I am interrupting my hiatus to share a video art project I mentioned a while back. I teamed up with two good friends and we had some fun with Poe’s most famous work: “The Raven.”

Below is a description of the project and below that is the video itself. If you have a moment to stop by the Vimeo page and leave a comment it would be greatly appreciated (by me and Poe). Don’t worry, we didn’t cut the poem short. We’re only posting two minutes(ish) of the eight-minute video to accommodate short attention spans. Without further ado:

Edgar Allan’s Poe’s supernatural poem “The Raven” gets a 21st-century twist in an 8-minute video by Poker Fairy Tale. Although it was written 167 years ago, “The Raven” is as haunting and relevant now as it was when it was first published. Hidden in the shadows are themes of voyeurism, feminism and how social media enables the descent into modern madness.

Created by Samara O’Shea, Daniel Meirom & Jennifer Shahade for PokerFairyTale.com. Features Samara O’Shea as the narrator. Sound mix by Quinn Waters. Poker Fairy Tale is a collection of game inspired video art excerpts created by Daniel Meirom and Jennifer Shahade.

The Raven from Poker Fairy Tale on Vimeo.

The semester has begun and I love it thus far. The material is engaging and all my assignments are reading and writing (no tests), which is how I prefer it. As you can imagine, there are abundant reading and writing assignments. Therefore, my dreams of telling you about my would-be books have been dashed. But! I have an idea. I’ll come back between semesters. I forgot about the generous college winter break. Mine is from December 15th – January 22nd. Have a fantastic fall, and I shall return at Christmastide.

If you’re visiting here for the first time: Welcome! Make yourself at home. Have a look around. There are plenty of back blogs to read. I am currently taking a break from blogging to pursue my master’s. I am still writing letters for people—schedule willing. I hope you learn something while you’re here.

Reader Hope from California left a comment on my “Back to School” blog yesterday and my heart skipped a beat. It’s beautifully written and enthusiastic. I have felt all this year that getting my MSW is an ideal next step for me. Unfortunately I haven’t been unable to articulate exactly how or why. Feelings have not become words for me in this case. Hope, however, hit the nail on the head with her comment. Reading it made me happy and sad all at once. I am thrilled for the next chapter in my life and sad to leave this one behind. I asked Hope if I could post her comment here and she graciously said yes. Thank you Hope—for reading this blog and sharing your thoughts with us.

Samara, I am thrilled for you! Thank you for leaving the website up. I’ve always loved writing and receiving letters and your site was one of the first I discovered when I went to out in to the ether to see if anyone else had this ‘crazy’ hobby. I subsequently bought both your books and a couple of others on letter writing. I truly thought I was the only one who had this devotion to this ‘dying’ art form but nope, there are plenty of us who love fine stationery, pretty stamps, and appreciate the unique characteristics of individual handwriting. Thank you for sustaining all of us who love the written word!

Many blessings and best of luck to you!

School starts this week. I am psyched! I am not leaving LetterLover just yet though. I have a plan for my final blog. Over the years people have asked if and when I’m going to write another book. The short answer is: I’ve tried. I have pitched several ideas since my second book came out (in July 2008) and they haven’t worked out for one reason or another. I want to summarize some of the ideas for you–just so you know what’s been brewing in my mind.

I had hoped to have this finished by the time school started but that obviously didn’t happen. Please bear with me, and I will try to post the ideas soon. Then I will sign off for the foreseeable future. Thank you again for your support! Enjoy the last week of August.

“Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” is the second chapter in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden. I have not read the book in its entirety, but I love the title of this chapter. A few years ago I came to the conclusion that everyone should write an essay (or journal entry, poem, song, etc.) with this title. I think I’d like to write a piece with this title every five years or so. Because surely where I lived and what I lived for will change!

My first attempt was made back in 2009. I had completely forgotten about it until I stumbled across some old Word documents hidden deep down in my hard drive. This draft was rough and I didn’t finish it. When I make another attempt I’m sure I’ll start from scratch. For now, however, I share the first version:

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

I lived in loud rooms and quiet corners. I am a translator. I experience emotions and translate them to the page. I cried. I cursed. I hid from the sun and stood naked in the rain. I lived long enough to know that kindness is the only medicine and I try (I said try) to have some with me wherever I go.

And if the glorious words do come like an unexpected comet across the sky and I say “I’ve got it! I know just how to describe it,” there won’t be a pen and paper handy to get it down just in time.

Last March I announced that I was about to start a new job. I am now happy to share the details. For the past few months, I’ve been working at Temple University as an administrative assistant, and I’m about to take advantage of their tuition remission benefit. Therefore I am also happy to announce that I’m going back to school in the fall.

I’ve been accepted to the Master of Social Work (MSW) program with a scheduled graduation date of May 2015. I know it’s probably not what you expected. An MFA or advanced degree in journalism is what people expect from me. This path, however, feels 100% right. My end goal is to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). A LCSW is a social worker trained in psychotherapy who helps individuals face mental health issues and personal problems aiming to improve overall life satisfaction. In other words, a therapist.

Fear not, I will still be a writer. I will ALWAYS be a writer. This degree is going to round me out in ways I cannot imagine. I’m certain it’ll make me a better writer while giving me a whole new skill set in the process. I’m super duper excited!

And now for the bad news: I’m going to stop blogging. The time has come. I am going to leave LetterLover up because there’s information here I think passersby might find useful. I’m also going to continue the letter-writing service (schedule willing). I’ll still be on Twitter & Facebook. I’ll also try to write for The Huffington Post every few months. I’ll be around—just not here. In three weeks or so I’ll post one final blog welcoming people to the site, inviting them to look around, and explaining where I’ve gone. Thank you all for visiting my little corner of the Internet these past few years! I am endlessly grateful. I have no idea if I’ll blog again after graduation. We’ll see what the world is like in 2015. . .

As the saying goes: Every cloud has a silver lining. The first silver lining (there may be more) of my malware experience is an e-mail I received from the lovely JoAnna Haugen. JoAnna, if you recall, is the creative mind behind The 52 Letters Project. She e-mailed asking for my address—saying she couldn’t retrieve it from my site because of the malicious malware message. If she had retrieved my address directly from the site she would have sent a letter to my PO Box. This is fine except I only get to it every 4 months or so. (I need to get a new PO Box closer to my new home, alas that hasn’t happened yet). In any case, I gave JoAnna my street address and received a charming letter last weekend. I look forward to sitting down this weekend and writing my response. This pleasant exchange wouldn’t have happened until late September (or thereabouts) if not for the malware!

JoAnna’s letter made it all the way from Nevada with this cute little guy (or gal) intact.

And the stationery itself is adorable!