The Postcard Project

Be happy doing nothing: Nothing Matters!

2011-02-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

Nothing Matters! It is so true, if I can be at peace with ‘Nothing’, then it matters: very zen! Emily the Strange: Philosophy and Goth in one.
Postcards are fun, in case you didn’t know. They are fun to look at, they are fun to send, and they are fun to get. In the UK film series, Shooting the Past, there is a company that houses pictures, hundreds of thousands of pictures, and the pictures connect things, create stories, connect stories, connect history.

Someone asked on a comment, “Where do I get the postcards”, some are donations, though most donations of postcards are postcards of not high enough quality to be used. But mostly it is finding them, and buying them one by one. And to do that, after I have to make personal relations with individuals over the net, so I email several times a person in Japan which sells me a set of Ghibli postcards, which are only for sale in Japan, and now not in print. Where DID I get that postcard of women trying on swimsuits made out of wood? Yaoi postcards come from collectors, or from the companies themselves if I have a friend I email there. Hello Kitty, again from Japan, while some airplane ones come from the States, from Stamp collectors, or postcard collectors or train collectors, or books, now out of print, of California, or Earth from Above. And thus, one by one do 51 postcards from last weekend get assembled.
There are useful lessons in postcards, like: ‘Try not to have too many undead friends’ or ‘Goth Girls should be nicer to their bunnies’

The postcard is about interests, or memories, or sensual, sexual, identity, loves or pleasing to the eye, or mind, or to the tongue firmly planted in the cheek.

And the postcard is sometimes about dreams or goals or just places to be that aren’t here and rainy, or snow filled, or hot or dull. Because even living in the place everyone wants to live, like Banff, gets dull quickly (of course your dull 'here' is someone else's exotic 'there'). Like up on the Queen Charlottes, nothing like eagles constantly on the road pecking at road kill to make jogging difficult, “Shoo, you bald eagles, shoo! Oh great, here comes some more deer.”

These days, most days, I am good at nothing, which means I’m not lazy, I’m just practicing my philosophy.

What you forgot, that a postcard reminds you

2010-12-29T01:27:00.000-08:00

I think that people forget that they are unique and special because of that. In our society where so much, even waiting in line for checking out groceries, we are treated the same, it is easy to forget all that we have to share, and all that experience which is ours alone.

I was asked ‘where do I get my postcards’ and the answer, which took weeks in figuring out is ‘one at a time, the best that there is.’ Most postcards I have are unique: I go and find and buy a postcard or postcards, because it is the best postcard I can find, the most perfect postcard I can find, the postcard that will please you the best. When people want Fairies, I sometimes send Nene Thomas postcards: except Nene Thomas didn’t make postcards, but if you bought the 2006 calendar, they had a few in there. So I spend about 6 days searching and finding vendors who specialized in Nene Thomas or calendars and emailed and bought some postcards and had them sent and within 2-3 weeks, I had them. And that is how I got 20 postcards. And that is what I do 1/3rd of my day, with 1/3rd of the income I can make selling my books. Because someone needs to remind you, with an imagine landing on your front door: you are a unique and special individual, and one worth knowing.
It is easy to forget, particularly as December seems the busy month to remind ourselves much less others how important they are, and how important they are to the people around them and in their lives.

I was sick a lot of December and didn’t send many each week, but I sent 20, then 30, and 60, and a few more, so 115 this month. But the people I sent too were also sick, or busy with children, or busy with trying to keep up with society and friends and family even though they might have had a chronic illness from depression to fibro, chronic pain, or fatigue. And in all of this, I wanted to let them know that I knew how hard it was some days, and how much they tried. I knew all of that and I admired and respected them for that. And so for them, I always send the best: the best postcard, the best decoration on the postcard and the best custom stamps as possible.
Even when I am ill, and even when things are hard, it matters to me to keep sending the postcards. I want to make sure any who reached out to me, who take a risk like that emotionally, get a postcard from me, someone who wants to know more about them, someone who thinks they are interesting. Life, or the bustle of it can wear us down, or give us illness, or make fighting our illness harder. I hope these helped 100+ people remember that to me, they way they try, the way they reach out in caring, all in so many aspects about them they really are a person worth knowing. It is easy to forget that we make a difference, and easier to forget to look for ways to make that difference.

In risking to reach out and share that you really care and hope that they have a good day, and write you back, you risk and I risk exposing myself emotionally. And when only three or five postcards return from those who are written to, it is easy to feel hurt. And often I do, but that doesn’t mean that the message is wrong, it just means people need to remember more than ever that they are kind and caring, and reach out to others, and that is part of what makes the important to me. Each person has unique enjoyments (which I try to match a postcard to), personality and experiences that can be used to remind ANOTHER person how THEY are important, and unique, and so it continues. That is my hope.

An elegy for all the paths we never took

2010-11-18T00:50:00.000-08:00

As you trust me, so I trust you.We have to choose one another. That is the path we take...or not.

The Postcard Project has one objective: to give you (completely free and confidential) something tangible to hold, to see, to feel, to remind you that all states of experience, you are human, I am human, and that is enough. That if you trust me in this, I will not fail, I have not failed over 1,000 people. Regardless of age, of creed, of location or country – if you can read this post, if you can email me somewhere to send, then I will reach you. I will keep trying until I do.
What happens once the postcard has reached you is up to you to decide. And decide again, since until I cannot, I will reach out again (with my partner and sister helping).

There are times of love, and joy, and celebration of being female,being male, being your identity, being in love, being alive, being sexual, and sensual.
The postcard is fantasy, it is encouragement, it is a companion against loneliness, it is a smile between friends. It is what you need it to be. Sometimes that is adventure, and courage.

And to know, really KNOW that post/mail is coming, that someone knows your name, and a little part of you, and cares about that part can sometimes get you through.

Why? Why at 400 postcards did I keep going until now it is between 5,000-6,000? Because in life there are things we control and things we do not control. I wish I could stop the isolation people feel. I wish I could stop the violence against minorities, against women, against LGB people and the extreme violence against openly T people. I wish to stop all that hurts and seperates us. I wish people with disabilities were integrated and valued in society, that ALL human experience was valued and incorporated into our society in an equal way. But this is not the world we live in...yet. I can't control that, I can control caring and sending (go Astro Boy).
They say something about making a light or cursing the darkness. For me, no matter what is taken away from me, I can continue in this course, to hopefully help someone believe that life doesn't suck ALL the time. That is the joy of giving, and giving things that are fun, and amazing and wonderful.

Whatever postcard that would bring a smile,that makes your life a touch better, whatever postcard you need, or want to see, if I can send it, I will. It is a promise I have kept for three years now, I think. Or 1,000 days for 1,000 people. Because I cannot wait for the world to change for the better, I must change it.

An excerpt from a song by Lars Winnerback (translated)

For the shadow above the garden, where the sun never shined
For a silence between the walls, that cut through cement
Two pair of eyes in emptiness from September to advent
For a man that went to work, like nothing had happened
For the women that said that everything is broken, everything is burned
Now nothing would ever be like before
If you know loss, I can be there a little, not to erase it, simply to be beside you. If you know being alone and alienation, I do as well, and will try to lift you up with something special. If you know joy of first meetings, or the happiness of life going well, I know this as well. I hope the postcards you get are the postcards you need.
An elegy for all the paths we never took, a celebration for all those we did. (that's me boxing, or getting hit by the heavy bag: is that courage or stupidity?)
Because if we didn’t – how could I have met you?
Singing the song Elegy, Lars Winnerbeck and Anna Ternheim. Ask for a card, just email me (mpshiel at hotmail.com) and let me know, about you and what you would like. And you will have something to hold too.

The postcards, the stickers, the stampings: it is all about you.

2010-10-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

I would like to say the over 1,000 postcards waiting to be matched is because I have OCD. But no. I do have OCD, but it isn’t about postcards: the postcards are entirely deliberate.

I met someone who asked how it was going, ‘that postcard thing?’ as they had not seen me for two years, ‘I think it was a couple hundred.”

I said half sheepish, half proud that it was now over five thousand four hundred postcards, all free (sent free, no cost, no obligation). Not because this is a non-profit organization, but based on a simple observation: a tangible card coming in through the post slot, or in the box is far better some days than a ‘tweet’ or a ‘twitter’. Because the message and postcard is specific to you.
The postcards I send are collected, decorated and stickered according to one particular person’s taste: you.

So when you get a postcard, or request a postcard and it shows up, you can know that from the selection of the postcard to the stamp, the rubber stamp decoration, and stickers, and writing has traveled through many postal systems to get to one person: you. It is all about you.
The second observation was that when you are disabled, or housebound, or lonely, or busy, or really almost anyone: you don’t get a lot of personal post/mail. So I simply ask, “Do you want some?” (click on the picture to look at 80+ postcards sent out, to 80+ individuals - one of them could be to you)
We went on a road trip earlier and visited the redwoods and Yosemite and we picked up lots of postcards there. These are the large oversize postcards, including one poster sized postcard that went to a grade school class. Schools, Orphanages, prisons, universities, residences, hospitals and anywhere else you either want to request a postcard for yourself or someone else, I send a postcard there. And I keep sending as long as I can.

Every postcard that I, my partner and my sister stamp and decorate is one which we want the person on the other end happy, amused, pleased, curious, or fascinated. Often stories will have themes, like gothic postcards might have a gothic castle tower on the back with vampires and creepy children lingering. Or there might be a delinquent youth/uni student, who is not tending the baby, and stressing out the poor mother back home. We have active imaginations because we work through the night often, so after several caffeine drinks, it can be a little ‘woah!’ when one of us is “Yeah, I’ll have a plane crash into a air balloon and then have everyone bail out in parachutes! And below I’ll put hungry wolves, yeah!” – so if you get a postcard and go, “What the…?” That might be a 5:00 am postcard.

I match cards for goths, for secret goths (working libraries and universities, and health care, and all sorts of jobs), for anime/manga fans, for fans of sexy girls, for fans of pretty boys who like each other a lot, or girls who like each other a lot. We do a weekend of matching cards just for teens and under, which is adventure, animals, travel, and looking cool. Of course, I also send animal postcards to non-teens/kids. When someone goes, "I like...." (Rhino's, Octopus, Elephants, Bears, Koala's, Lama's, Cats, Dogs, or other animals) I try to find the postcard that has that (for example Escher did a couple drawings of cats, both math and cat lover!), like Orca's for example and some decoration that matches it as well.
When people send us postcards from around the world, whether that is from the poison garden or from the animals of (insert continent here), or stickers of animals, or famous cultural/historical places - they all go out, as soon as possible. Along with Fairies, Steam Punk: Alice in Wonderland Steampunk even, and whatever excites you. Because at the end of it, I put it in the post and it goes to you: so it is all about you! Unless you donate postcards or stickers and then your gift helps someone else feel it is all about them.

The world can be a better place, a happier place, and if you want to be a little more intrigued, or stimulated, or curious at how my mind interprets your love of architecture, then email me for a postcard (mpshiel at hotmail.com). And then it will be all about you.

Over 5,000 free postcards sent but it is 1 that matters (the naked woman with sword?).

2010-07-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Over 5,000 postcards have been sent out now, one postcard at a time, well more like 33, or 48 or 64 postcards at a time. But even with slow weeks it is still above 125 postcards a month, which is not bad. I want to post here every 2 weeks to update what has happened in the last two weeks (so the postcards I talk about have already arrived).

I have been busy and ill, ill and busy. It is odd that the more ill I get, the less energy I have to do things (I think this has to do with increasing gravitational pull or the shift of the moon, no other explanations come to mind). But because I value with a burning intensity the post which comes to me, I know that others must as well.

I used to believe that ALL people had the exact same loves as me to the same degree: they loved Underwood Typewriter No. 5, books they must own even if they put them aside to read, the interesting language usage of the Victorian writers, (“Stop my dear!” Fredrick ejaculated, “The plum hat with feather clashes with your taupe bustle”) and of course, dark chocolate. I have discovered, with the hundreds of different requests that there is not only diversity in the human mind, there is diversity in the human desire. As I burn hot for Japanese Edo stationery sets with Hello Kitty, others love just as much cute animals, Japanese Washi Paper, and singing pop stars.
I have oft wanted to throw out the title ‘The EFM Postcard Project’ and call this, ‘The Clearing House of Human Desires.’ I, along with my partner and sister find and create postcards which are often one and only, some gifts from others who have received postcards, and try to stuff them thematically with all that is interesting , a postcard creation which says, “Hey, this is some kick-ass postcard made by a real person”. (Choice #2: “The Kick Ass Free Postcard Project”). When you request a postcard, send an email to the address in the header of this blog, but if you can be general, or talk about what you like I can try to find the ‘right’ card for you, since so many cards are one-offs, meaning, I only have one (like the naked sword woman - pixelated breasts for blog!).

For example, when a reader goes to Patagonia and gets some postcards of Whales from the tip of South America near Antarctica, I might know JUST the person who would love that. But once I have sent these, they are gone. Even if you email me and go, "Send me one!" I can wheel to my bed or the bathroom, getting to Patagonia to get more postcards – BUZZZZZ! Not possible! So please give a couple options: “I like classic film actors like James Dean, I like black and white photos of the 50’s and I like the colour puple as well as automobiles and motorcycles.” – that I can send you several postcards so I can send you postcards as often as I am able. If instead I get: “I like aqua blue shaved male heads, lighting hitting power cables and the disappeared ship Celeste” – I can tell you….you are getting a nice nature card. Because I don’t have those three things.

