posted 2007/10/31 at 20:24
Nothing like the combination of withered leaves falling off of trees and me going another year without a Halloween party to go to (or props for said party) to remind me of just how old I'm getting. Actually, yesterday was kind of a huge culmination of one particular reminder, and I'm still kind of stewing about it as I spend another lonely Halloween. (I doubt the neighbourhood kids want me lecturing them about how sexist/violence-promoting their costumes are.)
Several weeks ago a couple of my North Carolina friends tried to start a meme where people sent them postcards to decorate the walls of their rooms, since in this day and age the Internet enables us to keep acquaintances all over the country if not the world. I thought that this was a fun thing to do, and I certainly wanted to send them postcards. My first thought was to go to the gift shop at Wildwood since I knew I saw postcards there the last time I was there. Well, after finally making time to head over there, first I found that the gift shop had moved over a mile away, then I found out that their hours had changed, and then yesterday, when I finally got there when the store was open, they had no postcards whatsoever.
The shopkeeper on duty suggested that I try the post office nearby, but I couldn't see any postcards on sale there (and I didn't have time to wait in line for the two people on duty there to help me), so I hit Meijer and struck out again there. At that point I had to rush up to campus to teach, and my students suggested that I might try a local airport. After class let out I then drove all the way out to Toledo Express Airport (which is fairly far from my house and in a pretty seedy part of town), and not only did they not have any postcards on display at the gift shop there, but the shop was closed anyway.
After I got home and stewed a bit I tried looking online for Toledo postcards, but the only postcards I could find were of buildings in Toledo that were probably torn down long before I was born. Now, I'll admit to being very critical of Toledo (particularly its laughable attempts at tourism, such as our mayor's clueless performance on The Daily Show several years ago), but you would think that any city, let alone a city the size of Toledo, would make it easier to find postcards of the few good things we have here like the park system. More than that, though, I'm kind of taken aback at just how difficult it's been to find any postcards anywhere. I will grant you that our new electronic world kind of makes postcards obsolete in a number of ways, but even though I'm hardly an expert on Americana, I can confidently say that postcards are one of those pieces of our cultural heritage here in America that shouldn't ever be so quick to disappear. From the tacky to the beautiful, the informative to the silly, postcards hold a special place in our history, and I can't believe they would disappear out from under my nose like that.
I've heard reports from other people trying to complete this meme that they're having difficulty finding postcards as well, so this isn't just a Toledo thing. It's still a sad thing, though, and another thing to make me feel old.
Most people in Japan either buy inkjet friendly blank cards and make their own postcards (aka nengajo, or send pictures to some online service to do it for them. Much cheaper and more personal than buying something preprinted...
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon