Thanks for Five Years

so much thanks!

Five years ago I had just arrived in Baton Rouge from New Orleans.  I was eighty miles away and a 31 year year old freshman in college at a big ol'state university.  I missed my friends. I wanted to do well in school, and moreso, I wanted to use all the great stuff at my disposal.  But how would I find time to write to all the people I loved most?

the first moht of keep writing! and still one of my favorites

And so I started Keep Writing.  Maybe you know this story. I sent out a postcard to fifty friends, to see if anyone was interested.  The first months included a few creative ways of making postcards without letterpress or silkscreen--lots of sewing, color copies and handcarved stamps. Luckily I got a key to the letterpress studio soon after the 4th month.

keep writing number 56!

This month marks five years of sending a monthly postcard to friends and strangers who have asked for it.  The past 2 1/2 years have included an interactive portion where you get to send something back to me.  Like the month I gave you a Venn Diagram to fill out and send back.  It's been super fun, a monthly challenge and full of surprises.  So, to thank you, you can renew your subscription (or sign up!) for the month of November for whatever you can afford from $5 to $30 (the regular price is $30 for a year). Email your payment through paypal to gutwrenchhope@gmail.com . Don't forget to include your mailing address!  Thanks y'all!  Now if I can get 800 more subscribers, I can quit my day jobs and spent all my time making mail!

Labor of Love, part two

"This funny thing happens when people ask where I am from... 'Mississippi,' I say. 'Oh wow!' They say. I can tell they've never seen a real live racist before. --Harrison Scott Key November's postcard is out and I am already getting responses about assumptions about the south. I received the Oxford Americans "Best of the South" issue and have been slowly reading. I want to send copies to all my friends because I think it exemplifies some of the best things about the south. With a sense of humor. But I wonder how this humor, self-deprecating as it is, such as the above passage about Mississippi, translates to those who haven't spent much time there. I want to know what other people think. I am a northern for sure, but after ten years in Louisiana, there are things I miss that I didn't understand before. I'm not going to be able to figure it out here; that is for another day in another medium.

But today is for inspiration. Some times I don't hear from friends or penpals for a while. And then my mail comes in a flood and includes a series of postcards from a friend in New Orleans, Lorraine. She also sent this awesome book about sending letters and the importance of communication. Such a good envelope to open and enjoy while I have been so tired and unsure of myself.

New postcards getting printed Friday. You will hear from me soon.