Dear Madam,
It is with a huge degree of frustration and desperation with which I write this letter. If past experience is anything to go by I will not expect the courtesy of an answer,or even an acknowledgement, however I would be happy just to have you read and take note of the concerns expressed.
I have served the South African Government in one form or another since 1986, rising to the rank of a Deputy Director in a Provincial Department of Transport, so I think I can safely say I speak with some degree of experience in the matter, and in particular in the road transport field. I have served in both a uniform capacity as well as a managerial appointment. As a civil servant it was always my policy and that of my colleagues that we serve the government of the day, and in so doing...
Lifestyle
Dear Mrs. Bush,
I am writing to let you know why I am not able to accept your kind invitation to give a presentation at the National Book Festival on September 24, or to attend your dinner at the Library of Congress or the breakfast at the White House.
In one way, it’s a very appealing invitation. The idea of speaking at a festival attended by 85,000 people is inspiring! The possibility of finding new readers is exciting for a poet in personal terms, and in terms of the desire that poetry serve its constituents–all of us who need the pleasure, and the inner and outer news, it delivers.
And the concept of a community of readers and writers has long been dear to my heart. As a professor of creative writing in the graduate school of a major university, I have had the chance to be...
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Dear Child,
This letter, I am writing to you to let you know that what you have to see in the coming future. May in any part of the world you are, may whichever religion you are following and in any culture you have been brought up, this letter is to tell you that may what the surroundings are, may what the environment is, you have to take care of you and people around you always.
Till now you have been brought up and pampered a lot but now is the time you have to know that what should matter to you. You have to realize that whatever you are given, whatever your needs are, you have to be always thankful. Gratitude is the way of life, always remember this. You need to understand that Life doesn’t run on comparisons of who has what because Time has the power to change everything. Now that...
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Dear Jamie,
Well, this is a little awkward, but I can assure you that is just as awkward for me as it is for you. Us. You We know what we mean. I spent the past weekend attending the 40th annual World Fantasy Convention, which took place in Arlington, Virginia, practically down the street from where I work. Laws of causality prevent me from going into too much detail about the event, but there are a few things worth noting, and I wanted to make sure you knew about them.
First, the event was a lot of fun. I know it might seem odd to you, to hear that in 22 years, you’ll be attending the World Fantasy Convention, what with your great desire to write science fiction, but there is a good reason for attending. Many of your friends are attending, too.
I can’t go into a lot of detail,...
2,577
Dear President Obama,
I write to you from a Bahraini jail cell, and this message was never meant to go beyond its walls. Even though I have never advocated for violence nor harmed another living soul, I have spent 28 of the last 36 months in a Bahraini prison for actions that can only be counted as crimes in a nation that stifles free expression and criminalizes open assembly. I have documented my government’s use of torture. I have reported on civilian casualties in Yemen. I have held a different opinion than that of a king. In retaliation, I may spend the next ten years of my life in jail.
While my government punishes me for demanding an end to its assault on civil and political rights, other GCC states, especially Saudi Arabia, subject human rights defenders to harsher abuse....
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Dear Zayn,
So I hear you want to be a ‘normal 22-year-old’? Having been one until about a month ago I can tell you one thing - you’re fucking mental - but hey, this is your life, and you know what - I want to help. As someone who has absolutely no experience with being the best member of the world’s most successful boyband ever, I feel I’m extremely qualified to be your mentor, and I’ll do it all for free too. Working for free is a big part of being a young person in 2015 - there you go, I’ve taught you something already.
The first big problem you have is the money. You’re worth £15millon Zayn. Fifteen million. Most 22-year-olds barely have 15 quid, and no I’m not exaggerating. A vital part of being a regular 22-year-old schmuck is hitting the 28th day of the month and knowing you...
3,076
Dear Me Right Now,
Hey, what’s up? Hello? Do you remember that song? God, its funny how everybody just started to discover it when you’re so sick of it already. How are you? I hope all is well with you, where are you working? Are you happy with where you are now? Do you love what you are doing? I hope you do because I have worked so hard for you to get there.
I hope you still remember me, I hope you kept some parts of me, I know you will because I know that you like looking back at the things that made you who you are today. Do you miss me? Do you miss this life? Do you still forgive easily? Are you still updated with the latest music? Are you still a Swifty? Do you still hate Katy Perry? Are you still a good cook? Do you still experiment in the kitchen and create new dishes? I...
26,206
My Dear Love,
It might be the bowl cut that you think you will have until you are old. You imagine it will go from golden to grey and just on those few fancy days will you part it in the middle, slicking it down with both hands like Waldo’s mother did before he boarded the bus in that video that you will never see. It could be the light in your eyes as you beam at me asking how I like your hair like this. It could be how you wave around your papers as you run home, breathless, to explain how you didn’t quite get the 102 because you forgot the units again. Maybe it is how you can barely sit in your seat at school, not fidgeting out of boredom, but vibrating with the excitement of academics as your interest propels you upwards. Perhaps it is because you earnestly asked where you should...
5,733
Dear Sally Kohn,
Recently you wrote an op-ed lamenting that House Republicans shockingly do not support left wing policy prescriptions preferred by President Obama and yourself. Your solution to their objection was buried past the apples to oranges comparisons of executive orders that cleverly hides the problem of constitutionality.
One executive order that violates the rule of law and our system of checks and balances is one too many but that’s not a handy partisan talking point. After that conflagration of straw men, you went on to leftwingsplain to the Republican party what the House GOP should do.
“If House Republicans don’t like these executive orders, then pass immigration reform and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Don’t sue the President. Passing laws that our nation...
2,316
Dear Chancellor of the Exchequer,
I am writing to you in my capacity as CEO of TIGA, the trade association representing the UK video game development and digital publishing sector, to express the industry's concern about the slow progress being made towards the implementation of Games Tax Relief in the UK.
The decision to introduce a Games Tax Relief in the March 2012 Budget was a significant and highly welcome measure for the UK video game industry and for the wider economy. The UK video game industry has been competing on an un-level playing field. Game developers in many countries receive tax breaks for games production. No such tax breaks exist in the UK and so the industry has declined. Research from TIGA shows that between 2008 and 2011, employment in the sector fell by over...
2,383