TreeHouseLetter
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Recent Letters
“I feel you were writing for me.”
2 Min read Audiobook Bookclubs Discussion guide * * [Reader letter - full text] Dear Ms. Brewster...
On the Set at 30 Rock — Where’s Camera 1?
4 min read NBC News Daily Audiobook available Four Book Recs Toolbox on creativity * * I joined...
I’m on NBC News Daily TODAY — live from 30 Rock in NYC
Readers and friends, In just an hour or so, I'll be live on NBC News Daily, broadcasting from the...
Savage Mountain
4 Min read Salkantay Trek Wonder of the World What the mountains teach you July 4th -- HAPPY 250th...
A Flag Day Speech: A Question Becoming an Answer
4 Min read What the flag means to me Those who serve Final verse of the anthem Video and audio...
I deny that I died for anything.
3 min read · Memorial Day · Eulogy A note on tense AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * * I deny that I died for...
For my mother
1 min read Mother's Day * * * My mother died on a Tuesday last August, at 4:04 pm. She opened her...
One Thing My Daughter Has That I Did Not
2 Min read 1 Book Rec Book Excerpts Reader Notes Signed Copies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Author...
Launch Week Gratitude
1 Min read Thank you DODReads review #1 in multiple categories * * * Good evening! Launch week is...
What Readers Are Saying
1 Min read Launch stats Reader feedback * * * Good morning! Launch week is almost behind us....
Raising Athena is Live
1 Min read Launch update and photos Book link * * Eisenhower Hall for book launch! Good morning!...
Before I left the house
1 Min read * * * Two days. Until book launch. I'm heading to West Point today for the Athena's...
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Reader Favorites
Dinner with Obama
7 Min read Sylvanus Thayer Award On a Strong Military and Secure Nation Toolbox: Speech and Rhetoric * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * The evening with the 44th POTUS (President Of The United States) went about as planned. He was all business, in and out, no meal just...
Horses & Handwriting: A Dying Era?
4 Min read 1 short story with full text 1 book rec 1 luxury stationary rec 3 pen recs * * I would lose my hat at the races, which is OK because I didn't wear a hat. I did lose my bet on "Writer's Regret" at Saratoga Springs last week. I liked the name. I'm not sure I...
“These United Colonies…are Free and Independent States”
5 Min read 10 Min read AND study 30 Min group discussion On the 5 distinct parts of the Declaration, in a table for reference On how Declaration signatures are categorized * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * The moral foundation of the Constitution is in the Declaration of...
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this...
A Day with the Night Stalkers
8 Min read 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) The Soldier and the Citizen Nashville Ides of March AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * On a lonesome stretch of road north of Nashville, we turned onto a farmer's path. Strains of Johnny Cash and the...
Charlie Munger and the Art of Swearing
5 Min read EXPLICIT language, Ages 13 to 103 True Story, investing Toolbox Essay and book rec, Ursula Le Guin Patton's Speech AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Charlie Munger was making the rounds with investors. A living icon in the investing world, he was some...
The Meaning in Music
4 min read Song and Story Rachmaninoff Rybnikov AVAILABLE IN PODCAST (Listen to this letter to hear the piano music) Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm/emelle Your job will change, where you live will change, the people in your life will change, but you will always have your...
Books as Trophies? the Bibliophile vs the Bibliophagist
6 Min read 2 Book recs Music in Prose Funniest passage in modern literature Toolbox, Ages 9 to 99 Word Nerd Special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify anchor.fm/emelle * * I have a book problem. It's a good kind of problem because books teach me a lot and I get to...
On Becoming Sheepdogs, a Modern Fable
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes * This letter has been updated to relate my own experience and the role of the brave men and women who are called to the profession of arms. These citizens have taken an oath to support and defend the constitution against...
Why Scout Finch Hates School – the Best Novel of the Century on Education
"Scout” Finch’s first day in school exposes the pretentious and often hollow ambitions behind progressive education in the 1930s and today. The beloved characters from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird provide timeless insight on public education. Scout’s father...
