This probably puts me in the category of a Kevin Costner sympathizer.
I’ve begun thinking in apocalyptic terms about what seems certain to be the demise of the US Postal Service. Admittedly, I’m a cultural throwback. I still think of writing as something that you do on paper, with your whole hand, in a cursive script that is elegant and intrinsic, like your DNA. I still think of community as consisting of people with bodies, using arms and legs and good manners to stand in line patiently at the post office, where we buy stamps, grouse about the three-penny price increase, see somebody we know, say a kind word, conduct our minor essential business, and go on our way, until next Monday or Thursday or tax season or the holidays.
I’ve noticed that they’ve started selling greeting cards in my little post office, which is ingenious, really, in a demoralizing way, since the only people who enter a post office these days are the sappy has-beens like me. People who saw those lame Kevin Costner movies in the 1990s predicting the disappearance of the post office, global warming, and the end of the world as we know it. And now we really do know it.
One of the cool things about my family is that I have cousins who grew up in Japan, and one who still lives there. Scattered visits and rare letters were the little we shared growing up, but I always appreciated their artistic sensibilities, which seemed so lacking in the rest of us clodhoppers. My cousin Debbie uses her considerable watercolor talents to practice a Japanese folk art called etegami. You can see her work here. Like all folk arts, etegami is becoming lost and impractical, since it is the art of painting postcards. Yes, postcards. You remember them, right? Postcards were the texts of the twentieth century. A little scrap of sentiment that arrived from a distance. You read it, turned it over, and used it as a bookmark or a coaster. It got spindled and stained. Postcards weren’t often kept, but the connection was. The connection was never lost.
Etegami is the art of ephemera: a one-time, one-off, simple drawing accompanied by a few apt words. Ideally, the drawing is bold and even awkward, spontaneous, original, intensely observed and heartfelt. It is human. All this is expressed on a single piece of paper that, once received, might become a coffee-stained coaster or grocery list. Yes, yes, this is how it really is! A hand brings ink to paper! The paper turns to dust! This is the beauty of our lives, what makes them precious, what draws us close. Nothing lasts but the love for what does not last.
I’m sharing my family fortune this week by giving away a set of etegami coasters by Debbie featuring fruits and this written reminder of seasonal time:
Be careful of the words you say,
Keep them soft and sweet;
You never know from day to day
which ones you’ll have to eat.
The coasters are so beautiful that you won’t want to use them. But do, so you’ll know the true value of what we cannot keep.
To enter the drawing for the coasters, leave a comment on this post by this Friday, Jan. 13. I will ship to the winner, anywhere in the world, via the late, great US Postal Service, which I love.
I’m with you regarding writing by hand on paper and I do it every day, though in a slightly unusual way with small manuscript letters creating my words rather than flowing cursive as I used once upon a time long ago. I love the quaint post office on Main Street where I know the gals at the desk by name, and I pray the Postal Service never closes it. I hope there are more of us who love the hand-written word as a few of my friends do.
Hugs and blessings,
Comment by Virginia — January 9, 2012 @ 3:19 pm
Loved the feelings here; was in Japan for 35 years and the written letter custom stays with me from that and from my upbringing and love the the written word. I just was upset with customer service, though not rude, and the lady hung up on me. So these coasters and the ideas in this post really stopped me in my tracks. Thanks!!!!
Comment by Kay — January 9, 2012 @ 3:26 pm
Karen,
The fundamental point! Intimacy, Intimacy, Intimacy!
Thanks,
alan
Comment by Alan — January 9, 2012 @ 3:48 pm
I have to agree that getting something in the mail is so much more fun than in an email. I also love to make birthday cards out of construction paper and watercolors and they are always loved by friends. Also, I can’t wait to go on a long road trip or out of country trip and send lots of postcards along the journal. Love your always inspiring and peaceful words…
Kristie
Comment by Kristie — January 9, 2012 @ 4:05 pm
Another thought provoking post, thank you Karen.
Comment by Alison Waters — January 9, 2012 @ 4:35 pm
I agree about the mail. I still love sending (and receiving) handwritten letters. I send way more than I get, and hope it makes people smile when they open their mailbox. I can’t imagine the day when the post office closes! Thanks for the post. Love the quote on the pictures.
Comment by Kelli — January 9, 2012 @ 4:43 pm
I can’t imagine a world without post offices, without postcards and handwritten letters.
