Experiment

Being in graduate school has been fulfilling in ways I can't describe and yet I have felt like I'm missing something. I went from simply working full-time to attending school part-time and working two part-time jobs. Needless to say, I essentially feel like I don't have a life because I'm being pulled in so many different directions and yet I wouldn't have it any other way right now. That being said, I have had to put a limit on activities I previously had time for due to the demands of these many responsibilities I've taken on. And while I occasionally try to make time for other things, I have missed a project I was part of last year.

For a while I was part of a movement called More Love Letters (check it out here). While I enjoyed it for the most part there were certain things I wasn't a huge fan of, and after they made a few changes - combined with how busy I got with grad school and two jobs - I stopped actively participating. Recently I've been feeling that mid-end of semester stress coming on and I've been looking for outlets. I continue to use my typically outlets on and off there is still something missing. I was looking through all the mail that's accumulated at my parents house since the last time I was there yesterday and there is just so much junk. For every piece of personal mail there was at least 10-15 pieces of mail that would've been better off remaining part of a tree. And that's about when I realized what I wanted to do for when I need to break up the endless grind that is grad school: I want to write to people.

Most of my family and friends know that I was born into the wrong generation. I rehabilitated an old turntable and have been slowly accumulating records. I have a phone that is only good for calling and texting (and even mass texting doesn't really work on it). I just bought a women's pocket watch. I like reading and knitting. And I really like handwritten letters. So I'm asking for help with this project because unlike MLL where I would be writing to strangers, I want to write to people that I care about. And while I do think that sometimes we need strangers to help us along our path, I also think that knowing someone and being able to write something for him/her specifically is special in its own way.

Here's how it'll work: If you want some snail mail, I will send you something before my next birthday but I'm not going to tell you when I'm sending it so it'll be somewhat of a surprise. To get a letter, e-mail me with your mailing address using the subject "Letter Experiment". If you don't know my personal e-mail address, be resourceful and find a way to get it from me. You can include if there's anything in particular you think I should know prior to my writing to you but you don't have to. Also since I'm giving myself a deadline, I'm taking requests through Thanksgiving Day, November 28th. I don't expect to have to cap it but should I get more than 20 responses, I'm gonna have to cut it off at that. Actually no, I'll cap it at 26.

I don't know what to expect from this experiment but if I can make even just one person's day between now and my birthday it'll make me really happy.