Dear Gretchen,

Dear Gretchen,

Senior Thesis Project | Made at CalArts | 2008

For my Senior Thesis at CalArts, I analyzed the word and phrase frequency of notes and letters that I kept hidden away in a suitcase from my childhood. I took the analyzed words and raked them into categories such as: Swear Words, Nicknames, Holidays, People, etc. From those results I built (using construction paper and glue) a series of graphs to represent those findings. I then scanned each letter and included them in the book for the reader to enjoy. I also had the honor of recieving a 2008 ADAA Print Finalist recognition for this book.

This is the suitcase full of letters that I collected through my life:

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I sorted them by sender and typed them to analyze the word and phrase frequency for the letters:

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_________

And this is the 500 page book that was created after analyzing each written note:

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01 Front Cover

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02 Swear Words

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03 People Most Mentioned + Cutesey Words

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04 Animals + Days of the Week

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05 Slang + Name Calling

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06 Abbreviations + Holidays

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07 Top Verbs + Time of Day

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08 Colors + Top Adjectives

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09 Emotions + Hello & Goodbye

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10 Process Image Spread

A sample of letter documentation:

(there are 175 in the book - 37,402 words)

DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideFDearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideF
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideGDearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideG
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