Hello Beautiful Folks,
A word, from our founder:
It’s no secret that I am a huge supporter of Hannah Brencher and her army of Love Letter Writers. I am in awe of these ladies, I am happy to see that more men are starting to join the movement, and I am privileged to know so many of these writers of Good & Love & Light.
They are an amazing group of people. They are an inspiring group of people.
They have inspired The Love Letter Library Project here at The Write Teacher(s).
And, more importantly, they have inspired my students.
From time to time, I will adopt a love letter bundle for my classroom. I will also bring emergency requests to my kids. My students write everyday in journals that I have bought for them, and so, to write a love letter to a stranger that he or she has never met seems quite fitting with the class culture that I’ve established.
When December hit, my kids, my students, ASKED me what letters they were going to be writing.
They. Asked.
In a generation that is known for wondering about Me, Me, ME, they ASKED. They ASKED to help others. They did not need me to bring the requests to them, they thought about it all on their own.
Oh my…what a beautiful and special thing that was.
Day 5 & 6 & 7 of the 12 Days of Letter Writing are especially important to us here at The Write Teacher(s), for a multitude of reasons.
Day 5 was [is] for Johnathan. Johnathan just celebrated his six month sobriety mark, and is also dealing with the divorce of his parents, death of his brother, & the type of unending change that rocks you to your core. Sobriety and its struggles are something that my students know all too intimately. They struggle. Their parents struggle. Their friends struggle. It is a constant battle. A constant effort to make sure light triumphs over darkness.
My students do not have school on Fridays, so they have not yet seen the request for Johnathan. They will find out about it on Monday, and oh will they write. They will write for Johnathan. For hope. For Love. For the understanding that they both share. They will write to help. They will write to heal. They will write with all that they are, all that they know, all that they hope to be.
I. Can’t. Wait.
This weekend, marks Day 6 & 7.
Day 6 & 7 are dedicated to the Rockaways.
Oh, my heart swells just a little when I type that word. Rockaways.
For those of your that do not know, The Write Teacher(s) are based in NYC and Long Island.
When Sandy hit our shores almost two months ago, well, lives were forever changed.
The entire island was hit.
Scratch that. The entire island was decimated.I woke up the morning after the storm, and it looked like a war zone. Wires & cables & trees lying in the street. Cars hit. Houses hit.
It. Was. A. Mess.
My family, well, we were lucky. If no power or heat for 13 days was all we could complain about, well, that was a blessing.
Because the Rockaways? Long Beach? Mastic? Not so lucky.
My best friends family lives in East Rockaway. They had 5 feet of water in their home. FIVE FEET OF WATER. Both cars that they owned were totaled. Totaled. I believe the insurance company estimated that the damages are going to be 160,000.
$160,000.00
The kicker? The lovely INSURANCE companies aren’t paying for a damn thing.
Not. A. Thing.
Today, tomorrow, the next week, I ask you, along with the team at More Love Letters, to write for the Rockaways. Write for what they have lost. Write for what they hope for. Write to show your support. Write to show you love. If there was ever a community that needed love & happiness & support & sunshine, it’s the Rockaways.
XO
Megan
Photo Credit of Rockaways – Ms. Daphnie Sicre
Live, Love, Learn,
The Write Teacher(s)