#offassignment

To the Ride-Share Drivers, You were never just one person, but realistically in the hundreds. You'd taken me from A to B dozens of times: when my laundry was extra heavy, when the bus to Boston felt just too far away. There's a reason | engaged in conversation every time | got in the car. I wanted to know you. And I miss you now, far away from the city as I spend my days immobile in front of a Virginia window. You're high on my list of heroes: still working, transporting those that still have places to go. Thank you, Majid, for quizzing me on US citizenship test questions; thank you, Sory, for pushing me to practice my French; thank you, Isa, for sharing your love story. Thank you Maximus, Fekede, Bes, and all of you in between. For wanting to know a stranger as much as I do. For reminding me, especially now, of the value of proximity. -Abigail Glasgow #OffAssignment #PostcardToAStranger @standbyyourmail (at Post Office-Portland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmf4RL4Oe5K/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

To the Florist on Saint John's Place, Before the shop closed, I bought a braided money tree and purple tulips. You were wearing gloves and a mask and cutting eucalyptus branches for the $1.00 bin in the back. Your parakeets were missing. A cat slept in a basket labeled "oranges." I moved the silver rope, the heavy one with the bells that separates the outside world from your always-fragrant shop. The radio played intense classical hymns. In the presence of flowers and symphonies, I could imagine an afterlife. When you told me you were "closing," did you mean for good? -Madeleine Barnes #OffAssignment @offassignment Off Assignment - Postcard to a Stranger https://www.offassignment.com/articles/postcard-to-a-stranger (at St. Johns Place) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjx3AZUOa5k/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

To the Man Who Sold Streetwise Papers on Leland and Lincoln, Your corner rings with your absence, with your one day at a time. Snow and sun. Hood up, hood down. You want it, we got it. Streetwise! You were saving for Detroit. An AA conference and a free place to flop. Before the lockdown, the baker brought you an apple pie like your mother used to make. You shared it with the guys at the halfway house, and man, oh man, life is good. -Rachel Swearingen #OffAssignment #PostcardsFrom AStranger @offassignment (at Detroit Main Post Office) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcvTscLuB5Y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

To the Florist on Saint John’s Place, Before the shop closed, I bought a braided money tree and purple tulips. You were wearing gloves and a mask and cutting eucalyptus branches for the $1.00 bin in the back. Your parakeets were missing. A cat slept in a basket labeled “oranges.” I moved the silver rope, the heavy one with the bells that separates the outside world from your always-fragrant shop. The radio played intense classical hymns. In the presence of flowers and symphonies, I could imagine an afterlife. When you told me you were “closing,” did you mean for good? -Madeleine Barnes #OffAssignment @offassignment Off Assignment - Postcard to a Stranger
https://www.offassignment.com/articles/postcard-to-a-stranger At the US Post Office in St Johns. 
 https://www.instagram.com/p/CZH2FMIuQhi/?utm_medium=tumblr