Milford, Connecticut
November 14, 2000

Dear Readers,

Today’s letter is by Cheryl Wagner, of New Orleans. This is her third open letter. Her first was a fairly harrowing story about her thirteen-year-old next-door neighbor; her second, an intense lobbying effort to be named godmother to her friend’s unborn child, included an explanation of the role Patrick Swayze and Sam Walton play in Cheryl’s personal conception of Purgatory. (She also conducted that interview with Sam and Zak, the death-metal Floridians, about smoking skin and shoes and PCP.) Today’s letter is about her sister’s thirtieth birthday party: the best party ever.

We’ve just introduced a new feature on the web site: email a friend. Beginning today, if you click on that “Email This Letter to a Friend” button on the right side of the day’s letter (or on the one down at the bottom), you’ll be ushered onto a page where you can quickly and easily recommend today’s letter to a friend or loved one. Please test it out early and often – we always like it when new readers visit Open Letters.

The coding for this email-a-friend thing is courtesy of Michael Hsu, an editor and web genius who most recently redesigned the web site at Sound Portraits Productions. He also plays guitar and sings at coffee houses up and down the east coast, and he’s really good. Check out this site for details, and upcoming shows.

Despite Michael’s legendary abilities, we hope you’ll have suggestions on how we could make this feature better or easier to use. If you notice any problems or have any suggestions, please drop us a line at editor@openletters.net.

Yours truly,

Paul Tough