We have LOTS of subcatagories, like ‘animals in nature’ or ‘forests’ or ‘Twilight related postcards’ or ‘Somewhere wild’ or ‘Tropical and beaches’. For example, the waterfall shown here is for me, one of the most beautiful pictures of South Africa, which I had to order from Germany to get. I love that image. I want to find the image you love too.

I not only decorate the front but also the backbased on your interests, your sexual orientation (or inclinations, like ‘beautiful androgynous boys’ or ‘fairies’), and what might make you happy using wooden stamps, rubber stamps and stickers. Some of the stamps I need my partner Linda to do because I don’t have the hand pressure to get a great impression or the ability to do a couple colours. All three of us LOVE sending you new and fun stamps on cool postcards.

You know that woman who goes, “Won’t someone think of the children!”? Well, I am like that, without Linda holding me back, I would stamp and match all night and day for days, because I keep seeing another person who could use a postcard. “I can’t not send one to THEM.” (so if you change your postal address please let me know, as getting them back ‘return to sender’ really, really, REALLY sucks).

The more you write to me, if you send me cards or a letter, the more I know what to send you and the more I know YOU. So it gets easier to know that you would like a woman with a pen because you are writing a novel. Or that you like steampunk and I could give you a steampunk postcard, or the lonely beautiful boy in winter, as having your isolation articulated is what you want. And if you like yaoi or furries in military or certain war uniforms, well, I find them, I get them and I send them. It is a part of what I do.

Sending postcards is hard some weeks, it is fun some weeks, it is part of what I do not because I have profit sharing in the US postal system (though I WISH I did) but because at the end of every postcard is a person. And doing something for someone that is thought out in love, and about them: that is cool. I don’t get a lost of post, a postcard or two a week, a letter or so, but I send out a lot of post/mail every week. So maybe like me, you get a postcard that week. Wish I could have 40 people sending you post, but I can at least send post to 40 or 50 or 65 people. Yesterday it was 50, fifty people who get post this week who would not usually. That's the postcard that matters, the one that comes for you.

Battered not Broken. Never give up! You are NEVER Alone.

2010-04-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

I made a promise: that I would keep sending postcards to anyone who asked, free of charge until the moment I died.

I’m NOT DEAD YET! I may be battered and bruised but not broken, I lost sight of the forest for the trees, I got down, I felt alone….I was a great candidate for the postcard project. The truth is, I have a disease which, had I known what was coming a year or two ago I would have said, “I can’t do it, I just can’t.” But I would have. The last 300 plus days, I live because of planning and will power, and I hope to do so for at least 100, 200 days more. We do not know what the body is capable of, not until we are tested. We do not know how to run a marathon, until we run it.

The one thing I know is that I was never alone. And I was always alone. I had Linda and Cheryl, and the many friends who keep me getting up every day, who help me, unknowing, when my arms are shaking during a transfer and I fall and say, “Well, let’s try take 4!” I am not alone. You are not alone. The postcard will come to remind you, that no matter how alone you feel, you are not alone. In this there is power.
We find joy, we find happiness in small spots of sunshine in a spring or autumn day. Care and love show us that we are loved. The question is, will you allow yourself TO be loved? If the answer is yes, then ask for a postcard. Email me and ask for a postcard. I was sick and post went out. Postcards are being matched now.

A little Yaoi stickers and the tree of fun, for females who like yaoi/gay/slash fan fiction.
Want fantasy? Want goth? Yes, I send that. Free.

Are you gay or lesbian, transsexual, transgender, queer, intersex, open relationship, tri-relationship or multipartnership and want a postcard? I have got a postcard for you. I love this femme uke, (I so want PJ’s with ears now!), who knows who he is, girl’s hair bands and feminine snuggle and all. I love the two female who show they love, bisexual or lesbian, you love who you love when you love. And I have a post card for you.

A little light bondage, a little goth, or do you want science, do you want a single strong image for your Autism, I do that.
The innocence in Anime? The savagry in Nature? Do you want to see the world created, the universe, the sun, the solar system or anime for your family, for your children, something maybe just for you. I do that. Request a postcard for you, for your family, for your lonely child away, for your misunderstood loved one. As long as I live, the postcards go out. That is what matters. The numbers do not matter, whether I have reached 5,000 or will reach 10,000 does not matter. Your postcard matters. Your daughters postcard matters. Your transitioning child’s postcard matters, your gay/lesbian/bi/trans/queer friend’s postcard matters. Your cosplay, ren play, camp, burlesque, kink interests matter. Your knitting and love of books matter.
What is harder to believe? That someone out there, who has never met you; who will NEVER meet you is going to spend hours to make sure you get something that makes you happy, and they are doing it for free? OR that you deserve it?

I have a couple thousand postcard waiting for you to ask for one, tell me your interests and let me surprise you.

What difference the Postcard Project? As far as I know, none.

2010-03-26T16:59:00.001-07:00

This last weekend because I was sick, and slow, and couldn’t go very fast, Linda Cheryl and I matched, stamped and stickered through the night until 10:00 a.m., when I slept for 3 hours before getting up to write the postcards before Cheryl left on the Coho. We stamped 73. The set before was 60.

I honestly love every single postcard that goes out. I love this one of greenland, the ice meeting in the middle.
Over a week ago, Linda Cheryl and I pooled our funds to buy $100 worth of Stamp Oasis rubber stamps in auction. These stamps were now 11 years out of print and the only ones which stamp perfectly for Cheryl and I every time.Even slow and with neuropathy which couldn’t apply force on the left side, they still came out looking good. At least that is what a proud mother would say.

Some think that I do the rubber stamping, wooden stamping, stickering and postcards because it is one of many choices: that I could have knit, that I could have done scrapbooking, that I could have done a host of things and just decided on this.

The truth is I can’t knit, I don’t have the hand strength or dexterity for that. In Cancer World, a non-fiction memoir of life on an oncology ward: one woman, after finding out that the side effect of Chemo was tremors and she would not be able to knit, quit taking Chemo. She died. Last night, holding the volleyball to serve, the tremors were moving the ball a half an inch or more every few micro seconds. But a volleyball is a big ball. And I served into the net sometimes.

When I take my hand to stamp down, the stamp doesn’t always end UP on the postcard where I hoped it would. But it is close. Close enough. And when I lose all use or strength in my left hand, then I use my right hand, or elbow or I ask Linda to push on the placed rubber stamp.

I picked postcards because a) quite a few people seemed to want one from Japan, more than I expected. And b) sending something people wanted, doing something people wanted while I was being tested, having the nightly medical and pain nightmares and my entire life had seemed to be put not just on hold but into that static you see on a TV receiving no station. I was dissolved, I was undiagnosed, and that I couldn’t do anything about. Postcards I could.

First I wanted the best postcards. Then I wanted something Japanese, like Hello Kitty on them, then some of the rubber stamps. Experience soon taught me that if I couldn’t do ‘WHUMP’ into the ink and ‘WHUMP’ somewhere on the postcard then that brand wouldn’t work. If I couldn’t do that 100 times and still have it perfect then it wouldn’t work. That is why I ended up with the 4-5 brands that I did.

I send goth postcards, steampunk postcards, Twilight postcards, anime postcard, exotic lands postcards and postcards of art of all types. I send yaoi and Japanese woodblock prints, Frank Lloyd Wright and Turner, I send anime art of Aoi, of Narao, of all the famous artist, I send Cambridge and Bettie Paige, Astronomy and Blade of the Immortal. I send animals to children, I send planes to pilots, I send anything legal.

And what, in the end, does all the effort matter? I don’t know. I know that every week when the post office returns postcards, that I stole money, postage, ink, postcards, time and energy out of those I love the most. I made a bad choice, because they didn’t want it, or didn’t care, or weren’t there.

I do the postcards because it is one of the few things I can control in this world, and that I thought it was something. I drew my lot, made my best guess and decided to spend half of my energy and time into postcards. I do know that 4-5% of those sent are received (usually through a ‘got postcard’ line or email) and that 1%-.05% of those to whom they are sent are returned. Some weeks more postcards are ‘return to sender’ than any personal mail I might get. I aimed, I tried, I failed.

Please send all personal post to Linda or Cheryl. I will still choose and write every single postcard, and I will stamp a good portion of them. I just don’t believe anymore that I haven’t failed well, everyone one who believed in me, including myself.

See, in the melodrama, I wanted to be the Mysterious Countess, or ‘Poor but Honest’ or maybe a side role not even shown. I didn’t want to be Gwendoline (though nice set of boobies!), helpless, waiting to be saved. Certainly not, because who does save these days? No one has vocations anymore. People work at helping others to make the money to take care of their own. Work at health authorities for the condo, or the children, or the retirement.

No one will entering stage right to save me, and I never pretended I could save anyone, just maybe make it more of a community and less of an isolated world. But what is 4,600 against 6 billion. Two years of work is nothing compared to the spam bots, or the internet scam artists. And laid end to end, I don’t even think they are a half mile. What difference??

I honestly don’t have any idea what use the postcards are, but I send them anyway. Maybe one doesn’t need belief to act. If you want one, you only have to ask.

Passion, Perfection, Madness, Obsession: Postcards

2010-02-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

I love this typewriter. I spent my life searching for a type of perfection, the art that comes from love of the creation. It is a relentless drive, and a madness: the kind which had William Morris create his own type-font for a single book for his press, then after a couple hundred copies, he threw the steel type-font into the Thames. And I have the book he made.

When I first saw hand written notes in late Middle English, I knew how to read them, because I had used the same type of quill. Written with pen, with quill, used blotting sheets, used drying sand, written with a half dozen ancient typewriters. The form makes a difference. Writing by hand taught me how people like Melville and Hawthorne could edit while doing handwritten work. The whole process slows you down and extends your writing. The ending of each sentence is up to the review of the work in your mind as you choose the next word while writing the current word.

So what? I bought the 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica and read it because a specific author wrote like a path through the dark forest by living in a hut on a California Mountain and only reading the 11th edition. I wanted to know what that felt like, what that author saw. The form itself, the love of the form, the place, the mental and physical space at creation all make a difference.

So here is the postcard project. In order to spend all the time, effort and the pain involved, I need to love you to make you a postcard. It is a postcard I hope you love because I love you, I try to know the real you so I can, so I must make what I love most of all, and then give it away. I love you and so I love your hobbies, your interests, your joys. I envy every single postcard I send out, like these. And so I use only a fraction of what postcards I get. For every postcard book I buy I will only use at most 30% of the cards, at the least, 1 or 2, buying the book for a single person. Why? Because it is the ‘right’ postcard: the one showing women rolling up their sleeves.
Because of my disease, I don’t have time, I just have ‘before’ (the stroke) and ‘now’ and ‘what I know’. Postcards are what I know. My disease, my limitations, my determination to find what pleases you influences form, just as using a quill did.

I don’t know when we gave nicknames to things, or called certain stamps names like 'The librarian', 'Velveteen', Dracula', 'The Dreamer' and decided who we were to give them to or not. This one is called ‘The Amazon’ and we give it to women who are, as a friend calls me, ‘a firecracker….so sometimes someone gets a singe.” It is from the top company, Stamp Oasis, which makes Stamps that are of such high quality they stamp perfectly for as long as I have been doing this. Stamp Oasis is one of five rubber stamp companies we use, three of those are out of business, one out of business for 16 years. But the Amazon, like ‘The Seated Kimono” is the absolute best, and I don’t want to put out anything that isn’t the best. The stamp ‘The Seated Kimono’ took me, took us a couple months to master. Cheryl got it first. We still have three stamps we haven’t mastered, but we will. Why? Because it will make a better postcard.

Did you know that the Hawaii Lei is made of a moss and flowers, a plant that never touches the ground, that is what makes the original Hawaiian Lei so soft. I learned that, I loved the image and I gave it away. If you like mushrooms, then so do I, I will search for any mushroom for you to enjoy. If you need sun, I will try to find seas of the world to bring beaches to your winter, or springs to your autumn. And if you happen to like horses, and a few do, then whenever I am given, blessed with or find postcards on wild horses, wild ponies, then I will send them out for you right away.
Sometimes I save a postcard I love for as long as I can remember until YOU requested a postcard. When you got your postcard first time, I didn’t send the postcard that happened to be sitting there or just came in, I sent the postcard closest to what I could understand you wanted, would amuse you, would make you feel special. Matching takes time, it takes talking, because we have to remember what you like and don’t, if you responded or didn’t, we look things up, and then the postcard.

At Xmas, I couldn’t find a way to make to find even BETTER postcards, but I could make special postage stamps. So that is what I did, I bought postage stamps with us on them (see me on the picture below?), four pictures so far. They cost more than regular stamps and take three weeks to come, but for some postcards, it takes three months to come, so that is nothing. It is a madness, to follow the credo ‘we do not judge, we give’ – I am part of the dream factory, trying to help people see and find a postcard that is a dream articulated, a dream encouraged before they even knew it existed. Sure, I probably fail most of the time, but I hope I am getting better at it. It can’t just be any type of stickers, or stamps, there is a getting in the mind, in trying to know how they will receive it, how they will view it.

Is it enough, the thirty to thirty five postcards I did this week, the 90+ weeks before and all the weeks in between? No. Because it isn’t perfect, and it isn’t always there in time. But the process, of confirming addresses, of finding the right postcard, of marking it for a person, of putting on the label for the post office, the return address. Then there is the putting out the stamps, and the stickers, and starting, trying to have a good balance, some times more stamps, sometimes more stickers. The inking comes next and the effort of stamping, the whole communal aspect of it, the discussion of what is the right stamp for the right spot, for the right person.

