mail as a small mercy // literary links

Sep 06, 2021

Hello all & happy September! Hope everyone’s doing well, taking care of yourselves, and taking advantage of all the submission periods that opened up this month.

Anyways. Everything is bad and getting worse. No, I’ve never been an optimist—and even less-so these days. If you can, please donate to those affected by the hurricanes and the small organizations that are on the ground helping.

That’s the most recent disaster, but of course there have been many more this year and last. The deaths are innumerable. And yet we’re forced to carry on as best we can.

Something that has helped me carry on in these past months and year has been the simple pleasure of sending and receiving mail. It’s such a simple pleasure, and yet it feels so special to send a friend an envelope of art, or stickers, or pins, or snacks, or a letter, saying “I’m thinking of you.” It’s equally as special to receive mail from someone you love: a surprise to come home to, a reminder that you’re loved and thought of fondly.

I don’t have endless stamp-funds, but I’m happy to send anyone an envelope of surprises monthly for $10, or—if you live in the US—you could also opt to get a lightly-used book in the mail every month for $10 (because I always have too many books).

Or, of course, you could exchange mail with friends—something I highly recommend, not only when Things are Terrible, but all the time.

Here are some items you might mail to the people you love:

A card
Pressed flowers
A bookmark
Teabags
Candy
A pack of gum
Something you drew
A postcard
Local ephemera
A photo you took
A comic
A zine or pamphlet
A friendship bracelet
A keyring
Band-aids
A packet of flower seeds
A recipe
Stickers
A notepad
Fun socks
Book/film recommendations
A quotation you love
Travel-sized cosmetics
An air freshener
A playlist
A poem
Art they’d like

In summary: things are terrible. Show your friends you love them.

In literary news:

I’m finally reading Leslie Feinberg’s iconic Stone Butch Blues—a classic within the trans lit canon. It’s difficult to read but beautifully written and—though published in 1993, and set in the early 1960s—feels relevant as ever. ACAB always.

You can read it, too, for free!

Minnie Bruce Pratt @MBPratt

Please celebrate beloved Leslie Feinberg's Sept. 1 birthday by sharing the FREE download of hir novel 'Stone Butch Blues' available at lesliefeinberg.net. Leslie's last words were 'Remember me as a revolutionary communist.'

Charis Books/Circle @chariscircle

Today is Leslie Feinberg’s birthday (Sep. 1, 1949 – Nov. 15, 2014). Here is a photograph of Leslie speaking, and hir beloved, @MBPratt, listening adoringly at a joint reading in the mid-1990’s at Charis Books and More’s second location in Little Five Points at 1189 Euclid Ave. https://t.co/kKUllfW5t4

If you’re looking for other reading material, might I recommend the newest issue of The West Review, which came out last week? I curated it so obviously it’s perfect.