“The mere fact that somebody would even just sit down, pull out a piece of paper and think about someone the whole way through, with an intention that is so much harder to unearth when the browser is up and the iPhone is pinging and we've got six conversations rolling in at once.” When you actually think about this, today most people would rather sit down and type an email or a text message to someone rather than take the time to write them a letter. As Hannah Brencher brings to our attention, letter writing is an art form. It is something that still exists but something that is rarely done.
After falling into depression, Hannah Brencher decided to start writing love letters. Hannah believes in pen and paper writing styles instead of the everyday technology that everyone uses. Hannah explains that, “when I moved to New York City after college and got completely sucker-punched in the face by depression, I did the only thing I could think of at the time. I wrote those same kinds of letters that my mother had written me for strangers, and tucked them all throughout the city, dozens and dozens of them. I left them everywhere”. After writing these letters Hannah started a blog. She blogged about the letters she wrote and told all her followers that if anyone wanted her to write them a letter she would, no questions asked. What Hannah found in her inbox the next morning was not what she expected. Hannah’s inbox was filled with emails from all different kinds of people, from all around the world, begging her to write them a letter. This inspired Hannah to start writing love letters to strangers. She would write a letter to whoever wanted one. Hannah’s goal is to inspire people to do the same. She feels that by writing these letters and encouraging other people to do the same, these letters will be more sincere, rather than a quick text message or email. By writing these letters Hannah feels that it is easier to connect to the person, and send a strong meaning of compassion.
In Hannah’s presentation she uses props to make her speech more interesting to watch. The props that she has up on stage with her are a stack of letters and a mail crate. She chooses these props so that while she is talking about the letters her audience can have a visual of what she is describing. Hannah also uses a number of similes and metaphors throughout her speech. An example of this is when she says, “letter-writing will never again need to flip back her hair and talk about efficiency, because she is an art form now, all the parts of her, the signing, the scripting, the mailing, the doodles in the margins.” She relates letter-writing to a woman because it makes her point more powerful to the audience. She gives letter-writing human characteristics so that the audience can paint an image in their minds in a unique way. By using metaphors and similes Hannah’s speech is unique and interesting. It makes her speech stand out from some of the others.
The content of her speech was very easy to understand. Hannah uses pretty day to day, vocabulary that makes the speech relatable to all different kinds of audiences. As mentioned previously, the use of similes and metaphors also make her speech easier to connect to. Hannah also relates her speech to the everyday lifestyle of most young adults by making connections to the social media. This is shown when she says, “the ones of us that have grown up into a world where everything is paperless, and where some of our best conversations have happened upon a screen. We have learned to diary our pain onto Facebook, and we speak swiftly in 140 characters or less.” When Hannah says this pretty much all of the audience can relate. The world is turning into a paperless society. Instead of writing letters we simply send off a text message or an email. Hannah makes these connections so that the audience can easily relate to what Hannah is trying to get across.
Hannah believes that sending letters using paper and a pen is a way more effective way of connecting to others. I would recommend this talk to any young adult that uses a lot of social media and technology. The speech opens the audiences eyes to how we can get lost in our technology so easily now. Hannah inspires people to stay away from the technology and go back to paper and pen. If we don’t start doing what she suggests, technology will become our only way of communication.
After falling into depression, Hannah Brencher decided to start writing love letters. Hannah believes in pen and paper writing styles instead of the everyday technology that everyone uses. Hannah explains that, “when I moved to New York City after college and got completely sucker-punched in the face by depression, I did the only thing I could think of at the time. I wrote those same kinds of letters that my mother had written me for strangers, and tucked them all throughout the city, dozens and dozens of them. I left them everywhere”. After writing these letters Hannah started a blog. She blogged about the letters she wrote and told all her followers that if anyone wanted her to write them a letter she would, no questions asked. What Hannah found in her inbox the next morning was not what she expected. Hannah’s inbox was filled with emails from all different kinds of people, from all around the world, begging her to write them a letter. This inspired Hannah to start writing love letters to strangers. She would write a letter to whoever wanted one. Hannah’s goal is to inspire people to do the same. She feels that by writing these letters and encouraging other people to do the same, these letters will be more sincere, rather than a quick text message or email. By writing these letters Hannah feels that it is easier to connect to the person, and send a strong meaning of compassion.
In Hannah’s presentation she uses props to make her speech more interesting to watch. The props that she has up on stage with her are a stack of letters and a mail crate. She chooses these props so that while she is talking about the letters her audience can have a visual of what she is describing. Hannah also uses a number of similes and metaphors throughout her speech. An example of this is when she says, “letter-writing will never again need to flip back her hair and talk about efficiency, because she is an art form now, all the parts of her, the signing, the scripting, the mailing, the doodles in the margins.” She relates letter-writing to a woman because it makes her point more powerful to the audience. She gives letter-writing human characteristics so that the audience can paint an image in their minds in a unique way. By using metaphors and similes Hannah’s speech is unique and interesting. It makes her speech stand out from some of the others.
The content of her speech was very easy to understand. Hannah uses pretty day to day, vocabulary that makes the speech relatable to all different kinds of audiences. As mentioned previously, the use of similes and metaphors also make her speech easier to connect to. Hannah also relates her speech to the everyday lifestyle of most young adults by making connections to the social media. This is shown when she says, “the ones of us that have grown up into a world where everything is paperless, and where some of our best conversations have happened upon a screen. We have learned to diary our pain onto Facebook, and we speak swiftly in 140 characters or less.” When Hannah says this pretty much all of the audience can relate. The world is turning into a paperless society. Instead of writing letters we simply send off a text message or an email. Hannah makes these connections so that the audience can easily relate to what Hannah is trying to get across.
Hannah believes that sending letters using paper and a pen is a way more effective way of connecting to others. I would recommend this talk to any young adult that uses a lot of social media and technology. The speech opens the audiences eyes to how we can get lost in our technology so easily now. Hannah inspires people to stay away from the technology and go back to paper and pen. If we don’t start doing what she suggests, technology will become our only way of communication.