Thursday, June 25, 2026
Communication's Changing Standards
I have found that email messages have become so common that they are often ignored. If there ever were a resemblance to the old-fashioned paper, envelope, and ink version, it is long-gone.
That's one reason why text messages are far more likely to be read. Although techie, they are more personal and, like email, the recipient has the ability to choose when to respond.
Still, there was an intensely personal aspect to the old paper and envelope approach.
I follow a ritual and use a letter opener: a miniature samurai sword that a friend brought me from Japan.
The ritual is surprisingly enjoyable. As the process unfolds, one can study the type of stationary, the nature of the signature, and even the stamp.
All are evidence that a real person took the time to send me a message.
I recently received a letter that had a William F. Buckley Jr. postage stamp on the envelope. The hand-written postscript said:
"I want you to know that not everyone merits that stamp."
Nice touch.
Big smile.
Try that with an email!
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Back at My Desk
Various commitments drew me away today.
Not only can I now attend to desk work, but I can also continue with The Simplification of My Office.
The boxes of items that going into a storage area are multiplying.
If in doubt, throw it out.
Monday, June 22, 2026
First Paragraph
August, 1931 - The port town of Veracruz is a little purgatory between land and sea for the traveler, but the people who live there are very fond of themselves and the town they have helped to make. They live as initiates in local custom reflecting their own history and temperament, and they carry on their lives of alternate violence and lethargy with a pleasurable contempt for outside opinion, founded on the charmed notion that their ways and feelings are above and beyond criticism.
- From Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
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