We just moved to a tiny little city (located within a large metropolitan city). One of the things we love about it is the fact that, because there are so few residents here, we don’t get home mail delivery. Instead, we were given a post office box at the little post office up the street. We get to walk up and get our mail, meeting our neighbors, and really feeling like part of a community. I would miss that if it was gone.
Comment by Shawne — January 9, 2012 @ 4:55 pm
Oh how lovely! Thank you for the link to your cousin’s blog. I read through some of it (beautiful work) and found myself really liking the concept of nengajou (Japanese new year greeting postcards) and the Japanese postal service’s special care of them. Sadness from her later post about the mourning proscription that will cause so many to forgo nengajou this year. Hearts still broken and bruised from so much loss and pain. I wish them strength and hope.
Comment by MJ — January 9, 2012 @ 5:06 pm
I have a friend who lives 5 miles away, and after months of failed plans to get together, we decided to begin writing to each other. For the past year, we have relied on the USPS to keep us connected.
Comment by Kafi — January 9, 2012 @ 5:36 pm
Simply beautiful – words and art.
Comment by Mandy — January 9, 2012 @ 5:47 pm
I love the saying on these coasters. How true to be careful of what is said. They are beautiful! Being a school teacher I try to instill the gift of letter writing through our school “mail system”. The kids love to write and receive mail. The excitement is contagious and it saddens me to think that soon this will not be a reality in their world.
Comment by Timmiera — January 9, 2012 @ 5:51 pm
I, too, am a devotee of mail, penmanship (that dying art!), paper and pens, beautiful cards, handwritten notes, books of letters. Make sure to read Roger Angell’s elegiac ode to the post office and the mail as we knew it in last week’s New Yorker. I actually made copies and MAILED them to friends. It seemed, well, unseemly to send it as a link to read online. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/01/02/120102taco_talk_angell
Comment by Katrina Kenison — January 9, 2012 @ 6:04 pm
I am very lucky to be able enjoy the softness and the sweetness of mangosteen on a weekly basis. Now, every time I savor the fruit, will watch my words that I say, thanks for the reminder 🙂
Comment by Farah — January 9, 2012 @ 6:19 pm
When I started my new job, I was at first annoyed at the fact that despite the large volume of mail we send, we have no postage meter machine. We hand stamp all of the thousands of bits of mail, and value handwritten notes. Then, I noticed, I get handwritten hand stamped notes back. Elevated, old school communication that feels so much more special in the context of all this Internet jibber jabber.
You have a very cool cousin! Debbie also has a very cool cousin in you.
Comment by Alyssa — January 9, 2012 @ 6:37 pm
I really enjoy hearing what you have to say. Thank you for another lovely blog.
Comment by Sasha Maya — January 9, 2012 @ 7:03 pm
Thank you for your practice.
_/|\_
Comment by Anna — January 9, 2012 @ 8:39 pm
What beautiful words and cards!
Comment by Kelly — January 9, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
The true value of what we cannot keep
Comment by Sarah — January 9, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
At this point email is starting to seem old-school and formal, with IM or FB msgs the new email.
Comment by chris austin-lane — January 9, 2012 @ 9:39 pm
I would love to use these coasters out of existence.
I found a quote today that resonated in me, and it seems to fit with this post:
“For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”
–James Baldwin
Comment by Kathryn — January 9, 2012 @ 11:17 pm
My focus this year is to be careful with my words. Thank you for the reminder. I would have a hard time using those coasters but I would try.
Comment by April — January 10, 2012 @ 3:12 am
Love snail mail!
Comment by Rene — January 10, 2012 @ 3:22 am
Every trip to the mailbox is a small grief–a recollection of the promise it once contained instead of a pile bound instantly for recycling. I still stand in line at post offices, and have a favorite. Where I spent my first nearly 4 decades, the country post offices still cling to their role as center-of-the-community. My most potent postal memories are of the anticipation and arrival of letters from my English pen pal. How they felt, how they smelled. The royal stamps and postmarks. The weeks of turn around time. The art of correspondence as it evolved from age 14 until two decades later, e-mail replaced it (s if anything could). I still write letters. I even own a fountain pen. And now I consider myself in very good company!
