Dear Reader,

Here in the wide world of the internet, we wander and wonder. We cross continents and cultures. We read and watch and discover, all without leaving our daily rooms. As quick as we could ever want, our words are reduced to digital bits and zapped through wires to appear as pixels, competing for our fractured attentions.

But nothing truly comes or goes. Our rooms are empty of souvenirs, our fingers know only computer keys and air. We have assembled bits and pixels into the present, but made nothing for our future hands to hold.

Consider, instead, a letter — a piece of paper marked by one's own hand, carrying signs of one's own thoughts and wonderings, questions and hesitations, the reaches of a unique imagination. To write a letter, one must imagine both the future of its receiving and the recipient who resides there. In this way, letter writing is an act of empathy — a wish put into the world for its continuance.

Allow me to send such a wish to you.

With ready ink,

Ben

Letters from Ben

To receive a handwritten letter from Ben, submit your name and address below.

If you prefer to make a digital connection before providing your address, please contact me via email.