Three years ago, I started using a wheelchair. I know it won’t go on forever, but it is here now. And I know that some of my best times were falling in love with a postcard I was going to give away. Here is the Disability postcard, up top, a woman about to be hung: the caption on the other side, “What have I done to deserve this?” – a question that comes in the night, in the day, in the quiet. “What have I done to deserve this?” – to have this really horrid disease, and to be consciously aware, even if I don’t have the collective memory of all of it, to be aware each moment of the losses each day, the pain, the things needed to do to survive. But ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ – to have people sending in really, really cool postcards, and postage stamps, and stickers. I have friends, and those I love, who I met I know not when, who requested a card and stayed to become a good friend. I want to make them happy when they are sad, so I sit here in one place but I have a vision of the lives of so many, people I will never meet. How am I so lucky?

And why would I offer anything less than the best? Why would I want to do anything but make you happy? And to send an articulation of what gives you joy. And that means what makes you happy makes me happy. I wanted to know your passion. I wanted to fire your passion.
I do it for you. But I do it for me. I gave my word. I see a possible world of creation in each card, a possible world of reactions. I push beyond what my disease will allow for me to be healthy, or conscious to achieve that. My disease is destroying parts of my brain forever, parts of my body forever. And I am awake during it all, sort of like three years of being at the dentist. It allows me to focus so much I stop breathing, or breath irregularily, it helps me push until the electrical impulses to my heart start to falter. Recently, my sis picked the last postcards out of my hands as I lay on the floor, I said, in a creaky voice, ‘I finished them. I finished them.’ Then, after packing to take them to the post office, she hugged me, reaching down to me on the floor.

I had a plan, only it wasn’t a five or ten year plan it was a fifty year plan, but it turns out that plans are just that. Postcards can burn or get rained on, and people get sick. I have looked back more recently than I have in my whole life, but I have, as always continued going forward. I won’t be able to be here to make sure all of my friends have the dreams they want, the jobs, the freedom, the security they want. I won’t be here to make sure that all my new friends know that I rest on the shoulders of giants. I rest on Them. On You. That initial choice to reach out and believe is the act of courage, and from that leap, so much can grow.
I promised that as long as I lived, I would send postcards. And I do, to those who I have not heard from for years, to anyone at any time, I send the best, because….I gave my word, and so did they. We entered into a sacred compact: that in my hour of darkness they would allow me, who requires so much in order just to breathe one day to the next, to be a giver, a gifter. How could I not strive for perfection. How could I not fall in love?

As long as I live, you will continue to get postcards. I am slower now, and can do fewer and fewer but one day you will open your mailbox and another will be there. We go on.

If you would like a postcard for free, please just write an email and let me know. To anywhere in the world (we still don't have anyone to send to in Antarctica).

Change: You care, you don’t care - it is your choice. Plus five reasons to request a postcard.

2010-01-20T01:57:00.000-08:00

In the last day I have gotten over 80 spam messages on the blog messages which I have had to delete. Whew! By the way Mr. Spam, no I am not going to invest in porn during this credit crunch (Strange that it seems only in America could PORN be the answer to everyone’s problems. I am sure this is not a nation of 16 year old boys, is it?).

Unlike spam, I have made a simple offer for over a year now: email me, and I will send you a postcard, and keep sending you a postcard as long as I live....for free. No, there is no secret weight loss tip, no 17 days to abs of titanium, I am not a princess or a inheritor of a foreign country that needs to move millions. But unlike all of the former, I live a rather public life in the blog Screw Bronze. And I deliver.

This is a limited time offer, because it is only as long as I live and I will die, and probably sooner than later. A year would be later. I would love to be here in a year reading the 'new spam'. And so, because I AM dying, in one of the more messy, gruesome ways people think, ‘Oh no, I can’t make this poor person’s life harder.’ Excuse me, but (BLEEP) you!!! What I do, and why I do it is my choice; I assure you, as long as the post office delivers, you will get a postcard – all you have to do is ask. Or if you ask, then a person you care about will get a postcard: just ASK. Stopping me? Not without a shovel, shackles, two bags of concrete, iron grating and a crane. Accept it, you care, I get that but you ARE NOT going to stop me, why not allow me the dignity to use the life I have in the way I wish. That is MY choice. Asking: that is YOUR choice.

Five Reasons to get a postcard.

1) You are sick and (BLEEPING) tired of having bills or bad news come in your mailbox

2) You would like something interesting to put up at the office, by your computer, at university, on a corkboard anywhere!

3) You are (choose one or more): bored, sad, tired, lonely, AWAY FROM HOME, at home too much, or searching for something different.

4) You are shy or you for any reason want to connect to someone, you want to have someone connect with you.

5) You are a caregiver, you know someone who is ill, who is unemployed, who has it hard, who is depressed, who is chronically ill: you and or they could use a little boost now and then.
There, done: I could have done 20 if you wanted but lets start with five.

As you can see there are quite the variety of postcards, from those who are for guys, dudes who like mecha to those who are for guys or girls who like guys who crush on guys (Luv svweet Luv!). Or as one famous anime line goes, “No girl who reads manga hates yaoi! (boys who are fond of boys).” Or maybe you like girls, a lot of guys like to see girls (odd that), a lot of GIRLS like to see girls with girls. Doesn’t matter to me, I am the confessor, you can tell me what you want (generally) and I will try to find it and send you a postcard, and the postcard will be tricked out in the back with things to amuse you, to make you laugh, to make five minutes of your life better.

All of this is for free – well not totally free, because you have to choose. Pretend: Your name is Alex. Do you CARE enough about Alex to have a surprise postcard show up that will make you happy, to give you five better minutes of life? A lot of people don’t. For yes, you only need to email me at mpshiel@hotmail.com with Postcard, or Postcard Project as the title and your name, address and some of your interests and I will respond to that email. For no, just stare and the screen and then scratch yourself.

I did over 60 postcards this week, with the support of my sister primarily. It takes me a LONG time to do it because I have neuropathy, she has neuropathy, but she wants to help me, and I willingly and thankfully take that help. Postcards leave me tired but happy. WHY?

When I left high school, I had NO FRIENDS. I had my first university diploma sent to me in the post because the ceremony with no one to see hurt too much. I was SHY and awkward and though I was in classes, I was alone amoung a crowd of people. I made this project to let you know one thing: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Do you understand? If you want to know someone, if you want to send postcards back and forth, I do that, if you want someone to learn and care about you for hours while making you postcards, I do THAT. If you want to share postcard and then exchange small gifts like cocoa or books we like, I DO THAT. But you HAVE TO CHOOSE. If you do nothing, and thousands have done nothing, then your life is EXACTLY the same. Yeah.

I have someone who wrote to me for a postcard who is visiting soon, I have a sibling because in part of the postcard project, I know and love people all over the world who became friends through the postcard project. Yes, I tried Post Crossing and having someone random send me a postcard with no chance of return, no connection……it sucked. I have a return address on every postcard and I have an email which I respond sometimes within minutes. If you send me a postcard or a letter, I WILL send you a return postcard that weekend. BUT...it is your choice.
You know, or you should know (look around!), some people, some friends, some family who could benefit from getting some nice mail, something good happening to them, for no reason other than that good things DO happen. THIS (a random postcard just for them) is that good thing.

When a person gets cancer, people stop talking to them, when they get chronically ill people say not just stupid but stupid to the point of cruel things like “I’ll talk to you once you get better.” Or “I’ll think of you.” Oh great, while vomiting from Chemo they can know that while you carve up a hill of fresh snow on your snowboard you are THINKING of them. No, mostly what people are saying is, “I am scared of things I don’t know and you scare me, death and sickness scare me.” You know what, THAT is a choice. Say something stupid or DO something.

And that is what the postcard project is about: Choice. You have around you people for who you should care. You should care about yourself! In my life four different time I was so desperate, in so much in pain from depression and loneliness that I reached out, called, or emailed to people who had said, “I will be there for you, no matter what.” Know what? Not a single person came through. I did however get on an 18 month waiting list to see someone about my imminent suicidal thoughts and acts (welcome to socialized medicine).

I am not saying that I will be there for you in every way. I can't. Why? Because I am really sick, like dying sick. But I will tell you this: for over 80 weekends I have NEVER had a weekend I did not send out both postcards and small gifts. NEVER. When I bled, sometimes on the postcards, when I could barely see, with high fevers, I KEPT my word. Three thousand and seven hundred plus postcards. Yeah, 3,700 postcards: 60 postcards this week, 40 last week, 36 the week before, there was a 91 postcard weekend recently. Look down at the comments and see if there is ONE person who says, “You lied, you scammer.” Have postcards gone missing? Yes. I ask people if they haven’t gotten one in a week or two to email me and let me know. And a few people have and I sent another (a washi paper postcard bought in Japan), and I keep sending them until one gets through. I send to almost every country in the world and I will send to you. If you make that choice, you will get a postcard, and if I live long enough, a couple, a bunch of postcards. But you have to choose.

Since I have been ill I have not had a lot of visitors, in fact, not one ‘friend’ or sports competitor or companion, no cousins, no aunts, no uncles, nada. This is pretty much par for the course. It sucks, okay. Pain and alone. Now, you KNOW someone who is alone and home like me, or you should know about someone (ask!). You know your friend is going through a stressful time, the one who needs a laugh? Or you know a co-worker who thinks no one likes them? Oh how about that TOTAL JERK who has not a single friend. I will send them a postcard. So tell them that you care, care enough to try, oh and you asked a woman who is literally sitting and waiting to care about them to send them some cool mail. Oh, yeah, I got lots of university degrees and I could write another book, but I would rather do this, sit here and wait for the most important thing a human being can do: Make a choice.
To care or to not care, even about yourself IS A CHOICE. This project is a chance to make a choice. After that, you can go back to not giving a damn about yourself or anything else (if that is your desire). You can decide that you do care about yourself (recommend this instead!). You can do whatever you want, but you need to make a choice. No choice IS a choice.

In the last 80 weeks I have had a dozen people who have said or written that if I needed something, if I was in trouble to let them know. Eight of those people got bored and drifted away. Twice I reached out, one in total darkness and desperation to say, “an email, a letter, I don’t know what to do, but I can’t TAKE IT anymore, the pain is so bad, please, please, just anything to show that I am not alone.” That person NEVER wrote back, never emailed me again. They got my emails after that, another confirmed, yup. They accepted a posted gift. But when it came to keeping their word they made a choice. The other time when I was hurting, a DIFFERENT person made a choice, and the choice was ME, to care about me.

So 1 out of 12 isn't great odds and they might be hard to find but those people are out there. And I am one of them. My only proof of that is my blog, my comments, and the assurance of this: I can’t cure your depression, I can’t be there for you all the time, but I CAN care for a couple or more hours to find something, to send something in the post that will make you know that you are loved.

Some people don’t want that, and that is cool too. I am here for everyone, all you need to do is ask. Are you like me, reading National Geographic and dreaming of far away places? Then ask for a postcard of somewhere far away! Or do you want to make your workspace more exciting?
How about having something really cool come for your kid? What kid doesn't like post? Or do you want to make your nosy post-person who delivers your mail offended by some hot male/male action or something weird and wild? Then email me and I deliver. Do you want some goth, I LOVE goth, I do goth and darkness and coffins and cemeteries better than anyone. Do you WANT a postcard of a cemetery? Then email me.

It is a choice. Be kind to yourself and buy a dream, for the cost of an email. Send it and something wonderful will come.
That’s my job. Helping people choose, and then learning to find what the person wants from love to wild and crazy, once they ask for it. It is a pretty good job. I meet a lot of great people. I don’t care if you are in prison or a health facility, I don’t care if you are dean of a university or a member of a government, I don’t care if you want hot girls or you want pictures of outer space. Like I said, I meet a lot of great people.

Everyone Loves a Puffin, a new record and on to 3,500 postcards

2009-12-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves a puffin. That’s what I believe. I mean, who could hate a puffin, are there really people sitting around going, “Those Darn Puffins!”And for otters and squirrels, can you really hate them? I guess if you try!

The exciting news is that I sent out, with Linda and Cheryl’s help, 94 postcards in less than two days. All were individually stickered, were stamped, were selected for the individual and hand written. The bad news is I only had stamps for 100 so this week is a little short until the postage stamps I ordered arrive. That also makes a new record, 94 in one go. If course I wanted to do another 7 postcards, but I was WAY too exhausted, because 101 sounds SO much larger than 94 right? Either way, it bring the informal count to 3,400+ and I should send 3,500 before Xmas.

It doesn’t really count if you are not having fun, right. Here I sent some anime style postcards, for those who like Yaoi or male/male love, those who like anime girls (I think that is most guys and a lot of girls) and those who like couples. Plus a team of fun, going on adventures.

There were some very large postcards which allowed us to make a garden, a scene of the autumn with Canada geese heading south, the last of the sunflowers and birds looking for food, while the stickers and postage stamp, picked up in Hawaii remind us of warmer times. While Panda’s are cool, but then so are Ninja kitty’s or cats who THINK they are hiding because their head is covered. It is fun, it is whimsical, it supposed to be. Time spent to make a place just for you.

I also sent out some goth girls, and some postcards showing girl friends, the kind of friend you meet up for wine, or go camping with, as well as what is common this time of year, the Kitchen assault for baking! Will the kitchen survive? Will any cookies make it to your party?

Postcards are little snapshots that amuse us, that reflect our life, our dreams, our experiences, our fantasies, and titillate our idea of beauty. Here we have the beauty of a nebula in space, as seen from the Hubble Telescope, to the smell, and sight, of a library with hard wood floors, and the smell of leather books. Those libraries of silence but the click, clack of the librarian walking over, heard while your head is still down reading. It is pobably time to close and they are kicking you out (that is what always happened to me).

