On Sarah’s letter, and on the democratic process.
Milford, Connecticut
November 6, 2000
Dear Readers,
Welcome to volume three of Open Letters. It’s occurred to me, recently, that perhaps no one is paying attention to this numbered-volume thing but me. But I’m going to stick to it, steadfastly: volume two ended with Chana’s letter; volume three begins today, with Sarah’s.
Our week off was less eventful than our last hiatus: no new search engine this time, no new page design. But we did shift the headquarters of Open Letters from the west coast to the east for a spell, a move closely patterned on Jann Wenner’s controversial decision to move Rolling Stone’s offices from San Francisco to New York in 1977.
Today’s open letter comes from Sarah Vowell, who has become, with just two letters, the official Open Letters Correspondent for Secular American Holidays – her Fourth of July letterstarted as a review of a Mel Gibson movie and turned into a stirring celebration of the founding documents of the American union; today’s Election Day letter, addressed to her late congressional representative, Mike Synar, concerns the noblest expression of the democratic process: the act of voting itself.
We will leave Sarah’s letter in place today and tomorrow, Election Day. Sarah is also writing these days for Time and Esquire and McSweeney’s, and continues to record stories for This American Life. Inthis show from primary season, for instance, Sarah investigated the way that the media exaggerates the exaggerations of Al Gore, who is running for president. Election tomorrow. Americans, please vote.
Canadians: soon we will get our turn.
Yours truly,
