Chris and I hosted a Letter-To-The-Editor-Writing-Party yesterday evening and I'd like to think it was a smashing success. We filled up on tasty vegan treats, learned about how (and why) to write effective letters, and applied what we learned to writing letters of our own.
Check out some photos here.
I want to thank everybody who joined us, especially Ernest for presenting the letter-writing workshop. I hope everybody learned something, has a better understanding of why it is important to speak up this way, and feels motivated and empowered to pick up pen and paper (or keyboard) on a regular basis.
I will try to summarize the main points of the evening for those of you who were not able to join us and for future reference for those of you who were there.
Why Write Letters to the Editor?
Newspaper editors want to cover stories that are important to their readership. Writing letters to the editor is a way to let them know what matters to you. Even if you don't think your letter is good enough to be printed, send it anyway! If the paper receives enough letters on a certain topic, they are much more likely to print at least one of those letters. Maybe your letter will be printed. Maybe it will help get somebody else's letter printed. Either way, it helps get ideas that matter to us out to the masses.
When Should I Write?
Any time, such as: the paper just printed a story that you like (thank them for it), the paper just printed a story you do not like (tell them why and present an opposing view), the paper hasn't printed any (or enough) stories on a particular topic (tell them why it is important), etc.
How Do I Do it?
Every paper has their own way of accepting letters to the editor. These days, most provide an online form to submit your letter. For example, here is the form for submitting a letter to the the Austin American-Statesman:
Submit Letter to The Statesman
Just bookmark that page and you can write a letter any time!
Style Tips
- Just do it. Don't worry about writing the perfect letter. Just do the best you can and click Send. Every letter helps!
- Keep it short. The Statesman, for example, places a limit of 150 words.
- Make it personal. Identify yourself as a mainstream member of the community. For example, "As a long-time Austin resident and parent, I am concerned about..."
- Be nice. Sounding angry and defensive or being insulting is a sure way to make people dismiss what you have to say.
- Don't help the opposition. Do not restate their arguments -- it just gives them more coverage. For example, don't say, "They say that circuses treat animals great, but in reality..." Just get right to what you think and/or feel: "Circuses routinely beat animals mercilessly in order to intimidate them into performing unnatural tricks."
- Use facts/quotes. Any hard information you can share and back up makes you sound more credible.
- Get people to think. You do not need to convince people what to think and/or do (a very difficult task). It's ok just to share what you know and how you feel about it. With any luck, others will relate to your letter and at least think about the issue.
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Anybody happen to pick up a copy of the Statesman on Monday? I was tabling and forgot. The Statesman has a LTE section but none of the letters were recent. Let us know if your MLK letter was printed!
It's nice to see your letters here. I like everyone's individual perspective yet we all raise a common concern. I received this from the Austin American Statesman in my email on Wednesday. It appears to be an automatic response but I'll see what you all think.
Errol and Chris, thanks for hosting the letter writing party. It was a lot of fun. I posted some pictures from the event.
Here is my letter.
As we approach the day celebrating the great American hero Martin Luther King, Jr., let's extend his legacy of fighting for human rights by giving justice to animals that are slaughtered for food. Most compassionate people would not eat meat if they knew how animals suffer in the meat industry. Animals feel pain and have emotions. Ask anyone who owns a pet. Other civil rights leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Caesar Chavez understood this connection and did not eat animals. I am a native Texan and longtime Austin resident and I am vegan, primarily for animal rights reasons. I encourage everyone to consider where their food comes from and the suffering that may have been caused by bringing it to them.
I am in favour of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.
--Abraham Lincoln
Great letters everybody!!! I regret missing this and hope you guys have one again soon!!! ;))
You are all welcome! We were soo glad to do it, we will have to do another one! Thanks to Ernest for the instruction. And thanks to everyone else for showingup and writing letters!
Indeed this was an awesome event!! Every little bit we do to help the animals is well worth it. Thanks to Ernest for putting on a great training and boosting my confidence in my letter writing advocacy skills, and thanks to Chris & Errol for hosting a great event!!
Chris and Errol are amazing activist and party hosts! Please do it again! And thanks for these great tips to keep reminding us to take action with our pens. Here is the letter I wrote on Tuesday, thanks to everyone's good energy that night (too long, perhaps):
This MLK Day, I am reminded of my childhood, age 4, when my father taught me to be kind to all people, regardless of the color of their skin, even if others felt differently. Thirteen years later, I discovered that farm animals, too, should be treated with dignity and kindness; I decided to go vegan and speak up for animal rights.
Coretta and Dexter King, wife and son of Martin Luther King, Jr., along with a growing number of Americans have understood that we should strive for peace on our own dinner plates and give animals a chance to live in peace.
99% of our meat comes from factory farms, which means keeping cows, pigs, and chickens in tiny cages and stalls laden in their own feces and urine with no hope. Our nation can do better than to support the rampant abuse of sentient, intelligent animals.
Let MLK Day be a reminder that we have the power of making kind choices in our everyday lives that can spare the suffering and lives of over 10 billion land animals in need of our most basic consideration.
Done!!!
Thx to you and Chris for organizing and making this party happen. I just wrote my letter-to-the-editor of the Austin American-Statesman using their on-line form. It was super easy. Here's my letter:
Like many long-time Austinites, I have found myself involved in a variety of social justice movements such as AIDS activism, gay/lesbian rights activism, or speaking out against the war. For many years now, I have been an advocate for animal rights and this year celebrate my 20th year as a vegan. My involvement in human and animal rights is not unusual. Coretta Scott King was a vegan. Dexter King, her son with Martin Luther King Jr, is also a vegan. As we observe MLK Jr Day, I invite my fellow Austinites to join me in acknowledging, as Mrs.King and Dexter have, that all humans and animals share the same basic civil rights. As Rev. King wrote, "A threat to injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere."
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