Dear Everyone ~
B is also for bumper sticker! When I received my envelope from MoveOn, I was so excited that I held it up to the light, to see exactly where inside my thank-you-for-donating bumper sticker sat, and then I tore the envelope right open. The backside of the bumper sticker carries a serious encouragement: Display your sticker proudly on your mailbox or somewhere where your mail carrier will see it to let postal workers know that you support them & the essential work they do during this pandemic.
Well, I’ve never put a sticker on my bumper before … and this one is an almost magical match to my car. But then I had my “papered over windows moment,” and realized that my sticker belongs right in my front window.
Three months ago (on March 17, to be exact), I closed the shop and cancelled workshops because of the pandemic. But, to me, Bari Zaki Studio still felt like an oasis of calm and beauty. And then the virus crisis was overshadowed by civic unrest in response to the killing of George Floyd. I joined my shopkeeper neighbors in papering over my windows (and dismantling my displays). Bari Zaki Studio doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Through it all, Will, my mail carrier, has continued to be a bright spot in my days. He’s now working most Sundays, as well as during the week, so that parcels get delivered even sooner. Last week Will had a very special delivery for me: beautiful thank-you drawings from his daughters, for whom I’d prepared a care package of art supplies. I was surprised and touched … and resolved to do a bit more to support the USPS.
In honor of Will in particular and the USPS in general … I’m announcing my goal of raising at least $500 for MoveOn’s advocacy campaign. To do this, I will donate $12 from every sale of my new Booster of Stationery Joy. The Booster will sell for $36 (the same as a Deluxe Bundle), so $12 is 33%. I hope to sell 41 (a prime number!) Boosters to reach my goal. The Booster includes a set of Letters Mingle Souls stamps from 1974. They are among my all-time favourites.
The Letters Mingle Souls stamps were issued in honor of the centennial of the Universal Postal Union, the international body that collaborates and cooperates in getting mail from one country to the next. Each of the eight stamps features a correspondent (or indication of correspondence!) by an artist from a different country. By the way, Letters mingle souls is a quote from poet John Donne.
These stamps lend themselves to all manner of creative communiques. I’m also tucking in a vintage Special Delivery sticker to grace an envelope or parcel.
The Booster comes in four different wraps. Choose from two British sheets of incredibly delightful illustrations by Harold Jones, who drew them for a set of endpapers in 1937, or two Japanese sheets of rich tiny checks, one in watered blue and gold, and the other in sunshine yellow and white.
Give your spirits, and your correspondents, a boost with a Booster. I hope you will share my feelings of gratitude to the USPS for the ease & speed (& economy!) with which we are all able to stay connected via post.
Heartfelt, Bari