Teaching Beyond Tropes: Escargot Mail (Without the Garlic)

Focusing on our Make Cycle 2 and #CLMOOC theme of gratitude and reciprocation...

In the typically phenomenal fashion of #CLMOOC, Sarah Honeychurch helped to inspire Karen Fasimpaur who inspired lots of others-to embrace the beauty of snail mail.

Karen's Postcard Project took wings and kept its legs (mixing metaphors) throughout the year, often giving those who were participating in it an emotional lift when they most needed it.

I love this project. All winter long, I added cards to my kitchen walls and cabinets. Just seeing the connections made real - with concrete, hands-on objects - helped me through the gray, cold winter. In the spring, I finally installed a stainless steel postcard display in my house. The postcards are here to stay!

At the beginning of summer, inspired by the thought-provoking cards I had gotten from others, I decided to try some interactive postcards. I got one set on which a person can doodle and another set which gives creative ways to interact via the postcards. The last set is aptly called "Everything is Connected."

I love to draw, so I sent out some with doodles already on them.

I also sent out some with "missions" on them, like this one I sent to Kevin Hodgson:

and this one I sent to Scott Glass:

I got some non-CLMOOC-ers involved, too, because I knew they would love the interconnectedness of it all.

There's something uplifting about interacting on such a concrete yet heartfelt level. Someone took the time to make something, buy a stamp, and mail it out. Online interactions are great, and rewarding, but the feeling of Escargot Mail is just different for me.

I am grateful to those of you who took the time to send me postcards and those who were willing to receive or play with my interactive postcards. (And sometimes the Postcard Project was more like a gifting project...)