Punto Medio

Somehow it's the middle of the month already. The last two weeks have flown by, and I've done a much better job of posting mail than blog posting. Maybe it's time for a check in - how'm I doing on my goals?

• Send at least one postcard every day: done! Writing postcards in the morning has helped the process feel more authentic, somehow. There was one morning where I was in danger of leaving the house without a postcard in hand, but I made myself stop to write one and went to work late. Priorities!!
• A new recipient each day: also not a problem, although there are days when I'm tempted to sent postcards to everyone who responded, right that second, and I want to make sure I'm not scrambling for things to say and people to say them to on Day 29. Rest assured, if you told me you wanted a postcard this month, it's coming.
• Send 5 for reals letters: oh geez. I knew this would be the hardest part, and it is. I did start a letter last week and, as often happens with letters, when I look back at what I've written I think it's dumb and want to start over. I think this is the true reason I prefer postcards - scribble something, pop it in the mail, done. No second guessing. But I've got a 3-day weekend ahead of me and plan to get at least 2 letters out the door by Tuesday morning.
• Birthday cards, etc don't count: Dang.
• Only use postcards on hand: I ducked into my favorite local bookstore last week and managed to escape with NO POSTCARDS whatsoever. It was painful. It did look at several, though. No promises come March 1.

Sent Feb 8:

Balthus - The Living Room, 1942

This does remind me a bit of the living room of my youth. I frequently read on a little rug in front of the fireplace, and there was usually a cat nearby. We even had a piano! And, while I don't think it was as true back in our formal living room in the '70s, my mom often falls asleep on the couch in her own living room now. Heh.

Also sent Feb 8:

A friend from the dance/performance community said that her daughter would love a postcard - I wasn't sure what to send, as I would see the child a lot in rehearsals, but not since then, so who knows if she remembers me. But My Awesome Sister got me a set of postcards from "Secret Garden", the adult coloring book that everyone was going batshit for at the end of 2015. So I sent one that was mostly blank, so the recipient could color it in herself.

Here's one that I colored and sent to Tilly back in January:

I'm an arteeest!

Sent Feb 9:

The first week in February I focused on people that I already correspond with, and this week have been trying to include those who signed up. This is just a fun image I got somewhere, some time ago. And this was the first recipient to let me know she received it (thanks!).

Sent Feb 10:

Louise Bourgeois, Untitled (from Ode á Ma Mère) 1995

My pal Dang Ramona has a fascination with spiders and frequently posts beautiful photos of them on her facebook page (to the horror of the arachnid-averse, I suppose). This postcard came in a packet from the Museum of Modern Art that a friend of a friend gave to Tilly - as soon as I saw it, I knew its eventual destination.

Speaking of mail, I should get writing to make the Saturday post...

Bon Voyage!

I'm off on a big adventure this afternoon, which means I'm up reeeeeeeally early packing and cleaning. I've got a bunch of postcards to take with me, although my track record of sending mail while I'm still abroad isn't great.

Last month was so busy I didn't send many postcards. I did get a nice response from one of the recipients, who put this up on Facebook with the following message:

"I got mail and I love it when I do! Thanks so much. I miss you.
Thanks for sending me hugs..."

A lot of the people I send postcards to don't say anything about it - which isn't necessary anyway, but who knows if it's something they enjoy or just toss. One friend demurred, saying she's got too many postcards already (not all from me!). The point of writing certainly isn't to annoy or antagonize anyone, so I'd rather know if anyone doesn't want them (although who doesn't like mail???), but it sure is better to know when a postcard has brightened someone's day.

I sent some of the promotional materials from my show last month to my mom:

The performances didn't have traditional posters or programs. These are the two sides of tickets we handed out to attendees of the night market in the City of Redmond, giving them passage to a staged meditation labyrinth in a nearby heron rookery.

This is the postcard for the shows, featuring images related to the second one. The photo was from a previous event, and isn't someone in our cast, but I got to be a clock.


My other postcard from the last few weeks went to My Awesome Sister:

I didn't take notes about this postcard, except it came from my grandmother's collection and is from Turkey.

Back to packing! Ta....