Comment by laura — January 10, 2012 @ 4:39 am
Karen,
I am a supporter of keeping our local post office. I always view waiting in line at the post office as part of life. I still mail cards and short notes of encouragement to my friends (and of course thank you’s). I don’t want to see the mail reduced to five or possible four days of week. I still remember how to write using a pen not a keyboard. There has been an outcry here in Eugene about the local post office and mail station closing. A sad day indeed!! The coasters are beautiful – what a talent your family member has.
Comment by Sandy Greenstreet — January 10, 2012 @ 4:40 am
There is nothing as special as opening the mailbox to find a handwritten note or card. I read somewhere that Facebook is akin to attending a cocktail party and leaving a post-it note on the wall – so true. I’ve taught my children the value of writing notes with the hope that they always will.
Comment by Mimi — January 10, 2012 @ 5:05 am
I, too, am saddened by the demise of the USPS. I get such joy out of sending and receiving good old-fashioned cards, letters and notes. It’s such a lovely way to stay connected. Perhaps I will now start sending small care packages instead!
Comment by Annie — January 10, 2012 @ 5:14 am
Socrates is often considered the first great (Western)philosopher. He was wise and a good example of many things. He is less famous for grousing about the spread of the practice of writing, which he felt would destroy human memories and lead to trouble. A good pen, good handwriting and a genuine letter from someone you love is lovely, of course. But I find email and texting lovely, too. Give it a try. Go to Google Voice, set up the stuff required and text your favorite teen. Watch the effect as opposed to a birthday card in the mail.
Comment by Bill — January 10, 2012 @ 7:27 am
I love a letter or card in the mailbox, I still need to hold paper pages in my hands to read a book,I am old fashioned.
There is a Jewish belief that we are all allocated a certain number of words to speak before we die. Doesn’t that make the value of words soar? Think, what if these are the last words to be spoken, this is what will memorialize me…..dear god, I need to make some adjustments!
Comment by MJ — January 10, 2012 @ 8:16 am
The first thing I thought when I opened this post was, “how can I get some of those lovely cards?” And then I read the post and found out how. So here I am. Thanks for the opportunity.
Also, your description of the art form is lovely and inspiring. A reminder for all of us to “be human.”
Comment by Allison — January 10, 2012 @ 8:21 am
Oh for the return of urchins carrying a wax-sealed missive across town for a ha’penny.
Love the sentiments and the gorgeous coasters.
Etegami is an underlying premise of mail art, yes? And it has evolved.
Thanks for the gift of a moment of beauty.
Comment by La Madrona — January 10, 2012 @ 8:52 am
For the love of all things hand written and impermanent… I love you!
Comment by Mani — January 10, 2012 @ 8:57 am
Nothing like receiving a letter or card the ‘old-fashioned’ way…..by mail. I still get a ‘rush’ of excitement when I occasionally do get something delivered this way.
Etegami sounds lovely,Karen. I will look into it a little more. Thanks.
Comment by Jim — January 10, 2012 @ 9:10 am
Friends, thank you. Let me invite you to view more of my cousin’s work at the Etsy link below. All of it is charming and beautiful, and I display it in my home.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/dosankodebbie?ref=em
Comment by Karen Maezen Miller — January 10, 2012 @ 9:40 am
I stand in line each day. I know their name and they know mine. They get excited to see where the package they are weighing is headed. They know my children and the flavor sucker they each prefer. I’d miss my postal moments!
Comment by Julie — January 10, 2012 @ 10:10 am
beautiful synchronicity. beautiful post. beautiful memories stirring of receiving letters from far-off lands and my father teaching me to soak off the stamps and save them in a special book made for just that purpose. wishing i was writing these words on special paper and mailing them to you. do my thoughts stream through my hands holding a pen anymore? must test to know. letters to be posted forthwith. _/|\_
Comment by laura — January 10, 2012 @ 10:13 am
How lovely, both the post and the art.
Comment by Aparna — January 10, 2012 @ 10:14 am
While I enjoy all of the “newer” methods of making contact, like email, instant messaging, etc., sending and receiving a physical letter or package has a magic all its own. I want to thank you for writing this today. Both of my brothers recently retired from the U.S. Post Office and I have heard of its inner workings and also fear its demise. It is truly a sad thing. However, your tying this in with your cousin’s beautiful work is brilliant and you have also inspired me to try etegami myself!
Thank you.
Comment by Pamela — January 10, 2012 @ 10:19 am
Oh Karen, you are wonder-full! Thanks for this! When baby Alicia and I go to the post office, she is almost always admired and remarked upon by the fellow patrons. I always love the postal workers who are loud and cheerful. Yes to everything you said.
