Friday, February 1, 2019

Flee — it’s InCoWriMo!

It’s February, or International Correspondence Writing Month, which asks participants “to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February.”

I am reminded of a story told by Bill Youngren, professor, polymath, all-around good guy. Bill knew a musician who spent time going through the telephone directory with a big stack of postcards. The musician (and, it appears, part-time surrealist) chose names at random, addressed cards, and added a short message: “Flee — all is revealed!”

He could have dispatched his InCoWriMo responsibilities in a single sitting.

comments: 2

Pete said...

Reminds me of Jim Kendall, from Ring Lardner’s “Haircut”:

Jim had a great trick that he used to play w'ile he was travelin'. For instance, he'd be ridin' on a train and they'd come to some little town like, well, like, well, like, we'll say, like Benton. Jim would look out the train window and read the signs of the stores.

For instance, they'd be a sign, "Henry Smith, Dry Goods." Well, Jim would write down the name and the name of the town and when he got to wherever he was goin' he'd mail back a postal card to Henry Smith at Benton and not sign no name to it, but he'd write on the card, well somethin' like "Ask your wife about that book agent that spent the afternoon last week," or "Ask your Missus who kept her from gettin' lonesome the last time you was in Carterville." And he'd sign the card, "A Friend."

Of course, he never knew what really come of none of these jokes, but he could picture what probably happened and that was enough.

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/haircut.html

Michael Leddy said...

“A Friend” indeed. Pretty fiendish.