Holiday mail: Fa la la humbug

That's me with a Japanese postbox in Portland, Maine this month. Alex and I took a little day trip to Maine, and we stopped in Portland; I couldn't resist running across the street to check out that red postbox. (It was given to Portland in 1989 from its Japanese sister city of Shingawa, but I have no idea why.) And then I asked him to photograph me with it.

Yes, grad school ate my life, and I haven't been blogging or writing much mail, but now that I'm on break between semesters, I've been digging back into mail as much as I'm able. It's been a great way to unwind, and although I'm still not doing as much of it as I'd like, it's great to return for a while!



I've also greatly surprised myself (and many others) by an urge to send a few holiday cards again. I know, weird for me, huh? In years past I have even posted about why I don't do holiday cards, but this year I was really feeling like less of a scrooge. I think it is because I lived and worked in a place for 7 years where I was required to attend religious ceremonies against my faith, and attending multiple Christmas services against my will was part of that. It was, frankly, a traumatic experience. I think it has taken me this long to "heal" from that (it was 3 years ago, going backwards, when we lived in Newport, RI), and finally I can approach the holidays without quite so much bitterness. And I found it was a time I just wanted to say hello, and send warm greetings, just short notes to let folks know I was thinking about them. I've written over 60 so far, and because they're holiday cards (New Year's can last well into January!), I'm continuing to write them, and enjoying the process.

Happy mailing, and happy endings to 2015!

...of serious mail neglect...

I wish I had something interesting to say, other than "grad school ate my life." But, really:

Grad school continues to eat my life.

I didn't even read my mail for over a month, let alone write any. It was a little sad, from a mail and postal perspective, but I assure you I was happy and fulfilled with much music.

However, there was a pen-pal / mail-sized hole in my life, and on this, my mini-Thanksgiving break, I did manage to read 6 weeks worth of mail (not that much, really, since I haven't been sending any), and even write a bunch of letters and postcards, too.

So, I'm not dead, I'm just buried in grad school and music. I have a longer break in December/January, and I look forward to spending more time with mail then, when I am between semesters and without quite so many obligations, assignments, and performances hanging over my head.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving, and happy mailing, all!

I was worried this would happen...

Wow, is this my longest interval between posts ever? Oh no. I can explain:

GRAD SCHOOL ATE MY LIFE.

I'm enrolled in the maximum number of credit hours, serving as a TA for a challenging class taught by a brilliant professor, going to as many (mostly free!) concerts as I can, and trying to collaborate with as many other musicians as I can. I commute via train (in fact, I'm posting this from a train now: thank you, Amtrak wi-fi!) and subway and foot or bike, and I have to plan on a door-to-door travel time of a little over 2 hours, each way. I'm doing this commute almost every weekday. I get weekends mostly at home, but I spend a lot of weekend time practicing and staying on top of my coursework.

I am happy as a clam, folks, and loving every minute of it - living and breathing music, and not taking one iota of it for granted - but I really have to prioritize right now. I am not writing many letters or postcards... in fact, I am loathe to admit this but perhaps sharing it publicly will help me get it done: I haven't even finished unpacking my stationery or my etsy inventory! I'm searching for balance, and am still taking some serious time to unwind by writing a little bit of mail here and there, but... I don't think I'll be blogging much until I have a break. (Maybe lots of blog posts and lots of mail over the winter holidays?)

I did visit a great little stationery store on a wee getaway to Maine last month, and I took a couple of photos and got some great stationery (of course I couldn't walk away empty-handed, even though I'm hardly writing any letters these days!) so I hope to post about that next. But maybe get my stationery fully unpacked and organized, and re-open my etsy store, first!

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely fall, full of good mail.

The photo accompanying this post is of the gorgeous Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory, where I'm studying, and I took the photo at convocation in early September.

Moving soon, etsy store soon on hiatus

In mid-August I'll be moving to lovely New Hampshire. I can't wait! I love New England and I'm so excited to be back up there again... but I really dislike the actual moving part, especially long-distance moves. (But really, does anyone ENJOY moving?)

It's time to pack all my stuff. Ugh. Packing stationery is not so hard, it's not fragile and it lays nice and flat in a box. Packing fountain pen inks, not so fun. Anyhoo, I'm going to leave my Etsy shop open a while longer, but eventually I will have to close the etsy store briefly while items are packed and being moved.

If you've had a yen to pick up any of my writing themed goods from Missive Maven on etsy, now is the time. I don't know the exact date I'll close the shop yet, but it will be sometime in early August... depends on how the packing goes.

My etsy shop isn't closing for good, of course: I'll re-open once everything is settled and unpacked in our new location.

Wish me luck packing!

Happy 10th birthday, Postcrossing!

Happy birthday, Postcrossing! I've been an enthusiastic Postcrossing participant for more than 9 years now -- almost the entire time Postcrossing has existed, and certainly longer than I've had this blog -- and it's enriched my life in more ways than I can say. Postcrossing is now 10 years old and I invite you to explore their birthday celebration, and if you've never checked out Postcrossing before but you're curious, I highly encourage you to take this opportunity to do so.

