This morning, I woke up thinking about the student who sent me an e-mail yesterday at 3:30 pm about trying to catch me at 4:30 pm about something class related, only to get a second one after 6:00 pm where she was a bit frustrated for me not getting back to her. I saw all these e-mails some time after 7:00 pm, when I was catching up with my e-mails of the day.

For some odd reason, while I was thinking about the difference between expectactions of a reply and how often people actually check their e-mail, my groggy mind transitioned to flashbacks of the late 90′s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Ideal Husband, where paper notecards go back and forth between characters at lightening speed, made possible by couriers on foot in London. Somehow, these couriers managed to swiftly get their notes to their intended recipients on time. I have always suspected the screen writer was thinking about e-mail and how to Victorianize it for this film, while real e-mail at the time was the less convenient telegram office. Continue reading →