Some postcards are as common as crows. The Tacoma Totem Pole was erected in downtown Tacoma in 1903. This postcard, published in the 1920s, shows up again and again at postcard shows, usually in the bargain box. This has given me multiple opportunities to deface it. Here are two:

The pole, by the way, is no longer the world’s tallest and in fact is no longer in this world. It was removed in 2021 in consultation with local tribes, as it

• doesn’t represent them
• is carved in no known style
• was probably carved by whites, and
• was stuck there in the first place because Seattle had already stolen a pole from a tribe in Alaska, set it up in Pioneer Square, and bragged about it.

Tacoma wanted something to brag about, too. At least they didn’t steal it.