Los Angeles, California
August 5, 2000

Dear Readers,

Today’s letter is by Jorge Colombo, an illustrator and graphic designer who lives in the East Village, in Manhattan. I first heard about Jorge from Elizabeth Meister, who creates and maintains the This American Life web site and is a part-time editorial adviser to Open Letters. She told me to check out Jorge’sweb site, and especially a project of his called “the Dailies.”

The Dailies, in which Jorge draws a single portrait each day, of a stranger he sees on the street, struck a chord with me right away. They seemed to me like the graphic equivalent of Open Letters; at the very least, they’re inspired by the same idea – to create and distribute an immediate, first-person portrait of what’s happening around us.

I asked Jorge if he’d turn this week’s Dailies into an Open Letter, and provide some written accompaniment to his visual project (on his web site, the Dailiesstand alone.) The result is today’s letter, our first illustrated effort (not counting the little rocket ships and UFOs that accompany every letter).

Jorge was born in Portugal, and emigrated to the United States in 1989 (he moved to New York City in 1998). As a fellow immigrant, I like to think that there’s a connection between his immigrant status and his inquisitive eye.

In other Open Letters news: our email crisis has ended, with little long-term damage. Thank you for the cards and letters. Tomorrow, the weekly goes out to subscribers; why not subscribe now? And on Monday, another letter from X., in Winnipeg.

Yours truly,

Paul Tough