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devohoneybee at 08:45pm on 02/02/2006
devohoneybee at 08:45pm on 02/02/2006Today, Western Union sent its last telegram. With email and faxes, naturally, it was only a matter of time. Will future generations even *get* "Candygram!"?
My best telegram memory:
I was in Israel for the summer, working on a kibbutz and touring around with family friends. I must have been 16. My father had lent me a pretty good camera, a Cannon Pellix -- one that he was quite fond of. At the pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, it was stolen off the back of my seat. I was heartbroken. I wrote him a letter apologizing for losing his beloved camera. A few weeks later (mail took 2 weeks to go each way), I got a telegram: "HAVE MANY CAMERAS ONLY TWO DAUGHTERS DAD" (You didn't waste money on punctuation in telegrams.)
I don't remember ones I sent, though I remember composing some. Telegrams were very glamorous and exciting. A kind of haiku, the most urgent meaning harrowed down to its most threadbare form.
READ MANY EMAILS ONLY FEW TELEGRAMS DEVO
STOP
My best telegram memory:
I was in Israel for the summer, working on a kibbutz and touring around with family friends. I must have been 16. My father had lent me a pretty good camera, a Cannon Pellix -- one that he was quite fond of. At the pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, it was stolen off the back of my seat. I was heartbroken. I wrote him a letter apologizing for losing his beloved camera. A few weeks later (mail took 2 weeks to go each way), I got a telegram: "HAVE MANY CAMERAS ONLY TWO DAUGHTERS DAD" (You didn't waste money on punctuation in telegrams.)
I don't remember ones I sent, though I remember composing some. Telegrams were very glamorous and exciting. A kind of haiku, the most urgent meaning harrowed down to its most threadbare form.
READ MANY EMAILS ONLY FEW TELEGRAMS DEVO
STOP
(no subject)
Aww. That's a great story.