More Than a Vietnamese Folktale – the Goddess of Compassion
9 Min read 1 Folktale and true story 1 Book rec Quan Am, Kuan Yin, Guanyin, Avalokiteshvara * “To my mind, Kuan Yin’s gentle form is a worthier symbol than the figure of a tortured being hanging from a cross or of an awesome father god.” John Blofeld * I’ve known Kuan...
All TreeHouseLetters
Browse by Topic
On Life
Savage Mountain
4 Min read Salkantay Trek Wonder of the World What the mountains teach you July 4th -- HAPPY 250th BIRTHDAY USA * * The visit expanded my sense of geography, how it affects the psyche, the cultural influences and stories. I tried on this other life, if only for a few...
For my mother
1 min read Mother's Day * * * My mother died on a Tuesday last August, at 4:04 pm. She opened her eyes as she took her last breath. For years, she had asked me about my book. She would not get to see it in its finished form. And, for the longest time I didn't know who...
Old Boys Rugby: “Scum of the Earth” Sings Second
4 Min read Army Rugby Honors Alumni Match in Aldie, VA Old Boys Army Ruggers Beat Navy Bawdy ballad & Army songs Poetry for emergencies Ages 13 and up * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * At a rugby match, fans won't be suprised to hear the words that come off the pitch. The...
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Stories
Giving Thanks for Civility
3 Min read On civility Collegiate athletics * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency. Samuel Johnson * Giving Thanks is a ritual I look forward to at Thanksgiving and...
Why an 84-Year-Old Goes to the Polls
3 Min read Polls in Connecticut * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * Here in my state of Connecticut, the sun was shining and the polls were open for business. Nana, the name the grandchildren call my mother, was dressed with scarf and sweater this morning when I went...
An Omen and 3 Ravens
4 Min read Poetry for emergencies 1 Poem 1 Poetry collection Baltimore & Annapolis A bit of Harry Potter A bit of Edgar Allan Poe US Poet Laureate, Ada Limón * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * * OMEN. On Gay Street in Baltimore on the way to Johnny's for...
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On Education
Ready? F.I.R.E. — Financial Independence, Retire Early
5 Min read 1 Book rec On early retirement, FIRE On simple living "Less Makeup, More Confidence" * * Last week I read a book about extreme frugality and the simple life. The premise is to save more and save early to gain financial freedom. You don't need to be a rocket...
Who Does Not Prefer Civility to Barbarism?*
6 Min read 2 Book recs Average of five people you know Affection, love between parent and child Mrs. Fidget, a character trope AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify Every Action done in Company ought to be with Some Sign of Respect to those that are Present. George...
How to Improve Your Writing – Part 1: from Tolstoy to Grohl
9 min read 1 English textbook 1 Book rec 1 Style Guide 4 Writers: Tolstoy to Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters) Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * I doubt whether we are sufficiently attentive to the importance of...
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On Literature
Stick Season, 10000 Hours, and a Book on the Way
3 Min read On military service On publishing -- April 21st Launch On writing craft 10,000 hours Apprentice, journeyman, master Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * And I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks. -- Noah Kahan * I look out the window...
On Fathers and Storytelling: The Merchant of Saigon
3 Min read Lunch hour Lit 1 Ancient tale Writer's Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * * Murder your darlings. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch A popular writing exercise is to kill--or murder--your darlings, those lines and that passage you cherish. You know the...
Saigon, 50 Years Ago Today
April 30, 1975 * 5 Min read True story Forthcoming book: Raising Athena, a Memoir A new military tradition A mother daughter story * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * The marine chopper touched down onto the U.S. Embassy roof in Saigon where the Ambassador waited to evacuate...
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Bookshelf
“I feel you were writing for me.”
2 Min read Audiobook Bookclubs Discussion guide * * [Reader letter - full text] Dear Ms. Brewster Shattan, A favorite song of mine is "Flying for Me" by John Denver. With "Raising Athena," I feel you were writing for me. Per Benjamin Franklin, "either write something...
On the Set at 30 Rock — Where’s Camera 1?