Comment by Anissa — January 10, 2012 @ 10:24 am
I’m right there with you, Maezen, about the demise of the handwritten letter. What a joy it is to receive something in the mail that isn’t a bill or a request to buy something or vote for someone. I miss those days dearly.
My 14 year-old son brings up the fact that he “never gets mail…EVER” every few months. Thank goodness my mom still sends him real, bona fide paper cards for various occasions. They are kept in his desk drawer, and I know he values them.
I’m going to send out a few cards today. Just because! 🙂
Comment by Robin — January 10, 2012 @ 10:26 am
Karen,
Your words get me everytime you put them out there. They bring back so many great memories of what used to be the norm. Right after Aunt Tootie aka grandma passed, we found a bunch of the art work that Debbie had sent to Dad and Nona. Truely amazing the artwork she produced. Keep the memories coming! Love you and miss having you guys around every holiday!
Comment by Adam Pankonien — January 10, 2012 @ 10:29 am
Karen,
Your posts continue to make me smile and think and for that I am greatful. Couldn’t agree more with this one. My late aunt and uncle delivered mail on rural routes in Kansas many years ago. Wonder what they would think of how the world has changed.
Jodi
Comment by playcrane — January 10, 2012 @ 11:18 am
I have a friend who lives in London and we started the practice of making (drawing, painting, collaging) postcards every week and mailing them to each other. I have hers hung on a little “clothesline” on my wall. It’s so much more personal than email and inspires us both to be more creative.
Comment by nikki hardin — January 10, 2012 @ 11:18 am
Your cousin’s work is lovely! It makes me long for Japan so much.
As for the post office, I wish I shared you love of them. Having dealt with post offices in so many countries (postal employees the same everywhere — one in Japan reducing me to tears…) I wish I could love them too. But the SM post office is very dear and sweet and I go all the way over there often if I need to mail something.
I do miss writing real letters, though…
Comment by Katie Datko — January 10, 2012 @ 12:57 pm
thank you Karen, as always for your lovely words. It´s this impermanence that´s difficult for me in my practice! Since I was a child I always wondered about the ephemeral. I feel this words as written for me, not to forget:”Nothing lasts but the love for what does not last”.
I live in Argentina, so you don´t need to send those lovely coasters from your cousin to me! I´ll keep these words instead, as a reminder.
Comment by ariane — January 10, 2012 @ 1:22 pm
Hey,
This is the first time I visit your blog. I came here via the blog of Roosrustenregelmaat.
She is from Holland and has a really bad time with a man with cancer, but she stands so ultimately great… Strong and weak at the same time. She is my hero of the moment. And her hero is you. You also set up the roses-donation. I was glad I could help a tiny tiny bit…
So I wanted to know you better, bought hand wash cold with was delivered here today in Belgium, and visited you here today on this blog…
I do not understand, being a Belgian, the US Post thing here, but I do like those coasters. And you are right: I would never use them as coasters, I would use them as beautiful and very original bookmakers. One goes in your book :-))
Thank you for your support to Roos en Kenji!
( http://roosrustenregelmaat.blogspot.com )
Comment by Jacques — January 10, 2012 @ 1:24 pm
My children love running to the letter box and getting out cards for their birthday or receiving surprise letters in the post. Something so simple brings so much joy!!! More joy I would think than just opening an email – but maybe I am old fashioned!!
Comment by Sue — January 10, 2012 @ 1:39 pm
Yeah! Postcard art!!! My friends and I used to send collaged envelopes to each other over the summer 🙂
Comment by Mama Baba — January 10, 2012 @ 1:42 pm
And what would life be like without postal stamps? And do kids still collect them?
Comment by Noelle — January 10, 2012 @ 4:42 pm
My dad is a USPS employee on the front lines at the counter. He knows practically everyone in town. He greets people by name, asks how they are doing and actually cares. So sad this is a dying breed…
Comment by Caroline — January 10, 2012 @ 6:37 pm
The written word is so beautiful — even in all it’s imperfection. I still love to see handwriting from those who are no longer here – it instantly reconnects me with them. I hope the art of actual written communication never dies. The world would be a lesser place without it.
P.S. I often frequent your cousin’s blog and her work is beautiful.
Comment by Sheryl — January 10, 2012 @ 8:07 pm