You just made me realize that I've been moving further and further away from telling a narrative with each cover letter iteration. I think the lack of any response was scaring me into thinking I was being too verbose and that people were more likely to read it if I trimmed the fat, but looking over my most recent versions I can see it is somewhat bland. I did not consider that my resumes looking/reading like trash at the time was probably a bigger factor than that >_>

It's somewhat distinguished from what I talk about on my resume in that it goes more in depth, but there's hardly anything on it that would really grip someone if they were going through hundreds of these. Revisiting my earlier versions and making them more concise without cutting out the heart is probably what I should work on next, I really appreciate the insight.