Yes, I did have two pre-written posts to go out Wednesday and Thursday. No, I don't really want to talk about the election results. We are watching the decline of the republic. I have lost respect the majority of adults in my own state and my own country. I fear for our young people, particularly girls and young women. I fear that I am permanently scarred by this election and will no longer be giving people as a collective the benefit of the doubt - people are cowardly, selfish, and cruel.
As time has moved on, I've gotten more and more irate about this. My country, my state - more than half of you really think that a treasonous, idiotic convicted felon who lies constantly is more qualified than a black woman with a demonstrated history of public service? The sexism, the racism, the xenophobia.
But this is where we are. I will stand and fight for the most vulnerable among us. The young, the elderly, the minorities - racial, sexual, and religious - the ill. Don't give me your platitudes - it's not going to be all right. It's going to be bad and it's going to get worse. Don't fool yourself.
For any new readers (NaBloPoMo could bring them in), I am not usually like this, I promise. I will try to refrain from too much political content in the next few weeks, but I make no guarantees. The reality is that I'm PISSY and SCARED and MAD and I think it's going to bleed through. I refuse to apologize for this.
Onwards.
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My mailbox has been full lately! A lighthouse from Birchie; another lighthouse from Elisabeth and Kyria; the Last Spike from Nicole; Washington, DC (ugh) from Lisa; and a delightful Halloween card from Jenny. None of my non-internet friends send me snail mail and I feel so lucky to have all of you in my life.
What do I do with my mail hauls? I take them to work and put them up. I love using them as a teaching tool when I'm talking about travel study options - do you want to go to Canada? Portugal? Spain? Do a semester in DC? Do an exchange at another university? So far I have learned that I'm not a good salesperson for these opportunities (SHOCKING! OUR STUDENTS DON'T WANT TO LEAVE WISCONSIN OR DO NEW THINGS! FFS I am super irate about everything right now, maybe even especially my conservative student body), but even if they aren't actually a good counseling tool, they're a lovely reminder to me that there are good people out there.
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| Weird angle to avoid any internal documents from being shown. |
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What do you do with your pretty postcards/greeting cards?
I am all for you not apologizing for pissy and scared and mad bleeding through to your posts. It's actually nice to hear your thoughts because I've been wondering if there's something fundamental I'm missing, as a blue person in a blue county in a blue state. It horrifies me that this is how my kids are seeing democracy unfold. It is so hard to tell kids that they need to vote to make a difference, when this is what they see.
ReplyDeleteBut as for postcards and mail - it gets displayed on our mantel and then every so often we put in our mail bin and then if we want to keep it, it goes into a filing cabinet (or binder, for Christmas cards). I used to have an old cookie box (like a nice one that gift cookies came in) that I kept all my mail from when I was a child. I still have a lot of those cards. We lived far from any family growing up, but my uncles and aunts would always send me a birthday card every year and I still have most of those.
If I had children, I would be inconsolable. What sort of role model is Trump for young boys? How is this okay for girls to see that this is how you treat women? I'm sorry you are navigating these terrible waters.
DeleteDo you ever look at your old mail? I just worry that it's all just more clutter for someone to have to deal with after my inevitable demise. LOL. I'm really in a dark place.
I have a box of saved postcards, both unwritten (art material as you can see in my previous blog posts) and as mementos of people and places they sent them from! I also used to have the most glorious big white frame up on my wall for hanging inspiration on, but I think it's in storage now. :
ReplyDeleteYour collection is perfect for work inspo!
I do like having them up and surrounding me while I work.
DeleteHa, it's funny to see my postcard up in your workspace!
ReplyDeletePost all the political content you want. I'm still trying to make sense of what just happened.
The Little Women postcard is in a place of honor so that I see it when I'm at my computer, so you can't see it in this photo, but it's there, too!
DeleteI made a pithy and despairing post the morning after. A few couldn’t leave it alone, so I deleted comments that were made and blocked further ones. People need to understand our despair and leave us alone with it.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to engage with people who aren't in despair right now. They piss me off.
DeleteWhat a joyful collection of mail and I just love that you showcase it <3
ReplyDeleteI usually end up putting postcards to work as bookmarks! It's my favourite use for them. I have a little stash in the top drawer of my bedside table and it makes me smile when I pull one out randomly and remember who sent it to me!
I can see how it would give someone a lift to have a postcard as a bookmark! You'd get to see the front and back regularly, which is something that doesn't happen with my postcards.
DeleteYay for mail! I may have decluttered everything, but post cards are the one memento that I kept! I have a box of all of the ones that I have received over the years and I even have some of them digitized to keep with me while I am on the move. Even now my Mom will photograph them and send me the photos so I can keep them with me on this trip. I, like Hanna, also have a stash of unused ones to send out, and I have carried some with me (and stamps) the entire time on this trip. They are like a small piece of each trip's story!
