Dear Anne Frank, We reject to inform you...

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/5/13wayne.html

ANNE FRANK GETS REJECTED: McSweeney’s

Speaking of the so-called "Nazis," can you find a way to make them more likeable or, at the very least, give them a measure of redemption? Maybe one of them has a cute German shepherd that he always brings around to the apartment when he searches it, and we can tell he's got a kind heart because he affectionately ruffles the dog whenever he commands it to sniff out the "filthy Christ-killers"?

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 When it comes to humor, I can be a tough audience. I get bored at banana peels and am stony-faced at potty jokes.  I flip channels at the hint of slapstick and find crass vulgarity rude.  If I were a stand-up comedian, I’d vote for someone else to sit in the front row.  (I must admit to a slight bias when it comes to my brother. Pretty much all he has to do to win the laugh is start the story – but then again, I just chalk it up to his genius sense of timing and witty repartee)

Knowing that I'm a humor hold-out, an article that induces out-loud solo laughter must be worth the time.

On that note, forgive us for asking, but we must now be ever vigilant about fact-checking in memoirs. Our history is a little shaky, but did an entire country, led by a psychopathic dictator, really set out to eradicate an entire peoples based on their religious affiliation? And the dictator had a ridiculous-looking Charlie Chaplin mustache? And America didn't intervene for two whole years of atrocities?-McSweeney’s

Having received multiple letters from publishers, most of which are absent of the helpful recommendations and editing tips, this fictitious rejection letter to Anne Frank just tickled my fancy.  There’s something about the combination of sarcasm, wittiness, understated irony, and smart humor that has me chuckling even as I write this.  And as I glance over at my own stack of rejection letters, I gather some solace in the idea that, were she alive today, perhaps Anne and I would sit over coffee bemoaning the world of publishing and scribbling away while we kept each other company. 

But regardless, if laughter is the best medicine, then here is my daily dose.