Dear Lonliness; A Letter To 2020

Ex/Post  Magazine

Atlanta, Georgia

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          Isolation has been life-altering this year.  2020 brought with it more shifts than we as a species could have anticipated.  And with it came new hurdles for those experiencing depression and other mental health issues---anxiety, namely.  As Ex/Post Magazine has coined it, "​Loneliness has long been deemed an epidemic in our society, yet relatively little attention has been bestowed it in research."  
          Ex/Post Magazine is a student-run publication based in Atlanta, Georgia overseen by Sarah and Jessica Lao.  The founding and contributing staff members hail from the likes of Harvard, Yale, Westminster,  Milton, Columbia...they are spearheading something incredibly impactful and are serious about what they aim to do.

above photo: New York, pre-pandemic by photographer K. Day

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"We are trying to create the longest letter in the world as part of a crowd-sourced art exhibit, called "Dear Loneliness," which will double as a memorial to 2020, the COVID-19 quarantine, racial injustice, and everything else this year."
          If that doesn't get your attention, then this next bit should.  The Harvard Economics Review is now backing the project by offering to publish the best letter sent in to the project by July 31.  (see details in flyer below)  That's a major boost for a fledgling Magazine and grass roots project, which we here at The Courrier have high hopes for. 

          So much so, that we have proudly partnered with Ex/Post on their global project.  Sister founders Jessica and Sarah Lao explain it best.
"As part of an artistic installation, we seek to create the world's longest letter by compiling entries written by individuals like you about your frustrations, hopes, and experiences with isolation—connecting lonely people through art in the process. ​With your permission, your letters will be archived as both a record of the COVID-19 era and a crucial source of academic data for a poorly understood phenomenon.  And yes, we will be breaking the Guinness world record letter length of 290 meters—three football fields or almost 1,000 sheets of A4 paper—together."

          And it doesn't end there.  Inevitably the team plans to build a fully immersive installation with the letters accumulated, to include mirrors, floor to ceiling, making it the first ever of its kind.  Quite literally, patrons will be able to experience what it is like to be transported inside the world's longest letter.
(see the proposed schematics below)

all references sourced from Ex/Post Magazine's Dear Loneliness site.

          So, who exactly is Ex/Post Magazine and what is their mission statement?  
"We’re a nonprofit independent literary and arts journal dedicated to the frontier of experimentation. More than spotlighting the best art and writing the Internet can find, we want to be a refuge for underrepresented voices, topics, and art forms; in short, we believe that good art should be enjoyed by all, regardless of arbitrary boundaries like genre." -Sarah Lao, Editor in Chief
          And here is a final word on loneliness from the staff and Carissa Chen, who is also heavily involved in the project:

Ex/Post  Magazine

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          If you are interested in writing a letter and playing a role in what is sure to be a major international social experiment and pertinent archival study of a shifting point in human history, click the button to submit.  Likewise, visit Ex/Post magazine and the Dear Loneliness project sites and follow both on Instagram to keep up with the latest groundbreaking news to come.

Participate

~author K. Day