A Postcard Revolution! Part II

And so it begins continues...the postcards are mailing.

Today--September 6, 2011--I received two wonderful postcards.

2 postcards.

1 day!

Let's see, what's the perfect song, lyrics-wise?  Why, I think we could do worse than the Pogues' "Thousands Are Sailing", about immigrants coming to America:

Thousands are sailing

Again across the ocean

Where the hand of opportunity

Draws tickets in a lottery

Postcards we're mailing

Of sky-blue skies and oceans

From rooms the daylight never sees

Where lights don't glow on christmas trees

But we dance to the music

And we dance

Remember, this is (y)our assignment: mail 2 postcards to someone.  Anyone. 

As a refresher, here's Sharon's Call to Action:

I say let's start a revolution - a postcard revolution! Just think, if each of us sent two postcards with the message to send two postcards, well hell, we could not only revive the fine art of writing postcards, we could save the US Postal Service!

OK, here's the first postcard, from Liana:

This is a beaut'.  I have mailed and received thousands of postcards over the years, but this one is a new one for me.  It naturally brings to mind Magritte's '28-'29 painting "Les Trahison des Images," more commonly known as "This Is Not a Pipe."

The major difference, of course, is that while Magritte's painting was not a pipe, but an image of a pipe, this postcard most definitely is a postcard.

The second postcard is from Sharon, she of the original clarion call to our little revolution:

Oh boy, this is a classic.  Sharon's husband, Frank, found this postcard and, she says, she couldn't resist sending it to me even though it is meant for Air Mail and not domestic.

Note the date: 1985.  So, international postcard postage was 33 cents in '85.  Today:  98 cents.

Keep writing.  Keep mailing...

A Postcard Revolution!

Send 2 postcards this week to 2 people who matter to you.

Like so many conversations of merit (and not) these days, it started on facebook.

I posted a link, casually, throwing it out there like so many things that interest me, but with no idea what to do with it other than say, here, look at this shit I find interesting (because that's pretty much how facebook works).  Who knows, I thought, maybe you'll find this same shit interesting, in passing if nothing else.  Here, the particular shit of interest:

The Lost Art of Postcard Writing
(Note: The postcard used for this story is a 1909 beaut from my very own Orange Co., California.)

The author, Charles Simic, writes:

Here it is already August and I have received only one postcard this summer. It was sent to me by a European friend who was traveling in Mongolia (as far as I could deduce from the postage stamp) and who simply sent me his greetings and signed his name...Until a few years ago, hardly a day would go by in the summer without the mailman bringing a postcard from a vacationing friend or acquaintance. Nowadays, you’re bound to get an email enclosing a photograph, or, if your grandchildren are the ones doing the traveling, a brief message telling you that their flight has been delayed or that they have arrived.

But this post intrigued Sharon, apparently even more than in passing.  And she had an idea:

I say let's start a revolution - a postcard revolution! Just think, if each of us sent two postcards with the message to send two postcards, well hell, we could not only revive the fine art of writing postcards, we could save the US Postal Service!

Old, young friends and students Sui Fan and Yu Chen--they call me uncle--who came from Beijing to see me in Shanghai; atop the Pearl Tower, we wrote postcards.

Shanghai; Pearl Radio Tower on the left.

Ginny-Beth also chipped in, with two "awesome" postcard stories: 

1. When I went to Europe a couple of summers ago, I decided to get all my favorite people's address (I even put an all-call out on FB) and made labels to take with me. Then instead of buying cheap souvenirs and hauling them around and back, I sent postcards to great acclaim.
2. I have family friends [whose] daughter's class (4th grade) was collecting postcards from different states. Since I travel a bunch, I decided to send her some. Now she's a few years older and I still send them to her when I travel and she loves getting them.
POSTCARDS ARE AMAZING! That's my personal opinion. :)

That's also my personal opinion.  I have been a stalwart postcard collector, defender, sender, and receiver my entire life, starting early when I would get postcards from grandparents from all over the world. I still have every one, and even Omi's collection of pre-WWII German postcards, arranged in a photo album, neat and orderly and giving no indication that soon thereafter just about every building and church in those postcards was to be destroyed.

And lest I need to further prove my postcard writing, receiving, and collection bona fides, Steve also posted: 

In the past 10 years, I have received postcards from exactly one person...Jeff Birkenstein. Sad to say, I have sent none myself. Good post, Jeff. 

Simic again:

Unlike letter writing, there never has been, and there never could be, an anthology of the best of postcard writing, because when people collect postcards, it’s usually for reasons other than their literary qualities.   

So, a revolution it is!

Here's your task, should you choose to accept it:  Send 2 postcards this week to 2 people who matter to you.  You don't need to be on vacation in an exciting place like Shanghai.  You can be in Lacey, WA.  Or Fountain Valley, CA.  Or, Beatty, NV.  They sell postcards in just about every grocery store, believe it or not.

Go.  Send them.  

And if you need a selfish and not a selfless (bringing joy to others) reason, then consider this:  you're bound to come across that postcard again, under a magnet on a fridge in the home to which you sent it.
 
Good writing to ya...

You can be sure I'll have more posts on postcards.

Looking down from the glass floor in the Pearl Tower.