1,000 entries: Send Your Letters!

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely,

 "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” 

(Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

As cousas nacen sendo unha cousa e acaban converténdose noutra. O cambio e a evolución dan beleza á vida.

Así pasou tamén con esta bitácora, que naceu un 19 de setembro de 2015 cuns obxectivos en mente que se foron cumprindo no tempo e, pechada esa etapa, converteuse noutra cousa, nunha especie de diario de lecturas, de descubertas e de cousas fermosas que pasaron polo camiño. Case catro anos de compartir recordos, instantáneas, humores, versos, intentos de crítica literaria, un algo de banda sonora, medio chisco de cine e centos de alusións gratuítas a referencias millennial (ou non).

Porén, o fío condutor, as cartas, a palabra, a escrita creativa "da man ao corazón" en todas as súas dimensións sobreviviu nesa viaxe de exploración e investigación que foi conxunta: Conversas derivadas de lecturas recomendadas, de lugares para visitar, músicas de cabeceira, imaxes para gravar na retina ou palabras para atesourar.

Despois de case catro anos compartidos, a piques das 1.000 entradas, ás portas das 200.000 visitas e cun recén estreado nomeamento de "embaixadora Postcrossing" (podedes atopar máis información aquí baixo o epígrafe "What is a Postcrossing ambassador?") convídovos a participar no decimonónico exercicio de escribir unha carta, así, ao vello estilo, e enviarma ao seguinte enderezo:

Podedes contarme como chegastes ao blog, algo sobre cartas ou correo postal, o que vos gustaría ver neste espazo, compartir algunha lectura interesante, ... en fin: o que queirades! Non esquezades incluír o voso enderezo na carta ou postal. Ireivos respondendo un a un con algunhas palabras da man ao corazón.

Se non vos animades ao correo postal, tamén podedes deixar un comentario, que sempre se agradece a retroalimentación.

Grazas, sempre, por ler e por compartir!

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely,

 "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” 

(Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

Projects are born one way and then they turn into something else. That constant change and evolution is what gives life its beauty. 

Thus it happened with this blog, born September 19, 2015 with some objectives in mind that were fulfilled over time, and then went on to become something else. A sort of reading journal including also discoveries of beautiful things found along the way. Almost four years of sharing memories, photo snaps, moods, verses, attempts to write fair reviews, some songs to serve as a life soundtrack, a couple of movies and hundreds of millennial (or not) cultural references.

However, the central thread: letters, words, creative writing from hand to heart in all of its dimensions, has survived in this research and exploratory journey involving conversations about shared readings, places to visit, unmissable music, images to keep on our retinas or words to be pronounced.

Almost four years, almost 1,000 entries, almost 200,000 visits  and a recent milestone: being named a Poscrossing ambassador (you can find more info clicking here and searching for the FAQ "What is a Postcrossing ambassador?"). To celebrate, would you join in the 19th-century exercise of writing a letter, the good old way, and mail it to this address?

You can tell me how you found this blog, something about letters or mail, what you would like to see in this space, share a recent reading, ... whatever you fancy! Do not forget to include your address in your letter or card so that I can reply back to you with some words from hand to heart.

If you don't have the time to write a letter or card, a comment in any of the entries will be very welcome and greatly appreciated.

Forever grateful to you for reading and sharing!

They're ready to go out to you

Snail Mail My Email Website

Snail Mail My Email is a worldwide community art project where volunteers handwrite strangers' emails and send physical letters to the intended recipients, free of charge. 

SMME was created in 2011 by artist Ivan Cash, who originally conceived the project as a one-time, month long initiative where he would write and send out strangers’ emails one at a time.

The project ultimately received over 10,000 letter submissions and prompted Cash to enlist the help of hundreds of volunteers sending letters all over the world.

SMME has since transitioned to a week-long annual event, held every November that anyone can participate in.

MILKA: Send a Tender Message Along with the Last Chocolate Square

I have to share with you a recent idea launched by Milka. You may have seen the new Milka chocolate bars at your local supermarket. They are missing the last square as part of a new marketing campaign with the slogan "Dare to be tender".

How does it work?

It's really simple. You buy the chocolate bar and of course the last square is missing. 

Inside the wrapping you will find a code (in red in the picture above, where the last square would be) and you just need to go online to this website and click on "Enviar mi onza" (send my last square). Once you do so, you will have to type in the recipient's name and address and after that, the personalized "tender" message you would like to send. 

If you like, you can also explain the story linking you and the recipient, and they claim that there will be an extra surprise if they like it.

Does it cost any extra money?

No, you just buy the bar and they will send your last square to any address in Spain.

Well, I don't know how successful their campaign will be, and I am not a big fan of milk chocolate (I'm more of a dark chocolate addict), but for now I've availed myself of quite a few bars to send my last squares to some recipients who are most certainly not expecting them.

Don't you think it's a beautiful idea?

Creative Writing Workshop: Snail Mail

Patricia Ares, the Coordinator of Cultural Activities in EOI Santiago has very kindly invited me to give a workshop this afternoon to introduce students to snail mail and the possibilities it offers to practise writing skills in a real context.

