Ball and Chain Letters

Yesterday's New York Times covered an interesting phenomenon in the online protest cultures of Iran, the circulation of letters on the Internet from wives to dissident husbands in jail. These digital documents, which use the conventions of the more conventional epistolary discourse associated with old-fashioned love letters, are intended to infuse political resistance with personal sentiment. According to the article "To Reza in Jail -- Love and Unity," these letters are frequently sent to sympathizers via e-mail or posted on blogs.