American Memorial Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Philippines

“The United States believes strongly in what you call soft power, the value of democracy, the value of the free economic system, the value of making sure that each citizen is free and free to pursue their own God-given ambitions and to use the talents that they were given by God. And that is what we say to the rest of the world. That is why we participated in establishing a community of democracy within the Western Hemisphere. It’s why we participate in all of these great international organizations.

“There is nothing in American experience or in American political life or in our culture that suggests we want to use hard power. But what we have found over the decades is that unless you do have hard power — and here I think you’re referring to military power — then sometimes you are faced with situations that you can’t deal with.

“I mean, it was not soft power that freed Europe. It was hard power. And what followed immediately after hard power? Did the United States ask for dominion over a single nation in Europe? No. Soft power came in the Marshall Plan. Soft power came with American GIs who put their weapons down once the war was over and helped all those nations rebuild. We did the same thing in Japan.

“So our record of living our values and letting our values be an inspiration to others I think is clear. And I don’t think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world.

“We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years… and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home… to live our own lives in peace.”

– Secretary of State Colin Powell, at the World Economic Forum, 26 January 2003, responding to an assertion by George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, that the United States ”is in danger of relying too much upon the hard power and not enough upon building trust”.

Bridging the gap

Tuula in Tampere, Finland sends this beautiful reproduction of a vintage Estonian card, showing the Tarvastu Bridge, near the city of Viljandi. I suspect that the border around the picture was embossed on the original, but this modern reproduction is not.

This scene is very reminiscent of scenes near my own home; there are a great many places over Lake Lanier where the only sign of man’s presence is a bridge like this one. Ironically, Lake Lanier is itself man-made.

...or is it?

Emily sent this head-scratcher from Massachusetts a few weeks ago; I’ve been puzzling over it in between the 50+ hour weeks I’ve been working for the past month. It’s handmade and, while I enjoyed receiving it and find it interesting, I can’t help but think that she mixed up my card with the one she was going to send to the PostSecret guy. I have never received a card like this; it is unique in my collection. It makes me wish I had the time and talent to create handmade cards that others would like. Another wish: that I could decode Emily’s message.

In Soviet Russia, postcard sends you

Yana sends this beautiful and atypical view of Red Square in Moscow. There’s also supposed to be a letter coming, according to the postcard; Yana says that she posted both a letter and this postcard at the same time, and is curious as to which would arrive first.  I shall have to write to her once I receive her letter and give her the results. (Oops, guess I should have waited to post this!)

The postcard was mailed on 15 February and arrived yesterday, without stamps. From the postmark, it is clear that there were two stamps (or more) attached to the card; I can still see and feel a trace of the glue. I don’t think they could have been swiped so cleanly; they must have slipped off in transit. What are the Russians making their stamp glue out of? Potatoes?

Don’t forget to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday today; they’ll stick to you!

Take me to the Hilton

My new friend and fellow bibliophile Linsey found this great vintage postcard of Chicago’s Conrad Hilton Hotel (now just the Hilton Chicago and still going strong). According to the card, “(t)he hotel located on Michigan Boulevard in the heart of Chicago’s world famous convention center is one of the largest hotels in the world.” Sorry, Chicago — with only 1,544 rooms, this hotel isn’t even in the top 20 anymore; most of those are in Las Vegas. But Hilton can still claim two out of the top 20: the Las Vegas Hilton, and the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. Imagine that: a hotel big enough to be considered a village.

This card was published by Dexter Press for Cameo Greeting Cards, Inc., 4011 No. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago.

A puzzler

Thea in Queensland, Australia, with whom I swap postcards regularly, thought she would make me work for my postcard this time around. This postcard-sized puzzle arrived in an envelope in 48 pieces. I thought I might delegate this to 6-year-old Grandson #2, but then I looked a little more closely. If you examine the individual pieces rather than the completed picture, you will notice that almost every piece is an abstract mess of wavy lines or dots.

The joke’s on Thea, though. I let the puzzle sit for four days, being extremely busy with work; the missus decided to put most of it together for me. She figured out Leonardo; I filled in around the edges.

This “postcard” came from a Da Vinci exhibition near her home, with working models of Leonardo’s vehicles and some of his other inventions, built according to his plans.

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain

Along with yesterday’s view of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Walt was kind enough to send along this real photo postcard of Okmulgee Tech, now known as the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.