From the Vaults #9

It's TBT time! Earlier this week I saw a meme on Facebook claiming that it was "Back to the Future Day!!" - it wasn't, but in Marty McFly's honor, here's a postcard from My Awesome Sister dated March 1985:

Erastus Salisbury Field, The Garden of Eden ca. 1860

"Dear J,    Thanks so much for your letter! Glad to hear you're playing I.M. Tennis instead of track. It has been physiologically proven that some people are born sprinters and some are born long-distance runners. It has to do with the % of 2 types of muscle tissue that you have. I know I cannot run more than 2 miles max. Maybe you're a sprinter too.
      "I went to see a great exhibit at the Boston Art Museum last weekend. This was one of the paintings there. Go see 'Private Function' or 'Stranger Than Paradise' if you go to the movies soon. I saw both this past week. 'Amadeus' is pretty good too...I'll be seeing you on Long Island soon. Bring your jelly beans!
lots of love, A"

Fact: I am neither a sprinter nor a long-distance runner. I loathe running. My high school had no gym classes, so we were required to participate in after school sports. There were a certain number of quarters that you had to do competitive team sports, and others where you could be more casual about it. Sometimes you would have to try to be sporty and only after sucking very, very badly at everything were you allowed to go do what you wanted. That spring, I had to try out for the lacrosse team (long sticks and hard rubber balls constantly flying at your face = frightening!), then I had to try track and field, which made my teeth hurt after about 25 yards. Eventually I was released into the luxury of "Intramural Tennis", which involved carrying a tennis racquet and calling each other Muffy while chasing down all the balls that we let slip past.

This isn't to say that I dislike exercise, or being athletic. I mean, NOW I don't dislike it. As a teenager? Sports were supremely uncool. And running still sux.

I know I've seen Amadeus (impossible to avoid in the '80s), And I might have seen Stranger Than Paradise - although now that I think about it, I think I'm confusing it with Down By Law - but I am positive I never saw A Private Function.

Coincidentally, I'll be seeing My Awesome Sister on Long Island in just two weeks. Her note on the front of the postcard refers to the trip she was to take later that summer to Kenya to study rhinoceroseseses (rhinoceri?).

From the Vaults #8

I almost never get it together to post #TBT pictures on facebook, but here's a lovely postcard from My Awesome Sister back in the day- received April 1985:

"Like Father Like Sunglasses" (c) 1984 Card-ee-Yak Arrest, Inc.

As always, [sic]...


"Dear J,
    Remember Newbury Comics that record store with all the t-shirts? I went today and got U2: The Unforgettable Fire, Freur: Doot-Doot, Heaven 17: Fascist Groove Thang and Tears for Fears: Songs from the big Chair. Didn't get any homework done!
    It's great weather here - almost ready for sunglasses.
                                      Be cool!                               love, A"

Oh, the '80s. My Awesome Sister lived in Cambridge MA during this time. I went to visit her over the preceding New Year's Eve, and I came home with some records that I probably got in the shop she mentions. I bought Heaven 17: The Luxury Gap (and was thrilled that the super cool punk chick who worked there approved of my selection) and The Cure: The Top. The latter album was kind of a bummer other than "The Caterpillar", which had been making the rounds on Rock Over London. I still have that Heaven 17 album, but The Top did not make the cut when I went off to college - I only brought about half of my record collection, and the rest were lost to the world as my mom moved more often than I did during my college years and beyond.

In the summer of 1985 My Awesome Sister sent me a mixtape including songs from those albums and more. It's still in heavy rotation on Old School Cassette Nights at my house.

My Awesome Sister has awesome handwriting

(oh-woah) Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman...

Whee! I got mail! A postcard for MEEEEEE!

It's funny. I started writing postcards again because I wanted to write (and I wanted to unload some of the postcards I'd collected over the previous 20 years). I knew better than to expect a return to the days of 8 page letters that take a week to write, an hour to read and days to contemplate before attempting a reply. I didn't want to go into this expecting mail in return - the process of sending missives out into the world would have to be enough. It is enough - that process is its own reward.

But.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't care at all about getting mail. It's fantastic. I love that some of my friends have started writing letters and postcards too.

