Valentine Mark Herman

Hahahahaha - I'll find it eventually.  Been trying to find time to see what was happening with the digital novel for a while now but haven't found any.  This was a good way to get myself over there. ;)

Hi Valentine! I'am OK...but a lot of work:) To much bussy.

I recived your mail art. Perfectly! Absolutly - ANY PENNY!

I will do Mail art for you!

Marry Christmass and happy hollyday!

Wish you a lot of health!!!

Val, Enjoyed your postcard.  Thank You.  Glad you liked my enevelope!

peace........................................k

Thank you, thank you, thankyo, Val! TWO envelopes came in today's mail. Well, one I did open and the other was now quite nicely marked "EMPTY". (Nice new eraser stamps, buddy!)

Both are full of wondrous details...'love the "vintage" penmanship on the one envelope, and the old mail boxes too! YOUR "Top Model" pics are excellent, too. Oh, yes, I can spend hours looking at this mail art. Many thanks! xxx

...and takiing the Russian stamps over to post at our "Postal History" group.xxx

Love the turban, Val! now for the New Year you look like some one from 1001 Arabian Nights...Journey to the East! Have a Happy 2011!

p.s.

...and you've got me singing" Bye, bye, Miss American Pie..."

Hi Valentine!

Thank you very much your mail!

Cauli

Val, is this it? About the next generation? It is already "buried" as it was in the blog by DeVillo Sloan"Received: Mail Art Generation, from Ruud Janssen..." (you have it in your upper section on your "page"...it is GOOOOD! Happy New Year! oops in several doses, as I am told i cannot exceed 200 chararcters ;-0

here is a copy:

Bifidus and Katerina debate the future of postal services. Let me make a small contribution.

I think that as long as there is a 'Digital Divide' -- in which some people are on line, and others are not -- there will always be a postal service of some sort. Even when everyone is on-line (what a horrible thought!) and everything is digitised (even more horrible!) there will still be a societal need to transport goods (as opposed to services) from A to B.

We are the privileged, rich ones, part of the electronic First and second Worlds. But there are billions of our fellow human beings who do not have access to all the technology that we have, and most likely have never made a phone call or seen a computer in their life. In terms of (societal) evolution, they are today where our Western societies were, say, 150 years ago -- dependant on much simpler technologies to meet basic everyday requirements.

The future of the postal service can be looked at in two ways.

Nationally, it seems increasingly less likely that it will remain as part of a nation state's 'core business', and will be privatised. As a result of this, the universal postal obligation (mail delivered anywhere within a territory at a uniform price) is likely to be sacrificed  at the altar of Mammon.

Internationally, this will not happen in all countries -- most likely only in the richer ones that seek to become even richer. UPS, FedEx etc can take over the postal services in these countries, and co-operate amongst themselves along the lines of the original Universal Postal Union....

2nd part:

But some countries will choose not to go this route -- and remember that in many countries there is still not free and open communication, rather state censorship of as many forms of communication as possible (hence their problems of controlling the Internet). In this context it is seen vital to a state's interest to control not only what is said, written, broadcast, etc but also even what is thought, and what is sent by the post.

For an example, we need to look no further than the problems we have in sending Mail Art to China.

The cost of a single item of post is also important. I can afford to send 30 or so items of Mail Art a week because I benefit from the what I suspect are heavily subsidised and cross-subsidised rates of the French postal system (which is linked to banking, freight, and many other things). If I had to pay a realistic commercial rate, the price would be much, much higher, and I would be priced out of the system. 'Divided' in another way, no less.

3rd part..grrrr.

Another example. It costs, say, €1 for me to buy a litre of milk at the local store. If I wanted to get my milk from a specific cow and have it bottled/packaged especially for me, it would be very expensive. But I don't: I buy 'universal' milk at a 'universal' price from a non-specific cow.

Stamps are like milk from the local store -- one price fits all even though it makes no difference if my letter is sent to the next village or the other side of the country. If the price of stamps was truly distance related, the economics of the mail would be very different...but the universal obligation negates this.

