Who Doesn't Love Letters?

But when was the last time you actually wrote (and sent) one? And don't get me started on love letters; will the next generation have any collective memory of the ribbon-bound mementos prized by spinsters for centuries prior to our own?

Receiving mail is one of the best day to day surprises in life. The physiological impact of seeing your name in print on an unexpected envelope is similar to but substantially greater than the elation felt when opening an email, and the latter, unlike the letter, is sadly lacking in tangibility.

As with many children of the ante internet era, I had a pen pal. I wrote letters to my parents from summer camp and to my camp friends (and a few notable camp horses) during the school year. I collected postcards and foreign stamps and I even owned scented stationary at one time. It has now been years since I wrote a proper hand written letter, unless you count Christmas cards which I tend to fill with text to make up for my lack of "real" contact the rest of the year; despite the great utility and convenience of email, it just doesn't cut it. Don't get me wrong, emails have made me laugh and cry when composed with enough heart by a loved one, but if a letter is a thoughtful gift, an email is a ten dollar bill in an otherwise empty envelope.

The Regional Assembly of Text, 3934 Main St, Vancouver, BC

I got out sans enfants for an hour the other day and spent nearly all of it at one of my favorite neighborhood shops, The Regional Assembly of Text. As the name implies, this store specializes in goods such as paper, cards, zines, buttons, stamps and other printed paraphernalia. They have a storage closet turned library called The Lowercase Reading Room and a superbly curated collection of card catalogues, filing cabinets, and gym lockers.

But the highlight of my recent visit was the discovery of their letter writing club! This is a truly great concept for anyone who, like myself, would like to receive more heartfelt mail; send more letters and reap the rewards! Of course, who has time to write letters? Well, we all do but we don't do it because it's not as convenient as email, or as mind-numbing as YouTube, or as tasty as eating popcorn, or as lazy as having a bath and going to bed. So here's the perfect opportunity to carve out some time for letting letters into your life. After all the postal service (the US Postal Service that is) could really use our help, debt-ridden as they are. So pick up your pens or pencils or aptly named 1963 Olivetti Lettera typewriter and join me in a letter writing revolution! You'll thank me when you check the mail.