Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

Postcard US-3064248 from Tennessee shows the city skyline of St. Louis, Missouri, featuring the Gateway Arch, a 630-foot or 192-meter monument built at the site of St. Louis' founding on the west bank of the Mississippi River between 1963 and 1965 to commemorate the westward expansion of the United States, against the backdrop of a flurry of cloud-to-ground bolts strike.

As the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the arch is the tallest arch in the world and the tallest monument in the Western Hemisphere. The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967. In comparison, the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas stands at 1,149 ft or 350.2 meters.

St. Louis, the second largest city in the state of Missouri, was the hometown of Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014), an American author and civil rights activist. USPS issued a Forever stamp in her honor today, with Winfrey Oprah and Michelle Obama attending the stamp dedication ceremony in Washington D.C.

View image | gettyimages.com

However, USPS failed the fact check for the stamp by featuring a quotation from another author, and had no plan to re-issue the stamp. Nonetheless, the mix-up did not damp the enthusiasm of the dedication ceremony. Even a power outage that also affected the White House and much of the D.C. area could not stop Oprah's speach.

The Answer

When I was assigned postcard US-2921298 to Maine, the recipient stated her loves of poetry in the profile and asked to include a line of a poem on the card. What came to my mind was from the Answer by a Chinese poet Bei Dao (北岛, born August 2, 1949 in Beijing): "卑鄙是卑鄙者的通行证，高尚是高尚者的墓志铭" that would be directly translated into: "Despicable acts are the passport for the Villain; Honorable deeds are the tombstone for the Noble." As Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets (朦胧诗), a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) in China, he opens his 1976 poem by reflecting what a twisted world was where the Villain got a free pass and the Noble was met with death. You can read the full poem with English translation in a blog on sciencenet.cn or a blog on sina.com.cn.

Bei Dao has won numerous awards, including the Swedish PEN Tucholsky Prize, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in Morocco, and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, elected in 1996. He has been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

While China is moving toward a more open and free society, thanks to many advocates like Bei Dao, it is not lost on me that such a twisted world could exist anywhere where the power is absolute and without supervision. That's why we need to vigorously safeguard our civil rights and civil liberties so that we can maintain a society where the Villain will be punished and the Noble will be honored.

Pride + Joy: One Year After Historic Supreme Court Ruling

One year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two landmark rulings on June 26, 2013: one striking down part of the the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denied federal recognition to same-sex marriages and the other allowing same-sex couples to marry legally in California.

Since then, huge advances for the same-sex marriage have brought pride and joy to many couples who could not marry before. Before the rulings, same sex couples could marry in only 10 states and the District of Columbia; today, that number has almost doubled to 19 states and the District of Columbia, covering near 44% population of the country.

Most recently on Wednesday June 25, 2014, a federal judge struck down same-sex marriage ban in Indiana. Meanwhile, a 2-1 decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, the first issued at the level of the federal appellate courts, ruled that the same-sex marriage ban in Utah was unconstitutional. Marriage-equality lawsuits are now pending in all 31 states where same-sex couples are still barred from marrying.

Postcard US-2333973 to Indiana, which was sent on July 25, 2013 and has since expired, was made out of a hand fan distributed by Macy's during the 2012 Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade in San Francisco. The 2014 Parade, themed "Color Our World with Pride," will start at Market & Beale and end at Market & 8th Street in downtown San Francisco at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday June 29, 2014.

Same-sex Marriages Started in Wisconsin

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb declared the gay marriage ban in Wisconsin unconstitutional Friday, June 6, 2014. Same-sex couples began getting married in Madison and Milwaukee shortly after the ruling, in spite of confusion over the effect of the ruling. Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's vowed to appeal the ruling and to seek an emergency order in federal court to stop the wedding.

Wisconsin is the latest of the 15 consecutive lower court cases won for the same-sex marriages since a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June, 2013, although many of those rulings are still being appealed.