4 min read NBC News Daily Audiobook available Four Book Recs Toolbox on creativity * * I joined anchor Vicky Nguyen on national TV this week. This Tuesday, July 7, was the fifty year anniversary when women showed up for the first time as cadets for Reception Day at...
For my mother
1 min read Mother's Day * * * My mother died on a Tuesday last August, at 4:04 pm. She opened her eyes as she took her last breath. For years, she had asked me about my book. She would not get to see it in its finished form. And, for the longest time I didn't know who...
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On the Military
A Flag Day Speech: A Question Becoming an Answer
4 Min read What the flag means to me Those who serve Final verse of the anthem Video and audio links of speech * FULL SPEECH IN AUDIO ON SPOTIFY VIDEO OF OPENING of SPEECH ON YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MAIN SPEECH ON YOUTUBE * * The national anthem does not open with a...
I deny that I died for anything.
3 min read · Memorial Day · Eulogy A note on tense AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * * I deny that I died for anything. * An officer killed in Vietnam wrote his own eulogy before he died. It ran in the New York Times in 1971. "I deny that I died for anything — not my country,...
What Readers Are Saying
1 Min read Launch stats Reader feedback * * * Good morning! Launch week is almost behind us. Here's where things stand. Readers are writing meaningful, thoughtful reviews. "An essential piece of the American story." * "Part memoir, part history lesson, part love...
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Writing Features
The Music in Prose
When Life Is Like a Country Music Song
Giving Thanks 3 Min read 1 Song rec 1 Book rec 1 Poem rec Music in Prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Life feels like a country music song this fall. The artist seems to sing directly to me: Bela Flick and Abigail Washburn belt tunes out on the car speaker, banjos...
In Search of the Blue Flower
4 Min read 1 book rec On Friedrich von Hardenberg On teachers On Mathematics On love * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I have no craving to be rich, but I long to see the blue flower. It lies incessantly at my heart, and I can imagine and think of nothing else....
You’re Not Wasting Your Time…
5 Minute read 2 Book recs, Satoshi Yagisawa and David Foster Wallace On drifters and jobs On the bookseller; on the accountant The Music in Prose AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * The truth is the heroism of your childhood entertainments was not true valor. It was...
Poetry for Emergencies
Old Boys Rugby: “Scum of the Earth” Sings Second
4 Min read Army Rugby Honors Alumni Match in Aldie, VA Old Boys Army Ruggers Beat Navy Bawdy ballad & Army songs Poetry for emergencies Ages 13 and up * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * At a rugby match, fans won't be suprised to hear the words that come off the pitch. The...
Poetry for Emergencies: Love Fiercely
2 Min read 1 poem rec 1 podcast rec Toolbox * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Sometimes I make things more complicated than they have to be. So I'll write what I'm thinking as if you were sitting here beside me. I listened to a writer talk about his poem, The Truelove, which...
When Life Is Like a Country Music Song
Giving Thanks 3 Min read 1 Song rec 1 Book rec 1 Poem rec Music in Prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Life feels like a country music song this fall. The artist seems to sing directly to me: Bela Flick and Abigail Washburn belt tunes out on the car speaker, banjos...
Toolbox
On the Set at 30 Rock — Where’s Camera 1?
4 min read NBC News Daily Audiobook available Four Book Recs Toolbox on creativity * * I joined anchor Vicky Nguyen on national TV this week. This Tuesday, July 7, was the fifty year anniversary when women showed up for the first time as cadets for Reception Day at...
A Flag Day Speech: A Question Becoming an Answer
4 Min read What the flag means to me Those who serve Final verse of the anthem Video and audio links of speech * FULL SPEECH IN AUDIO ON SPOTIFY VIDEO OF OPENING of SPEECH ON YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MAIN SPEECH ON YOUTUBE * * The national anthem does not open with a...
A Veteran’s Four-Word Rule
2 Min read On leadership On rhetoric 1 Book rec - what a combat veteran reads 1 restaurant rec Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * The four-word rule flummoxed me. First, let me frame the story. TJ met with my husband and me during our trip to see my son,...