Coming to mailboxes near you, sometime (date still to be determined) later this year, is a new set of Peanuts US postage stamps, with “forever” pricing. The plate, which celebrates the Schulz centennial features two copies apiece of ten different stamps, with 11 different characters depicted in all. And hey, Franklin’s got his own stamp! I think he may be the first Black cartoon human to get his own US stamp.
And speaking of Franklin: On Saturday, I attended a memorial celebration for Harriet Glickman, the person who had recommended to Schulz that he had a person of color to the strip. My friend Harriet passed away a couple years back, but the pandemic pushed any proper memorial back a couple years. But what a memorial! More than 150 people turned out. Lots of family, lots of friends, and lots of people who knew her through her work with Southern California Grantmakers, an organization of philanthropists and consultants. We heard about some of the great work she did there, helping launch groups and campaigns that have done such thing as greatly lowering the amount of female genital mutilation in Ethiopia. Cartoonist Robb Armstrong (JumpStart) was there – he’s the guy that Schulz borrowed Franklin’s last name from (although it only appeared in the TV specials, not in the strip.) Robb was there to talk about The Armstrong Project, named for Franklin, in which Peanuts Worldwide is donating a couple hundred grand to a couple of historically Black institutions of higher education. And that wasn’t the only bit of charity being talked about there, as the Schulz family had donated $10,000 to TreePeople, the tree-focused environmental charity on whose lovely site the memorial was held.
Robb also showed a short video on Franklin and Harriet, which I believe will be part of a touring exhibit that the Schulz Museum is putting together. ‘Twas well made.
Anyway, Harriet was a dear person and I’m so glad she got such a sweet tribute. But I also lost another friend this week, taken too soon and utterly unexpectedly. So folks, remember to show your love and give your hugs to people while you can, because you can never tell when one of them will be gone. Peace to you.
