I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.–2 Thessalonians 3:17
In 2017 at some point I filled out a form asking about how I might volunteer for a climate organization I had followed for some time, 350 Massachusetts. I said I could try writing letters to the editor. After a few emails back and forth with the organizers, I started writing letters. I posted my first letter to the group and nervously awaited feedback.
In just a few minutes, someone I had never met named Larry, one of the founders of the group, was writing comments on my online document, gently correcting mistakes, and coaching me to make it more concise.
A few months later I met Larry at his house in Cambridge for more training. He told me something that stuck with me – writing a letter can be a political act. And every letter we write has an impact – on us as writers, on the group that helps edit, on the newspaper editor who sees it, and hopefully, eventually on readers and decision-makers.
And then a few years later Larry stopped writing as many letters, or being as available. He had a recurrence of cancer. We letter-writers followed his blog about his treatments, sometimes with updates from himself, sometimes his wife, and then no updates. He had his last letter published in 2021. He died in 2022.
I went to visit his family as they welcomed guests to memorialize Larry, informally, in their backyard in Cambridge. It turns out Larry had been quite an activist – letters were just a small part of the ways he stood up for what he believed in – and their tiny backyard was packed. I was able to tell his wife how grateful I was for Larry’s vision and support in working with the letters group – and that was all.
As Larry would have told me, this particular piece has already gone on too long. I am grateful that he started a community of writers who care about climate, and I hope I can be as welcoming to new members as he was to me. We still write, and we still support each other as a group. The “350MA LTE group” is a community that has published over 1,000 letters to the editor on climate since 2016. Larry’s vision for writing as a political act lives on.
Creator God, Larry’s memory is a blessing. May I remember to welcome others as he welcomed me, and may I find words (especially 150 words or less!) to speak up when it’s needed
By Mary Memmott