Analog mailbag

The joy of getting and sending things through the mail

Collages made from Warren Craghead drawings on postcards

Hey y’all,

From time to time, my friend Warren Craghead sends me drawings on postcards in the mail. One day I decided to put one of Warren’s postcards at the center of a tape and magazine collage. Then I did it again. Pretty soon I had a little series going, but I got distracted working on other things. Luckily, Warren keeps sending me postcards. Now I’ve got a good stack of them ready to keep the series going.

I really, really love getting and sending stuff in the mail. (One reason I love the typewriter interviews so much — all I need from the people I interview is a mailing address!) I have this ad that the late great Jason Polan ran in The New Yorker pinned to the bulletin board beside my desk:

I’m trying to pass this joy on to my boys. My 13-year-old used to read the Kids Section of the New York Times from cover to cover until they canceled it, so I recently subscribed us to The Onion in print.

It’s so fun when we get a new one in the mail. The boys will study it over each other’s shoulders and read the really good headlines out loud.

My other favorite print subscriptions are quarterly magazines like The Idler. (Getting a magazine only once a season means I actually have time to read it.)

It’s interesting to me how many artists are using the ease of digital services to provide analog, mail-based subscriptions. Cartoonists like Kevin Huizenga and John Porcellino, for example, have tiers on their Patreons where you can receive their zines in the mail.

Here’s a fun zine I got in the mail recently called The Cloud Report, made by artist Christine Tyler Hill. Hill is a crossing guard and the zine is a report of her observations at the intersection:

Oh, by the way, if you ever want to send me anything in the mail, here’s my address: