How would you feel if the letter you penned carefully and posted to your favorite star ended up in the recycling bin? That ’s where unopened fan mail sent to singer Taylor Swift was found. Swift ’s management said it was an accident, but dealing with piles of letters is a burden for most public figures. According to the BBC reporter Jon Kelly, at the height of his fame, Johnny Depp was said to receive up to 10,000 letters a week.
Some celebrities don’t want letters. In 2008, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr announced openly that he would throw them out because he was too busy. Others do attempt to get through it themselves. Robert Pattinson, star of the Twilight films, claims that he reads“tones and tones”of letters from fans.
Many artists, however, outsource( 外包 ) the tasks of opening, reading and replying. Sylvia Taylor, 58, has run a service in California that does just that since She and her staff deal with up to 20,000 items of mail a month on behalf of 26 celebrities.
Most letters are simply declarations of affection and admiration, she says. A few ask for money. A small number contain threats which require her to contact the celebrity ’s security tea m and the police.
The biggest problem for Taylor is working out how to deal with the correspondence. Presents such as soft toys are sent to local hospitals, and the letters: most of them just get recycled.
Typically, correspondence is acknowledged by a photo with a printed “autograph(亲笔签名)”. For some, this is enough, according to Lynn Zubernis, an expert at West Chester University. She says that the relationship between fans and celebrity may exist only in the mind of the former but it comes from a deeply-rooted human need for community.
56.Where were the unopened letters to singer Taylor Swift found?
What will Sylvia Taylor do if fans are threatening her celebrity s?
Who told fans not to send any letters?
What do fans usually get in return if they write letters to celebrities?
Which word in the passage is the closest in meaning to “public figure ”?