Dear Harpy:
There you sit, in the corner of my dining room, a one hundred year old beauty in a state of Miss Haversham disrepair. Your sinuous curves, outlined to great advantage with thin scrolls of gold paint, contrast sharply with the strings that pop out in odd directions, like the black wires of Linus’ hair on Peanuts. You exude such a magnetic charm that children and adults alike are drawn to pluck your strings, to run their hands along your dusty angles, and finally to ask the question that you hypnotize them into uttering:
“Who here plays the harp?”
And I have to answer, every single time, “No one.”
Happy now? Thanks! We all get it! I never learned to play you!
I’ll admit that upon learning from my father that his mother had left me her precious 1923 Irish harp, I...
Lifestyle
Dear cowboy,
I thought about you and your family today. I remember you talking to your son on the phone with me in the other room. He told you he got a new toy truck. I was naked waiting to shower with you.
I remember when you told me you were divorced and I remember believing you.
I remember learning from my father that it was a lie, when he saw your daughter's birth announcement on ESPN. There was a nice picture of you and your wife I imagine.
I remember your drunk dials. I remember you telling me there was a woman with you in your hotel room and I remember wondering whether you were kidding.
I remember the last time I saw you.
I remember when you called me a year ago and I remember telling you I had found someone else.
I forget what your skin feels like.
I forget your...
3,062
Dear Ex,
I hope you must be fine and dandy! Of course you must be! Only if I could wish, then all your happiness may get ruined for once. I never knew what tears were until you made me cry.
How do I tell you how much I loved you? I did everything that you wanted, ordered and demanded. It’s sad to know that I had acquiesced to all your never ending demands. I never been a submissive type but for you I changed myself. I think that was the biggest flub that I ever committed. When you befriended me, you were so sweet; you were such a sweet talker, a charmer to be precise. Maybe I failed to read your real face. You had been showing me dreams all these days and like a fool I'd been living in that fantasy tale of yours. Your lies have hurt me! I have always mentioned you that I hate...
2,891
Dear Man (You don’t get ‘Sir’ cause, well…below),
Today I got on the streetcar in Toronto at rush hour and called one of my best friends to catch up. I have been having a really rough time. Today I could not get out of bed. I am not working at the moment, my “boyfriend” left for Europe a few weeks ago and I haven’t heard from him. I’m sad and confused with life and feel like I am losing control. I just wanted to talk to my friend but then you verbally accosted and mocked me, in public, as your girlfriend stood idly by.
If you remember, I carried on this conversation with my friend at a normal voice level filling her in that I was heartbroken that someone who is supposedly in love with me is nowhere to be found. Panic button for me. I don’t know what country he is in (I think Sweden...
2,621
Dear New Girl,
You probably aren’t expecting to read this, and frankly I never thought I would write one of these. But seeing as you have begun to make appearances on all of my social media accounts, I figured this could be good, and not in a bitter way. I could be a stereotypical ex-girlfriend and say a cluster of negative things about you and him, but there is no need.
I have never met you, and you’ve never met me, but there is no doubt in my mind that you know who I am. He was always open about his past so there is no reason for me to pretend like you don’t know who I am. He may have said rude and cruel things about me, some of which may or may not have been true, but I have no doubt that you have the potential to love him like I tried so hard to do.
Tell him you love him...
2,619
Dear Aubrey,
First off, congratulations on your success of finally making it from the bottom. You’ve done Toronto proud. Thanks to you, American children can at least point relatively close to our city on the map. Maybe not on the first try, but they’re getting there. You’ve mingled with the cream of the crop of celebrity culture, had a politician put on for you and even became the global ambassador for the Raptors. Which brings me here, to basketball.
You’ve had a long, documented history of looking at superstar athletes like they’re the love of your life. But to do so, you had to travel far and wide, switch jerseys, take private planes. That’s just too much work and money, so if you listen to me, we may just bring some stars to Toronto so you can smother them with your affection...
2,308
Friends are the family you choose, and that’s why they’re such an important part of life. When I was 29, I made the difficult decision to move hundreds of miles from home all by myself in order to better my career and life. While drastic life decisions like that are often necessary, the repercussions of them aren’t easy sometimes. The most difficult thing for me about living so far from home is being away from my BFF, and there are some things I want her to know.
1. I like my city, but it’s missing something. Obviously, that something is you. If you lived here too, this place would be 100% awesome. I run across things that make me think about you every day, and that’s why you get so many random texts and pictures. Please come visit me; I need you.
2. I’m sorry I miss most birthdays...
2,923
Dear Environmental Studies Program,
I came to you in 2008 looking for guidance and support after a disturbing summer abroad. I left the US as a pre-med neuroscience major, in love with my high school sweetheart and confident about my life’s trajectory. Landing over Santiago, Chile, the plane passed through a layer of smog so thick we could see it in the air. Throughout the summer, as I shadowed health professionals and learned about the public healthcare system in Chile, I saw hundreds of children hooked up to machines and gasping for air in a hospital far from their families. The friendly children, desperate for affection, were suffering from a variety of ailments that are all caused or exacerbated by air pollution. I was enraged. I found myself more and more enraged as I learned...
6,855
Dear Gov. Mark Dayton,
When we learned you’d be touring Eagle Mine in Michigan’s wild Upper Peninsula, we — Board and Advisory Board members of grassroots environmental group Save the Wild U.P. — asked to meet with you, to share key concerns about the Eagle Mine. We’d like you to make an informed decision on the PolyMet project. Since you were unable to meet with us during your visit, we’re sharing our concerns publicly.
You toured Eagle Mine’s facility, which the sulfide mining industry deems an environmentally responsible sulfide mine. Did you happen to notice the newly constructed, heavy-duty paved haul road you traveled on from Big Bay, pavement which ends at the gates of Eagle Mine? Under Michigan’s Part 632 Legislation governing sulfide mining, that road should have been...
2,439