Received 19 February:

This postcard is a picture of my friend's cats - it was created through www.postcardly.com. You open an account, upload an image, type your message and the address of the recipient and voilà! They create a postcard and mail it for you. There's a limited free trial and then you purchase plans either by number of postcards or by month - either way it's cheaper than buying postcards and paying for postage. Of course, it's not quite as awesome as doing it yourself: when I saw the computer-generated text on my postcard I admit at first I thought I'd gotten an appointment reminder from my dentist. So much for the swooping scripts and flourishes of a hand-written card - but really that's me being incredibly jealous that I didn't think of this first because it's genius.

# # #

I haven't even posted ANY of my LetterMo postcards yet. Here's one, mailed February 2:

I can never get enough of Jeffrey Brown's cat comix. Sent to My Awesome Sister, of course.

Starting in the Middle

Oh, the shame....this summer has been a whirlwind of activity with barely a chance to catch my breath. I've been relying way too much on facebook to catch up with friends (or more often, just not). This blog has been calling me from the back of my consciousness, but the more time that passes, the more I feel like I need to make some grand re-entrance...and subsequently more time passes with no posts and few postcards sent. I think this is indicative of a lot of projects in my life - I like to start at the beginning and make progress, or even better worse, start at the end with the finished project TA DA! It's a rather paralyzing position which tends to inhibit action. This year I've been challenging myself to start in the middle and see where it goes, so here I am restarting in the middle after a disappointing 5 month absence with a flurry of postcards, and hopes for more consistency.

Mailed August 3:

Tina Turner photographed by Herb Ritts, 1989

This is such an iconic photo of Tina Turner, highlighting her famous and still-astonishing legs at the age of 50. I can remember My Awesome Sister writing me about having bought the Private Dancer album and how great it was...so of course this one is for her.

One of the many postcards I bought on holiday in January. If I had a bike like this, I'd ride it every day. In my neighborhood, it would most likely get stolen or at least vandalized almost immediately, though. Boo.

Les jambes du métro, Robert Doisneau 1971

I didn't get this postcard while in Paris, but I really loved these metro stop arches. I love the unevenness of the paper of the ad on the wall behind the entryway...in my hand it almost looks like the postcard itself is about to peel.

I wasn't going to bother posting any of the postcards I sent in the last few months, but I really like this one, mailed way back in May:

Vache, Alexander Calder, 1929

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I noted the title and artist before mailing.

 So will this be the dawn of a new era of correspondence and documentation? Or a brief revisit to something I've regretfully outgrown? Time will tell...for now I will leave you with an À bientôt!

The Letdown

Somehow, I really expected to have the energy to continue writing daily postcards, at least for a few days after the end of the month. Faithful readers probably knew better, based on my posts of endless procrastination, but a girl can dream. And dreams can be broken....nothing has left my mailbox since last Thursday. Not even bill payments.

While I get reorganized about writing, here's a blast from the past...

Received July 1986:

Ben Verkaaik, "Zonder titel/Untitled" 1983

"Hi J,
I spent last weekend on the beach at the end of Long Island. It was great! Next week I'm going to Cape Cod for the week at the expense of the dept. I work for. My french lessons are going trés bien!
Let me know how your internship is going!!
lots of love, A"

I'm still not 100% sure I know what internship is being referred to here. I did my senior project at the Walnut St Theatre in Philadelphia, and subsequently (I thought) came back in the summer to intern during their kids summer camp in exchange for adult level acting classes. But my senior project was in March or April 1987, and I spent my summer after graduation working elsewhere. I must have done the summer program first. It's a little disquieting to have your sense of your own history shaken up like that. What I remember about the youth camp is that there was one girl (around 10) who had been in some commercials and she lorded it over all the other kids. She also wore a ton of makeup all the time, and as a result had terrible skin, which made me a bit sympathetic. Needless to say, the other kids despised her. The production was a musical putting the characters of beloved fairy tales on trial...for what, I can't remember.

I'm also shocked to note that My Awesome Sister used the wrong accent in 'très bien'. She's as much of a stickler for spelling and punctuation as I am (and I definitely make mistakes, to my chagrin. There's probably one in this post).

Belated

I bought cards last week for two birthdays this weekend, and somehow managed to send both of them off late. This is, to my shame, not uncommon. I think I wouldn't feel so bad about sending things (cards, presents, financial aid forms) off late if I did not usually have them ready to go well in advance. Hopefully people have chalked this up to a delightful quirk and can enjoy the element of surprise, since you just never know when something will arrive from me, no matter what the occasion.

