Whatever it takes to get people writing letters I suppose. I am usually not an advocate for the elder Hilton sister (who is?), but in this case I applaud her for giving her father a handwritten note for Father’s Day and for following it up a few days later with a thank-you note to the scores of people who have written her while in jail. The queen of T-mobile has brought out the inner letter writer in hundreds of fans as well as the Duchess of York (can we still call her that?) Sarah Ferguson, too, wrote a sympathetic letter to Paris earlier this week offering her support.

To me, the saddest part of the whole story is when Kathy Hilton announced that this is the first time in Paris’s life that she has been alone. Why not just wear an “I’m a bad mother” t-shirt. Who doesn’t send their child into the wilderness (or at least up to their room) for long periods of time to think about what they’ve done. Solitude is good for the soul—the kind that Paris appears to lack.

Now if Paris keeps sending thoughtful handwritten notes to her fans when she gets out of jail, then may lightning strike me if I say another bad word about her.

. . .well, Katie did something right anyway. According to this week’s People magazine Katie Holmes and daughter Suri were shopping in the Ladies in Waiting children’s store in Shreveport, La.—where Katie is filming the upcoming Mad Money—and the shop owners gave Suri a pink picture frame with her name on it. In response to the thoughtful gift, Katie sent the boutique a thank you note on “Suri Cruise” personalized stationery. Katie has her daughter off to a good start in the way of manners and meaningful gestures.

The note read:

Dear Melissa and Pam,
Thank you so much for the beautiful frame for Suri. It is so sweet and reminds us of our wonderful visit to you store and our time here in Shreveport. It was a pleasure meeting you and we thank you again for the unexpected treasure!
We wish you the best!
Warmly, Katie & Suri

My friend Heddy would like to save the world. She works tirelessly at her day job for the human right’s organization Amnesty International and spends her spare time (!) campaigning for another non-profit organization called Rebel Letters. RL aims to meet the urgent need that currently exists to unite the fragmented rebel movement in Darfur. (If you’ve never heard of Darfur, it’s the location of one of the most horrific ordeals taking place in the world today. Trust that Angelina Jolie would fix this problem if she could.) To learn more and to help—all it takes is (you guessed it) a letter—please take two seconds and visit RebelLetters.org. Heddy, Angelina, and Darfur will greatly appreciate it.

I have a confession: I had absolutely no idea that April was National Card and Letter Writing month. A friend of mine at Crane & Co. informed me last week. Oh well, now I know and am passing along the good word. My friend also informed me that Crane is sponsoring “The Letters You Keep,” which is a contest celebrating memorable handwritten letters treasured over time. . .I think I’ll enter the Summer Camp Letter I’ve held onto for 13 years.

Through April, Crane hopes to receive meaningful letters of all types in order to select one winning letter. The keeper of that letter will be announced in May and be awarded $500 toward building a Crane & Co. stationery wardrobe. The winning letter will be featured on Crane’s website! You can read more about it here: http://crane.com/CraneContent/CSTM_LettersYouKeep.aspx