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You’ve Got Mail
On February 6, 2019 by ElyseHope your National Thank a Mail Carrier Day celebrations were first class! If you didn’t know this was a thing, perhaps your invitation was lost in the mail. In honor of this underrated holiday, I have for your reading pleasure an anecdote about a dead—that is to say, undeliverable—letter belonging to Henry Ward Beecher. If
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The Twin with the Nine Toes, Part Two
On January 23, 2019 by ElyseWelcome back! Pull up a chair, and if you’re reading in a region as cold as the one I’m writing in, settle in by a warm fire with a piping hot drink. And I do mean settle in—it’s a long one. When we last heard from Alfred Oliver in Part One, it was February 1914,
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The Twin with the Nine Toes, Part One
On January 9, 2019 by ElyseUpon seeing the front page of the Day Book on the morning of February 23, 1914, Chicago readers could have been forgiven for rubbing their eyes and wondering if they were still dreaming. They weren’t the only ones who might have reached for a cup of coffee to jolt themselves awake. A real-life Comedy of
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A Guide to Healthy Eating
On December 26, 2018 by ElyseIf your holiday festivities were anything like mine, they were filled with delicious meals and celebratory drinks, quickly followed by a painfully tight belt buckle and a fervent promise to eat better next year. But before we resolve in 2019 to say goodbye to snacks, sweets and other indulgences, the early 20th-century press has a
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Dear Santa
On December 12, 2018 by ElyseThe holiday season is upon us—and has been upon us since before you unwrapped your first piece of Halloween candy—which means Santa Claus and kids all over the world are making their lists and checking them twice. The children of yesteryear were no less excited than their modern-day counterparts about a stranger breaking into their
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Insults from Ipswich
On November 28, 2018 by ElyseThese days, everyone from presidents and celebrities to CEOs and your cousin’s girlfriend’s ex-best friend can—and often do—trade barbs over social media in full view of their fans and detractors. However, my newly discovered favorite gossip rag shows that publicly airing grievances, dirty laundry and other entertaining unpleasantness isn’t a 21st-century fad but rather the
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Missing Person’s Report
On November 14, 2018 by ElyseMore than 100 years ago, a young woman disappeared under mysterious circumstances. However, the police can’t help solve this cold case. If you’re an historian who sits in front of your television night after night watching reruns of “Law & Order: SVU,” dust off your archival gloves and put on your “Rocky” soundtrack because this
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‘Til Death Do Us Part
On October 31, 2018 by ElyseMuch has been written about the divorce rate in the Western world, and psychologists and nosy relatives alike have spent many hours pondering its causes. Although science tells us criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling are the most reliable harbingers of a relationship’s end, not all doomed marriages die of natural causes. In fact, if the
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Five Tips for Getting Your Fan Letter to the Top of the Pile
On October 17, 2018 by ElyseFan mail has been around as long as the postal system itself, and as celebrities of any era could tell you, admirers aren’t shy about making their opinions known. Thanks to developments in technology and communication, it’s easier than ever to reach out to those in the public eye. But given the volume of fan