Saturday, February 25, 2017

Deer have been coming down the foothills

And I hope they don't need to go as far as the river.

With Paisano in construction mode, I've not driven on it in a while. However, during an NPR news-brief today, I heard that El Paso's border fence segment is one of the first locations to be "modified, "added to," or "changed." I shudder to use the words, "improved," "strengthened," or "walled."
Railroad Bridge at Executive and Paisano near El Rio Bravo

Why begin such work here?  It is always the "vast" areas along the Arizona border and the unfenced lands towards Big Bend that people feel the need to "demand" a wall or fence instead of consistent patrolling as is done here. All this is quite idiotic to me and know that will harm native animals more than any other creature.

How is it possible that people having nothing to do with these lands see fit to grab hard working, vulnerable people, along with our tax dollars stolen from healthcare, education, environmental protection, and alternative fuel research to build such an ugly and sad wall/fence? Slicing families apart while claiming "their" immigrant elders came here "legally" when in fact there was no legal or illegality in that quotient of the time. Only specific groups were allowed to enter at certain times. Immigrants hustled themselves into a ship and prayed they would be allowed into this country. Hoped they could stay healthy enough to pass inspection. At least that was how my great gran Jacksons did it during the pre-Revolutionary era Massachusetts from Yorkshire via White Chapel, just as likely for the same reasons my Gonzales/Gonzalez great grans who came here from Aquascalientes, Mexico in the 1880s for ASARCO—for work, for industry, for capitalism, for a better life.

Such a waste of stale air emanating from this spawn of immigrants, spewing infuriatingly and nasally xenophobic speeches. This kleptocrat. This con. This racist. This man who brags he would sexually assault women who pass his orange muster. His karma wall is mounting high, and i hope it falls on him soon.

O hurry. Set a course now to impeach this narcissistic thief of vulnerable lands, frightened people, and ecological fragility.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Mail Art: A Valentine Remailing Project

The great news today is that several cards arrived by Wednesday and in good order.

2011 Postmark on a card received
from Austin friend
2017 Postmark received
2016 Postmark from Valentine, Texas

Outing for Sunday: A Valentine Remailing

MJ and I made a quick trip to the main post office on Boeing so we could send off my Valentines package for remailing by the post office in Valentine, Texas. The package holds addressed and stamped Valentines cards. Once there, the Valentine Postmaster will, as a courtesy, hand cancel your stamped envelopes, and then remail your letters/cards to the addressee from their station on or before Valentines Day. This is something that keeps the little station on the map.

Prada Marfa 

In 2012, the USPS threatened to close the office, but too many people shouted it down. Quietly, the idea was dropped. This is but one example of how how speaking up and making a noise about a potential change in public policy can sway or at least awaken elected state and local representatives.

Where is Valentine?

Valentine, Texas, is on the road to Marfa, near the Prada Marfa sculpture. To get there, drive east from El Paso on I-10, and exit East onto US-90 at Van Horn; from there, continue 36.5 miles to the sculpture. Valentine the village is there, too, but you would be hard pressed to see it. From there, you can continue on to Marfa proper and stop for lunch. The Prada Marfa sculpture is 2 hours and 20 minutes from the UTEP campus.Unfortunately, my Valentines went out late Sunday afternoon, and may not make the remailing on time. Here's hoping the Valentines reach people with the special cancellation applied. Shown above is last year's cancellation. The other image is of the Prada Marfa, an example of a “pop architectural land art project."
For both envelopes, the street address
has been covered. Rest assured, they arrived safely.

MAIL ART? 

Protocol for sending any remailing Valentine includes a "thank you" card addressed to the postmaster or postmistress. In the art mail community, you also should add more postage as a thank you to the local and delivery postal workers who will decipher the envelopes. This linked article, by the way, provides a lot of information about sending artistic envelopes and includes many inspirational examples. I grovel at their feet.

As far as these sorts of embellished envelopes go, it has not been decided whether or not postal workers like or hate processing/delivering them. But, from what I've heard, at least one postal worker likes the mail that my friend in Austin receives.

Sometimes you need to get away from it all.

And sometimes, it's time to return and be part of the larger world.  Between the first of 2023 and February 14, I painted many watercolo...