Well, here we are. It’s a year and some change after I swore a solemn social media oath to send one card or letter per week in order to support the United States Postal Service. The service still needs our help. Millions of people who depend on the postal service for free — yes, free, the USPS is NOT taxpayer funded — let me write that again (I love a good repeater) — the USPS is NOT taxpayer funded — daily delivery of prescription medication, social security checks, paychecks, and more, need the USPS to survive.
Living in an urban environment, working from home for two decades before the pandemic (internet required), and being super lazy when it comes to all things adulting (yeah, pretty much everything that can be on autopay in my life is on autopay — including my mortgage), it’s super easy to take the postal service for granted. I don’t live in one of those remote places that UPS and FedEx won’t deliver to (the USPS picks up the “final mile”). I don’t use money orders (many people in rural areas get money orders at their local post offices) to pay rent or bills.
It’s always tempting to think that we live in unprecedented times, that people have changed, etc. It certainly does feel like we used to care about our fellow Americans a lot more than we do now. It’s probably not true, it’s just that we have all become news reporters (not journalists) and our weakest moments can immediately be spread around social media for the world to see — and never forget.
Our fellow Americans rely on the USPS and the USPS relies on postage sales. It’s really as simple as that. So, write your grandma, your neighbor, or a stranger a letter — right now. Just do it. Buy postage. Send letters. Send cards. Help others.
I’ve learned a lot about the postal service and post office muralists over the past 365 days. I’ve also learned the joy that people experience from receiving mail — from knowing that you’re thinking of them.
In the beginning, this project was about the postal service. It still is, but it’s also about you. The joy that you experienced from seeing COVID Cards, whether it was every day online, occasionally online, or in your mailbox, is what kept this project going. Your comments about the posts and the drawings have brought me joy.
COVID Card 365 is a “thank you.” Thank you. You know who you are. You support me and my dorky little impossible-scapes. You are incredibly, beautifully, creatively, uniquely Sketchy — and I can give you no higher compliment than that. Thanks for being on this ride with me (or letting me be on it with you — or next to it or under it or over it, it’s your world, you decide).
Oh, stop it. Don’t be sad. Sketchy Spaces will endure and there are still loads of post office muralists and history to be explored. A Post-COVID Card might pop up from time to time. You never know…