Ladyfingers NewsLetter Press: Email #7

September 25, 2026

Uh, here I go, here I go, here I go again…

Girls, what's my weakness?
“PENS!”
Okay then…

If you're reading this, I am hoping two things are true:

You share my love for pens.
You too have tried to sing Shoop at karaoke at some point (Jo, you set the bar!)…

But has anyone ever wondered why Salt-N-Pepa was out cruising for guys with their niece as their witness? Who does that.

I gotta admit, I started out as a pencil person, but that's because I was a sketcher. I was always drawing in my sketchbook that I toted everywhere, even as a young little sprout. (Eating at a restaurant with my family? Check! Waiting in a crowded theater for a movie to begin? Yep! Church? I tried!!)

Then in high school, I had an art teacher (Mr. Millspaugh!) who graded all our works with a Micron* pen on the backs of our papers. His handwriting was draftsman-like, and I remember studying those geometric, evenly-penned letterforms, mimicking his style in my free time. My handwriting was (and surprisingly, still is!) atrocious and I wanted to get better at writing more cleanly. (Fun fact: I got a C in cursive in 3rd grade!) Unfortunately, the only thing I gained from this experience is an unhealthy obsession with letterforms and pens because my handwriting still sucks.**

“ThIs Is WhY i'M nOt A cAlLiGrApHeR”

It was also around this time that the internet materialized out of thin air (yes that's a technical term). To a young, queer teenager stuck in a small country town in Pennsylvania, it became a window where I discovered a bigger world—which soon turned into a door that allowed me to interact with the things I just didn’t have access to in bucolic little Milford. Some of them were incredibly beautiful, mind-opening and life-changing discoveries! Others, like the time I tried to find softball equipment from Dick’s Sporting Goods and typed “dicks” into my browser, were mistakes I never made again. Never. Again.

They couldn't have called it like, RICHARD'S SPORTING GOODS or something?!

I longed for connection with people who felt the same way I did about music, art and the world, and before I knew it, I had established a global suite of Björk*** fan penpals (no I’m not swearing, those are asterisks for the footnotes!) ranging from Argentina (Federico!), Sweden (Anna!), the UK (Govee!), and Kentucky (Nick!). I’m sure if my parents knew that I was regularly communicating with random strangers on the internet they would have been thrilled, but luckily I escaped those dangers unscathed (that is, if you don’t count the time I searched for a new softball mitt).

With these penpals, we discussed typical fan stuff, you know, like, totally normal stuff like the time my UK penpal—who had greater access to videos and releases in Europe—described, scene-by-scene, shot-by-shot, the sweeping aerial sequences of the Jóga music video, which would have normally taken 7 dial-up hours to load on my RealPlayer, only for it to have the resolution of an ink-jet paper jam. He got to see it all the time on his TV so he just recited it to me one day as he watched it. I wish I still had that email, but there lies the curse of the disappearing pixel. Can’t put that in a shoebox under your bed.

No, she's not writing to me.

And while these digitally-transmitted discussions were born from a digitally-designed source, they soon evolved into the physical realm. I traded drawings and artwork for Argentinian concert bootlegs (fun fact: the majority of Björk fans are Mexican gay guys!) and would write elaborate letters to my friend in Louisville who in return would send me mix tapes that introduced me to artists like Air, Portishead and Belle and Sebastian. There was a special kind of beauty about things that were once trapped inside Imaginary Internet Land but then magically materialized in real life: snail mail, mix tapes, friendships…

The year before my senior year in high school I spent the summer at Governor's School where I discovered other artsy weirdos like me. We kept in touch after the program was over and I would receive the most incredible letters. I mean, they were hardly letters at all; at this point they were just works of art that had traveled across the state. These packages exploded with raw energy... the stories and ideas hastily scrawled into barely legible words and gesture drawings, the pages sometimes stuck to themselves because the paper was folded and shipped off before the paint was dry. I didn’t need to read these letters, though. I understood them the moment they jumped out of my mailbox and awakened my senses.

I had discovered mail art, which, to a teenager from a small town, was like a lifeline to a reality that made much more sense.

A "letter" from my friend Zoe.

In the same way email opened my mind to new and different ways to communicate, so did these packages. I felt liberated from the ruled 8.5"x11" pages of traditional letters. I realized that I was allowed to tell my stories and share my ideas in ways that more accurately captured the feeling of what I was writing about, instead of feeling trapped by language. I didn’t realize it at the time—but I just did, just now as I wrote this last paragraph—but this was actually the origin story of how I fell in love with hand-lettering!

