Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503160027
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Sure, some of it's bills and advertisements and notices that they might have won $10 million (wonder why they never get excited about that!), but some of it's real letters - letters from relatives or friends, letters from banks or other businesses.
It's fun to get mail, isn't it? The only hard part is sometimes you have to send mail to get mail. That means knowing how to write a letter.
Mary Ellen Stokes, an English teacher at William Byrd Middle School in Vinton, was pretty surprised when she learned that a lot of her seventh-grade pupils had no idea how to write a letter properly. Writing a note to a friend seems to come naturally to kids, and probably the only instruction you'll get from a teacher comes if you're caught passing it.
But there are a lot of different reasons to write letters and sometimes it's important to do it well.
Stokes' class put together a list of reasons why we write letters:
It's a form of communication.
``We can write to communicate with people we can't talk to face-to-face,'' said Josh Leffell.
``We write to get information,'' said J.L. St. Clair, who wrote away for information on weather books. Ashley Hartman sent letters to France for information for a school report.
To express our opinions.
People write to newspapers and magazines to let the publishers know how they feel about a subject that might have appeared on their pages or that was in the news. Stokes' pupils wrote letters to the editor of this newspaper about the environment, welfare, the need for more parks, the baseball strike and other topics. Letters are sometimes printed in the paper, but these were not.
``I'd like to write a letter to the newspaper to complain that they didn't print our letters,'' said Josh Leffell.
When asked about writing a complaint letter, Corey Gee suggested starting with, ``These shoes stink.''
If the Power Ranger you bought falls apart soon or your waiter was rude and dropped the spaghetti on your head or your shoes really do stink even though your feet smell like roses, write a letter to the company or business involved and let them know your opinion.
Be polite, though.
To be creative.
Any letter you write starts with nothing. Any words you put on that blank page come from your mind, and that's creative (unless you've copied someone else's words, and that's cheating).
It is a good form of mental exercise.
Beth Wagner wrote to Save The Whales Foundation to see if she would get information back. Other pupils wrote to other groups. ``Even though it was for science, we did some language arts work on writing letters so we wouldn't make fools of ourselves,'' she said.
To keep in touch with people you do not see very often.
Alysia Bradshaw writes to relatives in North Carolina and Kentucky. It's a good way to keep in touch with other members of your family and it's a lot cheaper than talking on the phone. Feeling that piece of paper in your hands and knowing it has come from someone who cares about you can make distances disappear for a short time.
To express our feelings.
``You might be nervous on the telephone,'' said Paul Self, ``but it might be easier if you write.''
Sometimes it's easier to let someone know how you feel through writing, when telling them over the phone or face-to-face is too hard.
It's fun.
Anna Woodie enjoys writing so much she has pen pals in nine countries.
To tell somebody how much you love them.
It's easier to hold a piece of paper in your hands and to re-read ``I love you'' than to remember how it sounded when someone whispered it in your ear. And you can read it over and over again.
To put thoughts on paper.
When Courtney Ross wrote and asked Oprah Winfrey what she thought the key to life was, Courtney must have been wondering about it herself. She might have even given Oprah her own thoughts on the subject. So far, she hasn't heard from Oprah.
To thank someone.
Aunt Agatha enjoys sending you a gift for your birthday, but she probably would really appreciate just a little note from you, thanking her for taking the time (and for spending money, but don't mention that!) - even if you don't like what she bought. (Maybe next year she'll ask you what you really want or suddenly get cooler and figure it out herself.) Maybe next year she'll be so tired of never getting a thank-you note she won't bother to send you a gift at all.
Jennifer Roncaglione has written cards to her parents, thanking them ``for putting up with me.''
One of the good points about thank-you notes is that they can be short.
To inform people about what is happening in our lives.
``I like to tell people what movies I liked or didn't like,'' said Denise Apsell.
Sara Marks said, ``It helps keep up-to-date with people.''
To make somebody feel good.
Ben Chapman writes to his little cousins because he knows they're happy to get letters in the mail and to know that someone cares about them.
When Brandy Wright wrote to an elderly person in a nursing home, she was hoping to brighten someone's day who might be lonely. You can bet a million dollars it worked.
To talk to people about personal things.
Jason Asbury wrote to his idol, Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz. Holtz sent him a personal letter, decorated with a gold-colored football helmet and an autographed picture.
Michael Brogan wrote to pro football player Deion Sanders, asking him what it's like playing football and when he decided that's what he wanted to do.
Randall York sent a letter to NFL player Emmitt Smith. ``If you write to famous people you can get to know what they're really like instead of what you see on TV,'' Randall said.
If you write to a famous person, it usually takes a long time to get an answer, so it's important to be patient. You might get a form letter with a copy of the star's signature. Celebrities get hundreds of pieces of mail every week, so it's impossible for them to personally answer every one. You might get lucky, though.
It's really nice to pick up the telephone and hear the voice of a friend or a relative who's far away on the line. When you hang up the phone, though, what happened between you is over and, as time passes, it gets harder to remember what was said.
When you open the mailbox and hold their letter in your hand, a part of them has been sent to you that you can re-read and keep for as long as you want to.
Makes you smile, doesn't it?
So, paper and pencils ready? All write!
by CNB