A thank you note to one of my fellow Board members at Street Sense. Sometimes you need to take a moment and write the words that you feel – don’t assume the other person knows that you care.
Anne,
You’ve been a great addition to the Board of Street Sense. I want you to know that your generous financial support hasn’t gone unnoticed by your peers on the Board. It’s an essential part of our duty as Board Members and you are leading by example. Thank you.
Reed
Years ago, my Uncle Ted was a fan of a series of Bud Lite commercials that featured a guy who would pretend to be other people just to get Bud Lite. Here’s one of the commercials.
Anyway, as a joke I started sending him postcards from around the country and eventually around the world that were addressed to him or “current resident.” They just said, “Yes I am!” on the cards. There was no sender name or return address. I’d address postcards and give them to people who were traveling and ask them to drop them in the mail to try to throw him off my trail.
I chose a postcard with artwork from Spanish painter Juan Gris. No reason really…just an old post card I found in my shoe box of letters.
“I just got one from Tokyo other day,” he told me one holiday suspecting that I was behind the gag. I looked at him square in the eye and honestly replied, “Well, I’ve never been to Tokyo, heck I haven’t been to Asia. What about Doug?” I brought up his son, my cousin, to hopefully offer some other plausible culprit. He wasn’t buying it but I never admitted to being the sender of these postcards. Who knows how many he got in total.
Well, that was probably 10 years ago at least. My aunt and uncle don’t even live in the same state anymore. But I was thinking I should resurrect this prank. So I had a coworker address this so that he wouldn’t recognize my handwriting and I will think of a clever place to send it from.
Now, if you know my Uncle Ted…I ask you to keep this our little secret. Come along and see what happens.
Yes I Am!
Posted in Just because
Tagged anonymous, family, handwritten letters, jokes, letter-writing, postcards, pranks, Year of Letters, Yes I Am
Just the other day I was sharpening some pencils in the office when a colleague said, “You still use pencils?” I was surprised by the question. I love using pencils and appreciate the way the graphite adheres to the paper and the strange but alluring smell of a freshly sharpened pencil.
I grew up chewing on Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, but recently I’ve gotten rid of the iconic yellow #2 pencil – and by the way, who is using anything but a #2? Anyway, as much as their eye-catching name and logo is an integral part of my schoolwork from yesterday, I’ve decided to give them up after learning that they no longer source their cedar from forests harvested by suppliers who comply with the standards established by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or use any post-consumer recycled product.
Maybe the information I found is out of date – I hope so. But until I hear otherwise, I’m no longer buying them…for now, I’ll be using Forest Choice, GreenLine Eco-Writer or Paper Mate Earth Write.
Dear Mr. Gomez,
Like many school children in the U.S., I grew up using Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils. There’s something about the sweet cedar aroma from your pencils that still reminds me of the first day of a new school year.
The smell of that cedar led me to research your pencils and from what I could find, none of your pencils are made from post-consumer recycled product or wood from FSC certified supply chains. How come? It just seems like the right thing to do so that those young people holding your pencils will be able to grow up and enjoy our forests as you and I have.
I hope to hear that you will make this right,
Reed Sandridge
P.S. This letter was written with a Paper Mate Earth Write #2 pencil made from 100% recycled content from reclaimed wood.
Posted in Just because, Request
Tagged Dixon Ticonderoga, environment, forest stewardship, graphite, handwritten letters, lead, letter-writing, logging, paper, pencils, writing, Year of Letters
Summer is a time for the beach, baseball and barbecues. Well, last weekend I didn’t go to the beach or catch any baseball games, but I did go over to the home of the Executive Director of Street Sense, Brian Carome, and his wife Lisa for a barbecue. Everyone there was connected in some way to the Street Sense Media Center, a collaborative where local filmmakers, photographers, poets, playwrights, visual and graphic artists, and audio storytellers work side-by-side with men and women experiencing homelessness to craft stories that challenge our perceptions of homelessness. The work produced in Media Center workshops over the last year has been nothing short of remarkable and it was nice to take a moment and just relax with this incredible group of people.
Brian and Lisa,
Thank you both so much for inviting me to your home for the BBQ. It was great to talk with you and so many other members of the Street Sense family. The food was outstanding – and while I didn’t have the pork since I’m not eating meat right now, everyone was raving about it. I probably should have cheated and just tried a bite. Anyway, I am buying that Weber Cookbook!
Thanks again – it was a wonderful evening.
Reed
Posted in Thank-yous
Tagged barbecues, bbq, DC, friends, grilling, handwritten letters, Media Center, nonprofits, Paper Source, Street Sense, Washington, Weber, Year of Letters
Barren Hill cocktail at McClellan’s Retreat
At some point I became interested in mixing cocktails. For some of the more interesting ones, it seems I’m always missing one ingredient. Often times it is a tincture, bitters or syrup that has to be prepared ahead of time. So despite my interest in crafting my own cocktails, it’s nice sometimes to go some place that has all the ingredients – not to mention the expertise to make them!
Around the corner from my house is McClellan’s Retreat. They opened up last fall where Veritas used to be. I hesitated posting this letter here because people will start to flock to this favorite spot of mine and then there will be no room for me at the bar. I guess that would be a good thing though – both in terms of the bar doing well enough to stay in business and for me not sitting at the bar as often as I may now.
Anyway, Megan is the manager and head bartender there. If you stop by, tell her I sent you. And definitely order the Barren Hill, it’s my favorite. But I caught part of a conversation one day about the pistachio syrup – the fact that possibly they’ve lost the recipe and when this batch runs out, it’s gone forever. So you better go sooner than later.
Dear Megan,
It was good to see you this past weekend – it had been way too long since I had stopped in. It’s not healthy (staying away that is) and I promise not to do it again.
People talk about climate change, pandemics, ISIS… but what keeps me up at night is pistachio syrup. What will become of the Barren Hill if you run out??? Speaking of which, I was in on Sunday and Chris made me one – it was pretty delicious. You’ve got some competition!
Thanks for being my neighborhood bar.
Cheers,
Reed
Posted in Just because
Tagged bars, bartenders, cocktail bars, cocktails, DC, drinks, handwritten letters, letter-writing, letters, mixed drinks, Paper Source, Washington, Year of Letters