letters

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Letter to Obama Had Ricin; Senate Building Evacuated

Police questioning man with a backpack

(Newser) - A letter containing a "suspicious substance" was sent to President Obama and intercepted at the White House's off-site mail center, according to the Secret Service, and the FBI has confirmed that it has tested positive for ricin. It arrived yesterday, the same day as a letter addressed to...

Willa Cather's Lesbian 'Shame': Finally Put to Rest in Letters?

Debate about her 'sexual psychology' has raged for years

(Newser) - Willa Cather's letters are coming to print after decades of scholarly frustration and debate about her sexuality, the New York Times reports. But be warned: The Selected Letters of Willa Cather, which reveals her emotional attachment to women, is short on steamy details. Still, it reveals a complex, humorous,...

Ron Paul: I Didn't Write That 'Race War' Letter

Candidate 'disavows its content,' says rep

(Newser) - A rep for Ron Paul would like the clear things up—or at least one thing: The candidate did not pen a 1993 direct mail letter that warns of a "coming race war in our big cities" and a "federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS." The eight-page letter was...

Capitol Hill Buried in Avalanche of Angry Mail

One office seeing 1,422% more mail than in 2002

(Newser) - Could the USPS' last great hope be angry Americans? An avalanche of letters and emails are pouring into Congress, with offices reporting that they're dealing with, in one case, as much as 1,422% more constituent-penned correspondence than they did in 2002. Politico reports that House offices are seeing...

John Lennon's Letters to Be Published

'Pen and ink were his medium,' says publisher

(Newser) - "Society only likes dead artists," John Lennon once wrote in a heartbreaking letter. "I'm afraid Yoko and myself cannot oblige." That note was scooped up by a private collector for $13,000, but soon some 200 other letters, postcards, and doodles of Lennon's will be available...

God Is Getting More Snail Mail This Year

People send requests to heaven, notes to lost friends

(Newser) - Letters to the North Pole are common, but this year has seen notable quantities of letters to a different address: Heaven. “In the 10 years I've been doing this, I've seen maybe two or three letters addressed to heaven," one Florida postal worker tell the St. Petersburg Times...

What Happens When You Write to Obama

The president reads 10 letters a day; here's an inside look on how

(Newser) - When Jennifer Cline wrote her letter to Obama, she treated it like a diary entry. The 27-year-old Michigan mom had recently lost her job, gone bankrupt, and been diagnosed with cancer, but she told the president things would get better soon. She didn’t expect anyone to read it. But...

Letters Reveal Byron's Feud With 'Turdsworth'

Unpublished correspondence up for sale

(Newser) - A collection of letters written by Lord Byron to a clergyman, some of them unpublished, sheds new light on the Romantic poet—who discloses his sexual escapades with servants and angry opinions of fellow writers. Several letters refer to a serving girl whom he took as his mistress; he dumped...

My Pen Pal, John Hughes
My Pen Pal, John Hughes
appreciation
Aug 7, 2009 10:43 AM CDT

My Pen Pal, John Hughes

Teen approached iconic filmmaker, who responded with kindness, advice

(Newser) - For one teenage fan in the 1980s, John Hughes was more than just a director; he was her pen pal. "He made me feel like what I said mattered," a grieving Alison Byrne Fields writes on her blog. They corresponded for 2 years, and "he loved...

Grandma Hates Email? Snail Mail Service to the Rescue

(Newser) - If grandma is too obstinate or tech-befuddled for email, a few services have cropped up to help, Jeninne Lee-St. John writes in Time. The latest one, Sunnygram, actually prints up emails and photos in a weekly newsletter and mails them. Others, like Presto and Celery, deliver messages via fax and...

London Library Yields Lost Ben Franklin Letters

Missives document his attempt to help Brits fight the French

(Newser) - More than two centuries after his death, Benjamin Franklin has more stories to tell, CNN reports. An American professor conducting research in London unearthed facsimiles of 47 letters the Founding Father wrote and received when he lived there 250 years ago. “I just about shot through the ceiling I...

Kids to AIG: 'Not All of USA Hates You'

(Newser) - It seems fourth-graders have a greater store of empathy than the rest of this crisis-wracked nation. When a Houston teacher asked students how they felt about the AIG bonus scandal, it provoked the usual boos and hisses. But when she put the kids in an AIG employee’s shoes, they...

Charles' Love Letters Show a Frisky Sailor

(Newser) - His personal life may now have all the sex appeal of tea in tweed, but once upon a time Prince Charles was a randy sailor writing risque letters to "exciting ladies (who) lurk behind bushes in order to pounce on unsuspecting naval officers … !" Six such letters, believed...

Vonnegut Protégé Will Share His Wisdom

Ex-lover plans volume of late writer's letters

(Newser) - Aspiring novelists, Kurt Vonnegut has some advice for you: “Write a play.” It’s easier. That, and other nuggets of wisdom, will be available for the first time when Vonnegut’s private correspondence with one of his students is published in April, the New York Post reports. Loree...

Letters to Dimon: You'll 'Die in 10 Days'

Feds hunt author of threats to bank CEO

(Newser) - A flurry of letters threatening the life of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, as well as an Oklahoma City-style bombing of a bank facility, are being investigated by the Postal Investigation Service. ABC News reports a $100,000 reward has been posted for information about the 45-plus letters, all postmarked last...

Letter Threats Prompt Okla., Denver Banks to Evacuate

(Newser) - Several Chase banks in Detroit and Oklahoma were evacuated today after receiving threatening letters containing white powder, the Detroit Post reports. The letters "basically indicated that the person who opened the letter was going to die" because of "an action the bank may have taken," ...

Letters That Reveal Teen Diana Up for Sale

Compares herself to "an elephant," talks wedding frenzy

(Newser) - Four letters written by Princess Diana to her nanny could fetch $18,500 at auction later this month, reports the Daily Mail. In them, a teenage Diana confesses her insecurities—“watching me dance is like watching an elephant”—and talks of her upcoming nuptials to Prince Charles—“...

Miley Spread Jams VF's Inbox
 Miley Spread Jams VF's Inbox 
Jul 15, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

Miley Spread Jams VF's Inbox

Readers' response sets record for volume, though not for vitriol

(Newser) - Readers really responded to Vanity Fair’s now-infamous Miley Cyrus photo spread—but not in a bad way. The 915 letters were by far a record, but editor Graydon Carter tells Women's Wear Daily he's seen much worse on the outrage scale: “They were much kinder than the letters...

Letters Show Fritzl Daughter Meant to Leave Home

Elisabeth wrote to friend just before her imprisonment

(Newser) - Elisabeth Fritzl intended to leave home just before her father imprisoned her, letters published in the Oesterreich newspaper show. “After the exams … I'm moving in with my sister and her boyfriend,” the 18-year-old wrote to a friend in 1984. “Cross your fingers for me. When you...

Mugabe Love Story Sparked Hatred of UK

In the 1960s, he begged London not to deport his wife

(Newser) - Robert Mugabe's hatred of the British may have stemmed from an affair of the heart, reports the Independent. Newly released letters from the 1960s show the future tyrant openly begged London not to deport his then-wife, Sally Mugabe, who had fled Rhodesia in the 1960s when he was jailed for...

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