When the best—and perhaps only—way to say something is to write it down. Prologue: Ira goes out with a letter carrier, ‘Grace,’ as she delivers mail on her route. He learns about the people who bring us our mail and also how people treat their mail. (11 minutes) Dear Alice: Writing a letter decades after an event that shaped her life was the only way that Nicole Piasecki could make some sense of it. (18 minutes) A version of this essay first appeared in Hippocampus Magazine. Dear Miss: Yorkshire, 1866. A farmer overcomes his timidity and writes a very important letter to a local beauty. (3 minutes) This letter was performed by Taron Egerton at Union Chapel, London, for Letters Live, which stages live readings of famous and remarkable letters in front of an audience. Dear Dr. Kestenbaum: When senior editor David Kestenbaum was still a rookie reporter, he wrote an email to a legend. Then he waited...and waited...for a reply. (6 minutes) Dear US Army: A woman writes an unusual letter on behalf of her husband. (1 minute) This letter was performed by Crystal Clarke at the Royal Albert Hall, London, for Letters Live. Dear Zoe: Producer Zoe Chace compares the letters a person gets and the letters they wish they got. (12 minutes)
A quick warning.
There are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show.
If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org.
One thing I didn't know about delivering mail.
You're not supposed to walk down to the sidewalk after each house.
You're supposed to cut across the lawn to the next house if you want to finish the route on time.
I mean, they time us.
We're not supposed to go down to the sidewalk every time if we can.
Avoid it and just walk across people's grass.
Grass, yes.
Everybody wants the government to be efficient except for the mailman to walk across their grass.
But people like these guys built a path for me.
So, yeah, there's a little dirt path in between these bushes.
Cause they're nice.
I went out with a letter carrier named Grace, and she walked around.
It was a pretty day in a leafy, lovely neighborhood.
Grace carried a shoulder bag with flats and catalogs and parcels.
And of course, somebody built a path for her to cut to the house next door.
She can talk to anybody.
She's interested in other people.