Dear Off-Season,
Please don’t suck.
I mean, I guess I could just leave this letter at that, but I feel like I should maybe explain myself in a little more depth.
It’s bad enough that we have no football for seven more months—that’s more than half a calendar year!—but all I’m asking is that you don’t make it worse. You’re already pushing it with the whole Stan Drayton-to-the-Bears thing and the Marc Loving suspension that isn’t being called one for some reason.
Just…let me stop you right there. I'ma let you finish, but I just want to say a few things first.
We’re coming off one of the most incredible seasons we’ve ever seen. It started off with a lot of promise and before the season even started it seemed we had to adjust expectations from dreams of a College Football...
Lifestyle
Dear Ottawa Senators,
Just couldn't let this season end without offering up a genuine and heartfelt thanks for what you've given this city.
From diehard Sens' fans, late-to-the-game fans like myself -- and most everyone else who just loves the team -- this has been an incredible ride.
It was your ride, of course, but we all watched from the sidelines, cheering you on with every play.
No one wanted the season to end this soon.
But in truth, you guys gave us far more enjoyment than was ever expected, more nail-biting, edge-of-our-seat moments and times of sheer pride.
So, many thanks."
This has been an absolutely amazing season -- and something incredibly special for this city.
The story could make a movie -- a going-nowhere team that most everyone had discounted...
2,177
Dear Brendan,
Let me be honest with you. Never did I think it would happen this soon, yet it has. We need to BREAK-UP (There I said it and it feels nice).
No, the 6-1 demolition at the hands of the Potters on the final day of the season has not caused this knee-jerk reaction. It was just the tipping point. It’s the malaise that has spread over the past year that frightens me. We (and I speak for the rest of the supporters too) have gone from a season filled with pure ecstasy, joy and pleasure to a season which was full of disappointment, frustration and more importantly embarrassment.
Where is the progressive, adaptive and the master tactician who was the toast of the Premier League last season? Where is the manager who had the ability to inspire and exude brilliance from his players?...
2,496
Dear Mr. Rogge and Sir Craven,
The International Olympic Committee needs to take immediate action to ensure that the Olympic Games are open to all, including lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) athletes and spectators.
The IOC set a precedent on human rights in sport when it banned South Africa from participating in the Olympics in 1964, to protect the Games from racial discrimination and ensure that all athletes were free to compete.
I urge you to ban those nations that criminalize – and particularly those that execute – citizens solely on the basis of their sexual orientation. I also call on you to ban Russia from participating in the 2016 Summer Games if it does not act expediently to retract its oppressive anti-gay legislation in advance of the Sochi Games. These laws preclude an...
2,233
Mr. President,
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. In 2012 I and Guns N' Roses were both fortunate and privileged enough to perform in your country in Jakarta for the Indonesian people where we enjoyed and were taken aback by the incredible warmth of the Indonesian fans during our performance and in meeting fans and people there wherever we went. It was a very special and exciting experience we are fortunate to have had and to have as fond memories. I would like to express our sincere thanks to your country for showing us such warm and enthusiastic hospitality.
The main concern of this correspondence is in regard to the impending executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran of the group referred to as the Bali Nine and of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso. In following their...
2,513
Dear Modi-ji,
It is one year since you assumed office. Your government can surely point to a general boost to the country's morale and self-confidence. But actual accomplishments remain modest. Against the scale and magnitude of what is required to catapult India into the ranks of the first powers within our lifetime, the effort is frustratingly half-hearted and the pace of change frightfully slow.
There are four portfolios that you should prioritise with extreme urgency. First, choose a tough law minister to chop, rationalise and simplify the plethora of laws surplus to requirements for running a modern economy. He should ask: Is this regulation really necessary? Excessive rules – a sad legacy of 60 years of licence raj mentality – add to the cost burdens and incentivise corruption...
2,258
Dear United States of America,
It's been a long time.
Not that long, I guess, only six and a half months since we've last seen each other. But it has been nine, almost 10 years since we've really known each other.
So it's understandable, I think, that with only about a month until our next meeting, I'm a little nervous. It's not that I hate you. I really don't. And although in some ways I have a strong distaste for you, I am more often afraid we will actually get along.
And why would that be such a bad thing? It wouldn't, I guess. In fact, it would even be good to enjoy our time together, especially given that it will probably be long. What I'm afraid of isn't just that I will be miserable or that I won't make friends, but that if everything goes well, I will forget my past...
3,598
Dear David Simon,
I am writing this open letter in response to your recent talk at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas on the deepening social and economic polarization of U.S. society.
The picture you paint of the separate "life futures" of the African-American poor in Baltimore, and how this is emblematic of a growing divide in America, is a stark and grim reminder of the continuing reality of racism and the systematic oppression of African-Americans in U.S. society.
Your indictment of a "war on the poor" that has seen massive cuts in social services and the mass imprisonment of Black and Latino youth by "the most incarcerative state in the history of mankind" is righteous.
Capitalism has evolved historically into the global system of capitalism-imperialism. It has wreaked havoc...
2,577
Dear Madam, Sir,
I am approaching you on behalf of the thousands of desperate, traumatized asylum-seekers and refugees who are fleeing war, who have been denied safety and protection in their homes and are on the run to save their lives. In the coming days the Hungarian Parliament is planning to discuss a number of legislative amendments in a rushed manner, the adoption of which would jeopardize the lives and safety of asylum-seekers arriving from war zones to seek safety here.
If the draft amendments to the Asylum Act, the Aliens-police Act and the Act on National Frontiers are adopted and implemented with the plans of building a fence along the Serbian-Hungarian border, and declaring Serbia a safe third country – this would make it impossible for people fleeing persecution to...
2,477
To Our Fellow American Muslims,
Hey there. It's two of your brothers. We're writing to you about the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states. The good news is that a whopping 42% of you support marriage equality, as do both of our Muslim elected officials in the United States Congress. One even serves as vice chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus! There are many faithful gay and lesbian Muslims in the US and we love and support all of them.
At the same time, many of you are scandalized by the ruling (we know because you keep tweeting about it), and many more of you are equally perturbed but have chosen to keep it to yourself. With all the rainbow-flag waving and self-congratulatory pats on the back this country is giving itself right now, you don't need...
2,355