Can an Email or Text be a Letter?

By FARHA GUERRERO I am drawn to the epistolary form, and will confess, rather embarrassedly, that my correspondence can often be lengthy, perhaps excessive. I ‘text’ on my laptop using all ten digits. I often address recipients in emails with “Dear.” I may have grown up in a time when letter writing was already out of fashion. Although, I have fond memories of handwriting letters as an adolescent and during my first year of undergrad studies, using my electric typewriter, just as email was emerging on the scene. Almost romantically, about seven or eight years ago, I began to write and post dozens of letters, dipping pen in ink and transcribing words onto beautiful stationery. I even sealed some of the envelopes with heated wax. The experiment was interesting — I received few responses; at most a card or small handwritten note. Many of the books that dot my library shelves, including those that lie beside my bed, are compilations of letters — collections of written correspondence by…