The business of writing letters became an outlet for creativity and self-expression which, at that point in my life, I needed very much. While one's circle of friends changed with one's interests and values, pen pals were sufficiently detached from the prejudices of the immediate atmosphere and therefore became friends at a safe distance to whom feelings could be written without the usual fear of confidentiality. Actually there were only two or three pen pals with whom I shared any depth, for many desired only to speak about their boyfriends and favorite things to eat, and refused to rise above the superficial acquaintance afforded by one page letters and a 15 cent stamp. Expectations and needs varied with these individuals, just as they did within local relationships. Some needed only a correspondent and others, a confidant; the duration of mutual interaction via post depended on the compatibility of these aspects.
I wrote "Definitions" on May 10, 1976; it captured a bit more introspection than some of my writing.
Definitions
Dreams are like the eagle
When it is in flight,
Plummeting down a mountainside
Or soaring out of sight.
Success is like the sky
When clouds roll away
And beckon to the sun
To brighten up your day.
Failure is a shooting star
Which hurls itself around
And makes a crater in your heart,
Crushing spirits to the ground.
Birth is like a flower
As its' leaves unfurl,
Rendering its' love for God
To city, country, world.
Death is like an endless night
To those who don't believe,
Cloaking them in darkness,
The old to the naive.
Lauren Isaacson 9th Grade 1976
May 16, 1976… I went to church with K… just Sunday School, tho'… Man, I thought our class didn't pay to much attention and those guys threw stuff, wrecked Bibles and everything. K. dropped me home around noon. I was real depressed for some unknown reason.