But they did much more than that. The Dogood letters became a kind of cultural catharsis for some of the conflicting ideas the boiled away in the contentious culture of the time, focusing, first and foremost on the place and role of woman in America. Some have even said that it was these and his other writings that laid the foundation for the inward focused, folksy America humor that has come to symbolize our nation’s unrelenting progressive idealism. (Benjamin’s writings, for example, are thought to presage the style of Mark Twain and many other American satirists, wherein we laugh at ourselves and learn.)

The letters, or Epistols as they were called at the time, were exceptionally well received. They entertained and inspired everyday readers, providing an outlet through laughter at many of the cultural constraints that really impacted the lives of ordinary Americans at the time. It was, after all, a time when the infant nation was coming to grips with just what it really meant by concepts like freedom, liberty, justice, fairness and the like. And it was a time scared by the ugliness of slavery and the philosophical enshrinement of women as nothing better than second-class citizens.

So powerful was the influence of these letters that Benjamin Franklin built much of his future writings and deeds around the same approach. He found the technique of using pseudonyms beneficial at making his pragmatic suggestions at least consumable, and for demonstrating a heightened sensitivity to the different perspectives of his friends and enemies alike as he sought to be thought of as a balanced ambassador to many of the nation’s and world’s disputes.

But what was just as interesting about the Dogood letters was the fact that they also carried within them the self-effacing confidence that underscored the very heart and soul of Benjamin Franklin. He knew his words and ideas were good, and he knew that they had value not just for the people of his time but for the people of many other times as well.

He very much wanted his successes to be a model for solving future problems. As he himself said within the final sentence of a sample epitaph for his own grave marker, written in jest just a few years after the Dogood letters, when Benjamin was still a young man (he would ultimately live to be 81, a ripe old man for someone of the period): __“But the work shall not be lost: For it will, (as he believed,) appear once more, In a new and more elegant edition, Revised and corrected By the Author.”__

The DoNada & Genoroso letters that appear before you (STARTING SOON, ONE LETTER AT A TIME) now are a contemporary representation of Benjamin Franklin’s Dogood ideas, revised, corrected and upgraded and enhanced for our times today. They were drafted to be presented online (for collective editing) as a means for generating comments and suggestions from others who have an inclination to be involved in the project. These letters originate from two “fictional” characters of the day instead of the one Silence Dogood, as we set about tapping into the model that Benjamin Franklin presented for us but with a focus on issues such as race, class and social status in the 21st century.

DoNada is a representational middle-aged white man. Genoroso is a representational Spanish-language, GenX immigrant, new and learning of America today.

The letters that you will read here (and help shape) will follow the format and style of the late, great Benjamin Franklin qua Silence Dogood, at least in part in celebration of his up-and-coming 300th birthday (January 17, 2006). When our characters substantially agree the letters are written by the both. When they don’t, the letters can either be written separately or with dissenting presentations within the text that should still show who is leading which part of the discussion.

But to keep our characters as honest to the source as possible, we are sometimes also presenting our words “next” to the actual words of Silence Dogood “herself.” We have gathered the original text from The History Carper, where all of the writings of Benjamin Franklin and other historical figures are available for public use and admiration. We will also indicate within our pages from time to time direct links to other historical, affirming or contradicting web resources to spark and inspire discussion.

We encourage your input and edits, and we, as did Benjamin Franklin, will do our best to address representative criticisms within our future writings, to the extent that they enlighten the discussion. But as we say in closing of Version 300.1, paraphrasing BF, __“We do not pretend an insensibility to the impossibility of pleasing all in the ruminations we face; but at the same time, we are not out to willingly displease anyone or any group, Amen, who may think differently. However, for those who take offense where none is intended, we, like those before us who also took both his wisdom and electrical energy from the skies that abounded him, freely let them remain beneath the notice of__

Your humbling scribers,”

DoNada and Genoroso

Below is a sample of a cover that just might find an existence on a dusty shelf someowhere down the road. Or maybe it won't!"