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Open Letters exists on the web as an on-line daily journal.
But most of our readers read Open Letters as a weekly magazine, on paper. Every Sunday, our subscribers receive, via email, a free, easy-to-read, easy-to print PDF (portable document format) file that contains all of the week's letters, compiled into a nicely laid-out, two-column magazine, usually about fourteen pages long.
Since week two, new subscribers have been writing to the editors to ask how they can get back issues of the PDF. We've sent out individual back issues to readers who've requested them, but we've resisted offering them for free download on the web site. We want to encourage readers to subscribe, and we were worried that making the PDFs available on the web site might discourage you from subscribing.
But in the spirit of experimentation that Open Letters has always adhered to (well, since June, anyway), we thought we'd try it, and see how readers respond. Our hope is that it will actually increase subscriptions: that non-subscribers will get a look at the PDF, understand at last what we've been talking about, and sign up.
In order to read PDFs, you need to have a program called Adobe Acrobat loaded onto your computer. Most computers these days seem to have Acrobat on them somewhere; try downloading a sample issue and just double-clicking on it. That should bring up the issue, which you can read on screen, or print out and carry around. (We recommend the printing option.)
If that doesn't work, and if you can't find Acrobat anywhere on your computer, you can download it, for free, from Adobe. Just click here.
So download as many of these back issues as you'd like; they're free. We hope you enjoy them. But if you like them, and you haven't subscribed, please do. It's free, and it will allow you to get the weekly delivered right to your mailbox, every Sunday. Just click on the magenta words below.
Download:
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Issue #1
June 19 - June 24, 2000
Includes letters from:
Chana Shvonne Williford,
on meeting
Tattoo Guy.
Lynn Crosbie,
on loving a goalie.
Paul Tough,
on a moment of coincidence.
X.,
on her son, and his father.
Marc Herman,
on typing in a hammock.
And a conversation
with Sarah Jones,
on being the most popular
girl in school.
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Issue #2
June 26 - June 30, 2000
Includes letters from:
Samantha Shapiro,
on Jerusalem's
Department of
Lost Objects.
Noah Cowan,
on a cross-cultural
dialogue.
X.,
on riding the Rotor.
And a conversation
with Sam and Zak,
on what can (and should)
be smoked.
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Issue #3
July 4 - July 8, 2000
Includes letters from:
Sarah Vowell,
on patriotism
and The Patriot.
Blue Chevigny,
on faith
and the movies.
Jonathan Goldstein,
on an old flame.
And a conversation
with Todd Strandberg,
on the Rapture Index.
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Issue #4
July 10 - July 14, 2000
Includes letters from:
Chana Shvonne Williford,
on moving
in together.
Tabatha Southey,
on an alleged
personality flaw.
X.,
on the secret life
of thirteen-year-olds.
Scott Carrier,
on crickets,
purity, and desire.
And Andrew Wilson,
on a trip
to the DMV.
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Issue #5
The Editors Write
July 17 - July 21, 2000
Includes letters from:
Emily White,
on mothers
and mania.
Craig Taylor,
on an encounter
with an Eminem fan.
Joel Lovell,
on a fainting spell.
And Ian Brown,
on a moment of clarity.
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Issue #6a / Issue #6b
The Work Week
July 24 - July 28, 2000
Includes letters from:
Dishwasher Pete,
on keeping his
conscience clean.
Heather O'Neill,
on liberating
the sixth grade.
Andy Jenkins,
on office life,
with skateboarders.
Bill Lychack,
on rewriting
tales of faith.
Alivia Zivich,
on dot-com
office politics.
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Issue #7
Sickness and Health
July 31 - August 5, 2000
Includes letters from:
Michael Welch,
on a bad trip.
Aliza Pollack,
on entering the
world of cancer.
Kevin Patterson,
on the nervous system.
Ethan Watters,
on why he gambles.
And Jorge Colombo,
on the people
in his neighborhood.
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Issue #8
Parents and Children
August 7 - August 11, 2000
Includes letters from:
X.,
on her son
and his father.
Sharon O'Connor,
on her sensitive daughter.
Lillie Allison,
on knowing a secret.
Nick Davis,
on an anniversary.
And X., again,
on an unexpected phone call.
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