The State will not whither away, in spite of Marx and Engels' arguments. There will always be a State, and there will always be some form of postal service as part of this. If some national postal services whither away and become FedEx-type sevices, then there will be an even stronger need for the UPU (or a similiar body, but what's wrong with the one that we have got?) to perform the vital, postal, international function of moving letters, packages,postcards, etc from country A to country B.

Sorry that was so long! The End. Val

YES! Have a Happy New Year....I'm out-of-here ;-)

...see you next year!

i have tried seven times now to send a reply to your messages but the send button dosnt seem to work for me!! b**!^** tchnology.

will this work i wonder........

good.  that seems to have woked.

so ....

anything you want to send for the art wallet would be well recieved.  havnt done much with this idea recently.

the stamps you saw on my album page were by mark valentine who lives near leeds.  strange coincidence of names there..

it would be good to meet up on one of your visits to york.  i live in an attic within sight and sound of the station so easy to gind.

cheers

The envelope from the big and little cats from your household to mine has arrived. It's beautiful and Josefina seemed to like it, too. When I showed it to her, she started sniffing it oh so carefully.

Thanks so much!

Valentine, what a pleasure to peruse these new images. a glorious slew!

best,

ejva

hola

gracias por tu envio, puedes verlo en

Collages

Saludos

Samuel

Dear Valentine,

The letter from your uncle Derek is most moving.  Thank you for sharing it with me.  I have a new niece or nephew on the way and I might quote your uncle as he has said some very wise things. 

billytulip sent me this...you do a good tulip drawing there, sir!

Thank you, brings a bit of Spring on this cold day..and gets me in the Valentine-mood!

Hi Valentine. Today recived your letter. Big thanks and this nice present to my birthday!-)

Bless you!

Thank you, Val...this has to be an "unofficial" Valentine from Valentine! Love it..."Little Kitty"? Sassy and sweet!

Thank you, Val...when ever I land in the UK, they will now know who..and what...I am!

Great card...will spend many hours examining the "West End" collage! Hope all goes well in Darlington. You plan to return to France soon? take care!

and this place rocks:

Thanks for the mail-art. Very interesting. True post it a little wrinkle.

http://ntk-mailart.blogspot.com

I love love LOVED the art you sent me, even IF my mom yelled at me when she saw it. Don't worry she just didn't understand what it was...I have to say I think it's one of my favorites so far.

I will send something to you soon!

Haha. It's fine.

Shes just.....elder.

Did you have a good trip ? I wish I could travel! I barely been out of my area of Michigan.

Oh, I meant no disrespect!

I love the picture you left on my profile.

And that sounds interesting. I like cats.

Sorry to hear about your mother. I hope things are going better now.

As for the stamps, I tried to pick out some that fit the criteria that you mentioned. That lot really was strange, tons of stuff that someone had taken off of letters and what not. I sent some to Katerina in Greece as well.

A domestic postcard stamp is currently 28cents. A letter stamp is 44cents.

For a while I had tons of stuff made up but no one to send it to. Since I'm trying to practice more with my stuff, I end up sending off everything I make no matter what. I just send to whoever is new, but rarely get anything back.

I'm with you, I only have a few people that I can count on to send stuff, which is fine...

Postcrossing is almost one to one but you rarely get homemade cards. I've only got one or two homemade ones out of almost twenty cards.

Back to the Sunday domestic activities.

jon

ah!  now was you gig on my audio history of Maastricht?.... sorry, that audio was made two years ago so I can no longer remember... of course the recording of the dinosaurs was done some time ago... Here is a picture of the results of the performance that went with the audio.

Valentine for Valentine! Have a happy, happy day, Val! I can't get my big ol' pc to work today, but soon i hope to scan and post a few "Hearts n' Love" images for you. Enjoy YOUR day!

Agapi, Katerina!

Valentine for Valentine ;-)