The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) published on July 17, 2020, Professor Joyce Kinkead’s essay on the importance of slow writing. She advocates getting in touch—literally—with the tactile and aesthetic pleasures of pen, ink, and paper, particularly in a time when it may be useful to detox from digital devices. Handwritten letters, notes, and cards may be particularly appreciated at this time. Snail mail may be for the “cool kids,” according to The World Needs More Love Letters project. Operation Gratitude seeks letters written to those in the service, veterans, or first-‐responders (https://www.operationgratitude.com/express-‐your-‐thanks/write-‐letters/). Another option, according to Kinkead, is to consider writing letters to your future self and putting them in a time capsule. Letters can be powerful means of communicating with others. As one manual notes, “A handwritten note is like dining by candlelight instead of flicking on the lights.”
Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed is a graduate student in his second year, pursuing a doctorate in sociology at USU. He recently helped survey Utahns to see if environmental concerns affect the decision to have children.
Utah State University President’s Office recently held receptions for this year’s round of inaugural lectures. Three recently promoted faculty in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences presented thoughtful reflections on their research and the even...