There are postcards from many different people, some bought, some gifted, each matched to somewhere else, someone else and sent on. Six or more people’s postcard gifts were sent on that week. Plus our stickers are a collection of gifts and bought. So from Bonsai Trees and Japanese art, to Hello Kitty sailing off in her air balloon (wow does she get around!) or playing rub-a-dub-dub in the bath (make note to have bath tonight!), the stickers are there for whimsy, for fun, for looking at the back more than once. From Where the Wild Things Are, to Antique Cars, birds and lighthouses, the postcards are made to try and find something you will enjoy – a mini movie, a pictorial book. So why not email me and let me send you one? Onward to 3,500!

Free Postcards (sarcasm) Really? "...please where can I buy a unicorn?"

2009-11-23T14:07:00.000-08:00

An anonymous comment today on the postcard project stated the cynicism we are all so used to with simply: “...please where can I buy a unicorn?” Meaning, ‘yeah right, where is the section for unicorn and flying pigs?’

Does a comment like that hurt when last week I sent out 59 postcards to 4 continents where you can see here besides the ones I have up to six people’s gifts of postcards to the project? Yes, it hurts because I hear a person who is hurting. I wish they would have requested a postcard instead. And I wish that if they requested on and it didn’t come, just let me know, I will send another – and keep sending them until they get through.
In a time when it seems to be bad news, bad economy and so much anger and frustration why am I fiddling around with sending postcards? Because of comments like the one above, where people get hurt or so tired of trying and having the door slammed in their face, they don’t want to try any more from fear of being hurt. I don’t want to hurt them, but to help them feel that maybe not everything is bad, and not all people are stereotypes and with the vast amount of spam, not all blogs or people are out to try and get you.

I admit that due to my neuropathy and other medical condition the number of postcards I can do in a week is less, 59 instead of 71 or 35 instead of 48. But I am still going on, and sending out a couple hundred a month, now somewhere around 3,200-3,300 postcards sent. And I don’t do it alone. My sister and my partner help me, so many people over the last year have posted everything from postcards to stickers to stamps to help. And it all does help go back out there. Because there is where the people are who are having a gray day and could use a nice flower, or Hawaiian girl to cheer them up.
I sent out Halloween postcards, because who can resist a ‘spooky’ Hello Kitty? And I get to use all the fun stamps like the ‘King of New Orleans’ raising his Zombie army! Bwahahaha! It is fun and it is supposed to be, both for me and for those who receive the postcards.

Everyone who sends something to me at the address below:

Elizabeth McClung
P.O. Box 2560
Port Angeles, WA
98362

For the donations that arrive I try to make sure to send at least one post card back to them (if the return address can be read), because they are part of the family now, as it were. For children here, I am using some of my stickers but some stickers that have been donated by various individuals (thank you so much!).

For those who write back, I send postcards and letters back. To engage, to start a dialogue and get to know someone is a great joy, a great opportunity. I have been given this chance to get to know so many people. And if I don’t hear from others I hope having something to look at, to touch, to feel, to read, even as simple as a postcard they ‘get it is NOT spam, it is caring, it is love because love is an action.
I sticker them, and put transfers and get excited thinking of the people who will like this postcard or that one. I hear from readers and people who get postcards that they now send postcards to their own circle. That they are the hub of letting people know they care in a tactile way. No, it isn’t 20,000 new jobs, or the same sort of stresses we have, over money, over health, over family, the worries we have are not all solved by me. But I can make you feel a little less lonely, because I care, and I hope it shows, in a clumsy way, in the postcards I send. I can give you a dash of color and fun.

And yes, I can send you a postcard with a unicorn.

So just send your name and address and that you want a unicorn, or a rainbow, or whatever might make you happy to me at mpshiel at hotmail.com. It isn’t a religion, it isn’t a list compiled for anything other than caring and sending free things.

3,000 done - Step right up: Free Halloween and Hawaii Postcards for all!

2009-10-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

In North America it is Halloween, so here is an Edward Gorey Rubber Stamp Tribute to Halloween. Of course, since Halloween SEASON doesn’t end until the 5th of Nov in the UK, no reason you can’t request a nice Halloween postcard to keep the joy the season going. After I have: skulls, ravens, graveyards, vampires, dancing skeletons and one rubber stamp I call the ‘The Skeleton King of New Orleans’ as well as ‘the librarian’ (yes, also a skeleton!). And then there are the stickers.

In case you haven’t been here before this is Elizabeth’s Postcard Project. The idea is simple: if for whatever reason you want a postcard or you know someone who could use a postcard then just email me (at mpshiel at hotmail.com). I will make up a postcard and sent it as soon as possible (arrives within 2 weeks usually anywhere in the world) and presto, a postcard, with full decorations and joy arrives at your home/work/P.O. Box/Oil Rig/Army mail call, etc. So, have a friend who is down? Are you bored in class? Just starting at Uni/College and want something to put on your corkboard? Do you know a relative who has had bad news and could use some cheering up? Then let me know. The grand cost to you is: ZERO, nothing, free, nada! That’s right: The Postcard Project is based on the principle that sometimes, when people care, cost is irrelevant – not even a factor. And I care.

And we are just hitting 3,000 postcards that I have sent out. Every one, completely FREE. Want a penpal, want a e-card, want an e-postcard – why not get the real thing and have a postcard you can hold in your hand you know that I spent up to three or more hours creating. And personalized, handwritten just for YOU.

I have come back from The Big Island of Hawaii, where things are wild, and the are rare, and endangered Sea Turtles. Here is a postcard of one.
There are the Hawaii Sunsets but also things like a Valley of ancient kings, surrounded by 1,500 foot cliffs and 1,400 foot waterfalls. There are unusual and rare flowers, there is erupting lava (and I saw it, in my wheelchair, erupting and exploding into the sea). There are of course the sunsets and sunrises of Hawaii, a Tropical part of the USA. I like the lava, lots of postcards of LAVA!

As it happens I spent a LOT of time looking for postcards, rare postcards, popular postcards of Hawaii. And right now I am having a special Hawaii Sale: Order one Hawaii postcard for you and you can order one for a friend completely free (just email me!). But seriously, if you would like a Hawaii postcard, even if you are a regular reader of my Screw Bronze Blog, or get postcards from me, now is the time to let me know, okay? Because I could only carry back so many, and once they are gone, they are GONE. I can’t go back, as New Orleans is in my future, I hope.

Not just postcards, but way up on the coast I found a store where they had stickers and others types of stickers for photobooking (ack, I got that wrong). But that means that these Vellum Stamps of the shells of Hawaii are first come first serve (because I only got what they had, and that wasn’t much, and they were kind pricey – being vellum – I am raising the cost on by charging only NOTHING for the Hawaii postcards – seriously, how many times will I say it before people believe me, the postcards are free!).

There are also these cool retro stickers of Hawaii, that I will be using up because I could only grab what they had, and what I could carry off on the wheelchair. Not to mention I got a few of these cool retro Hawaii postcards of the Clipper Airships. I love those airplanes, and wish I got to fly on one.
I also, as always, have a selection of Anime, art, science, astronomy, and other types of postcards, only the absolute best. I am somewhat picky that way. And when you write me, just let me know a few of your interest so that I can make the decorations on the back of your postcard suit you. For instance, if you like animals, this leopard and Panda would be up your alley. And here is a selection of cards sent out, oversized, from limited edition collectors runs, of CLAMP, Black Butler posts to show you that all orientations are catered toward. Whether into open, gothic lolita, heterosexual couples, dating couples, lesbian/yuri couples, gay/yaoi couples or just plain old dark goth of a guy sitting on a pile of skulls (classic image), let me know what you like and I will try to send it. Please note, there is occasionally some confusion as I am not a shop, I am a person with an disability and indoors and trying to make a different for the positive. So if you send me an email saying, “I would like 3 postcards of mint harley’s, all postcards from between 1950 and 1970” I will probably send you an email back saying, “Yes, wouldn’t we all!”. But if motorcycles is one of your interests, I will try to send you a motorcycle postcard or decoration.

To give you an idea, here is some of the stamping decoration that HAS gone already, from Whales to gardens with cats chasing butterflies (also cars and motorcyles, planes and boats for those into that) (click on the images to see them closer). From books to a British thatched roof farmhouse and wall, these are the types of decorations which may come with your postcards (yes, you will, unless I die dramatically, get another, and another as I go through the list and come back to your name) along with stickers. It is a bit of fun and it is supposed to BE fun, for you and for me.

To give you an idea of the variety here is a display of a weeks worth of postcards, from children’s postcards of baby animals, to anime couples, baseball, to old advertisements, waterfalls, sunsets and anime Halloween!
So yes, I am still alive and kicking and so is the project, heading around 3,000 (probably past that by the time you read this) and heading towards 4,000. There is no assembly line, just you, what you like and what might make you happy. As a teaser, I just got in this set of postcards on old libraries (and old books too), those memories of wood panel libraries, the best of them, so if you are interested in a Hawaii postcard, or a library postcard, just let me know by email and don’t forget a name and a place to send it and it will appear.

Presto – Magic!

'I get nothing but bills in the mail' Part II: choose fun!

2009-08-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

There is something comforting about a postcard. I have several by my desk, some full of neat handwriting and some full of stickers and images and each is comforting in their own way: that someone would share themselves with me makes me want to share myself back. And when someone works to find images to make me smile or be happy, then the world really isn’t AS scary is it. Even if it is Where the Wild Things Are..
We invested in some more stamps, and on a restock order I managed to get a stamp from the book classic, Where the Wild Things Are. And Cheryl got some Edward Gorey stamps: Edward was a man who not only had a rather odd sense of humor but also loved cats and books (he also did the Tony Award winning design for the stage presentation of ‘Dracula’), so ‘our kind of people’. Stamping is about you and about us. The three of us often sit around and debate what the best stamps are for an individual, if they have had that already and what to use to keep a theme going. Making the ‘you’ in our minds happy makes us happy. One of the things that has excited me this week is getting my Nancy Drew mystery note cards, which I now send out. I love seeing the old covers of Nancy Drew, with Nancy (who was always getting knocked in the head, which must have been why she couldn’t figure out who did it as quickly as I could) and her female friends George and Bess (who come to the rescue). Two different Supreme Court Judges as well as several first ladies have cited Nancy Drew Mysteries as formative influences – contrary ideas of femininity (which oddly doesn’t include thinking ‘Is it really a good idea to listen so close to the door that I get caught again?” – poor Nancy, go George!).

I like these reproduction covers but also the art in silhouette that a reader had sent to me, making it the perfect mini art canvas to mark: Good things in here.

The color diversity of Hiroshige whose woodblock prints of the 1850’s and the viewpoints mark him as an exceptional artist. After making an original drawing, wood blocks were carved for each color application. Hiroshige was also noted for ‘bokashi’, the wiping of all ink between prints (which we try to do as well) and at the end the print was dusted with ‘kira’ (mica power) which gave the colors a glittering effect. Here is one of the postcards we sent out from him. That picture seems very different than 'just bills.' Particularly when you realize that Vincent van Gogh owned several of his prints. So you are in excellent company when this comes through the letter box.

Of course, for the young, and the young at heart, the spring and summer (and all year round) is the time of young, like these fox cubs. It is hard not to like the young of the different mammals, though I don’t know if fox cubs get colic.

I have a thing for retro, which includes books, I hope they are here to stay. Though I know that the computer has helped me greatly in my disability and impairments, I love books. I love the smell of them, as each paper has its own smell. I love the touch of them. They are a sensory experience. And I like gramophones. I have a small room full of gramophone records from signed opera arias, to scottish humourists, to early Elvis Prestley. And I play them on my gramophone with the shaved thistlewood needle which has to be changed every 10 to 20 plays. Also it is portable, and great for a picnic as all you need is a crank (what do you mean “They have invented this thing called the battery”). Cats, books, gramophones, gee is it hard to believe I owned a used book store? And dare I say it, 'Life is Good' or can be, even if just for some moments.

I’ll finish with this lovely scroll called Isle of the Immortals which I just like to look at. Personally I think it looks a bit hard climbing and not wheelchair accessible at all, but fun to look at. And that is the point. Fun. Postcards can be fun. If you want something more than bills, if you want fun and history and art or motorcycles and travel than write me at mpshiel at hotmail.com with the title postcard and let me know what you want and what address to send it. And have a bit of fun when the postperson comes.

"It is the only mail I get besides bills": get a postcard!

2009-08-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

“It is the only mail/post I get besides bills.” That is what people have written to me not once by dozens of times about getting postcards from the project. It is common knowledge that most if not all of your mail, bills and junk mail is from some computer spitting it out of a database, and bulk mailed out to you and thousands of others. Makes the post from something fun and exciting like when you were a kid to something boring to downright scary.

I ask that you allow me to change that for you. For example, this is one of the postcards I sent this last month, how about getting that in the mail? Of course unless your mom gets the mail for you. But that sure isn't a bill now is it, or boring? But too much? Okay what about getting one of these in the post? Each postcard is different because each person is different. So you COULD have post/mail that treats you like an individual, so every back of the postcard looks different. One looked like this. But that won’t be the back for YOU, because you are different. And so is every postcard I do. I want to get a special postcard to you whether that means sending a plastic fish postcard or sending your special postcard in an envelope so that your parents/the postal service don’t see what it is (done regularly). It is all about the individual!

The cost: Nothing. That’s right, no cost at all. All you have to do is ask,(send an email to mpshiel@hotmail.com with the title 'postcard' and your address and interests) and a postcard should be there in less than two weeks in your mail slot, your mail box, your post box. Doesn’t matter what continent because I send to them all, so if you read this in Afganistan, or Tunis, in Labrador or in Costa Rica, then let me send you a postcard, please? Seriously.