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I get postcards everywhere I go! It's the Postcard Lifestyle.
DeleteI am with you. I can't even process this, and I worked hard for Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry. I live in Ohio, and have watched it move from a swing state to a blood-red state. I'm literally sick with this. I need my time.
ReplyDeleteMy world traveller friend Mikey sends me postcards from all over the globe. He just completed his quest to visit all the countries of the world. I've saved a few of them, but not all. He usually finds the most ridiculous, offbeat postcards that have nothing to do with the place he's visiting.
Yeah, I feel like Wisconsin can now officially be in Ohio's camp. Most counties went for Obama, but this time around the map is truly red. Ugh.
DeleteOh, wow! He's been to all the countries of the world?! I can't even create a list without running into definitional problems! Good for him!
I keep pretty postcards and greeting cards in a drawer in my desk so that I can see them *by accident* every so often when I'm looking for something else. They're like a serendipitous reminder that I have friends.
ReplyDeleteSerendipitous reminder that I have friends! LOLOLOL
DeleteYour Cynical Stage is no different from my Dark Period. I'm still waiting for my own rage to subside, but alas....
ReplyDeleteI'm stoking the rage...I never want to forget this feeling. Terrible people in this country.
DeleteHow awesome to get postcards! If you email me your mailing address, I'll send you one too! ❤️I have a bulletin board where I pin them, and it makes me happy to see them there.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to get and send snail mail!
Deleteyep.
ReplyDeleteIt is totally fin if your attitude bleeds through. Your blog, your party. Also maybe it needs people like you who refuse to except this status and keep on voicing their discontent... I say go ahead and do so and if it is uncomfortable for some readers than these are exactly the once who need to think about it.
ReplyDeleteAs for your questions... I rarely get mail these days. My godchild sends letters and I am keeping them all. Sometimes my penpal writes but since she moved to Berlin not so much anymore. But she was also walking Camino and I received a postcard from that.
I keep my cards for a while but I have decided to not keep everything. I dont know where to put them. Some I keep to create something new from it.
I have been slacking on my mail this year because I didn't make it a formal goal, so I'm going to do better in 2024 about sending my bloggy friends more random snail mail.
DeleteYay you got my postcard! I had some moments of worry because I used the stamps I had, and then I found out that the US stamp price had gone up. WOULD THEY STILL DELIVER IT??? It turns out that yes, they did. Whew! Well, I am glad you like the choo-choo, and WOULD THAT I HAVE KNOWN you'd enjoy a David penis card, I could have picked one up. You'll be getting something else instead. Not penis-related at all.
ReplyDeleteI got home and had THREE postcards and a card with a Hello sticker inside, that had a picture of Lionel Richie on it. What glory to get that kind of mail, instead of just bills and junk.
I will not hold it against you that I didn't get a David penis card! Well, not for long anyway. I love that you had so much mail when you got home! Snail mail is the BEST!
DeleteAs far as I'm concerned, you can rant away. Because, if you can't rant here, on your blog to people who follow you, where can you rant?
ReplyDeleteOh, I love postcards, you obviously have a theme. I've got just about every postcard anyone ever sent me, in a large box. And you?
I am not really a collector, so most mail eventually gets recycled. But now that I'm bringing them into work, I'm hoping to have all my walls eventually covered with mail from my friends.
DeleteBe pissy, scared, and mad. Just don't be silent.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. I will be as obnoxious as I want!
DeleteOh Engie, I am with you - I'm so angry and sad and disgusted. The people of North Carolina really let me down - but, at least, they didn't elect that racist, misogynist, piece of filth for governor. That's the only good thing I'm holding onto. They saw him for what he is; why couldn't they see the felon for what he is??
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Gigi, I don't know. Similarly here in Wisconsin, we reelected a lesbian US Senator. I'm happy about that, but I don't understand voters sometimes.
DeleteIt's your page, you should be real and rant, if you want to! I for one would prefer it to the platitudes.
ReplyDeleteThere's still a sense of unreality about the result. I catch myself wondering if there was any election fraud--is it really plausible that not even one swing state went blue? Is there a more profound significance to the support from Musk and Thiel?
And I love your postcard wall. I'm going to find some fun postcards to send... do they have to be from places?
DeletePostcards do not have to be from places! I love all snail mail!
DeleteMy daughter is inconsolable and pissed off that everyone she meets isn't equally as pissed off (and we're Canadian). Anger is the correct response.
ReplyDeleteWhen Angus started college in the U.S. he couldn't believe how many of his classmates had never left the U.S., or their own state. His girlfriend had to get an enhanced license to come visit us.
I'm starting to think about Christmas cards, and thinking I really need to step up my snail mail game. I love getting real mail, and I love putting real mail into the mail slot. Just need to make it more of a habit.