Postcard US-2576413 shows the Wisconsin State Capitol Building in Madison.

A Harvey Milk Stamp for Harvey Milk Day

Today is Harvey Milk Day, which is celebrated each year on May 22 in memory of Harvey Milk, a  California politician and LGBT rights activist who was born on May 22, 1930 and assassinated on November 27, 1978. The day was established by the California legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009, as a day of special significance for public schools in California.

At the White House today, USPS is unveiling a new forever stamp featuring a photography of Harvey Milk, who became the fifth openly LGBT candidate in the U.S. and the first to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in January 1978. President Obama commemorated Harvey Milk in 2009 by posthumously awarding him the Medal of Freedom.

Harvey Milk stood outside his Castro Street Camera Store in San Francisco in 1977

Postcard US-2276102 to France shows a view of San Francisco where Harvey Milk called home since he moved from New York City in 1972.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., an activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his "I have a dream" speech, delivered at the 1963 March on Washington gathering, as shown on the Postcard US-2474576 to China.

Whereas King's birthday is January 15, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a floating holiday observed on the third Monday of January each year under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. In 2014, it falls on January 20.

Las Vegas Pride Parade

Las Vegas Pride Parade is one of the few, if not the only one, Pride Parades held at night. The 15th Annual Las Vegas Pride Parade will march up the 4th Street from West Charleston Blvd to Ogden Avenue starting at 8 pm on September 6, 2013 in downtown Las Vegas. The 2013 parade, presented by the MGM Resorts International and led by Grand Marshal Edward Padilla and Celebrity Grand Marshals from the cast of Divas Las Vegas, brings together the gay and straight business community, nonprofit organizations, LGBT service agencies, civic groups, and churches for a big celebration.

The postcard shows the banner of Las Vegas Pride projected on the giant Viva Vision LED display canopy at the Fremont Street Experience on April 30, 2010. The parade was changed to be held in September since.

March On Washington: a Maxi Card

The maxi card posted in the morning of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington traveled from Washington DC to my mailbox in Las Vegas in 2 days. It shows an aerial photo of the Lincoln Memorial where the gathering was taking place on August 28, 1963. It bears a postmark of the USPS post office at the Union Station (Zipcode 20002) where the postcard was dropped off.

Retracing the Footsteps: 50 Years Later.

This is one of the dozen postcards I sent off today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. I used a newly issued "1963 Match on Washington" stamp to replace one view on a multiview card, then drop it off with others at a post office for hand cancellation before I headed to the March.

Tens of thousands people celebrated the anniversary by retracing the 1.7 mile historical march during the on-again off-again rain at 9 am. It started at the Georgetown University Law Center and ended at the Lincoln Memorial.

US Constitution and Civil Liberties

ACLU of Nevada Foundation's Annual 11th Annual Event 

226 years ago and 4 years after the United States won its independence from Great Britain, state delegates, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, convened in Philadelphia to start composing a new United States constitution on May 25, 1787. The resulted United States Constitution, signed on September 17, 1787, provided the blueprint on how the federal government should work and function, and how the three branches should behave and interact with each other under checks and balances.

In the Bill of Rights (collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution) and the other subsequent amendments that established the "due process" clause and the "equal protection" clause, we are guarantee a number of personal freedoms and civil liberties that include the freedom of speech, religion, protest, assembly, and press.

However, the rights guaranteed under the Constitutions do not mean they will be automatically extended to you. In addition, there are segments of people who have traditionally been denied their rights, including people of color; women; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; prisoners; and people with disabilities. There are also debates on what rights legal and illegal immigrants have.

I received a card a few days ago, advertising American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Foundation's Eleventh Annual Celebration of Civil Liberties. Ruby Duncan, a local civil rights advocate and activist, will be honored as the 2013 Emilie Wanderer Civil Libertarian of the Year. The event will be held at Springs Preserve Cafe on June 14, 2013 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The ticket costs US$ 100. You can find out more information and purchase a ticket online.