Minnesota woman embraces postcards
Digital rules the day, and hand-delivered mail might fade away, but postcards are an everlasting interest for Rosei Skipper.
Skipper, 35, is a Rochester social media consultant and yoga/barre instructor—and postcard addict. She thinks she’s sent thousands of them. She loves sending postcards so much that she filled seven of them with tiny, carefully-written script answering interview questions for this article.
Those postcards, some dating back to the 1930s, included one that bears a three-toned stylized rendering of the Minneapolis Curtis Hotel and was decorated with an antique stamp featuring a pink-etched image of the famous blues trumpeter W.C. Handy.
Typically unique, in other words.
“Each is a work of art, and a person is more likely to stick it on the fridge or use it as a bookmark or leave it on a bedside table,” said Skipper, explaining her infatuation.
As long as she can remember, Skipper has been sending mail. She thinks it might have started with her grandmother Judd, whom she describes as “a wonderful pen pal” who wrote “beautiful letters.”
“My grandparents weren’t always vocal in giving us their support,” she told the Post-Bulletin. “But through writing, my grandmother showed how much she loved her family.”
Skipper’s postcard habit continues even though her grandmother has passed away. But now, instead of sending mail to her grandmother, Skipper sends postcards to her sisters, who don’t use the internet and rarely use the phone.
“When I get a letter from them, it’s so special,” she said.
More than just family, Skipper sends postcards to just about everyone she knows.
“I know my life is too busy when I don’t have time to send any,” she said.
What does she find so interesting about postcards? Just about everything.
“The thing that’s special about mail is that another person actually touched the message. Their essence is part of that item,” she said.
The postcard shares that capacity for intimacy, and adds the potential to be very public. Skipper is drawn to postcards because they aren’t completely private, and she wonders if the mailman ever reads hers.
The postcard’s tendency to preserve vintage stamps is another reason why Skipper likes them.
“People are less likely to throw away a postcard than an envelope,” she said, so the stamps become a part of the postcard’s aesthetic. The stamps themselves are tiny reflections of the works of art displayed on the postcards.
Skipper’s postcards convey personal notes, quotes, poetry and images. Sometimes she mails stickers or even covers an entire postcard with appealing stamps. On occasion, she even writes words of encouragement to herself. She says that her artist friends seem to appreciate the postcards the most.
As a social media consultant, Skipper said she really loves Facebook, but, she concedes, “In a world where we are all saturated with information on each other’s lives, it’s interesting to have relationships that aren’t so immediate. There’s something to be said for less communication, but more meaningful information.”
Ultimately, Skipper’s postcards are a way to let people know how much she loves them, and the world can always benefit from a little more love.