Thank you to Alan. Last year I had to learn Flash, which was not unlike studying neurophysics in Greek for me. Alan was tremendously patient. If you ever meet anyone who knows Flash and actionscript well, take a moment to recognize their unique form of brilliance.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that gratitude matters. It is a topic I am preoccupied with. When I say about Neither Snow that "mail matters" what I think I mean, more specifically, is gratitude. Mailed letters represent the best parts of ourselves, and behind almost every one -- an invitation, condolence, announcement, birthday card -- is a feeling of gratitude for another person's presence in our lives.
In thinking about my regrets, almost all come down to: "I should have taken the time to say thank you...really say thank you from the bottom of my heart." The problem is that the impulse arrives and then passes so fast and so frequently that it is easy to avoid acting on it, from reading a wonderful book ("I should write the author a note."), seeing a beautiful movie ("That scene with the baked goods and the ribbon deserves to be acknowledged."), missing a friend's birthday ("I should transcribe their favorite poem."), the smile from the man handing out newspapers on 22nd Street, noticing a well-designed sign or product or event, recognizing noble causes and organizations. The wonder of the world is like a fire hose sometimes, isn't it?
Without devolving into a panicked monologue about screens taking over our lives and the dying art of correspondence I will also simply say this: it feels good to return to a tangible communication method with a history, and to do so in a way that is deliberate and methodical (as inspired by Kate Bingaman Burt). I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do so for my clients, and I need to do it more myself.
In the last few days you may have noticed numbered posts (1:1.1, 2:1.2, 3:1.3, etc.). They are my new year's resolution for 2011: to write a letter of gratitude every day (number of sequence:date). I will also be taking monthly gratitude requests. If you have someone in mind who you feel deserves a handwritten note recognizing their efforts, please email me and I'll take it under consideration. And if I could write you each an individual letter I would: thank you for stopping by.
[Copper "thank you" plate above very kindly sent by Dan -- he used it for the beautiful invitation suite he designed. And then took the time to send it to me.]
Thank you to Alan for pointing out this site, The Art of the Title Sequence. Not surprisngly, included is a homage to some of my favorite minutes of cinema: Stephen Frankfurt's sequence for "To Kill a Mockigbird." Another item to add to the list of things that inspire the look of Neither Snow.
Ingrid has had some great posts recently about joy, order, illegal rainbows, urban abundance, happiness.
[Image courtesy of Things Organized Neatly]
Thank you to Paul Krugman, and a question. Do you know of any organizations or efforts under way to teach low-income people how to invest?
I was so happy to see these photos from someone who attempted the project I created for Burda. And from Italy, no less. Nice work with the embroidery -- above and beyond!
Thank you, J + D, J + A and S, for a weekend of New Year's Festivities
Thank you, Lauren Redniss, for your book "Radioactive."
Adding to The Write House series part one and two: two snaps from the holiday correspondence table set up to send letters to service members (via the White House flickr feed).
I like: the idea (has it been done before?), that they are hand written notes, the mailbox (but is it functional or decorative?), the uniformly sized cards and festive green marker, that correspondence is a part of the holiday tradition. I'm less enamored of: the lack of envelopes or (I'm assuming) a design on the reverse -- is this a post card?, the idea that service members get some weird mass of generic greetings (how are they delivered? In sacks at the base?), the unoriginal border and holiday message, and that the cards are sitting on that table in plastic shrink wrap. Come on, people. The next photo is of Bo cookies methodically laid out on parchment (by the way: my fingers often look identical to the pastry chef's). Can't you set these cards in a basket? Small quibbles, really. In fact, the qubbles underscore a larger issue which is that each of us should be inclined to write a service member a hand written note on our own accord. In fact I feel guilty that I haven't done so before. The most important thing is any type of gratitude expressed to our troops. SO:
Then I started Googling and of course there is such an organization called Soldiers' Angels. The idea is this: you sign up for three months of letters, to a different soldier each week. There are 1166 soldiers waiting to be adopted (did I choke up while writing this? Yes, I did.) You can also donate to this very worthy cause.
The men and women serving our country have been on my mind lately. In my other life, I am a journalist. I recently returned from Virginia where I worked with the ever-talented Amanda Lucier creating audio stories for her photo column, While You Were Gone, which documents the lives of military families while their loved ones are deployed. You can see and hear one of the stories we worked on together here. There are so many people in the world who deserve letters...and that will be the topic of my first post for 2011.
Last night's snowstorm in Philadelphia provided a great excuse for a banner change. And so: the elegant snow drift outside our front door. The last week of the year is a time when I try to accomplish all of my new year's resolutions all at once, and many of them involve projects I'll simply call "snowflakes." What are you up to this week?
Also: three cheers to Jillian, Kristina and Amanda for 100 Layer Cake's new site. I am honored to be included in their calligraphy vendor a-list.