Dear Reader,
Can you recall the last time your inbox didn't just contain invoices and pamphlets but also, among the trash, some words from a friend imprinted on the back of a postcard?
If you're a typical digital native, the answer is likely no. Or you can, but it was years ago, and anyway, you think postcards are a bit of a waste of space.
Why send something where you don't even know whether it'll arrive and how long it'll travel when there are countless messaging apps?
What's the point of buying postcards when visiting a new city when all your friends and followers will see the same monuments decorating their covers in your Instagram stories, anyway?
The only time people still buy cards is around the festive seasons or an occasional birthday.
And indeed, it's much more convenient to send a WhatsApp message. There are even digital postcards youc an attach.
Or post your travel pictures for an ephemeral window of time in a story, one in a stream of millions quicker forgotten than captured.
Are postcards just one of those old analog things threatened by extinction?
If the shelves in my city's museums and bookshops are anything to go by, no.
Surprising, isn't it?
Not for me. But for the people who argue that it's inefficient, intransparent, and in the end most of their argument centers around too much effort.
Too much friction. Frictionless is the stuff we want.
Boring.
Look, postcards aren't for the people who want to make their life easy and super convenient.
Still, they're very worth it.
If you think about it, the crypto people will easily get this.
With the rise of photoshop of genAI, you cannot trust a picture anymore. I could upload a bunch of shots suggesting I'm in Chile on my stories - when actually I'm not.
But there's one way that you'd very certainly know.
If I send a postcard.
Look, POAPs are all fun and games but often, all you need is to get the right link and anyone can claim them. Whether they were at the event or not.
But a postcard. Nah.
Because that has handwriting, a stamp from a certain place, and a postal mark. These are all solid indicators that prove you've been somewhere more than a POAP.
But also proving you've been somewhere via postcard is the least interesting part of them.
When you send a postcard, you're showing someone that you think of them.
That they're important to you, and even though you might write the most banale stuff on the back, it'll probably have an outsized impact compared to any of your Whatsapp messages.
Their appeal lies in that each of them is unique. And often, the sender won't even recall exactly what they wrote on them by the time they arrive.
That's fun, in a way. A bit of mystery is good in life.
They can slow you down as you pace through a new city.
During my Granada visit, after walking up the hills, wandering around the Alhambra in midsummer heat, rejoicing over the plaque giving testimony to Tarregas stay there, it was the thought of my friends and family that made me walk into a postcards shop, purchase some postcards featuring views I particularly enjoyed, ask the shop staff for stamps and the next postbox... and find a place to rest. Gather my thoughts. Yes, also drink a beer, and then figure out what I wanted to share.
Space on postcards is, unlike blockspace, pretty limited. So it requires a little bit of consideration. And never forget you need to leave space to put the stamp. Been there forgotten that.
Writing postcards has become a ritual for me whenever I visit a new place.
But my love affair with postcards goes beyond travels.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust
Anyone with a rich inner life and deep curiosity for their surroundings, doesn't need travel to feel inspired. As Proust says, it's often just a change of perspective, ideally having someone else's eyes that allows us to see the world in a new light.
For me art is one way to achieve that, and postcards are often my favorite way to keep artworks that made an impact on me around. Physically around, kept neatly in my box of postcards where every once in a while I'll look at them.
Or they'll find a place over my desk, where they share the string with random quotes I wrote down, pictures I took, and my ticket for the Jujuts Kaisen exhibition last year.
Postcards also make for great bookmarks, if you need further inspiration.
Collecting them, provides a way to visually map out some experiences I made, each connected to a memory.
And the cards I send and receive, on a more philosophical level, serve as a token of my existence.
I'm reading a Brahms biography at the moment, and much of the inner life, and thoughts are delivered as quotes from letters and cards.
Writing these is different from writing a Whatsapp.
Writing cards and letters requires coherently laying out your stream of consciousness. It can also be a deeply intimate act when you do it with your own hand vs typing - where it's forced in the same font and box as everyone else's.
There's also no quick copy paste, no backtracking except for striking through.
And even then a trace remains.
That's beautiful, no?
Little bits and pieces we send across the world carrying our thoughts, and affection for the recipients.
Am I trying to convince you to send postcards?
Maybe.
But then, you're old enough to figure out what you want for yourself.
If you do decide to try it though, I'm sure you won't regret it.
And if you would like to receive one, hit me up.
For the more artsy, you can even design your own. I've been making postcards for conferences a few time instead of business cards, and it's always been well received.
"There is no such thing as a letter (postcard) that does not deserve to be delivered."
Violet Evergarden
Thanks for reading 💚
Also stop by the /postcards channel if you feel like seeing some postcards people on Farcaster have sent and received. It's mostly me sharing postcards, but hey, that can easily change, as more people decide that it's worth doing this - especially in such an URL first environment as crypto.
P.S If you haven't already, watch Violet Evergarden. It's an anime in which letters play a huge role. Be warned though, you might shed a lot of tears. The good kind.
Naomiii
