Fully Psyched

A conglomeration of things

A conglomeration of things

Hastily written postcard about frontier justice

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I wrote this postcard back in October. Posting it today.

Hastily written postcard to Tom.
Hey Tom — Greetings from the gas station / post office / general store / restaurant in Fields, Oregon. I just sat down for breakfast here. I talked to a guy named Josh from Bend, and the waitress told me a story about a dude who showed up in town, stole a truck, and got his ass beat. Pistol-whipped, Old West style

Subscription postcards: Governor Bigfoot, motivating achievement, and radical banana slugs

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Postcard collage. Bigfoot in a suit, with the caption "California Governor". Above that is the phrase "The Most Impossible Job in the World".
Hello Sharon! You are the recipient of one of two Bigfoot postcards I’ve written this month. As you might have guessed, I really like Bigfoot and hope you do too. Did you know that modern political campaigning was born in the 1934 California gubernatorial race? Democratic candidate Upton Sinclair lost the race when Republican operatives launched a smear campaign asserting that Sinclair was secretly a Bigfoot who wished to redistribute the contents of California picnic baskets. Sad but true.*-Mike

*Not true at all. No Bigfoots ran for governor until the 2003 California recall election. Sinclair not smeared on Bigfoot charges. Learn more here: tinyurl.com/1934gov

Postcard collage: A little man grasping a gigantic yellow banana slug. Text: "Must-have products, promotions, and services to fuel an active lifestyle".
Hello Sacha! Ever since I arrived in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve been stocking up on the latest and greatest outdoor gear. I need it to keep weekend warriors from laughing at me. Last year the trend was using llamas as pack animals. This year the hot new fad is slug-packing. My new banana slug weighs 900 pounds and carries all my gear no problem. His name is Chiquita.

Postcard collage: A man with a weird helmet-and-camera face, in front of a waterfall, beneath the word "ACHIEVE" in all capital letters.
Hello Jeff! And happy New Year. Everyone is making New Year’s resolutions right now. (Mine: reduce Chef Boyardee intake to less than 50% of total diet, launch successful class-action lawsuit against ConAgra Foods). So I figured you might like a motivational postcard to help you succeed. Commanding you to achieve seems pretty motivational, so I am optimistic this postcard will help.

Important update: The oblong, flesh colored area in the middle of the above picture is not a male appendage. It is an abdomen. You can find the G-rated original image here. Sorry for the heart attack, mom.

Subscription postcards: Big money, big pills, Bigfoot

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Postcard collage: A gigantic wallet in the sky above a sunset-lit Crater Lake. Text: The word "GOOD" in large, capital letters.
Hello Erin, and happy New Year from the United States! Do you have heavy-handed sarcasm in Canada? If not, congratulations: Upon receipt of this postcard, you will be the first Canadian in possession of this awesome new art form! Your friends will be wary; try to explain how great it is. Naw, just kidding. The secret purpose of this postcard is to illustrate my belief that utility is not equivalent to moral authority. Inanimate objects can not be good or evil; moral authority is derived from the proper exercise of individual agency blah blah blah should have sent you another Bigfoot postcard.
Postcard collage: Elvis and Nixon, with the text "Our Pill-Filled Lives" and an old-style TV set.
Hello Evgeniya! Fun fact: The Elvis-Nixon photo is the most requested document from the National Archives. If we lived in a fair and just world, the most requested document would be the photo of Jimmy Carter and Johnny Cash. Cash was married to Jimmy’s cousin, June Carter. What a family reunion that would be.
Postcard collage: Bigfoot in a suit, with the text "Elect Bigfoot" and another block of text that says: "Are we sliding into a period of moral anarchy? In at least some of the arts, society seems incapable of establishing standards adequate to its own protection."
Hey Steve — remember earlier how I was telling you how I try to send postcards that appeal specifically to you? As a fellow artist, I thought you would want to be kept up to date re: our slide into moral anarchy. I am not sure if the text in this postcard refers to Bigfoot’s campaign platform, or if it’s a commentary on Bigfoot’s candidacy, or if it is a criticism of this postcard itself.

Subscription postcards: Big strides, greywater reservoirs, and badgers

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Postcard collage: A giant foot about to step across the Mississippi headwaters. Text: Award for stepping across the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca, Minnesota.
Hello Andrew! Here’s a postcard I picked up last summer at Lake Itasca, home to the Mississippi headwaters. Itasca is a made-up word, derived from the phrase veritas caput, Latin for “true head”. Apparently the actual headwaters of the Mississippi were a matter of some contention. While there I strode across the Mississippi with my dog Skillet. I was warned to be careful; if he peed in the river near the source he could flood New Orleans. A man and his dog, flirting with danger.
Postcard collage: A big sign that says "DAM" in front of a backlit sequoia.
Hello Mollie! I hope you like this postcard — I made it using a dam-awareness brochure I picked up in Minnesota last summer. Out here in the west all the reservoirs seem kind of low. I have been doing my part to help: I save all my used dishwater, and once a week I drive up to the mountains to dump it in the nearest reservoir. I am joining thousands of other planet-loving Americans in my quest for a greener earth. It must be working — when I turn on the faucet, the water comes out soapy and full of potato peels.
Postcard collage: A man in running clothes next to a tent and pine trees, with the text "All Natural". Behind him is a badger.
Hello Kathleen! Here is a postcard that I made last summer while I was in the Midwest. After I made this postcard I saw a badger in Iowa’s Loess Hills — another great case of life imitating art. For such fierce creatures, badgers sure are cute as the dickens.

-Mike

ps: Did you know Wikipedia has an article titled “List of Fictional Badgers”?

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