write on Sunday evenings, and is a sort of regular weekly update on my life.  Mailed on Monday morning from central Alabama, it would reliably reach her in suburban Chicago on Thursday.  Used to, anyway.  After a couple years of semi-annual rate hikes, the delivery performance has slowed considerably.  My letters now arrive on Friday on a good week.  The following Monday is quite common.  And parcels that I order from online stores that have tracking info clearly reveal the disgraceful state of USPS Priority Mail service.  This was once advertised as "2-day" service and usually lived up to the promise.  Now days, it's commonly four or five days.  Then, to further accentuate the decline, today I received a postcard sent to me by a relative from their vacation to the US Virgin Islands...that they mailed the week before last Christmas.  I'm not the only one who has noticed the abysmal state of mail service in this country.  Two days ago, USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy appeared before a congressional hearing to explain the poor performance of the service he oversees.  At the Senate hearing, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) excoriated Trump appointee DeJoy about his poor performance.

"You don't have months to fix 36 percent of mail being delivered on time," Ossoff countered. "I've got constituents with prescriptions that aren't being delivered. I've got constituents who can't pay their rent and their mortgage. I've got businesses who aren't able to ship products or receive supplies."

While I recognize few people today use the USPS for actual personal correspondence, it still provides a vital service for delivering documents and parcels to all parts of the country.  And as dismal as things may be right now, it could be worse.  But I certainly hope congressional pressure will drive DeJoy to improve the situation, or failing that, remove him and replace him with someone who can.

Write on

 No foolin' - today begins National Letter Writing Month.  For the next thirty days, we are urged to make an effort to send good old fashioned postal mail to our family and friends.  This is something I've strived to do for the past several years.  With varied success.  The goal is to each day create one personal missive to be mailed to a lucky recipient, thereby reviving an age-old method of communication.  For many, the ritual of composing of a physical, hand written (or in my case, often typewritten) letter, note or card recalls pleasant memories of a slower, simpler time.  There is still something about receiving a physical personal letter that no intangible, digital communication can match.  Direct, personal, and durable, written letters cannot be replaced or will ever entirely vanish.  The amateur historian in me also values written correspondence as an invaluable record of history.  So much of what we know about people in our past comes to us from a written record.  So this month, I pledge to once again make an effort to send at least one letter each day, and in doing, revive some relationships that have flagged, despite digital connections that sometimes are overwhelming.  Perhaps you who read this will be a lucky recipient of a letter I write this month; write one to me, and you can definitely expect one in reply.

It's in the mail 6

 For today's mailbox, we stay close to home.  Specifically, the curbside mailboxes in the drive-through lane of my local post office.  Now, the Helena Post Office is, I think, more of a branch service center.  It offers many of the services one expects of a full-function post office, including post office boxes, counter service, and package collection.  But I sense that no real mail sorting or cancellations happen there.  Mail I send from here is actually sorted and postmarked at the major regional service center in Birmingham.  And tracking sometimes shows that incoming parcels I receive originate from the larger post office in nearby Alabaster.  Still, it is fortunate that this post office is so close to my home, and directly on my commute to work.  As the town of Helena, tiny when I moved here 25 years ago, has grown and spread out to the west, this post office is a long drive away for many city residents.  Some years ago, I had heard rumors of a second post office that was being planned for the distant west end of the city, but ongoing financial problems within the USPS seem to have ended that possibility.  Anyways, I routinely drop outgoing postcards and letters in these boxes, and from here they reach the far corners of the world.

Helena, Alabama Post Office

Just my type 4

 As I mentioned before, I regularly type letters to family and friends to stay in touch in the old-fashioned, analog way.  But I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the one typewriter in my collection that I use probably more than any other is this one - an Underwood 319.  Why embarrassed?  As a low-level, humble typewriter collector, I at least am aware that this machine does not earn much attention from serious collectors.  It's not rare, unique, old or interesting in any way that would tantalize a dedicated collector.  In fact, it's not really an Underwood.  The famed American company had passed into history when this machine was manufactured in the 1980s.  It was actually made in Spain by Olivetti, who had bought the rights to the Underwood name.  It is in fact an Olivetti Lettera 92, a rather unremarkable plastic-cased portable design.  Completely functional, and totally bland and uninteresting.  Some years ago, I did re-paint the shell to jazz up its appearance from the original beige putty color.  Yet, I use it mostly because it is close at hand, works well, and while it is over 40 years old it continues to function as designed.  I won't go so far as to draw any allusions between my life and this hum-drum, workaday, drab machine.  But I will call it dependable and reliable.

Typewriter: Underwood 319

Write soon

 Since postal mail is one of my passions, I would be very happy to hear from you by that mode.  Snail mail will get my attention much quicker than texts, email, voicemail, or any other digital communication.  These days, being able and willing to send a handwritten message by mail counts as one of my superpowers.  Most people I know couldn't gather a piece of paper, an envelope, and a stamp without a great effort.  But for those of you who are up to the challenge, I'd love to hear from you.  On any topic.  And any mail I receive will earn a prompt and confidential response.  The best part is that postal mail evades the internet's all-seeing eyes, and is much more private than its electronic counterpart.  For the intrepid, send your missives to me at:

Peter Eipers
P.O. Box 750
Helena, AL 35080
USA

And they will arrive at my quaint nearby post office box.

Helena Alabama Post Office - via Minox subminiature camera