Joyful /"We'll sleep when we're dead."

I. Punch for Joy

Oh, for joy! I'm thrilled with my punch cards. This pink–gray–green is my favorite of several color combinations I printed:

My neck and back is so sore today, I canceled my volunteer shift at the thrift store. Printing is more physical than I expected, and I'd carved linoleum 3 hours at home yesterday, then hand-printed for the entire 3-hour class.
(The jigsaw-cut blocks don't get run through the press, you rub them with a baren. Because I used thick paper––BFK Rives, swankiest punch-cards ever––I had to rub hard.)

I love the cards' look and feel. I love their usefulness as a motivator--one suited to me, anyway. Yesterday I truly went for a walk so I could punch my card.

Another joyful thing:
some other people like the punch cards enough to want one.

A young women in the printmaking class is getting married this weekend and won't be in class next week, our last meeting.
She was admiring the cards and seemed really attracted to them, so I asked her if she wanted one as a wedding present.

"Really?" she said. "I don't want to..." [= Minnesota nice.]

"Don't take one if you don't want one," I said. I only made about a dozen. (It's laborious to print them--for each one, you take apart each jigsaw, ink each piece, and reassemble them before printing.) "But I'd be happy if you want one. You can choose your favorite."

She did.

Another woman who'd been listening said, "I won't be in class next week either...".  [= Minnesota nice, again--godforbid you ASK for what you want. This is not allowed.]
I offered her one too, and she accepted with alacrity.

I was pleased. Many classmates have made "better" prints--more clearly, crisply, and cleanly carved and printed. But because they're multiple, prints raise the question, What are you going to do with these?
Where are you going to put them?

By its nature, I'm realizing, printing is more like mass-communication than private expression. (If you want that, you could draw or paint a single picture and skip the labor.)

I want to keep printing. What would I print?
What could I make to share? 

Any wall art would be small (I have sone of these up myself—including one by GZ.)
Maybe. . . more things like punch cards---common, workaday paper ephemera. Usable things. Things I like.
Common right up until the Internet, now "vintage".

Sewing stuff like button cards and fold-up needle books (oooh!).
Stationery supplies... Tags and labels with holes w/ strings. Paper tickets, like you used to get at movie theaters: "GOOD FOR ONE".
Greeting cards, postcards, playing cards (56 though?). Matchbooks!

It's been a happy class, and I'm sorry it's almost over--I wish it were a semester long.
Me and KG taking selfies in class:

II. Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee...

Biking home on the new urban trail that goes past their house, I stopped at L & M's to show them my cards.  They each wanted a one--said they'd use it, too.

AAAAaaand.... Maura wanted to watch the governor of our state and lover of our State Fair, Tim Walz, give his first speech as vice-presidential candidate.
Did you see it? [here, on youtube]

I was reluctant (a political speech? come on), but politely agreed... And... OMG!
I couldn't believe it.
It was fun. FUN!
Walz's theme was JOY. He was funny and personable and energetic and encouraging.... "We have 91 days. By God, that's easy! We'll sleep when we're dead."

What? IS FUN EVEN ALLOWED in politics?! You wouldn't know it, normally.

Without going too low, he and Kamala are using playground tactics-- hitting right where Trump lives. If that's political discourse now, then give as good as you get, like Kamala did when she taunted Trump,
"If you have something to say, Donald, say it to my face".

You can almost hear, "nyah, nyah, nyah".

And last night Walz did it too:
"Trump is creepy and weird as hell."
Got that right.

BELOW: I saw this "WEIRDO" billboard on a stranger's FB.
I think it's one of several such by Mad Dog PAC.

A comment in reply: "It’s very evocative of Dr. TJ Eckleberg. The waste of the past lingers on, indeed."
[The Great Gatsby, ya know.]

Judging from comments on youTube--not usually the happiest place--other people were as jazzed about Walz's speech as I was:

And, "I am crying in Sweden! Thank you for giving the world hope again!"

Laughing in Minnesota (me) replies, We elected him. You're welcome. 🤣