One of the reasons I love lettering so much is because it hits you before you can even read it. My particular flavor of neurodivergence wants to feel the message and not just read the words that attempt to describe it. Poets: forgive me for what I’m about to say, but I feel like lettering is to words as instrumentals are to lyrics: On their own, lyrics are simply just poems (sorry), but when they’re nestled within the arms of a song you feel them in a totally different way.

Arley and Morgan's Neon Poster Letterpress Wedding Invitation

I mean, does this look like a good time or WHAT?
(Why YES it WAS just our anniversary yesterday!)

But this newsletter**** (again, not swearing, I just have lots of side notes!) isn’t just about e-mail, penpals or mail art, it’s about how we make connections that feed our souls in ways that can only be seen with our hearts and felt with our minds.

And how do we get there, girls?

PENS!

Okay, then.

What are we mad about NOW?

I mean…

On Press This Week:

Oh, just our school district's superintendent and his deputy (being accused of) stealing confidential files and trying to cover it up…

So we made some posters for the protest that happened this week.

(More) Interesting Bits of Knowledge:

New Fall & Winter Hours!

Now that the kids are back in school, our weekends are more precious than ever. We’re still open Fridays and Saturdays 10-4,but starting this weekend, we will be closed on Sundays. But don’t fret! You can always shop online and schedule a pickup, or request an appointment during studio hours!

This is nice.

The Brave Irene's event was incredible and they handed out these wonderful little zines that I wanted to share with you all. This page resonated with me and maybe it will for you too:

Want to send some mail?

Write us a letter!

Ladyfingers Letterpress

113 East Bijou Street

Colorado Springs, CO

80903

Our anniversary was yesterday and guess what?

I forgot to give Morgan a card. Sorry hun.

FOOTNOTES:

* In the olden days of Ladyfingers (which happened to coincide with the same olden pre-algorithm days of Instagram), we posted lots of drawings and works-in-progress, usually with a Micron pen - my drawing tool of choice - nestled beside the drawing. One day the mail arrived and there was a big box addressed to me in colorful markers and glittery inks. I opened it up and I swear my face must have started glowing like I was discovering the bounty of One Eyed Willy because inside the box lay a bedazzling array of BRAND NEW PENS!!! Pens and markers of all different shapes and sizes and uses, but most importantly, there was a bunch of MICRONS in there!! There was a neatly written note from someone from Sakura of America, the US distributor of Micron Pens, who had seen our posts and wanted to thank us for including their product in our posts. It was basically a dream come true.

My Secret Santa from Sakura and I sprouted a lovely little friendship through the next few years as we grew our professional relationship. She’d send me new products to test before they hit the market or just send me some new pens to keep using in my work. I felt like Michael Jordan but instead of a shoe deal I was getting FREE PENS. There was a good span of 6 or 7 years when I did not have to buy a single goddamn Micron.

I know this kind of stuff happens all the time with people who actually make a living off of sponsored posts and product placements and stuff like that, but this was such a foreign experience to me as someone who doesn’t really prioritize nor seek out that kind of stuff in our business. (And no, this is not a sponsored post lol!)

As it happens, my Sakura friend moved on to another position and I never quite established contact with her replacement, so I’m back to buying pens again.

Oh, so that's where my carpal tunnel came from!

** I know this may not make any sense to you since I basically make a living drawing letters, but it’s a whole different thing when you’re drawing them instead of writing them!

*** I was 16 when Homogenic was released. It's still probably my number one most favorite album ever. It just turned 29 years old a few days ago! Wow, I've been headbanging to Pluto for 29 years... no wonder my neck hurts!

**** The reason I bring this up is because these newsletters have re-kindled this familiar love that used to be so much a part of my daily life. But I’m not just talking about writing letters and getting lovely messages back; I’m referring to this connection that used to be so intentional, so present and just so…normal.

I realize I may be alone in this sentiment, and that not all of you have abandoned the things that make you feel centered and whole; but in the off-chance that you can relate to this nostalgia of realness, may this newsletter be a reminder that you can close the lid of your laptop at any time, or google how to turn your phone off (honestly why is it so complicated to do that??) and grab a fresh pen and a smooth, inviting loaf of paper and re-acquaint yourself with the freedoms we’ve always had but have somehow drifted away from.

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