Okmulgee Tech RPPC (Verso)

The “DOPS” stampbox on this postcard was used from 1925 to 1942; I would guess that this postcard was produced closer to the end of that window.

Remarkably devoid of automobile traffic

“Located in the heart of Wisconsin on the Wisconsin River, Stevens Point is a thriving and beautiful city showing rapid industrial development and the Stevens Point State University is located there.” Minus two points for the run-on sentence on this postcard, published by the Wyman Post Card Co., 722 Eau Claire Blvd., Wausau, Wis., probably in the mid-1960s.

Stevens Point State U isn’t the only thing located there; check out those names shown in their heyday: Woolworth’s, Fox Theater, Rexall Drug Stores, Household Finance Company.

This card comes from Walt, who was desperate to get a Georgia map postcard, and surprised me by sending this card plus three others in exchange. Thanks Walt!

Have fun storming the castle!

Omran sent me several nice cards from Tripoli last month; while I was able to blog about his postcard of a Libyan woman at Girls Go Postal!, I haven’t had a chance to post any of the others. But Evelyn’s A Festival of Postcards, 7th Edition provides a great opportunity to post two well-lit landmarks.

Pictured above is Saraya al-Hamra, the “Red Castle”, a fortress built into Tripoli’s ancient city wall and dates from at least the 16th Century. In 1988, it was renovated and reopened as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Museum, a place where one can find Libyan cultural artifacts throughout history.

"The Islands"

This second postcard shows Myadan al-Jazair Mosque, also in Tripoli. “Al Jazair” is Arabic for “the islands” and is also the Arabic name for the city of Algiers.

Hot enough for ya?

“Between 1935 and 1943 the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public’s imagination for education, theater, health, safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived. This contemporary design illustrates many of the WPA-era posters, including those of our National Parks.” And so, alas, it’s not a reproduction of an authentic WPA poster, but it did fool me. This brilliant re-creation is by Doug Leen and Brian Maebius.

This card comes from Marsha, who bought this card in Hawaii in January, and mailed it to me from Wisconsin in February.

Want to visit some other exotic places from times past? Check out today’s Postcard Friendship Friday.

Ystävyydestä!

Anneli was kind enough to send this reproduction of a turn of the (20th) century divided-back card from Finland; it is the first card of this type I’ve seen that’s not in the English language.

She translates the poem as: “I would love to make a band of beautiful flowers for you, my friend, friend whose picture is in my heart.”

Ouch! Speared him right in the Dells

Is it me, or does this sturgeon look surprised? “The Lower Dells has always had an abundant supply of sturgeon. This photo by H. H. Bennett, pioneer landscape photographer of the Dells, was made in the late 1880s. The spear fisherman stands at the cribs near the present dam.”

Postmarked next Tuesday, it's mail from the future!

This Wisconsin postcard came from Tim in Indiana via Maine or, as Tim puts it, “a Wisconsin postcard sent by a Hoosier with a Maine postmark.” Turns out that Tim has three Mailer’s Postmark Permits, one of which was issued in Meddybemps, Maine. Mail postmarked by the mailer has to be mailed from the post office which issued the permit, so Tim would have had to postmark this card with an advance date, put it in an envelope, mail it to Meddybemps, and ask the postmaster there to mail it on the correct date. As you can see, the postmaster didn’t wait; this postcard is postmarked next Tuesday.

Sure, it seems like a lot of trouble, but who else can postmark their own mail with the word “Meddybemps”?

A card so nice she sent it twice

It’s a good thing Anita was on vacation here at lovely Swartswood Lake, New Jersey; she clearly needed one. I have two copies of this postcard, both sent by Anita; both were sent to her cousin, Miss Rose La Rocca of Brooklyn, New York; both were sent at the same time on the same day. Rose must have been scratching her head when these two card fell through the slot in her door. 

"Having a wonderful time" #1

Postcard the first: “To Rose, Having a wonderful time. It’s real lovely out here. I miss you all. Give regards to all home. I’ll be seeing you soon. Your cousin, Anita.” 

"Having a wonderful time" #2

Postcard the second: “Hello Rose, Having a wonderful time. How are your brothers, aunt, uncle, Grandma and you. I’ll be seeing you soon. Love, your cousin, Anita.” 

Sure, she sounds nice, but Anita is obviously off her nut. I have a few theories: 

Theory 1: Anita is being overworked back in Brooklyn, and ran out to the Garden State for some desperately-needed R&R. She wrote a dozen postcards home and just didn’t realize that she wrote to Rose twice. 

