In the midst of one of the busiest weeks I've ever lived, I couldn't pass up the chance to share this curious little story. David Bowie, a music and film superstar took the time 42 years ago to personally respond to his first fan letter from the USA. More interesting is that the fan, then Sandra Dodd, now Sandra Adams, scanned and posted an image of the personally typed out letter on her blog.
The letter, was typed on Bowie's manager's personal stationary and edited and signed by the artist himself. If only someone could tell what kind of machine he used. To view it in full size, just click on it. Enjoy.
So, with a few mistakes and some awkward word separation at the end of some lines, here is a typed out version of Boston University's receipt-of-application letter. They're just slightly wordier than Bennington. So, that's two out of three and Warren Wilson is still notably silent.
I'm about one week from having submitted my applications and now my days are filled with ordinary language. Below is my reflection about leaving a world dominated by standards set by the greats of literature and judged by committees, and returning to a world of the most basic language learning which I have not visited in well past a decade.
I used one of the 1,00o sheets of yellow Luster Duplex onion skin-paper that I also rescued from certain demise or recycle. What was that? It's two sheets of fused or laminated into a single sheet of paper, that has one sheen side one mat side, and is very thin. It was great for making fancy carbon copies with typewriters back in the day.
Is it the waiting or the not knowing, or not knowing while you wait? What's worse? Well, to help the wait along, Bennington was the first of the three MFA programs to which I applied, that showed signs of life. It's an email, which posed a dilemma: digital or anablog? Because it's short and is also the only excuse I have for typing today, here it is. So, if you're at all curious about how these letters go, here is an example. Holy student loans Batman, I'm going for broke.
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| From Left to Write |
The Idea
Once upon a former life as a journalist, I reviewed spas and restaurants. Yes, I still wonder why I left that job---oh, yeah: it paid a pittance. Now I'm doing it for free. How?
Cards and Stamps
A fun way to tell people about a place, event or product, is to show labels, ticket stubs, tags, etc. So, I'm going to physically glue said things of what I want to review onto cards that I salvaged from a dumpster. The cards say STAMPS, so all these posts will follow suit.
The Legend
From one to five $ signifies cost. From one to five * signifies rating.
NOTE: The actual review is below the STAMPS
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The makers of what are probably the best microbrewed ales in the country, these guys just happen to be local to Grand Rapids, where I live. Expect me to review each of their ales and stouts--not all at once though. The tag above is the bottleneck sticker to the Dirty Bastard, my third favorite beer in the world. It's a rich beer, with a bitter top note and a sweat yet peaty finish that lingers in your mouth with little hints of hops and I'd almost say dark chocolate. It is an aggressive beer and apparently their flagship. Worth noting is an 8.5% alcohol content and 50 IBU's. This is the little brother to the Backwoods Bastard which is liquid ecstasy aged in whisky barrels, a real kick in the pants. Neither is for the Corona crowd, this is the real deal.
The Omelette Shoppe (sorry no website)
I went there for breakfast today with a buddy of mine. It seems to be local to Grand Rapids but I'm not sure. O don't think they even have a site. I didn't have their specialty, I had a standard breakfast. I ordered two eggs, sunny side up, rye toast and a short stack of pancakes. Eggs are eggs and you have to be pretty dense to mess them up, but they were pretty good. Their rye is served buttered and toasted. I love the mixed pumpernickel with regular flour--the swirly-looking type.
I've submitted applications to my Spring round of MFAs. Regardless of results, I learned oodles and buckets about how tough fiction-writing is. With round one behind me, here is my shout-out to all the typecasters that inspired me, with their NaNoWriMo efforts, to try my hand at mechanical composition.
While my typewriter is not a particularly interesting piece, I think the paper is. See the purplish stains on it? That's because it is written on Polyester Film Carbon paper by Spirit (circa 1980). It is so old that the purple carbon seeped through the 6 lb. sheet between it and the master. So, this is my first, of hopefully many typecasts. Enjoy!
Written on a Smith-Corona Super Sterling
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