Wednesday, March 06, 2013

About Postcards

     
Forget all rules, forget all restrictions,
as to taste, as to what ought to be said,
write for the pleasure of it -- whether slowly or fast—
every form of resistance to a complete release should be abandoned.
—William Carlos Williams




Ten postcards
sent to ten people I don't know. Each postcard with my own original artwork. And I'll receive ten postcards from ten people I don't know.

Five postcards
sent to five people I don't know. Each postcard with a photo I've taken. And I'll receive five postcards from five people I don't know.

Last year I missed out on the sign-up and missed out on receiving postcards. This year I jumped as soon as the opportunity presented itself. There was a time when sending postcards from wherever you went and receiving them from friends simply happened.

I saved postcards—a large stack with a rubber band reminds me of a time when people wrote rather than texted or emailed or tweeted. Some friends managed to squeeze reams of information into a small space by writing in tiny script and using all available space—save for the address.

A postcard exhibition is currently at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Nostalgia, social history, yearning for a bygone era or curiosity?

An Op Ed piece in today's Globe referred to our society as one that is transitory—quick photos thrown away, texts written and then deleted.

Perhaps we'd do well to slow down....

It's not that I want to turn back the clock, or do away with email ( I can't speak about texting because I don't text and while I dipped my pen into Twitter I found it rather annoying). Who were all those people?

I am not against technology— I love my gadgets, but I miss opening the mailbox and finding that postcards and letters outnumber catalogues, calls for money from places I never heard of, and discount coupons to stores and restaurants I don't frequent. O.K. occasionally I do find useful coupons.

And will any of my emails have a smear of spaghetti sauce from Italy?
Or a stain of espresso from Rome?
Or a black line through a censored word?
Or an autograph from a bull fighter?

No.
But in a few months I will receive fifteen postcards from all over the world—

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