Low: 18, High 92: no not weather, but the amount of postcards I did each week. This month I was ill. Will I ever be so ill I can’t do postcards? Linda and Cheryl probably thought I was too fatigued to do over 30-38 postcards in a weekend. But this weekend, despite having food poisoning, I set a new record of 92 postcards. 92!

First off, I would love for you to write me at: mpshiel@hotmail.com - say you would like to get something INTERESTING in your postal box instead of bills. And if you are having a tough time, or lonely time or just want to know someone is thinking of you, rooting for you, then doubly so: I want to be that person. Let me send the postcard.

Second off, I would love if you, AFTER writing to get a postcard, you find in your apartment, local museum, find some postcards others would find INTERESTING (astronomy, illuminated manuscripts, goth, knitting related, old maps, things from museums and of course, cute animals) send them to me, and I will send them out for you to other people who want a postcard, or send them out yourself to people. I am at:

Elizabeth McClung
P.O. Box 2560
Port Angeles, WA
98362
USA

We do postcards for children. We LOVE doing postcards for children: for 1 year olds, for 3 year olds, for 5 year olds. We got these postcards as a gift (if the card is so ‘cute’ that I break out into a rash it is good for a child) and now we are out. We get postcards from California and send them to London, England, get postcards from London, England and send them to Japan, then the ones from Japan we send to Australia, and the ones from Tasmania and South Africa we send back to people in California and the USA.

We do postcards for teens, we do postcards for tweens and we do postcards for couples. Want to have a postcard come for your girlfriend, then LET ME KNOW! Okay, or tell someone so they get a card, or request a postcard for someone. All I need is the address, and some interests and if it is a girl/girl, guy/guy or girl/guy couple. And if the girl wants a girl/girl postcard (and so does the boyfriend) then say so. I am the secret confessor, tell me your desires for cheer and if it possible I will send it to you.

It is true that I am on a limited income and a few select people help with the cost of the postage of sending out the postcards. As for me, I spend time getting the postcards, but also I spend about 30-50% of the money I have to get new image rubber stamps, to keep things fresh, so while a month ago, these were the images. After finding, buying, waiting for them to come and searching out each and every image only using two to three high quality companies, we have this showing some of our new stamps. But you won’t get to see what we have until you ask for a postcard. Heck, ask for a friend, or let people know on your facebook. Facebook is great but at the end of the day, so is something like a postcard to examine in detail, something from a person who found it just for you. Both are good. So why not try both? Or tell people on Facebook that there is a person who wants to send them a postcard, whether it is rare illuminated manuscripts or baby bobcats for their children.
It is not just the stamps, it is the stickers, and people send stickers to the address above as well. And not just any stickers but 3-d animal stickers for children, couples stickers from different anime shows for couples, a strip of an anime in film format, and everything from Kimono’s to Hello Kitty stickers from Japan, or Boots the Cat. We buy them, we have some people who MAKE them and send them to us and then we send them to you.

I post to singles, to people who don't get out much, people at college, people in prison, in halfway houses. Girls or guys who have just moved out from home, I'd love to send you a postcard. And I really post to people with impairments; heck, I have an impairment, a disability, an illness, and I know well that it kinda sucks at times. And a postcard would be cool. This postcard is my down in the disability postcard, because that is how you feel after a while. Everyone else is getting flowers and you…you get the stem.
I send postcards to guys, to MANLY men and have things like mountain bike riding and eagle feathers on them; we have postcards that make guys thump their chest. Ug!!!! I send postcards to crafters, to knitters, to people who are on etsy. So bring it on. Just ask.

Something beautiful, isn't that what all people deserve? I think so and I try to make sure that the beauty you find most valuable ends up with you, like these Japanese rare tapestries.
Do you love old books with sort of not quite correct covers? So do I, so while this postcard would probably not get past the censors to the troops overseas (I send postcards to troops overseas, know a vet, know someone serving that might like a postcard....let me know!), it is perfect for someone who collects old pulp paperbacks.
I don't care about politics, I don't care about religion, I don't care about the level of impairment or disability. If you need me to change how I write, let me know. If you want a postcard that is tactile, let me know. If you want a postcard in one colour, or just in black and white due to your neurological diversity, then let me know. Colourblind? Not a problem. Sight impaired? A slight slow down but no, not a problem. You want only nature, only green, only the sea, only blue just tell me. You want a card with a Christian, a Hindi, a Muslim, a Wiccian theme, I will do my best to make you happy. Want manly men, want gentle men, want just a garden where you can mentally take a break, I can help. A stay a home mom? A person who just wants 'something pretty'; Just email.
This month I will pass having sent out 2,500 postcards to every continent and subcontinent except the poles. But the only card that matters is one...the one I am am going to be making for you. To give you a smile...because everyone loves a puffin!

If you want to help with the postage, either send the 'forever' or overseas (.98 cent) USA stamps to the address above or click on the 'Girl's Gotta Fly' link and email Linda there. She and Cheryl organize the paying for the stamps, so I can find the postcards, so I can find the stickers and new images from rubbber stamps to put on the postcards. They, and the people who help them allow me to bring a bit of inspiration and the 'other world' to individuals, delivered through the same mail slot as brings all the junk.

This next month is going to be great. And I want you to be part of it. Because you can. If you are a Member of Congress, if you are an academic, a teacher, a student (fine, I am a Ph.D. too - Dr. McClung), if you are an artist, a programmer, a fan of anime, of manga, who hates anime, doesn't matter. If at the end of the month you say, "The only mail I get are bills" then you made a choice. It could have been a postcard. All you need to do is ask, or if you don't like asking, then please do me a FAVOR and send the email. Why NOT have a pleasant surprise in your post? Or at mail call? Seriously. Why not?

The beauty of postcards: the joy of participation

2009-06-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

There is a beauty in postcards. Not all postcards have beauty, like the ones of old motels or strange brownish meals at diners. But like in all art, some postcards which are beautiful, which are perfect for the person and occasion. That is part of what I like about postcards but also what is painful for me in sending them. Each postcard is unique and each is one that I will likely never see again. I spend my time to find the most beautiful and perfect postcard, and then I send it away, never to be seen again.

The majority of postcards, either bought or donated are never used. They simply aren’t up to a particular need or standard. This is NOT to say that I do not LOVE getting donated postcards and stickers. I DO, because the great majority of the BEST postcards, from Barcelona, Australia, German, Japan, Tasmania, the US and Canda are donated, as are the best stickers – making a Dr. Suess stickered postcard was only possible due to donation of stickers. And in this picture there are postcards donated from four people, from Tasmania, the UK, and the USA. There are postcards there which required us to get an Amazon Germany account (in our bad German) in order to get a particular book of postcards. Without the donations and without hours of searching and sorting both online and the postcards themselves, I could not find the right postcards at the right time for people.

There was a period where I felt, after learning that I was dying, for sure, no joke, medical certified and yet still no medical help coming, that I was ALONE. And in this feeling of isolation and grief, I asked myself, and I asked publicly, “Do these postcards even matter?” Over six to seven months I had spent over $2000 in just one source of postcards (or that was the arrangement – the actual amount of postcards became less and less). And I believed that I was selling things off on ebay, trying to raise money and for what? Did this matter?

I realize that as a person who IS dying, and who has a presentation of chronic conditions which you might find in a combination of five to six chronic conditions combined, my concerns are rather focused. My brain damage, something I find of great humiliation, particularly when referred to because most people have no idea what it is like being aware of brain damage. Nor are they aware of trying to do, in five or 10 times the amount of time, something that was effortless, easy and quick for you before, and knowing that about yourself. So no, I don’t have to worry about overtime at the office, or whether I will be playing Wii, or going out with friends. Despite sending out over 2,200 postcards, I personally don’t actually get a lot of mail from different people, maybe 4 or 5 postcards every 7-10 days if I am lucky. I do not have people who come to see me. I also have no TV, I have no game systems, I do not rest, I do not play, I put everything into my job, which is communicating what is it like to die, in a day to day way, and this, sending out postcards and ‘surprise gift packages’. So I asked people, anyone to help me, as Stamp Oasis, the highest quality of Rubber Stamp which I use on the postcards, were being discontinued. And for a donation as little as $4 at A Girl’s Gotta Fly, I could get one, indeed for $20 I could get 5 plus a free one and free shipping. This was something that was extremely important to me. No, it was not what most people were focused on, as they get groceries and think about summer vacation, and work. But this wasn’t just my work, this was my LIFE’S WORK. And I wanted to know if it mattered?

And while people talked about enjoying getting the postcards, which cost on average about $4 each, by the way, no one donated at all. Not $2.50. Nada. And so, in a post called Postcard, I prepared to shut down the postcard project. Because while I might have committed to send out postcards it seemed and felt like I was the only one who wanted the best postcards for each person, the ones which amaze and astound. And then to make the back of the postcard into a story, a communication: not merely a scrawl of my name. That is often what I had received in the few postcards which came to me: no words just a signature, or a ‘Nice here’ and a signature. There was, I realized no way to compel the love of Cheryl, Linda and I for a combined 50-80 hours a week in order to send out love. Particularly if no one care.

I was burnt out, I was broken. And then one person made a $5 donation. A person I had never sent a postcard to, I had not heard of before but because of that $5 for Rubber stamps, I decided to go on. And then, over the days of the following week or two, other donations or emails of encouragement came in and every single name was noted. There are postcards I call, ‘specials’ because they are so rare, expensive and beautiful that I only send them to special people. I decided that every person, from the $2.50 donation to the $50 donation for the postcard project was that week going to get a ‘special’ – a card which I have to buy from a Japanese supplier, and has a transparent card embedded in it telling a story. The cards are available randomly, you have to buy them right away as they go out of stock almost immediately and cost between $5 and $10 plus shipping and the month for them to arrive. On the back, there were an printing of promotional transfers, of which I had a limited amount. I had to use rubbing pressure to transfer each kimono onto the card; rubbing for about five minutes. I, or we, sent every single ‘special’ postcard I had this weekend because I wanted people to know what was important: I had fallen, and they caught me. They made me believe that what I did mattered.

I wish I wasn't dying. I wish I could go get a job and this would be just an interesting hobby to quit as I get more invitations out to dinner. Except I am dying and I want to believe that the effort I take makes a difference. That the care I put into things to make sure they come up to the highest standards, makes a different. With the donations we were able to get an exciting variety of Stamp Oasis stamps, Rubbernecker, PSX and a couple other stamps which I hope will make getting a postcard from me more exciting in the future. For example, here is a sunflower. I struggled for two weeks to get a good imprint of the sunflower – it seemed cursed as every time I tried it came out just a little (and sometimes a lot) wrong – but I did it! And I hope that the light of the Sunflower and summer bursts out of this postcard for this person. We were able to make Gardens in which to have peace and joy. We played and frolics with these new stamps and we worked hard.
For me, I have to communicate now more in images than words. Not just because of my brain damage but because writing is so difficult for me, using the major muscles creates pain that is so severe it wakes me up, it stops me from being able to sleep. There is a physical cost to these postcard, and I take it willingly, because I believe that this effort makes a difference. That I tell a story of caring and love to those who are lonely or like me, chronically ill, and of caring and joy to those who want a postcard to make their life richer. I try, not to avoid writing but to increase my communication by telling stories to people – for instance this is going to a guy and has what I call the ‘Monster and the Bunny’ postcard, and I really wonder which will win (go bunny go!), plus the bats in the old house.

I try to honor the people who send me postcards, and who send me postage stamps. I try to make sure that they get special postcards telling them that I appreciate the joy they allow me to give to others. Or the possibility of joy, as I will never know for sure what difference they make. The same for those who donate toward the postcard project.

It has been a difficult month, with a lot of new names; we did a weekend of couples, and strong women, families, trying to find the right postcard. A good postcard of couples love is difficult to find, and is it sad but happy to see it go, hopefully to the right home. We did 39 postcards the first week. Which considering I was very ill is a good number indeed.

The second week I was not just ill I was, um, well, saying goodbye. I had so many close calls and being revived that it only seemed a matter of days. So I sent out packages, and I sent out postcards, and both Linda and Cheryl said to me: NEVER AGAIN! Because I sent out, with the help of Linda packing and Cheryl doing Envelopes, 32 packages. And I would have sent more, I still have the ones to children, and the ones to New Zealand left to go. There are another 15 packages left to be done. But the problem was I lost half a day because I stopped breathing on my own for two hours; I was too weak to go on, and so when I did have strength I drove myself. At past 5:00 am, when every note for every package was written, every card put in the envelope, I looked at Cheryl and said, "I guess that means tomorrow we do postcards." I was sort of joking. She said, "I guess so." I think she was joking too. But we did 28 postcards that day, and I wrote until I couldn't move the left side of my body.

So this week I prepared ahead of time, I did the matching, I sorted the postcards and so only the stamping, the drying the stickering and the writing was left. We did the stickering together, as well as the stamping. With so many new stamps to play with, Linda says we will have to split them into three groups so all the new ones get a fair play. There are some I haven't shown which are amazing, such clarity and power!

I hope it is as fun seeing all the different images to make up the back of a postcard as it is to create it. So we set out 50 postcards to dry and then in the evening, I was in the study, and writing, and writing, and writing. While I accept help stamping (though some weeks I do it all on my own), I usually do all stickering and writing myself. I do now appreciate the diversity of stickering that Cheryl and Linda bring to the project. Cheryl is particularly good with childrens postcards and Linda is very good at creating little scenes: Asian Gardens, or butterfly farms, in which stickers and stamps go together. Much like the way the donations of different postcards allow me to send out postcards I never would be able to find on my own; the work of Linda and Cheryl help us create postcards that I never would be able to do on my own. That is not just due to my limitations (in body and mind) but that three minds are more creative than one.

