The journey of a thousand postcards begins with a single entry on Postcrossing. Or something like that. I’m joined by two prolific Postcrossers for this show — Sue Boggs and Jennifer Gilman. They’re both with the San Diego Postcrossing FB Group — and send thousands of postcards. You can find Sue on Postcrossing as @suegathman; and Jen is on Postcrossing as @jenniferkg.
Topics covered in this show:
Our story starts with a headstrong young girl and her collection of found objects. That’s the story of Ariel in The Little Mermaid — and it’s also the story of how Betsy Kirichenko started with her fascination with mermaids and how that led to her collection of mermaid postcards.
Mermaids and Mailboxes on Instagram
When you connect with people through postcards, you never know where that will lead. I didn’t know it would lead to me learning new slang terms from New Zealand at three o’clock in the morning. But that’s what happened with my guest, Samantha Cook, who is also known by her IG handle Princess in a Teapot. We also talked about postcards and Postcrossing and the price of sending mail. And fudge.
I chatted with Ed Pocheff from his home in Speedway, Indiana — home of the Indianapolis 500. Ed designs postcards and really knows how to tell a story. You can find him as @edpopcheff on Instagram.
Did you know trick-or-treating wasn’t popularized until the late 1950s? Or that Halloween was a day of romance in the early 1900s? Or that cabbages featured prominently on Halloween postcards in the early 20th Century? That’s what this episode is about — a brief history of Halloween postcards.
Mary L. Martin owns the world’s largest postcard shop. And just just recently wrote (with Q. David Bowers) A Guide Book of Collectible Postcards. We talk about the process that led to the writing and publication of the book, and then talk about the postcard collecting business in general. You can find Mary’s book along with millions of collectible postcards at marylmartin.com.
I wrote up my initial thoughts about the book here. (Hint: I really like it.)
I’m joined again by postcard enthusiast and sticker aficionado, Jim Lynch.
Long-time listeners of the show will recognize Jim from episode 60, where we talked about his extensive foray into the postcard world. In this episode, we expand on that topic…here’s a list of what you’’ll here us discuss in this eclectic episode:
You can find Jim on Instagram @jlynch9923
It’s not every day that we get to hear Navajo being spoken and I’m honored to have been joined by Navajo Nation writer and postcard creator Sylvanus Paul. We talk about how Sylvanus got started with with writing letters and postcards; why he named his Instagram account Letterdoggy; how he writes meaningful messages on his postcards; and how his stand up comedy influences the jokes he sometimes writes on postcards.
October 1, 2020 is World Postcard Day. I asked Postcrossers to leave voice messages about what they’ll be doing to celebrate. And 20 people answered the call from around the world — from New Zealand, India, Philippines, Greece, Ireland, England, Canada and the United States. This is what they said.
Special thanks to Ana from Postcrossing for adding what they’re doing at HQ on such a special day. #postcardrevolution2020
Here’s who was on the show:
Samantha of Princess in a Teapot
Magda of Travel Trinkets Canada
Wendy of Art Prevails
Bhumika Israni of Bhumika Snailmail
Anushka Sawarkar of Anushka’s Postcards
Harshikha of Harshi’s Postcards
Postcards connect people. And this show is, once again, about another connection. I connected with Orla Hegarty over the past couple of years because of this show and because of postcards. Orla is a dedicated postcard creator and writer, a mathematician, a traveler, and a postmaster for Canada Post in her town of St. Vincent’s, Newfoundland.
In this episode, Orla and I talk about postcards. And mushrooms (the edible kind, silly); Burning Man (where I suppose there are other kinds of mushrooms, too); The Salt Path; Punxsutawney Phil and Wiarton Willie; Newfoundland boil ups; Newfie tacos (I really gotta have one now that Orla told me about them); Feminism; stamps; Postcrossing, and the special cancellation Orla does from her post office.
Thats’s the thing about postcard connections. It’s a lot more than a piece of paper with a nice design and a note on the back. What I like about the connections is that I am on a journey of continuous learning — about people and cultures and faraway places. That’s what this episode delivers — it’s another opportunity to learn about the world from someone who communicates with great storytelling. Plus, name me another show where you can learn about Newfie tacos and Burning Man postcards in the same show. This might be the only one.
As with most conversations, there is just a jumping off point. Let’s start this episode of The Postcardist Podcast chatting about…
Determining if mushrooms are edible
Punxsutawney Phil and Wiarton Willie
Covid…can we produce a show now where we don’t talk about covid?
Feminism stamps
Invisible Women by Carolina Criado Perez
Special cancellation for St. Vincent’s, Newfoundland
Marcophily (collection of cancellation stamps)
And that, my friends, is another episode of the show. Thanks so much to Orla Hegarty for the stories and for all the ideas we were able to cover…just because postcards connect people, and we end up finding out we have lots to share and lots to learn from each other.
If you haven’t sent away for a special cancellation from St. Vincent’s, Newfoundland, I would do that. Here’s an example:
And as you’ve heard me say, if you want to be on the show — or know someone you think I should talk to — please send me a note at postcardist@gmail.com or direct message me on Instagram.
Coming up soon, I’ll be chatting with Mary Martin about her new book, A Guide Book of Collectible Postcards, that just published yesterday. And I have Sylvanus Paul of LetterDoggy coming up…you won’t wanna miss that show; you’ll hear something I’m gonna guess you’ve never heard before. And I have several more shows in development.
Speaking of development, you heard this episode number…89…which means I’m 11 shows away from the magic number of 100. I’m putting together a retrospective for that episode…but I’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to hear. And I’m wondering if you’d be willing to do a little snippet of a recording for me. I’d love to create an audio collage that answers this question: How have postcards created connections for you? If you’re interested in recording a one-minute snippet for me, you can call this number and leave me a voicemail…it’s +1 (215) 501-7826.
Okay…thanks for taking time out of your day to listen to the show. I know you’ll keep writing postcards….and I’ll look forwarding to seeing you back here new week with a new episode of The Postcardist Podcast.
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