letters from imo jowa

sorry, the pun just popped out of my nocturnal mind. the title is a play of words from the movie "letters from iwo jima". hehe.

"imo"-ilonggo for "your", "yours".
"jowa"-filipino gay slang for "spouse", "lover", "girlfriend/boyfriend."

a curious book about collected, actual love letters is about to be released this oct. 30th. it's called "other people's love letters: 150 letters you were never meant to see", edited by one bill shapiro.



in an interview by redbook magazine, the author shared that his inspiration for publishing such a book was when he came across a love letter by accident at a house of a woman she was dating, addressed to another man. he confessed that he "felt guilty reading it, but it gave [him] such an emotional charge."

this goes to show that we all have snoopy tendencies, especially when it comes to private matters of the heart. there's always that urge to spy on someone's love affair. but sometimes, the love letter, when carelessly kept, can become the undoing of a marriage. this situation i'm referring to is when the love letter is from a paramour...and that's one of the reasons why such a missive is "never meant to be read" by someone other than the addressee.

i must confess, i still have a hard copy of an e-mailed love letter from many years ago. i had printed it out and tucked it inside one of my old diaries. haha.

i'm intrigued, though, as to the methods used in acquiring such a collection for the book. were the letters retrieved legally? one doesn't just walk on a street and expect to see an abandoned love note.

see the gallery of love letters and send one to someone special at otherpeoplesloveletters.com