Paul and I have been writing and mailing postcards to our WI neighbors. We are encouraging them to vote for Susan Crawford. We are following the script given to us, and I hope it is helpful. Today, I read about some folks in Virginia who have a tradition of mailing postcards but with a different spin: craftivism. Sociologist Betsy Greer is credited with the term. Craftivism: the merging of activism with crafting to present a creative message louder and more potent than the ordinary brochure or flier. I love this because it feels, to my mind, more human and connected and less marketing-forward. I'm finishing my scripted postcards, but it has me thinking about how my creativity, humanity, and relationships can contribute to a powerful message.

Side note: While writing postcards, I wondered if some people would find my cursive unreadable. My brain had tucked in the back that more and more younger people can't read cursive. This is because it was removed from schools around 2010. In 2016, cursive handwriting was brought back into many schools, but not everywhere. (Side note to my side note... Did you know you can volunteer to translate cursive for the National Archives?) Chances are it won't be lost altogether, but taking it for granted that everyone can read cursive handwriting is.

When I was little, I remember watching my mom write in shorthand. It felt secret and magical, and it fascinated me. She learned it in college when it was the norm to use shorthand in business situations. I remember her using it most for taking sermon notes on the front of her church bulletin.

All of this has me thinking about how we communicate with ourselves and each other. To try to help communicate something important, I'm writing and addressing postcards. At least, that's the hope. Austin Kleon had a post a few years ago about pointing at things. He shared how this is what artists and writers are doing. It hit me today that this is precisely what activists are doing, too. At the end of his post, he said: "Point at things, say, “whoa,” and elaborate."

Our communication distills into a visual, physical, or verbal: "Hey! Look!" The variety of ways we can do this is as diverse as all of us. I'm thinking of:

Using our different life experiences, cultures, perspectives, creativity, and mediums is powerful and enduring. We—all of us—will communicate, say, create, and be the change we yearn for. And, in case I'm ending on too grandiose of a note... these communications come in endless sizes: from a kind gesture of self-care to being with someone who needs you, to writing a poem, to sketching a landscape or your favorite comfort OC, or working on a sewing project, or calling your politicians, or posting a photo to social media that points to the beautiful thing you saw today. It all matters.

With creativity and hope - here we go.
Janece