Dust off your feathered quills, look for a fountain pen, it's time to write a letter, once again!

June ,30, 2013 | Lee Martell

[lee martell]

After discovering that most (if not ALL) of our e-mail correspondence has been snooped on, recorded, categorized, collected and in some cases, harvested and monetized to the highest bidder, I'm probably not alone in thinking, this will be a huge benefit the U.S. Postal Service.

I would think that more people are thinking over the benefits of using good old snail mail, yes, physical mail, that most people can't be bothered with anymore. Of course, the NSA of whomever could spy on our letters too, but chances are, they will only photograph the front and the back of these pieces of social chatting unless there are clear reasons to de otherwise.

I miss writing letters. I generally don't because most people are not writers by nature, considering a thought, the putting thought to word and word to paper, a tedious exercise. In the days before computers, up to the late 1990's I used to have pen pals, actual pen pals in various parts of Europe. These contacts in France, Russia and Germany inspired me to study languages. I'm one of those quirky folks who considers learning the Cyrillic Alphabet (or trying to) as fun. We will see if the current boatload of white house scandals has any upward effect of letter writing. Who knows, maybe cursive writing will come back into vogue. Well, maybe. .

[Terry L Smith]

Refinement? (Spockian eyebrow)

The dictionary weighs less than the traditional mace, can be viewed by far more with a substantial chasm of time and space, has only been seen as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ by the sitting Usurper-President, can carry a greater blow against the tide of idiotspeak than any ‘uh-uh-uh’ ever spoken, and has been recognized the world throughout, as a means to dispense ‘the half-baked rants of one’s inner man’, clothed in flowing velvet.

Refined, dear sir? No, just one who has learned at a young age, how to be adept with ‘the King’s English’, so that ‘the Queen’s English’ can be more comfortably relegated to ‘inside the house’, and not, without.