On a Brooklyn street a small boy is speaking to a man seated on the sidewalk six feet away, both masked, of course. The boy’s mom also stands six feet away, and you can tell she’s smiling under her mask.
The boy is dictating to the man, an NYU Literature Professor typing on a machine we “olds” will recognize as a “typwriter.” The man is Brandon Woolf, and he is typing “Free Letters for anyone who is feeling blue.” It’s part of a performance piece, “The Console,” short for consolation. See Why This Professor Is Writing Letters for People Feeling Blue.
Cole, who is 6 years old, decided to write a letter to his grandfather, who is in the hospital. “What would you like to say to Grandpa?” Mr. Woolf asked Cole, who was seated on a red stool six feet away.
“Hi, Grandpa, I hope you feel better,” he said.
“That’s a great start,” replied Mr. Woolf. With a hunt and peck at the keyboard, he exercised some editorial license and added: “You can do it. I love you.”
Cole paused. Artful phrasing takes time. Mr. Woolf asked about Cole’s favorite subject in school (math) and what he likes to do with Grandpa (play math games). Then he helped with the phrasing: “This week in school I learned a new game. It’s a math game. I like the game because I like math, and I know you like math, too.”
Woolf has been doing this for a few hours several times a week for four weeks. He is set up near a mailbox, and he provides full service — the letter, the envelope and a stamp.
That mailbox is more than just a prop in Mr. Woolf’s performance — it plays a starring role. “The mailboxes are quite lonely, like the rest of us in quarantine,” he said. From his desk he has observed people taking photographs of each other mailing their ballots. “When we see the amount of mail with voting, it seems like a space filled with possibility.”
This piece is about so much — the poingancy of isolation during COVID, the innocence of love between children and their parents and grandparents, and the role of the Post Office and courage of its workers in the quarantine and the election.
It’s the Anti-Trump-Dejoy story.
So take a break from Phone Banking in Florida or elsewhere to read Why This Professor Is Writing Letters for People Feeling Blue. You’ll return to the phone with renewed hope and determination.
I’m not crying. You’re crying.
A commenter to the Times article.