Dear Students,
In an innocuous office complex, three blocks south of Northwestern University, and a short walk from Lake Michigan, you can find the Yellowbrick psychiatric treatment center. Though Yellowbrick treats the expected spectrum of mental disorders, from anxiety to schizophrenia, its mission is unique: it’s the country’s only psychiatric center dedicated exclusively to emerging adults — young people in the ever-expanding gap between adolescence and the stability of family, a mortgage, and a settled career.
Unfortunately for you, my dear student reader, business at Yellowbrick is booming.
In a recent New York Times Magazine article, journalist Robin Marantz Henig provides a haunting portrait of a typical Yellowbrick patient: he’s a young man “who had done well at a top...
Lifestyle
Dear Bono and Sir Bob
As an African woman from Senegal, I write this letter with some sadness. I have been following you both since I was a young girl living in Africa in the 1990s. I was a fan of your music too. It was amazing to follow your exploits as a young Senegalese girl. And it feels strange now to be writing this letter to you many years later.
Bob, I don’t know if you remember Jacques Bugnicourt, the founder of Enda Tiers Monde in Senegal. He was always talking about you. I was one of his executive assistants in Senegal and Paris.
Bono, I am well aware of your work and your passion for Africa. I have followed your videos, actions and speeches closely and I comment regularly on the One Blog.
I am not writing to criticize or be disrespectful. I really want to enter into a...
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Dear Minister Baird,
Amnesty International has repeatedly spoken out about widespread violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights standards since the most recent crisis in Gaza and Israel erupted on 8 July. We are writing this Open Letter to you, on behalf of more than 80,000 Amnesty International members across Canada, with an urgent request that the Canadian government similarly speak out and insist that these rapidly mounting violations – by both sides of this conflict – must end immediately.
We have of course noted the frequent comments made by the Prime Minister, you personally and other members of the government, criticizing Hamas for the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel. Amnesty International has similarly consistently condemned...
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Dear Mr./Ms. CEO,
I know that you often get pretty frustrated with the IT group. I know you want your IT group to be successful. I especially know you want to get the greatest return on investment for every dollar you are spending on information technology. That's why I'm writing you this letter.
I want to help you dramatically increase the ROI on every IT dollar you spend. No kidding. I'm talking about a 100x improvement in efficiency and efficacy. Interested? I figured you would be.
Why you should listen to me
You're likely wondering why you should listen to me, an author and consultant. After all, you have your own CIO with whom you can speak. Well, the fact of the matter is, we both know you don't really listen to him--especially when it comes to hearing the hard messages...
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Dear Mr. Jenner,
You probably don’t know who I am and certainly have no obligation to read on. Even so, I pray you will. As the great Olympic champion God gifted you to be, you were an inspiration to me as a boy and endured as such when I grew into adulthood and professional athletics. I hope you will serve to inspire many more generations of young people.
As it stands now, however, you instead appear poised to lead them astray. I implore you to reverse course.
I am a follower of Christ Jesus. That is to say, though in my flesh I am an especially flawed and fallen human being, Jesus, who is God incarnate, is the Lord of my life. While I fall well short of His glory each day, God’s living and infallible word, the Holy Bible, coupled with His infinite gifts of grace, faith, and...
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To the girl I loved and lost,
I woke up yesterday from a dream that we were lying in bed together on some lazy Sunday morning. You were talking to your mom on the phone and pretending you were alone while I buried my face in your shoulder and dozed off. I could almost smell your skin and feel the warmth of your naked body against mine until I woke up and you weren’t there beside me. Your absence from my bed served as a painful and palpable reminder that you are gone.
I know we’re not talking right now, but it’s late on the day that I start my new life and I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep because I’m going to be doing it all alone. In a few hours, I’ll wake up, shower, make coffee, and go to my new job knowing that when I get home I won’t be opening a bottle of wine and telling you how...
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Dear Emmett C. Burns, Jr.,
I find it inconceivable that you are an elected official of the United States government. Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level. The views you espouse neglect to consider several fundamental key points, which I will outline in great detail:
1. As I suspect you have not read the Constitution, I would like to remind you that the very first amendment in this founding document deals with the freedom of speech, particularly the abridgment of said freedom. By using your position as an elected official (when referring to your constituents in order to implicitly threaten the Ravens organization) to argue that the Ravens should silence Brendon Ayanbadejo from...
2,288
Dear Crabby Writing Teacher:
Anyone who has ever been enrolled in an undergrad or graduate program in Creative Writing has encountered a teacher like you. Your vitae is impressive: You’ve written a slew of short stories and a couple have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. You also wrote a novel several years ago. The NY Times said it was “atmospheric and elegiac” but unfortunately it only sold 4,500 copies.
You can’t support yourself with your writing (who can?) so you’ve turned to academia to put groceries on your table. One small hitch: You don’t like to teach.
Your students and their clumsy, inelegant prose irritate you. (Never mind that you were just like them a couple of decades ago.) Their naiveté is grating. Who do they think they are trying to be writers? If you can...
2,506
Dear Mr. Lynton and Ms. Pascal
Your Art House motion picture colleagues wish to support you and your company at this difficult time. We empathize with the ruthless attack your company suffered and we want to help in our small but powerful way.
The enormity of the attack your company has suffered and the difficulty of the decisions you have been forced to make in recent days are nearly unimaginable; similarly is the monumental nature of the business disruption your company has endured in recent weeks. Your life, and possibly your judgment, has been disrupted beyond comprehension. The financial bottom line impact will be, frankly, unfathomable for an independent Art House to comprehend. However, in life and art, values are the ultimate “bottom line” and striving for freedom and...
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Your Holiness,
I hope this letter finds you in good health, in good disposition, and enveloped in the spirit of goodness. I must confess that it had never occurred to me before to write to you, and I find myself overwhelmed and moved to have this opportunity.
Although circumstances have compelled me to reach out to you, I am glad to have this occasion to try and cross the boundaries that would otherwise tend to separate us.
I understand that the New Jersey State Police have written to you and asked you to intervene and to help facilitate my extradition back to the United States. I believe that their request is unprecedented in history. Since they have refused to make their letter to you public, although they have not hesitated to publicize their request, I am completely...
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