Keepsake

Mahmoud Darwish (محمود درويش), Letter from Exile, in Poetry of Resistance in Occupied Palestine, Translated by Sulafa Hijjawi (سلافة حجاوي), Baġdād, 1968, Printed in Iraq by Al-Jumbhuriya Printing House, pp. 40-43

On Nov. 30, 1954, a character named Charlotte Braun debuted in the much-loved, 4-year-old comic strip Peanuts – and people immediately hated her. Above is Charles Schulz’s reply to one reader complaint, and the picture he drew to really drive the point home. It reads:

Dear Miss Swaim,

I am taking your suggestions regarding Charlotte Braun, and will eventually discard her. If she appears anymore it will be in strips that were already completed before I got your letter or because someone writes in saying that they like her. Remember, however, that you and your friends will have the death of an innocent child on your conscience. Are you prepared to accept such responsibility?

Thanks for writing and I hope that future releases will please you.

Sincerely.

Charles M. Schulz

DARK.

-Nicole

A Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) gunman aims his rifle, Andersontown, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1972.

Frances Arno Saphro (Ukrainian, 1877-1962) Art Deco Needlepoint Tapestry, 1935