“To mail a letter is to send something out in the world with a faith that it will reach its destination. Writing is the same way. We write with hope that our work, like a letter, will find its way to where it needs to go.” Lauren Markham muses on the magic of the U.S. Postal Service.

Cheri has been an editor at Longreads since 2014. She's currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area.