Postage Stamp Design - Window into the National Psyche: Controversial "Memin Pinguin" from Mexico; Richard P. Feynman & Buckminster Fuller; Elvis; Queen Victoria; John Lennon's Collection; Dragons; D.I.Y. Stamps - FASHIONTRIBES POP CULTURE PODCAST & BLOG

Postage Stamp Design - Window into the National Psyche: Controversial "Memin Pinguin" from Mexico; Richard P. Feynman & Buckminster Fuller; Elvis; Queen Victoria; John Lennon's Collection; Dragons; D.I.Y. Stamps - WEEKLY FASHIONTRIBES POP CULTURE PODCAST - MP3 File

The pen truly is mightier than the sword - especially when it comes to pissing people off. In the latest strange clash of political correctness vs. downright tastelessness, a wee postage stamp from Mexico has managed to ignite a minor international incident.

  The stamp - one in a series paying tribute to Mexican comic books - depicts Memin Penguin, an Aunt Jemima-like cartoon character apparently quite beloved by Mexicans, and which many Americans find racially offensive. "With exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes," MSNBC.com reports, "his appearance, speech and mannerisms are the subjects of kidding by white characters in the comic book, which started in the 1940s and is still published in Mexico."

Whether they're offensive or endearing, postage stamps convey big messages in small spaces. Even former Beatle John Lennon caught the fever, collecting over 500 stamps from around the world as a young boy. The Smithsonian recently purchased his collection and will put them on display at the National Postal Museum (http://www.postal.si.edu/) in October (National Stamp Collecting Month - woo hoo!) to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the musician's birth. "I hope it will inspire new collectors. There are people who think stamp collecting isn't cool and maybe this will cause them to think twice about that," comments philately curator Wilson Hulme. "It just doesn't get cooler than John Lennon."

When the U.S. Postal Service first issued commemorative stamps depicting Christopher Columbus for the 1893 Colombian Exposition, they brought in over $40 million. So many countries now demonstrate national pride through their postage stamps that these diminuitive documents have evolved into "cultural artifacts that convey a sense of national identity in tiny but vivid imagery," explains an interesting article entitled Pushing the Envelope: The Art of the Postage Stamp. "Postage stamps not only document, but reflect the history and character of a country." 

For a peek into various national psyches, here are some fun stamps from around the world:

• THE RISE OF THE SCIENTIST Thermodynamicist Josiah Willard Gibbs, geneticist Barbara McClintock, uber-mathematician John von Neumann, and Fashiontribes fave fabulous physicist Richard P. Feynman have recently been honored by the US Postal Service with their own stamps - in response to the rising dominance of the sciences over the past few hundred years.
• THE GEODESIC DOME GOD R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER (How cool is this stamp?!) at USPS.com. Architect, iconoclast, inventor, thinker & just plain cool dude. A giant. Get more info on him from The Buckminster Fuller Institute (bfi.org). For fun, offbeat reading, be sure to snag a copy of his book Nine Chains to the Moon at Amazon.com which explains how scientific housing could potentially solve many of society's ills.
• ELVIS HAS NOT LEFT THE BUILDING According to Josephine Woodward, an English Elvis fan, the first Elvis postage stamp was issued by Grenada in 1978, to commemorate his death. At least 46 countries have Elvis stamps, including Micronesia.
• SHIPS AHOY! A stamp from Grenada commemorating the first Suhaili sailing ship to sail single-handedly around the world, non-stop, in 1968 - the improbable odds of this voyage mirror the fierce, brave spirit of the indigenous Carib Indians who fended off would-be European colonizers for one and a half centuries.
• VICTORIA'S SECRET A vintage one of Queen Victoria from Canada, reflecting British influence on the country starting in 1759 when they captured Montreal, and later, the Dominion of Canada - during Victoria's reign - in 1867.
• GO FLY A DRAGON with this excellent kite on a stamp from Taiwan. Dragons pre-date written history and are hugely important to Chinese mythology. These wily and water-dwelling shapeshifters represent celestial and terrestrial power, wisdom & strength. A one-time symbol for the emperor, they appear in everything from the arts, to literature, architecture, songs, religion, sports (dragon boat races), wealth, luck, and even the weather (rain, and if pissed off - flooding).
• WILDLIFE Bag a rhino the PETA-approved way in Swaziland with a World Wildlife Foundation stamp - proceeds go to protecting endangered species.
• MAGIC MUSHROOMS A fungi-themed stamp from Israel. Located in the fabled Fertile Crescent (the civilization lasted somewhere between 9000-4500 BCE), wheat, rye, barley and other cereals grew in abundance. Situated between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers, the ancient Mesopotamian civilization left a lasting legacy:plant and mineral terms, math, astronomy & timekeeping.
• FIT FOR A PRINCESS A British stamp that reflects an ongoing international obsession.
• 1970s JAPAN East uneasily meets West.
• THE GREAT OUTDOORS Best foot forward for the beautiful kingdom of Nepal.
• D.I.Y. Sending snailmail & can't find a stamp that reflects the true you? For around $1 per stamp, Stamps.com lets you create your own. Upload a pic, customize it & place your order.