Feeding Your Inner Writer (bonus: Squiggle Game!) - September 12th

Letters Trellis returns to the market on Saturday, September 12. This week we offer ideas to create an environment that nourishes your writing. Beginning with an understanding of the Letters Trellis name and logo, we bring ideas to feed you as a writer with attention to the physical environment and sounds around you, other writings, and favorite places/things. Please stop by for a writing packet to help you get started in writing a friend or loved one. If you have already visited, stop by for the latest handout, and/or visit https://letterstrellis.com for more information.

Join us at our table for The Squiggle Game: As we have done before at the Letters Trellis tent, we will also have a special something for those too young or too old (and every age in between) to engage with letter writing. It is in the same spirit — connection and communication through touching the heart, if not the hand. It is about honoring the process of sharing, in a non-digital way, the art of engaging creatively. Perhaps you saw us at a past Farmer’s Market? If not, I will introduce the activity: One person draws a simple squiggle — the next person adds meaning to the squiggle with additions to the drawing. So simple. So fun. So nourishing. Come Play!

First squiggle, followed by second:

Letters Trellis Brings "Handwriting Improv" to the Winchester Farmers Market

 “Handwriting Improv”

Welcome to Letters Trellis.  Letters Trellis is a project to encourage the writing of traditional letters.

Handwriting Improvisation

Sometimes concerns about handwriting present an obstacle to writing letters.  Since the computer keyboard has become a predominant way for communication, you may have less comfort with pen and paper.  Yet we all appreciate a written message from a loved one or friend.  There is something revealed through a person’s hand that is individual and true to their identity. Holding a personally written letter in your hand makes a unique and special connection.

The goal of “Handwriting Improv” is to offer suggestions to make you feel better about your handwriting.  That is why we named our session for the form of music that allows creative expression among seasoned musicians.  If you think about the notes that form music, we can appreciate that the basics of the simplest song starts with notations to be played by any beginner.  This is equivalent to the handwriting basics we learned as children.  Carrying this thought forward, our writing changed with our experience in life.  Whether used frequently or occasionally, our current writing became our improvised version of earlier lettering.  It expresses who we have become.  Letters are valued for this honesty of who we are.

Slow down! The most important way to improve any handwork is to slow ourselves down.  Contrary to hurried notes jotted to remember names or directions, a slowed pace of writing complements the way ideas evolve into letters.  Therefore, a letter reflects a gift of time to your intended reader.  They know the message, and writing of it, took time.  Instead of the many ways your time could be spent, your letter indicates a decision to focus your attention on the person who will receive it.   

Warm up. Consider these suggestions to warm up your hand, as you think about what you want to write.  Even the most seasoned handwriting can benefit from the attention to releasing tension, optimum posture, and selection of writing implement.   

In Rosemary Sassoon’s 2006 handbook on handwriting, she proposes several key questions, including:

• Is my handwriting worse under pressure?
• Does it hurt to write?
• Is my writing so slow that I never get enough done, or so fast that it looks sloppy?

Answers to these questions, and other self-perceptions of one’s handwriting, may be aided with attention to the following suggestions.  First, consider where you are writing.  A writer’s posture is impacted by a writing surface at the right height, a chair to support an upright back without shoulder strain, and an arm supported by the table top so your elbow is kept at a 90 degree angle (like the recommended ergonomics for a computer keyboard).  In addition, the paper should be positioned for access and light, with paper and light source to the left side for left-handers and right side for right hands.  Some writers benefit from a paper (lined or unlined) below the writing sheet, to soften the surface.  Experiment to find what works best for you.   After setting up your writing environment, try the following warm up exercises before you write, and during your writing whenever you notice tension or discomfort.

• Raise and lower shoulders a few times to relax them.
• Extend your arms to your sides and alternate stretched and relaxed fingers. 
• Take a couple of deep breaths
• Use a piece of scrap paper to draw some relaxing scribbles, like the following, continuing until your pen is skimming across the paper.     

