San Francisco, California
September 5, 2000

Dear Readers,

Today’s letter is by John Kellogg Hodgman, a recently retired literary agent who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

John’s letter created yet anothereditorial conundrum on the subject of dates. I’m really “into” this idea of having the date of publication at the top of each letter, no matter when it was actually written: sort of a freshness stamp, for readers, to ensure them that they are indeed taking part in the internet, the fastest-moving medium in the history of mankind. But John didn’t write his letter on September 5. He wrote it on August 20. And since his letter is so eloquent on the subject of exactitude and, not incidentally, dates, I didn’t feel that I could really in good conscience pull any kind of date flim-flam on you, and him. So August 20 it is, even though, as you know, it isn’t any more.

John’s letter is part of a loose coalition of letters that we’ll be publishing this week that have to do with summer, and its conclusion. A sort of a back-to-school special.

Here at OLHQ, late summer = hiatus, which = some retooling, as promised. We’re not done yet, or anything, but long-time readers may notice a few changes to the site.

The main one is architectural: we now have a home page, somewhere for first-time readers to come and get their bearings. If you are not a fan of home pages as a concept, you can bypass ours by subscribing to the Open Letters daily reminder: the email that you receive each morning will send you directly to that day’s letter. To you, our new home page will be nothing but a rumor.

We also now have:

1. A search function, courtesy of Mr.Ochen Kaylen of Minnesota, who has been doing some pro bono design for us during the hiatus, between marathons. He is a technical genius and a good man; we are indebted to him.

2. A place where readers can download back issues of the weekly PDF magazine.

3. A page of links to Open Letters-related, or at least -compatible, sites on the web.

There are other changes, cosmetic and technical, that you’ll notice as you move around the site. Our main goal was to make the site easier to negotiate, as it continues to grow. I hope you’ll look around this week, and let us know what you think; your suggestions, as always, are much appreciated.

Another thing about John: he’s got himself mixed up in some kind ofMcSweeney’s-related performance art eventthat’s taking place tonight in Brookline, Massachusetts. If you live in Brookline, by all means, attend, and ask him to sign your computer screen.

Welcome back.

Yours truly,

Paul Tough