The photo above shows a postcard from Germany I recently received via Postcrossing. I often show the postcard image or the postage stamp in a blog post, and in this case both of them were fairly pedestrian, but wow - what a NEAT postmark! It shows the Bremen Town Musicians, a fairy tale that has made the German town of Bremen famous. It's certainly what I think of when I think of Bremen, and as soon as I saw this postmark I recognized the icon and the story. This is just another fine example of all the wonderful surprises that Postcrossing brings.

June 26, 2015: Historic day for equality in the USA!

Image via Newsweek

Yesterday - June 26, 2015 - was a history day for civil rights, equality, and LGBT rights in the USA.

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the USA ruled that everyone has a right to marry.

Many of us knew the decision was to be announced yesterday, and along with millions of others worldwide, I awaited the decision. I wish I could have been downtown (I currently live in Washington, DC - capital of the USA, home of the Supreme Court and the White House, pictured above) with the revelers, but when the decision was announced, I was alone in my office at my day job. I started crying when I learned the news. Friends and family called, texted, and emailed throughout the day, and I went around crying and hugging my co-workers. When I came out nearly 20 years ago, I never imagined I'd see this day in my lifetime. This is an amazing victory and I think June 26 should become a national queer/LGBTQ holiday!

All kinds of wonderful support was evident yesterday, and continues to be so. Last night the White House, home of President Barack Obama and the First Family, lit up in rainbow lights in support of the decision - pictured above.

This post has nothing to do with mail, but it has so much to do with my life, and I had to share the joy. As I have mentioned before (see "I'm a day late for National Coming Out Day" or the labels gay or transgender for more info), my husband Alex is transgender and I am bisexual; we identify as a queer couple, not straight. We are legally married already, but that is really only through luck. Alex happened to be born in a state that, for a certain period of time, allowed folks to change their birth certificates, and he got his birth certificate changed at the right time to allow us to marry legally. This would not have been possible if he hadn't been able to change his birth certificate, and if he hadn't been able to jump through all the hoops to change his gender legally from female to male, on the right documents (birth certificate, driver's license, passport, etc: a different process for all). I'm not going to go into all the details about that, but we were one of the few queer couples who was lucky enough to achieve that legal status. Yesterday that right was granted to all couples in love in the USA, regardless of gender - no more discrimination. All our friends and loved ones can marry if they wish, and those who have already married in states that previously allowed it will now be granted all the federal benefits, and their marriages must be recognized all across the country... even in the states that had previously explicitly banned and refused to recognize their unions.

Please join me in celebrating this occasion that holds immeasurable joy!

UPDATE: It is worth noting that just moments after my tweet about this blog post, I received my first homophobic hate tweet. It is hardly that bad, but it is noteworthy nonetheless. We are going to see a lot of backlash to this decision from those haters. Haters gonna hate. Buckle your seatbelts, because we are in it for the long ride.

LOVE STILL WINS.

India releases International Day of Yoga stamp

Thanks to PhilatelyNews on Twitter, I've just learned about this FANTASTIC new stamp release from India: International Day of Yoga stamp.

June 21 was recently declared International Yoga Day by the UN General Assembly. I may not write about it very often on this blog (if at all?), but yoga is another of my favorite hobbies, or perhaps better stated, lifestyle and fitness habits; I've been practicing yoga seriously for about 5 years now. So I was extremely excited to see this stamp release that showcases an essential part of India's heritage (and I recognize here that India comprises many different cultures!)... which also happens to be something that has changed my life and health.

Also, it's a lovely stamp! I actually like the selvage around the stamp even better than the stamp itself, particularly the colorful representation of the various asanas, or poses. I am also delighted that they kept the figure on the stamp gender-neutral. Yoga is for everyone, and for every body.

If any of my blog readers are in India and would be willing or able to send me mail with this stamp, please let me know! I'd love to do an exchange. I'd be so excited to see this stamp in person!

Does anyone else know of some cool yoga stamps out there?

UPDATE: Philatelist blog-reader Albrecht shared this other yoga series from India, 1991 issue.

Thinking of my grandfather on Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Today I am thinking a lot of my grandfather, of blessed memory. That's him in the photo above (read the great "Dialing for stamps" story): he was a career postal worker, and a casual philatelist and stamp collector. I think a great deal of my love for stamps and postal service trivia must have come from him. Certainly a lot of my vintage stamps did come from him: he gave me his stamp collection a little before he died. He didn't mind that I use some of the stamps for postage, he just wanted the collection to go to someone who would appreciate it.

He passed away 6 years ago. I am so thankful for all the time we had together, and that I wrote him a lot of letters, particularly in his later years. My mother and I cleaned out his house after his death (he had lived in that house for 50 years!), and along with a great deal of postal memorabilia, I had the joy of finding a lot of my letters to him stored in the drawers right next to his favorite chair, where he spent the vast majority of his time... he clearly took them out and re-read them frequently. I was so touched that they meant so much to him. (I've lived halfway across the country from him, and the rest of my family, for all of my adult life.)

You can read more posts about my wonderful postal-worker, stamp-collecting grandpa, but in the meantime, I hope all the fathers out there - both mail-loving and otherwise - have a great day. I am very thankful that my own father is in good health and happiness, and I'm going to call him shortly.