A second consideration is using a writing implement most comfortable and suited to your script.  Pen options include varied writing points (e.g. ballpoint, fiber tips, gels) and varied widths (e.g. fine, medium, bold).  Pen handles can be long, short, thin or thick, and these characteristics impact the comfort of the pen in your grip (your pen hold).  In addition, some pens work better with smooth paper while others will work better when writing on paper with texture.  

• Try out a variety of pen types to determine what works better for you. 

Lastly, consider the reasons for writing with letters joined to each other.  Cursive writing is encouraged if it can help you write faster (less time repositioning the pen), with less up and down hand motion, and to help with good visual spacing of your words. Sometimes it helps to think about what characteristics make written letters easy to read.

• All letters are a combination of ovals and parallel lines. Some ovals are closed (o, a); some are  open (u, y).  Some lines are straight (l, k) and some lines are curved (u, m).
• Some letters are higher than others (t, l, k) but all similar letters are the same height (a, c, e).
• Spacing between letters, words and lines aid in the reading of a page of handwritten script.
• Some letters join at the top and some letters join at the bottom.

Adjustments to lettering take time, so focus on any specific change just one letter at a time. 

Letters Trellis Returns to Farmers Market August 15th, 2020

Letters Trellis will return to the Winchester Farmers Market this coming Saturday, August 15th. We will continue the “Post It Forward” program that was started earlier, distributing packets of stationery and stamped envelopes for market attendees to write paper letters so they can connect with others in a tangible way during the viral pandemic.   19 packets were distributed on August 15.

Stop by the Letters Trellis tent and ask about a surprise activity! See https://letterstrellis.com for more information.

“Post it Forward”

 

Welcome to Letters Trellis.  Letters Trellis is a project to encourage the writing of traditional letters.

 

What is Post It Forward?  Post It Forward is an attempt to adapt a community writing opportunity into an at-home activity.  With current physical distancing limits, our plan to welcome you to a letter writing desk at community events has been postponed.  Instead, packets are available to promote a time-tested form of communication, the hand-written letter.  Participants receive a Post It Forward packet with materials for two letters.  You can write to two people, (or invite someone else to “post it forward” and write their own letter by including the folded blank materials in your post).  Either way, you are doubling the impact of your efforts.

 

What’s in the Packet?   Each packet has two stamped envelopes, a few sheets of stationery, and suggestions on getting started.

 

Where can I get a Packet?  We will be at the Winchester Farmers Market a few times during the 2020 season. For actual dates and location see the market page https://winchesterfarmersmarket.org and the Letters Trellis home page https://letterstrellis.com .

 

[August 2020]

So you want to write a letter?​ 

 

Here are some prompts to get you started.  When writing a letter, think about the person to whom you are writing, similar to how you might start a conversation.  Consider the suggestions below and how they might influence what you write.

Prompts

·      Thoughts about when you first met each other, or last visited ________________ 

·      Remembering when you experienced (a place, a person, or gathering) together

·      Things learned because of the person you are writing ________________ 

·      Memories of what your intended reader likes, how they expressed their thoughts,  or how they influenced your own __________

 

Additional prompts

·      When I think of _________________, you come to mind

·      You know my favorite _____________________________________

·      ___________ is happening outside my window and ______________

·      After you left ________________________________

·      Our conversation left me ___________________________

·      I see you in my happy places, like ____________________

·      You make me think of ______________________

·      I can imagine ___________________________________________

Safety

The links below suggest that the risk of transmitting virus through the mail is low.  However, a cautious approach might include the addition of a statement on your envelope, “Please open this letter one day after it arrives, and enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee”. The US Postal Service has this information: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/usps-statement-on-coronavirus.htm

Letters Trellis Trailer

. Thanks, Peter!

Winchester Farmers Market July 18th, 2020

Thanks to Fred Y for allocating space for us to be at the market, Fran S for lending us the tent, and Linda F and Karen F, we spread the word about writing letters, and distributed 30 packets of stationery, stamped envelopes, information sheets with ideas for starting a letter, and most had pens.  

After Covid we could have people sit down in the cozy writing desk and write a letter right at the market (with appropriate distancing and wipe downs in between). 