I am still burned out, probably more so than before. And I am still dying, as Linda says, "Running on empty." But in three weeks we did 118 postcards, and I think we will do 150 for four weeks. And this is not because of my overwhelming vision or will; it is because one woman I have never met or emailed sent $5 for me to buy a rubber stamp, knowing it would make me happy and it would make the people who got the stamping on the postcard happy. I continue because of her, and because of the friends I HAVE made through postcards. And while I may lose my sight for much of my days, I will try to continue; even if I am just propped up, oxygen tubes in, and me asking Cheryl, "Are the Killer Whales near the postcard yet? Do I push down now?" Yesterday, the amount of things I dropped is beyond counting, and yet, we go on. I go on. Because this is my life work, and I believe it matters.

going on, saying goodbye, and living life: 77 more.

2009-05-05T23:07:00.001-07:00

In case you’ve been away or just joining, I went down to the US and I went to this specialist hospital and at the end of it, everyone distracted me for a while because it took a while for what they told me to sink in. They told me that I’m dying, and that they don’t know why. They can tell me what is destroyed, and they can tell me that it shouldn’t even be possible; my mind and my body both being smashed up from the insides. What could do that? No one knew.

I was sitting there in my wheelchair and they were telling me that they were specialists but they had never seen it all together like that. That I was alone. Dying, and just me. So I went home.

I decided that I was going to do a 10K race the next week since I had a racing wheelchair. But the weekend was my usual postcard time. But I NEEDED to do postcards. I needed to know that I was not alone, that by sending out those postcards, I was maybe not making a big different, but I was doing something, in a situation where regarding my own life I could do nothing. So I worked during the week, alone. I stamped each postcard, I put stickers on each one, and I wrote on each postcard. I tried for more but ended up getting 42 done. A good number.
I used a lot of postcards that were my favorites. Postcards I had held on to for over a year Linda said in some cases. I wanted to make sure the right person got them. I wanted to say goodbye in a good way to them. The wreck of the ship on the beach, the wooden paddle boat in Australia, the place of green and peace.

Of course, there were the playful cards, the ones to give a bit of a tingle to those who get them. There were some boy/boy yaoi and girl/girl yuri and some boy/girl bad boy sexuality as well as a ballroom dance.

Some of the cards were specials, meaning there was metal in them to make them shine, so they had a bit of glitter. Some were from rare and out of print artists calendars, others textured cards about the Louis the XIV period, postcards for the right people, I hoped. I wanted them to know, because I did not expect to finish the race, or finish it in good health that before I went, that I was thinking about them. That they mattered first.

Yes, maybe I was thinking about me, about what living means, and about what it means to try, to be sent home to die because no one knows what to do. About being alone. There is no support group for me.And maybe in these postcard names there are people with no support group either.

In the last few weeks, I have been notified of the deaths of several people on the list, friends I never met, friends who I will never know what meaning my actions had. I cared about them and through their emails it seemed we got to know each other and yet…..I will never know. Today I received notification that another person I cared about was dead. There is something horrible about having a list where every few pages there is a line through because someone is dead (18 pages of names on address labels). How can I not cry.

The questions haunt me: “Did I do enough?”, “Did I send enough?”, “Did they know that they were loved?” I don’t know.

This last weekend, I was very, very sick and am still, and so I could only do another (it was supposed to be the bare minimum of 18 but I snuck a few more in when Linda and Cheryl weren’t looking) 35 cards. So 77 cards over two weeks. It is a start, yes.

My life now is much like being out on that race, which I did finish, and came in second for the women. When you are on a hill, you either keep going or you have to fall over to quit, because there are no brakes to hold you. There are no brakes, I either go on, or not. There was one card I wanted to say goodbye to specially, I had held it for a long time and I wanted to make sure it ended up in the right hands. And if I died, I didn’t want people to just think it was ‘another postcard’. To me, and I hope to the person who received it, it was special (due to building management I cannot have a cat, no matter how badly I want one, no kitten, not even if we pay for all damage - this postcard is as close as I will get).

The postcard project is over 2,000 postcards now and I am still sending them out, I am still taking names. The promise remains: as long as I live you will know that I care, and that I am sending something to you when I can. How long that is will be how long that is. I go forward because there is no where else to go. I am resting but I am matching postcards, I am looking forward, not back. I will work to make sure that no more names come in who I have to ask myself if they knew they were cared about; who knew that life is more than just scammers and people who don’t care. I care because you are a person worth caring about.

The Postcards are about YOU

2009-03-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

The postcard project continued with both one of the highest months ever (over 127 postcards in 8 days) and now a new ‘limit’ due to changes in my health. Now we are trying to have ‘on’ weeks of higher number of postcards and ‘off weeks’ with lower number of postcards like 15 or so. That way we still go over 100 every month but also, I am giving in to my medical advisors to not take too much risk to my health in trying to do what I cannot anymore.

That being said, I stayed up until past 7:00 am to not finish but prep some postcards. Yes, I pulled an all nighter! Postcards just take me longer now, as the degeneration of nerves in my hands seems to have accelerated quickly (which was a bummer as they were stable for a while). So I try to separate writing the postcards from doing the stamping or other tasks to use the maximum energy to write. I also have a ‘postcard whisperer’ who is person who gives me a couple cards and says things like, “Only likes the color blue, wants postcard with no people in it.” so that I can remember who the postcard is going to. Since my memory is only about two days, that works out well, I match, I stamp, I get ‘whispered’ to and I write.

I sadly end up talking a lot about myself, and I wish I could talk about YOU, (a postcard prepared for writing on) because you are the people for whom the postcard project continues (however I promised confidentiality, and that includes responses back, unless you tell me I can publish it). It was created with an idea of having some friends along on a trip to Japan, almost a year ago and now, far over 1500 postcards later (I don’t count anymore), it is still about YOU, the individual and your day. The postcard comes to you, it is picked out specially for you, it is chosen, with the hope that the one person who receives it will be the person and the time that they need it. That it will give laughter, joy, amusement, encouragement, a knowledge of not being along, hope, caring, compassion. Whatever it is the person needs in their heart is what I hope arrives.

I say, sometimes, “Now that is a person who needs a postcard!” That is when some hate mail comes in, or an abusive email, or someone who believes that I am scamming them, or that this is all a trick. I’ve been called a lot of names, and threatened with a lot of violence and/or abusive sexual acts and really, these people do NEED a postcard. I mean, life has hurt them so much that they turn on others? That they literally no longer believe that they are worthy of being cared about just because they exist? Now those are the people who need a postcard the most! (Four postcards, selected, matched and prepared for four people, ready for writing - names removed)
Every month, every week I have hard days, and days when a voice inside, or more often a voice outside says, “Why the hell do you keep pushing yourself? THEY DON’T CARE!” Which is easy to believe, isn’t it? That of all the hundreds of addresses I have sent to, most of the people don’t care. And maybe it is true. And even so, to me that is completely irrelevant. Because I started this and I continue this on the belief, the hope, the conviction that I could change the rotation of the earth. See, the whole world seems to think weird things like ‘who has the most money is the most important’, or ‘only care about yourself’ or ‘might or greed makes right.’ And the thing is that each person, in my case regardless of ability or disability, regardless of friends, or friendliness or not, regardless of other beliefs is still a human being. And my job is to try by showing, by demonstrating on a weekly basis that if you are human and you know someone who wants you to get a postcard, or you request a postcard and you send me your name, address and a bit about you (to mpshiel at hotmail.com), I will care about you. I will pick the postcard that will be right for you, or I will give it my best shot. And by doing this, over and over, there will be a spark in a few people, that some people will think that, yeah, I don’t need to wait for Xmas, that maybe people are worth caring about. That maybe even people I disagree with are people who are human and need to know that someone cares, that they are cared about. But like changing anything with a GREAT deal of mass and force behind it, changing the rotation of the earth, or how the people on earth tend to think, is a hard job and there are no big and dramatic changes. Just little sparks, as change occurs.

I don’t get responses for over 90% of the postcards that are sent. I don’t hear from over 90% of the people, and the vast majority, almost never, except to confirm the address. But then, once in a while, someone will send a letter or an email which says, in its own way, that the spark of caring is being carried on.

Most cards are ‘uniques’ or rather, known as postcards which I will never see again. Think of something you love, a hobby or an animal that you love. And you have 25 postcards of that, and if you give them away, you will NEVER see them again. That is my job, to overcome the love in my heart for each postcard, so that it goes to the right person, to find that person, and to send it, knowing I will never see it again. When am I going to see a Lord of the Rings Postcard, or Escher color print? Many of the postcards I source literally one at a time, and one vendor said, “you really do care about each postcard!” Yes, each one, and then it is gone and my job is to start again. Many people have given postcards; great postcards I want to keep for myself.....but that is not my job. Each week, and some weeks we send out a large amount of ‘specials’ and ‘uniques’ and ‘only’ which means that the postcard is something I collected, or found, discovered, bid on, found a collector and emailed them for weeks to get, found in another country and spent $5 or $10 on, and now I have to find the right home for it. The most I know of is a $40 postcard we sent out. That’s the job, matching the postcard (and the sticker and stamping) to YOU (And yes, some people call it 'crazy' or 'stupid' or 'a waste' - is another person, a human really not worth $5 or $10 or $40 and a postage stamp? to say, "I think and I care about you").

And every week I have pain, sometimes a pang, sometimes more severe knowing that the postcards which I love are now gone, likely forever (or for my short lifetime). I remind myself it is gone to another home, and to people I care about and that helps some, but not always. Yes, I’m human and a collector and I spend sometimes up to ten hours of negotiation for EACH postcard, in order to send them out. Because a person wanted a postcard of catgirls, or catboys, or Yaoi, or Yuri, or Abstract art, or totally Green, Yellow, Blue, Purple, done in squares, whatever the request, whatever the need, I try to fill it. Sometimes they are promotional freebies for buying something at a fair 10 or 20 years ago, or from a book long, long out of print. Whatever you need, I am but the person who gets to sift through to find what to give (“need” not just “want”). I am grateful to the thoughtful people who have chosen and sent postcards to be used for others, postcards carefully chosen by dozens of minds, to go out to hundreds of homes.

When I die, I expect the postcard project will die with me. Linda and Cheryl know the tremendous amount of effort it takes: hours per postcard. So I am working on living as long as I can. Because the post/mail person coming is one of the few random elements of life, and there should always be that hope! “Today something comes” because someone has been thinking about you.

For anyone who would like to contribute, particularly postage stamps, the .94 cent stamps or .42 or ‘forever’ stamps are the ones we use the most. If you have a few sitting around that you don’t use anymore, we can use them desperately. We sent to five continents this last week alone. Every continent except the US and Canada require a .94 cent stamp and the MAJORITY of our requests come from continents outside of North America (postcard prepped for writing, a .94 cent stamp: this postcard has got to fly!). No one will EVER not receive a postcard due to living far away from me. But if you ever decide you want to be part of the project I am at:

Elizabeth McClung
P.O. Box 2560
Port Angeles, WA
98362
USA.

Of course, if you have some relatives, some friends, and some extra postcards, another thing you could do, is start a little postcard project of your own. Just an idea. Sometimes, it is the little things, which sometimes can make a great difference.

In comes 2009; and I could send more postcards...if I was a cyborg!

2009-01-15T03:10:00.000-08:00

2009 came in with bad health and bad weather, and all the more need for postcards. While the postal system was still reeling from the Xmas onslaught, and everyond had the post-Xmas blues, we sent out large numbers of postcards, in the 40’s and 50’s, and 80’s.

Different cards for different people, trying to find a postcard to match to every person, to match to every desire. The only problem was ME. I developed ill health which twice limited the posting of postcards for that week; this last week only 44 postcards were sent instead of the 80 selected, stamped and waiting for the final touches. Admittedly I AM the weak link in the chain. But I am also the strong link which is willing to research everything a person has said or commented to find out what type of postcard would interest them the most.

I like this card, which we sent out as a Canadian Festival, Cheryl, my sister did the stamping and the decorating, I did the light lifting of just writing the postcard. Indeed, without the creative input of Cheryl and Linda; as well as the donations of postcards, stickers and rubber stamping from four continents, our project would just reflect my view. And while interesting, it is not quite as diverse mind as can create the many different visions we all participated in making with our NEW rubber stamps. Can you guess who made which postcard?

Now this postcard was mine, because while I didn’t WANT to do it, I am willing to decapitate a heron for Catboy love. Honestly, what can compare to the delight of making the ears twitch of your lover by petting them. Seriously, we humans have to work more on that!

I do, we do, take the longest period of time in selecting a card, because each card needs to expression an emotion whether that is Romance, a Young Man running to Adventure or just pushing the frontiers with space girls with guns!

And sometimes, the perfect card is the one which expresses the TRUE nature, as this one with cats does. I love it because it sums up cat perfectly, the expression on the gray cat as it deliberately scratches the woman trying to hug it while the brown one bounces off with glee! That is the attitude of cats. Don’t want the hugging when YOU do, but do they sit on your face for attention at 5:00 am? Oh yeah!

Here are some more of the cards we sent out over the last few weeks including some of ‘femme fatale’ postcards that we received from the Amazon wish-list for the Postcard Project. I was tempted to keep the “This Dame Dies Soon” but I felt I just didn’t have the, um, cleavage to carry it off! There are some classic children’s tales from Europe and America illustrated there as well as a poor Ragged Anne Doll. Oh the things our dolls survived!

