United States Postal Service Full Service Approved
Today, as we observe Veterans Day, I am once again reminded of the importance of the written letter in United States history.
In my research for a post about this holiday I found many mentions and links to the letter written by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Administrator of Veterans Affairs, Harvey V. Higley, appointing him Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee. It made me wonder, in this age of electronic communication, would information of this importance be sent by email? Or does an actual hard copy letter somehow speak to the importance of the content?
I hope that you will share your thoughts on Veterans Day, mail and it's role in our country's history or how you feel electronic communications may alter the way we archive documents of historical importance in the future.
Related Posts:
This Mail Music Monday song, by the Beastie Boys, is dedicated to some friends of ours who, fortunately, survived last week's Frankenstorm. They were here for a few days to celebrate another friends wedding and now they are back home preparing for another storm.
New York City was not the only place hit by hurricane-turned-cyclone Sandy, but we think people in other cities ravaged by her 139 mile an hour gusts, raging rain and snow fall, will forgive us if we can't find a song for each of them that relates both to their cities' resilience and mail. We are hoping that they all can catch their breath and brace themselves for the nor'easter headed their way now.
Here's a link to the FEMA page: http://www.ready.gov/natural-disasters that provides information to help you prepare and stay safe after many types of disasters. If you have any other helpful tips, or know of ways that people can support those who have been affected by Superstorm Sandy, please share them in your comments.
Related Posts:
“Across the Sea” — Weezer
Critics and fans were expecting big things from Weezer’s second album, “Pinkerton”, when it was released in 1996. It followed the band’s multi-platinum selling debut album from two years before. But whatever they were expecting, the raw, dark and unproduced sound of “Pinkerton” apparently was not it. The album was released to disappointing sales.
Like most of the songs on “Pinkerton”, the lyrics to the fifth track, “Across the Sea” deal with themes of loneliness and human connections. In this case, about the connection felt through a letter from a long distance away. The song is bittersweet, both celebrating the power of such a communication and lamenting the distance that will likely keep the letter writers from ever meeting in person.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Rivers Cuomo said “Across the Sea” was inspired by a real letter sent from a fan in Japan. The band had become an off-and-on project while Cuomo attended classes at Harvard University. It was during winter in one of those academic stints, a time which Cuomo described as lonely, that he wrote the song.
Though the album “Pinkerton” wasn’t well-received when it was new, it has gained a cult following in the years since. “Pinkerton” has earned itself revised reviews that see the album in a much more positive light than the initial critical reaction, both in publications that originally panned the album and in the mind of Cuomo, the album’s writer.