Typically, a holiday finds me as far as humanly possible from work. But not this July Fourth; these days my head is in a far different place. I’m still reeling and disbelieving that my rights — as well as those of all Americans who can bear or play a part in a child’s conception — could be taken away with the figurative swipe of a pen. Surely, my daughter is no less an autonomous person as she was a few weeks ago, but so much has changed for her and all of us. True independence requires personal autonomy; if we don’t have that, what are we celebrating exactly?
On a more positive note, hopefully by now much of our community and audience has seen the below message from the Greeting Card Association (GCA).
As the statement notes, the GCA is not a political organization. However, it is the only non-corporate entity lobbying in Washington on behalf of you and I, the citizen mailer. When our constitution was ratified in 1789, the Postal Clause in Article I, Section 8 gave Congress the power “To establish Post Offices and post Roads” and “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper” for executing this task.
Fast forward two centuries or so, and the GCA is the heart of the US greeting card community, as we saw during the summer of 2020 when the association quickly put together a scholarship-funded pitch program for makers of color to acknowledge the immediate need to diversify the industry. Following the Dobbs ruling, our members were again feeling frustrated, angry and lost, along with their own communities. Leading the charge for an official GCA statement was Victoria Venturi of Paper Epiphanies. This is a letterpress brand — but you can see for yourself below that its Portland flagship, with its tagline “cards.gifts.girl power” has already established itself as a very hot bed of resistance in every sense of the word.
For a little exposition, I’ve had Victoria on The Paper Fold, she was just on The Paper Planes Cocktail Hour with Amy and I (the episode is called “Banish the Bunny” and you’ll have to listen to hear specifically which bunny she’s banishing), and she literally just became chair of the GCA PR Communications Committee in June.
Her industry celebrity didn’t just happen serendipitously. Anyone who has been in her presence longer than a minute or two quickly learns that Victoria is a force of nature best appeased and addressed quickly. Anyway, I’ve sat on this committee at least a year or two, and it’s usually pretty quiet. The most rollicking debate so far concerned how to make a series of social media infographics promoting snail mail sharper and stronger.
Obviously, that all changed with Dobbs. In Victoria’s mind, the GCA was going to issue a statement supporting women — 80% of all greeting card senders — and prayers to anyone standing in her way. I joined her charge upon her invitation, collecting posts and statements from members to strengthen her case to the board, and by last week’s end, the GCA statement was out.
True to her fighting spirit that is always reaching for better, Victoria is not thrilled with the final wording — “relates to women’s rights” particularly sticks in her craw — but personally, I don’t want Victoria to be thrilled for a while yet. We have a lot of work yet left to do.
Meanwhile, in gathering everything last week, it was nearly impossible not to be inspired by the pluck and fire of our community, so I’m sharing a taste of what I found below. You can see everyone’s IG addresses in the images; I’m also linking their sites right below each image.
Please follow, like and purchase from these amazing brands as you see fit. (Note: not everyone is a GCA member, although its ranks are constantly growing.) Some of those have already held or are already organizing events; if you are lucky enough to go, I’m officially jealous.
It’s hard for me to see all that and not feel a bit empowered — hopefully others feel that way. Meanwhile, I’ve found some new causes to follow and donate to — along with the knowledge that the above only captures a fraction of what is out there. The American quest for independence endures! If you want to share yours here, please give me a shout at sarah@thepapernerd.com.
