Controversy Over Maya Angelou Stamp Quote

Where in and in which Linn's Stamp News article was it likened to part of the production process?

http://www.linns.com/news/breaking-...ting-history

I read Linn's on the iPad but don't have it with me at present, so I can't cite the issue and page number for the print equivalent, but the above link has the same content.

I stand corrected. The article notes that design errors have occurred with the USPS and US POD repeatedly in the past, but it does not suggest that they have become a normal part of the production process; that's my cynical interpretation. It just says that the Maya Angelou experience is not new, there have been many other design errors.

There will be those who want to dismiss it as normal or not uncommon precisely so it can be ignored, and no thought given to what led to the error.

When the USPS dropped the ball on this one, I picked it up and ran with it. Had a lot of fun making a bunch of these up and mailing them to my stamp friends.

"Our present government is not in the habit of admitting its mistakes. Instead, the standard response is to attack the critics, then change the subject."

I realize this comment was made three years ago, but I have to ask what in the world does "our present government" mean exactly? Our government is a (pretty much) democratically-elected republic. Or was this supposed to be a criticism of one political party but left somewhat vague? If so, I'd say now three years later our "present" government Is definitely "not in the habit of admitting his mistakes." Somewhat ironic, to say the least to read this comment now. I don't think blaming the "government" makes a whole lot of sense since it was clearly a mistake made by a few people connected with stamp design, not the entire "government". Let's not exaggerate to make a small point.

As for the Maya Angelou stamp, the misquote was a bit of a lazy screw-up by some of the very small number of people involved in designing and issuing stamps. Better for them to have checked the facts and then rechecked them again. And how hard would it have been to search the internet to confirm the quotation?

Apparently, a reason for the mistake was that it was, in fact, something Maya Angelous actually did say maybe a few times -- while quoting someone else. So, the statement may have come to be identified with her. So that quote is not entirely wrong in that it reflects what she thought even if wasn't her own words. Of course, it still should not have been made to seem like her own quote. I wouldn't call it an enormous big deal, though, and reprinting the stamp would have cost millions of dollars so maybe that was not a good idea. And if they'd done that, wouldn't people criticize the Postal Service for "wasting taxpayers' money"? Really, you can't win either way.

Here's the story fom the news: USPS spokesman David Partenheimer told the New York Times that the quote — "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song" — was often cited by the late poet during interviews, but it was written by Joan Walsh Anglund in 1967. (Angelou never took credit for the quotation.) "The sentence held great meaning for her, and she is publicly identified with its popularity," Partenheimer told the Times. The USPS [said] they had not known the original, which appears in Anglud's volume of verse A Cup of Sun. The 89-year-old Anglund has taken the mistake in her stride. "I think it easily happens sometimes that people hear something, and it's kind of going into your subconscious and you don't realize it," she told the Post.

Even the poet whose line this actually was does not appear too upset! So, maybe it's more along the lines of picturing the wrong cowboy but not at the level of printing an airplane upside down -- a minor mistake that's a bit fun to know about.