Hi Coach:
I wanted to let you know how my son is doing. It's been more than a decade since we've spoken and I can recall our last encounter like it was yesterday. I will never forget when you described how my son's journey would unfold.
I think the words you said were, "Your son will never SUCCEED in football." Do you still have magical powers that allow you to see into the future?
As I sit here watching my son at college football recruiting day, I reminisce about times past. It wasn't long ago my son suited up for football practice and arrived at the field ready to work hard under your charge. Coach, your words of advice, "Arrive on time, prepared and ready to deliver a best effort," were met with an eager-to-please attitude from my 10-year-old son. When other young players...
Lifestyle
Dear Daddy,
As you know, combating climate change is my life's work. I believe it is the greatest challenge of our time. I feel a deep duty, to both my faith and my generation, to spread this message. We are the first generation that knows how serious the stakes are, as well as the last to be able to do something about it in time.
I learned from you that we are called on to protect God's creation and to love our neighbors. I write you today because we need your leadership to achieve a bright future for all of us -- and our children.
Fossil fuels have brought the world many wonderful things, but now we know they come with a high price -- an unimaginably high price if we don't act soon to start transitioning off of them. We need to create a world where our energy needs are met...
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Dearest Pete,
First off, happy 70th.
This must seem a surreal sentiment considering you will forever be known for having written that you hoped to die before you...well...you know. However, in a very distinct way you never really did get old, did you? I mean, of course, we're all careening towards oblivion, but what never gets old is integrity, passion, impetuous adherence to art and an unflinching, unrepentant pursuit of truth. You know the stuff that makes us nod our collective head and go, "Yeah...yeah" - this is what has allowed you to remain true to your screed.
But I did not write this to belabor the obvious. Seventy years is quite a run for a 60s rock star. As you have broached eloquently in many an interview, too many of your contemporaries and half your band are no...
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Dear Pigs,
By the way, may I call you that? Pigs? It's meant with the utmost respect, and after all, it is your name. Believe me, Pigs, I've never used your name in vain when referring to perverts or sleazeballs. I don't know who started that. Uncool. Nor have I ever said, "Go clean up, you filthy pig!" to either of my kids or my husband. Even that time when they were so foul I wouldn't let them in the house before hosing off in the backyard first. I've read that elephants and rhinos are much dirtier than pigs, but the dirtiest of all, obviously, is the dung beetle. Just so you know, whenever possible I do correct people by saying, "Go clean up, you filthy dung beetle!"
OK, that's not why I'm writing you. I need to talk to you about the state of pigs. I've read the news and it's not...
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Dear President Obama,
I've tried very hard to support you all these years. I attended your first inauguration. (It was very cold.) I voted for you twice. I even paid a lot of money to have my picture taken with you. You were charming. Presidential. I told you I believed in you. All these years while you've been president and I've been CEO of my third-generation family-owned and independent business during the economic crisis, the wars, the ongoing environmental crisis, the political gridlock and insanity, my happy thought was that "at least I'm not the President!" We are the same age, you and I. And you've had a tough road of it.
But now you are, perhaps, at the biggest fork in the road you are likely to ever face. One fork bears a sign that says "Attack Syria." That is a well-worn...
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Dear People Who Write,
This is a plea to all the journalists, bloggers, social media posters, and anyone else who writes things for others to see.
Stop saying "sneak peak."
There are no peaks that sneak. Not a single mountaintop is conspiring against anything. They are completely innocent.
This seems obvious, but every day the English language is ruthlessly assaulted by someone who carelessly writes "sneak peak" instead of "sneak peek."
It can be found in headlines from local news stations, newspapers and various other sites—staffed with professionals—that offer a peek at content. Folks with @ symbols in front of their names are often guilty as well. A quick hashtag search on Instagram reveals more than half a million people have tagged an image with the incorrect spelling...
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Dear Cinderella,
You might be surprised that I'm writing you this letter, considering that you are one of the world's most prominent examples of a happy marriage. But, as a seasoned divorce attorney, I've learned to spot the ones whose marriages are on the way out--and frankly, Cinderella, I've seen that look in your eye.
You probably don't want to admit it. You're probably thinking, If I get a divorce from Prince Charming, will I be letting the world down? Will I be disillusioning thousands, nay millions of little girls whose dreams of finding fairy tale romance hinge on my prime example? Cinderella, we can only hope.
With this in mind, I'm going to advise you now as if you had wandered into my office, impractical shoes and all, asking "How do I divorce Prince Charming?"...
2,478
Dear Shailene Woodley,
After reading your interview in which you discussed why you were not a feminist, I had a very similar reaction to many other people around the web: Wait, what?
You and I are the same age but have very different life experiences. I too was told that feminists want to subvert men and make women the dominant sex, to crush the patriarchy to build a matriarchy. I have learned that this is not the case and this definition is both inaccurate and damaging. I like to think you'd agree.
Feminism does not, and should never, fight to raise women up while putting men down. It aims to make us all equal, in all aspects of life. This means eliminating pay disparity between the sexes for the same job, no matter the industry. This means the inclusion of changing rooms in men...
2,578
Dear partners,
I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to every one of you for your fearless and energetic support of the Race Together initiative. Our objective from the very start of this effort -- dating back to our first open forum in Seattle last December -- was to stimulate conversation, empathy and compassion toward one another, and then to broaden that dialogue beyond just our Starbucks family to the greater American public by using our scale for good.
After a historic Annual Shareholders Meeting that focused on diversity and inequality, and an initial push for much-needed national discussion around these difficult topics, it is time for us to take stock of where we are, what we have learned from our efforts so far, and what is next.
This phase of the effort -- writing "...
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Dear Pope Francis,
In your time as pope, your commitment to poverty has awakened the world to the evils of globalization, capitalism, and materialism. Many now understand poverty to be a structural sin and a social evil. Through your public statements you have sparked the interest of Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and atheists. The world looks to you as a shepherd, a man filled with the joy of the Gospel.
Yet, while you have focused on physical and material poverty, members of my community -- lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender and queer/questioning men, women and youth -- have been neglected. They remain on the frontiers, the margins, living spiritually poor lives. Some need the voice of cardinals like Walter Kasper to tell them that God loves them. Others know that...
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