A friend of mine invited me to a “Postcard Party.” The purpose of the party was to write postcards to voters in battleground states urging them to vote. I’ve never gotten a personalized postcard from a stranger asking me to vote one way or another and so I was extremely curious. What does one say?
How about:
Dear Stranger:
I’m an old lady now; hell, even my kids are kicking middle age (all five of them). I know what it’s like to be a single mom with bills she can’t pay and, through my work with the Make-a-Wish foundation, I’ve seen how quickly a family’s world can fall apart because of a medical catastrophe. For those reasons, I urge you to vote with compassion in your heart.
Of course I might be writing to someone who feels it’s compassionate to shoot puppies you don’t like! Maybe I should appeal to their pocketbooks.
Dear Stranger:
I’ve been earning my own lunch money since I was eleven. At sixteen I got my first paycheck. The amount was not what I expected but what I could I do? I needed that steady paycheck. I remember thinking I wasn’t going to need social security or medicare because I was going to be filthy rich. Well guess what? It didn’t happen and now I’m horrified that some politicians have been talking about ending either program. Or cutting them.
But it turns out, I worried for nothing. The organizers had boilerplate text ready for us to just copy onto postcards. But not in cursive. It seems many younger people were not taught to read cursive. Anyway, it was a lovely day at the organizer’s lovely home with lovely people. It’s hard to believe that Amy Lauren will actually read my postcard and decide to request an absentee ballot. What do you think? Would getting a handwritten postcard from Jan the Volunteer get your attention or would it go right into the recycling?
Saying nothing in particular 
I can’t really say because I’m registered and vote. I too wonder how many people would pay attention. Maybe the fact that someone cared enough to actually write even part of a postcard by hand would at least get a few people’s attention. The part about cursive just made me shake my head and sigh. Although I’ve been mostly printing since the mid-seventies, I learned, can use, and can read cursive (although my dad’s writing was not easy to read…for anyone.) How do you sign anything if you don’t know cursive??? Showing my age, I guess. Are we back to “X” and then someone else fills in who you are?
Cursive requires more discipline than most young people have – in my experience. Technology changes so quickly that that’s where their focus is and probably should be. Soon cursive will be like calligraphy – an art form.
i would definitely read it before I decided what to do with it 💜💜
That’s exactly what the organizers are hoping for!
Well I think it will work …. especially as it’s hand written. That makes all the difference 💜💜
I’d absolutely read it! And I do think this type of voter outreach can make a difference. One of my many theories about how the U.S. became what it is now–as opposed to 2015–is that a huge percentage of current American adults didn’t learn enough about history and government when they were in school. Maybe they had bad teachers or maybe they simply didn’t care, but the end result is the same. People who don’t really understand things are far more easily convinced than people who do. But a postcard from a stranger may be just enough to convince Amy to request that absentee ballot. It may even convince her to learn about the candidates and vote with compassion!
Well, when you listen to people say that Constitutional rights are God given, yes it appears many were either asleep in class or not required to take history or civics!
seems like a very different party then the one I recently invited you to. Duke
We might have to be able to write even more postcards if we’d smoked some magic mushrooms!
This next election seems to be shaping up to be the most important one that we ever had, but I have no idea how Amy Lauren will react to your postcard, although I think you are doing a great thing.
I’m certain that all the people at the party recognized that democracy is on the line – there was an almost prayer like quiet that came over the groups as they wrote. Please, please, make the orange thing go away.
I like the idea of a handwritten card and you never know, it might be the gentle reminder some people need. At this point anything that protects our democracy… and puppies… is alright with me.
😉
At this point it feels like a Hail Mary pass.
By the way —- Trump eats it! And it’s insane but true that millions and millions of people support a fascist who, without blinking twice, did everything he could to try and steal an election.
And he had lots of help from people sworn to protect the Constitution. That’s the scary part. The adults should have acted like adults and not frightened and greedy children.
Gonna take more than a postcard or two to turn the head of any “undecided”. Undecided? Really? More like past Drumphers who’ve had their orange-colored glasses ripped from their faces.
Either one is a rational, critical-thinking human or a dipshit.
“Conservatism is a disease. It’s an insatiable drive to find a philosophy that justifies selfishness.” – Somebody, not me.
I have sent postcards as well, and wonder at how effective they are. I have heard that it can make a difference. I made phone calls back in 2016, but I don’t think I actually got to talk to more than one or two people in my 2 or 3 hour window, so that felt pointless to me.
I think these days of caller ID very few people answer phone calls from people they don’t know. Postcards are a bit less invasive.
Would getting a handwritten postcard from Jan the Volunteer get your attention or would it go right into the recycling? Straight into recycling. I like the optimism behind this postcard project, but without knowing the sender personally I’d politely ignore the card even if I agreed with it.
Interesting! Do you feel like it’s an unwanted intrusion into your life? Just curious. I think I will continue going to these parties – the people were so lovely and are genuinely scared to death (as am I). It felt like a prayer session..
Intrusion? No. Just another piece of unsolicited mail I have to deal with, like catalogues or postcards telling me about *free* dinners for retirement planning. I dislike the paper waste, I guess. BUT if you are having a good time and feel surrounded by hope, then go for it.
Not taught to read cursive? 🙄
So I’ve been told.
I’m not surprised. I read some time ago that in some schools in New Zealand, kids are not even taught to write any more on the premise that everything is now on a a keyboard. (Which gave me an idea for another story. Yeah!)
🙏🏻
You go Jan!
Not only would I read it, I’d do it.
Of course I’ve been swayed by your appeals, and not the boiler plates, but still I’d read!
Too bad raccoons cause so much havoc, and can carry rabies. They are so darn cute. Okay, so some big fat ones have heads the size of an infant and bodies the size of a bath tub. Nothing to worry about! 😵💫
I saw a clip on the news about bringing cursive back to schools here. Apparently it uses a part of the brain that is now going unstimulated. Duh?!