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).

Last Day!!

This month has flown by. It feels like I should just be hitting that mid-month stride (or slump, if I'm being realistic). It's hard to imagine how empty and simple February looked from the vantage point of January 31 - I had no idea what lay ahead. Three creative projects, catching up in person with way too many people one at a time, trying to fit in one more nominated film before the Oscars, and some serious life decisions...well, I think I can consider it a success that I only came up one day short on sending out postcards this year, even though I had to abandon my plans for including some letters. Perhaps that's what the rest of the year is for.

Sent Feb 28:

Louis Cannizzaro, "Inertia", 1997

I could stand a bit more of this right now, to be honest.

ETA: on my computer screen the color contrast isn't great and this isn't very readable, but at the bottom of the painting it says "NOTHING EVER HAPPENS".

And here's the penultimate postcard - sent February 27:

Jean-Michel Basquiat, "Untitled (1960)", 1983

No tattooed ex-boyfriends to go with this one, just another interesting image from a fascinating artist.

And just like that, I've run out of words...

In the mail

One of the nice things about doing this challenge a second year is that some of my friends have gotten in on the action. One person said she was going to try the whole 1-a-day challenge, others have just sent me cards or letter back and a few have sent out a big batch of postcards in one fell swoop. I've also gotten a few emails from some folks I had lost touch with, after I sent them a postcard just because I was going down my address book.

Here is a selection of what I received (aka the ones I could lay my hands on while the scanner was on):

Sent from friends with whom I danced for many years...and we had an annual gig in Walla Walla, Washington performing with a local school, so this is perfect. We didn't have to perform as onion ballerinas, thank you ceiling cat!

This is a card, not a postcard. Best part? The person who sent it to me lives 3 blocks away. But we don't see each other that often and she's not on Facebook, so we shockingly don't know every excruciating detail of each others' lives without someone making a little effort to reach out.

And as a bonus, yesterday's postcard (sent Feb 26):

I was at a friends house Sunday to watch the Oscars and noticed she had a series of vintage Vogue cover postcards on display - I just picked this postcard up last week, and while it doesn't quite match her collection, thought it might be a nice addition. This is a cover from 1916. It sure is more interesting than current covers with photoshopped images of celebrities.

I can't believe the month is almost over!

So Much for Saturdays

The USPS announced on February 6 that there will soon be no more Saturday pick up or delivery of mail. The change doesn't go into effect until August, but psychologically I seem to have eliminated Saturday from my daily mail challenge. You'd think Saturday would be the easiest day, as I don't have to go to work, but I think the pressure to have something ready to go before I leave for the day M-F helps keep me on task. There have been days I've got keys in hand and realized I haven't sent anything, so I stopped and dashed something off. Once I took a stamped postcard and my address book to work, wrote the postcard there, and dropped it in the mail at lunch.

But Saturdays? I wake up, I go to the gym (or not) and think "I'll write a postcard when I get back" (or not). Then I figure I'll get a postcard together and then drop it off on my way to the afternoon knitting class I've been taking - except the class isn't really near the post office, and the mailboxes on the way have an early pickup, and if I've already missed the pickup then I could really just do it Sunday, since it'll actually get picked up at the same time anyway, and then it's Sunday with all its chores and laziness and who knows what I do with my Sundays anyway (this weekend it was preparing for an Oscars viewing party), maybe I can just drop two in the mail Monday morning...it's a downward spiral. So yesterday I decided to just own up to my mental Saturday block and only sent one postcard for Monday.

Mailed Feb 21:

My plan, of course, was to send this to just about anyone but my mother...but as it turned out, I wanted to send her a postcard anyway, and it really had been a while since I'd written to her. An obvious choice, but a heartfelt one.

 Mailed Feb 22:

Another of the Mark Raven drawings from Amsterdam - this is probably the least abstract ones on the whole pack.

Mailed (Monday) Feb 25:

"Automat", Edward Hopper 1927

 I love this image.

Of course I haven't selected or written today's postcard yet. Hey, I've got 20 minutes to go. As long as it's a weekday, no problem!

Yes! I'm still here!

I am so, so behind. For no good reason! Maybe it's the mid-month slump, or the effect of too many projects going on. The last week I've had to prioritize what gets done (and what falls behind), and unfortunately blogging took a big hit. I fell down a bit on all of my projects, although getting postcards in the mail has been the most successful. I missed last Saturday, and then on Monday I was quite dejected about having not sent any that day either, until the evening when I realized that it was a HOLIDAY and there was no mail service, so technically I was still only one day behind, which turned everything around. I mailed two on Tuesday and called it good (or good enough, anyway).

I also learned that at least one of the postcards I mailed never made it, even though I confirmed that I had the address correct. Rats. ETA: the postcard finally arrived - it took almost 2 weeks to get to the middle of the US, but at least it arrived.

Anyway, lots to get through, so get comfy, mmmkay?

Mailed Feb 12:

There's no way to make this look right on a computer, but this is a 3-D postcard. The image shifts a little bit when you look at it from different angles. Unfortunately it just looks blurry as a .jpg. It's also heavy, so I put regular first class postage on it, even though there was no notice that it was needed - and I did hear today that it arrived safely.

Mailed Feb 13:

One of the images from last year's HIDE/SEEK exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum. I sadly neglected to note the artist and photo title. I admit this picture weirds me out a little - I think the guy in the center is wearing a mask,, but it's hard to be sure. The whole thing looks a bit off.

Mailed Feb 14:

"The Nature of Desire", Duane Michaels 1986

This is another image from HIDE/SEEK, and it was the most Valentine's Day-appropriate postcard I had. At least I remembered to credit the artist this time!

"THE NATURE OF DESIRE

Our lives are just one moment,

a breath imagined by the senses.

And that moment is a great thought.

And that thought is a desire,

The urge to being and to be love.

All at once, altogether, the same"

If you're wondering why there's a strange red border, my scanner doesn't like postcards with mostly white backgrounds and will create separate images for the blocks of text and/or photos if I don't use a colored background that shows a bit.

Don't go away, there's more!

Happy Valentine's Day

Sometimes a goofy valentine from your mom can make your whole day: