A great week for the Year of Letters. I received three responses in the mail – well sorta.
First, I received a letter from Caroline Fraser Zinsser. Her husband, William Zinsser, was the recipient of my 22nd letter. Now 92, the authority on writing well for the past half century, is now blind she explained to me and unable to reply, but she offered his phone number and let me know that I could call him. Wow! I haven’t called yet, I am not sure what I would tell him other than I think he’s a genius but he doesn’t need me wasting his time to tell him that.
Second, I received a letter from Margaret at the Hotel Monaco regarding my letter to General Manager Mart Hurlburt on January 6th requesting that my gift certificate for a one-night stay in their Alexandria, VA hotel be extended – I let it expire. She kindly offered to grant me the extension – thank you Margaret and thank you to Hotel Monaco!!! I’m a big fan of their hotels, but I have yet to stay in their Alexandria property so I am looking forward to that.
The last response I received wasn’t really a response I guess. You may remember that on Day 35 I wrote a letter to Jayson Werth of the Washington Nationals. He was serving a short sentence in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center for a reckless driving incident last year. I figured he would have some free time to read my letter – but I don’t believe he ever saw it. My letter had been opened, inspected, taped shut and returned to me.
Finally, I want to congratulate Katy from Day 22. She was the co-producer of Citizenfour – the Edward Snowden documentary that took home the Oscar tonight for Best Documentary. She’s amazing.
Get ready for another week of handwritten letters. Do you have someone you think I should write? Let me know. And how about you, when is the last time you penned a handwritten letter to someone. Try to write at least one this week – you’ll be glad you did!