I didn't scan the birthday cards, but I realized that I have a couple of sent postcards that I never posted:

Mailed August (egads) 25:

I didn't mean to send so many of those cat postcards at once but 1) they're rad and 2) this one went to friends who had just completed an interstate cat adoption, thanks to My Awesome Sister. To celebrate the successful handoff of the Wee Nugget, one of the color cards.

Mailed September 7:

This is from another postcard book I bought - all covers of real romance comix from the '50s. Most of them involve our heroine shedding symbolic tears and making exclamations about choosing between two men, or making a man choose between her and another woman. I like this one because the lady in question seems more angry that her date has been thwarted than guilty about her evening hobby.

Besides, who can resist sending something that says "I Was An Army Camp Pick-Up" to their mother?

and finally, mailed today:

Kiki Smith, Flock, 1998

This one just sums up how I've been feeling the last while - shadowy, out of focus, and possibly not what you think I am at all.

Dog Days part 2 - Cat's Revenge

Yesterday I went a-searchin' for some new postcards and I hit the jackpot - a collection of covers from 1950s romance comics and, even better, a set of cat comic postcards titled "The Cutest Sneeze in the World". There was only one set left and it was a bit dog-eared (no pun intended), but I had to have it. Each card is a tiny cartoon with little narrative that completely captures the randomness of cats. The artist is Jeffrey Brown - from his blog he clearly draws more than just cats, check him out!

It's hard to part with any of these because they're so great, but here are a couple I just dropped in the mail:

My Awesome Sister recently posted about her cats interfering with making the bed, so guess who's getting this one?

Daytime television for cats, my friends...


This one I didn't mail, it just depicts my life with Skosh the wonder kitten so well...

Substitute a foot for the hand and you've got the 6am daily Skosh show - the next panel would be her flying across the room as I kick her off the bed.


Seriously, this is up there with Simon's Cat for best artistic rendering of life with felines.  MEOW.

From the Vaults #7 - Collaborative Correspondence

Since I posted the group postcards from my trip last night, it only seems fair to post the inspiration...

(postmark April 23, 1991)

"Hello Miss J! Congratulations on a successful escape from the midwest! Do you realize how fat [My Awesome Sister aka MAS] is making your cat? If you don't send for her soon you'll have to pay extra for the shipping because of all that extra weight. We miss you! Love, AC

Your evil cat just attacked AC & AC attacked your cat. Whose blood is it? MAS is in the process of feeding us. I am happy. xxoo John.

I'm twenty nine, two days ago and still I don't understand the humor of this company or I still don't understand English. Anyway they look funny and I enjoy them. The strange and funny company and I miss you and your funny hair - Gio

Hey J!! We're having a quiche and chocolate cake dinner with some bizarre CDs brought by Gio + John. We are only missing you for a perfect meal! Write soon and tell us how you are... xo, A"

If only I had more font options to truly capture the wonder of this postcard.

In the fall of 1990, I house-sat (aka slacked) for my sister for 2 months while she was working on her graduate studies elsewhere. Her friends kindly adopted me (possibly because she made them), which was good because otherwise I may never have left the apartment. We went on a scavenger hunt, saw Social Distortion and Sonic Youth, frequented a great Irish pub, watched an opera on tv (don't remember which one, but I'm pretty sure it was Mozart), and had many dinners. Soon afterward, I made my big move to Seattle, and this card was a welcome reminder of friends before I'd had any time to make my own in a new city (besides Dang Ramona, who was already here).

I never did get my cat back. I decided to go back to college, and begged my sister to hang on to her for a little while longer, which ended up being until 2008, when the Meepster finally trilled her last song. This is one of the many reasons that My Awesome Sister has a fancy title.

Dead Letter Office #1

Since I so narrowly avoided adding another half-written/never sent postcard to my pile, I thought I should do penance by posting one I wrote to my sister a lifetime ago that she never received.

Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Braid, 1941

"23 February 1992
Dear A -
Hola! After our talk last weekend, I've been very curious how your talk with your advisor went and if you solved the mystery of the missing cat vomit. I sent in my financial aid form but I am dreadfully afraid that it is too late, which means I can't go to school until Fall. How typically irresponsible of me, right? I am quite angry at myself over this, but oh well. What else is new? We will have a niece or nephew very soon! xo J

Hi MEEP + CINE!"

