Dear Zuck: a story of my letter to the Facebook guy

Ten -ish years ago I wrote you a letter. The one and only one. I didn’t want anything from you. I thought, you’re a bright boy who is making the world a better place. I was pretty naive and very idealistic back then (still is… kind of). So what did I write you about?

I had an amazing idea for Facebook. Facebook theater. I thought it would be a lot of fun. No doubt about that. Besides it should be great for ‘edge’ generations like retired actors or just old and lonely people, shy teenagers, wannabe new stars. Literally everyone who was ready to work on making a 100% online show for everyone to watch would benefit from it.

The idea was simple. A Facebook group ‘producer’ picks a script or even get one from an amateur play writer. Rehearsals are scheduled as one-to-one sessions over Skype or whatever Facebook decides. As soon as the show is ready the time of performance should be set and announced to the public.

I imagined random faces old and young learning lines … and acting … and getting back to life from their TVs … and feeling like they can do something and bring joy … and have this sense of excitement knowing that they are needed again …or for the first time… that they aren’t alone…

In my dreams (and my letter) the show had all the attributes of real theater. It included scene art, sound and light and makeup and costumes, everything. I also mentioned a possibility of organizing special events when everything is planning in advance and should be done by the exact date like a surprise party.

Pride and prejudice

I was so very much proud of myself. I bet, I saw the halo floating above my head. I spent about the entire day proofreading and polishing my writing. Everything was prefect. The idea, the guy in faraway California who can make it happen, the coming spring and of course, my mood. I checked my email ten times a day. I constantly visited your Facebook page but there was no reply from you, my dear Zuck. Not even on from a mail robot. Yep, I’m Russian and don’t have a pass to celebrities like you. I just wanted to help. Ok, no one asked.

I knew that you were a busy guy and probably got a bunch of letters everyday. I was patient which I am normally not. To be sure it didn’t go to trash, I sent you a copy of my letter via Facebook where it couldn’t have been marked as spam. I was positive about that. As the days were passing by my hope has been fading out until it vanished completely.

Present days. COVID19 pandemic

My schoolmate lives in Brooklyn, New York.

She happens to have her birthday on March 20. You know, there are certain events that could not be postpones or cancelled. Birthdays are one of them. There is nothing more important than to see your friends and family doing well and there is better time to reconnect that a birthday. It came to an online celebration. A real-time event happened far from Facebook. It was Zoom that made my dream come true.

At the very bottom of this post I would like to add a brilliant video which is exactly what the doctor ordered. It’s a true magic and I encourage everyone to watch/listen to the musicians of Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. They called their online performance ‘From us, for you’.

This post was written on March 21, 2020

by Olga Barysheva (aka Digital Librarian)