The whole point of the back of the postcard is to make the point, loud and clear that this person is SPECIAL. And however they want to be seen as special, whether that is Mecha figures, girls having fun or fun to watch anime girls, the point is that I, Linda or Cheryl or all three try to create the ultimate in a visual overload (death with our postcard in hand have not yet been reported). Yes, this postcard is not mass produced it is made just for YOU. And just for the you that is NOW. And so far, the over 400 people and over 1,400 postcards that have been sent out have not had any significant complaints beyond, “Hey, where is it, when is it coming!” In which case, we just make another.

Winter, postcards, the blues and 'Something for nothing'

2008-12-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Something out of nothing, a free postcard? What's the deal, and who really cares about people they have never met. Sounds dodgy right? Well, I am sane (I have a certificate! .....well......No, I don't actually). I have a terminal illness and instead of doing hang gliding or jumping out of planes with a chute, I do this instead.
Caring is my addiction and it needs an outlet, postcards is good. Good for me, good for the person getting it.

The plain simple truth is this: We all know people who could use a postcard, or a visit. We have a relative we have been meaning to write, or a friend or co-worker who lost their job. We hear at church, we hear at work about a person being ill and having to stay at home. We hear from a friend they are lonely. We hear people are bored. There is no limit to the people who COULD receive a postcard.

Did you know that not even the QUEEN will send you a telegram anymore on your 100th birthday. Yet I will send you a postcard. Yup, free of charge and selected for just that person (you or someone else, if you send me the details, all of which are confidential). A postcard which is then stickered and rubber and wood stamped to as great an expression of “I care!” as I can make it. PLUS I will keep on sending postcards to that person, as long as I live. For free.

Just to let you know, winter sucks, particularly for people who have disabilities and chronic conditions. When it is cold outside, and icy, wheelchairs don’t go very well or at all. People are at risk for infections, and get laid up in bed. People want to know they are cared about. More than just an amusing photoshopped picture email. December and Xmas are the loneliest time of the year for many people, it also has the highest rate of suicides. More elderly die over the winter and people with disabilities than any other season. Highest rate of depression. We all know it, we all quote it every year. I cannot make a person have a great Xmas when they are alone and the rest of society is going off to events and parties. But I can send them a postcard, one tthat is made just for them, picked for them, covered with stickers they would like. Be that a postcard of Fairies or Ninjas; from goth and spiders to hot guys kissing each other (or girls kissing each other, whatever will make a person happy). Hey, we do couples postcards, family postcards, individual postcards, postcards of solitude, of ‘freedom’, postcards completely blue, or green, whatever you want, or need. You ask and I will try to get the RIGHT postcard to you or the person who needs it.

I have no church to go to, I have no family gathering to go to, no Xmas or Hanukah for me. And yet I will be making friends and building relationships all over the world. I can’t change being people feeling alone, but I can let you know that I think about you, and prove it with something you can hold in your hand. You don’t have to be 100 years old. You don’t have to be nominated for bravery or the order of Canada or for being dame or sir, or any other award. If you know of a person who could use a postcard, who would WANT a postcard, send me an email (it is right on my profile), just email me with the title Postcard to mpshiel at hotmail.com and a postcard WILL go out within a week (except in rare cases of medical emergencies). A few details of what the person or you likes helps too. Look, if you are bored, surfing the net or just curious, send me an email and you WILL get a postcard. You want a postcard, you like postcards, ask for a postcard and it will appear!

I know that people are busy at Xmas, and I know that people’s feeling of caring is up. GOOD! So send me an email for someone you are thinking about in need! Know why? Because people still like getting mail in January (see, I just keep posting to them!). You don’t have to be lonely, you don’t have to be disabled, or depressed, you can be the Dean of a University or the President of a Company (don't those people want some nice mail too?), all you have to do is want a postcard.

Every week the people I send postcards to are a SACRED trust to me. The ages may range from 3 to over 90 but I am like the postal service, once I took your postal request on board, come what may, I will be matching you to your postcard. Yes, I went to bed at 6:00 am this morning after finishing (Us Three Musketeers!) the stickers and other final parts of the postcards. Then I was up again a few hours later to write each one of them so every single one of the 40 postcards for this week went out.

Are you sick of winter? I will send you a scene of summer. Are you in Australia, New Zealand, Africa or other climates that are summery, I can send you scenes of winter, or cool rainforests. When Xmas is over, and the feeling of, “Oh my, I still have to go to work!”, or the feeling of , “When will spring come?” or “I’m bored!” hits you, and leaves you blue. My postcards will still be coming. So please, take the chance, ask for a postcard. A few hundred people have and so far, everyone seems pretty happy with the postcards. And if you don’t get yours, let me know and I will send another, okay. Give yourself or someone you care about a gift, the gift of Elizabeth McClung and her army of people from around the world who send presents of cool postcards, cool stickers, cool stamps (which I turn and give to those who request postcards). I am the gift that keeps on giving.

And yes, this is the place in the world where you really do get something for nothing; pass the word.

Deliberate acts of choice: The project continues

2008-11-12T17:58:00.000-08:00

Though I have had to slow down a little (to about 36-40 postcards a week), things are still going ahead. Obviously writing about doing postcards where the recipients have confidentiality and I can’t share any details is a little challenging. But that’s cool because I want the people who ask for a postcard to know that first off, they WILL get one, and second that anything they add to help me find the right postcard for them is totally confidential.

I will say that every batch of postcards I send out have some that have been donated by readers. Some are also sent with stamps sent in by donation.

A while ago, I made an appeal on an anime trading site to please BUY anime stickers for the Postcard Project. Due to this I was able to increase my diminishing box but also, some people asked for my address and a week to weeks later envelopes of stickers appeared. For all of these people, I am limited to thanking them because they not only help the postcard project continue but encourage me to keep going. I hope thir acts encourage others that deliberate acts of kindness and caring still occur. There are a LOT of good people. And that they act, knowing they will never know who will get their card, or stickers or what effect it will have, says something about them. Good people.

The truth is I would be stuck without the donations of postcards. Because while I am GREAT at finding postcards of anime, and of artists, and animals, that's it!

But someone who sends me a postcard from a sight in Texas, I turn and send to Australia, and someone sending me postcards of Australia, I send them the UK. Then when a person in the UK sends postcards of a UK artist, I send those back to the USA. Often the ‘right’ postcard comes from someone who will send in a postcard (or batch) and I go, “Wha?” when I first open the package. Like, "Who am I ever going to send this too?" But then I realize, “Hey this would be a perfect card for…” an host of professions from a retired minister, a bookstore owner, a lover of motorcycles, to someone with a farming background, a legal background, an architect or an archeologist (by the way, I just listed either my previous jobs or the jobs of my family members, so no, didn’t give away any info!).

I write postcards in the same way I write a novel or short story. I try to get, with what information I have, into the mind of the person (um, not character, I remind myself, REAL person!) so that I can create a visual and written story which is most effective to them in saying: 'I hope this makes you smile and have a good week.' or 'That is my hand holding yours in the darkness' or 'I really care about you and though we may never meet, I consider us friends.' Or my favorite: "haha, prepare for your mind to be blown away!" (with commentary!) - the Zinger postcard.

If you would like a postcard or know someone who would, let me know. You don’t have to be disabled, you don’t have to be into fencing or read my blog or be anything except a person who would like some mail/post.

Lonely? I am here to send you mail. Alone? Not anymore! It is a long winter but I will be here. As long as I live, you will be thought about and you will be sent mail. There is no charge, if you want to recommend someone you think could use just five minutes of cheering up – then email me (mpshiel at hotmail.com – change at to @ and no spaces) with the title Postcard!

Maybe, as some see it, this is just giving me, a person who doesn't get out and is more and more in bed, something to do. So what! For the people who receive these, or the people who acted, then it is worth it. Because if you emailed me for a postcard, that means you reached out and I applaud that, it is a hard thing sometimes. I will be here waiting. If you care and decide to take action and ask for a card for a friend, or relation or someone you know, then that means you have acted to change the world for the better. Yes...you! For all those who have given gifts and whose gifts have gone out, you also have changed the world for the better. I support not just random acts of kindness but DELIBERATE acts of choice. Yes, it is ‘just’ a postcard. But sometimes a bad day can turn around from ‘just’ a postcard. Sometimes knowing someone cares can make that difference which keeps people going.

I get very passionate about the Postcard Project because I know what it is like both to be in a dark place and not receive anything, nor any act of kindness or caring. But also, I know the wonder that can come from the smallest thing: how a gift of a post with just three words kept me going for over three months. Each postcard is unique, is special and is just for that person.

I want to be there for you. If you asked for a postcard and you haven’t received it, I am both human and very ill, so on bad days mistakes can happen (have happened!). Please forgive me and let me know again. Because I DO want you to have a postcard: several postcards, enough to bring the wonder back to you.

That is this month.

October update on the project and "Why?"

2008-10-22T17:03:00.001-07:00

Okay, it has been TOO long since an update. In the last month (sept) we sent out about 165-170 postcards, which was then topped by last weekend’s 36 hour fest (almost without sleep) which finished with an amazing 72 postcard finished and posted in both the US and Canadian post - yes, all in just under two days. Here is a picture of just a portion of the postcards that were sent out. (you can’t blow the picture up because everyone hasn’t gotten their card yet and I want it to be a surprise).

For those just joining, this is the Postcard Project, which means all you have to do is email me: mpshiel at hotmail.com with the title Postcard, and you will receive your first postcard in about two weeks. There is no cost to you, there is no obligation to respond in any way. I, along with those who help me, hope those postcards make your life a little bit lighter in some way, maybe bring a smile, knowing that someone wanted to make something special, just for you. And that is what is about. If you want to reply, please do! If you want to send postcards to other people, please do.

I have been fortunate to be a fencer (yeah, with swords) off and on for years and thus have a more than a few female friends who can appreciate a woman who knows how to use a blade to her advantage. I had been saving this particular postcard a few months until I could send it to the right person (good stance, good guard). I remembered a person who I cared about, but due to the nature of my disability, I had lost in some of the blank spaces of my mind (I have Brain-go-boom times, mini-strokes, seizures, a whole theme park of brain related fun!)

In a lot of ways, it is guesswork, we have a vague idea of what the person likes and we try to make the best possible match, sometimes, often it works fab, but sometimes it doesn't. Knowing your orientation is helpful, or knowing what orientation you would like on your card helps, like this lesbian (or Yuri) themed one. We send cute anime boy/boy love (yaoi) cards to straight women (and men if they want them), the same is true with Yuri, we send cards to straight couples, we send cards to single people, people of every different religion and we try not to offend but find the card that matches YOU (if you ARE gay and tell us, also try and mention if you are not OUT, because otherwise we will send you a gay postcard - which could be awkward). But we try and find the right postcard for every person and mood, even if that means you are deep in space.
Once the postcard is selected we start the stamping, using rubber stamps mostly, but we also have some cards, which have printed material built in. Again, we try, as time goes on to give you a new experience each time, but after getting your 6th card, you have to realize, I only have SO many rubber stamps (though a couple of readers decided to send me rubber stamps which we immediately put into use!). So the backs are varied again usually around a theme, here is one that is stickered up with a Halloween theme and ready to write on.
I also have received donations of postcards from various readers, and put them immediately into use, often sending them out that very week (I hope you don’t get your own postcard back – oops). But I also spend about 15 hours a week finding each individual postcard that will be sent out that week – well actually not that week as often they are in Japan, or Florida or France and need to purchased and then wait for them to arrive which can take up to six weeks, and then wouldn’t you know it, a name rotates up or a request comes in which could use JUST that postcard.

There are, because I like anime, admittedly more anime card than average, but we also do at least 4 to 12 cards a week to youth under 12, and more to teens. So we have to be flexible, we do baby animal postcards, we do TV series, we have nature scenes, artists, anything that might interest someone, make them happy to see the card in the post. I just happen to find that in anime world finding boy/boy love is easy, as is boy/girl love, fun crossdressing, dominant women, a little light bondage, girl/girl love, and beautiful anime girls with big guns (no actually, that’s not slang, they have guns, like the one in this card top right here!). So whatever you want, as long as it isn’t X-rated we will try to provide and we have had some rather SPECIFIC requests and tried our hardest to fulfill those and I hope the people are happy who got them.

The question comes up a lot, simply because of the time, the effort involved, on why a person with limited hand motion, with tremors would hand write over 30 postcards on average a week, would hand stamp them (sorry about the ones that go awry!), would sticker them. Why? First, I don’t do all that, if I can’t stamp or sticker I get Linda or Cheryl who help me to the extent it is often like a big quilting circle with us going, “Where’s the blue ink, no that dark blue” and, “I’ve got someone who loves spiders, I need all the spider stickers!” And second, I was taught this: we don't do things because they are easy, we do them because they are the right thing. How am I going to convince anyone, much less myself, that they as a human being, regardless of disability, depression, feelings of isolation, political or religious difference, are worthy of everyones complete and equal respect as a human being if I do not start. And how I do that is by giving YOU my complete and undivided attention for about three hours, to create something JUST FOR YOU. Because you are an individual human being, and because you matter.

In this post, these are the postcards from a few weeks ago, which I hope have all already arrived at their destinations.

Again I am asked: Why? It is expensive, it is time consuming, it is exhausting. Well, that is one way to look at it. Or it is rewarding, it is fun, it is deciding in a tangible way to make a difference in someone’s life.

If you are lonely, if you are depressed, if you are disabled, visably or invisably, if you want post of your own, if you want to know that there will be, as long as I live, SOMEONE out there who cares, then ask for a postcard. As my writing teacher said, “People are the only game in town.” I know there is a good argument to be made for cats but they don’t send a lot of mail/post. Nor are they good at reading it. They can shred it quite well however!