Letters Trellis at the Winchester Farmers Market July 18, 2020.

Letters Trellis (www.LettersTrellis.com) is coming to the market on July 18th. This is an effort to encourage hand-written letters in an era when these little packages of thoughts and feelings can be a welcome diversion from electronic mail and post boxes stuffed with flyers and bills. “ Post it Forward ”, the first Letters Trellis community venture, responds to the need to re-connect in a personal way when we can’t be physically close to others. Sponsored by the Winchester and MA Cultural Councils, this special offering of letter-writing packets will be available for pre-order. Numbers are limited; to avoid disappointment reserve yours online at https://forms.gle/pHmvLvcdt1tVm7XR9 and pick it up at the Letters Trellis table.

Snail Mail Is Getting People Through This Time

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/style/mail-letters-coronavirus.html
Snail Mail Is Getting People Through This Time

Letter writing has helped people meaningfully connect during this period of isolation, grief and unrest.
Laura Stanfill sent this watercolor-and-collage art piece to her friend Kathlene Postma, who gardens.Credit...Laura Stanfill

By Tove Danovich
June 24, 2020

Brianca Hadnot’s high school students in Houston started writing letters the day after George Floyd was killed.

“They felt unheard,” Ms. Hadnot, 30, said. “They can’t vote.”

As protests gained momentum around the country, she worried about them attending and possibly being tear gassed or shot with rubber bullets. Writing, she said, was another way the students could take action against police brutality.

“A letter is one of the most undervalued but important ways of expressing yourself,” said Ms. Hadnot, who teaches sophomore literature and writes under the name Brianca Jay. “It doesn’t have to be perfect or written with the best grammar and semantics and flowery prose. It just has to be you.”

The students, with help from other community members, have written 75 letters so far, addressed to elected officials including local legislators and the president of the United States.

Snail mail has taken on fresh resonance in this period of isolation, grief and unrest. Sympathy cards are selling out as the coronavirus’s toll continues to rise. Constituents are mailing in primary election ballots and addressing handwritten notes to local officials with compliments and complaints. (In some cities, they may also be sending letters to the police.) Many more are writing postcards to friends and loved ones, and calling for the United States Postal Service to be saved from its dire financial straits.

First-class mail has been a declining category for the Postal Service for over a decade. It will be a few months before the service publishes statistics on mail volumes for April and May, but it did see “significantly higher product sales” of items including stamps in April, according to a representative. A Postal Service survey whose results were published in May found that one in six consumers had sent more mail to family and friends during the pandemic.

Kenzie Myer, 21, said that she wasn’t a letter writer before the pandemic, which forced her to leave a study-abroad program in London and return to her home in Pennsylvania.

“I came back and hadn’t seen any of my friends from my home school,” Ms. Myer, a rising senior at Arcadia University, said. “I started sending them letters.” Most of them open with a disparaging line about her “garbage handwriting,” she said, then become more personalized.

For a friend whose 21st birthday passed in lockdown, she wrote about how she couldn’t wait to celebrate in person. For her partner, who lives in Australia, she writes “a lot of sappy stuff” and smears the page with roller-ball perfume. She posts her correspondents’ responses on her bedroom wall near her desk.

“Even though I can’t see the people that I love, they’re sending love back my way,” Ms. Myer said.

Henry, 4, punches out letters to friends and family on a typewriter he received for Christmas.

Justin Hodges, 46, moved to Chicago three years ago and soon received a postcard from a local candidate. “This was not some soulless mass production,” he said. “Someone took the time to spell my name correctly and draw stars and hearts. It’s more personal.”

Eventually Mr. Hodges, a former flight attendant and now self-described “stay-at-home cat dad,” started writing postcards for her campaign as a volunteer and then for an organization that encourages people in swing states to vote. Over the last month, he has written 500 postcards that will be sent to Wisconsin voters closer to the general election in November.

The coronavirus has made many people realize just how important the Postal Service is, Mr. Hodges said, even as it feels like it’s under siege. “We’ve gone to this online society, but letters encourage voter turnout and civic engagement. They’re warm and personal — tangible.”