Portrait for the Artist post the Wrong Man

The post office I usually go to in downtown Providence also is used as an extension of the Federal Courthouse. "In light of the events of Sept. 11", all packages that enter this post office must be sent through airport-type scanners before mailing. Then they are given a stamp that lends them an edgy cache — "SCANNED - U.S. Federal Marshalls Department" hand signed and dated. If you want your package to excite anticipation, it's definitely the post office for you.

The downside is that for many years mounted on the wall above the scanning machines amd leering down from their official portraits were the beady eyes Bush and Cheney. Which wasn't the only reason that I looked forward to January 20, 2008, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't right up there.

It seems like the nation and my post office couldn't wait to take those portraits down, but the new ones took awhile to fill the blank spaces. Today I went to mail a package containing my painting exhibit catalog (the art connection, to distinguish this from a political blog) and looked up to see this. It was worth the wait. No pic of the vice president yet, but I'm Biden my time.

Perhaps someday we'll see the portraits of the former administration on another wall of the post office, next to the bulletin board.