‘Snail Mail’ project promotes art of letters
The information and quotes in this blog are from CNN, and were written by Doug Gross on August 4, and relates once again to the importance of hand-written letters. Snail Mail My Email is a service created by Ivan Cash, a San Francisco designer and art director. The service lets users turn an online message into a handwritten letter. Since July 15 over 2,300 e-mailed letters to be written and then sent out. Snail Mail My Email users may request a doodle, flower petal or other extras to be included in their letters. Here are excerpts from Doug Gross’ article:
“The concept is simple. Since July 15, anyone interested has been able to e-mail a letter to the project’s volunteers. They turn around and hand-write the letter – complete with extras like a doodle, flower petal or lipstick kiss if desired – and mail it to the recipient.
Cash, who recently returned to San Francisco after a stint working in Amsterdam, said he’d been an avid letter-writer in college and the few years after. He said there’s something about the process of pulling out a pen and paper and crafting a message with your own hand that makes it more personal and well thought-out.” But eventually, he said, he began defaulting to e-mail and Facebook message like a lot of people. “Snail Mail My Email” was born as a way of getting back in touch with the joys of putting pen to paper, he said. “This isn’t a project that’s out to make money or be a forever solution,” he said. “This is just a jumpstart to help raise awareness.”
Apparently more people were interested than Cash guessed. In the project’s first two weeks, 2,300 letters were sent out “I’d originally thought I’d get five to 10 letters a week – and I was hoping I’d even get that many. He said. He’d originally planned to copy the letters himself. But when he got 1,000 e-mails on the fourth day, he considered canceling the project. After posting a request for help, he now has 134 volunteers literally lending a hand.
Kristin Huben of Montgomery, Illinois, is a volunteer who read about the project on a tech blog, sent her sister a letter through the site, then jumped when she saw Cash’s call for help. “I’ve always loved writing letters,” said Huben, who said she’s written nearly 50 so far. “I think it’s really become romanticized in an era of e-mail and Twitter and whatever – it’s an amazing thing to send a letter or receive a letter and think, ‘Someone took the time to do this.’” “Hands down, I would say that 90% of them are love letters,” she said. “I just feel so lucky to be part of a couple’s love story. It’s really sweet.”
Cash has penned more than 75 letters including the text of a man’s proposal speech to his wife, letters to President Barack Obama and even an acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, from the “Harry Potter” series.
There’s something about a personal letter that e-mail or texting can never replace said Margaret Shepherd, author of “The Art of the Personal Letter: A Guide to Connecting Through the Written Word.” Shepherd said she supports the “Snail Mail” project as a way of enlightening people about the value of a handwritten note. But she’d still prefer to see participants just pick up a pen themselves. “Your mom wants to see your handwriting, and she wants to hear your voice, not a stranger’s,” she said.”
Be sure to view my 5-minute “Power of the Pen” DVD on my Home Page at www.handwritinganalysistoronto.com
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