Post by madbaker on Oct 6, 2023 3:10:56 GMT
Hi everyone,
I was out for a walk along the beach on this unseasonably warm autumn afternoon, reflecting on what I've read on TSF this week. Several recent posts, either around the current newsletter, or some potentially 'non-traditional' stamp displays, caught my attention. I hear folks sounding nervous, or worried, or apprehensive, about writing posts and articles which aren't like the traditional philatelic articles of the past 125 years.
I suspect they are nervous because instead of writing about a little known mail route between Assiniboia Territory and Upper Canada in the days before the railroads, or a constant plate flaw in the 3c Small Queen, they are writing personal stories about, for example, all the ways they use the modern stamps that catch their fancy, or life and times of a photographer whose images were used, eventually, to create a postage stamp.
Please, please, please. Do not stop writing those personal stories. I love them and frankly, the hobby needs more of them.
Or perhaps, to put it differently, the hobby needs more of the "personal" in all our writing, both the technical and the non-technical. Rather than telling us how it's done, show us how you do it. Don't just tell us what you do, tell us why you do it.
My favourite article in last year's newsletter, among many excellent articles, was ChrisW's story about his father how stamps of the South Pacific continue to re-connect Chris to his dad. I've read many, many WW2 philatelic articles over the years but Chris' story grabbed me like no other. There was so much love in it. It reminded me of the veterans of my local club, talking about the stamps of Italy before sliding into stories about serving in Italy during the war (which, of course, was the entire reason they collected Italy!) It made me want to call my Dad and make sure he was OK.
"Technical" articles can be personal too. I was fascinated by a recent presentation about print varieties where the presenter shared the adventure of how he got to the bottom of things -- researching memos by Perkins Bacon, travelling to the archives to see documents first hand, etc. And I loved Stan and Chris's recent article on soaking stamps. It was thorough, detailed, and scientific, and yet their personalities came through in the article as well. Two friends with different points of view and a shared desire to get to the bottom of things. Lovely.
The artist James Victore has a saying which I steal often - "In the Specific lies the Universal." Specific, personal stories about an aspect of the hobby that gets you excited, in turn, gets me excited. Excited about your passion project, but more importantly, about my own passion project. We connect through mutual excitement, if not the actual topic. (I may not be a 'flyspecker', but I love watching flyspeckers experience the thrill of a new find.)
So please, breathe deep and share your stories. I'd love to hear them, and I know I'm not alone. 💖
PS - if you're screaming "you first, Marko!" at the screen, I'm going to give it a go in an upcoming newsletter. I promise. 
PPS - If a picture works better, consider this:
On the face of it, this is one of the most bog-standard postage stamps in existence. But if 10 of us told a story about it, we'd get some amazing articles, I'm sure of it.
- Sarah would have some stories to tell about Dorothy Wilding, for sure.
- Linda could wax poetic about a philagraph she made with it.
- Someone with better eyes than me could find three other copies with different shades and tell us why the ink wasn't consistent over time.
- Slap a cancel on it and the stories would multiply. Liverpool, NS will have hdm1950 drooling. Kayville, SK, will have me telling you about my family church and the time I tied my grandfathers shoelaces together while he was sleeping in the back seat on the drive home from church when I was 9.
- and I'm very curious about the other 5 stories. What would you tell? ✨