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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1984)
Tuesday, February 14, 1984 Daily Nebraskan Paga 5 ric oi ie ic icer wrr yet a. 0 0 0 Lets say, just for the sake of discussion, that you've recently moved. You're a little lonely in your new environment. The mail carrier arrives with a hand-written letter addressed to you. You open it. ' This is what it says: Drzr Keren: All of us are miserable since youje moved. The kids keep complaining, "Tlierc's no one to play with, "Fred misses carpooling with Cliff each day, and I fight back tears each time I see your empty house next door. Bob L , After your letter, Fred and I came up with an idea how 'bout both our families spending a week's vacat ion together this summer? There must be some lake or lodge halfway between South Dakota and Georgia where we could meet. July would be the best month for us, but we're pretty flexible all summer. Talk it over with Cliff and see what he thinks. The winter weather is going to be a drag. Tlie kids never iire of the snow, and Fred and I have gotten a lot of use out of our cross-country skis, but I 'm long ing for spring at this point Write soon! Now, chances are that you'd be very touched by that letter. You would imagine that your old neigh bor had sat down, had reached deep into his or her soul and had searched for exactly the right words to tell you how much everyone missed you. That's what you'd think but you'd be wrong. If you got that letter, your old friend would have copied it from a book. The volume is called The Complete Book of Eff ective Personal Letters. It is published by Prentice-Hall, and it was written by a husband-wife freelance writing team named Robert and Elaine Tietz. Mr. and Mrs. Tietz had a very clever idea. They realize, with some sadness, that we are well on our . way to becoming a post-literate society. People don't read as much as they used to; they watch television. People dont write as much as they used to; they pick up the telephone. Cut the personal letter is not quite dead, at least not yet. So lir. and llrs. Tietz asked themselves: What do most people do when they want to write a letter? Certainly they have the impulse to sit down and put something on paper. But they can no longer do it; writing a personal letter is a skill that disap peared from their lives many years ago. Thus, the book. It contains more than 400 per: sonal letters designed to fit virtually all occasions. Readers of the book are openly invited to plagiarize from it. That's the whole point," Robert Rietz said cheer ily. "We want to make it as simple as possible for any person to write a letter. A person is free to copy our -Daily -Nepraskari;'- EDITOR GENERAL MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER ADVERTISING MANAGER ASSISTANT ADVERTISING MANAGER CIRCULATION MANAGER NEWS EDITOR ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Larry Sharks, 472-1 7SS Danfsl thiiSI Trtcy L. Cir Kt "y Grcasoehmt f.!yr ' "itti V. TrS-lstt lit Leurl Her"I Jinn t'yUi'.sr ." . ViefclF.i--3 JiM Crown L'k Frost PcJ Clark Ptlty Pryor JJf Cccilv.ia . Chris Vcisch Lorrl V.snzzr Crsrj Andrei en SPORTS EDITOR ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR COPY DESK SUPERVISOR NIGHT NEWS EDITOR ........ ASSISTANT NIGHT NEWS EDITOR WIRE EDITOR ART DIRECTOR . PHOTO CHIEF Th nailv Mfthraskan fUSPS 144-C2Q1 is DUbliShed bv thi UNL Publications Board Monday through Friday in the fall End spring semesters and Tuesdays and Fridays in the summer sessions, except during vacations. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and com ments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-25S3 between 9 a.m. end 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, call Carta Johnson, 477-5703. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebras kan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 63583 0443. ALL &ATCHIAL COPYRIGHT 1SI4 DAILY Erighten comsom's dap. cznd a perconal in ilie- " ' : Dally Nebrasiiair:. letters word for word, changing only names and places so that they apply to his own situation. Or he is free to make as many changes as he wants, if he feels like being creative." There is a comprehensive table of contents that guides the reader to the various letters. There are far, far too many to list here, but they include a letter to write when a neighbor's unwanted dog to on your lawn; when someone has been helpful during your '. hospitalization; when you stood someone up by missing a prearranged appointment; when you would like to arrange a conference with your child's principal; when a friend is getting a divorce; when you would like a job recommendation from a former employer; when you want to resign from your church board; when your favorite disc jockey gets fired and you want to complain; when you want the president of your child's Little League to remove an incompetent coach; when a magazine has billed you incorrectly. "Let's face it," Tietz said. "Letter-writing is a dying art. For many, many people it's not such a simple thing to do. They'd like to do it, but when they lean over a piece of paper, nothing happens. So they pick up the telephone instead. "I don't think that using the letters in our book is such a terrible thing to do. I don't consider it the same thing as a kid cheating on an exam, for exam ple. My feeling is that if we can help get more people started writing letters again, then we've provided a service." " . He said that a letter copied from his book is better than a greeting card: The store-bought greeting card is better than nothing, but it's just not the same as a note someone has sat down and written in his or her own hand. "Ill admit, this book wouldn't have been necessary 30 or 40 years ago. People back then took the time to sit down and write personal letters. 13ut these days, .television has taught us that everything can be completed in an hour. When you see Quincy on television solve a complicated case in an hour, you don't think it's worth spending a whole hour just to sit down and write a letter expressing your feelings. With our book, you don't have to spend an hour thinking up what to say in your letter." Tietz said that he hopes people all over America start copying letters from the book. And how will he feel if he receives a "personal" letter in the mail one of these days, opens it up and discovers that it's a letter that he wrote himself and included in the book? . "I'd be pleased as punch." 1334, Trlbuna Company Syndicate, Inc. i r iiij oiwuK i.iiv4 I,). II lDowntown 11321 0 St. I 477-9567 T t Park Plaza . Food Village X 467-5710 NOT VALID WITH DU, . A,! I ,f PRESENT COUPON jy "It ivo can't help you, j r "i j" f ' f - T j'-w e- - U ' i . ! -: J Jli.f H . 1 lSSs : ; ' y'' S rvr-' A f1 O ; !i : n Prices Good 2-12 to 2-22 0 1 DAVO r"i X7. - Li 15x7 5 cn 512 Oco uo fsr Cuctom IVhccb KcYCtera W'tzlzm ET Tru-C?s'3 An-.cr.ccn racket Czt.Izt Una r cr ..one t::n- ) coco L !.--t::i:ir.::::r 117 Contains popular essortment of insulated primary wire terminal connectors. r"i f t". 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