Oh dear.....I'd love to muse about the missing cat vomit (we've all been there, right?), but I am already imagining the reply my mom is going to leave about this. You see, in February 1992 I was preparing to return to college after an extended sabbatical, and as I feared, I had sent my financial aid form in too late to qualify for spring quarter aid. But I didn't wait until Fall quarter to return. I honestly don't remember if I knew when I flew back to Ohio in April that I had missed out on financial aid or maybe I was hoping they'd just give it to me if they saw I was serious about my education (this seems more likely), but let's just say there was an unpleasant conversation halfway through the quarter when a bill arrived at my mother's house. And that I never missed a financial aid deadline again.

Love you, mom!!! Sorry I was so flaky 20 years ago! xoxoxo

Bonus Post

My Awesome Sister (tm) sent me this link today. I added the Post Secret site to my list of links, but I love this presentation as well. It's a bit lengthy, but worth it.

Here's some truth: I've still got two voicemails that my grandmother left me over a decade ago. She's still alive, but she has never called me that much so I've kept them. One is her singing me happy birthday and relaying birthday wishes from her and my grandfather (who died in 2006). This made me go listen to them again. Good times.

I also have a voicemail from my neighbor circa 2002 letting me know that my cat had gotten locked outside by mistake. Said cat is freaking out in the background, which is pretty hilarious. That feisty grimalkin passed away last year, so I guess I do have a voicemail to remember the dead.

From the Vaults #4

This weather is making me want to curl up in bed all day long. I feel like this painting.

September 1987:

Loren MacIver, "Morning Cart" 1960

"Hey J!! Sorry I wasn't home when you called! Next time leave a number where I can call you back if you have one. I love being in school again. I've been on lots of field trips - I even saw a copperhead snake once (these things are exciting to field biologists. Today is my 1st exam and I'm quite worried about it because I haven't studied enough. I hope you are happy there. let me know how things are going. Is your roommate ok? Mine are but they have bad taste in music. Write when you can! Can't wait to see you at T-giving! love, A"

This was my first quarter in college, and my sister's first semester in grad school. I ended up getting mono the week before Thanksgiving. I spent 4+ days in bed unable to function, and had cancelled my Thanksgiving plans...but the day before I started feeling human again, and I was able to score a ride in a tiny 1960s Volvo with three other students. They wouldn't confirm my passage until the last minute because they were hoping to get someone who could share driving time (I didn't and still don't have a driver's license, which makes me a very unattractive rideshare prospect). We left well after midnight. I remember waking up as the car was drifting off the road as our driver fell asleep at the wheel - no crash, we were all fine, and we pulled over so the driver could sleep for an hour or so. We arrived mid Thanksgiving morning to rain and crankiness, and an old hippie who looked like Santa Claus came out to greet us and to ask if any of us would like to partake in some vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner. I called my sister and said "I don't know where the hell I am, but come pick me up NOW".

Of course, by my second year in college I had turned into a vegetarian hippie, but it's amusing to remember what a culture shock it was at the time.

From the Vaults #1

No mail today, so here is a postcard from my sister, sent in October 1985.

"Dear J - I was in Connecticut last weekend w/my roommates at the beach. it's still warm enough to swim! What are you going to be for Halloween? I may bag out and just be a ghost.
The Cure is playing at [my] college this weekend but I didn't find out in time to get tickets. In the same hall from which I graduated!!
Give me a call sometime SOON!!! lots of love, A!"

I love love love postcards from my sister. I'm glad I kept so many of them.

Weekend roundup

Mailed February 3:

Des petits chats! Postcard I picked up on a recent trip to Paris France. Gotta love how that makes it sound like I jet over there all the time. Not!

Mailed February 4:

I made it to a different post office for stamps and found success, although the seller at this branch was neither impressed by my postcard nor the project. I may have detected some actual eye rolling when I said I needed some international stamps. Sigh.

 

Silent film star Jacqueline Logan

 I've had this postcard for over 20 years - I have no idea where I got it, but it used to hang on the wall over my bureau. Perhaps I should have waited until next week to send this, as Ms Logan was noted for having received "the most valentines on the lot" in her day, but this one is headed overseas, so I'm just hoping it might arrive in time.

I also took the opportunity to send my grandmother a belated thank you card today.