When I left home for college, leaving my girlfriend (now wife) behind to finish high school--yes, I married my high school sweetheart, and we are still together--we sustained ourselves by writing letters. This was before cell phones, free long-distance calls or texting, so letters were the only real way to communicate. I am sure that we wrote more than 200 letters that year we were apart. We wrote daily (sometimes more than one letter a day). Those letters brought joy and wonder and a sense of connection that still resonates with us.
I learned quite a bit about writing during that year. For example, I learned it is not funny to prank your girlfriend by sending her a letter with someone else's name on it. (Writer's note: I was only eighteen, I'm a guy and I learned my lesson and never did it again.) What was amazing to me about those letters is how much they were able to convey the essence of a person through words on a page. They brought us together even though we were so far apart. I would read them and re-read them whenever I needed to feel that moment of connection. They were powerful and filled with grace. And a postage stamp was only $0.15.
(Writer's note: we did not have forever stamps or self-adhesive stamps. You had to lick them with your tongue to make them stick.)
So, with that history in mind, I thought I would review the Dear Colleague letter sent by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Right off the bat, I would suggest not using a salutation like 'Dear Colleague' when you have no intention of being collegial. Just say what you mean, don't dress it up in niceties.
I would suggest that when writing a letter, that it is not effective when you lie. For example, if you are going to quote a Supreme Court decision in your letter, make sure you are actually quoting the decision. You don't say the Supreme Court found no compelling interest for universities to want to create diverse learning environments when their decision (and all the Supreme Court decisions right back to Bakke 47 years ago) recognizes that creating diverse learning environments is a compelling interest.
I would also suggest that you should not claim that a narrowly written legal decisions applies to everything just because you want it to. It's like when an eight-year-old (sorry to throw eight-year-olds under the bus, but...) is told by a parent they can pick tonight's TV show, and they then claim they were given control of the TV remote for life. In other words, it is a lie.
Speaking of letters revealing the essence of a person... I can't decide if Trump and his ilk are racist, sexist, transphobic... (okay, I'm leaning towards they are) or just intellectually eight years old. Although, that is probably being unfair to eight-year-olds again. I was about eight when I realize the world is not fair and hard work was not enough for everyone to reach their potential. Why are they so scared of people who are different from them? Do they fear they won't measure up if all things were equal? I also do not understand what is so difficult about calling someone by the names and pronouns they prefer. I ask people to call me Jefferson, not Jeff, all the time, and only a few of them throw a fit and act like a child. Why is it different if the request is about how someone experiences their gender identity?
I cannot abide cruelty.
And now for something completely different...
My newest novel, The Devil's Interval, is under contract! Set in Reims, France in 1942, during the German occupation, it is the story of Inspector Marc Guyere and his wife Marnie. Reader's Favorite gives it 5 stars and calls it "a captivating story that brilliantly twists and turns." More to come.
Win a free Kindle edition of Love: a novel of grief and desire: I work with Reader's Favorite on the Kindle book giveaway. If you go to readersfavorite.com/book-giveaway you can sign up for the monthly giveaway. You can scroll through the list of giveaways (over 500 each month) or sort the list by title or author to find Love: a novel of grief and desire and put your name in for this month's drawing. Good luck!
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