Yes, I know it’s Halloween, and for my contribution to the festivities, you can mosey on over to My Cool Job to see my spooky cinematic masterpiece.

However, today on Carrie (Like the Movie) I have some important “Flat Stanley” news that those of you who’ve been reading my blogs recently simply MUST know about.

Second graders were dissed by every celebrity they wrote to -- except for Barack Obama!

As you may recall, I recently hosted a visit from Tasmanian blogger Tony of Y-Not? Inspired by the popular website The Flat Stanley Project, which encourages schoolchildren to exchange “Flat Stanleys” as a way to learn about each other and the places they live.  Tony created a “Flat Tony” version of himself and invited his blog readers to download “Flat Tony” and host a visit!  What an awesome idea!  I even hosted a visit from him myself, which you can see here, as did people from all over the US and even a fellow blogger from Japan.

And then…well, things got a little out of hand.   “Flat Headless Carrie” visited CurlyWurlyGurly for a trip to Southern, NJ, and then a “Flat Carrie” with a head visited the Arizona desert (and the OB/GYN) with Khyri, and followed it up with a road trip to Southern California with Lori (click on “watch in high quality” to view the movie on YouTube).

Not to be left out, TheDailyDish then took “Flat Curly” for a day out in Philadelphia!   And how fondly all we S.L.O.B.S. (the Sassy Ladies of Blogdom to the rest of you) recall the Flat Halloween Party at CurlyWurlyGurly’s house where she made all of her “Flat Friends” such wonderful costumes!

Now that you see before you the full extent of this Flatmania, you’ll realize why I had to create a very special post about the news I’ve discovered today via Tammy and her very thoughtful and fun WordPress blog The Central Stream.

According to this article in The Hartford Courant, when a second grade class wrote “Flat Stanley” letters to everyone from Sen. John McCain, to Olympian Mark Spitz to NY Yankee Alex Rodriguez . . . Barack Obama was the only one to reply.  Here is what the article had to say about Obama’s visit with the Flat Stanley sent by class member Aron Mondschein, age 7:

Obama’s three-page letter to Aron described Flat Stanley’s visit with him and his staff in Washington, D.C. It chronicled their busy day together, which included coffee with constituents, a Senate committee meeting and a trip to the gym. It also had historical facts about the U.S. Capitol, details of Obama’s job and a confession from Obama.

“Sometimes I get a little nervous before talking in front of a crowd, but Flat Stanley helped me practice the speech,” Obama wrote. “He made me recite it in front of him and then even gave me some advice so the speech would go smoothly. Flat Stanley is really a great coach.”

Now I’m a pretty cynical gal as a rule, but I admit that reading the article turned me into a big teary mushball.  Of course I don’t know if someone as busy as Barack Obama had the time to write that letter to Aron and to also respond to a few of his classmates personally, but obviously as far as he’s concerned, letting people know he’s a cool dude with a sense of humor (which I obviously think is true) is enough of a priority that these letters got sent, despite what I can only imagine is an amazingly hectic schedule with the election so close in the polls, and happening so soon.

Is that cool or what?  “Flat Obama” can come visit me any time…after he’s done chillin’ with the REAL Barack Obama, of course!

Flat Obama hanging with his namesake..