Most Awesome Letter
Dear john gnarr,
(Great photo!) I enjoyed your address in ‘the grapevine’ on the life of Jesus and agree with some of your humorous comments, but far from being silent, 3 of his disciples did write about their day-to-day lives with him; Matthew, Mark and John, in 3 of the 4 gospels!
Yours Sincerely,
S. McDermott,
Shropshire, England
Sent from my iPhone
Dear S.
You must be talking about this passage here:
“Jesus’s birth occurred in a rather unusual manner; unknown stars twinkled in the sky and angels floated between houses and talked to people. Respected wise men showed up in town and announced that a great man was born. One would assume that any child born under such circumstances would have its youth documented by its parents, relatives and even the authorities. But it was not. There are no records of Jesus’s youth. We know nothing of his first words or when he started walking. None of his childhood drawings have been preserved. We have no knowledge of how he matured or how he fared in school or in his day-to-day interactions. Nada. He just disappeared and wasn’t heard from in thirty years.”
You make a good point. Mark, at least, claims to have been there for his baptism. Oh wait, he was in his thirties when he was baptized. Matthew once invited him to dinner. Oh, he must have been older at that point. And John sat next to him at Passover that one time. Was that the same dinner? Hmm… Sorry if we got any of that wrong, we’re mostly a bunch of heathens over here at the office. We’ll have to ask the mayor about this the next time we catch him grocery shopping or something.
Best,
Grapevine
PS: Read Jón Gnarr’s full New Year’s Address here.
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Dear Sir/Madam,
Let me introduce myself briefly. My name is Oleg Ananyev. I am journalist. Once I graduated from the University of Wales with an MTh degree. At present I live in Volgograd (former Stalingrad, “the capital of the Second World War”), Russia.
The reason why I am addressing you is that I am very interested in the Scandinavian culture. Thus, I can read in Swedish fluently. But it is my old dream to read in Icelandic the famous Icelandic books, namely The Poetic Edda, The Prosaic Edda, and, of course, The Sagas. I already have an Icelandic text-book and a dictionary.
Having asked the Icelandic Embassy in Moscow, I got the answer that they did not have these books. In the Nordic School in Moscow there was no this kind of books either. It was no use to ask for such books in bookshops having books in foreign languages, as they had not even English translations of the books of my dreams. It seemed these books were not available in Russia at all. I was totally in despair.
Next I contacted some cultural foundations in Iceland by e-post asking them to send me, if possible, these books. All in vain. Very unfortunately, I got only two negative answers or four-no-answers-at- all. I was in the depths of despair again.
Later it came to my mind to ask you, my colleagues, to help me. So my bold question is: could you please publish in your newspaper my announcement with my address asking your kind-hearted readers to send me The Poetic Edda, The Prosaic Edda, and The Sagas in Icelandic as present? The copies may be new or second-hand; it does not matter. I am really ashamed about the fact, but I am not in a position to pay for that announcement. May it be free of charge for me?
I believe this even would be a theme for an article for someone in your newspaper: Let us call it “journalistic experiment”. What may be the public reaction to such an unusual question concerning your classical old culture from a very, very remote city in Russia? Will I be sent 50 copies of Eddas and Sagas, or 126 or 208 or 82 – or no no no copies at all? May it be a bookmaker case in your editorial-stuff to stake on? Well, a little Russian joke. Quite seriously, in my part, I would be happy to be in touch with a creative-minded Icelandic colleague.
Please let me know your decision. Thank you very much.
My address is:
Oleg Ananyev
ul. Simonova 32-186
400137 Volgograd-137
Russia
Yours sincerely,
Oleg Ananyev, MTh
Dear Olga,
Here’s hoping some of our kind-hearted readers buy into your “journalistic experiment” and help you escape the “depths of dispair!”
Good luck!
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