I am really excited, I will be talking about a topic which I really love and which lies at the heart of our project. I certainly hope attendees will enjoy it and that it will ignite a spark of insterest in snail mail.

Here's a short video I have put together to introduce the workshop.

Thanks for your invitation, Patricia!

I Postcrossing Meetup in Galicia (Ribeira) - Send us your postcards!

As you may have seen in the official Postcrossing website, we are organizing a meetup in Galicia for the first time. The D-day will be April 16, 2016, so save the date! I am an English teacher at an EOI (an Official School of Languages for adults, non-compulsory education), so we are also interested in the learning dimension of this event.

If you can attend and join us, that would certainly be awesome, we will be ready to receive you with open arms. However, if you cannot attend, there is a way in which you can participate, send us a postcard! Here is how you can do it:

1. Choose a postcard for us, any card you like.

2. Write to us introducing yourself if you like, and if possible, write about one (or several) of the following topics:

• what you know about Ribeira or Galicia
• which languages you speak and / or a word you really like in your language (with the English translation)
• tips that you can give us to learn English. How did you learn English? What did you do that could be useful for us? 

3. Write your address on the card.

We will prepare an exhibition with all the cards received to be visited during the meetup in Ribeira. Also, during the Postcrossing meetup, we will reply to the first 70 cards received and we will send a special card signed by all attendees of the Postcrossing meetup.

Please, address your cards to:

IES Número 1 de Ribeira (EOI)
Avda. da Coruña 170
15960 Ribeira - A Coruña
SPAIN

We are so looking forward to receiving your cards!

Primeiro Encontro Internacional de Postcrossing Galego

O día 16 de abril de 2016 terá lugar na cidade de Ribeira o Primeiro Encontro Internacional de Postcrossing. Este acontecemento ten como obxectivo poñer en contacto a diferentes postcrossers, ou escritores de postais, e participar nunca sesión de escritura colaborativa de postais. Se vos interesa asistir a este tipo de eventos noutros países, podedes consultar o calendario aquí.

Irémosvos informando puntualmente das actividades que terán lugar neste día, pero de adianto sirvan algunhas imaxes da contorna de Ribeira, escenario deste encontro.

Fotografías de Diana Pastoriza

Pasa o paquetiño

Exemplo de tarxetiña con algúns posibles agasallos

Pass the parcel é un xogo británico que tradicionalmente se facía nas festas de cumpreanos consistente en envolver 9 ou 10 capas de regaliños pequenos (normalmente larpeiradas). Os nenos sentábanse nunha roda e cando soaba música andaban derredor pasando o paquetero de man en man ata que paraba a música e o que o tivese na man abría o contido da primeira capa. Así ata chegar ao "núcleo" do paquetiño, que tiña un regaliño de maior valor.

Ben, a nosa proposta é facer unha adaptación deste xogo máis centrado no contido sentimental que físico, xa que as nosas "capas" serán de postais cun pequeno agasallo. O sistema de traballo é semellante o das libretas viaxeiras, indicado no post anterior, temos que buscar os contactos e organizar a cadea de intercambio e o calendario.

Cada profesor estará encargado de mandar 20 paquetiños feitos polos alumnos que conteñan unha postal e un pequeno agasallo. O seguinte centro recibirá os paquetiños e NON os abrirá, senón que cada alumno engadirá unha nova capa con outra postal e outro agasallo. Así sucesivamente, con tantas capas como centros participen. A temática das postais pode estar determinada con antelación (envío 1: presentación; 2: a miña vila; 3: a miña serie favorita, etc) ou pode relacionarse cos contidos temáticos que esteamos a tratar nas nosas aulas.

A diferencia do pass the parcel con respecto ás libretas viaxeiras é que non recibimos o paquetiño orixinal (senón unha das capas sería a nosa!), senón que hai que cruzar eses paquetes.

Cun exemplo vese fácil, imaxinemos que temos estas dúas cadeas de intercambio:

GRUPO 1	GRUPO 2
Santiago	Noia
Gran Canaria	Elda
Barcelona	Mallorca
Ourense	Zaragoza

O único que teriamos que facer unha vez rematado o intercambio é cruzar os paquetiños do Grupo 1 cos do Grupo 2 no último envío.

Postcrossing

Que é Postcrossing? 

Unha páxina creada por veciños do noso querido Portugal para poder escribir e recibir postais de todo o mundo. Como eles mesmos din:

The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

Como funciona?

Moi sinxelo! Rexistrámonos e creamos un perfil, ben individual, ben como familia ou clase dun centro educativo. Unha vez rexistrados, solicitamos unha dirección para escribir. Cando nos dan a dirección dan tamén un código identificador. Escribimos a postal e indicamos o código. En canto a nosa postal chegue ao seu destinatario tamén comenzaremos a recibir postais doutros usuarios.

Invítovos a rexistrarvos na páxina, do medio millón de usuarios en España hai pouco máis de 5.000 membros dos cais 391 son galegos, pero iso está a piques de cambiar... 

Se queredes ver a apariencia dun perfil ou coller ideas sobre que incluír, podedes ver o meu aquí.