Dear Ellen,
As a teenager, I looked up to you as an example of a media figure who put good into the world and made it your mission to embody positive values in our culture. Attitudes around LGBT rights were beginning to shift, and you served as the jovial but unapologetic face of equality. You made people smile and posed necessary, sometimes uncomfortable, questions that forced America to evaluate its deeply held prejudices. (Who can forget the exchanges you had with Sen. John McCain and Caitlyn Jenner about marriage equality?)
Your brand included an acknowledgement that equality extended beyond the bounds of species. You became a vegan and quickly took it upon yourself to let others know that exploiting animals was, without exception, an unacceptable option. You used your website,...
Lifestyle
Dear Lane Bryant,
The negative reaction to the #PlusIsEqual campaign has been plastered over social media. So I'm going to skip an event recap and focus instead on five teachable lessons. Lessons I observe and share as a plus size woman, body positive blogger and seasoned marketing professional.
At the heart of this is a woman and consumer who approaches everything with hopeful optimism and a place of positivity, because that is how I choose to approach my own life. It is not my intention to pull any cheap shots. I am not mad at you, Lane Bryant. I think you had the best of intentions with your campaign. However, intention and execution don't always align and, in this case, I definitely felt the campaign had its challenges. At its heart, I TRULY believe you mean well. That being...
2,544
Dear Target,
Last night I went to your store to buy some Christmas gifts. I think you're great, Target, and I'm really excited that you now carry more organic food products, which give me great soup options for lunch! Your greeting card and nail polish selections also rock. But let's talk about clothing, specifically graphic tees, because last night you let me down, Target.
I admit, I love brand names and fancy labels, but when it comes to basics, you are my go-to. I was beyond excited when I ventured over to the men's section of the store and saw graphic tees sporting all kinds of rad licensed characters and logos. There were Avengers, Star Wars, Batman, NASA, Mustang, Coke, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Nirvana, Iron Man... the list goes on. My little nerd heart nearly exploded as I...
2,498
Dear Maria,
Thank you! Thank you for still smiling at 10am in the Women's Department during the #LillyForTarget sale. You were still in such great spirits and so nice and helpful. I'm so sorry you had to break up a fight today. Those Ebay re-seller's are nuts! Clearly by your awesome attitude you won that fight! :) Thank you for keeping the department so maintained today. I have no idea how you did it. I also appreciate that you instantly put returned merchandise back on the shelves right away. (See sometimes it's not just the early bird that gets the Lilly worm.) I love that you answered the phone letting callers know you were all out of Lilly Pulitzer. Why have them make the trek for no reason? I think it's super cool that you gave purchase limits to folks this morning. You rock! Man...
2,528
Thank you for your letter. I appreciate you taking the time to outline your concerns. But frankly, your complaints are based on a deliberate misinterpretation of what we do. The Diabetes Forum has played a key part in the low-carb movement: the community was the driver, and the forum the platform.
You accuse us of deliberately silencing the low-carb voices on the forum as part of a collusion with pharmaceutical companies. As even the most cursory glance at our website shows, this is completely untrue. Here are just a few examples:
Dr. David Unwin publishes more evidence of low-carb diet benefits in the BMJ
"Ignore the guidelines, eat low-carb and high-fat": Dr. Sarah Hallberg on how to reverse type 2 diabetes
Reversing type 2 diabetes low-calorie vs. low-carbohydrate
Low-carb...
2,446
Dear Amanda,
When I first began drafting this letter to you, I found my writing riddled with clichés about college and friendship, discovering how difficult it truly is to describe how much you mean to me. I've sat down countless times at my computer, hands hovering over the keyboard and frustrated, trying so hard to break through this writer's block. Part of this is because I'm scared to admit how truly sad I am to know this will be our last month living together, while another part of me has so much trouble finding the right words to explain how beautiful of a human being you truly are.
As we prepare for graduation, with you going to law school like Elle Woods (as Elle in the second half of Legally Blonde that is) and with me hoping to move to a city far from our hometown, it's...
3,724
Dear Rebecca and David,
I am going to be frank: Getting a good job is going to be a lot tougher for you than it was for those of my generation. When I started work 40 years ago, the well-educated and motivated youngster still enjoyed a big advantage -- even a high school diploma was a plus then. And there were so many good-paying jobs!
Alas, many of those jobs no longer exist. Welding robots have replaced blue collar workers, containerization has done away with stevedores, cash machines with bank tellers, and fancy websites search for apartments, shop for books, make travel reservations and sell cinema tickets -- all of these have eliminated millions of white collar jobs.
Trade has enabled China or Romania to take over production of anything standardized -- from T-shirts to basic...
2,620
Dear Mr. Morgan:
I believe you have been promoting bigotry and helping to perpetrate a fraud.
During both of your interviews with Pastor Joel Osteen on your CNN broadcast, you let the religious leader tell your audience that Scripture calls homosexuality a sin. But you didn't ask him where the Bible says that.
It's both an important point and an easy one to settle. You could have asked Pastor Osteen for the chapter and verse that he thinks calls homosexuality a sin. What you would have found is that he couldn't provide it, because Pastor Osteen was expressing his personal opinion, not quoting the Bible. The Bible doesn't say that homosexuality is a sin.
In fact, even though Scripture discusses "sin" a lot, the word never appears in connection with homosexuality.
2012-06-...
2,621
Dear Lindy and the Editors of Jezebel,
Thank you for reading this letter, if you are reading it at all. I am a stand-up comedian, independent filmmaker and freelance journalist, and I've also unsuccessfully run for mayor of my hometown and for U.S. Congress. I just graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism and am a big fan of Jezebel. I've enjoyed reading many of your articles for many years and was even featured on the site as the witness in the Nic vs. Nora Peoples' Court video last year. However, this is not the beginning of a cover letter.
On Monday, while I was sitting at my corporate job waiting on some corporate things, I decided to check into Twitter via my iPhone to pass the time. I don't tweet that often and am not very good at it. I have less than 400 followers. At...
2,089
Dear God,
The other night, James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be canceled.
I see that You have answered Dr. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.
Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry...
2,461