We’re just connecting the dots
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Volume 11 • Issue 7 December 10, 2025
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Years of Pen Palship
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I absolutely love the cover story in this week’s newspaper. It took me right back to my own days of having pen pals--friends I met at summer camp, on family vacations, or during little adventures throughout the years. For a long time, those letters were our lifeline. We’d trade stories, teenage dramas, and dreams for the future, all tucked into envelopes with stamps we hoped wouldn’t fall off in transit. Somewhere along the way, many of those connections faded, as childhood friendships often do. Every now and then, I catch myself wondering where they are today. What paths did they follow? What joys have they celebrated? What challenges have shaped who they’ve become? I’ll admit, I’ve spent more time than I care to confess typing a few of their names into a search bar, hoping for even a clue. Thanks to the digital age (and the great detective known as social media), I’ve managed to find a couple of those long-lost friends. But let’s be honest; catching up through Messenger just doesn’t hold the same magic as waiting for a handwritten letter. There was something special about that anticipation…knowing a reply might take weeks…or even months. Maybe that’s why I’m still such a fan of putting pen to paper. Who knows? This story might inspire me to find a new pen pal!
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WINTER TEXAN
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Story and Photos by Eryn Reddell Wingert
n the 4th grade, Maureen Keppy was assigned pen pals from around the world--England, Germany, Japan. Seventy years later, the correspondence with her Japanese counterpart continues, and their friendship has flourished. The concept of pen pals dates back to the 1930s, sparking the creation of the Student Letter Exchange in 1936, a society dedicated to connecting individuals through letter writing. By the 1950s, teachers were assigning pen pals to students as a tool to practice penmanship and expand cultural horizons. That is how Keppy met Chihoko Nakamura. Keppy still recalls the 15-letter street Nakamura lived on when they first became pen pals: “N-i-s-h-i-h-a-n-a-b-a-t-a-k-e!” The two write to each other once a month, which--after 70 years--amounts to 1,680 letters total, 840 per pen pal. Hundreds of letters document their lives.
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