Friday, July 9, 2010

stories


carrie says she likes stories. jackie and i wish we would have done a better job of keeping track of the stories that went with the mail. i wrote this silly note to the po about the zip and then it looks like it arrived, opened...like the po thinks the mail is to them, just because there is a note on the outside. again, there is no note on the inside, so we don't have much of the story.

3 comments:

  1. So did the postman take the note out of the envelope too as well as open it? Or did the note get delivered even though the envelope was already opened and has since been misplaced?

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  2. the note is misplaced
    i am sure that it was there
    but, we removed many of the contents of the envelopes
    and we'll never get them back in the right envelopes. wish i could blog directly from my brain. i have several good caroline ideas. hope i don't lose them.

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  3. I am quite sure the note was there, though I found it funny and puzzling that the envelope had been opened. At first I thought Jean must have done it as a joke - our letters to each other are often quite absurd. Maybe the PO was disappointed not to find any top secret info inside. I can't remember why I thought separating the notes and envelopes would be a good idea. I did not separate many, especially after realizing that I had neglected to create a numbering system for putting them back together. This mail art incident inspired me to do a few experiments involving *transgression of the sanctity of mail.* Sharing mail with the wrong recipient, forwarding mail to a random third person, sending mail to one friend in care of another friend, using a friend's address as my return address. I soon abandoned these experiments - most people were confused and horrified. I had hoped it would generate some interaction, but learned that our culture still has some pretty definite customs and taboos about mail, even absurd mail or mail with humorous intent. I suspect I was completely misunderstood by just about everyone, with the possible exception of Jean, a few of my students, my husband & my kids. Young people, and the young at heart got it, everyone else thought I had turned into the guerrilla girl of mail art.

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