HSU IT Department

And I'm excited!!

I love making words on paper with a pen. I love the glide of the ink, the feel of the pen in my hand, the curves and lines, the way letters build words, words build sentences, sentences build messages. I love the way a letter in an envelope looks and feels when it's all addressed and stamped and waiting to be sent: the perfect size, the neat square corners, the heft and firmness of cardstock, the fun of choosing a stamp from among the many designs and images. I am agog at the fact that a bunch of total strangers will pass this small fragile thing along for me, hand to hand, all the way across the country or even around the world -- it's like magic!! I love thinking about my letter arriving in a mailbox, sitting there like a friendly little long-distance wave, and someone opening it, and having a nicer day because they got something in the mail that wasn't a bill. A letter touches another person in a way an email can't. As the Smithsonian Postal Museum says on their blog, letters are "physical manifestations of the senders. The loved ones’ hands wrote the words, folded the letter and sealed it into an envelope. Each letter still brings with it that gift, a physical connection that can’t be replicated through phones or tablets."

I have a huge stash of cards, notecards, stationery, etc. which I am always adding to, and I enjoy sorting through it looking for just the right one for a particular person or situation. I also have a stash of all kinds of different stamps; every time I go to the post office I ask the clerk to show me what new designs they have. At the moment I have stamps featuring Scooby Doo, Hot Wheels cars, the art of magic, ice cream sundaes, Disney villains, sharks, cactus flowers, and our National Parks. Alas, I missed out on the Mr. Rogers stamps -- they sold out in just a few days.

The challenge of National Letter-Writing Month is (duh) to see how many letters you can write. And I'd like to write to YOU. No, seriously, I really would :)

If you'd like to get a letter from me, just comment here and say so.* In order to make my letter of interest to you, and so I don't end up writing ten different versions of "what I did this week," please also tell me something you're interested in (horror movies, biodiversity, fantasy novels, politics, writing, cake decorating, collecting stuffed wombats) or ask me a question (what's the best bodice-ripper I ever read? do I think college should be free? what happens when we die? is Queen Elizabeth actually a shape-shifting reptile alien?). Anything goes!

Here's the catch, though: When you get my letter, you must write me back. Nothing fancy is required -- literally anything will suffice, even two lines on a postcard. Are you game? Of course you are!!

* No need to provide your address in the comment; if I don't already have it, I'll send you a PM asking for it. Also I am more than happy to write to people overseas, so if you're not in the U.S., don't let that stop you!

I love buying and sending Christmas cards, so this is my annual call for folks to enable my addiction :) If you would like to receive a card from me, please comment below and then PM me your snail mail address.

FAQs:

1) Will this be a real card or an e-card?
A real card, made of paper and ink, sent with a stamp.

2) What sort of stamp?
Probably a cute one with a holiday theme.

3) Do I have to send you one in return?
Nope, although I also love getting them, so if you want to, *yay*

4) Do I have to be in the US to receive one of these fabulous things?
Nope, I'll send 'em anywhere.

5) What if I don't celebrate Christmas, or am a grinch and just don't like it?
Doesn't matter. You just have to like getting something in the mail that isn't a bill or a request for money. (Actually I guess a bill IS a request for money, but you know what I mean.)

6) Will my card contain angels, crosses, or mention of Jesus?
Nope. I'm an atheist, so for me, Jesus is not the reason for the season. Please note that I have no objection whatsoever to anyone else inviting him along, but I myself celebrate the holiday in a strictly faith-neutral manner.

7) Will my card contain bad puns, silly jokes, cartoon animals, anthropomorphized vegetation, and/or generally positive sentiments about tolerance, peace, and the value of loving one another?
It very well may. I haven't bought them yet, so who knows??

8) Will my card be homemade?
Do I look like Martha Stewart? (Translation: No.)

9) What if I don't like my card?
You are free to fold, spindle, mutilate, burn, bury, or recycle it, no questions asked. But really, who doesn't like getting a card???

10) When may I expect this thing to arrive in my mailbox?
"Reply hazy, try again."

I wish I'd heard about this a week ago, because this makes me a week late getting started, but I want to participate in Mary Robinette Kowal's A Month of Letters. I love what she says about it: "When I write back, I find that I slow down and write differently than I do with an email. Email is all about the now. Letters are different, because whatever I write needs to be something that will be relevant a week later to the person to whom I am writing..."

To do this properly, I need 20-22 people to send things to, so if you want something -- a letter, a card, a postcard, a small marsupial with a stamp on its back, whatever -- please leave a comment and PM me with your address. I'd love to actually make my target of something every day in February. I have offline friends and family who can fill in the gaps, but I don't know if I can get to 22 without you, so help me out!

In other news, Marvel Comics has launched a site to send superhero geeks into a frenzy: a humungous comic books image archive spanning 75 years. And it comes with an API so clever codey type people can do neat things with it!

Ka-Pow! Marvel Opens Massive Comic Book Images Archive And API To Fans, Developers

The API -- which will include comic book artwork, character histories, creator insights, and expanded stories -- will grant members access to an expansive database of Marvel's library of 75 years of comics, including over 30,000 comics, 7,000 series, and 5,000 creators. This move gives developers the tools to create their own Marvel-based apps and digital offerings...

And for the francophiles in the audience, we have "Farting Angels and Ass-Slapping Aristocrats: A Web Archive Reveals the Weird Side of the French Revolution":

Shackles broke, kings fell, and heads rolled. The French Revolution was one of the most dramatic social explosions in history, and its aftershocks still ripple through Western culture 200 years later. And now, thanks to the French Revolution Digital Archive, any Francophiles with an Internet connection has access to over 14,000 newly released images from the bloodbath. Quel bonheur!

This one appears to be saying that teeter-totters are miraculous, but perhaps I'm misinterpreting...

Also OMG DID YOU SEE BIG BANG THEORY TONIGHT?? (Warning: Spoilers if you click through) First time ever a tv show has actually made me gasp :)

I just found out about this really unusual post-apoc book and wondered if anyone else has heard about it. (NB: No, I have no connection with the book or the author, so this isn't a veiled sales pitch!) It's called Ora et Labora et Zombies.

Dr. Thomas Schutten's wife, Ava, is out of town when the zombie apocalypse strikes, so the doctor and his young son flee to a nearby Benedictine abbey -- his and his wife's agreed-on meeting place in case of catastrophe. (Bonus points for planning ahead, Dr. Tom!). While waiting for Ava, hoping against hope that she'll make it, Tom writes her letters. The book consists of these letters.

So you're thinking, "Meh, it's an epistolary novel, big deal," right? But here's the kicker: you actually get the letters in the mail, as in via the US Postal Service. You get one letter a week; each one is 4-6 pages and there will be 72 of them overall. The author/publisher says this about it:

Ora et Labora et Zombies is comprised of seventy-two handwritten Letters of between 4-6 pages, reproduced on specially watermarked stationery with a hand-printed serigraph cover sheet. Each Letter will be published individually, as a weekly serial, and distributed to readers through the mail. This idiosyncratic method of publication aims to celebrate and prolong the disappearing experience of receiving letters in the mailbox, and also to create in the reader a sense of anticipation, of waiting as the dramatis personae must wait to discover what is happening.

Is this not a really original and fascinating combination of book art/art book/letterpress skill/zombie apocalypse/serial novel?? And these are a few of my favorite things, so I'm utterly intrigued. I've subscribed to the first two bundles and cannot wait to get the first ones!!