Ransom notes

Dear readers, I need your help.  Part of my desire to create a blog on letter writing was to encourage, inspire, and influence  people to write  something.  To motivate people of any age to write. Younger people included.  To  hand write anything.  A postcard, a letter… a ransom note.

You may have heard about the soon to be  high school graduate, who at the request of his father, began to send out announcements via the mail about his upcoming graduation.  It was to the father’s horror, as he witnessed this process, the son did not know how to address a letter.   For the full story click here.

In the May/June issue of Sisterhood Magazine I was inspired by an article entitled “Fun Mail” by Amy Green who says, to her teen audience, “Have you noticed that no one seems to send letters anymore? Sure, we have email, mobile phones and Facebook, but sometimes it’s nice to go to the mailbox and find something with your name on it.” One of the ideas suggested in this article was for  teens to write a ransom note to a friend.   I thought this would be a great idea to foster and see where it goes.

“Don’t Ransom Your Summer” Project. Open to 12-17 year olds.

* create your own ransom note for a friend.
* take a picture before you mail it and send to ritewhileucan@gmail.com
* although there are some very cool websites out there for generating ransom notes, this little game is all hard core old school — cut and paste baby— to have your entry even considered.
* pictures will be accepted until July 6, 2013
* my 15 year old says I definitely need to have a prize. We shall see. No promises. You need to “wow” me! 🙂

For every picture I see of a ransom note I will review for originality, creativity, and visual appeal etc. I will profile the top 3 or 4 here on the blog with a bit of a blurb about the creator.

And so dear readers, this is where I need your help.  Please tell all the teens in your world and beyond about this little “Don’t Ransom Your Summer” project.   Share it, Send it, Spread it.

Merci!