Stage one of Aug 29th, boy, girl and collectable postcards

2008-08-29T16:03:00.001-07:00

I have started stage 1 of the postcard project, which is one of the hardest: matching the person to the postcard, particularly if the person hasn’t given you much to go on. “I’d love a postcard” – errr, does that mean you want hardcore boy/boy love? Or nice anime girls? Or some nature scenes? Or an artists painting?

I decided to use some of my “treasure” cards this week including this card which is made of semi-transparent plastic which is imprinted with the image, and then a white sticker is added to the back for writing. I had been saving it as it is one of the rare and “collectable” kind. But then I asked, “Elizabeth, who exactly are you collecting these FOR?” So I looked down the list till I found the right name and decided I was collecting it for them!

I also, being me, have some nice anime girls, but everything is PG rated, just an assortment from Japanese Kimonos to someone obsessed with apples. Oh, yeah, and then there is that boy/boy love picture in the top right corner, um, well, all we know is that they are just “good friends”! Just keep saying that.

And for those who like guys (which due to some strange genetic trait, a lot of females do), here are some of the guy pics; and some of these guys are actually interested in girls (like Mr. Chest). Now he having his shirt off I don’t mind. The real guy a day ago in front of me going up the hill who overflowed his pants so no belt could be seen and who I thought of grabbing two handfuls of back hair to have him pull me up the hill. See, him taking off the shirt, and undershirt was wrong! Wrong, except maybe it will make more girls start looking at the nice girls going jogging instead. So hey, take off that shirt whenever you want (shudder!).

That’s it, I have some more cards but instead of talking about them or taking pics of them I am going to get working on them and then take them to stage 2 and 3. So will post again (maybe) if I have some good story told in blocks and stickers this week.

A late week in August, the Project rolls on

2008-08-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

The postcard project has been continuing every week, some weeks are better than others. We created a computer spreadsheet with all the names of people sent postcards to try and make sure people don’t fall through the cracks and also find out if someone hasn’t been sent one in a while. This Monday we posted 32 postcards, so I hope some of them have already started arriving, six in Canada and the rest to UK, Europe, Australia and the USA. I sure would like some more people to sign up for the postcard project in New Zealand or places like that.

This week we had some new wood block and rubber stamps to try out, but with the slicker Japanese postcards and the wood pulp North American ones you never really know what you get until you try. Here are a couple of the fronts of the cards, some tending toward the Goth, the one in the lower left was sort of a mixture of isolation and melancholy. Cheerful card eh, but after much debating that is what seemed right, sometimes I can’t tell if what I am sending reflects them or me.

The black is turning out well as is the new rubber block of the raven (always in black!), which combined in this card with some animals to make a nice clear image.
Since I had so many cards, after a while my imagination ran away with me and I ended up using the wood blocks and the rubber stamps to create stories if I could (after which we would add the stickers). So here we have a simple story, which is sort of about grave robbing and how that might be a bad profession as it could lead to a sticky end, if you know what I mean, since selling bodies you end up meeting all sorts of not so nice people. Did I mention we had a lot of Goth this week. Here are some more of the cards, as you can see, we have skeleton Joggers, does that count as Goth or not?
Well then we got sort of crazy with the Goth Theme or I did with some assistance from Cheryl. On this card there is this whole sort of story which kind of goes, that you should probably not dig up a lot of bodies in case some be zombies and wander off (the trail of bloody footprints fade...) and some be even worse than that (the UNDEAD, the Vampire!). I am very proud of the way I got the bandage to look like old dried blood – that took a bit of colour mixing!

Here are four cards that are special. The red fairy was sent in by a reader, for use and so I sent it on, which I think is what they wanted, so thank you for that. The one of the two girls talking on the bench was a theme of friendship. While the smiling person out in a sea of flowers was sort of about vision and maybe about projects like this an others when disability seperates you, or artistic vision.

Then there was the Cat themed card back, I like the cat chasing the mouse (sorry if you like mice – but on the good news he never seems to catch him). As for the cat getting into a glass, that just seems like sticking your head between two steel bars kind of stupid.

And we finished off with this sort of ode or odd (depending on yoru view) to science and art, a collection of both, but still not too bad for such a small card. Anyway, those were a few of the 32 we sent out this week. Right now I am sorting out the ones for processing and stamping and the whole thing starts again. I tend to post on Saturday or Monday so after a day of rest (Tuesday) it is good to get the whole thing up and running again. I know this is sort of an odd sort of blog (and hobby) but I wanted readers to know that creativity does go into the selection of each card as well as the creation of the back of each one. And if you want to get a postcard, you just have to send an email to mpshiel at hotmail.com with the title postcard and your name and address (sexual orientation and a few interests help too but that isn’t essential).

Anyway, back to work for me!

Five more postcards, snuck in between medical appointments

2008-07-25T01:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, a horrid week, and I am recovering tonight from a seizure I had IN the doctor’s overheated office. The postcards go on! The more it seems I have so little control over my life, the more I like being able to write to people knowing that while they may not get it today, they will get this tangible and colourful keepsake to let them know that I thought about them.
And honestly, on days like today where I will wake up to a house full of Seating Specialists and Physical Therapist followed by a horde of Nurses from different agencies all “Determining” how they are ‘willing’ to let me be cared for without anyone except me being ‘liable.’ It is worth staying up past 1:00 am to get these five post cards done. Because thinking about others, about what some one else might needs IS a break from the banging on the medical doors. So, no, not ten or twenty postcards, but I did write and finish five more postcards. So it seems, I am not doing the project in a big, giant way, but rather in the way that people with chronic disabilities can, from time stolen between medical tests and illnesses; energy used when it is there, and the location prepared for when time and energy come together.

I hope for at least ten tomorrow, but I will do what I can, and that will be that. Day by day, does the project go.

Postcards in progress July 21st 2008

2008-07-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

This week I am only supposed to be doing eleven postcards, but once I started listing the people who NEEDED postcards, or who had just asked for one, or who I thought had been missed…..well it ended up at 29. I finished one whose name is not on the list, so that makes 30. Oh well, no wonder I spend hours a day and get exhausted but never seem done. Linda helps when she can.

Yesterday I did card selection which is finding what is known about the person or interests and then matching a card from my selection to the person and putting on the name label. This took over 4 hours. I admit I do like to get the “right” card for a person, and I hope that many times, maybe at best, most times, I do. So here is under half of the cards that will be going out this week, just to give you an idea of the variety of postcards.
I am still waiting on over 100 cards from Japan that I paid for two weeks ago and getting a little anxious, even though they are insured (how do you REPLACE Japanese postcards I spent buying). I am also waiting for 24 cards from a Canadian woman I bought them from as well as seven cards from another source. Because right now, for example I am down to eleven postcards with anime girls, eleven! Trying not to hyperventilate! They are one of the most popular ones so I have been getting some here and there. I bought another 28-32 anime girl postcards over the weekend but they won’t be here for at least another week. I think I have talked enough about this, because I sound seriously OCD. I am just saying that when I send out 30 cards a week, I need to have a supply coming in to keep me through a single month.

Today was doing the wood block and rubber stamps. Again, need to match up the imprints to the right person and card. After that I add the anime, japanese or other stickers to enhance the “post card experience.” First I do the stamping and then let it dry, since postcards from Japan have a light plastic sheen on them. Then after a couple hours I can do the stamps. Here is an example of some that are finished and ready for my writing.
I admit I got a bit overexcited on a few and went Goth Crazy with my Gothic arch wood block stamp and then anime goth sticker inside, so much that I am not sure I left a lot of room to write the message. I also include a Hello Kitty on EVERY postcard, it is like a signature for me (or an unhealthy obsession!).
Here are two that are “nature themed.” Though I am not sure how one is half nature theme and the other half full of boy/boy love stickers (go Yoai!). I am sure it is right for the person, or I am at least trying to give them the best experience.
So these go out at the end of the week, I hope they will be heading to you, but if not this week, then one of the weeks ahead. These include all the BBC requests becuase I send requests out as soon as possible (before a seizure makes me forget!). Then I will keep working through the label list until everyone has their postcards and then start again. I think this is like Sisyphus except I get postcards instead of a boulder.

Communication across distance, people, art, fun!

2008-07-16T14:41:00.001-07:00

(A reprint from a few weeks ago to give you an idea of what kind of postcard you might get and WHY do I send them out? No, I don't make money, I spend it, but don't we all on our hobbies?)

Today, I focused on writing postcards, which means I got seven done. Before you turn off let me explain what post, what mail is to me: Post is an attempt to communicate feelings, emotions, and a message wrapped up in a tactile and visual experience across long distances and different times. It is why I am very particular, in how I send a post card, so I wanted to explain a bit of that process to you, because for me, it is now, the major creative way I express myself to individuals (well, I do BLOG too!).

As an aside, I just came from boxing where one of my old sparring partners improved his inside game to the level that he split my lip (just a little) but I kept trying to stop his heart with twisting punches into the ribs, so that’s fair. I guess that is a form of communication too, but more of a game. I was raised from my hospital bed and virtually pushed there because with two week without boxing, my physical health regarding circulation and respiration were declining. So that is done (sorry, no pictures of me doing the 75-80 sit ups and endless minutes of shadow boxing).

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, I tend, when it comes to gifts, to try and be specifically particular, no knick-knack and no “whatever” but a gift that matches the person’s secret desires as close as possible. That is why even in Japan, I didn’t just go, “Yeah, I’ll take 50 of this postcard” but actually tried picking up the “right” postcards for specific people in each city. Now ALL but one of those postcards from Japan are gone. So over the last several weeks I have gone on the internet and bought postcards, stickers, woodblocks and other treats from Japan, from New Zealand, from Canada and America.

It takes me about 30 minutes to do a postcard, so I worked for over three hours today. The main reason is that a) I have an exact process I will explain and b) I am CRIP….things GO SLOW! Sorry, I mean I have limited hand function. So if anyone worries that I will escalate into hand made cards from me, that isn’t happening (can’t happen), I am doing the best I can with what I can, using my forefingers, thumbs and teeth mostly. First I need to find the “right” card which means picking someone from the list who hasn’t gotten a card recently and then finding their email/s to find out what type of person they are. Some people just put basically, “Please send me a card: Address” and I still analyze the message to determine, “polite salutation?”, might like something more artistic, “brief and to the point?”, how about a single artist or image? And if I am left with nothing, I make a card that I would like to get. But if I have info, then I read the email/s a few times while going through the cards (about 40-60 on a particular day) to find the one that seems a good fit. Someone asked to be introduced to anime, so this card with a few NICE anime girls seemed a good way to start.
While If someone else talked about the Japan trip and how much they enjoyed reading about it, I try to find a Japanese card or Japanese woodblock card so they can feel they had a piece of that trip. Then on the other side I put on the label (whited out on here for privacy along with messages) and then the “extras.” Since I want to make a card that people and look at more than once, a sort of ‘experience’ which has more than just a message (thought I work hard on that too).

So here we have a Post Card from Japan, which means it has the stamp on the opposite side, and the writing below (I whited this out badly on photoshop, your card looks better than this, trust me!). I used two wood blocks and Hello Kitty to complete the Japanese Experience. Seriously, what kind of Japan Experience would there be without Hello Kitty saying (as she is here) “Come hula with me!” (oooh that temptress!). Now, I looked at over a dozen companies which make wood blocks but in the end only one passed my quality needs, which was enough white space to make a clear and artistic picture as well as sharp artistry within the wood block without too much extra lines and clutter. So I have a few blocks that I use. I have to be careful of spasms when pressing and use a backing paper when I make the image but as you can see, I put too much ink on the red Kanji here so messed that one up a bit (SORRY!).

While on another card I wanted to give a “summer” feel of fun and inclusion; so the tall grass/wheat stamp combine with the Hello Kitty picnic and people sharing a summer tree branch. It is to ‘set the mood’ (I know, you probably think I am a) not medicated enough or b) too obsessed). But these are my way of reaching out to people on four continents, and I want my message to get through (which is usually, “I care, I think you are cool, thanks for reading the blog, I hope you have a great day!” – I don’t write all that but that is the general first message I try to send).

Now for different people you need different cards, something about the wonder of travel or the love of learning or just a feeling will mean I send out an antique map card: Paris in this case. The message is that wonder still exists in the world, and it will come to your door if you let it. (By the way, if you WANT a postcard just email me with the title POSTCARD to mpshiel at hotmail.com).

This person mentioned that they have an interest in the goth so I tried to give them a goth, and goth-loli extravaganza. I search through the anime and other stickers I have to find something that will make them take a second and maybe a third look. I put the Heron in there because, well, I wanted a bit of mystery, of the floating world, which in a way the goth world is.

So that is what I do, or did today (and for an hour or two a day, every day I can). But you can see that doing cards for the 90 addresses I currently have on list will take a BIT of time, though sometimes I get help and can do a card in 20 minutes but generally 25-30 minutes (On Sunday I did 11!). Because see, I hand write the cards too, only I can’t actually use my hand to write, I put the pen between thumb and two first fingers and then use my shoulder muscles to move the pen, and that takes a lot longer (LOT!). I am not telling you this to give anyone the guilts, I am saying this because I want you to understand how much I WANT make you happy. That postcard time is the time when I get to dream about where this card goes, and maybe how it will be received. And, yeah, last week, I spent my income for two weeks to get wood blocks of just the RIGHT quality and certain stickers and the RIGHT postcards. I HAD to buy them because seeing them I was already plotting in my mind who would like this, who would be getting that card along with THIS sticker and how I am going to put this wood block print with it…. It makes me happy.

Remember, just email me at mpshiel at hotmail.com with the title postcard and your address to get your OWN postcard. I vow that your personal information will be kept confidential and not used for other than postcards.