In 2011, a man named Ivan Cash had a bright idea. He wanted to help meld electronic communication with the “vintage” art of letter-writing. The questions were: How could he pull this off, and what impact could it have on the world? Turns out, his art led to him being invited to join an exclusive group that determines what images go on U.S. postage stamps.

In a Reel posted to his Instagram account, Cash explains that it all started when he created an art project called SNAIL MAIL MY EMAIL.

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A small hand-picked group

“2,000 volunteers and I turned strangers’ emails into beautiful handwritten letters and mailed them around the world, for free,” he says. “The project lasted six years, involved tens of thousands of letters, and eventually became a book.”

But it’s what happened years later that made Cash’s appreciation for “snail mail” all the more serendipitous. He explains, “Years later, I received an unexpected invitation to join the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) for the U.S. Postal Service.” It........

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