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Correspondence
Correspondence
As a longtime bird owner and breeder, I can’t resist commenting on Mark Leviton’s interview with Jennifer Ackerman [“Bird’s-Eye View,” May 2025]. Her observations of birds’ keen intelligence, personality, and spirit are spot-on. I’d like to share my own observation of birds’ profound grief.
Nancy Obertz
Westhampton, Massachusetts
Correspondence
When I retrieved your March 2025 issue from my mailbox, it was a wet, sodden clump following a heavy spring snowstorm. The pages were stuck together and already beginning to wrinkle. I haven’t missed an issue in years, and I wasn’t going to let a leaky mailbox change that.
I painstakingly separated the pages and draped the magazine so that it would hopefully be readable when it dried. Two days later I carefully separated each dried page from its neighbors. No content was ruined or illegible. The incident made me realize how much I value The Sun and look forward to its arrival each month. Keep it coming.
K.O.
Washburn, Wisconsin
Correspondence
The beauty of The Sun catches me off guard. As I scroll past pictures and words, I feel transported to another dimension. Am I distracted from the day, or brought home where I belong?
Coy Robert Williams
Napa, California
Correspondence
Poet Erik Tschekunow [“This Call Is from an Inmate at a Federal Prison,” November 2024] writes in his contributor’s note that he is “released from prison and repentant, [and] is still searching for the right way to say he’s sorry.” But he has already found the right way—or, at least, one way: writing about his need to repent, acknowledging it, and being strong enough to do so publicly.
His poem provides insight into the experience of being incarcerated—something rarely found in mainstream publications, but very often found in The Sun. As a society we need to hear from the people who have made mistakes (haven’t we all?), paid their debts, and are striving to make amends.
Jeanne Bonner
Hartford, Connecticut
Correspondence
Readers Write has always been my favorite section of The Sun. In my many years of subscribing, I don’t believe I’ve ever read a contribution I didn’t relate to in one way or another. It’s a glimpse into the lives of strangers who divulge their fears, desires, failings, and triumphs—each one a master class in the challenging art of the short essay.
I just finished “Luxuries” [December 2024] and feel compelled to share a little luxury of my own: Once a month I make a cup of tea and take thirty minutes out of my often-stressful, guilt-ridden, and disconnected existence to sit quietly and savor Readers Write. My anxiety and loneliness subside, and I’m reminded that I am a real human being after all.
J.J.
Greensboro, North Carolina
Correspondence
I have been a reader of The Sun for only a few months. Yours is one of the few email notifications I enjoy seeing in my inbox. Because there are no pop-ups or adverts, I can fall completely under the enchantment of the writing. You have created not just a magazine but a community. Too many other publications present writing that’s not from the heart, but rather designed to fit the fashion of the day. It has been a long while since I recall reading anything that lingered in my mind the way stories from The Sun do. Where other magazines create anxiety and doubt, yours evokes the soul. May this community grow and be everlasting.
Ian Preston
Gloucestershire
England
Correspondence
I stopped subscribing to The Sun a couple of years ago when the topics covered in your pages were just too dark for me to handle. Inspired to dive in again this morning, I read Teri Stein’s essay “Penumbra” [October 2024] and was drawn to its truth. The manner in which she weaved together Roe v. Wade, her personal trauma, the shortcomings of our legal system, and ingrained racism was masterful. I’ve shared her essay with others—despite not usually sharing articles that make me sad or angry—because all the women I know should read this.
S.C.
Yakima, Washington
Correspondence
I was deeply moved by Erin McReynolds’s essay “And These Too Are Defensive Wounds” [September 2024], in which she struggles to process her mother’s murder and her evolving feelings about the murderer. My sister, Anne, was murdered in 1974. The crime was never solved. On the one hand, I’m grateful that my parents and I were spared the ordeal of a trial, but I will always wonder if Anne had a connection to her killer and if there was a reason he chose her as his victim. It took me years to be able to talk about my sister’s death and to grieve openly. I admire the courage it must have taken for McReynolds to dive into the courtroom transcripts and to share her inner journey. I thank her for standing up for her mother and for all victims of violence.
Jean Berolzheimer
Vashon, Washington
Correspondence
Maureen Beitler’s photo essay “To the Bone” [July 2024] is brilliant. Her images put me in mind of the masters whose photographs were published between 1940 and 1990, but Beitler’s work also has a contemporary style and approach that instantly transports me into the scene.
Steven Potashner
West Hartford, Connecticut
Correspondence
“Charity” left me in awe. The power of human connection, even in short encounters with strangers, should not be underestimated. I can always count on The Sun to shine light on the private corners of the human experience.
Steve Boyer
Salt Lake City, Utah
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