Theory 2: This “Lake House” is a sanitarium, and the phrase “I’ll be seeing you soon” carries with it an implied threat of the Michael Myers variety. Note that she enumerates the entire houseful of relatives against whom she has a grudge. 

Theory 3: In reality, Anita sent only one postcard. The second card is from one of those alternate universes, like in the last Star Trek movie. 

I will be happy to entertain any other theories; please leave a comment. And once you’ve helped me figure out what went on here, be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday today. Speaking of vacations — TGIF!

A souvenir of the birthplace ("birth house") of P. Ramlee

Lyan was very excited to have been able to visit the birthplace (now a museum) of P. Ramlee (1929-1973), an actor, director, and singer/songwriter, and an entertainment icon in Malaysia. I can’t help but notice that she selected this very dashing, shirtless portrait of Ramlee, when there were no doubt other options — say, Ramlee (seen with his guitar) in one of his comedic roles:

The stamps denote the “1Malaysia” initiative. Malaysia is a very diverse culture, comprised of native Malay and other indigenous peoples, as well as ethnic Tamils and other Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese, and many more groups. 1Malaysia recognizes this diversity, but encourages unity by celebrating the unique Malaysian culture.

Looks a lot skinnier when he's lying down

Linkenel in Bangkok, Thailand was kind enough to share with me this image of a reclining Buddha, which is in stark contrast to the standard image of a fat, jovial Buddha usually seen in American culture. According to the card, the existing temple was built on the site of an older monastery.

Like Buddha, it looks as though the postman has been lying down on the job, too; the card isn’t postmarked, but she dated it 24 September 2009, and it arrived on 12 February 2010. She sent this card about 20 days after I last sent a card to her – which she had already received by the time she sent this, as she references my card in her message.

Just what are you suggesting?

Since there’s no worded suggestion, one must assume that it’s the illustration that is meant to impart some guidance. What I’m getting out of it is that you should take your lover to a quiet spot in the moonlight, stick out your tongue, and see what happens.

Hand-delivered

This card didn’t go through the postal system and appears to have been hand-delivered to Great-Grandpa Phil, presumably by some young lass who was making her intentions clear. Looks like Phil had a happy Valentine’s Day; I hope you do the same.

The more things change

Shirin sends along these vintage views of Singapore and reminds me that the Hotel Raffles, pictured at the top, is the birthplace of the Singapore Sling — meaning folks were sippin’ on gin and juice long before Snoop Dogg had something to say about it.

Also pictured are a Chinese junk, a snake charmer, and the Golden Sultan mosque. All of these things can still be seen in Singapore today — even a snake charmer, if you look hard enough.

Why? Besides the fun of taking on a government which is ignorant of its own rules, I hate the new ink-jetted text that passes for a postmark nowadays. I’ve also noticed that I get one or two mailpieces a month from mailers that have their own permits, and one can actually tell when and from where it was mailed.

My cancellation device (an “indicia”, really just a rubber stamp ordered from a private manufacturer) arrived a couple of days ago, and I presented it at the Post Office for approval and received my permit. I am sure they were happy to see the back of me.

I am holding off on using it for now; I ordered some special postcards to commemorate the first day of use and am awaiting their arrival. If you’d like a snazzy piece of “First Day of Use” mail with my new postmark, leave a comment.

Is that bear feeling her up?

I hate to admit it, but the first thought that popped into my head upon seeing this image of a bear and a rabbit was the old joke about whether or not feces sticks to their fur, which is rated PG. But these two are clearly friends. The bear is either copping a feel, or he’s shielding her from all those flying apples. Either way, it’s clear that they’re close.

This card comes from Tun, a young Chinese girl who would like to remind you that “everyday is a sunshine day!”

Is that a ski pole in your pocket?

George Barbier (1882 – 1932) was a French illustrator, whose work is in the art deco style and was produced while art deco was very much en vogue. Barbier made a living in illustration as well as in theatre and costume design; he died at the height of his popularity. This work, L’hiver (Winter), is less stylistic than some of his other works but, if you squint, you can see a little Alphonse Mucha in there, and possibly some Maxfield Parrish in the landscape in the background.

This card was produced in and mailed from Singapore, which I had thought was in Southeast Asia but which might actually be somewhere in France. Thanks Ammy!