'My world is turning upside down': What children's letters to Highlights magazine reveal | The Type Set
She told no one about the incident.
A little girl had been molested, and she put some of the details into a letter to "Highlights," a monthly kids magazine started in 1946 and still published today.
The magazine has a letters section.
The girl's mother found the letter before it was mailed and called the authorities. It was used as evidence, and the molester received justice. The little girl's letter was never mailed.
In 2020, Highlights received a letter from the same person, who was now a woman. She thanked the magazine for making her feel comfortable enough to believe she could tell the truth.
Highlights editor Christine French Cully, who has been overseeing letters and responses since 1994, will never forget that 2020 letter. She imagines what kind of courage it took for that little girl to write what she did.
"It's an honor when a child writes and shows their innermost thoughts and feelings," said Cully, who lives in Nashville. She is the author of a new book, "Dear Highlights," about the nearly two million letters the magazine has received in its 75-year existence.
I had lunch with her recently in the Gulch. On a rainy Thursday, we talked about children.
Highlights letters are sometimes heavy
Kids have written to the magazine about Sept. 11, the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion and so many other monumental events. Cully said she will never forget a letter from a girl whose home was surrounded by wild fires.
"My world is turning upside down," the letter said. "There are TONS of fires. I have a tortoise who lives outside with all the smoke. I've barely been able to sleep for WEEKS. My tummy has been twisting and turning all day."
Most of the letters Highlights have received from children, however, aren't so dramatic. They are about school, friends and family.
"We've got to lean in and listen to anything kids want to tell us," Cully said. "Right now, we get more letters about anxiety and depression than we ever had."
Highlights gets about 2,500 letters, emails, poems and drawings from children per month.
Related: How are our kids doing with COVID? Lean in and listen. They've been telling us all along.
When Cully wrote me a letter on Aug. 22, 2021, she didn't begin with a story about a child.
Her letter began by mentioning that she was writing on a difficult day for her.
Sometimes, the helpers need a little help.
Making it to the big leagues
Cully always knew she wanted to be a children's magazine editor.
When she was about 8 years old, she remembers reading "Calling All Girls" magazine. She was fascinated by the staff box because she realized actual people were in charge of her favorite thing.
"It was somebody's job to put together this magazine," she said.
She grew up and got the job she always dreamed of. She became an editor at "Humpty Dumpty" magazine based in Indianapolis.
That's where she met her first husband and had two children, Matthew and Alison.
Cully worked there for 14 years. Secretly, she applied to what she says is the best magazine in the business — Highlights. Finally, in 1993, Highlights called. She left Humpty Dumpty to become an associate editor in the big leagues.
Her family moved to the little town of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the home of Highlights magazine since it began in 1946.
Her marriage didn't survive those early Highlights years. After her divorce, she focused on her work, and then in 2011 she tried an online dating service.
Dealing with tragic news
She was matched with a man named Thomas Cully. They emailed so much before they met, that he said he was going to get carpal tunnel syndrome unless they started dating.
Her new boyfriend was retired. He was a former banker with a zest for life. He would say to anyone who would listen, "It's a great day to be alive."
He proposed to her, and then he got the worst possible news.
Thomas Cully, in the weeks leading up to their wedding, found out he had advanced prostate cancer.
So along with her beautiful wedding on Sanibel Island off the coast of Florida, she helped her husband finish his bucket list.
They went to Germany, Prague and France. They went camping at the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, which was his favorite spot in the world.
That's where she spread his ashes after he died in 2018. After he died, she moved to Nashville to be close to her family.
She made coffee mugs emblazoned with his words, "It's a great day to be alive." She gave them to family and friends.
Her letter to me began this way: "Many of us still write letters! Even today, on the third anniversary of my husband's death ..."
She told me, "His approach to life will stay with me forever."
Reach Keith Sharon at 615-406-1594 or ksharon@tennessean.com or on Twitter @KeithSharonTN.
Project 88
This story is part of Project 88, which is named for the 88 characters produced on a Smith-Corona typewriter. The Tennessean’s Keith Sharon types letters on his 1953 typewriter and mails them to people all over the world with an envelope and stamp so they can write back. This story originated with a letter Keith received. The question Project 88 is trying to answer is: Will people communicate the old-fashioned way, through heartfelt letters about the best and most challenging days of their lives. This project is not for political rants, and any kind of snail mail letter (typed, hand-written or computer printout) is acceptable. Please include a phone number.
You can be part of Project 88 by writing to:
Keith Sharon
The Tennessean
1801 West End Ave.
16th Floor
Nashville, TN 37203
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What children's letters to Highlights magazine reveal
