United States Postal Service Full Service Approved
They Might Be Giants have been representing alternative rock’s brainier and slightly quirky side for more than 30 years now. Perhaps their most recognizable song is “Boss of Me,” the theme to the TV show “Malcolm in the Middle,” but today’s Mail Music Monday selection is their song “James K. Polk.”
The band explains the song as a history lesson, and an attempt to get people to remember dry historical facts about mid-19th Century American politics. Running just over three minutes, the song touches on many national milestones reached under the first term of Polk’s presidency, which Polk considered so successful he declined to seek a second. One accomplishment the band left out of the song, however, was Polk overseeing the USPS’s first implementation of postage stamps in 1847.
Postage Stamps had been introduced in Great Britain just seven years earlier. Polk played a massive role in making the United States span the North American continent, and while his foreign policy’s role in the current shape of our map is often acknowledged, it would be a mistake to overlook the role domestic policy played. Modernizing the nation’s mail provided a part of a communications infrastructure that was essential to settling and governing the vast new territory added to our country.
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We’re celebrating Valentine’s Day in our Mail Music Monday post today, with “The Ballad of Love and Hate” by the Avett Brothers. This bluegrass-influenced folk song, which begins with a letter being mailed, sounds as if it could have been written 70 or 80 years ago, but its origins are much more recent than that. It was released in 2007 on Emotionalism, the album credited with bringing the Avett Brothers to wider recognition in the music world.
The Avett Brothers have a wide range of influences in their sound, and have been compared to acts as diverse as The Beatles and The Ramones. The band has been active since 2002, and recent interest in the folk genre has boosted their profile. They performed with Mumford & Sons and Bob Dylan at the 2011 Grammy Awards.
As for “The Ballad of Love and Hate,” it may seem an oddly melancholy song to pick for Valantine’s Day at first. It’s certainly not a sweeping romantic crooner or a high-energy dance number. But to me, at least, the song is a reminder of how we look at things affects our ability to enjoy them. These days it seems too many people use Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to lament what they don’t have in their lives, whether it’s singles unhappy with their status or people in relationships unhappy with the relationships they’re in. Me, I’d rather go the other direction. I see Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to celebrate love, and all the good things it brings, regardless of relationship status.
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Yes, it's finally come to this. I'm surprised that it's suddenly making the mainstream news as it's been proposed for years. It looks like it may actually happen in August of this year — 2013.
When it first came to my attention I was shocked at the varied response of the mailing industry. My fellow mailers were all over the board with some making comments like, “No use wasting time worrying about it, they're the post office and they will do whatever they want.” and others saying things like, “It will never happen.”
I also heard a lot of comments, mostly from leaders and board members of various mailing organizations, who said things like, “Well, better 5 day delivery than ‘no' delivery.” All I could do back then was shake my head and keep sharing my own point of view, which was, “Six day delivery is too important to our industry and American citizens — mostly the elderly and those in rural communities — to end.” And now it appears to be ending without a fight.
Well, a few are still fighting but is it enough? I agree with American Postal Workers Union (APWU) president, Cliff Guffey, when he says, “USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart.”
I just feel sick about this. Seems that few put much thought into others who are affected by and dependent on mail for important life affecting correspondence, government checks, or contact with the outside world that they may not otherwise have because they live in rural areas without access to a great internet connection.
How do you feel about this announcement?