A LOT of people have never traveled outside their home state here. It's shocking. My students have no curiosity about the rest of the world. It's crazy.
DeleteMaybe one of your students will get a taste for doing a smester abroad by seeing all these cool postcards. I usually put postcards up on the fridge or on one of my pinboards, or leave them on my bedside table, or put them in my calendar so that I can be happy all over again when I see them. When I need more space I keep them in a box and if I need a pick-me-up I go through said box.
ReplyDeleteI think it's lovely that we're all using our postcards and greeting cards to perk us up. It's nice to be reminded of our loved ones.
DeletePlease be as political as you need to be. We are in for a rough ride ahead, and some of us still remember how bad 2016-2020 (and into 2021, for instance January 6) was, despite all attempts to gaslight. I agree with you: I no longer give people the benefit of the doubt. I feel very angry, but also just bitter. In any case, I recently started reading your blog, so I'm excited to read more about you.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think my cynicism is officially here to stay. It's unfortunate because I don't want to be a pessimist about the Entire World, but here I am. I'm glad my rant didn't turn you away.
DeleteI'm so angry, I will come visit you and we can burn some shit down. Nothing I have heard since the election makes me feel better, it just makes me feel worse. My daughter had to come downstairs last night and take a xanax due to her anxiety around the whole thing. She is young, female, and gay. She is worried. I don't want her to be so terrified, I want to comfort her and know that there are people out there who will fight for her safety. How do I tell her it will be OK, when I know that for so many, it will NOT be OK? How do I tell her SHE will be OK, when I share her concerns?
ReplyDeleteI save some postcards in boxes with letters, I save some as bookmarks. I like the idea of using them as decoration at the office.
BURN IT ALL DOWN, Jules. ALL OF IT.
DeleteHugs to M. There are no easy answers for her.
Please feel free to rant as much as possible. I have really enjoyed reading your comments on other people's blog posts because I feel as angry as you do. I am getting really tired of people saying, "Well, it's just 4 years. We can try again in 2028." WILL WE, THOUGH? Because people just elected someone who aspires to be a fascist and I'm not sure if we'll have a democracy by the end of this. That's where I'm at. And even if we DO make it through these next 4 years, they are going to be a very hard 4 years for many people. Black women, trans people, and the LGBTQ+ community are already getting death threats. Hate crimes are going to rise. Police violence will get worse. We're going to lose so many government programs and departments. I am so scared and so damn pissed at people who voted for this man because they think he's going to make the economy better WHEN HE WON'T. UGHHHH. I'm in a blue county in a very red state and the only solace I have is that my county went even MORE blue with this election, which means at least I am hopefully safe here as a queer woman.
ReplyDeleteTone shift.
Postcards! I put them up on my fridge, but I keep running out of space. I need a better system.
Yes, Stephany, you're 100% right. Democracy is FAILING and the American people are letting it happen. I hope elections take place in four years, but I'm as unsure about that fact as I have ever been. Maya posted on her blog about a teen who killed themself in reaction to the election results - it's already hurting our most vulnerable populations.
DeleteIt's fun to see my DC postcard up on your wall! But it's probably going to bring out some rage in you, so I'm sorry for that... We did have such a wonderful trip there, though.
ReplyDeleteWhen we get postcards, they go up on our fridge at home. The boys love looking at them!
I very much disconnected after the first 2 days post-election. Phil and I didn't talk about it until Wednesday evening. He's more pragmatic and, well, more forgiving than I am so we had a good discussion about it. Most of my family voted differently than me so it's a lot to process, especially with Thanksgiving around the corner...
I will use the DC postcard to hype up our DC programs. I did a semester in DC when I was in college, so I can always use it as a starting point for a discussion.
DeleteI am PISSY and SCARED and MAD, too, friend. No need to apologize. I do not expect to be able to NOT talk about it when I feel so suspicious now of everyone around me. I live in a blue state, but even CA moved "right" by almost 5% of the vote. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE???
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, snail mail is delightful and I love how our community is embracing it :)
I love the snail mail aspect of our community, too. It feels like a warm hug when a postcard appears in the mailbox!
DeleteI tried to post a comment from my phone while waiting in my car to get into the tailgate lot before the sun was up. Yep, I'm that kinda crazy. Anyway, I wasn't signed into my gmail and it was sending me a code to my old LG phone. Ack, frustrating, but I got it figured out.
ReplyDeleteI love your display of post cards. I have a best friend from high school who will send me post cards out of the blue. It's always a pleasant surprise. He sometimes sends me envelopes with a note and a few funny comic strips that he clips from the newspaper. He's one of the few people from high school I keep in touch with and he lives in NYC, so I don't get to see him very often.
Mail out of the blue is the BEST! Your friend is wonderful for sending you mail.
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